Just For Kicks

Kickback woke up when he felt the sting of the sun on his face. His head was throbbing but he wasn't sure why. He looked at the ceiling; just thinking about what he had gotten himself into. He moved one of his legs to scratch an itch, only to have it tugged away by the hoof cuff. He gave a deep sigh only to have the warmth of his breath wrap around his mouth, as if something was blocking him from exhaling freely. It struck him as odd and so he gave himself a quick look; only to growl at what he saw.

All over his body was medical tape featuring Star swirl the bearded. The only area that didn't feature the iconic beard and hat was the slit where his eyes were. He tried to wriggle the tape off but whoever did it also stuffed his mane and tail in there too and only caused him pain in movement. He couldn't yell either; any attempt he made to make a coherent sentence came out as a loud grumble. Between one of his mumbled rants, he heard the faint sound of ponies talking in the halls. One voice stuck out in particular.

Oh no it cant be her; wait. Now I remember oh yeah, thats how all this tape crap got on me.

It was then that the door swung open and in came a caramel colored doctor with nurse Red Heart trailing behind.

At the sight of each other both Red Heart and Kick furrowed their eyebrows, but Red Heart had a wide grin on her face.

" Now lets see, Kickback you.... thats.. new." Of course he was referring to Kick's outfit of beards and wizard hats." How did this happen?

" I cant say I know doctor, but it looks like he doesn't mind, why don't we just leave him in there for awhile?"

The doctor sighed " Nurse Red Heart for the last time; please stop terrorizing the patients in their sleep. Not everypony is what they appear to be. For all you know he could be a famous celebrity or a wonderbolt ."

Not bad Doc; if Kick's mouth wasn't covered a smile of relief would have been visible to all. Seems that not everypony around here is crazy

" Now please untie him, Ms Sparkle will be here any minute to pick him up. The last thing I need is for her to poke around the hospital and point out our "inefficiencies" and annoy the patients with her studies."

With a frown Red Heart began to undo the tape binding Kick's mouth. Once free he immediately began to yell at the nurse.

" What the hell is wrong with you lady! You cant just go around tying up people in a hospital, especially if you work here. I ought to..." Kick was cut off by a swift hoof to the face rendering him unconscious.

"Was that necessary nurse?"

"For his own safety I believe it was."

The two shared a chuckle and a security pony came in to undo Kick's cuffs. Once Kick was free the guard threw him over his back and they all made their way to the lobby.Twilight had arrived at the hospital some time later, and was greeted by a large security pony with an unconscious Pegasus on his back.

" Ms Sparkle?"

"Yes?"

"I believe this is yours", and with that said the guard promptly bucked Kick off of him and into the ceiling. He was there for a few seconds until he finally detached and fell flat on his head. Twilight gave the guard a look, witch caused him to whistle and trot away. She heard a groan and realized it was emanating from the stallion in front of her.

" I'm probably gonna have brain damage by the time I'm done here." Kick was sitting and rubbing his head." So who are you pretty lady?"

Twilight was smiling, " Its good to see you again Kick."

" How do you know my name?"

" You don't remember me? We took classes together at Canterlot University ."

"Nah"

" What! How can you not remember the time when you made paper airplanes out of an entire notebook and threw them all over class and managed to hit me in the eye twice?"

" OH; Twilight? Now I remember you. Yeah you got so mad about that and turned me into a turtle for an hour and threw me into a biology class. The scars still haven't healed."

The two reminisced on the lobby floor for awhile until a nurse asked them to stop blocking the route to the emergency room; so the two decided to take a walk around Ponyville instead. They passed all the most well know locations in Ponyville such as, Sugar cube corner and the apple farm; which took them some time to go around. They shared old stories of Kick terrorizing Twilight during school and how she punished him with near death experiences.

" Good times" Said Kick with a deep sigh."Everything's all about work now though.  Which is fine since I enjoy what I do. What about you; what you been up to, last I heard you lived in Canterlot's library like some evil troll thing."

" Oh ha ha Kick, well if you must know I'm in Ponyville to learn about friendship. Among other things which all come down to my love of my friends."

" Never thought I would hear you talk about anypony that way besides your brother. No offense but you didn't seem to have any friends during school; at least none that I could see. Maybe you befriended a clan of invisible dragons?" Both of them chuckled.

" Well now that you mention it, I do remember hearing strange voices during lunch."

" So why are you here right now and not with your friends? I'm sure you'd rather be with them than catching up with me."

