After a moment, Kickback leapt with a growl. His airborne body, easily clearing the street below as he ascended towards the roof.

Kickback grunted as his hooves collided with the surface, causing him to tumble in a spin formation. He looked straight ahead through red eyes and grit teeth to find nopony of any kind occupied the area. The hooded stallion stood up from his position and began walking in caution, glancing to his sides in anxiety. He continued to trot for a few more moments, ever getting closer to the other edge, he was truly irritated and disgusted with the grey colt’s antics.

“Come on out, you little-’ Kickback was cut off at the last second. The hooded colt looked up to see the same grey, clothed pony was about to attack, his right foreleg brought back to strike at the scarlet stallion. Kickback barrel-rolled out of the way before Grimlock’s hit the ground, hard. The hooded colt regained his composure and glanced up before he was knocked down again. Grimlock stood on his back legs as his front ones morphed into three-pronged claws, his left extended as he lunged it forward, punching Kickback with force, causing him leave the ground for a moment. The hooded stallion stood up quickly, not allowing the grey pony to strike so easily once more, Grimlock stood there, staring at his predecessor as he held his stance. Kickback got to his back legs and violently transformed his ‘arms’ into two large, sharp claws as he stared back at the red-mane stallion.

“So…you must be Kickback, a pleasure” He greeted in a mocking tone, his voice was deep and scratchy.

“Of course you already know who I am, why else would you be here?” he added with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, I’m going to beat you to death with your own skull…” Kickback replied cryptically.

“You certainly are a very crude pony, aren’t you?”

“Save I-!” the hooded colt was cut off by another, similar attack by the grey stallion, Kickback landed with a thud before sliding on his back hooves slightly, he glared back up at the other viral pony with rage.

“No, no I don’t think so, it’s time you and I had a chat” Grimlock suddenly took on a much darker tone than before.

“WHAT’S THERE TO TALK ABOUT!?! You killed my sister!”

“By Luna’s moon, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!? Kickback, she was going to sell you out!” Grimlock shouted back, causing the hooded cot to take on a confused expression as he let his guard down slightly.

“She was going to report everything to Celestia, I saw her speaking with the palace guards…If anything, I did you a favour”

“You’re Lying!!”

“I watched her walk into that alley, that night, I saw the guards talking to her, I heard what they said, so I swooped in…and saved the day”

“What makes you think I’m going to believe you?”

“Because, aren’t we brothers now?”

“Oh, you think that because you’re virus riddled freak too, means we’re related?!!?” Kickback shouted before he began to laugh. Grimlock lunged a long tendril at the scarlet stallion but was countered, Kickback suddenly took on a determined look right before the tentacle hit him. The hooded pony caught the weapon in a claw before smirking, he violently swung Grimlock around by his elongated appendage with a roar. Kickback let go and the grey stallion was launched into the air, soaring and plummeting downwards before he felt the force of impact. Kickback followed the grey stallion over to the next, shorter building of which he had placed him with a smirk on his muzzle. Grimlock groggily got to his hooves and glared death at the scarlet stallion before him.

“We’re not brothers!”

“Fine” he replied with cryptic tone. Before Kickback could continue his beat down, Grimlock suddenly bolted up and dash quickly in front of him, the grey stallion hoisted the hooded pony up with a ‘tendriled’ hand, Kickback began to choke. His hooves change back unbidden as Grimlock’s grip got tighter around his throat, his back legs hung down as he gripped around his viral limb with his hooves, trying to pry his grip.

“Such a waste…goodbye, Kickback” he saluted in an apologetic tone, as if these were the last words the hooded stallion would here. Grimlock’s other, sharpened appendage plunged straight into Kickback’s chest, he growled in pain through gritted teeth, he began to feel the similar yet different bio-mass of the grey pony fill his system with a potent desire to kill him. The grey pony remained quiet as he took on a blank look, Kickback’s head went skyward before he groggily managed to tilt it back to face his other with his glowing red ayes and gritted teeth. In a flash of white, the red stallion’s eyesight was replaced with images projected from his mind. In a second, all regaled memories were shown to him, reminding him that there is in fact good in this world and he had been apart of it for some time. Kickback roared as he struggled to break free, Grimlock took notice and pressed on with more intensity. Suddenly though, it didn’t matter, with a roar, Kickback violently broke out of the grey pony’s grip, Grimlock grunted in pain and confusion as he looked between his predecessor and his…melted limb. It hissed as if it was burned, Kickback fell to the ground on his hooves, in a crouching stance, chuckling to himself before glaring up at the shocked grey stallion.

