//------------------------------// // Because Why Not? // Story: The Quiet Kid: Day by Day // by aegishailstorm //------------------------------// " We need help creating a piece of automotive machinery. An engine." The twin scratched his head under his hat. " How much?" William scowled. " What do you mean how much?" "How much are you paying me and my brother?" Soviet popped out from behind him. " Let us inside, we'll talk more then." The door slammed shut again. And the 3 humans turned to look at one another in the evening sun. While they all seemed to be in a good mood, the twins incompetence was getting on their nerves. William's especially. And the sight of his gloved his hand tapping the hammer of his sidearm wasn't a reassuring sight for anyone there. Joey, fortunately, was used to this behavior. And said nothing of it. Neither did William, to him, it was normal. His level of tolerance, was no. But he wanted that APC, and didn't know the first thing about building an engine. Much less a military grade one designed to run on magic. Soviet and Tankery got to both sides of the door, both turned and looked at William, signaling if he wanted to go along with their plan. "We going to breach?" Tankery asked William. "You hate them anyways, might as well get payback to what they did before-" " Ah screw it." William murmured to himself. Raising his boot. "Alright, you can come in-" William barged inside. " Listen here and listen well you freakish abomination." The twin seemed entirely unfazed at remark. So, what with William being, well... William. He did the only thing he thought logical, pulling a cattle prod. " You're going to do exactly what we ask you. When we ask you. Understood?" He gulped. "Well, I'll have to talk to Flam about that-" "Can that ####! No one is going to save you 2, either you make what we're asking you to make. Or-" "Or what?" William hated this unicorns overconfidence. " We'll give you the schematics. No funny business. Or unfunny business." He breathed out heavily, and nodded. " Alright, I'll get my brother." The stress building in William's head disappeared at this statement. And he set the prod to hang on a belt loop. "Huh, that actually worked. " Soviet lowered his gun. William glanced behind at them. " You had your weapons drawn? You do realize that had you shot them. They wouldn't have been able to build the engine for us?" The 2 stopped and pondered the response for a moment. ""Anyways, I'm guessing using your normal voice isn't convincing to getting these two to do your bidding. Voice changers?" William shook his head. "Nope, authoritative yelling. Taking verbal command of a situation. Learned it from one of the instructors at a training course I went to a few years back. Few ex spec ops taught me a few things that you can't get anywhere else in the civilian sphere of influence. " They nodded with a healthy degree of skepticism. " I don't usually talk about it." He sighed and slipped a piece of paper to the now traumatized unicorn. " I want it built and ready in 2 day's time." Without another word. He spun around and slipped back out the front door into the darkness of the late evening. The 2 other humans followed. Leaving Joey behind. The brother gave him a pitiful look, Joey just turned around and walked out along with them. Shutting the door with his magic as he did. " It's quiet. To quiet." William stood out in front of his unlit house. " Well. You locked everything up first, right?" Soviet quipped. William nodded. I did, but this is... different, you'll learn to pick these things out the longer you're in this game." "What game?" Tankery questioned. William ushered him to be quiet. And knocked on his front door. Hey! Any creature in there?" William tapped the door. No response was given. So he reached into a secure pocket on his right hip and pulled out his house key. Which itself was attached to a Nomex keychain. In one fluid movement he inserted it into the keyhole. Spun it 90 degrees, then back again. He twisted the door handle and walked in. His eyes swept from side to side as usual. And as he zeroed out the possibility of any potential intruders, he waved the 3 inside. "Wait, where's Joey? He was here a moment ago." He swiveled his head from side to side. surveying the empty street. "Huh. that's odd." ""What's odd?" The both of them asked. "Simple, when a pony leaves abruptly, their hoofsteps give it away." He sighed, and looked up at the sky. There was a tiny sliver of sun left. and that was soon to be gone. " Y'all can sleep on my couch. Or my backyard. Just don't break anything." He walked back inside, but froze as he did. "There's something in the backyard." But rather than reaching for his sidearm. He just walked up to the back sliding glass door. And pulled back the curtain. "Suprise-" William rolled it back in horror. Standing in the backyard was a cluster of ponies, ones he either knew, or recognized. If that wasn't already weird enough, Celestia and Luna were there as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he just barely made out the shape