" Actually thats why I'm here; it seems you're here to scout one of my friends for the Wonderbolts." The two were now outside Twilight's library . "Something like that I guess, what is this place anyways?" "This is the Ponyville library and its also my house." "You live in a library? My head hurts to much for me to be surprised, speaking of that would you happen to have an ice pack in there?" A very noticeable bump began to form on Kick's head."Yeah no problem let me open the door."

Kick was sinking into one of the beanbag chairs lying around; with a pack of ice resting on his head. Twilight sat across from him in a wooden chair,sipping a cup of tea.

"So Kick."

"Yeah?"

"Earlier when you said "something like that", what did you mean? Are you here to recruit Rainbow Dash or not? Wait a minute how did you even become a scout?"

"I just met the right people I guess, I don't really know why I became one; but I enjoy it so thats that. As for Rainbow Dash; I'm here to scout her. Weather the Wonderbolts accept her comes down to how well she preforms at the academy. Although I'm pretty sure she should have no problem getting in."

" You say that as though she were already a Wonderbolt. What makes you so sure she wont have a hard time?"

"uhhhh, call it a hunch. "

Twilight stared at Kick suspiciously; she didn't trust the fact that he said he had a "hunch". She had a good reason not to trust that phrase when it came out of his mouth. Last time she heard him say that was when she overheard him telling his friends that he was sure he would ace a test. They asked him why he was so confident, and he told them it was a "hunch"; ten minutes into the test Twilight had stretched her already sore neck only to see kick with a folded up piece of paper on his lap. Normally she would just ignore cheaters and leave them to their fate; but in Kick's case she felt like she could have some fun.

With a small amount of effort she had cast a spell on the paper making it stick to any surface it touched. Kick spent a good part of the allotted time just trying to unfold the page and look at the answers. By the time everypony had been told to turn in their test; Kick was busy trying to detach his wing from the paper. This little memory made Twilight chuckle; so much so that she couldn't hear the faint gasps of Kick trying to breath as he sunk down deeper into the bean chair."Twi...light.."

"Huh? Oh my, hang on Kick ill get you out of there!" Twilight got up spilling her tea and teleported Kick out of the bag and onto a nearby rug. The two shared a sigh of relief for a few seconds until Kick smelt something burning. The tea was close enough to the fireplace and his tail to cause a fire. He looked at his tail and immediately began to run all over the library  flailing his burning tail around. Twilight screamed and began to cast a spell on him, as her magic bolt made contact with him the fire vanished. For a few seconds at least; when it came back his mane and tail were on fire. Spike came down stairs to investigate the noise, only to have his jaw drop at what he saw. A stallion was running around the the library on fire spreading the flames, and Twilight was panicking reading her safety "know how to" books. He composed himself and ran over to a nearby lever and pulled down with all his might; and as soon as he pulled it down the buildings sprinkler system began to go about putting out the fires, and eventually Kick.Spike had collapsed form exhaustion since the lever was designed to be pulled by either magic or a stallion as large as Big Mac.

It was during this return to peace that the door to the library opened; revealing a cyan Pegasus mare.

"Hey Twi did you pick up that sc...the hay happened here?" Rainbow stood puzzled as her scout was covered in ash and appeared to have had his mane and tail almost burned off. Twilight was lying on the floor covered in books and soaked from the still ongoing sprinkler system. Spike was on the floor either sleeping or unconscious. " You know what it doesn't matter hey you uh, Kickback right?" " That's right?"

" Now that Im done with weather duty for the day; mind if I talk to you about Wonderbolt stuff? Oh and if you don't mind could you sign some things? Rainbow had a sack around her bulging with Wonderbolt memorabilia." You don't know my name and you want me to sign to stuff. I'm not even on the team."

"I don't want you signing anything until you clean yourself up, no way I'm letting you in my house covered in that stuff." Rainbow was gesturing to all of the ash covering his coat; Twilight took a moment to compose herself."I'll get on that as soon as I help clean this place up; would be rude of me to nearly burn down Twilight's house and not help fix it. " No its OK Kick; I wouldn't want to get in your way of recruiting Rainbow." " Are you sure? Because its no big deal." " I'm sure sure, you two go." Kick decided that Twilight wouldn't be changing her mind soon; so he choose to just comply rather than argue with her. He made his way to what he hoped was the bathroom and not some closet filled with random junk; but hopes are for the weak. As soon as he opened the door a large box fell out landing on his back nearly squishing him. By Celestia this town is a death trap!