“You can’t kill me…you can’t kill me, MOTHERBUCKER!…alright then, let’s see if that goes both ways” the scarlet stallion said with rage yet anticipation in his voice through a smirk as he gradually got to his hooves, never looking away from what was to be…his next victim.

In middle of the streets in Ponyville, six mares hurried on over to the edge of town.

“C’mon, c’mon!’ Rainbow Dash yelled out in annoyance to her friends, she took the lead ahead of the pack, trying to encourage them to go faster.

“Rainbow, we’re not going to miss the train, it leaves in an hour” Twilight replied with an irritated tone of her own.

“Ugh, I could be there in ten seconds flat” Dash grumbled to herself as she began to simply hover above her friends with impatience.

They trotted towards the train station with an even pace, much to not only Dash’s annoyance but also Applejack’s, being the level headed pony she was, she held her tongue unlike her cyan friend. A new thought entered both of their minds, the most impact was on AJ’s side that day, realising that her best friend had a common interest, the kind that didn’t make friendship better. The orange pony thought about telling the group exactly what she was doing on New year’s, no doubt they noticed Kickback missing form the party too, even if it was just for a minute.

As the farmer thought about this, Dash also though about telling her friends about some of her own moments with the crimson stallion, the day he arrived, the time they shard upon the clock tower, the other little moments that occurred throughout the year.

A lot can happen and a lot did happen…unfortunately. Silently, as the group ventured forth, Twilight felt uneasy, she had agreed to simply accompany on the trip to Hoofington, she thought it was Dash’s and most likely AJ’s best interest to just talk to him. That is, if they were able to find him or if he would even listen or care. At that, Twilight felt extreme uncomfortably, she didn’t trust this plan, she didn’t trust him but she did trust her friends and now, she almost wished she didn’t as much as she does. Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie were all quite neutral with the situation, they had their own thoughts of course but they weren’t as passionate as the other three. Dash visibly grimaced for some reason in the corner of the orange mare’s eyes, without thinking, the farmer spoke.

“What’s wrong, sugarcube?”

“Huh, wha-?…Oh, nothing’” the cyan pegasus replied with more than a hint of nervous tone. Applejack continued to stare at her, her lying detecting senses were acting up, she tried hard to think about what exactly her friend was thinking about.

The situation was of course rather awkward and uncomfortable, not to mention frightening.

Here we have six ponies, the elements of harmony, heading towards a train station, in hopes to board one to Hoofington to find and convince a shape-shifting, indestructible killing machine to come home. It was a nostalgic thought, yes but it might just work, not that they knew anything about what he was doing at the moment anyway. At that thought, AJ turned back and began to mind her own business once more.

“It was going to be quick but now…now I’m going to make you suffer” the now, full-pony formed Grimlock said with a cryptic tone before turning around suddenly and beginning to run to the far edge of the building. Kickback watched him only for a second before he knew what he was planning. The coward was going to retreat. The hooded colt wasn’t going to have any of that, Kickback stood up and violently lunged his right foreleg in the fleeing stallion’s direction. In an instant, the limb manifested into a long, harpoon-like appendage, long ago, the scarlet colt gave his weapons names, like pets, he named this one “The whip-hoof”. Grimlock galloped quickly to the edge, when he thought it was time, he jolted his grey legs onto the surface, causing him to take to the air…only for a second though. Without warning, a long whip-like appendage wrapped itself around his torso. He looked down to see it was connected to something behind him, before anything, it jolted backwards. Kickback slammed the grey pony into the ground with a loud crash, Grimlock laid there in the cracked cement on his belly in pain, the whip-hoof uncoiled around him, releasing his body and returning to the scarlet stallion. Kickback morphed his hoof into place before trotting up to the grey stallion, Grimlock got on his hooves and growled at the hooded colt in defiance.

