//------------------------------// // Counter Espionage // Story: The Quiet Kid: Day by Day // by aegishailstorm //------------------------------// William trudged his way down the street towards his house. It had been a long day of avoiding Twilight and her friends, why? Simple, she didn't to take to kindly to his actions earlier in the day. And he had been worried they might actually try to come after him. And the last thing he wanted was to have to use lethal force on a pony. He supposed that all that was left to do at this point was to just lock himself in his house and wait it out. He had prepared for this, a nd he wasn't going down without a fight. As he made it to the front porch of his house, he was greeted by a crowd of ponies, unhappy ones at that. "So, what are you here for?" They looked back at him silently. "Well?" At last, Twilight stepped forward. A grim expression on her face, " William, we've had enough. Go, leave town. We don't want you here anymore." He smiled, and nodded, "Understandable, have a good night." He watched as their gazes followed him all the way inside, only stopping when he shut and locked his front door, as soon as he did, he collapsed behind it, sliding all the way down, he put his hands on his head. And groaned. "Why? Why? What did I ever do to them?" He sat there, motionless, until he arrived at a solution, "I'm not going quietly. The only way they're dragging me out of this place is if Celestia drops the sun on me!" He drew his sidearm. And slowly crawled to the window, peering through the curtains, he could see that the crowd had dispersed. AT the same time, the sun had begun going down. "Well, this day went to ####." Without having eaten dinner yet, he dropped himself on the couch, and began to drift off to sleep. Hopping that Luna would have an explanation as to why the entire town suddenly decided to gang up on him. "Heh, Luna, ya there? There's something I need I need to talk to you about." He looked around his dreamscape, it wasn't long before he found what he was looking for, the alicorn of dreams, sitting in the corner. "Oh, hi there William. So, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?" He looked deep into her eyes, she was playing innocent, that was obvious. She was withholding something. And she could tell that he knew that. So, she simply sighed, and responded with, "My sister asked me to distract you." He chuckled, "Of course she did. Now, why." The alicorn hung her head low. "She sent the royal guard after you." He furrowed his brow, " Those incompetent retards?" She shook her head, "No, my personal escort. They're...Different, you'll see in a bit." With that, she disappeared, and at the same time, William shot out of his bed. P90 in hand. He could hear rustling up on the roof. Wing flaps, only, they didn't sound like pegasi wings. " Bat ponies." He murmured under his breath, slipping off the couch into the ground, his fatigues where replaced by ballistic riot gear. A moment later, he heard the loud screech as the houses alarm system had been triggered. He heard yelps of pain as the bat-like creatures on the roof dropped to the ground, clawing at their bushy, sensitive ears in pain. "The playing field has been leveled." He shot up from beside the couch, and scanned the room for any sign of nonhuman presence. It was empty, meaning that either they hadn't yet made it inside, or that they where currently searching the second floor. Either way, he wasn't going with them. William still couldn't believe that the creatures he had fought so hard to defend had turned on him, "Guess I should have seen it coming." He thought to himself as he advanced up the stairway. It was then when he caught sight of the invader, or rather one of them. It was a bat pony, sure enough. What with it's leathery wings and tuffled, bushy ears. It wore a set of ornate purple armor. And a ski mask over it's face, from it's stature, William could tell that it was a female. Then, it turned and looked at him, right at him. For a moment, neither of them moved, neither said a word. They just stood there, staring into one another's eyes. In a flash, William had his gloved hand cupped around it's muzzle, being sure to keep the sword hanging at it's side out of it's reach. The bat pony struggled, but he kept hold of it, dragging it into his bedroom, he locked the door, and pressed his gun up against it's muzzle. "Who are you? And why are you here." The creature spat, "I'm not telling you anything." He cocked the hammer back, and the tone in his voice changed, "Listen, this is my house, I don't care weather