The Quiet Kid: Day by Day

by aegishailstorm

Quiet Kid? Title? Yep. Literally? Nope.

With another day of dead end's, headaches, and food. William was still not the slightest bit closer to finding the hideout of one Grogar the Necromancer and what he had dubbed, " The trio of idiots." Comprised of the possibly deceased King Sombra, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek.

He had gotten ahold of of ever bit of source material he could find. And all of them had led to nothing. Though they did give him a bit more insight into the nature of what Grogar was. Legend's described him as a giant blue goat. With magical abilities which in modern times would be more than a match for even Celestia and Luna. He had also looked into this, "Gusty the Great." Which had yielded slightly more information than the research on Grogar. She was an immortal unicorn, or at least, so the books said. Grey fur and a shimmering bluish green mane with single red streak, a , 'cutie mark,' of windswept leaves. And, as the name implied, an unnatural control over the weather.

Apparently whoever was in charge of keeping records back then didn't do a very good job. Because he still had nothing, the only thing left was those glyphs which he had copied back in the cave. And he wasn't comfortable with asking Twilight about it. Besides, if he was going to think about it any longer. It was going to have to be the next day, as he was worn out, and in the process of falling asleep in his bed.

"Damnit! Not again!"

It was a black abyss, which likely meant that he was getting a sudden hallucinatory vision. Or, that Luna was stopping by for a chat. Judging by the blackness faded from sight and was replaced by the top or a snowy mountain and high alpine forest. It was most likely the later. But then he noticed something climbing the side of the mountain, it was Grogar. Just as the book had described him, however, this version had glowing eyes with black pupils. And, in between his 2 horns, a sphere of magic. Which lashed out from it's source at random intervals with the bolts of energy the same color palate as his eyes. On the far side of the mountain, a second figure rose above the clouds.

This one he recognized as Gusty. He looked closer at her, as goat and unicorn hovered closer to one another, their horns began to glow brighter as well. And from there it wasn't long before they began exchanging bolt's of magic. As this happened, William noticed something odd, Gusty, or rather, the dreams manifestation of her, winked at him. Then Grogar turned to him.

"You!!!" He growled, the voice was deep, just as he had imagined an eldritch creature like him would sound. The peculiar bell around his neck began to glow, and William impulsively manifested a M4A1 carbine. But before he could get a good sight picture, the vision faded. And was replaced by one very smug faced Lunar alicorn. "Care to explain whatever that was?" She tapped her right hoof on the dark grassy field which they now occupied. " No, because I don't know what that just was. And besides, what I do know of it is classified, by me, of course. " She laughed, "Very well then William, I don't have that many stops to make tonight, so, what do you want to discuss?" She sat down, William groaned, and put his hand to his forehead. " I'm pretty sure you already know what I was thinking-" He felt a wing slap him in the face. His wing. " Yes, thank you for jumpstarting the transformation. I was actually thinking of paying my old collage a visit." The field melted into an assortment of dorm buildings and fog. With redwood tree's and huckleberry bushes mixed in. " You're welcome to follow along if ya want."

"Why do you always insist on changing species every time you get the chance?" William laughed, and flapped his wings a couple times, did a barrel roll, and smacked his head on the ground. "I'm alright! And, to answer your last question, because I can! It's like a tetanus shot, it's a bit scary the first time you do it, but it all works out for the better in the long run. And no, I will never have one of those cutie mark things! I hate them!" He poked his tail. " And besides, this has a bonus use as a fly swatter!" A part of his forehead began to glow green, and various firearms appeared in different positions around his head, in one go, he racked the actions and chambered rounds in all of them.

"And, I can do this. Which when combined with my wings basically turns me into a living AC 130 gunship. And for both our sakes, I'm not going to explain that reference. And the fact that ponies are naturally... Ugh, 'adorable'. He coughed on the last part. Which I am not. All works in my favor, do you understand?" She rolled her eyes. Sure. I'll leave you to your... Redwood forest now." Before he could answer him she was gone.

"Oh for ####'s sake! I really need to figure out how to do that." The rest of his night was uneventful in comparison. Though he did much enjoy flying through the fogy redwoods and valley's of Humboldt county. He still knew that waking up was inevitable, but, just before it happened, he caught a glimpse of something that shouldn't have been in his dreamscape, the 2 beady glowing eyes of Grogar. But before he could do anything, he shot up in his bed, wide awake. And rolled himself out of bed with a groan. Momentarily forgetting that he no longer had wings. He stumbled down the stairway, grabbed something to eat and drink, walked back up stairs, brushed his teeth, went back downstairs, threw on his kit. And left for wherever it was he was going that day. With the, "Jumpscare." Still fresh in his mind.

