Natural Selection

by Kickback

Prologue - Everchanging

Now the lines are drawn
Is this feeling gone?
The best parts of this have come and gone
And now that is all this is
With the reasons clear
We'll spend another year
Without direction, full of fear
And now things will be different

---

How does one begin a story? Supposedly, one could possibly say that it started on a day like any other. Of course it would start on a day, stories do tend to start on days. The sun rose steadily over the horizon on this fine morning, the birds were chirping merrily and everywhere in sight there were those that were eager to start the day off and willing to live it to it's fullest.

In all modesty, one could say that that held some modest merit and one of those was none other than that ever-lovable party extrordinaire, Cheese Benjamin Sandwich.

But all his friends just call him "Cheese", he'd always tell you.

It was rare that Cheese would ever meet someone that wasn't his friend, so ironically, more often than not, some of his friends hadn't even the slightest clue about the "Sandwich" in his name. Let alone the "Benjamin".

He didn't mind though. He hardly minded anything. The only thing he could say that really got to him was people questioning his party-planning skills, if someone openly declared that they disliked whatever party he threw, one any level, especially if it was currently going...

Well, to put it bluntly...he lost his shit.

But he never hurt anyone. He just couldn't find any reason why someone wouldn't like his parties, he'd always get praise for them the next morning by everyone in school. He smiled at that. He smiled alot, actually.

Sadly, he had a few friends that didn't smile. In fact, some of them he'd never seen smile at all. Actually, now that he thought about it, there was really only one friend he hadn't seen genuinely smile but that was a special case. He had a different way at showing emotion. A more subtle one. Cheese knew he wasn't depressed, he was actually very much against that sort of thing. Nevertheless...

...Kickback was a special case.

Cheese Sandwich stood resolutely by his locker, idly chewing on a toothpick. The bell was due to ring at any moment now. He stood there, silently watching his fellow classmates open their own, retrieve their books and the like then proceed off somewhere else. He glanced at the small metal door one over from across his, there were little-to-no differences on the outside but Cheese knew that on the inside, the two lockers couldn't be more contrasting. Behind his own door hung a broad calendar, expertly marked with every precise date of every birthday, holiday, even a wedding was marked. Amongst his books rested an assortment of streamers, cake recipes, balloons, party-hats and, insanely, fireworks.

Cheese liked to keep all his things neat and tidy in one space.

Cheese had seen Kickback's locker. It was dark, the narrow walls were lined with posters of band insignias, he was always aware that his friend had a very distinct love of music. He was never curious by his taste, he didn't think a band named; "The Offspring" would interest him all that much. That's all he could ever really make out besides his assorted books and pens, strewn throughout the locker. He hoped that Kickback would learn to lighten up his image someday.

Cheese sighed, the few lingering parties, such as himself camped out in the same hall, idly chatting to one another about the latest topic or the oldest one or the other. It was your stereotypical high school scene.

Everyone that caught Cheese's gaze snapped to his own and smiled broadly at him, sometimes he'd even get a wave. Surprisingly enough, when he saw Roseluck, she promptly winked at him. He grinned at that. However, he did not move, instead he waited. He chose to wait by his locker, to wait for his freshly-dubbed "Best Buddy". Almost, uncharacteristically so.

When he sensed someone standing beside him, he turned, silently hoping that it would be who he had been expecting. However, that was not the case. Still, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He beamed when he saw hers.

"Hiya, Cheese!" She greeted ecstatically. Pinkamena Diane Pie was her name. When Cheese transferred to Canterlot High, he wasn't completely sure what he'd expect. He was already fairly good at making friends and contrary to popular belief, was actually quite bright but nothing could have prepared him for her.

His childhood best friend, standing there, her hair just as bright and curly as he remembered. Her bright cyan eyes sparkling brightly and that impossibly large smile stretched across her beautiful face.

"Hey, Pinkie! What's up?"

"Oh, ya know? Just thought I'd "Hi" to my favourite partner-in-parties. That one last week was super-funerific!"

"It sure was! Do you still think that I should've got blue strobe-lights-"

Pinkie promptly shut him up by clamming his lips together with both hands. "Shush your face! It was perfect!"

Cheese smiled as best he could, given his current state. He would've tried to manage a thankful reply but it was at that moment did he notice someone behind Pinkie, walking towards them. He recognized him instantly, one could never mistake that contrasting scarlet hue of his skin combined with his over-grown black hair with that clashing white stripe running vertically across it.

Cheese's mouth snapped Pinkie's grip on his lips clean off as he grinned. Even managing to make her stagger back a little. "Kickback!"

Pinkie followed her yellow friend's gaze and turned around to find the man in question. She looked him up and down, finding him clad in a simple three-quarter sleeve shirt, a leather vest and a pair of red-striped black track-pants. "Sup, Cheese?" He offered the tiniest flicker of a smile before reaching for his locker.

However, Pinkie was in the way, she only noticed this when he gave her a raised eye-brow. "Oops, sorry." She said, politely. Kickback only nodded in reply.

He unlocked the small metal door and reached in. It was then that Cheese figured why he had never seen the inside of it before. The door swung to where he now stood...and come to think of it, he always stood there. Call it a force of habit. "So, where were you yesterday, Kick?"

He didn't duck his head out to look at his curly-haired companion but spoke nonetheless. "Sick."

"Awww, well, 'least you're all better now, right?" Pinkie chirped in.