of Joey. " Damnit, I thought I said no parties." He swore under his breath, and kicked the wall. "Hey, hope you don't mind. But I think I'll just collapse, I've had a long day." William turned around to find Soviet, fast asleep on his couch. Leaving only Tankery. "Wanna go out back?" Tankery scratched his chin, and eyed his friend. The thought of passing out just as he had passed his mind. But flew right by. " Sure. Why not?" He nudged his friend awake. Who angrily sat up, and started moaning about how much he hated him. William pulled the curtain back aside. And was greeted by about 2 dozen equine faces. Without saying a word, he pulled the sliding glass door aside. And stepped out onto the back patio. A cheer erupted from the crowd. " How did you find out?" He asked the crowd. " How did you find out that today, is my birthday?" Celestia was the first to answer. " Well William, you've done so much for Equestria, and I can't remember the last time any creature thanked you for it. So, with the help of Joey, I invited those few ponies which you know. And a few that wanted to thank you in person." William smiled. " Joey, what did I tell you about public gatherings?" His friend returned and awkward smile. " Ah, who am I kidding? This is amazing. Thank you, thank you all." He walked back inside, and a few seconds later, music began emanating from inside. I see the bad moon a-rising I see trouble on the way I see earthquakes and lightnin' I see bad times today Don't go around tonight Well it's bound to take your life There's a bad moon on the rise! William figured Luna and the bat ponies would appreciate that one. He left the house, with the 2 other humans in tow. " Well, what are you waiting for? You just gonna stand there and starve? Eat something damnit!" He asked the crowd. Snatching a cookie off a nearby plater. All the while, Soviet hid behind Tankery, " Oh ####! That's princess Luna!" William glanced over at them out of confusion in a gesture of, 'what the hell is wrong with you?' Tankery tried to calm him down, " Dude, stop. It's not like you-" He stopped in terror. Celestia, Luna, William, and Joey all overheard this and went over to discern what they were yelling about. " William, who are these 2?" Celestia asked our of curiosity. " This is Soviet, and this is Tankery. I don't know their real names. They just kinda... appeared, in my backyard this morning. Claimed they were from an alternate universe." "I see, and, why were you frightened by me?" Luna questioned. Soviet blushed, "Well... I might have had... hehem, 'romantic relations' with my universes version of you." William stood there in shook, trying to process what he had heard, at last, he simply drew his sidearm. " I. Hate. Xenophiles." He pulled the hammer back. " You have 30 seconds, to either explain, or leave." Tankery pulled his sidearm in turn, "So he did kind of stab our Luna because she was stalking us in our dreams. And from what I gathered from before, he was ordered by Twilight to make up with Luna to start a friendship. But what I didn't know, is what the hell happened until now." He said as he moved his gun from William, then to Soviet, and back again. No one, or pony, moved for what seemed like an eternity. Not even the crowd. William glanced over at Luna, then at Soviet, then at Tankery. Then back again. " Really want to try your luck with that gun of your's buddy?" William asked, it was an attempt at sarcasm, created by a brain that was in no way in the mood for it. And was much to preoccupied watching Tankery's trigger finger. And the royal sister's horns. "Well true, but I ain't a xenophile, just look at my search history! And besides, it came naturally and I wasn't attracted to anyone until I actually knew her, like most relationships start?" Soviet asked. William was not by any means convinced. " Interspecies relationships are one of the highest forms of heresy. What religion, you might ask? Well, my own of course!" "So you're calling these equines animals? I'd treat them as if they were human, and if you're religion isn't 12 gauge, then I don't care!" Soviet retorted. William rolled his eyes. "It's not 12 gauge, it's .50 BMG. And I do treat them fairly. Just look at Joey. What I meant by that is you shouldn't be trying to strike up a relationship with one unless you are one of them! Make sense?" William just stood there and listened to them banter on and on. He gave Celestia a nudge. "I'm so sorry you have to sit through this." "Ah, don't be. You should see the things Daybreaker says about me." William blinked, "Daybreaker?" She chuckled. He sighed, and holstered his gun. " This is why I hate public gatherings." He walked over to Soviet and Tankery. And yanked their guns right out of their hands. " You aren't mature enough to have these." He ejected their magazines, tossed them in a dump pouch on his side, and cycled the actions on both of them. " You can have them back when you calm down." Soviet then sighed and pulled out his secret weapon, "Fine." He pulled out a plate of chocolate fudge and Tankery spawned a pair a scissors. "Why do I need this?" Tankery asked staring down at his hands. "I don't know, you're the one who spawned it." Soviet answered. William sighed. " The ####'s wrong with you 2? Just- eat." William pulled Joey aside, and sat down on a lawn chair next to him. " Working theory is they're escaped mental patients. I mean, just look at them! They're more chaotic than Discord!" " Did I just hear something about Daybreaker? Oh god no, not her. I do have a contingency plan to handle Daybreaker." Soviet said to William. Soviet then s manifested a bottle of cold water. " See what I mean?" "And yes, we might be from a Mental Hospital because I was born in Detroit." Soviet added to William's statement. He rubbed his eyes out of fatigue. And dragged him inside. Locking the door behind him. " We have to figure out how to get these 2 idiots out of our world before they break anything else!" Joey scratched his chin with a hoof. "I could ponify them. That'd at least remove a part of the danger." William thought about it for a moment. Meanwhile... "Hey! We may be retarded but we are-" Tankery tried to formulate his next thought, but ironically failed. "And besides, we do come up with things that you haven't thought of, like our tractor, and or turret emplacements to contain whatever threat may come up. And we know how to inspire and give more trust to our allies, for example, the Royal Guards. That reminds me, Princess Celestia, what happened to the Changelings in this timeline, universe, dimension, whatever?" Soviet asked. "Oh, they're our allies now. Well, the ones that survived the attack on Ponyville a few years ago. William massacred them by the hundreds. To be truthful, up until then, I had never quite seen or heard of anything like it." "Your highness, if I may ask, did he try to do this all on his own or did he allow the royal guard to be put to use?" Tankery asked. " He did it all of his own accord 5 years ago. And he asked only that he be sent home and be allowed to return eventually." Soviet looked over at the darkened house." I wonder what they're talking about in there?" "Well, whatever they are. They're missing the celebration I organized for William." The both of them walked over to the backyard door, and knocked on it. " If you were too allow some of the work to be put into the Royal Guard in the defense, the Royal Guard may gain experience from the battle, allowing more experienced soldiers within the ranks. So what I'm saying William, is that you need to put more trust into people, it may help you in the long run. And besides, isn't this part of what you find Equines call Harmony and friendship?" Tankery reasoned. William laughed, and pulled them inside. " Listen here friend . Stop talking to the populace. You can pull this crap back in your own reality!" The room around them was pitch dark. "What do you mean?" " Mind your own damn business and stay the hell out of mind." Soviet got up, " Calm down-" Suddenly, they were both engulfed in a dark blue glow. Joey stepped out of the darkness. His horn was lit. " Uh, William, what are you doing?" He folded his arms. " Listen, you 2 have been causing trouble ever since you showed up. Being that you're humans, and that it was my birthday. I was willing to let it slide. But that comment you made about Luna pushed it to far. I don't tolerate xenophiles. I don't care what species they are. So, here's what's going to happen. Either you go out there, and apologize to Luna, and they send you back to your reality without incident. Or, Joey here turns you into a pony. You apologize, and you get sent home without incident. Heretic or not, I'm no murderer. So, what'll it be? " The 2 paused for a moment as they pondered either choice. Joey looked over at William. "I can't hold this spell forever, you know." William nodded. " I know." He waited for a response. " I don't know..." Soviet stuttered. William sighed, and rubbed his head. " We can change you back if you don't like it. " He scratched his head, "Alright. But Make it quick." Joey ignited his horn. "Alright, here goes something." Soviet recoiled a bit. "Ahhh! It tickles!" "It's gonna get worse." A bright flash of light engulfed the whole room. Temporarily blinding it's occupants. All the while, the partygoers outside hadn't the slightest. As to what was going on, " Sister. William's taking quite a long time in there, isn't here?" Celestia asked. " Don't worry. I'm sure everything's fine. Probably." Neither were worried of course. Well, at least until Soviet screamed. "Probably." Luna repeated. "Oh, everything hurts. " Soviet opened his eyes, and looked around. "Why do my ears burn?" William looked down at transformed human. " Want a mirror?" William asked. What was one Soviet was now a pegasus with deep blue fur and a turquoise mane. Still wearing his kit. He looked down at his hooves, and began to panic. "I can't feel my fingers!" William rolled his eyes. " Yeah, yeah. Trust me, you get used to it. Try standing up." Tankery pulled his friend up to all fours, but tended up collapsing back onto the couch. " I'd like that mirror now." William passed one to him. Even though he was still a little disorientated from the transformation. He could still make himself out in the mirror, "No bueno!" He cried out. "What? What's wrong? You look fine to me." William crossed his arms. "Sorry... I'm just... In shock. Jesus Christ this body is wobbly." He slumped back down on the couch. "Well, you just got it. Give it a chance." His right ear twitched. His right wing went with it. " I'm pretty sure that all this stuff would be suspicious." He threw off his body armor and combat boots. Which were now dangling off his hooves. " Let's go. We're keeping important people waiting." He hopped off the couch, landed on all fours, stubbled, and crashed on the hardwood floor. " Little help?" He looked up at Tankery, who was laughing away at the sight of his friend, who gave him a scowl in turn. " What are you laughing about?" " Yes." "What kind of an answer is that? C'mon William, you help me up!" William pulled him back up, " Gah. How did you manage this?" William kept a hold on Soviet. " Some people just take to having hooves quicker. Ask Joey about it." The alicorn trotted over to him, and looked him right in the eyes. " Huh, we're about the same size. Maybe tomorrow we can see about you learning to fly. " William raised an eyebrow. "Good idea Joey. Maybe I'll join you guys." Tankery looked at the 3 of them with a healthy about of concern. " Eh... y'all can count me out. I hate heights." Soviet's wings flared out as he stood there, he stared back at them in awe. " Wait, am I a pegasus, or an alicorn? I can't see above my head." "You're a pegasus." William said to him, " Want me to let go now?" Soviet nodded. " Yes please!" As soon as William took his steadying hold off him. He took an involuntary step forward, it was a complete accident. But he managed it nonetheless. Tankery praised his equine friend with a healthy amount of sarcasm . "Bravo, bravo!" Soviet rolled his eyes. " If I didn't have hooves I'd be flipping you off right now." William smiled. " I have the same issue. Wanna go outside now?" "Yes." "Sure you'll be ok surround by all the other ponies?" "Y- I don't know. Ah, consequences be damned, lets go anyway!" Joey pulled the door open, and the 4 of them stepped outside. As soon as they did, all eyes were on them. " Well, what are you looking at"Soviet's wings flared out as he stood there, he stared back at them in awe. " Wait, am I a pegasus, or an alicorn? I can't see above my head." "You're a pegasus." William said to him, " Want me to let go now?" Soviet nodded. " Yes please!" As soon as William took his steadying hold off him. He took an involuntary step forward, it was a complete accident. But he managed it nonetheless. Tankery praised his equine friend with a healthy amount of sarcasm . "Bravo, bravo!" Soviet rolled his eyes. " If I didn't have hooves I'd be flipping you off right now." William smiled. " I have the same issue. Wanna go outside now?" "Yes." "Sure you'll be ok surround by all the other ponies?" "Y- I don't know. Ah, consequences be damned, lets go anyway!" Joey pulled the door open, and the 4 of them stepped outside. As soon as they left the house, all eyes were on them, "Well? What are you looking at?" William folded his arms, and took a cupcake. And looked up at the night sky. He glanced back, to find that Soviet had been surrounded by the crowd, all curious as to who the new pegasus among them was. It didn't take long for both them, and the royals to figure it out. Soviet meanwhile, was in quite a bit of distress. " "Que alguien me saque de aquí!" He cried out in Spanish, of course, the crowd didn't understand it. Now, William had taken Spanish back in high school. And understood the awkward situation Soviet was in. " Now now folks, leave him alone." Upon hearing this, the crowd scooted back. " Thanks." He whispered to William, who gave a silent nod. He spun around, and galloped out of the backyard, well... more like quickly stumbled. He was still working on getting the hang of those hooves. Right into the darkened forest. Leaving Tankery behind. " Damnit!" he cursed, throwing his arms up in the air out of anger. "William, what happened in there?" Celestia asked him, " He asked for the transformation. I gave it to him, I don't know why he rushed off like that. Social anxiety? " "Hmmm, Nightshine!" A bat pony lept out of the crowd and stood sternly by Luna's side. "Take Joey, see if you can find our missing pegasus." She looked back at William and Tankery. " Well William? You haven't even touched your cake. Don't worry, they'll find Soviet." The bat pony and Joey leapt off into the night sky. " I should've gone with them. He's my friend after all." Tankery hung his head. " Shut up, and have some damn cake." William passed him a plate. "And remember your manners this time." His mood brightened almost instantly. William sat back down on a lawn chair. "Huh, wonder how Joey's doing?" Meanwhile... Joey and lieutenant Nightshine flew through the dark Equestrian sky low to the treeline. Searching