"William, why do you hate rainbows so much?"
The Quiet Kid froze, and stared blankly ahead of himself.
"Well? What?"
A bolt of light arced from the Equestrian sky, catching William the Quiet Kid by surprise. An instant later, the equine figure standing next to him disappeared as well. The sky above Ponyville cleared, as though whatever eldritch force had just ripped the two creatures from their plane of reality had simply up and left with no further comment.
"Oh, oww..."
I faded into and out of consciousness, as I felt my back brush up against something cold and rough, when, all of a sudden, my eyes snapped open. I went and glanced around. I could hear something above me, something vaguely familiar.
"Seagulls? What? Is that... I recognize that smell! It's ocean breeze. And-" I winced, "Ugh, what is that?" I cradled my head and sat up, his entire body ached from whatever had just happened. I realized that I had come to next to a garbage can. The smell of rotting food mixed with urban waste made me gag, and I swore I could hear-
"Cars?"
I opened my eyes further, and looked around. I could hear sirens in the distance. Something wasn't right.
"Wait, just where the hell am I?" I muttered to myself, but as I turned my head, it all began to make sense. Skyscrapers lined the other side of a four lane road. Rising up hundreds of feet into the air. Shrouded by blankets of fog and... Though it took me a while to realize, wildfire smoke.
"Eyup. That settles it, I'm in San Francisco." I glanced around again, I was still sitting on a grassy knoll, just some 30 odd feet from a concrete divider which separated a sidewalk from the ocean. In the distance, I could see the red spires of the Golden Gate Bridge and the duller ones of the Dwight Eisenhower Highway bridge.
"I'm in San Francisco." I repeated again, putting rubbing my forehead with a hard knuckle glove. Snapping my head around, I began to feel over my plate carrier. Something just felt off about everything around me. Seeing that I didn't want to draw attention to myself, or make people panic, I snapped my sidearm and holster away, alongside my rifle. Replacing them both with an IWB, (Inside the Waistband) Holster for my pistol. In all fairness, no one appeared to be in said park at the moment. Which was good for me. I stood up slowly, replacing my plate carrier with a set of soft body armor underneath my beige jacket.
"Well, I could've ended up someplace worse." I took a step forward, and looked around again. Off to my left side, I spotted a fountain, and a structure with the words, " Oracle Park" Adorning it's side.
"Urban art." I shuttered, crossing my arms. I looked across the road, then down at my watch.
"7:05, how is no one up yet?"
I winced again, my headache was killing me. I'd have to do something about it. It took a few steps forward and froze in place. Contemplating what it was my mind had just believed it had seen.
Now, you may ask, what was so terrifying so as to make me stop in my tracks? Me, the human who has more or less had to contend with the horrors of the Everfree Forest for the past several years? Well. How's a rainbow flag with a hammer and sickle suit ya? Needless to say, I almost screamed in horror.
William sighed and looked at his watch again. "Yep, I'm San Francisco alright." I repeated stupidly as I began to twitch from oncoming madness, I fainted right then and there.
"Oh, thank Celestia, you're not dead. Please wake up. Hey, bud! Wake up!" William's head rolled up. A smear of blue and white filled his vision.
"Gah! Get away from me!" William pulled himself back in a panic, the soles of his boots digging into bare concrete as he frantically backed up. But, he came to once again, he began to realize that the white and blue blur in his vision had been his alicorn friend, Joey. Who looked to be in a degree of bewilderment himself. Swallowing and drooping his ears at the sight of his friend.
"William, are you aware that we're-"
"Yep, we're in San Francisco." The Quiet Kid responded dully.
"How-What brought us here?"
"I don't know." William scratched his chin and raised a finger. " Here, put this on." He handed his friend a trench coat, a pair of sunglasses, and a cap.
"If anyone asks, you're my disabled furry friend." The alicorn nodded in understanding. But then raised an eyebrow.
"Won't people ask questions?" William shook his head. " Not in this city they won't." Before quickly adding;
"You're shy and not the hugging type." Joey chuckled with a degree of uncertainty at the last bit of the statement. William grinned as he looked down at the alicorn's new apparel.
"Hey, y-you!" A voice called from behind them. William spun around, and was greeted by a man in strange robes. He had dark rings under his eyes, and didn't look to be in the best shape.
"Got any of the good stuff?"
Joey arched an eyebrow. William raised one in unison. "Hello sir, what do you-" The man held up a hypodermic needle and grinned.
"Sir, I can't help you with that. To the best of my knowledge, that's illegal." His expression turned furious. "Ah. screw you kid!" Joey backed up, watching as the man took up a paper sack, and began to drink from something within it.