"Reckon so, I guess." He replied simply. With nothing to follow up with, she merely smiled at him, despite him not being able to see it and turned back to her fellow party-animal.

"So, Cheese, I-"

"Whadd'ya catch?" He swiftly cut her off. Pinkie felt a tad dejected but shrugged it off.

"Hmm?" Kickback murmured as he poked his head out this time.

"What d'ya get sick with?"

Cheese decided to ignore the slight roll of his friends dark green eyes. "I don't know." Pinkie, however, chose to not ignore it. He then pulled out an A4 page notebook and promptly closed the small metal door. Well, closed is a relative term, either of the party planners would use the term slammed. Pinkie grimaced a bit at that but was still grinning wide, from ear to ear, the pink-haired girl was starting to notice the flat-out contrast that the two boys had.

Yet, according to Cheese, they were the best of friends and for Pinkie, that's all she had to know.

"See ya in science, man." Kickback said. There was that flicker of a smile again before he turned and sauntered off, leaving both Pinkie and Cheese to themselves.

Cheese noticed his female companion/rival/equal/...well, there was alot of things he considered her but above all, she was his friend, her gaze never left the direction that Kickback had walked in before disappearing around a corner. He decided to speak up. "He's really cool when ya get to know him."

When he said that, Pinkie felt a little...ashamed? Why didn't she know him? She knew everyone in school. Hell, she was fairly sure she was familiar with 99.9% of the town. Kickback, however...she had only seen him a few times and barely shared more than few words with him at irregular intervals. Pinkie was aware that the red-skinned teen was not the most talkative of the lot, the only person that spoke less than him that she knew was Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh. She had to forcibly keep her eyes from widening at the sudden revelation.

She knew Big Mac.

Well, of course she knew AJ's brother but she knew him. He worked at home on the farm with his two sisters and grandmother, he's been at Canterlot high for as long as she can remember. Soon won't be though, since he's now in his senior year but that's also what bothered her. Kickback wasn't a new student, he only just transferred last year. "Is he always like that?"

"What do you mean?" Cheese counter-asked.

"I mean...he seems kinda mopey, doesn't he?"

Cheese paused before he let out a deep, light-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, good ol' Kick can be a bit of a downer but ya get used to it."

Pinkie took a moment to process that. "Well...that's good, then."

---

The Great and Powerful Trixie idly shuffled her deck of cards with expertise. She reclined back on the cheap metal-legged plastic chair and casually flicked them back and fourth with her trained fingers, enjoying the satisfying sound they made as they flailed apart and then clashed back together.

Trixie was a magician. Everyone knew that. Though, she always seemed to be a bit smug about that and more than a little obsessed with performing illusions to her "Adoring public". It didn't matter how small the crowd was, Trixie would amaze and amaze she did. She adored it when her fellow students personally asked for a trick, especially when she had just shown them one of the hundreds she knew just a few minutes ago. Trixie hated to admit it to herself but as far as she went to appear bemused but willing on the outside, as much as she tried to remain amazing at all time, all she really wanted was attention.

And attention she got.

At least, most of the time...

The cafeteria rattled with the muffled echoes of Canterlot High's students, chatting idly about anything they found worth talking about. Her own table was no exception, as it was anything but quiet.

Trixie glanced over across the table. Sitting there, casually relaxed back in her seat was none other than that spiky-haired dubstep enthusiast, Vinyl Scratch.

"So, then I say; 'Turntables on Motorcycles'."

Trixie tried to suppress her oncoming eye-roll, she really did...but she just couldn't.

"Turntables on motorcycles?"

Of course, there was the girl next to her she was talking to. Honestly, after what had just been said, Trixie wanted little to do with the conversation. She looked over at her. She was a short girl but Trixie had to admit that she was actually kind of pretty...

Shut up, you! The Great and Powerful Trixie is straight!!

...Ahem...

The hue of her skin was a light shade of red, almost bordering on pink. However, when Trixie thought about the colour pink, all she could compare it to was that crazy and particularly bubbly mare that hangs out with those other girls, what were their names? Argh, what did she care? Trixie only noticed that that pink one would occasionally hang out with her own friend, Cheese Sandwich.

Trixie had a sneaky suspicion of what just might be going on between those two.

But she could worry about that later.

Her eyes were a deep, crystalline azure and her hair was almost blindingly white, of course, one could barely call it hair, as it was so short but it suited her. She was clad in a grey, unzipped hoodie over a single white singlet, both of which were cropped, exposing just a peak of the flesh of her stomach. That's all Trixie could make out but she vaguely recalled seeing her walk over to their regular table in a pair of jeans.

"Damn straight." Vinyl smirked, taking a quick swig of whatever was in her plastic red cup. Though Trixie couldn't tell if she even was looking at the shorter girl. Those obnoxious glasses of hers always made talking to her so much less...personal and Trixie believed this to be the point.

Slip Stream was her name. "That's...possibly the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard." She replied, bemusedly.

Trixie let out a chuckle, Slip had always a tendency to swear at even the least appropriate of times, it was one the qualities about her that Trixie found charming, if not, hilarious. Sometimes, it could get a little out-of-hand, like the time her phone got confiscate by Principal Celestia...we all remember that one, she was this close to getting expelled.

Oh no, she didn't go off at her. However, it might've been better if she did. Slip managed to bottle up all her rage as she reluctantly handed her electronic "life-support", as she called it to the principal.