This time, he decided that he would go over and knock on the front door of his friends house. Whistling along to 'Sink The Bismarck.'

His fiend's house was north west William's house. I was a cozy single story house which blended in with the aesthetic of the town far more than William's. It had a thatched roof and gardens. In contrast William's shingle roof and modern home, well... Mostly modern. It certainly wasn't the ordinary suburban home, what with it's Kevlar reinforced walls magic proof door locks. And besides He knew to much about house fires for his own good. But Joey wouldn't go for it.

"Hey, it's William!" He tapped on the front door, as soon as his hand made contact with the wood he could hear the scrambling of hooves on wood from inside. About half a second later, the door swung open, revealing a groggy alicorn in a red bathroom a mug in his right hoof. With the words, 'Got hooves?' Plastered on it's side. " What is it?" William groaned. " You always knock on my door first, so I figured I'd beat you to it. He lifted his mug with his magic. "Come on inside."

William pulled the door aside and walked inside. " Sorry about the mess." Joey muttered, " I don't care, do whatever you please with your house. I haven't been here in what, 4-5 months?" He slumped back on the couch. The alicorn sat down in front of him, " Yes, so, what do you wanna talk about?" William frowned. " What do you mean?"

"Well, whenever I come over, it's always the same thing, I sit on your couch and we talk about our lives while you make breakfast and drink coffee. So, what's on your mind?" William grabbed one of the pillows on the couch and pulled it closer. " Have you ever heard the tale of Grogar the Necromancer?" Joey thought about for a moment, " Yeah, I have, Twilight told it to me when she visited last."

"You're implying she's been here more than once. How often does this happen?' He leaned in closer, " About twice a week. It's nothing you'd be interested in, it's mostly just Twilight talking about the stresses of directing a school, ranting about her friends, and gossip about the other folks in town." William rested his elbow on his leg and propped his head up on his hand.

"Here's a question for you, why do you still insist on being called The Quiet Kid? You're 22! And you're not even that quiet! have you heard yourself talk? Every creature within a quarter mile can hear you! Whatever happened to, 'Unstoppable Moron? " William's hand when from his chin to his forehead. "I'm supposed to be out of collage now, well, technically I'm supposed to by surveying land out in Alaska. But I'm here instead. First of all, I'm not that loud. Second, the 2 nicknames are interchangeable. " Joey finished his coffee. I don't know what's wrong with it, but Equestrian coffee and earth coffee just aren't the same."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

William crossed his arms and stood up. " I'm going out to the old castle ruins in the Everfree to see if that glorified excuse of a plant. The Spirit of Harmony." He coughed into his fist on that last part. William waved goodbye, and slammed the door in the most comedic way possible. Joey couldn't help but laugh. " I'm glad he's on my side." He shook his head and went for his cupboards.

"Ah yes, my little fortress in the tree's!" He threw is hands out at the sight of the decaying castle. Upon getting closer he was ecstatic to find that the sentient crystalline that lived in a cave far below the castle hadn't made any more encroachments on the courtyard. He decided to explore further into it. As he strolled through the overgrown place garden's he noticed something he had missed on his last visit there. A small portion of the walkway was caved in. He pulled out a flashlight and peered into the crack. The beam of light starched just far enough into the darkness to reveal what appeared to be a bookshelf.

"Huh, must've collapsed recently, I ought to check this out." He mounted a headlamp to his helmet. And mounted one to his rifle. He didn't really see the point of night vision for something like this. He slid down into the crack, and shined his light into the room which he had dropped into. The drop from the caved in section was about 4 feet, so he wasn't worried about getting back up. A quick scan of the room revealed that it was a library, and an old one at that. He walked further into the chamber, gazing at the stacks of old, mothballed books. And the murals or Celestia and Luna. Not just them, but other ponies of ages past, not only that, but there were also a few small images of other alicorns. Something he'd have to look into later. He assumed that most of what was here hadn't been touched in a millennium. As William peeked around a corner, and shined his light on another row of old books, one in particular caught his eye. Namely, it's paint scheme, which had been faded by time. Seemed vaguely familiar. Curious, he edged closer to it, and gently took it off the shelf, taking a cloud of dust with it. He turned it over, and looked at the cover. He couldn't read the words on in. But one thing did catch his eye, the painted insignia of windswept maple leaves.

"Hah! I finally found something new!" The combination of white, blue, green, and red combined with the image on the cover was unmistakable. It was a book about Gusty the Great. Which meant, if this was here, then there might also be a book about Grogar.

And his whereabouts.