As lone tumbleweed blew through William's field of view, he rubbed his temples. "The hell am I doing out here?" He sat down on a nearby rock, and continued his moping. He had been asked to run security for the annual buckball game in Applelosa. A small western-esque town in the middle of nowhere. Under the promise that he would be financially compensated for his work. Which, seeing that this was well... Equestria, mostly just involved sitting around waiting for something to happen. In all honesty, he didn't care about the game, he hated most sport's, with the exception of 4, paintball, airsoft, capture the flag, and dodgeball.
William cracked his neck as he stood up again, the rays of sun glaring off his glasses. William walked back on into town, stopped by the bar, was momentarily disappointed at the lack of root beer, and snatched a glass of water up instead. But as he pulled his cowl down and began to sip, he felt a hoof tap on his shoulder.
"Joey, sit down." The alicorn did as asked, taking a place 2 seats down from him. "So, what is it?" Joey scratched behind his ear. "Well, I've been thinking about giving the whole buckball thing a try-" William shrugged, "Ok, if you want to, go right on ahead. But remember, you weren't any good at basketball back in high school, and I'm not gonna be in the crowd cheering you on. His friend nodded. " Eh, that's ok. What are you planning on doing?" William tapped his fist against the counter, and the waitress refilled his water. "They hired me as security. Promised me a pretty hefty paycheck if I did. Other than than, I think I'll just walk around, check out what this town has to offer. Looks more... Me, if you know what I mean." Joey realized that he was referencing its old western look. " If you say so, hey, I'm gonna head out, I'll be at the stadium if you wanna talk more." William waved him away, downed the rest of his glass, placed a gold coin on the counter, and walked off. As he left, another tumbleweed blew by.
"Wha- seriously?" He turned to the first pony he could see and shouted. " Hey, y'all know you've got a tumbleweed problem in this town. These things don't just appear out of nowhere!" All he got back was a myriad of confused stares. " I don't know what to tell ya William. It's like they just got mind's of their own." It was Applejack, hauling a cart of apples. " Well that's no damn excuse! It's just a dead bush. And don't give me that, 'keeping the town rustic,' crap, I've met more rednecks in my time than you have ponies, and they've all told me the same thing. Most of them, but they were drunk." She raised an eyebrow, " Uh, hope ya don't mind me asking, but, what's a redneck?" William sighed, and leaned up against a fence post. " Well, you might as well sit down, I've got one hell of a story to tell you."
"And then, they rode off into the sunset. burger's in hand, bluegrass country blasting on the radio and .45's at their sides." Applejack was smiling. This was the most entertaining story some creature had told her all day, but on the other hoof, she couldn't help but be concerned at the way William glorified them. " They sound like nice folks." Was her answer, William gave her a thumbs up, " That's good enough for me."
The 2 of them parted way's, William walked off towards the stadium. As he was passing by the museum , he caught sight of Rainbow Dash arguing with a brown earth pony. "Hey, what are you 2 talking about? I'm only asking because I have nothing else." The stallion looked up at William, who tipped his patrol cap. He let out a nervous chuckle, " Heh, hit there, names Quibble, I was just telling Rainbow Dash here about how much I love buckball!" William folded his arms, and tugged on his rifle sling.
"Hah hah, unfortunately for you, I know a liar when I see one. And hearing one only confirms it. Creatures far wiser than you have tried, and all that earned them was an early grave. Name's William." William smiled as he said it, Quibble meanwhile, gulped in terror. "Uh, well, pleased to meet you." The pony hesitantly raised up his right hoof, William bent down and shook it. "Same, so, if you aren't actually much of a fan of this sport, why are you here?"
"Yeah... I was just about to ask him the same question, why you're here Quibble?" Rainbow quipped. William looked behind him, and noticed a pink unicorn mare and pegasus filly walking towards him. "Rainbow Dash, William, I'd like you to meet, Clear Sky, the most most amazing pony I've ever met."
"Uh, you've met Daring Do so, that's probably an exaggeration. No offence."
None taken, when it comes to describing your special somepony, a little exaggeration is normal."
William groaned, "So, you're married?" They both nodded. William bit his tongue. "And who's your daughter?" William smiled at the pegasus filly, " This is Wind Sprint, my daughter." Clear Sky responded, Wind rolled her eyes. "And she is pretty amazing." Quibble pulled her up onto his back. " Y'all can keep doing... whatever it is you were doing, I'm gonna go bully some tumbleweeds. oh, and Quibble, free tip, pay more attention to your daughter." He raised and eyebrow as William gleefully jogged off.