"You'll get it back at the end of school." She said.

That may have sent Slip over the edge. As soon as Celestia was out of sight, Slip let it all out in one fearsome bout of rage. True, she might be a little for over-reacting but you could either hate her for it or tolerate it.

And it's generally in your best interest to tolerate it, lest you feel her wrath.

Anyway, Celestia may or may not have heard her...and the rest is history.

Trixie found out quickly that if you wish to make Slip angry, all one needs to do is use her middle name. Trixie could understand, whoever heard of a middle name like "Dana" before?

"I dunno, I think it sounds like loads of fun! Maybe I should try it!"

And of course, she had to take that over-eccentric voice straight to the ear-canal. Sitting beside her was the ever-lovable Cheese Sandwich. Remnants of his lunch flying out of his mouth, almost skewering Trixie in the eye. She cringed at that, sometimes, it really wouldn't kill the that forsaken party-animal to learn some manners.

"Let us know how it goes if you come out of it alive, would you, Cheese?"

Ahh, Trixie had nearly forgotten.

Besides the exuberant yellow menace, at the opposite far end of the table was Slip Stream's brother. Tentatively gnawing a fresh green apple, Trixie's eyes were glued onto the red-skinned man in question, as were everyone else's. Trixie had nearly forgotten about Kickback.

And it would appear that everyone did fore as soon as he spoke up, all eyes were on him in slight shock.

Thankfully, Cheese broke the silence.

"You bet, Kick!" He replied excitedly. Kickback let out a closed mouth chuckle at that before tearing into his apple with hungry prejudice. He let it sit there in his teeth as he reached down, Trixie could only make out a thin black wire before she dropped a card in her musings and ducked to pick it up without leaving her seat.

"So..." Slip began, turning to face the table. "Rainbow Dash...whadd'ya think?"

Trixie hit her head on the table.

"Whatcha mean?" Cheese asked blatantly.

"I mean, is she...you know..."

Trixie looked back over and gave slip the highest eyebrow she could manage. Then she scoffed. "The great and powerful Trixie does not associate herself with...jocks." she proclaimed.

"That's just it." Slip looked over at the blue-skinned girl in question on the far side of the room, sitting by her regular group. "You think she might be...you know?" She asked, still just as vague as before.

Despite not being able to see her eyes, one could feel the deadpan look Vinyl was giving her. "No, Slip, I don't think she's gay."

Slip barely paid attention to the DJ and turned to her brother, who sat there, silently nodding his head with his eyes closed and mumbling along with the music that escaped his earphones. "What do you think, Kick?"

He said nothing but it seemed like he heard her...his music got louder as a result.

"Kick." She repeated, giving her brother a stern glare.

"Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a..."

"Kick!" Slip raised her voice an octave and grabbed him by the shoulder.

That seemed to get his attention, he turned his head to face her, obviously not impressed by being interrupted by his little sister. He silently groaned as he lowered the volume on his phone and pulled out the speaker on the side Slip was on. "What?" He asked, irritation laced in his tone.

"What do you think about Rainbow Dash?"

Kickback took a moment before speaking. "...She's a decent football player. Lass's got legs stronger than a horse. Once or twice, I swore I saw that ball catch fire as it shot by the goalie."

Cheese cocked his head inquisitively. "Ya mean 'soccer', right? That's the one where you can't use your hands-"

"No, I mean football." Kickback swiftly cut him off. Cheese fell silent.

"Yeah, that's great and all but do you think she's a lesbian?"

Kick stared at his sister. She was as blatant as she was crude. "No, Slip."

Trixie watched on throughout the short ordeal and silently wondered what sort of powers the black and white-haired teen possessed over his sister fore as soon as he gave his input, Slip dropped the subject with a shrug and an almost inaudible 'Huh'.

Before the table could undergo another bout of silence, Vinyl spoke up. "So, as long as you've decided to grace us with your attention." She said, sarcastically. "Did ya listen to that track I told you to yesterday?" She asked.

Trixie returned to her cards. Not partially caring about the conversation. Though, even as she watched the four of them converse, bicker and joke, she couldn't help smile. They were still her friends.

Her only friends, really.

Trixie did not like to admit it to herself, among other things but she truly enjoyed their company, despite not openly expressing it like Cheese might've. Outside of her little high school social group, she was actually quite lonely. Trixie frowned a little at that, she didn't want to feel so insecure about her feelings towards her social life. However, as her eyes glided over to Kickback again, she didn't feel so uncertain about it. Her friends were here, they weren't going anywhere.

They wouldn't leave her.

"Trix'?"

She perked up at the mention of the abbreviation of her name. It took her a moment to find that it was Kickback, breaking away from his current conversation to address her. "You okay?"

There was a slight warmth in her chest as she saw the concern in his emerald-rimmed eyes. She let out a small grin. "Trixie is fine."

He gave her a nod of affirmation right before she looked back down at her deck. "Just fine..."

---

Cheerilee was happy.

Anyone that new her would tell you that she was the kindest and most patient woman that you'd ever meet, which was probably why she worked as a high school librarian. At least, that's what she appeared as. Maybe at a time, Cheerilee could say with confidence that she was just as the people around her claimed her to be, perhaps there was a time when she would challenge any day head on with a beaming smile, facing any problem that came her way with determined vigour.

