Turning back to the two athletic mares of whom were staring at them with a foggy look in the eyes, it then dawned on him.  

“W-what are you all doing here?” he inquired. Dash looked back at AJ then to Twilight before glancing back at him.

“We’re here to bring you back” she stated, her tone hinted of uncertainty. At that, Kickback’s mind boggled with the idea of what to do or say, none of them seeming completely appropriate.

“Back?”

“Back home” AJ said, choking up slightly on her sentence. It was then when the scarlet colt realised what was happening. The rest of his friends had come to not only bring him back Ponyville but they were unknowingly keeping him from stopping a pony far more unpredictable and dangerous than himself. That pony was Grimlock, a shapeshifting relentless killing machine that in some ways was related to him. They shared one key aspect, they shared organic tissue; BLACKLIGHT was both of their DNA. Hence Grimlock was right in a way, they were brothers.

However, Kickback wasn’t an experiment. He wasn’t merely infected, Kickback died, the real stallion died that fateful day at Quill Station. It was only by fate that the same sample of the virus that he released, not caring for the results as his back was to the wall, cornered by same kind of ponies that killed those doctors back at GENTEK. The vial’s contents managed to bond with his system despite he was dead. The virus didn’t just infect him, it became him, copied his body down to the genetic level, to his shattered memories. Eventually all becoming what he is today, Kickback IS the virus.

Although despite everything, being nothing more than some unnatural disgusting creature. On the outside, he was a pony, a stallion at that, no matter what dwelled within, if ponies around him didn’t know, they would’ve treated him as such. To make it worse, they did, more than expected. After he leaving Manehatten for the first time, he had no goals, no intentions, no view for the future. It was simply survival, not thriving but that all changed one day. That very day, that first day, from the moment he saw Rainbow Dash, gazing down at him from a tall tree to meeting Lyra on the park bench. To being dumbstruck by Vinyl’s first words to him to his welcoming party, Pinkie threw him. At the thought, he remembered the song he played, the lyrics, more specifically the chorus echoed in his head. Kickback did, at least now he did, he had friends like that, good friends, probably the best anypony could’ve asked for. Through all their times, he’d always catch a faint glimpse of a singular mare’s affections…then another…and another, it seemed to be a running trend. Still though, romance had never been a priority for him despite that he wouldn’t have minded it.

Dash, AJ and Vinyl became his bestest of friends out of the group, that isn’t to say he wasn’t close with anypony else, Rarity seemed to enjoy his company at least. In the moment now though, she just stood by Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy as the two athletic mares stood up to him gazing at him with anticipation. Something tore inside him at that moment, he wanted to say he could but he couldn’t. Grimlock had to die, Vinyl had to be saved, he needed to find her and him. They couldn’t know what he was about to do, they couldn’t help, Grimlock might just use them as leverage or kill them if they decided to aid him. In a desperate attempt, he replied with a familiar phrase.          

“I can’t, I’m sorry” he responded quickly before suddenly bursting off away from the six mares in a full on gallop. It took a momennt for them to realise that he had already jumped to another building before Dash and AJ’s eyes widened, as did Twilight’s.

“Hey, come back!” Rainbow yelled, quickly taking to the air to catch up with the scarlet stallion.

“Where ya going?!” Applejack called out afterwards.

“There’s no time to explain!!” Kickback yelled back, not slowing as he quickly free-ran his way across the landscape, away from the elements behind him. He ran as fast as he could, dashing away from the sky to the buildings in a frantic attempt to escape. Only a few seconds ticked by before he saw the cyan pegasus coming up next to him, her wings flapping furiously with a concerned and confused look on her face, staring at him all the while.

“Stop!” she yelled. Kickback only quickened his pace in response.

“Kickback, Slow down!!”

“No, Dash, get outta here!!” he retorted harsher than he wanted but exactly what he needed.

“No way, I didn’t come all the way out here just to be told to buck off, now slow down and talk to me!!!”

“Rainbow, leave me alo-” was all he managed before he felt a vice like grip on his tail. Dash violently bit down on the black and white-striped elongated tail and viciously pulled back. Kickback was sent spiralling out of his pace due to the fierce tug, he slid back on the hard concrete that was the roof of a some random house of some kind. Annoyed beyond comprehension, he just sat there, still, watching the form of an angry cyan mare come into his vision, landing on her hooves in front of him and glaring at him with rage.

“Okay, Kickback, what’s going on with you!?”

“What?”

“Why can’t you come home?!”

“Home? I don’t even own a house in Ponyville!”

“So what!? It’s still your home, it’s our home!”

“Well, I can’t…at least not yet”

“WHY?!”

“Because-”

“Hehehe” Kickback was cut off by an audible chuckling sound emitting from above him and the pegasus. The still unhooded stallion eye’s widened as his pupils shrank, Dash’s expression turned to one of not only anger but confusion aswell. Slowly, he rose from his stance, sitting on the ground to his hooves. Dash backed up slightly at the movement sub-consciously, still glancing around for the source of the sound. In the corner of her eye, she saw Kickback’s head slowly rise, his gaze following. She turned to him, watching his action with curiosity. Suddenly his gaze locked on something above them, his eyes narrowed, he visibly gritted his teeth through a closed mouth. Out of curiosity, Rainbow followed his gaze, looking in the same direction he was. It was then when she saw what he was staring at. There, standing upon the rooftop of a taller structure was a stallion, his coat was a dark grey shade, his mane, blood red as so was his short tail. The stallion wore a jacket, much like Kickback’s but the collar was higher and it depicted a ‘tanish-beige’ colour. The eyes of the colt were a deep shade of blue, he seemed normal, only for one thing, his muzzle was formed into the most sinister grin one could imagine. It was only then she realised that various segments of his coat glowed an eerie orange-red colour.

He just stared down, not at her, Kickback, her gaze rotated back to the scarlet stallion whose breathing became heavy and audible. His pupils shrank slightly as his eyes continued to narrow while they shifted from the dark green she had grown accustomed to, to an evil aura of red. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in confusion and shock at the sight, she watched as Kickback stared at the grey colt with utter rage building inside as he stared back, the menacing smirk still present. The cyan pegasus looked back up at the new pony before speaking.

“K-Kickback, who’s that?” she questioned, still looking up at the grey colt. The scarlet stallion didn’t answer immediately instead he simply walked up ahead of the mare, his now red eyes still fixed on the figure. She looked at him as he raised a hoof behind him, grasping the hood in hoof before violently swinging in over his head, his mane became just barely visible, sticking out from under the fabric. As did the rest of his face, his eyes were practically cut out of sight as were his ears but his muzzle was still clear, his teeth gritted intensely.    

“Dash, get out of here…now” Kickback stated with an angry, stern tone, catching the pegasus off guard.  

“What? why? Who is this-”

“You should do what he says, little Ms. Loyalty, he IS your superior after all” Grimlock said, still grinning like a mad mare.

“What’s THAT supposed to mean!?” Dash cried out, furious at what was said to her an by who. “Why don’t you just leav-” a red hoof suddenly popping in front of her cut her off. She followed the limb up from the bare tip to the sleeve that covered it, up towards the determined look strewn upon Kickback’s face.

“Rainbow, leave now” he said before turning his head to meet her gaze, eyes back to their original green. “Get the others, find Vinyl Scratch, search the city, she could be anywhere” he continued, leaving the rainbow maned pegasus more than a little bit confused.

“Vinyl Scratch, what are you talking about? What’s going on?” she questioned desperately.

“There’s no time, just go…” she just stared at him, wide eyed and mouth agape “…GO!!” he yelled, breaking eye contact, causing her to shake her head and take to the sky, flying back to where her friends were. Rainbow soared for a few moments before finding Twilight and the other elements, galloping down the street to where she had been. Rarity looked up to see her.

“Rainbow Dash, what happened?” she said through slight panting.

“I don’t know but listen-”

“Where is he?” Applejack inquired.

“Back there, now listen up-”

“Did he get away?” Twilight asked.

“Shut up!” Rainbow yelled, making everypony become silent in surprise. “Thankyou, now, I don’t what’s going on but I think Vinyl might be in trouble, we have to find her!” she explained vaguely.

“Why would she be in trouble?” AJ asked.

“I don’t know, one minute Kickback’s about to say something…then the next, this stallion shows up and he gets suddenly furious the he says to find Vinyl and that she could be anywhere in Hoofington” Rainbow said.

“Oh my, she might be hurt” Fluttershy commented in her traditional soft voice.

“What makes you think we can trust him?” Twilight questioned.

“Well, ah ain’t not taking any chances, c’mon, let’s split up, we’ll cover more ground that way” the orange mare added.

“Got it!” Dash said before taking off, her signature rainbow trailing following her in her wake.

“Wait, girls!” Twilight yelled as she watched her friends take off in opposite directions one-by-one. “We don’t know if…ahhhh buck it” she said in defeat before galloping off herself.

Kickback stared his other as he stared back, his malicious grin flaring his anger to new heights. The hooded colt watched as the grey pony simply walked away from the edge, a familiar sight to him. Kickback grunted through his teeth, his body became vibrant with small tendrils that lapped around his body in a state of rage. The hooded stallion’s muscles tensed as he bent his legs, slowly lowering closer to the ground, still staring up at where the stallion was. With an audible boom and grunt noise, the rooftop’s surface practically caved in as the red pony was violently propelled into the air by his own power, he left the ground, he shot straight up into the air, over-shooting the building Grimlock was before he plummeted towards the taller rooftop.

Kickback landed with a thud, skidding slightly on the hard surface below his hooves, a gust of dust in his wake. Grimlock looked behind him to see the red stallion, crouched down, his head bowed. Kickback slowly arose from his position, raising his head with his body to see the grey stallion turning to meet his gaze. He smirked once more.

“WHERE’S VINYL!?!” Kickback yelled, angrily pointing a hoof at his other.

“Safe, for the moment”

“You’re gonna tell me, either on your own…” the hooded stallion reared up on his back legs, his front hooves rising, quickly being absorbed by a mass of crimson and ebony before he swung them down to his sides. His left hoof was morphed into a three-pronged hand while his right transformed into his signature deadly blade. “…Or after I skull BUCK you and drain your memories out the hole!!”

“You still don’t get it do you? Just look at them, Pony-kind is stagnate, inferior, we’re the next step…we could build an army, a completely new race of superior beings, we could form an empire, we could over-throw Celestia herself, we could-”

“ENOUGH of your bucking weird, bucking rambling SHIT! Gimme back Vinyl!”

“No, no, no I don’t think so, if you won’t join me, if you’re not with me then by definition, you’re against me and when this is over, I’m going to make you sit there and watch everything that I do to her then I’ll move on to that annoying pegasus and the rest of the elements, I’ll burn Ponyville to the ground and rebuild my kingdom there and then and only then when you’ve seen everything and everypony brought to ruin by my hooves…that’s when I will allow you to die”

“You won’t get the chance, you bastard”

“Then, when she’s ready, your precious Vinyl Scratch will become the mother of the new world, so now all that’s standing between me and Equestria’s true destiny…is you” Grimlock’s body suddenly become enveloped in a barrage of black and red tendrils, he reared up on his back legs as his own bio-mass swarmed around his front hooves. After a moment, the haze gave way for a horrendous sight, Grimlock’s forelegs transformed into a disgusting duo of large and sharp claws, the familiar orange glow radiated from his shoulders down, spikes protruded from random areas throughout the entirety of both limbs. Grimlock’s eyes took on an insane look, suddenly shifting from deep blue to a bright crimson colour, they glowed like they were an aura for his irises.

“Oh shit…”

“Well, let’s get this over with, shall we?” Grimlock said with an evil grin before suddenly impaling the ground with his right claw. The surface quaked, cracking as the stallion’s limb extended through the concrete, violently tearing through the material, making it’s way to the scarlet colt. Kickback’s eyes widened as he watched the ground crack and quake by the inevitable strike. In an instant, Kickback grunted as he barrel-rolled forward. The loud bang erupted as the form of several large, black spikes pierced the ground from beneath it, extending to high reaches. The hooded pony looked at the sight for a moment before turning back to the grey colt, whose limb was now lodged in the ground, temporarily vulnerable. Taking advantage, he quickly morphed his claws into place. Kickback threw his agents of murder back before violently lunging at the colt, pouncing with claws wide open. Grimlock looked up from his stance only to find that he was brutally slashed by the raging stallion, the grey colt was sent spiralling towards the ground, his own claw ripping from the surface, causing the spikes to quickly retract back into his mass. Grimlock landed with a thud and tumbled back to his hooves, glaring death at the hooded pony. With an audible roar, the red maned stallion viciously morphed his right claw into his own blade. Grimlock lunged forward at the red pony, slashing his weapon at him but was but off by the hooded colt quickly raising a claw in the way of the blade, blocking it.

The sound of metal clashing together could be heard as the two remained in a stalemate, staring into each other’s red eyes. After a moment, Grimlock’s left hoof was morphed back into place before he suddenly pulled his blade back, catching Kickback off-guard. The grey stallion brutally punched the red pony dead square in the muzzle. Kickback staggered a bit before regaining his composure, he viciously slashed Grimlock across the face, leaving a large claw mark on his muzzle, scratching his left eye. The grey stallion turned back to glare at the hooded colt before he smirked. He watched as the scarring simply faded away at a moment’s notice, healing incredulously faster than any other pony could. Grimlock didn’t wait another millisecond, he quickly lunged his blade in the direction of the scarlet earth pony. Kickback’s eyes widened before in an instant, he turned on his sides, both claws quickly morphed into a duo of large, spiky shields. The dark stallion was thwarted, even the deadly sharp edges of his blade was unable to cut through the solid mass. He staggered back as he felt the recoil of impact with his blade and the shield, his eyes widened before he notice them quickly transform. Kickback emerged from his defensive stance, morphing hooves into large stone-like limbs. Grimlock had only a second to see the malice in his eyes before with a roar, the hooded stallion violently pummelled the ground, raising his fist up and slamming it onto the surface, nearly shattering the roof.

The grey stallion was sent hurling towards the ground by the sheer impact, violently being propelled from the rooftop to the ground below. As he plummeted, his forelegs transformed into regular hooves. He land on his back with a thud before bouncing off the dirt and tumbling backwards, landing on his hooves. At the sight of this, a collective gasping noise was heard from each direction. Grimlock looked around to see many of what he called ‘inferior beings’ he grimaced at the sight of them. The crowd and grey colt heard a loud boom emitting from the tall tower’s peak before the image of a hooded, crimson coated stallion came into view, carelessly hurling towards the ground, a determined and raging look on his concealed muzzle.

“Sweet Celestia! He’s gonna die!” called out a random mare from the crowd, Grimlock scoffed in response. The red-maned colt shook his head before gazing up, his eyes widened at the image. Kickback’s swung his fight hoof back behind his head, his teeth were baring on eachother as he glared down at him, eyes red and still plummeting towards him. Before he could make a move, the hooded stallion roared in rage as he violently lunged his hoof downwards. With a loud crash, Grimlock’s face was brutally knocked to the ground, the impact of the red pony’s mass hitting the dirt creating an eruption in the ground. The road quaked as the full force of the crimson colt’s might struck the beige-coated pony’s into the dirt, creating a practical explosion in the ground. Dust began to cloud the vision of the crowd, all around, ponies clenched their eyes shut, holding a hoof in front of their muzzles to prevent any rectal damage. A loud crunching sound emitted before the brown fog cleared, the sight of two stallions in the centre of the road.

Grimlock’s eyes clenched shut as his body was slowly titling back up from the force of impact, his jaw hit the ground first, causing him to practically bounce off…quite painfully. The other pony, Kickback wore a determined, raging look on his face, his mouth formed into a frown as his red eyes glared at the stunned colt through lowered eyebrows. His hoof was still lodged in the dirt,  his body curved downwards as his other hoof began to tense up and pull back. Grimlock felt the hardness of the ground beneath his back hooves before staggering back to all fours and opening his eyes for a brief second, the hooded pony couldn’t care less though. In silence, Kickback violently twisted around, his right hoof emerging from the surface as his left brutally collided with the blue-eyed stallion’s face once more. The grey colt’s right eye shut in surprise as his entire head went to the side. Grimlock barely gave him a glance before roaring in anger, violently bringing his right hoof around his chest and smacking Kickback across the face with it. The hooded stallion staggered back a bit before regaining his composure, standing Grimlock down with all fours on the ground barely a metre away from the grey stallion who did the same.

“Who are these guys?” one mare questioned to another beside her as the crowd watched the scene play out, the two viral ponies glared at eachother in silence.

“I have no idea…he’s cute though” she responded, looking at Kickback with a sly look, one that the inquirer followed suit. The red pony gave them both a glance, most of his face was concealed by his grey hood. He made brief eye contact for enough to time to notice one winked and the other looked away, blushing. He turned back, his glowing crimson eyes stared angrily at the grey stallion, the shade of his hood giving him an almost demonic appearance. Grimlock wore a smug grin on his muzzle, causing Kickback’s anger to flare more intensely.

“Alright, alright, what’s going on here?” the sound of a heavy accented feminine voice spoke out from amongst the crowd. The hooded stallion’s head shot up as his eyes quickly switched back to his natural dark green. Grimlock simply grinned with more malice in response. Without thinking, Kickback turned his head to see somepony shoving through the crowd, a light brown Stetson poked out form the huddle. Eventually he saw fragments of an orange coat that bonded to the well-kept athletic figure of a specific mare that tried to get to the centre of the whatever what was going on. She pushed to ponies aside in the front row and looked ahead to find what she hadn’t expected.

“Kickback?” she asked n disbelief, despite seeing him for a brief second earlier today, the form of him still gave her a shocked yet pleasant feeling…at first at least.    

“Applejack…” he replied through a much softer tone, eyes focused on her as he relaxed his muscles, rising to his full height. They stared at each for perhaps only 13 seconds. After that short moment, Grimlock scoffed.

“Another one of your mare-friends, Kickback? I had no idea you were into southern bells” he said with a chuckle. The hooded stallion froze at the sound of the most loathed voice he had ever heard.

“Who in the hay are you?!” the orange mare questioned loudly, clearly not happy with whoever this colt was.

“Me? I am your salvation, I am all of your salvation!” he shouted, looking back between the several ponies that formed a circle around the three.

“Wrong” Kickback stated, staring down at his hooves as he spoke.

“When I’m done, you won’t even be a greasy spot” he continued, slowly turning back to stance.

“K-Kickback?” Applejack let out as she watched the horrific sight of the stallion’s form becoming overlapped by barraging ebony and crimson tendrils, his breathing became heavy as his teeth gritted hard. His eyes glowed an eerie red from the darkness that consumed his face from the shade under his hood. Grimlock’s eyes turned the same, his sinister smirk still present, he stared down the raging form of Kickback with anticipation.

“C’mon then!” the grey pony yelled before he was suddenly granted his wish. Kickback violently lunged forward, quicker than he anticipated and brutally stabbed through his jacket chest with a elongated hoof-blade extending from his lower foreleg. Ponies eyes widened, mouth became agape while others looked away in disgust or vomited form the horrendous sight. Grimlock’s eyes turned blue for a brief second as they slowly looked up at the face of his enemy, his predecessor. The look in his glowing red eyes just radiated death,  the stoic yet angry frown on his muzzle made it clear, he had no mercy to show.

“Kickback?! What are you-?” Applejack question, tears brimming on her eyelids.

Without warning, Kickback violently retracted the blade form the grey pony’s chest, Grimlock staggered a bit before his healing factor kicked in. He quickly assaulted the hooded stallion with a  vicious punch to the nose, Kickback’s body recoiled and swayed to the side due to impact. His hooves flared open, giving an opportunity to his opponent. Grimlock quickly jabbed the hooded stallion, a quick but painful blow to his clothed chest, a small bit of pay-back. Kickback staggered backwards before glaring at the grey pony and violently delivering yet another hoof-punch to the muzzle. Grimlock retaliated with an uppercut, practically shattering the scarlet stallion’s teeth as his hood fell back to his neck. Grimlock swung his right hoof at him before Kickback quickly caught it, blocking it’s path to his face with his right hoof. The hooded stallion flipped his hoof, wrapping it around the grey stallion’s own and placing his stern other hoof on his leather-covered shoulder, he smirked at Grimlock’s expression.

“Kickback! Stop!” AJ yelled in frustration, not catching the stallion’s attention apparently. With a roar, he viciously pulled the grey pony’s hoof back, following the motion with his other, pushing him, ripping him from the ground. Kickback then released his grip on his shoulder and swung the stallion by his hoof. The hooded pony launched Grimlock off the dirt surface, causing him to practically fly. He yelped in fear and surprise as he was brutally hurdled towards the building they had emerged from. The sound of glass shattering radiated through the atmosphere as the red-maned colt was sent spiralling into the high window above the road. Kickback simply looked up at the hole in the glass with a stoic face, not caring for the ponies around beginning to mumble loudly to eachother while others simply stared at him or ran away, screaming from him.

When he felt the presence of a pony trotted up to him, he turned his head to see Applejack staring at him with a questioning yet concerned look. They locked green eyes with one another for a few brief moments before Kickback suddenly jolted from the ground. It quaked under his thunderous hooves as he was sent into the air, leaping up towards the shattered window and delving into the building, escaping the sight of everypony below him. Even the many pegasi that occupied that area seemed to be afraid to go see what was happening.

“Applejack!” called out a familiar voice, the same voice of none other than the element of magic herself. The orange mare, still focused on the scene above her, Twilight quickly rushed to her side, noticing the look on her face. She stood still, her pupils were dilated as her eyes remained as wide as dinner plates, her mouth was held agape. “Applejack?! Applejack!?” she shouted, now shaking the mare with her hooves. The orange mare shook her head before looking at the purple unicorn, a concerned look in her eye.

“Twilight?”

“Applejack, what happened?” she asked frantically, her friends silent gesture towards something above her was all she needed. That and the huge crowd of Hoofington’s citizens around, mumbling something out of uncertainty. Twilight looked up to see the massive gaping hole in the glass window high above the ground, she quickly connected the dots in her head. She turned to her orange friend with a quizzical look.

“I saw him…” she said, still looking upwards “…only there was some other stallion with him, they started fightin’ and…he was like him”

“What do you mean?” she asked, causing AJ to look at her, a sorrowful look on her face.  

“He-…those eyes, he had the same as he did…they were horrible, horrible glowing red eyes, ah reckon that he must’ve been the pony Dash saw” she said alas before their gazes simultaneously turned upwards once more.

Kickback landed on the building’s fifth floor with a thud, barrelling onto the concrete surface beneath his hooves. He raised his head up to see Grimlock gradually arising to his hooves in the centre of the large room. Several offices occupied the floor, is was clear by then that this was some form of company building, like it mattered. The grey stallion had violently crashed through some of the many thin walls that were once part of somepony’s job, one again, like it mattered. The hooded colt trotted up to the groggy stallion before his right hoof mutated into the form of a three-pronged hand, the same eerie orange glow emitting from his foreleg. Kickback lunged his tendriled appendage downwards, grasping the backside of Grimlock’s neck with his devastating hand. With little mercy, he raised the grey stallion up, lifting him above the ground as he himself reared up on his back legs. His morphed arm, still holding the stallion, he could feel the end of Grimlock’s mane brushing against his fingers. The beige-coated colt wore a dazed look, barely trying to free himself at the moment.

Kickback held him there for a moment, his other’s back hooves swaying from side to side above the ground as he held his stance. Kickback was about to end his miserable existence before something happened.  Suddenly, a faint yet disturbing sound caught the scarlet stallion’s ears, muffled slightly by his hood but still audible. Grimlock chuckled through a choked tone.

“That orange one, she’s a cute one, ay, Kickback?” he commented, grinning despite what was happening. The hooded stallion tightened his grip slightly before speaking.

“Yeah, yeah she is” he answered with spite yet a slight bit of a thoughtful tone.  

“Got a nice figure too”

“Yeah, I noticed” Kickback said quickly, trying to shut him up.

“Tell me, how did she take the news? You have told the elements, right?” Grimlock asked, still grinning and looking back with his malicious blue eyes.

“Surprisingly, they didn’t take it as bad as I thought, might’ve had something to do with me keeping a low profile for a year and slaying Chrysalis”

“Or it could just be because they took a rather in depth affection to you, my friend” the grey stallion mocked but given an answer in the from of a firmed grip on his neck, causing his eyes to widen.

“Don’t ever call me ‘friend’, you bastard” the hooded stallion said angrily, gritting his teeth as his eyes narrowed once more.

“Fine then…” the grey colt said quickly before suddenly reaching behind with two mutated limbs. The two virus riddled hands grasped onto Kickback’s arm with a strong grip. “…If ya don’t wanna talk about mares…” he said before the hooded stallion’s hold around him was released due to the painful squeeze. Grimlock flipped Kickback’s arm around, twisting it so he was now facing him. With a swift motion, Grimlock pulled the red pony back, tugging at his hand with force before bringing up his other, straightening it in Kickback’s way. “…I’ll just kill ya” he finished before the muzzle of the crimson colt brutally connected with his mutated limb, practically clotheslining him. Kickback fell to the ground on his back, his head bounced on the concrete as his eyes clenched shut in surprise and pain. Grimlock looked down at him, watching the red colt’s right hoof form back into place. The grey stallion’s right foreleg became enveloped in a swarm of ebony and scarlet, the end result being the same form of a large blade in the place of his hoof. He raised it above the hooded stallion with a toothy, evil grin.

In an instant, Kickback’s eyes shot open, glowing red with intention to kill. Suddenly, without warning, he launched his hooves upwards as a quick barrage of black and red coated his limbs. The hooded pony’s bio-mass propelled from his hooves, swirling tendrils overlapped his forelegs as a burst of large tentacles brutally uppercutted the red-maned stallion.

Critical Pain  Devastator

“Bitch, you got nothin’ on me!” Kickback yelled. Grimlock was launched backwards by the assault, staggering backwards in shock and pain from the brutal attack. The grey pony shook his head before roaring in rage, noticing the crimson stallion quickly getting to his hooves. Grimlock’s blade transformed into a singular claw, he galloped over to the scarlet colt as Kickback readied himself, his hooves tensed as he watched the grey stallion run towards him. With a growl, Grimlock violently swiped at the hooded colt, Kickback ducked, feeling the tips of the white stripe of his mane being cut off. The scarlet stallion swung at the grey pony with his right hoof, punching him in the side, stunning Grimlock. The beige-coated stallion shook it off quickly to notice a left hoof rocketing towards his face. With a swift motion, he caught it in the vice grip of his right claw before striking Kickback in the nose with his own free hoof.

“What!? Nothin’ to say!?” Grimlock mocked with rage. The hooded stallion’s head went back but aloud momentum as he glared at the grey colt for a moment before viciously lunging his clothed forehead at his enemy’s own. A loud bang could be heard as Kickback relentlessly head butted Grimlock with force, death in his red eyes as he stared at the pained look on his rival’s face. The hooded stallion felt his hoof being let go, without another second wasted, he lunged it at Grimlock’s face. The grey colt’s head went to the side but Kickback wasn’t done, he violently struck Grimlock in the throat causing a breathless sound to emit from his mouth. The grey stallion’s eyes widened as a small splatter of blood was coughed up onto the red colt’s black jacket, little to say, he wasn’t impressed.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” called out the frantically confused voice of Rainbow Dash as she neared her friends in the crowd, hovering above. The lavender unicorn looked up to see the concerned expression on her winged friend’s as she swapped glances between herself and Applejack standing beside her. She then looked down to find that three other seemingly breathless yet confused and frightened mares were also looking at her.  

“It’s who we came for” she answered, looking between the two parties before returning her gaze back up to the shattered glass.

“You mean-” was all Rainbow managed to say before the crowd let out a simultaneous gasp and even a few screams. The elements looked up in synchronistaion to see what caused the commotion. The from of two stallions, both wearing heavy apparel could be seen, one had a red coat and a hood, the other was gray with a high-collar leather jacket. The red one took hold of the grey one’s jacket, a fearful look in his eye as the apparent assaulter’s face was unable to be seen from this perspective. “Kickback!” Dash cried out in shock, watching the seen.

With a sudden and swift movement, the red stallion twisted around, still gripping the beige material. The look in his glowing red eyes was enough for everypony to be scared. With an audible growl, the crismon stallion violently, with his strong hooves threw the grey colt through the shattered glass. The crowd screamed as they watched him practically fly over the street, his hooves flailed as an afraid look was strewn on his face. The red-maned stallion became out of sight as he apparently landed on the shorter adjacent building on the other side of the street. The hooded pony stood in the make- shift entrance, the look on his face was down right horrifying as he stared at where he had thrown his rival. Rainbow and Applejack both stared intently at his form as he beagn to gaze down at the crowd beneath him. His eyes landed on a grouo of six mares, all looking up at him with the same look, fear. As he stared, his eyes shifted back to their dark green shade, the murderous expression turning to one of sorrow. In a split second, Dash felt his eyes lock with her own before she could only imageine his eyes shfting to Applejack. Suddenly, he spoke.

“Did you find her?!?!” he asked towards the group, everypony’s eyes focues on the elements in curiosity.

“No, we couldn’t find her anywhere!!” Twilight answered. Kickback wore a look of dissapointment before it shifted to a determined expression as he stared back at where Grimlock had gone.

“We soon will know…” he said cryptically to himself. On the other buidling, the rooftop was wider yet thinner. Grimlock gradually got to his hooves, staggering from his vicious toss. Kickback’s eyes narrowed as he sloly backed into the building, stepping backwards, not taking his eyes off the grey stallion in the distance.

“Kickback!!” Dash said, taking to the sky, flying towards the hole in the buidling.

“Rainbow, Dash!!” Pinkie shouted, extending a hoof towards her friend. The hooded stallion stepped back about ten metres before his eyes flared with rage, returning to their glowing red state. Suddenly he took off, his hooves caused the concrete to quake with force as he galloped towards the hole. As he was about to leap, he quickly caught a glimpse of the cyan pegasus in the sky at his level, a pleading look on her face.

“Kickba- Whoa!” she managed before the scarlet stallion launched himself from the building. He insanely leapt out of the hole, his hooves extended, Dash barely had time to duck before watching a flurry of black and red fly from his limbs. The crowd gasped and gaped in shock and amazement at the sight before Kickback’s front hooves transformed into what looked like a set of hands. Ponies screamed at the image however, the elements simply stared at the familiar sight. Grimlock managed to groggily get to his hooves, he looked up to see the malicious look in Kickback’s crimson irises. Without warning, the stallion’s forelegs branched out a barrage of black and red tendrils each. The grey stallion jumped back in surprise as the hooded pony was suspended in the air for a moment, seeming to pull back slightly at his bio-mass that grasped the concrete of the rooftop like a web. With a roar, he pulled his limbs back, launching himself down at the grey stallion who wasn’t far enough to escape the impact of the red stallion’s force.

Kickback was practically catapulted by his tendrils down to the grey pony’s hooves, Grimlock was sent back, frantically waving his hooves around as he was launched from his position, landing on his face as his body slid on the concrete. The cloud of dust was all anypony beside Rainbow could see, she watched the whole thing, seeing her crush brutally attacking somepony…again. When the dust cleared, Kickback’s body was back to a standard pony’s form as he slowly arose to his hooves, glaring death at the downed grey stallion.

“I’m gonna enjoy watching you die…” he said before he body became enveloped in a haze of black and red.   Next Chapter: Brothers Estimated time remaining: 39 Minutes