"Let's go Joey." He muttered tapped the alicorn on the shoulder. Who stopped. " Wait, we should get him some help. Look at this guy, we can't just leave him here-" A half empty whiskey bottle sailed over his head, followed by a stream of curses. William snapped his fingers and pointed towards the street.
"C'mon, let's go." The alicorn let out one last pitiful look, then began to trot beside his friend, keeping up with him as he crossed the road.
As William ushered his friend towards the road, he was suddenly met with a weak cry of, "Hey!" He turned his head and scanned the periphery of his vision. He bent his American foresters cap and bit his lip.
"Yes, sir, can I help ya?"
He turned to greet the person who had called him out. He possessed pale skin and wore all black, alongside a strangely colored face mask that made him look like a character out of 'The Purge.' The brick in his hand didn't do much to dissuade William of that probability anyhow. Whomever this was, or whatever their intentions, he seemed to have angered the person, who finally uttered a cry of.
"You Misgendered me!!!" Before throwing the brick at William, who sidestepped it with ease. Scowling in return.
"What in-" The person began to cry and pout. He went to his pocket and fished out something else. "Hey, cut it out! What did I do to you?" A yogurt cup splattered at William's feet, he jumped away and put his left hand up.
"Hey, hey! Look man, cut it out!" A carrot flew past William's head. He groaned, and began to slowly back up.
"Stop throwing things at me, holy ####!" His antagonist actually seemed to listen. Only to pull out his Phone and point it at William screaming, " I need my safe space, I need my safe space!" He reached into his pocket for something else, William continued backing up, he set his left hand on his belt, right near a taser.
"Look, I don't even know you! Cut it out!" The man let out a girlish scream and drew a can of pepper spray. William began to quickly lose his patience.
"Look mister, we're new here, and we were just wondering if-"
"Quit misgendering me!!!!" Rather than using the pepper spray as intended, the man just threw the canister at the pair. It rolled harmlessly past Joey's hooves.
"We ought to go." William whispered to his friend, who nodded in agreement. The man went back to fumbling around in his pockets. As he did, three more people appeared around him, all pulling out their Phones and jeering in unison. William donned a balaclava.
"What's going on?" The alicorn asked in confusion. Looking from person to person, his facial expression growing more and more perplexed with each passing moment. William turned and began to walk away from the crowd.
"Time to go bud!" A butterfly knife flew past William. The alicorn looked around at the gathering crowd again. He took a step back and accidentally bumped into one of the people there.
"Aww, are you lost wittle one?" The alicorn looked up in confusion. "Well yes, we are-" His voice trailed off as he felt William pick him up and begin to pull him away from the crowd. Who continued to hurl insults and... Other things, at the pair as they made off.
The alicorn kicked his hind legs "What are you doing!?" William stared down at him past his sunglasses. "Saving you, that mob'll rip you apart!" Carrying the alicorn like a sack of flour, William broke into a dead sprint. He rounded a palm tree and sprinted into an alleyway in between a hotel and an apartment complex. He could hear shouting close behind, without thinking, he dropped Joey in a bush and then dove into it himself.
"Why are they angry at us!?" Joey demanded. William just shook his head. " I don't know, and what was that guy talking about? Has something changed on Earth since we left?" The alicorn tugged his friend's jacket collar and pointed upwards with his hoof. William turned and stared up at the poster which his friend had pointed out.
"Celebrate you! Celebrate us!" Followed by a depiction of a hammer and sickle and- ugh." The both of them shuttered.
"What is going on in this place?"
"I don't know. But it wasn't like this the last time I came here. But then again, it's been a while." Joey facehoofed. " We need to figure things out.
"Informational pamphlet?" William suggested, his friend shook his head. "Nope," He shook his coin satchel. " I Phone." William groaned.
"I left for Equestria to get away from all that. I hate social media." His friend laughed.
"Well we don't have any better way, now do we?" William crossed his arms as the two emerged from their hiding spot.
"You can go on and get one for yourself. I'll stick with a map and compass, the kinda thing ya can't EMP." The alicorn shrugged.
"... Alright... Um..." Joey looked around at the empty alleyway. William checked his watch. "Quick! Before that mob finds us." William began to make his way towards the end of the alleyway. He stopped to look both ways before motioning for Joey to follow him.
"Streets clear, let's go." William looked both ways, then rushed across the road. He ushered for Joey to keep following. The alicorn stepped out in the road, and nearly jumped in pain when he stepped over broken glass, he quickly rushed across and hobbled over to William, who examined his friend's hoof.