She wasn't so sure of herself anymore.

Outwardly, she was never mean, hateful or resentful. However, on the inside, she was still only human. She had imperfections, she had everyday problems, she was just a normal person and normal people can only take so much. People can't be happy all the time and she knew that, she found solace in that, something to give her semi-bi-polar personality meaning, an excuse.

She shook her head on these thoughts and brought herself out of her musings.

Cheerilee sat reclined back in her chair within the library, her library. In her left was one of the many trashy romance novels from the less educational section, as she liked to call it. Little did her fellow faculty members know that some of these books were also less than family-friendly.

She could care less though, she knew that half the students had experience sex at least once...this semester and it wasn't like they were ignorant enough to not understand. In fact, Cheerilee felt herself more in touch with them as she let them read whatever they came across, made her feel like the "Cool Librarian".

She supposed that was one step below "Sexy Librarian"...not like that was her secret goal or anything.

Cheerilee let out a quiet giggle to herself as she reached for her the coffee mug beside her, awaiting patiently on the table, not quite watching where her hand travelled. Engrossed in her book, she went to grasp around the handle of her cup. Only to instead knock it off the side of the wooden desk.

Her reaction time didn't beat how long it took for the white porcelain to shatter on impact as it hit the floor, pieces of mug scattering amongst the dark brown spillage of condensed coffee beans.

"Shit!" Cheerilee breathed aloud to herself, quickly rising to her feet and pulling the chair alongside her as to not let the dark river reach it.

Normally, she would scold herself for swearing in student-accessible areas or more often, never curse on them at all but she thought it okay as there were clearly no one else in the library other than herse-

That's when she heard the tell-tale click of a computer mouse.

Slowly, she turned her head around to find that, in fact, she wasn't alone at all. For how long? She had no way to be sure. Sitting at one of the school's computers was one of the more regular students to come into the library, at free will, no less. Cheerilee suppressed a facepalm as she remembered him. Him and the fact that she hadn't noticed him until now. Him and the fact that she just audibly swore in front of a student.

She chuckled nervously. "Heh Heh Uhhh...Sorry, Kickback."

The screen's light bounced off his face, making his green eyes shine with the sheer emotion locked behind them; intent. "It's okay." He didn't even look up at her. "Need help with that?" He asked, his voice as monotone as ever.

Cheerilee stood up a little bit straighter and cleared her throat. "Oh, no, no, that's alright. Thank you though." Her eyes darted to the left. "You won't mention...that to anyone, will you, dear?"

The few seconds of maddeningly stressing silence felt like an eternity to her. She could imagine it now, this red-skinned kid was going to tell all his friends and then the staff would catch wind and then she'd be called up and then she'd be warned and then she'll accidentally do it again and then Principle Celestia will know what kind of person she is and then she'll fire her and it'll all be this little brat's fault-

"Of course." A deep, scratchy voice brought her out of her dazed breakdown. Normally, she would never find the voice to be all that special but right then, she heard the most sweetest melody come fourth from between the teen's thin red lips. "Who am I going to tell?...Heh, who would even believe me?"

She had never seen him smile before. Even if it was small...and he still wasn't looking at her. Cheerilee felt a sudden great deal of appreciation for the boy and for the second time that day, she genuinely smiled.

It was a bitch that the library floor had to be carpeted. Sweeping away the porcelain shards was easy enough but now she had to scrub out the coffee stain. It wasn't until she was done and tired did she realize that there were in fact faculty members that work to clean the grounds, namely the school janitor.

Cheerilee hadn't spoken to him very often but whenever she did, she always left either grumbling or laughing. Discord was always the wild card. It amazed her that he wasn't doing stand-up comedy rather than working at a high-school.

Maybe he just prefers it here.

Cheerilee let out a yawn, her mind did tend to wander during work hours. Speaking of which, she had no clue what the time was, so on her way to her desk, she passed Kickback, still sitting idly at the computer, his eyes never leaving the screen. She stopped to peer at the small digital clock in the far bottom, right-hand corner of the monitor. It was nearing three o' five, she grinned at the prospect of soon returning home.

Cheerilee's eyes flicked up from the clock up to the webpage Kickback had up. All she could make out was a bold headline, a name; Hope Ida-

That's all she could read before he promptly closed the window and logged off, almost by the second that she saw what he was looking at. Cheerilee blinked, barely registering that Kickback had darted off so quickly and before she knew it, he was at the door with an almost inaudible "Goodbye, Miss Cheerilee."

Call her crazy but she could sense the irritation behind his normally stoic tone. Then he was gone.

Right as the bell rang.

Cheerilee just stared.

---

Not long after that inevitable siren had rung throughout the grounds did the wave of eager-to-get-home teenagers begin piling out in droves. In the oncoming crowds, filtering out the various exits, one could hardly make out any particular face, especially if they were to be looking for someone, specifically.

Applejack stood resolutely, leaning against the dusty red brick outer walls of the school, doing just that.

Applejack was in all fairness, a cowgirl. She knew this and she was down right proud of it. AJ wore her Stetson with the utmost pride and never decided to play off her natural southern accent, even in the company of those that would call themselves "Sophisticated".

At least, not anymore.

She clacked the sole of her heavy leather boot against the wall, letting out a deep groan of impatience, ever watchful of the front entrance. She eyed some of the out-goers a little bit more lengthy than what was considered appropriate but she didn't care, no one was watching her...and she was bored.