“You’re not going anywhere…” the hooded stallion spoke as he continued to walk to his enemy’s position. As he drew closer, he could’ve sworn that the grey colt was waiting for him, this caused him to walk more cautiously. The hooded figure stood above Grimlock, Kickback stared at his grovelling position, unaware of the smirk that crossed his muzzle as he kept his gaze to the ground. The crimson stallion quickly morphed his hoof to a glowing red and black hand as he lunged it towards the back of Grimlock’s neck. His grip tightened around his fur as he squeezed before lifting him up, still facing away from the colt that held him. Suddenly, the grey colt spun around, releasing himself form Kickback’s grasp, just as quickly a grey hoof, slightly concealed by a leather sleeve connected with his chest, the hooded pony went flying. Kickback hit the ground with a thud and staggered slightly, trying to get back on his hooves.

“What the buck? What are yo-?” was all he managed before Grimlock suddenly bucked him dead square in the muzzle, sending the scarlet stallion to fall back further and his dark grey hood to come flying off his head, revealing his full black and white mane and the rest of his dark green eyes.

“I’m what you could’ve been…” Grimlock started before he stood on his back legs as his front limbs became large axe-like appendages. Kickback got up slightly before the mutated pony dashed forward, slicing the crimson colt along his left foreleg.

“…What you were supposed to be…” he continued as he spun around with his blades, slashing his predecessor’s back, causing him to shoot up onto all fours.  

“…I’m your better” he added as his hooves returned, Grimlock stood proudly, adjusting his collar as he faced away from Kickback, he spoke with a smug tone. The scarlet colt stood on his hind legs as he morphed his limbs into his signature claws.

“I’m gonna enjoy watching you die” Grimlock spoke before turning and instantly transforming his right appendage into a large blade. The grey stallion lunged at Kickback in silence, he swung the weapon at the original monster but was cut off. Kickback suddenly grabbed the blade in his right claw, staring death into the eyes of his other, a loud clanging sound could be heard as both viral blades came in contact, the scarlet stallion pulled the blade to his side before uncrossing his claws and slashing Grimlock with an uppercut and a growl. The grey stallion went airborne before landing on his back hooves before rubbing away the blood that emitted from his mouth with his left hoof.

“Son of a bitch…YOU SON OF A BITCH! My better?! Are bucking serious?!” the scarlet stallion shouted in annoyance and rage.

“You were an accident, Kickback…I was meant to happen…they did things to me…HORRIBLE THINGS!” Grimlock replied, visibly in anger and quite possibly, sadness. He then pried open his jacket with two normal grey hooves to reveal long scars across his body aswell as a few patched up wounds to his chest, Kickback felt little sympathy but allowed him to continue, everypony should get a few last words.

“It’s all because of YOU!’

“What?”

“They…found you intriguing, that’s how they put it, that’s how they put ME!”

“….”

“GENTEK thought they could create more…like YOU! Don’t you see? You’re a success, you’re an accidental invention”

“You’re blaming me…of all things…you’re blaming me for what happened to you…kid, listen, I’ve had it way worse than you, just last year, I got cancer for a while!” Kickback replied with irritation in his voice.

“I saved Equestria from the changelings and for WHAT!? Just so the only ponies I care about to think of me as a MONSTER?!”

“We are monsters, Kickback, there’s no changing that now…but…think about what we could do together, not even Celestia will be able to stand up to us!” Grimlock began, hoping.

“Just you and me against the world, Kickback, we could build something on our own, we could spread our gift, we could rule Equestria”

“…Shut the buck up!” Kickback spoke up with a tone that said ‘Bitch please’, Grimlock was taken back slightly.

“There’s no bucking I’m letting you carry on, especially after what you just said to me…SPREAD OUR GIFT?!? You’re an abomination, Grimlock…”

“Alright, a held out a cider bottle and you knock it from my hoof…perhaps you’ll respond better to the blade. The grey stallion replied as he took on a battle stance. Kickback slowly placed his hood upon his head once more and stared at the grey stallion.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, the sun hovering downwards ever so slightly as the afternoon drug on. Moments ticked by as the tension built up in the atmosphere, Kickback’s look was one of pure and utter rage as Grimlock’s was one of smug and determination.