or not you're royal guard. If it weren't for my sense of right and wrong, you'd be dead already." The creature was unimpressed, "Well then, why are you sparing me? Unless, that is, you're planning on using me as a hostage? He laughed at this, and pulled off his ski mask. "Listen, ma'am, Luna told me you guys would be coming here. So, how 'bout this, I disarm you, and you leave? Or, you stay, we all agree not to kill each other, and we all have a mug of hot coco and tell stories, how's that sound?" The pony was silent, "I can't tell if you're insane, stupid, or both. I'm Equestrian special forces moron, lunar guard to be specific. I've dealt with my fair share of nut cases, you're no exception." "Finally, common ground." He had met, and trained with special forces back on earth, primarily the U.S Army Rangers. Add to that if ESF was anything like the soldiers he had met back on earth. They wouldn't be that hard for him to befriend, "I both approve of, and and respect your profession, but please, don't patronize me." The bat pony continued struggling. This time, she lashed out with her fangs, digging into the Kevlar plating on William's arm pads. Still, he didn't flinch. "I haven't shot you yet- haven't even hurt you yet, and this is how you repay me?" He shrugged, given that it was exactly what he would do if put in a situation like this. "My teammates are on the other side of that door, and when they get through-" He put his hand back over her mouth, motioning for her to shut up. "How many?" "I'm sorry, what did you just-" He brushed the gun barrel of his sidearm up against her muzzle. "Tell me." She lay still for a moment, likely deciding weather to tell the human in front of her the information he wanted, or lose her life. It wasn't much of a competition." There's 5 of us. 4, since I'm here." He nodded. "I'm sorry." "For what?" The bat pony asked. The princess had given her no real explanation as to why her and her team where going after some hairless monkey. "For this." He slammed his elbow into her back, dropping her to the floor, before she could react, he had zip tied her legs behind her back, rendering her all but immobile, he was sure to get her wings as well. "Stay still and shut up." He holstered the .45, and redrew his P90, flipping the flashlight off, and instead mounting an IR (Infrared) Laser to it's side. He drew on a pair of night vision goggles, and slowly opened his door. Knowing that he would likely have to beat the other 3, if not more. In hand to hoof combat, something he had never tried before. That didn't matter, all creatures reacted the same way to a left hook-right hook swing to the upper jaw. Pain. He waited in the doorway for them, but they never showed. He knew better though, this was a ruse. If they where any good, they'd probably try to outflank them. Something nigh impossible, given that this was his house. He heard a window crack open, and a moment later, a single grey hoof stepped out into the hallway from one room down. This one didn't have the reaction time of it's compatriot. He tackled it to the ground, pinning it's neck to the floor. It appeared to be a stallion this time around. Just as the other did, he reached for his weapon, only to be swatted away and restrained by William. As he did this, he felt a blade did into his vest from behind. Of course, given the armor he had on, it did little more than annoy him. He manifested a bowie knife and parried it away. From there, he went right for the hoof that was holding the sword. One well placed kick later, and the 2nd creature had been disarmed and restrained. That left 2 more. Franticly, he scoured the hallway with his NVG's, searching for the other 2. He felt a gust of wind brush past his face. Something he immediately recognized as a wing flap. Spinning around, he swung a cattle prod through the darkness, about halfway though the motion, it caught something. William followed it to the ground. Grabbing hold of it's mane and throwing it to the floor, being sure to keep both it's fangs and it's sword out of reach of it. Now the playing field was even,1to 1, if the first bat pony he had restrained was telling the truth that was. "Hey, listen, everypony, stop. Just stop!" He threw up his NVG's and switched on his helmet light. Revealing a 4th bat pony, already into the motion of swinging his sword. William lunged backward out of the way, and drew a taser. Sending 2 prods directly into it's unarmored neck, shuttered and fell. William dropped the expended taser, making it disappear before it hit the ground, and drawing his M45A1. "Please stop