That tended to happen when she waited.

However, she spat in time's face and waited. As she always did. Applejack liked to consider herself thick-skinned. It took a Hell of alot to try and get under her skin and she prided herself on that. She wasn't anywhere near as impatient and headstrong as her friend, Rainbow Dash.

Applejack chuckled quietly to herself at the thought of her long-running prismatic companion. To think, her, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Dash had been the closest of friends since their eighth grade, about 3 years ago and she didn't think they'd ever stop being best friends.

She just knew it, what could possibly come between them?

"Might nothin', I reckon." She smiled to herself.

"Hmph."

Applejack jumped at the sudden deep, audible grunt behind her. Whipping her head around, she spotted the source. It was that red fella, the one who looks a mighty tad too much like her older brother, Macintosh. Except he was darker.

She decided that was probably the best way to describe the person in question; Dark.

His eyes were dark green, his skin was dark red and most of his hair was black. Not only that but Applejack could tell that the word was accurate on his personality.

Applejack always had a keen eye for folks. Could more often-than-not tell what you who anyone was like, really like. She liked to think of it as her "Super-secret-revealing powers" as Applejack tended to see through deception and lies as if it were the glass on a brand new wind-shield.

"Hell! Ya darn near startled me to death, how long have you been standin' there?" The cowgirl questioned.

"About as long as you have." Kickback replied, simply. "I take it you're waitin' for someone too?" He asked, though, the ingenuity in his tone was lacking as he lifted a fist to inspect his fingernails, almost smugly.

Applejack raised a single eyebrow at him. Not that she didn't know he couldn't see it. "Yeah...mah little sister, actually."

That managed to get Kickback to turn his head to look at her with his own little subtle surprised look. It didn't last long and about a second later, he turned back to face the grass beneath his feet. "...Me too."

Applejack smiled. "Didn't know ya'll had one...Kickback, was it?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I'm Apple-

"I know."

She stared at him. "How d'ya know?"

"I'm good with names and we've spoken before."

Applejack couldn't recall a time when she had shared this many words with him. "Ah'm sorry, Ah don't quite remember-" She cut herself off as she noticed him wave with a thin smile at something behind her. Barely a second later after she had spun her head around to see just who, she saw what looked like a smaller, feminine version of who she had just spoken to. Only, she had blue eyes, her hair was miraculously shorter while there was no black in it and the red of her complexion was a tone or two brighter. With a little skip in her step, she bounced over to them.

"Hey, Kick!" She greeted swiftly before spying the girl next to him. "Whose your girlfriend?"

Applejack's eyes widened exponentially. Kickback just shook his head with a tired sigh, his lips turned up in amusement. She looked towards him, silently begging for him to usher in an answer, a denying statement, a truthful explanation! Something honest!

But all he did was just remain silent, not caring at all for his sister's little comment, however comical, embarrassing or wrong it may have been.

Applejack decided to step in.

"C'mon, Slip." Kickback quickly said, cutting her off and motioning his head a swift tilt in a gesture to be followed.

The younger one nodded resolutely, still smiling. "Can we stop by Sugarcube Corner on the way?" Slip Stream asked, walking alongside her brother. She was marginally shorter than him but that was to be expected, the fella was roughly about Big Macintosh's height aswell.

"Sure." He replied, looking down at her.

"Awesome."

Kickback then stopped and turned back around, looking as if he'd forgotten something. "Bye, Applejack." He gave a nod of salutation.

Then the two were gone. Applejack, stood there, her jaw partially gaped as she watched the two siblings stroll away down the street, occasionally blending in with the other students as they walked. All she could do was stare.

"But, we're not-"

"Howdy, Applejack!" An accented, high voice rung from her side. She turned to find Applebloom, her own little sister standing there, gazing up at her with a wide beam strewn across her face. She must've noticed her expression as her smile dropped, replaced by a curious frown. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Applejack asked herself that and she didn't come up with anything.

"Nothin', sugarcube." She smiled, ruffling her sister's bright red man affectionately. "C'mon, let's go home."

Applejack considered herself a cowgirl and Kickback; dark. That's all she needed.

---

How does one begin a story? Does one start with the main protagonist idly going about their business, showing whatever their lives were before the sudden events told in the story? Does one simply focus on the main character and only them as they write their tales? Speaking only about what they were doing, who him or her are and how they wind up mixed in the conflicts, confrontations, decisions and climaxes of the book? Only presenting supporting characters that range from the overly perfect, to the diverse, to the loved, to the hated, to the ones that the readers will pick as their favourites and even to the catalysts? Is that all what a story is? A narrated venture predetermined by some higher power, toying with the lives of those that know not of the real world and are instead cursed to live in the set universe that the author has conjured up for them?

Perhaps so. Perhaps not.

As one continues to ponder over these questions, to determine whether or not stories are simple prisons, just as they are conduits for their imaginations.

A story now begins to write itself.

Kickback was...less than empathetic. Actually, he supposed official doctors and psychiatrists would deem him a borderline sociopath and maybe he was.

He didn't care, which probably just added to the case.

He never gave it too much thought as to why ended up the way he did. If he had to guess, it was the nine years he spent in foster care with his sister, Slip Stream. He hadn't even known his mother until she was released from prison about seven years ago. He wish he could still say that. Kickback despised his mother and couldn't wait to graduate from school so that he finally move out and hopefully take Slip with him.