Without warning, the grey pony acted first, with a grunt he jumped skywards, the sun behind him, making him hard to see by the scarlet colt below. When his form came into clear view, Kickback ducked out of the grey pony’s ground-pound. Grimlock and Kickback spun as a barrage of tendrils coated their front legs in synchronisation, the grey colt shot up straight away and lunged his tendriled hands at the scarlet pony, much to his surprise, Kickback did the same. The two stood there, almost mirror images of each other, both grasping the other’s limb and grunting as each tried to better the other in a sheer competition of strength. Kickback growled through gritted teeth as he struggled, Grimlock took notice and a smug grin crossed his snout. After a minute, it was the grey stallion who got lucky, Grimlock spun Kickback around, causing him to fly to the same wall he had crashed into earlier. The red stallion hit the vertical surface with a thud as did he with the horizontal surface below. He staggered a bit before regaining his composure, just in time too, Grimlock had pressed the assault further, his limbs had morphed back into hooves which he proceeded to try and beat the crimson pony with. Kickback quickly dodged to the side and sucker punched the grey stallion in the jaw, his mutated hands, still present. The hooded colt continued by uppercutting the grey pony, then slamming his head back down, all the while walking towards him as he stepped back in shock and pain from his predecessor’s assault. Punch after punch of the red stallion’s fists left Grimlock’s face broken and bloody, Kickback smirked as he uppercutted him one more time, in the confusion he quickly jabbed the grey colt in the chest, hard. Grimlock left the ground for a moment as he expelled blood from his mouth, Kickback smirked yet again as he grey pony landed on the ground with a loud thud.

“What?! Nothin’ to say?!?” the hooded stallion said in a mocking tone, in retrospect in was probably a stupid thing to get cocky but that didn’t stop him. Grimlock coughed as he groggily got to his hooves, despite the beat down, he was still tough and that wasn’t going to keep him down for long. Kickback morphed his legs back into place and began trotting over to him, watching him trying to get to his hooves but to no avail. Once the scarlet colt got close enough, Grimlock’s body was barraged with a haze of crimson and ebony, sounds of glass clattering could be heard as he swarmed his fur. Kickback stood still as he waited for what was to come, when the blur cleared, Grimlock was wrapped tightly with a shell like covering. His grey coat was now replaced with black armour, the shell seemed to glow under the outer layer, giving it a more viral look. The grey stallion’s mouth and nose were invisible through the plating but to large red-orange orbs, where his eyes used to be stared at Kickback with hatred. The armour was bulky, which indicated that speed wasn’t going to be a factor the scarlet stallion had to worry about anymore, he smirked at that as he stared at the armoured colt before him.

“Now you die” Grimlock spoke, muffled slightly by the stone-like substance that coated his body. More quickly than anticipated, the armoured stallion rushed forward to the unguarded colt, furiously uppercutting him skyward. Kickback spun in mid-air for a moment before regaining his composure, he growled as he looked down at the stallion below. With a roar, a sharp pain ran through him as a flurry of bio-mass swarmed his dark red fur before converging mainly on his back. The hooded pony growled as the tendrils dissipated, in flash, large appendages could be seen protruding out of Kickback’s jacket. Two massive black wings spread proudly out of his back, the structure was not based on feathers as the tips and edges of the limbs were razor-sharp, small portions of his wings glowed an eerie orange-red. The same shade his eyes quickly flashed to before returning to his natural green pools.

Grimlock watched in amazement of the viral pegasus for a few moments.  Kickback quickly dove towards the ground, the experience of manticores, pegasi and even dragons all apart of him now as he took one of his most rarely used forms. Kickback smirked as he felt the same thing Rainbow must feel when flying, the adrenaline and the wind his mane all giving him a rush he couldn’t quite describe but there was another feeling there, one of anger. Catching Grimlock off-guard, Kickback dashed at the armoured pony with his sharpened wings, only scratching the surface of his armour. Grimlock spun around, trying to keep up with the flying pony but kept losing sight, he was just too fast. The hooded pony’s front legs turned into two large claws, if a pony was to see this, they’d probably mistake him for a gryphon from a distance. Kickback dove at the armoured stallion once more, this time, grabbing his neck with his talons like an eagle. The viral pegasus took to higher altitude before throwing the now panicked Grimlock further into the atmosphere. The armoured pony yelled as he tried to regain his composure but to no avail, Kickback began to toy with him, knocking him into the air, juggling him like a ball on a seal’s nose.

