"Now what the hell could this stuff mean? Oh who am I kidding- I know what these mean they tell the story of the first defeat of Grogar I know that much already I just need to decipher them!" He glanced over the sketches he had done of the cave drawings he had found 3 day's earlier. And sighed as he tossed them back on the table. " I'd ask Twilight or Celestia or some professor at the Canterlot university about this. But I don't want to start a panic just because there's a slim chance that a eldritch tyrant might have come back from the dead. Worst things is, I barely know anything about him. Or where to start looking. He balled up his fist and looked up at his bulletin board. Covered in scraps of paper and pictures. This was the one part of his house that most visitors never saw. It was also the most secure part of his house. He heard his doorbell ring, and headed downstairs.
"Hold on a moment, Equestria has an annual archery competition?" William frowned at the newspaper which had just been tossed on his porch. And this, was the only thing in the entire which had caught his eye. " let's see... Wait-It's in Canterlot? No. Not a chance. I hate the commute. Unless..." He glanced down the street to find Twilight and Joey talking with one another.
"You purple alicorn! Can you teleport me to Canterlot for the annual archery competition? Because I'm sick and tired of having to take the train back and forth. And I don't really have much faith in Joey's ability to do it!" He folded his arms and waited for a response.
"Well, I don't really have much in my schedule. Do you want be to take you both ways?" He gave Twilight a thumbs up. " Ok... When do you want to leave?" His expression went dead. " Now! What do you think?" She shrugged, and ignited her horn. And just like that, William was standing in the middle of a walkway in the middle of the Canterlot gardens. Momentarily in pain on account of the spell. He cracked his knuckles, and walked off towards... Where was it again?
"Damnit." He had forgotten to actually find the precise location on the newspaper. And besides, he was pretty sure he had canceled his subscription about 2 months ago. So he snuck up on the first royal guard he spotted, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him that very question. " Hey, do you know where the archery competition is?" The pegasus looked back at him. " Hello William, It's been a while." It was Captain Winger, the idiot which Celestia had sent after him just over a year ago.
"Hehe, how about you just answer the question and we can both be on our way's?" The stallion glared at him, " Oh no, I'd like to get to know you. How's your life been since we met?"
"Oh you know, it's gotten better. Joey's doing fine. I've saved the world a few more times, made a few more friends, and quite a few more enemies. But that's nothing that I can't handle. Yours?" The pegasus forced a smile. " It's been good. I've got a marefriend. As for my unit, they're all fit and healthy." William nodded, this may have been unexpected but so far, it was turning out alright.
" About that... Thing that happened in Ponyville. I'm not sorry, I was protecting myself from the actions of a tyrannical government." This oddly didn't elicit a negative response from him. " I figured you wouldn't be, but if it's any consolation. I apologize for the inconvenience. If it's alright with the princesses, it's fine by me. Don't worry about it. " William scratched his chin, and knelt down to the pony's height. " Hey, back to that competition-"
" It's in a park down by the southwest side of the city. Can't miss it." William smiled back. " Thanks', I'll be down in Ponyville if you ever wanna chat more." He waved goodbye and headed out through a side entrance, but before he was out of sight. He heard the guard say one last thing, " Thanks' for saving me from Sombra's mind control!" I took him a moment to recall what he was talking about. "You're welcome!" He gave Winger a thumbs up as they parted ways. Though William wasn't quite sure if he understood it or not.
"Alright. Do I have to register or something?" The entire crowd fell silent as William stepped onto the grass. There were about 200 attendees. Among them was Celestia, equally stunned to see William back so soon after the, 'vacation.' Which they gone on. Long story short, she had lost her sense of professionalism, and angered him quite a bit in the process. And then never bothered to apologize. Not that William required that he be apologized to. He wasn't a snowflake.
"Hello William, there isn't. The target's are right over there, it'll start in a few minutes." He breathed out through his teeth. "Afternoon Celestia. I'll forgo the formalities for the time being, " He looked around at the crowd who were still eyeing him with suspicion. " What are y'all staring at?" They went back to what they had been doing before. He had been unexpected, but no entirely a surprise. It finally seemed as though ponies outside of Ponyville were beginning to remember him.
"Alright folks, welcome back to the 128th annual Equestrian archery competition!" William sighed. "128th?"
He already knew what he was going with. "Time to meet our competitors!" It was as William expected. The majority of them were either pegasi or unicorns. Pegasi, because their subspecies was more warlike than the other two pony races. And, unicorns because of their telekinesis. There was also an earth pony. But William wasn't too worried about her. All in all there were about a dozen of them. Emphasis on the word, 'about.' As William leaned himself back up against a tree. He began to get the feeling that something was watching him. This was confirmed when he looked straight up. And was met by a pair of faintly glowing eyes.
" Boo." It was a bat pony. But not just any bat pony, Nightshine. Hanging upside down with a bow and quiver slung around her neck. " Hey there Nightshine, you competing as well?" She gave him an upside down smirk.
"Yes I am. Three time champion. Don't bother explaining, I heard you yelling about it from up here." William chuckled, " It is. So, when does it start?" Her ears turned to the sound of a buzzer.
"Now." She glided down and trotted off to the starting line. William hurried off, and took a spot alongside her.
"Alright, you all probably know the rules, first pony to land three arrows within each of the red circle wins!" William looked out on the field, there were 4 separate bullseyes one at 15 yards, one at 15, one at 75, and one at 100 , " Is it actually as simple as that, or is there something more?" Nightshine smiled and pulled the recurve bow off her back. " It is that simple. Good luck!" She chimed. William rolled his eyes, and took a knee, now he just had to figure out as way to make his sidearm compliant with the tournaments rules. He ended up screwing a massive titanium dart onto the barrel of his M45A1. That solved that part of the problem. The only thing that had him worried was that the gunshot's would scare the crowd. But then again, the dart would suppress the majority of the noise. It would remove all of it. But it should keep the crowd from impulsively panicking and fleeing." He chambered a round and safetied it. He waited for the rest of the contestants to finish doing whatever it was they were doing. He was a gun person, not a bow person. Sure, he had used a basic recurve bow a few times before. But he had had far, far more training with firearms.
"Alright, all contestants to the starting line. You may begin when ready."
William took 2 steps forward, looked over at the others, then back at the crowd. " What? Y'all can go on a start."
And so they did. And, as far as cute multicolored equines go. They didn't actually do that bad. After they had shot their allotted amount of arrows. William raised his pistol. As soon as he did so, the crowd began to murmur. But since none of them stopped to question what he was using, he went ahead with it. With the help of fiber optic sights. He was able to finish the course just as, if not faster than the other competitors. After this, they all waited for the results to come in.
Had he used a rifle he may have first place. But this was the only time in his life that he would be fine with 2nd. And, now he finally had a trophy to put on his shelf that did belong to a creature that had tried to kill him first, only to have their body filled full of holes. As for the first place winner... In all honesty, he was perfectly fine letting that bat pony go home with it. It was preferable to some egotistical noble. They said their goodbye's, and William began his long walk home. When he heard the voice of Winger call out. Wondering if he would let him pay his airship toll home. William had no qualms against this. His first order of business upon returning home would be to drop off his trophy, eat a late lunch, and hit up the castle library. He still had to get this whole Grogar thing figured out.