That was the chink in Kickback's armour, his sister.

No matter how dark he may appear, no matter how much he may seem to be an uncaring yet intelligent brooding teenager, he loved his sister and he didn't think that was going to change any time soon. After all, he was the only parental figure she had and he didn't feel like just her protective big brother but more of a guardian to her.

Though, just like any other emotion he had, it came out extremely subtle. It wasn't his fault but he just naturally didn't express himself, sure he'd smile when appropriate and wasn't a complete pessimist, he even had a small group of friends at school, so that would imply that he was at least slightly likeable. Didn't it?

Kickback shook his head, his elongated hair swishing back and forth, bouncing off the walls of his hood and brushing softly along his face. Now was not the time to dwell on his psychological or social status.

Kickback had always been exceptionally intellectual in all fields, never truly caring for any of them but when he first began to study genetics, he found his passion. This lead him to being approached by a researcher, named Sharp Shot that happened to work in said field and said work was supposedly invaluably important. It was only by chance that the young student would become the apprentice of this particular scientist. Though, he would go on about how it was "Destiny" that brought Kickback to him. He couldn't agree, he didn't believe in fate. However, it wasn't so much an apprenticeship as it was an internship, the young boy found himself doing errands around the office more so than he would've liked but the doctor at least had the good nature to pay him. It was a complicated relationship but Kickback had a sneaky suspicion the doctor knew more about him than he had ever spoken and that didn't settle right with him.

Nor did the implications of his work. He had never even heard of Hope Idaho and he kept seeing that name pop out in the doctor's notes. Kickback didn't like being left in the dark, he didn't like not knowing.

The air outside was marginally cold, the chilling steam that escaped his breaths was evidence of such. He stood, clad in a dark grey vest with no design, of which he had pulled the hood over his head and a long-sleeved white collared shirt, he supposed it was a bit too formal as it was a dress shirt but he didn't care.

Tilting his head up, he took in the familiar sight of the building. Kickback had never quite gotten used to seeing the rather grand scale of the tower. It was as if it just continued to reach the sky, even as it was confined to it's static form. Kickback's eyes travelled downwards from there and locked of to the large, bright, bold lettering that hung above the the three pairs of doors that lead into the building.

GENTEK

Kickback stared at it for a long moment. As the seconds went by, he suddenly found an urge to just back away from the tower, to race to the train station and return to his home. Something in the back of his mind told him to run, to never look back, to just continue with his life as best he could fore if he didn't and instead chose to walk into the building...He wasn't sure what was going to happen.

He thought back to the events of the day. It was just like any other day why should that change now? Why would that change now? He reminisced on the last words he spoke to Slip. He had just gotten dressed and was about to walk out the door. That was until she had popped her head from around the corner to her room.

"Hey, Kick?" She prompted.

His hand grasped around the cheap brass knob. "Hmm?"

"Can you help me with my science homework?" Kickback had thought she had figured out that her little 'Adorable Begging Puppy' face wasn't quite as potent on him as it used to be but she tried nonetheless and he chuckled good-naturedly at her. "Please?"

He shook his and turned to look at her with a smile. He managed to make this one a tad bit warmer than he normally would. "I'll be right back, Slip." He opened the door, letting the cool night hair to sweep in.

"Do you have to go?" Kickback stopped. That tone in her voice...

He turned back again. She was standing right in front of him, a sincere pleading look on her face. "I mean, in case Mom comes back before you..." She trailed off, choosing instead to cast her gaze down to the floor.

Kickback let go of the door knob and placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. That got her to look up at him. "Okay."

"What?"

"I'll stay tonight." He grinned kindly at her. "Someone's gotta take care of you."

"Y-you mean it?"

"I promise."

Slip Stream tackled Kickback into a bone-crushing hug.

He cringed.

That's what he should have done.

"Can you help me with my science homework?" Slip asked.

Kickback barely gave her a sideways glance. "I'll be back later. We'll do it, then."

Then he was gone. The door roughly slamming shut behind him before he promptly locked it from the outside. The sight of the empty driveway brought an angry glare to his face. He flicked his hood on, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked on. He silently wished it would rain soon. He liked the rain.

Kickback hands balled up into fists as he sauntered up to the door. He was going to keep his word, in there and out, easy, no drama, no work, he needed to get home. So, as he pushed open the door and walked into the lobby, only one thought swam through his mind.

Today will end as an ordinary day.

...Oh, how wrong he was.

It wasn't difficult finding the lab, this certainly wasn't the first time he had trekked the ridiculously large facility nor was his destination very far from the first floor. Something about the building left an uneasy feeling in his gut, he couldn't quite tell what it was until he reached the wing. He walked up to a door, one amongst the other few in the hallway, in a tiny bar was a thin slip that read; BLACKLIGHT.

It was then that he found what was bothering him. He turned his head to look down both corridors. There was no one. He hadn't seen anyone else in the building since he had arrived. Normally, he'd bump into someone and more often-than-not manage to shatter a coffee mug or two in the process but not tonight, evidently.

For a moment, he considered just backing away again, perhaps this was just another sign but a sign to what exactly? That he should make time for what really matters?