" I'm actually starting to like this place, reminds me a bit of good 'ol Arizona." William thought to himself as he trekked through the Applelosa desert, and stopped to take a break under a butte. Oddly enough it seemed that the Equestrian desert almost entire lacked snakes, spiders, or scorpions. But even so, William's common sense had taught him to be warry of rocks in the desert. And so before sitting down, he looked underneath. Only then did he sit down, take out his canteen, and take a sip. When all of a sudden, he felt the ground shake. " Earthquake?" It kept shaking, then the ground in front of him began to spew dirt. Something he recognized very quickly from his favorite movie franchise. Tremors. " Wait, no-" A massive wormlike creature with mandibles erupted from the ground. William jumped back, and began running. " Oh, ####!!!" He shrugged as he ran, " Where's Burt Gummer when you need him?" William asked himself, swapping his current rifle for a Barret .50 caliber loaded with armor piercing rounds.
Though the addition of the 20 pound rifle weighed him down, he was still able to make it to a rocky outcropping, where he promptly spun around. Took aim at the growing mound of dirt, and fired. The monster made a guttural shriek as the round it it. William fired again. And this time, it stopped moving entirely. " That was fun. " He murmured to himself, with no hint of emotion in his voice he went back to his far lighter carbine. And began the long walk back towards town. It was about 5 in the afternoon at this point. And he had a few things to check up on, number one being the job he was hired for. Well, the contract didn't specify weather or not he had to stay within the confines of the town.
He walked around the exterior of the buckball field until he found Joey, " Where have you been for the past 2 hours? You should've seen me! I think I just found a new hobby-" William groaned, and slumped up against the wall. "Just doing what I could with what I had." He racked the bolt of his rifle halfway back, and let it fly forward again. The alicorn raised an eyebrow, " Movie reference." William whispered. "Personal favorite. " He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a gory fang. "Tore this thing out of the Graboid's maw." The alicorn just continued his blank stare. "I'm sorry, a what?" William waved him away. "I'll tell you later."
As soon as William turned away from him, he was greeted with a very angry unicorn mare, the one who had hired him in the first place. "William, where have you been!? I've been getting reports of a monster out in the desert-" She paused, and looked at the fang in WIlliam's gloved hand." Oh, nevermind. Well, are you enjoying yourself?" William rolled his eyes. " Of course, why wouldn't I?" He forced a laugh. The mare didn't catch onto what he was implying, and skipped off as though nothing had happened. He went off in the opposite direction heading down main street. The Graboid he had just ended a half hour earlier had mad e his imagination run even more wild than it already was. After all, if they where real in this world, what other things from his favorite franchises were? Perhaps he could stumble across a stargate in the Everfree. Or Martin Rigg's strolling through downtown Canterlot. Hell, he wouldn't have been surprised if Space Marines started falling from the sky....
"Ah, I've got it!" William sped off back towards the stadium where he snatched up Joey, and dragged him along in search of Twilight. The first words out of his mouth were, "Where can I find some good concert venue in Applelosa?"
For Tim Montana and his band, it was just another day of driving from small town to small town. Preforming at bars and occasionally on stage. Now, he was back at his studio. The last thing he was expecting at this time of day, something he never imagined would happen. Was for a miniature blue and white horse and a middle aged man dressed in full battle kit to just come walking on in. His whole crew was silent as they stared at the duo. " Uh, I don't recall setting up an interview with a winged unicorn and a LARPer." Tim whispered. William spoke up first.
" Uh, hi there, my name's William you probably don't remember me, but I went to one of your concerts in California a few years ago. I was your youngest fan there. And, I have a proposition for you. How would you feel about preforming in another dimension?" He blinked. " Wait, what?" Joey rolled his eyes, " Hello sir, name's Joey. I'm a friend of William." The band of rednecks stood there in front of them, scratching their heads. " It can talk?" Was their answer. William sighed, " Yes, he can. Honestly, I thought you guy's would be just a tad bit more weirded out." One of the band members shrugged, " Eh, we've seen weirder. So, what's this dimension like? And, what are you?" William's nervousness grew. He proceeded to give the standard, " Welcome to Equestria speech, this is how things work speech." To them, and they actually took it well. And, better yet, they accepted.
" What are you so happy about?" Joey asked, flicking his ears as they left the studio and headed for the exit portal. " My favorite singer is going to preform in Equestria, what do you think?" They chuckled, and stepped through the portal.
Several hours later..
A crowd of curious ponies had gathered around a stage near the center of town. William and Joey have been busy spreading the word about it. Though, William didn't mention that the creature preforming was human. Or that he was one of William's favorite singers. As the sun set on Applelosa, A crowd of humans walked out onto the strange with their instruments. They looked out on the crowd of colorful equines with a mixture of bewilderment and confusion. They took their places. William walked up from behind the stage. " Hey, you good?" He asked them. " Yeah." Tim Montana responded. "Again, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to this." William gave him a thumbs up and hopped off stage. He took a seat next to Joey.
"Uh, alright. Hello there, my names Tim Montana, know, in all honesty when I got a request to play in Equestria. I couldn't really believe but, here I am. I'm here to play some music, y'all can just kick on back and enjoy it. Alright?" An assortment of
confused cheers erupted from the crowd, and they began playing. William and the ponies of Equestria may have been on uncommon ground when it came to most things. But music, was universal. Music and bullets.