"Thanks!" William waved to Derpy as she flew away. She had just dropped off the mail. and William, being, well... William, was more than happy to say hello to the towns resident... 'special' mail pony. It was still a mystery as to how she had ever acquired that job but hey, it's not like he cared. With a smile on his face he turned back around to head inside, when he was met by the exact opposite of what he was wishing for, Cozy Glow, that little diabolical abomination. She always seemed to have an ere of distrust and suspicion around her. Be it whenever he passed her on the street, or came across her on school ground, he just couldn't shake the feeling that she was up to something. Uncomfortably, he tipped his helmet. "Take these to Twilight's office." He said it with no emotion, turning the other way, and walking as fast as he could. However, as soon as the door's swung closed behind him, he made a run for them and slowly pushed them aside, and began to creep down the hallway, stalking her. " C'mon, I know you're up to something. Just give me a hint, one damn hint."
"Uh, hello, sir?" He froze in place when he heard a meek, squeaky voice. It sounded a bit like Fluttershy, irritated that he had to turn his attention away from the devilish pegasi just 20 feet ahead of him. He spun, to find yet another small pink pegasi, this time with a rainbow colored mane. The whole scene was so absurd that he nearly burst out laughing, but managed to reduce it down to a snort by the time it left his mouth. "Sorry, you just surprised me, uh... what do you need?" The filly shuffled her hooves and pulled out a map, "I'm looking for my first class." William threw a thumb over his shoulder, "Down that hall." She nodded and galloped off, William breathed a sigh of relief and continued his 'passive' pursuit of the other pink pegasus.
"There you are." He stopped to rub his eyes as he sat on a bench next to Twilight's office. Momentarily peering through the doorway just in time to watch her deliver a stack of letters. Twilight immediately proceeded to panic. "I'm late for the field trip to Cloudsdale." William raised an eyebrow, "Why was I not invited?" He wondered, " I love Cloudsdale, It's a literal city in the clouds. These Equestrians don't realize how good they have it." Shaking his head, he shifted to get a better view into the office. "Don't worry, I asked professor Rainbow Dash to cover for you." William shook his head, and left. " Screw this, I'm going to Cloudsdale. Joey!" He jumped out a window, sprinted through meadow, jumped over a small stream, and headed into town.
"Yes William? Why does it look like you're about to pass out?"
"Sprinted a quarter mile, we go to Cloudsdale."
His friend smirked, "That city made of clouds?" William nodded, "Yes. Turns out there's another way to walk on clouds other than having me grow hooves and wings every time I want to." he spun around, " I'm gonna call up a balloon, ok?" Joey stood there, taping his right hoof on the ground, "What were you doing at the school of friendship earlier?" he questioned as the 2 of them headed for the nearest balloon station, what with Joey not wanting to waste the magical energy to turn William into a pony and back again, and with William just wanting to go up there as a human for once. Not that he didn't enjoy being a pony, he certainty did. It's just that he preferred to save it for special occasions.
"I'm sorry, is that a... factory, spewing out rainbows?" William and Joey both scratched their heads, they were currently standing on a cloud which Starlight had cast a spell on, allowing William to walk around on it just like a pegasus." It feel's odd walking around on this thing in combat boots. "William told Joey," Strange, but not uncomfortable." He groaned and shook his head, " Let me make something abundantly clear. The laws of physics and reality as we know it do not apply to a world filled with colorful talking equine, so called 'magic', physical manifestations of emotions, or... whatever the #### this is." He waved a hand back at the cloud which was spewing rainbows from it. He sighed again, cracking his knuckles, her turned around just in time to catch sight of a certain yak slipping through the clouds. " Joey," He clicked his tongue, "Now, please and thank you." He nodded, and, using both his horn and wings, pulled her back up. William didn't think much of it at first, then Starlight spoke up.
"I don't understand, it's like my spell just stopped working. That's never happened before." William groaned, "Go figure it out on your own, contact me as soon as possible if the answer warrants my curiosity." The group watched in confusion as William began to walk towards the edge, "Uh, William-" He jumped off it, and a moment later, a parachute blossomed into existence. "Joey! Get the balloon!" His friend turned and shrugged to the class, "Sorry, psychopathy calls."
"I heard that! Now quickly!" Hi friend bit his lip and took off after him.