Kickback would've mused on this further if he wasn't brought out of his thoughts by what sounded like...laughing? Someone was laughing from beyond the door. More so than that but it held a certain quality about it that he couldn't quite place. With a now bold sense of curiosity, Kickback pushed on the door, only to find it locked, oddly enough but he could understand. Still, Doctor Shot had provided him with a keycard to the section.

An immense wave of dread washed over him as the security designated him fit to enter right before he went to open the door.

He searched around the lab, not a person in sight, no scientists, no interns, nothing. However, he could hear something. A low muttering if his ears didn't betray him and as quiet and jittery as it was, Kickback couldn't help but recognise the voice as Dr. Sharp Shot's.

Tentatively, he walked. As he did, the muttering became louder and more coherent, Kickback could begin to hear rummaging, like the sounds of furniture and equipment being carefully yet frantically thrown around in some attempt to accomplish something...but what?

He needed to know, he hated not knowing.

He made his way to the office, his hands tightly clenched into fists and a a glare crossing his face. Kickback stopped just short of outside the door, the words; Dr. Shot printed on the slip between the suspended brass bars. Now, he could hear his voice clearly, gravelly yet refined and he could note the undertone of malice glee in it. The door was cracked ajar just a touch, enough for Kickback to peak inside.

"Sharp Shot's journal, entry no. one hundred and eighty six." There he sat on his revolving chair behind his desk, looking directly into a simple pre-set-up camcorder on a tri-pod, so far he hadn't seen the intruder that now silently spied on him. His lab coat was dirty and ripped in several places, his hair was a dark tangled mass of slick violet and the hue of his skin was a pale blue. Kickback noticed he was actively concealing something in his coat, almost as if he was waiting to surprise the camera with it.

"I've done it." He breathed, cackling mid-sentence. "I've finally done it. All my life, I've been trying to usher in the next evolutionary step for mankind and have always come up short." He looked down into his pocket where his hand rested. "But now...now, I can give it to them. It was right in my face the whole time. It was there, mocking me, practically giving itself to me and I didn't take it...until now."

Kickback watched as he raised a vial from his tattered coat. His eyes widened. The substance inside seemed to move on it's accord even as Sharp Shot moved it about while raising it to the camera, cradling it the same way a mother would handle her child. "The key was always the original strain. I just had to isolate it, separate it from all it's imperfections. It took time, oh, yes, it took time. Lost so many test subjects...but I've done it. I've perfected the virus!" He cackled madly as he brought out a syringe from one of the drawers to his left.

He drove it into the vial and extracted at most, half of it's contents. "Operation: Blacklight is over...the dawn of a new age has arrived...and I...shall be it's prophet."

Before Sharp could inject himself, the door to his office was abruptly barged open. When he turned towards it, he suddenly found his head collide with a nearby wall.

Kickback's eyes narrowed, his teeth gritted against eachother as he watched the doctor rant and rave above his 'Gift' to mankind. All he could think about was driving that needle directly into his eye socket. Now, it all made sense. Sharp Shot had taken to studying viral genetics since his enrolment at Gentek. Kickback knew better, between the virus's traits and the research Sharp had put into it, he could tell that Dr. Shot was studying bio-weaponry and had fooled everyone. All this time, he'd had a hidden agenda, there was only one thing Kickback could say to him.

He kicked in the door. "You sick fuck!"

Before Sharp could even respond, the hooded intruder promptly grabbed him and threw him against a wall, the vial falling precariously to the floor while his hand kept tight around the syringe. Sharp staggered from the shock and impact but regained composure just fast enough to watch the glass container shatter onto the hard floor, the contents of which splattered across it in a dark red stain.

Kickback expected him to scream in denial, to lash out at him the second he got but all Sharp did was look down at the needle in his hand and then up to him. In that moment, the boy could see just how far the doctor had fallen from his sanity and even more so when he began to speak. "Why, Kick, I wasn't expecting you tonight. How's school?"

"Shut the Hell, you mad bastard." He growled. "So, this has been your little 'pet project'."

Sharp Shot stood up slowly. "Well, technically it's our project but yes. Yes, it is." He mockingly dusted himself off. "I thought you were on board with it."

"Infecting the world with a deadly virus? I should kill you."

Sharp's expression suddenly made the hooded boy a tad less confident. "Infecting it? I'm saving it! Can't you understand what I'm doing? Humanity is stagnant, dying!" He raised the syringe in his hand. "I would give it one body, one mind. I'm sure you've done some digging around and found just what happened in Hope Idaho."

"Yes, I have and you want history to repeat itself..."

"Think about it. No more conflict, no more disease, no more suffering. Don't you see? I'm giving it a second cha-!"

Kickback had enough. With a swift motion, he swung his fist into Sharp Shot's jaw. This time, actually managing to make him drop the syringe. That seemed to be enough to set him off fore when he looked back at his former apprentice, the anger that burned within his silver eyes was immeasurable. As the glass shattered, Kickback was roughly knocked to the ground by a single punch to the teeth. Before he could stand up, Sharp growled and brutally kicked him in the face, sending his hood flying off and sending flying him across the room.

Kickback staggered to his feet but was hoisted off of them as Sharp grabbed him by his collar and threw him flat across his own desk, papers and equipment following the boy as he rolled off the edge, crumbling to a heap on the floor. Sharp sauntered over to him and glanced towards the shattered containers that dropped from his hands. His hopes and dreams that were literally crushed by this child.

