//------------------------------// // The Lone Wanderer // Story: The Quiet Kid: Day by Day // by aegishailstorm //------------------------------// William watched as the sun once more dropped below the horizon, and the moon rose in it's place, casting long shadows though the trees of the Everfree forest. He trekked deeper and deeper into it, so far, he hadn't encountered any resistance whatsoever, no timber wolves, no manticores, none of those weird glowing bear things either, sure, he could hear rustling in the bushes around it, he wasn't worried, because as far as he was concerned, he was the most dangerous thing in this forest. "Ah, the moon's out again, nothing's trying to eat me, and it's quiet, there isn't a pony in sight. Just like the old day's, me, by myself, in the middle of nowhere, weapon in hand. Without a care in the world. He continued his way deeper into the forest, until he came to a clearing, one that looked all to familiar. At the end of it, was a ravine, and on the far side of it, an overgrown stone castle. "This place eh? Looks abandoned, plus, I'm bored." William looked up at the moon, it was still high in the sky. "Still got plenty of time to get back to Ponyville before the sun rises. Just hope those 'Friends' Of mine don't go looking for me. He stepped to the edge of the cliff face, setting a hand on the old stone pillars which once held a fragile rope bridge. "How the hell do I get over there? I'm to lazy to try and go the long way around so-" He thought back to a documentary he had watched on climbing mount Everest back on earth. He pulled out an extending ladder, and set it at the edge of cliff, anchored it with some tent spikes. He slowly extended it over the edge, all the way to the far side, a good 60 feet away. "I swear, the length's I go to in order to preserve my sanity." He shook his head and began to craw across the ladder. "Hey, William? William, we're sorry!" Joey knocked on his front door, to no avail. "Where else could he have gone? It's not like he knows anypony else, besides, it's past midnight." Rainbow asked the group. "I- I don't know, I do know that if he actually wanted to disappear and stay hidden, we'd never hear from him again. I suppose the only thing we can do is go to sleep and hope he comes back by morning, we can go out searching for him then, alright?" "Well, alright then, I mean, it's not like anything can hurt him out there, right?" Applejack asked in turn. William slowly crossed the gap, he looked down, the ravine bellow him was shrouded in fog, he couldn't see the bottom. "Why do I put myself though this?" He scrambled to the other side, and once both feet where firmly planted on the ground, he snapped his finger, and the ladder bridge behind him disappeared, he looked along the pathway leading up to the defunct castle. "Ah, always loved abandoned buildings." He continued off towards the castle. As he got closer, he noticed that portions of it's outer walls were collapsed, likely from centuries of neglect, you can never have anything nice in a world like this. Gently, he pulled open the ancient wooden door, to his surprise, they swung aside with little effort, more oddly, the inside appeared to be well maintained, there where no major signs of struggle. "Wonderful, just wonderful. I like this place already." he switched on the flashlight attached to the barrel of his M249, and began walking though the castle as though he owned it, marveling at the ornate ancient statues as he passed by them, this was something every brony ever had dreamed of doing, but to actually be here, looking at it all, was... well...amazing. "Damn, with some revisions, this would make a nice outpost, eh, I like to keep abandoned building abandoned, trying to reclaim them just ruins that creepy, unsettling atmosphere that I love." He walked farther into the defunct castle, dropping his M249 to his sling, instead opting to use his helmet light. He pasted though the hallways, about 10 minutes later, he came to a staircase. He peeked up towards the top, seeing that there was nothing there, he found himself in a large circular room, a large portion of the ceiling was collapsed, on the far side, he noticed scorch marks on the stone. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that they were the result of magic. He looked beyond them, and spotted a large pedestal. "So, this is where they broke Nightmare Moon eh?" He stepped closer, hopping that he would find something interesting. But no, just the same scorched stone. Anything of value here had likely long been stolen, or lost to time. He looked though the windows, the moon was getting low in the sky. "Well, I guess that's that, you know what, this might just be the only castle in all of Equestria that doesn't give me a mental aneurism every time I look at it. With that, he scrambled back over the rubble, and walked out of the castle, heading back into the Everfree forest. William walked back though the forest, glancing side to side as he did, at this point, the sun had already rose in the sky. William dreaded going back to Ponyville, despite his ego, he still dreaded what they might try to do to him, he didn't want to hurt his friend, or the main six for that matter, with a heavy sigh, he stepped out of the forest, exchanging his M249 for a much lighter M4A1, topped with an EOtech sight and a vertical fore grip. He stuck to the treeline as he made his way into town. He watched as Ponies went about their business blissfully unaware that he was watching them, as always, it was him watching from the treeline, creeping though the shadows. And, he was ok with it. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. At least, that was what he though. He heard an all too familiar voice calling for him. "William, come on, I know you're here, stop trying to hide from me!" "Damnit Joey." He cursed under his breath.