"So, what are your thought's on it?" William questioned Joey as the 2 of them walked back down the street from the balloon depot. And considering that William had to hike the last several miles from Cloudsdale on foot, he wasn't exactly what you would call, 'happy'. And, having already lost his patience, he turned and headed straight for the school. His friend rushing to catch up with him. " Hey, William! Where are you going?" This statement was met by an insane laugh from William, "Starlight promised me something, I intend to follow through with it!"
"Aghhh!!! William's approach to the school was met by a shrill scream from within. He rolled his eyes, raised his rifle, and jumped into Twilight's office through a window. "What happened!? Who screamed?" The six, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Cozy Glow all turned to look at William. "A letter got stuck in my throat." Spike responded, William scratched his head, "Imma pretend I didn't hear that." He looked over at Starlight, "What's new?"
"Quite a bit actually-" She was stopped by a traumatized Rarity, "My magic is gone!" He furrowed his brow just as Joey climbed in through the window behind him, "Holy haystacks William, when did you get that fast?" William shrugged, "What do you mean? I was jogging. Check your eyes." He turned back to Twilight, "Well?" He held up his hands, "Read the damn letter!" Spike unfurled it, "It's from Princess Celestia! We've all been called to an emergency meeting!" William groaned, and looked at his watch, "Even me?" Spike paused a moment, and nodded. "Right well then, we got to Canterlot!" He spun around, and marched out the door.
"Princess.' William nodded.
"William." Celestia returned his gesture, then turned to the rest of them, "Throughout our city, ponies have been reporting tales of their magic failing. Spell's going wrong, potions not working." William looked over at Luna, "even raising the moon had become difficult. Are there similar troubles in Ponyville?"William chuckled, "Yes there are. Same thing's you're talking about. Behind him he heard the main doors be thrown in, and a few seconds later a brown and red pegasus came flying in with a mailbag over his shoulder. "Letter for the princesses, from Starswirl the bearded." Spike grabbed it and ferried it over to Celestia, who read it. "Oh, it is even more terrible than we feared, magic is disappearing all across Equestria." William sighed, "Then why had neither I nor Joey experienced it? I can still do this," He snapped a .50 AE Desert Eagle into existence for a moment, " And Joey, well, he can still has all the benefits that come with being an alicorn." He looked back up at Celestia, "Continue."
"Starswirl believes the power will drain from our lands in 3 days-" William stopped her, "Why the hell is this happening, and who do I kill to stop it?" he clutched his rifle aggressively, this was a scenario that he had thought of many, many time's before. But now that it was really happening, he had, at the very least, not been caught unprepared. Unlike the others that is, who seemed to be in a state of silent panic. Celestia face hoofed, "No William, for the love of all that is good, please do not go on another killing spree!" He fought back a laugh. " I have 2 theories, either Tirek escaped or...." He trailed off, thinking it best to not reveal it. "And what else?" Twilight asked, "Nothing. It's nothing." He responded. "You know, now that I'm thinking about it, let's give Tartarus a check." He looked back at the six, who gave him a few nods. "Tartarus has changed since you were there, it now holds many dangerous creatures. And you won't be able to rely on your magic." William laughed, " Don't need it. Least not the kind of magic you're thinkin' of."
"Are you sure about that William?" The tone in Luna's voice was much less one of sarcasm but rather one of concern. "Yep." He replied, rubbing his knuckles. " Alright then, we go to equestrian hell!" The entire court turned to stare at him. "No, I ain't over confident. And besides, I'm at least 60 percent sure that it wasn't Tirek's fault. Probably."