"It didn't break it. You're fine. Just startled you is all." He reached down and, with a crack of his knuckles, pulled the little shard of glass from the alicorn. "There, now let's get moving." William and Joey continued walking westward.
About 20 minutes later, and the Quiet Kid found himself standing across from a run down cell service store. He looked both ways.
"Sh, someone's coming." He and his alicorn companion backed up behind a dumpster, and watched as a single electric Prius rattled down the street, then rounded a corner about a hundred feet from where they were hiding. William looked both ways again, before signaling for his friend to cross the road.
"Move fast, but don't run. We don't want to draw any attention." His friend eyed him from top to bottom. "Sure, like you haven't done that already." William rolled his eyes. "Well, we're here. You wanna go first, or should I-" Without another word, the poorly disguised alicorn stepped towards the door to open it, only to find it open automatically. He shrugged it off, and walked in.
"Hello?" The alicorn walked down the isles of electronic components, and right up to the counter. William noticed something was off in an instant. A strange smell permeated the entire store.
"Something isn't right." Finally, a figure swung themselves around the counter, a... 'Full formed' Female, with blue hair and an excessive amount of makeup.
"Oh, hello there cutie!" She squealed at Joey. Who shifted uneasily.
"Um... Hello there? I'm sorta-" He looked back at William, who moved his thumb across his throat, then rolled this hand implying, "Get on with it!"
"I'd like to buy a phone, I don't need much, just something to access the internet." The clerk smiled, and began to look across the shelves behind her. Before finally setting a display model of some kind on the counter.
"Here this one, it's eco friendly."
"Why would a phone need to be- It's a phone." William muttered, sitting down on the least stained bench he could find and rubbing his forehead in annoyance.
"It's got solar panels, a contact charger, and a top of the line surveillance system to make sure that you aren't up to anything offensive. You know, typical stuff!" William's eyes snapped open, he glared at the clerk behind his sunglasses.
"What did she just say?" He asked himself. "I've gotta find out more about this." He began to tap his foot, resting his head on a fist as he did.
"Oh, but I'm sure that's no problem for a cute little thing like you!" The clerk exclaimed. "Although, I'm not so sure about your friend." William checked his watch. Then, finally, stood up and walked over to the counter.
"Joey, a word?"
"Yes?"
"Don't trust this women. She's being far to casual about this." He looked over at the clerk. " What do you mean by surveillance?" She fell silent, and then answered with, " There's things that our friends don't want us to do! But it's fine! It's fine! They just want to be sure to you don't offend anyone, you know!?" William raised an eyebrow.
"You gonna explain what you mean by, offend?" She smiled. " Oh, um... Well... Not to be judgy, but like you!" William sighed, and put his hand on his forehead again.
"Lady, what in God's name do you mean?"
"Your hat, your demeanor, I don't think I like it. You bigot!" William scratched his head. " Ma'am, listen. My friend here doesn't want a miniature camera watching his every move. So... Do you perhaps have something else? How about a paper map of this city?"
"Oh, paper? You mean murdered trees?" William facepalmed. "Now you're talking like Fluttershy."
"Who? Is this some new thing I haven't heard of yet?" The Quiet Kid tapped Joey on the shoulder. "C'mon bud, we're leaving."
"Wait! Wait! Your friend hasn't picked out a phone yet!" Joey chuckled nervously. "Hey, bud, it has been a while since I was on human internet, c'mon, just a few minutes!" His eyes widened in self pity. William had to practically drag the stallion out of the store, but at least the clerk at the front counter seemed to lose interest in them once they were out the door. It was only then that William realized that they were being watched by a myriad of security cameras. He ushered his friend back across the street and hid by a dumpster.
"William-"
"Quiet Joey. C'mon, we're gonna go find a pier. The Park Ranger station is sure to have what we're looking for."
"Just five minutes. Just five." His friend insisted, hanging his head. " William set a gloved hand on his friend's shoulder and chuckled. "It's for the better! You heard what the lady said! The last thing I want is for the Thought Police to show up because I said the wrong thing at the wrong time."
"You can't be serious."
"I am. I absolutely am." The alicorn stood up and glanced back out across the road.
"There's a time and place for... Actually, never mind. It's odd, but it isn't that odd. So far, it's just about the San Fransico I remember. There's no way it can get worse, right?"
"Our route to the Pier passes across the Freeway and into Midtown, correct?" Joey asked. William facepalmed, and stared down at the ground, then back up at his friend, then at the opposing alleyway by him.
"I miss Ponyville already." William said with an irritated sigh, resting his hands in his pockets as he checked his watch again.
"8:50 A.M. "
"John Moses Browning help me, this is madness! But hey, at least my headache's gone away!"