Kick managed to slide the box off his body and pack into the closet, this time placing it on the floor. " Hey Twi wheres your bathroom?" " Upstairs first door on the left, oh and watch your step please; I don't want you stepping on Spike.""Thanks." While Kick went upstairs to clean himself up Twilight got to work cleaning up the mess of burned and soaked books lying around. Rainbow grabbed a broom and began to help by sweeping the ashes into a pile; the two worked for a good while before Kick came back down. By the time he had, they were almost done, all that was left was for Twilight to cast a spell that would repair the books with the ashes." What do you want me to do with this little dragon fella?" " You can just put Spike on the couch over there." After doing so Kick looked at Rainbow and they both nodded  at each other signaling that they were ready to depart. As they were walking out the door Twilight spoke Kicks name; saying that she forgot to give him something, and magicked a scroll out of nowhere and gave it to him. He instantly threw it into Rainbows sack and told a surprised Twilight that he doesn't like opening letters in public and that he would "deal with it later".

After Rainbow said Goodbye to Twilight Kick turned to take flight only to stop when he heard Rainbow clear her throat. " Aren't you forgetting something Kick?" " What is there something wrong with my hair?"" Aren't you going to say bye to Twilight? I thought you two were like old friends or something?" " We are; which is why she knows that I never say goodbye, I don't like goodbyes. The few times I do say them are by mistake or I truly mean it."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow had raised a curious brow.

"He doesn't like goodbyes, because to him it means he will never see that pony again. So instead he just says something like see you later or most of the time he doesn't say anything at all; that way well at least to him, it seems like he never left."

"OK...well thanks Twilight but we gotta get going." Without waiting for a reply Rainbow took off dragging Kick by his bandanna.

" I can fly you know!"

" Sorry but im kind of in a hurry." After dragging Kick for half a mile Rainbow arrived at her cloud mansion. She turned around to see that kick had acquired a beard of clouds along the way but he didn't seem to notice. She couldn't help herself; she immediately began o laugh in such a way that Kick thought she might be having some kind of a seizure. As soon as Rainbow composed herself she unlocked her door and walked in gesturing Kick with a wave to follow. The first that surprised Kick was how big the house was compared to how it looked on the outside. The house was beautiful on the outside but it did no justice to what lay indoors. Elaborate columns adorned the many arches that defined Rainbows cloud home." How does a weather pony pay for this?" His eyes widened when he realized he said that aloud; he cast a frightening glance to Rainbow who surprisingly didn't seem to be mad.

"I didn't mean it that way its just...." "No its ok, its actually a funny story; I got all of my furniture for free pretty much and I used the bits I saved to fix up the house into what it is today. Originally it was a one bedroom cloud house with a simple kitchen and bathroom, and an old rainbow fountain. I had saved up money ever since I was a filly and put hundred of the bits I earned from chores or odd jobs into a bunch of jars labeled "first house", and thats how I paid for the mansion's renovations. As for how I got all the furniture and beds and almost everything not bolted into the walls for free; well some pony just gave them to me. I was shopping for a lamp and on my way out of one of Ponyville's shops when I came out see an earth stallion in a business suit  running around screaming my name and tightly holding a briefcase.

I had just moved into Ponyville about a week ago so I didn't really know anypony; save for Pinkie Pie, but she kind of found me when I got there. I walked over to the stallion and told him who I was; turns out he was an old friend of my father's and that the briefcase he was holding was for me. As soon as he hoofed over the case he took off towards the train station screaming at me to not open the case until I got home. I didn't get much time to talk to the stallion, not even his name, he spoke and I listened and it was all over in less than a minute.

So I stood in front of the town hall for awhile thinking about what just happened and decided to just go home and deal with it later. Later on as I was getting ready to go to sleep I felt something poking me in the back and remembered that the case was still there. I grabbed the case and decided to just open it and see what was in the stupid thing; when I did I was blinded by the light reflecting from all the bits stored in there. I was surprised that the case wasn't as heavy as it should have been; but inside there was a scroll with my name written on the cover. I opened the letter and...oh wait I think I still have it; why don't you take a seat while I go get it."