The group of 8 trekked their way down a stony patch surrounded on all sides by dead trees and dark cliffs. The sky, unlike most of Equstria, was actually, much to William's satisfaction, cloudy. The flies were not ideal. " Agh! I have had it with these horrible flies." William burst out laughing through his mosquito net, "Hah! Y'all never been to the mountains of Morro Bay before! Damn demon flies chased my family for like 20 miles, even when we got on the freeway, those ####er's somehow kept up!" He breathed in, " Don't complain." He looked back at Joey, who was still using his magic just fine, "Joey, be a good stallion and solve our fly problem." He rolled his eyes and lit his horn, a few moment's later, they were gone. " Uh, who packed green cupcakes?" Pinkie asked, pulling a moldy cupcake from a saddlebag. The sheer sight of that awful thing made William gag, "Gah! Get rid of it!" He reached over with a gloved hand, snatched it out of the earth pony's hoof, and threw it into the bushes. "Better." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch of beef jerky, and began snacking away. Much to the dismay of everypony else there. "Mfff, what do you want? Oh, my food? You wouldn't like it." He left it at that, and picked up his pace, trying to get ahead of the group, Applejack in particular. Just as he did, a bolt of lightning cracked across the sky, and it started raining. The rest of the group ran for cover, William kept on walking. "I love this weather." He let his rifle fall to a sling around his waist, put his hands in his pockets. And began humming Pumped Up Kicks as he walked down the comparatively dreary path.
"Well, this looks promising." He stopped at a massive gate, etched with red stone, with a metallic lattice at it's center. And surrounded by volcanic vents. " Twilight, how do I throw open the gates of hell?" She scowled at him, " Anypony have anything useful?" They rummaged through their bags, until at last, spike pulled something out, " How about this?" Twilight's mood brightened. " The Key of Unfetered entrance! Spike, where did you find this?"
"In your bag, Cozy Glow must have packed it for you. She really did think of everything!" William was unimpressed, "The hell does it do?" He folded his hands, confused as to how he hadn't yet heard of this thing before. " It can magically open any door, and since artifacts like this haven't lost power yet-" She moved to insert the artifact into the notch in the doorway, but William stopped her. "Hold on. we don't know what's on the other side of that thing, just a moment." He snapped his fingers, and in an instant he was once again over from head to toe in a mixture of hard and soft Kevlar plates and a MOP level 5 Nomex hazmat suit. A ventilator and full face ballistic helmet covered his head, and his face was obscured by the dark bulletproof glass of the visor. In his hands rested his weapon of choice, a Sig Sauer MG 68 light machine gun, topped with a computer assisted thermal optic. An last but not least, a bayonet should he have to get, 'up close and personal'. "Alright, now I'm ready. You may open the gate." He stepped back, and brought the LMG to his shoulder. William watched anxiously as Twilight inserted it, the lock lit up, twisted, and the massive gates swung open. As soon as Twilight went to reach for the key, it shattered. "I guess it only works once." William stepped forward, stared into the inky black abyss of a moment, and only after pulling a set of night vision goggles over his visor, plunged into the darkness. And the other 7 followed closely.
"What in the, Ahhh!!!" William screamed as soon as his NVG's met the dark, before him stood a rather nasty dragon-chicken thing with glowing eyes. "It's a cockatrice. Y'all best look away. Thankfully, William's goggles seemed to negate the effects of the devil chicken, so he raised his gun and fired. Realizing immediately that he had forgotten to screw a suppressor on, which he swiftly did. The creature dropped dead in it's cage, and the glow faded from it's eyes. Then he looked up and saw the hundreds of abominations they sat in cages around him. "Holy ####." He waved his LMG around at them. "Now, where's the Tirek?" His voice trailed off as he was met by a massive 3 headed dog. " Hmmm..." He just stood there, debating weather or not to try and fight the massive growling freak of nature in front of him. He spun around, took 5 paces back, and brought an rpg 26 to bare. He began whispering to Twilight "You have 30 seconds to calm this thing down before I ctrl+alt delete this thing." William murmured it as calmly as possible. Fluttershy flew forward, and, after a quick talk with 'Cerberus', got him to move aside. William just shrugged, and walked on.
"The princess of friendship here for a visit." A voice rasped, A dark figure with glowing eyes turned to face the group. "Yep, that's him. Hello abomination." He came into the light, "Wait, who are you?" William froze, and facepalmed, " that's classified." Tirek scratched his chin, " Well, what have I done to ern the honor of your company?" William rushed forward, "There is no honor, I'll get right to the point. Magic's been disappearing all across Equestria and-" He stopped again and looked up and down at the shriveled form of Tirek. "it wasn't you." he said it with complete confidence. He turned and looked back at the distant entrance. " Wait a minute- Cozy Glow-" Though his helmet obscured his facial expression, the color from his face began to drain. "Oh ####, I've got to get back to Ponyville!" He turned and ran for the exit, leaving the 7 behind with one very confused Tirek.