The viral pegasus had a smirk plastered on his muzzle as he grunted each time he swooped before Grimlock began to fall too low to knock him into the sky however he could. Soon Kickback got weary, with a final punch he let Grimlock fall to the ground for a moment, the viral pegasus then swooped under the armoured stallion and grasped his back leg with a claw. He roared as the armoured pony yelled in fear, Kickback plunged down, dragging his other with incredible speed and force, all the better for the impact. With a swing, the viral pegasus launched Grimlock into the ground, with a cocky grin he watched him fall at high speeds. He yelled before it was muffled by a loud crash, then another and another, dust blocked the scarlet stallion’s vision for a while as he landed upon the rooftop once more.

He quickly morphed himself back into his original form as he approached the landing site. When the dust cleared, a large hole could be seen in the roof, fortunately there seemed to be nopony on the top floor of the building so nopony got hurt or saw what crashed through the roof. Then it was clear that the next two floors down had holes in there rooves aswell, Kickback grimaced at the damage but then took notice of how there was no sign of Grimlock as he peered down into the building.

That was quickly changed as Kickback felt a sharp pain from his chin, he rocketed upwards before hitting the ground with a thud. He looked up to see a no longer armoured stallion but a rather furious one instead. Grimlock panted heavily as he stared at the hooded stallion with hatred in his eyes.

“No more games!” He yelled as he galloped over to Kickback, spun around and bucked him in the face, causing the scarlet stallion to take the air once more for a moment and hit the ground hard but not without sliding a metre or two. Grimlock didn’t waste any time as he quickly ran over to Kickback and uppercutted him from the ground, the hooded colt staggered as he tried to regain his hoofing. The grey pony quickly swung a bare right hoof at the scarlet stallion, Kickback caught it and pushed it away, leaving room for his left hoof to jab at Grimlock’s face, causing his position to falter.

“I agree…” He replied as he regained his guard. The two stood at an equal distance from another. Only a moment went by before the two charged at one another with synchronised roars.

In an instant, the two stallions opposite limbs of one another collided with their bodies, only thing was though, they weren’t hooves. Each colt had morphed their hooves into long, sharp knife-like blades, of which were in each other’s shoulders. Unfortunately it was Grimlock who had the better aim, Kickback had simply stabbed the grey stallion, the attack that he made was far more vitally dangerous, nearly hitting his viral heart. The two grimaced, equally in pain, the excessive beating Kickback dished out was now getting to the grey stallion and the blade in his shoulder wasn’t helping. They grunted as each pulled their weapons out from each other and staggered. The crimson stallion lost his hoofing and fell to the ground, still gazing up at the grey colt of whom was still standing. Darkness clouded his vision but out of what he could see, was the image of the his other limping away, retreating…like a coward. That was the last thing he saw before he slipped away into unbidden unconsciousness.

Dash and AJ sat opposite to one another on the train, each with their booths to themselves as the other four mares sat behind the two, concerned for them more than they’d like to be. They gave the two quick glances every now and again before returning to each other and talking nervously about their situation.

Rainbow gazed out the window, looking up at the clouds she had known well for most of her life, the sky was like the back of her hoof to her, so familiar, so beautiful. Even though that was she was looking at, her thought train were on much darker tracks as she continued to stare into space. She took a quick glance over to Applejack to see the orange mare staring down at the table, most likely in the same state she, herself was in. AJ lifted her head to meet Dash’s gaze, the two stared at each other for a moment before turning away again, each with similar thoughts.

Kickback’s eyes shuttered open, he shot straight up only to wince in pain from the wound in his shoulder. The hooded stallion clenched his eyes and grasped it with a hoof as he gritted his teeth. Kickback looked up again and found that the grey stallion was long gone, he looked up at the sun to see only about an hour had gone by although the day was well into closing as the entire town was lit up in a faint orange glow. Kickback staggered to his hooves and began to limp towards the edge of the building, he put a hoof to the railing and lazily threw himself off into the alleyway below. He landed with a tumble as he grunted from pain and exhaustion, Kickback began to limp into town, grimacing from the previous events that occurred and making his way over to a favourite location of his in Hoofington. The hooded colt looked at the from across the street, a dazed smile crossing his lips before he groggily stepped towards it. The door busted open revealing a pained red stallion staggering into the bar, much to his liking, the place was still rather empty since earlier. Eagle took notice of the scarlet pony and watched him as he groggily made his way over to the bar, Kickback grunted as he positioned himself on the stool and rested his legs on the hard, wooden surface.  

“Applejack Daniels, mate…” Next Chapter: Forget What I've Done Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes