The air was calmly still yet rattled with unbarable  tension, electrifying the atmosphere around the baron plain in an invisible blaze. There in the centre of it all were two stallions, two virus riddled abominations to the natural order of Equestria, glaring at each other in utter silence. The one called Kickback kneeled on the ground, gazing upwards at the menacing form of the…no, HIS other. The scarlet pelted stallion wore a hood over his black and white mane and ears, cutting off the image of his dark green eyes. Both of his front legs had been brutally severed off, reduced to stubs in the climatic clash of unnatural power. His hood was attached to a grey under shirt as his outer layer of clothing was a black jacket, imbued with a red version of his cutie mark between his shoulders. The triumphant stallion sported a grey pelt, scarred and cut in several places in place of where his trademark beige jacket used to be. His mane was a deep shade of crimson, his eyes, burning pools of the same hue. The stallion’s name was Grimlock, the second line in what he referred to as ‘His race’.

Grimlock’s left hoof was disgustingly morphed into a singular, glowing, viral hand, gripping the bare neck of the hooded stallion. Kickback’s red coat became ever more stained in viral tissue and blood as the fingers around his neck remained clenched and unforgiving. Even still, he locked eyes with the grey stallion, calm as ever, he smirked at him, pusing the fiery rage within Grimlock further. His teeth barred, his eyes widened and glowed, his hand squeezed tighter.

“I take it back…you die right here” Grimlock stated as his right hoof swarmed in a barrage of [BLACKLIGHT]. Kickback watched as the furious bio-mass lapped and surrounded the grey fur of Grimlock’s leg. It coated his hoof in a sickening black and red haze before he threw it down to his side. The hoof had violently transformed into a large, jagged edged claw, one that could tear the diamond-hard scaling of a dragon. Sharper than an ebony razor, quicker than a whip, it was a true killing weapon forged in the fires of Tartarus.

…Or in a twisted laboratory owned by a sick group of severely intelligent and racist ponies. After all, the goal of operation [REDLIGHT] was engineering a bio-weapon to target specific racial types…we all know how THAT played out.

Grimlock slowly brought his claw to his eye level, pointing straight down into the eyes of the hooded colt. Kickback could see the shine the sharp, jagged fingers gave off in the sun as the razor-like tips of each individual claw stared right in his face. He was unamused and remained with that calm smirk on his muzzle.

Enraged, Grimlock raised his claw behind his shoulder, glaring death at the scarlet stallion. As Kickback slowly lowered his head, the grey hood concealed his face in an eerie shaded look. The individual claws spread out, creating the widest palm Grimlock could muster and paused, still staring at the helpless form of the red pony beneath him, locked in his choking grip.

It was then when the grey stallion had a thought, a marvellous thought; he had won. Grimlock’s entire being beamed with pride and satisfaction, he grinned devilishly to himself as the sensation hit him. All it was going to take was a couple of swings and slashes then he’d be victorious, the ultimate power, the unstoppable predator.

After a moment, he looked back down at the lowered head of Kickback, his grovelling, weak state was pitiful yet horrifyingly pleasant to the red eyes of the grey stallion. He brought his claw back higher above his head, wide and ready. He then let out a chuckle, a grim chuckle along with a deadly grin as his muscles tensed, his eyes widened, his grip on Kickback’s neck grew to be that of a vice’s. Yet the hooded stallion was unfazed.

“No last words?” Grimlock inquired, still grinning.

Kickback remained silent.

“Nothing for me to say to your precious pony friends?”

Still, the hooded colt lacked to utter a single sound.

“Could you at least give me some sign of recognition of your defeat?”

The grey stallion’s words fell on deaf ears.

“Very well, goodbye Kickback, do say hello to Faust for me if you see her” the grey colt stated before in a quick flash, he swiped his claw downwards upon the head of the red stallion only to…be stopped? In an impossibly inconceivable rate, Kickback’s right stub protruded into a full grown viral hoof. The limb was black as night, glowing an eerie orange-red beneath the surface of the dark tissue. The end was formed to be a hoof, the hard surface of the appendage stood in the direct path between Kickback’s head and Grimlock’s claw.

Too shocked to act, Grimlock gaped in confusion as Kickback’s head slowly titled upwards, his face coming back into view. His smirk was replaced by barred teeth, his calm eyes were now narrowed and shining a bright crimson hue. Grimlock felt something he hadn’t in a while at that moment, it wasn’t gut-wrenching disappointment and frustration, no…it was pure, undeniable fear that took his entire form by surprise. The hooded stallion whispered, almost inaudibly but just loud enough to hear.

“Tell her yourself…” with that, Kickback’s body began to become unstably vibrant with black and red viral tissue, lapping at his form with a hazy intensity. Still in shock, Grimlock remained fixed in his position, his claw stopped dead in the wake of the mutated hoof before it, his hand slowly released on Kickback’s neck. The hooded grunted and growled through gritted in teeth, almost in pain but there was more rage than anything else. Soon, tendrils swarmed his body furiously, viral tissue surrounded and coated his form in a crimson and ebony grotesque masquerade. The grey stallion’s eyes widened as he recognised the signs but before he could act, Kickback looked up from under his hood…and smiled.

Grimlock quickly dashed forward with his claw but before he could stab the life out of the scarlet colt, he exploded.

Kickback’s body quaked as did the ground, a loud bang emitted as the hooded stallion let out a pained yet angered roar. Bursting from his body were large, thick, piercing tentacles, immediately skewering the grey pony directly in front of him.

Tendril Barrage Devastator

They continued to extend to every direction, violently protruding from every square inch of Kickback’s body. Grimlock was brutally uncured through the chest several times as were his legs, he eyes widened, his mouth gushed blood on impact and he was sent flying towards the sky with the force of the now bloodied tendrils. The grey stallion screamed in agony as his body violently slid down the skewering tendrils that pierced his body as he followed it’s pathway above ground.

The baron wasteland that was the desert now held what looed like a dome, hundreds of elongated, solidified spiked viral tissue protruded towards every direction, reaching as far a they could, one could barely make out the image of a single red, hooded pony in the middle of it all. One could also see amongst the ebony debris was another pony, brutally stabbed by the tendrils through almost every part of his body. After a moment, they began to retract slightly before they violently shrunk and returned to their herald in a sickening haze. Grimlock felt the tendrils slip out of his body before he fell from the sky, dripping and gushing blood as he plummeted. Kickback’s body recoiled as his bio-mass returned to him in a violent action. The hooded stallion limped over forward, supporting his weight on his mutated hoof as his left stub slowly began to regenerate. Grimlock his the desert ground with a loud thud, his stomach, chest, upper legs and back hooves sported large gaps in flesh and fur, all were grotesquely bleeding.

“…Cheap…move…” Grimlock let out through bloodied coughs. The scarlet stallion slowly arose as his hooves gradually morphed into place. Kickback stood on all-fours, his breathing was heavy as he slowly walked over to the grey, bleeding stallion. The desert surface was sure to be stained a deep shade of crimson. Kickback’s trot had limp in it as he continued to walk over to the bloodied colt.

“Well…it worked” Kickback said, making it over to the side of the downed stallion. Locking emerald eyes on his grovelling, weak state, profusely loosing blood, he wore a stoic face upon his muzzle. Kickback knelt down by his side and leaned in, almost as if waiting for something. The grey stallion grinned and asked.

“So…what will you do now?”

“I don’t know”

“It’s funny…you’ve just thrown away your chance at acceptance…the one thing you’ve always wanted and for what? A couple of mares?”

“That’s one of the differences between you and me, Grimlock…I have acceptance, I have somewhere I belong, I can have what I want, I have it even…but you, with your dreams of conquering, with starting a new race, overthrowing the Crown…that’s a path with no end, you can’t have what you want, Grimlock”

“Heh…you’re so petty, acting like a normal pony, all this ‘magic of friendship’ shit that they sing about-”

“Exactly, fore if somepony can accept me…can love me, if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is”

“…I should’ve killed that unicorn when I first laid hoof on her”

At that, the eyes of the scarlet stallion widened and changed to a vibrant crimson. Grimlock gasped as he felt the hooded pony’s hoof slam into his chest before, causing him to cough up more blood. On the recoil of Grimlock’s head bolting upwards, Kickback grasped his neck in vice grip with a quickly mutated hand. With the force of the action, he violently threw the grey stallion upwards, never letting go of his throat. He raised him above his head as he rose to hind legs and spun on his axis, carrying Grimlock in the swinging motion. Unable to breath, Grimlock choked in response to being thrown hard on the ground, the baron floor surely broke the brittle skin of the back of head. Kickback threw him to the ground, never letting go of his neck. The grey stallion’s blue eyes gazed up and locked with the red ones of Kickback.

“Take my DNA…I’LL TAKE YOURS!!” with that, Kickback rose Grimlock’s head up before brutally slamming him back down, most likely cracking his skull in process. He repeated the harsh action before slamming into Grimlock’s face with his opposite hoof, breaking his nose and causing blood to gush from his mouth. “Die…die…Die!” He continued to beat Grimlock with his left hoof before loosening his grip on his neck and pummelling into him with both hooves. Blood stained the baron surface of the desert both from Grimlock’s open wounds and his now broken face. “Die…” Kickback grunted and roared as he practically annihilated the grey stallion’s body in a hazy raged state.

Finally, he raised his right hoof high above his head and glared down at the bloody mess that used to be a stallion, panting.

“DIE!!”

With his final yell to the colt, he slammed his hoof down on his face, the ground quaked on impact as Grimlock’s head practically and violently exploded. A storm of dust erupted form the earth around the two ponies.

When the dust cleared, Kickback stood above the grey stallion, breathless, his hooves were stained and dripping thick red liquid that fell upon the broken corpse of Grimlock. Unbidden, several long black tendrils emitted form his body and connected with the one of the grey colt. Grimlock’s form was reduced to nothing but converted viral tissue, changed into the DNA of Kickback, ready for consumption. The hooded stallion closed his eyes as he felt his bio-mass absorb the dead pony’s body in a dark haze. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head, he body, still swarming with black and red tendrils, he held his head in pain as the memories began to become clear. His eyes alternated between clenched and opened as the realisation and pain continued to hit him.

“LET ME OUTTA HERE!!” yelled a single, grey coated pony within a large, dome-like room, strapped by his legs on a vertical table. He frantically budged at the restraints fruitlessly trying to escape the confines of his imprisonment.  

“let’s try something simple at first…an easy survival test” spoke a gruff voice from a speaker above him.

Flash  

“Hello, one ticket to Ponyville please” asked a lighter red mare. She stood outside a ticket booth at a train station in Fillydelphia.

Flash

“Somepony help me please!!” the same mare cried as she was held up against a wall by a dark, larger figure, he spoke.

“Where is he!?”

“I Don’t Know!” she let out, crying in fear.

“Where is your brother!?” the voice was familiar.

“I Don’t kn-”

“If you can’t tell me, you have no use for me” the figure said before his right front leg swarmed in viral tissue. All Kickback could hear at that moment were the screams of terror his sister managed before she was silenced by a large claw.

On the outside, the hooded stallion barred his teeth and a single tear ran down his right closed eye.

Flash

“This is nopony’s fault but your own, you do understand that?” Grimlock stood inside a moderately sized room as did a single white unicorn, he spoke to her, she remained silent.

“Don’t worry, this will be all over soon” with that, the mare snapped her head towards him.

“You won’t win, he’ll beat you” Vinyl said defiantly.

“What? Kickback? That idiot? He won’t be a problem…”

“He’s coming for you, he’ll save me”

“You put too much faith in that monste-”

“He’s not a monster!! I may not completely understand what he is…but I know who he is” at the end of her sentence, Grimlock brutally knocked her to the ground with a hoof, she yelped in surprise before she went silent with unconsciousness.

“Shut up, bitch”

Flash

Kickback staggered slightly at the sudden recoil of the freshly implanted memories of Grimlock. His breathing slowed, his eyelids lowered as he regained his composure and stood to his full stature. He closed his eyes for a moment and let in a deep breath through his nose, after about a minute, his eyes snapped open, he turned around and began to walk away from the scene he created. It wasn’t long before something caught his attention. A right flash appeared in front of him, it only lasted a moment but it radiated a gold aura, unfazed, Kickback simply watched stared at it and connected the dots in his head. When the sparks faded, Kickback’s calm look faltered slightly at the sight to one of annoyance. There, standing directly in front of him was the tall and regal form of THE Princess Celestia, goddess of the sun, ruler of Equestria and here she was, in the presence of a murdering, powerful, viral grotesque freak of nature.

There weren’t many reasons, Kickback could come up with as to why she was here, in the desert, standing before him, away from her subjects with his most bloody yet unregretted victory grounds behind him. Celestia gazed her head down, her bright magenta eyes locked on the hooded stallion beneath her, she watched him lower his head, bring a hoof to the tip of the grey fabric before swinging it back. Now revealed, Celestia could now fully make out the stallion’s multi-shaded mane, he slowly tilted his head up, now showing his dark green eyes and locked them with the monarch’s own.

“Princess Celestia, what do I owe the honour?” he said, almost mockingly. She raised at him but remained rather stoic, the legendary poker face of Celestia.

“You must be Kickback? The one my student, Twilight Sparkle spoke of” she inquired.

“Oh? And what did she say about me? All good, I hope” he asked rhetorically.

“She tells me that you-”

“Hey, how’s your sister doing? Haven’t seen her in a while, mainly because I haven’t been sleeping, tracking down an ambitious and unpredictable killer and all”

“…My sister, Princess Luna is fine, thankyou” she answered with a hint of confusion.

“Oh that’s good, how are you doing though? Everything okay, your majesty?” he asked, a little too calmly, he almost seemed happy but Celestia could very well see the hint of sarcasm.

“I am fine, thankyou”

“That’s good to know…well, see ya” he said before he started a path around the alicorn. Irritated, she extended a large wing in his wake, he stopped dead in his tracks, visibly angry. He glared up at her with intensity, she felt a twinge in the back of her mind at that moment, she wasn’t quite sure what it was although she met his gaze with defiance. “…I see, that’s how it’s gonna be” he said as he walked backwards to his previous position.

“From what I’ve gathered, Kickback, you’ve made quite a name for yourself” she said with all of things, a smile.  

“I-…what?” the red stallion asked in confusion.

“Word spread fast of a single stallion defeating Queen Chrysalis in Ponyville and vanquishing most of her horde.

“Yeah…that was me”

“I know, Twilight told me about it…she also told me what you explained to her and her friends”

“I’m sure she left out some details and gave the most basic version that makes me look like a generic super-villain, right?”

“Truth be told, it was quite unclear and rather hard to believe-”

“Hard to believe? You wanna see it?!” he said, as if insulted by the sun goddess.

“I-”

“Here!” with that, he lifted his right hoof up before it swarmed in a hazy blur of black and red tendrils emitting form his pelt. After a moment, his hoof was replaced by a moderately sized claw while the rest of his leg remained the same. Celestia looked horrified in her own way, recoiling back at such a display. The fiery look in Kickback’s eyes softened to a sorrowful look as he lowered his claw and wiggled his fingers, staring at it. The Princess watched him, noticing he looked like he was on the verge of tears as his leg was enveloped in the same blur and morphed back into a hoof, which he planted on the ground, looking away from the alicorn. Attentively, she held out a hoof and gently took Kickback’s head by his chin and titled his head upwards to see him. The scarlet colt’s eyes were foggy, he didn’t resist the action, she released him before speaking.  

“I can help you, there must be a spell to-”

“No…see, my powers…they have nothing to do with magic, it’s genetic…I can’t be cured, I’m not infected…I AM the virus, if you somehow find a cure for this, you’ll kill, it might’ve worked for Grimlock but not me” he explained.  

“…I see”

“Well…” he said in a choked voice, stepping backwards. Celestia watched him in confusion. “…what are you waiting for?” now concerned, she just stared before she realised what he was doing.

“Kickback, I won’t-”

“Tell your sister I said ’hi’, okay?” he said, smiling but still choked up before he stopped at a distance away from her.

“I won’t do it” she spoke out defiantly yet your words fell on deaf ears.

“Do it” he said calmly as he closed his eyes in anticipation. A silence fell on the scene for a moment, Celestia stared in sheer concern at the scarlet colt, she was about to say something, anything to stop him but she couldn’t, something was telling her to act and now. Kickback eyes snapped open, glowing red before he shouted. “DO IT!!!”

Frightened, Celestia’s horn flared and shot out a powerful, magical golden beam at the red pony. It connected with his body before a loud bang struck and a golden explosion was in place of the crimson stallion. He let out a quick yell of pain before he was silenced, Celestia shielded her eyes at the sudden flash before it dimmed. When it cleared, all that was left was ash covered crater in the desert. The alicorn closed her eyes for a moment in respect. When she opened them again, she looked up and saw a piece of black fabric fall from the sky. Her horn glowed as did the material, she levitated it in front of her and saw a symbol imprinted on the dark leather. It looked like a set of red wings almost. She turned her head back to the crater, not caring for the small puddle of red, thick liquid in the centre. With a tinge of sadness, her horn glowed again, still levitating the piece of Kickback’s jacket before in flash, she was gone.

In the throne room of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna sat in waiting for the white alicorn. A bright, golden flash emitted in the centre of the room, the two ponies snapped the heads towards the source before they were greeted by a saddened Celestia, levitating some kind of black material by her side. In silence, she looked up at them, clearly depressed and distraught, before they could say anything, she spoke.

“I think it’s time to record another story in glass”    

Luna’s sky seemed to cast a less uplifting glow that night. The world was completely dark in place of both stallion’s deaths. Complete silence fell upon the scene…other than the constant, annoying cawing of a single black crow that flew overhead in the darkness. Inquisitive and unwise yet cunning, the bird flew down on the scene, unaware of the viral substance that it set talon in. To it’s surprise, the red liquid sprouted upwards and connected with it’s feathers, it flapped violently as the tendrils began to lap at it’s body. It cawed fruitlessly in it’s struggle to break free as the dark tendrils enveloped it’s body, breaking down it’s DNA into it’s own. Little by little, the bio-mass began to take coherent form, a single large claw sprouted and scraped at the baron ground. The red blob soon became larger and larger, a skeletal structure quickly formed, turning into the form of a quadruped, more specifically, a pony.

A stallion in fact, the skull took form, the jaw was wide open, every change caused a sickening cracking sound. The hooves became complete as red fur began to coat it’s body. The pelt was soon covered by what looked like black leather. Empty eye sockets became filled with large green irises before muzzle took form. Finally, in the darkness, a stallion stood in the desert, his body making some last, final touches to his complete form. The stallion wore a jacket over a scarlet fur coat, his eyes were lowered and full of sorrow, the white stripe of his mane stood out in the night as did his elongated tail. Dark emerald eyes shined in the blackness beneath his fringe. Finally, he spoke.

“I searched for the truth, found it, didn’t like, wish to Tartarus I could forget it…” he let out to himself before he began walking towards the direction of a small town in the distance. “…Kickback…Equestria suffered for his mistake, for what he did at Quill station and whoever he was, that’s a part of me ‘cause when I close my eyes, I see the memories of a hundred dead creatures, screaming as I take their lives, moments I’ll relive forever…what have I become? Something less than pony…but also something more”

Three days later. The sun over Ponyville shone brightly in the sky, ponies went about their usual day, all except a hoof-full. The Elements of Harmony, accompanied by one DJ and a human fanatic all sat at a booth inside Sugar cube corner, each with the same thing on their mind, sitting in silence. Each looked visibly saddened, even after three days of hearing the news from Celestia and attending the royal unveiling of Kickback’s recorded story upon a stained-glass window, the fact had still not hurt less.

Kickback walked over a hill that led into the town and stood before it. A slight breeze pushed his waving mane to the side as he stood, staring at the town, watching and recognising the many ponies that lived within it’s confines.

“But that’s not all I am anymore…” he thought. “They say that  Destiny defines us, our cutie tells us of our future, how our lives will turn out, that our destinies are our own…but that’s not always the case…it took a while but I realised sometimes it takes somepony else to show you what you’re meant for, it takes a friend to show the way” his thought were interrupted as he noticed a single yellow filly locked eyes on him, gaping in shock, her red mane and pink bow still present. Applebloom’s eyes fogged slightly at the sight of the scarlet stallion and her mouth curled into a smile. Kickback smirked at her before turning back to the town and noticing some other mares, foals and stallions that were now staring at him, still, he smiled at them.

“Sometimes, your fate has to be decided by somepony else, your destiny has to be shown to you, not something you make happen”

The eight mares were caught unaware at the sound of several hoofsteps galloping to something outside. They looked out the window and saw that most of the town were running towards the east side of town, all wore smiles while shouted and praised at something. Confused, they looked at each other before getting up simultaneously and trotting towards the door. Twilight’s horn glowed to open the door but she could, the wooden panels slammed against the walls within the bakery, revealing a small porcelain filly, grinning widely. Sweetie Belle spoke with a large smile.

“Rarity! Rainbow Dash!…Everypony, c’mon, you’re not gonna believe it!” she squealed before galloping at the door towards the crowd.

“Sweetie!”  Rarity called out to her sister. Now very confused, each mare galloped out the bakery only to find a large crowd of almost every citizen in town, their gazes seemed fixed on something upon the small hill outside Ponyville. Due to the crowd, what they were staring at was a mystery. Annoyed, Rainbow Dash bolted upwards above the crowd to see whatever the hay the commotion was about, her jaw dropped, her eyes widened at the sight.

“Whadd’ya see sugahcube?” Applejack inquired, looking up at her cyan friend. She didn’t answer and instead bolted towards the source above the crowd, leaving her friends to push and shove all they want.

“Pardon, sorry, excuse me” was what they said through the entirety of the path to the front of the crowd. By some quirk of luck, they made it, with one final shove, the seven mares made it to the front before their eyes gazed up to behold a sight that caused more jaws to drop and more eyes to widen.

“I missed you too, Dashie” that familiar said. What stood at the top of the hill was the sight of the all too well-known stallion, his red pelt, black and white mane, green eyes and jacket were all there. His face was without his hood, revealing his entire complexion. The cyan pegasus; Rainbow Dash clung tightly around him with her hooves, she grinned as her eyes clenched, holding him tightly in a warm hug, he returned it with a single hoof. He smiled down at her before he looked up and saw the other seven mares staring at him in shock. Wordlessly, the group rushed over to him and wrapped the scarlet stallion in a large group hug, squeezing tightly around him and each other. “Hey, everypony” he greeted calmly as the majority let go of him and stepped back, Vinyl, Dash and AJ took a little longer before they released him and stood a little closer to the red colt.

The entire town gazed up at their hero, the stallion that vanquished the changeling and evolved threat to Equestria. There were going to be something problems to sort out but that was the future’s problem. Right now, Kickback looked over at the mares that he called his friends, the townsfolk that would soon be his neighbours and Ponyville, the place that he would call home. He then gazed over at the three mares he loved and smiled. The three embraced him again upon the small hill on the far side of town, eyes on the verge of tears in silence.

“My name is Kickback…and I am home” he thought to himself before he felt Vinyl gaze on his face, he looked down at her and locked eyes with her.

“What do we do now?” she asked. Kickback simply looked at her and smiled.

                                                                                   End

Natural Selection written by Scarlet Brony

Original characters and basis owned by Hasbro, developed by Lauren Faust, directed by jayson Thiesson

Crossover plot line owned by Rad(i)cal Entertainment

Protagonist created by Scarlet Brony

Original Names owned by High Moon studios and Hasbro  

Cast:

Kickback: Chris Hemsworth

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy; Andrea Libman

Twilight Sparkle and Dana: Tara Strong

Rainbow Dash and Applejack: Ashleigh Ball  

Discord: John Da Lancie

Princess Luna and Rarity: Tabatha St. Germain

Grimlock: Johnny Depp

Princess Celestia: Nicole Oliver  

Queen Chrysalis: Kathleen Barr

Big Macintosh: Peter New

Zecora: Brenda Crichlow

Applebloom: Michelle Creber  

Crystal: Jennifer Aniston

"Smile, Smile, Smile" by Daniel Ingram and Shannon Chan-Kent

"Four Chords" by The Axis of Awesome

"Friend Like that" by Hawk Nelson

"Dramatic Song" by Toby Turner

"Leave out all the Rest" by Linkin park

Special Thanks to Silentpegasus, huntinguy, Spalding, boomerpro97 and Stradder for the support, respect