resisting, I'd hate to kill any of you tonight." "Why are you hesitating?" The stallion behind him coughed. "Because, as much as I hate ponies. I still, and this is gonna sound weird. The only reason you aren't dead is because I care about you, each and every one of you. I have a special fondness for you all." He headed for the circuit breaker in his house, and flipped it on, activating the overhead lights. From there, he went around, disarming them one by one and dragging them into his bedroom. They all looked over at their squad leader, awaiting orders. He set himself down on the bed, and looked down at the 5 ponies. He put his left hand up and scratched the back of his head, " You violated castle law and the 4th Amendment. You broke into my house. But, I'm not one to ever use lethal force on ponies, plus, you're bat ponies. ESF at that." They looked at one another, then back at him, finally, one of them spoke up," I'm their leader, what are you going to do to us?" She said it as though they where fighting for their lives. "Listen, as I said. I'm not going to hurt you, anymore at least." He gestured to the unconscious stallion lying beside them," So what then?" The leader asked. He sighed," Tell you what, how 'bout I brew up some hot coco, we sit down on my couch, and talk about each others backstories, hmm?" He awaited their answer, not just because they quite literally had no other choice, but because he had always wanted to meet a bat pony. And now he was face to face with 5 of them. " Very well then, it seems we have no choice, so by all means, lead the way." He grinned at this, albeit, a small part of him still didn't trust them. " 2 more things, one, promise me you won't try to turn me in, kill me, or harm me in anyway if I untie you." The leader nodded." Ok, I can promise that, what else?" "Well, how about your names, I can't just keep referring to you as "The bat ponies that broke into my house and tried to kill me." She hesitated for a moment," Nightshine, Lieutenant Nightshine. I'm afraid I can't give you the names of my squadmates." He patted his thigh, and got up. "I can respect that." He walked over to her, and cut the zip ties. " Name's William, pleasure to meet you lieutenant." He extended his hand, reluctantly, the equine shook it. One by one, he shook the others hooves. "Good. Now that we're all acquainted, I'll untie you, but remember what I said-" "Yes, yes, we 'try' anything, you kill us, we got it... You are the strangest creature I have ever met." Slowly and suspiciously, he untied them. They all stood up, examining themselves, then turning to look up at William. "Comon', let's go little ones." He made sure to snatch his laptop on the way downstairs. He knew exactly what he wanted. " What's that?" Lt. Nightshine asked, pointing her right hoof at the laptop tucked firmly underneath his arm. "Well, you'll see." He made his way down into the kitchen, being sure to keep the ponies in his sight. he reached into the cabinet, and pulled out a mix of coco. "Here it is, you like it hot or cold?" "Warm." They all replied. He nodded, and, after mixing it together with some milk, set it to boil. Spinning back around, he walked past them into the front room where his laptop lay. Swiftly, he pulled it open, entered in the password, and opened up his music folder. "Hmm, let's see...Ah, here's a good one, it's called, "Keep your rifle your side, By Hope county choir." "Keep your what?" He sat down on the couch, crossing his legs, an M4 with an EOtech holographic sight mounted on top appeared in his grasp. "This, it's an allegory for the culture of my native country." He told them, patting the other side of the couch, " Sit on down, it's ok, I don't bite. You're the ones with the fangs after all. " The group of armored bat ponies were unamused by the joke, but did as instructed. William pressed play, and reclined back. As he did, he wrapped his arm around one of them. Surprisingly, the stallion didn't object. ruffling his wings a bit. William chuckled, he had somehow managed to turn a group of supposedly hardened special forces into what appeared to, at least to first glance, friends. All without Twilight's nonsensical teachings. "I'm gonna have to make a surprise appearance at the royal throne room tomorrow, with them by my side, Celestia won't touch me." He closed his eyes and began slowly rocking his head back and forth, setting his other hand on the M4. He noticed that a few of them had begun humming along with the song. They'll come loud and they'll come fast but we shoot first and we can last keep your rifle by your side!