Kickback didn't have time to even ask her where her living room was before she bolted off into Celestia knows where. He decided to take this time to explore the cloud mansion; from room to room he wandered, the kitchen, workout room, rainbow waterfall, which was his favorite room. Very few cloud homes still had rainbow bird baths let alone an entire waterfall, he looked into the falls source and its small pool of colors and had a thought. I wonder what it taste like? Does blue taste like blueberries OH maybe yellow is banana. I'm sure Rainbow wont even notice let alone mind. What followed was a spectacular display of speed as Kick darted out of the room and around the mansion searching for something to remove the spicy pain that his tongue was being subjected to.

After what seemed like hours( in reality he running for about ten minutes) Kick accomplished nothing and found himself laying down in a long hallway; panting and suffering from a lack of oxygen. He looked around and spotted a wooden door large in size compared to the others in the mansion and it had a very large symbol on it. It looked familiar to him; and needless to say he has never forgot anything ever since he forgot to raise his hoof to speak during one of Twilight's presentations. He got up to investigate the door and realized that the symbol was that of the wonderbolts. He looked around to see if Rainbow was near and sure enough, he could hear her calling out his name. He had to find out what made the contents that lye beyond that door worth a door so massive. However now was not the time seeing as Rainbow had spotted him and was flying through the hall at breathtaking speeds.

"Where have you been, Ive been looking all over the place for you? Come on I don't wanna keep my friend waiting and I found the letter if you still want to read it."

"This place is massive; how often do people get lost around here? I wasn't here for more than five minutes and I ended up nearly getting killed by your rainbow fountain."

"You drank out of the fountain? I mean its not the first time some pony has; one of my friends did about a month ago and her tongue turned rainbow colored for a week; It helped her sell cupcakes though."

"Will my tongue turn rainbow like you? I mean not that its a bad thing...I mean I like your mane, it looks good on you you uhhh; I think I'm ready to see that letter."

Rainbow led Kick through her maze of a home and back to the living room where she had two mugs of hot chocolate waiting next to an old scroll; along with pink a maned mare sitting sitting on the couch. Before they were within hearing distance of the mare Kick leaned over to ask Rainbow who she was; to which Rainbow replied" Shes one of my best friends, and her is name Fluttershy; so be nice or else. Kick took the warning about as seriously has had Twilight's in the past. The two sat and Kick introduced himself to Fluttershy who seemed to be very nervous. Apparently Fluttershy was there just to chat with Rainbow. Rainbow hoofed Kick the scroll to read while she and Fluttershy left to the kitchen taking with them the two mugs. The scroll had obvious signs of being exposed to the harsh conditions that was Rainbow's cabinet. Kick decided that he might as well solve the mystery of how a weather pony could afford such a lavish home.

" My Dear Dashie

If you are reading this then You've finally grown up and moved out of the house. I know its scary at first but trust me; nothing tops that time that I visited a rock farmer and his daughter nearly gave me a heart attack with one of her welcoming parties. To this day your mother questions why I even bothered going there but between you and me I prefer the rural life over the city. However the city is not without its benefits; when you were born I was so happy that I ran outside the hospital jumping and flying with Joy, so much so that a local hobo asked me if I was a mental ward escapee. I replied no but between the laughs I doubt he believed me. The poor colt was still young, in the prime of  his life I would say; and here he was spending it begging for bits. Now I couldn't simply let something like this go by on your birthday! After all it was a time to celebrate and I knew what this colt was going through; so I decided to sit down and talk with the young lad. I got him up on his hooves and asked him if he had any dreams. To my delight he replied yes, of course I asked him what they were and he responded by saying that he wanted to be a doctor, and a fashion designer , and an engineer, the list was endless; and by the time I thought he was done; he took a deep breath and I didn't have it in me to listen to the rest so I cut him off by shoving my hoof in his mouth. I looked him in the eyes and I could see that this young lad was truly serious about everything he was saying; so i made a decision that your mother has never let me live down until now. I took out my checkbook and made it out to this colt whose name I never got; in fact to this day I still don't know him, Id like to think it was something memorable like Prince Consuela Banana Hammock or something of the sorts. I basically gave this stranger who I have never met before all of my life savings. The young colt was so happy that he asked my name and I told him to which he replied that he has every intention of paying me back and then some. However I already had the most valuable thing in the world; you. So I told him not to worry about it.  I never heard from the colt again until the day of your graduation when he sent me a letter saying that he would like to meet me. I agreed and we arranged a meeting at a wonderbolts show, I hardly remembered who this colt was and let alone what he looked like so you can imagine finding him through the crowd of ponies was a very difficult task. Thankfully i didn't have to; the kid found me and he had one of his escorts or bodyguards, I don't remember, take me up to his box seat. he immediately greeted me with a hug and offered me a drink, I declined seeing as how I had to be at your graduation thirty minutes ago; so I got straight to the point and asked him why he wanted to meet. he said that he had spent over a year trying to find me so he could return a favor; one that he said was long over due. My memory instantly returned and I realized where this was going, and I think he picked up on it. He took out several briefcases, and opened them.  I almost lost all ability to breath at the sight of all the bits. He said that he had finally managed to complete everything on his list accept for one thing and asked if I would help finish this last task. I said sure without really giving a second though and by this time I was almost an hour late to your graduation and I could already hear your mother fuming from across Cloudsdale. He said that the only thing he had not been able to accomplish on his list was task of asking me a question. " Ask away" I said ; surprised that this is what he wanted my help with. "Why did you help me" he said; I looked at him with a surprised " Most ponies would have laughed off the my list of dreams; but not you... why?" " You've just answered your question." " I...Have?"