for Soviet. Neither of them spoke to one another. " See him?" "If you're implying that just because I'm a bat pony I can see perfectly at night, you've got another thing coming." Joey chuckled. " You remind me of William.' "How?" "You're both angry. All the time." Somewhere on the outskirts of Ponyville... Soviet tread his way through the dark bushes and trees, desperate to get away from the commotion. As his gallop slowed to a merger trot, when all of a sudden, he came to a stop at the edge of a swamp. This was the border between normal Equestrian woodland, and the Everfree forest. Which spans from southern Ponyville, all the way to the Equestrian- Badland's border. Of course, at the time being, none of that interested him. He slumped down, and looked up at the sky. " Well what do ya know? William was right." As he lowered his head, he caught sight of something sticking up in the mud. He scotted closer to it, and realized that it was the barrel of an old rifle. With both hooves, he yanked it out of the fetid mud, and inspected it. The numbers 3-7 were carved into it's stock. Seeing that it's sling was still mostly intact, he slung it over his shoulder. And, mustering up as much bravery as he could. Turned around and headed back towards town. "Tankery, Tankery! This is Soviet, answer the damn radio!" Soviet tapped his hoof against the plastic device. " If you're hearing this, I found an old M14 in a swamp this the number's, 3-7 carved into it's stock. Figured it was important. So I took it with me. I'm heading back to the house. And by the way, I took a look at my hair. Gah! I'm gonna have to fix it! Please don't chop off my legs when I get back for leaving you alone... what else was I supposed to do!? I'm not wearing... anything!" He took his hoof off the button for a few moments, hoping that his friend had gotten the message. Only, it wasn't Tankery, it was William. " The fur covers everything. And besides, it was you who wanted to, 'blend in,' I got the crowd to stop pestering your friend by the way. You can thank me when you get back." A pair of shadowy figures appeared in the sky above him, " By the way, I send Joey and a friend of mine from the Equestian Special Forces after you, she's a bat pony. Don't be alarmed." The receiver on the radio cut off. And the 2 ponies in the sky circled down to meet him. "Where have you been?" Joey asked, " I don't wanna talk about it." Soviet responded. " Hey, where did you get that rifle?" He added, Soviet was silent as the trio trotted through the dark woods. With only Joey's glowing horn lighting the way. Back to William's house. "What have I gotten myself into? He wondered. As the faint lights of Williams backyard came into view, Joey spoke up again. "By the way, I noticed you've got walking figured out." He gestured down at Soviet's legs. "Huh? I guess I did. Wanna race?" Joey looked over at Nightshine, " What do you say?" She shrugged, " Eh. No thanks, you can go on ahead though." Joey and Soviet froze, looked off at the lights of the backyard. " Go." The 2 of them took off. Immediately, Joey shot past him, not that that was a good thing. He stumbled out into the backyard, and right onto a feasting William. Who just sat there in shock. A second later, Soviet tumbled out of the bushes and crashed onto him as well. " This... doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Good to see you decided to come back, Tankery!" Another human walked over to William, who proceeded to quite literally pick Soviet up, "Here, this belongs to you." And drop him in Tankery's arms, " Set me down!" He cried out, Tankery set his friend down as gently as he could. " Sorry for running off." William smirked, " Don't worry about it, trust me. You get used to it." Soviet was unconvinced by the statement, but went along with it anyway. " Heh, thanks." William pointed at the rifle slung over his shoulder. " we'll talk about that in the morning." He sun around, and looked out at the crowd. " Alright. Parties over, I'm invoking castle law! Good night!" They all looked at him in utter confusion, " You don't have to go home but you can't stay here!" He looked over at the royals. " Until next time William. And to all of you, my sister and I had a wonderful time here. Good night, and safe travels. " They disappeared in a flash of pale light. Per their instructions, the crowd cleared out. " we can clean up tomorrow, let's go to bed. See you tomorrow Joey." The alicorn smiled back, and took off towards his own home. " Y'all can sleep downstairs." They looked at one another, and agreed. He led them inside, and laid out a mattress for them. " Good night, and sweet nightmares." He spun around, flipped off the lights and marched up the stairway. Leaving a the pegasus and human alone in the pale faint moonlight. " Birthdays never fail to disappoint, huh?" William asked himself as he drifted off to sleep. A few moments later, his eyes shot open, he heard what was very clearly profanity, followed by. " Stop petting me! I'm a pony, not a dog!" He chuckled at this. " Shut up! And go to sleep!"