"Do you have any idea what you've done!?" Sharp shouted, crouching down beside the trembling body of the hooded student. Kickback's hands scrounged around the debris for a weapon, he grabbed the large and heaviest object he could find. A laptop. "Years of research and for wh-" And roughly bashed it against Sharp Shot's head. The resulting thud and cry of pain was satisfying. However, he couldn't bask in his sudden triumph for long. He stood up, noticing that the doctor hadn't and was about to dash towards him with a swift kick but was stopped as Sharp managed to find his weapon; a beaker. Without hesitation, he spun around and ditched it right at the hooded teen.

Even as he brought his hands up in a reaction to protect himself, Kickback felt the glass shatter and pierce broken shards through his clothes and into his skin. He screamed in agony as he felt blood seep from his forearm and his side. Before he could focus on the pain, he was roughly shoved backwards and ended up tripping over the table again. Kickback looked towards the chair and grabbed it by it's leg. As Sharp pushed the desk aside to reach him, Kickback swung the chair into his head.

Sharp staggered backwards across the office, stepping precariously towards the large glass window. The boy in the hood noticed this for a brief second and decided to act rather than think. With as much strength as he could muster, Kickback threw the chair at Sharp. Too dazed to realise what was going on, he failed to dodge or catch it and instead went flying back into the glass. A small crack formed in it when the back of his head bounced off against it.

Kickback didn't waste any time. He dashed over to Sharp Shot, grabbed him by his neck and squeezed. The mad doctor squirmed and wrapped his hands around the arm that held him, that choked him. In that moment, something seemed to snap inside Kickback, the green of his eyes might as well have been on fire because the way Sharp looked at him as he fought for his life...he had never seen anyone so scared before.

He didn't like the way it sounded but for whatever reason...he liked it.

A growl escaped him as he punched Sharp across the face, still holding him in his vice-like grip. Bloody splattered from the doctor's mouth onto both of their clothes. Kickback slammed his head into the glass, the crack that formed there grew as did the splash of crimson. He became relentless.

Punch.

Slam.

Punch.

Slam.

Crack.

With a roar, Kickback pulled the now-barely alive Sharp Shot away from the unstable window and grabbed his collar with both hands. He looked into his eyes once again, watching as they struggled to remain open. There was no madness or hatred in those eyes now. They were dead. He was dead. He just didn't know it yet. Kickback gave the doctor one more rage-filled glare before he acted.

He threw him.

The weight of the geneticist's body was enough to finally make the glass give way. It shattered on impact. Sharp Shot was sent hurdling towards the ground from about twenty stories up. Kickback staggered to the ground, slowly moving away from the window, not bothering to look over the edge. He knew what he'd find.

A ragged sigh escaped him. Oddly enough, it hurt to breath. He looked down, he saturated in blood, and the floor began to pool it around him. His lacerations went deeper than he had thought and he was sure a rib or two were broken as were a few teeth knocked out.

Had Kickback done the right thing? Was what he had just done justified? Murder is still murder but given the circumstances...

He couldn't think, his head felt light and he felt drained. Kickback looked over to the vial. Then over to the syringe, viral liquid spilling from each. He smiled at that.

He smiled even as the tears flooded his eyes.

Was this it?

Was he just supposed to die tonight? Was there some form of poetic justice in this? A sacrifice for the good of mankind? Or was it just karma biting him for killing a man in cold blood just moments before?

Kickback began to weep, clutching at his bleeding wounds as if that would get them to stop. "S-slip..."

He wondered if there'd be a funeral. If anyone might be able to understand why two men had to die tonight and the darkness behind the reason. He wondered if there might've been anyone that would agree with Dr. Sharp Shot. Maybe humanity is inferior, maybe we do need to find some way to better ourselves, to evolve.

It's just natural selection, after all. A key mechanism in evolution.

He though about his sister. Hopefully she'd be okay without him, maybe their mother will get busted again and she'll be sent into foster care again. He thought about his friends. He chuckled. If they could see him now, not even Cheese could lighten this mood, try as he might. The thought of Vinyl looking down on him as he lay there, dying brought upon another wave of sorrowful tears.

Perhaps his claim to hold no empathy wasn't as true as he had thought.

Kickback found comfort in that, he wasn't a heartless monster.

He breathed one final time.

"...I-I'm...s-s-sorry..."

Then he was gone.

Unbeknownst to the contents of both the vial and syringe bonding together on their own accord and slithering towards him in a heaping, writhing viral mass.

How does one begin a story?

With the end, of course.

Author's Note:

I know, I know. Some of you are screaming in your seats; "A prelude AND a Prologue? When will the claw-cleaving carnage happen?! C'mon Scarlet!"
Don't worry, trust me, mate, there shall be blood.

Everchanging - Rise Against

Comments

[Dr_D]

Wow, that was good.
Really good.
I cant wait to see more.

[Phys]

Wait, so kickback, didn't originally have the virus in him?

He got it during his school years?

Or before?

[crescent eclipse]

Like your story can't wait for more

[trondason]

Interesting reboot, but I'm rather curious why you A) made this happen in the Human world, not too much of interest to do there comparatively, no magic, no dragons, no Elements of Harmony, no Alicorns who move the Sun and Moon through the sky, and B) why you decided to Expy Alex and Dana, rather than using Alex and Dana.

[Phys]

4437986 what the hell was I thinking when I wrote this...

[Kickback]

4903777 I'm not...sure