"I helped you because you had dreams, you had goals, you had passion. I helped you because I wanted to set an example for my daughter; to make a statement that beautiful things like her can happen everyday on any scale. In succeeding you have already repaid me, but if you don't mind I have a favor to ask of you." Of course anything for you!" ' These massive amounts of bits that lay before me you initially intended on giving them to me right?" " Of course," " well do you mind giving them to my daughter instead, she's graduation from high school today and I have a feeling she will be moving out soon seeing as how she has been looking at real estate in Ponyville." " Say no more ill have the briefcases delivered to her the day she moves to her new home, just tell me when and where and how much." The stallion looked at me with teary eyes and said to me," Its great to see you again, truth be told there were times when i was willing to give up but your act of kindness motivated to push my limits and achieve my goals; and for that I thank you." I gave the lad a hug and took off towards your school hoping that your mother wouldn't kill me on sight." My hoof hurts right now Dashie and quite frankly you know the rest, this treasure trove of bits is for you and your new life in Ponyville. I just know you'll be a Wonderbolt ; I know this because like that young stallion you have a dream. Dreams aren't cheap though; so take these bits and get to work. I believe in you; but what matters most is that you believe in yourself. Take care sweetie, I love you."

Kick put the scroll down in amazement, I cant believe that this guy wrote all that down in one sitting. I got tired just from reading that thing. Wait he said briefcases, sweet Celestia this mare is probably loaded! He could hear the two mares in the kitchen laughing and giggling; he decided that it was time for him to leave seeing as how Luna's moon was due to rise soon. He went to the kitchen to say bye only to see Fluttershy crying which concerned him greatly; seeing as how a few seconds ago they were laughing. " Is everything all right?"  He asked. Yeah I juts got done telling Fluttershy here who you were and why you're here." " Then why is she crying?" " I'm just so happy thats all." Her response so soft and subtle Kick almost missed it.

" Well if you ladies don't mind; I need to check into a hotel and seeing as how I don't know my way around here, I should probably try to find one before it gets dark."

Fluttershy gasped and faced Rainbow," Oh rainbow you cant let him go out all alone looking for a hotel at this hour! he might get lost or wander into the Everfree forest or get lost AND wander into the Everfree forest. Why not let him stay in one of the guest rooms?"

" No really, its no big deal I can ju.." Rainbow stuffed a nearby cloud cake into his mouth and spoke.

"No guest of mine is going to stay at a hotel when I have a perfectly good guest room somewhere in this place. Besides I'm sure seeing as how Fluttershy is here I don't have much of a choice."

After swallowing what he could of the cake and coughing up the rest Kick managed to get a thank you out before Rainbow and Fluttershy began to walk out of the Kitchen. He looked to see if they could still see him and once he decided that the coast was clear; he turned to the cake and eyed it mischievously. Fluttershy had left and Rainbow returned to Kick so she could show him to his room for the night. She expected to come back to the kitchen and see Kick waiting for her; but instead she came back to see him completely devouring the cloud cake. She stood still watching him for awhile; and it took him a good while to notice her standing there.

" umph..agh...hofe...foo arnt.. mag" His words barely audible due to the massive cake that was only halfway into his mouth.

Rainbow looked at him and began to laugh; so much so that Kick to laughed from sheer nervousness and partially for the sake of laughing. After swallowing he tried to ask her why she was laughing; she replied in between breaths" You eat... just like him!"