The Quiet Kid: Sicut Vult

by aegishailstorm

Sunrise over Steel

"Ok, keep calm, you're gonna be alright, calm yourself William. And the training will kick in." One moment, he had been sitting up in his bed. And the next, he was sitting in the drivers seat of a sports utility vehicle with a Pacific highway 1 sign on one side, and a set of flash lights that belonged to a California highway patrol officer on the other. "Well shit." He groaned and set his hands on the steering wheel. " Hey officer, how you doing?" He didn't even both to look over. All he did was slightly pat the wheel.

1 minute passed. Then another. 5 minutes later and neither him nor the officer had moved whatsoever. Finally, he decided to turn and look out his window. Standing there was a rather familiar unicorn with white fur, and a greenish mane with a few red stripes. Gusty the Great. He had only seen her a few times, either as illustrations in ancient books. Or in dreams. Usually locked in combat with Grogar the Necromancer. A rather angry blue goat-like creature. Who, contrary to the name. Never resurrected any of the dead. The tyrant had used a magical bell to harass Equestria several thousand years prior to Nightmare Moon's defeat by the Element's of Harmony. Grogar himself had been defeated by this, "Gusty." For the moment, neither the man in the car nor the unicorn spoke any words.

"Why am I here, and... Where did the officer go?" But rather than answering, the unicorn quite literally melted away into the air. In her place was a very unhappy Grogar. Before the magic goat could make any moves. The human within pulled an M45A1 sidearm and sent two .45 ACP flying into it's forehead, just below the horns. As soon as the second pull of the trigger was finished, the whole world flashed black.

"I could've done better."

---

"Gahh...Ow!" The man dressed in over the top MARPAT camouflage fatigues groaned in pain as he rubbed his head. Which had just made unwilling and violent contact with the northern wall of his bedroom, just behind his bed. " Damnit Luna, where are you when I need you?" He mumbled as he rolled over and scanned the room while simultaneously rubbing his eyes. Every bone in his body was telling him to fall back asleep. But he managed to keep his eyes open long enough for him to come to arrive at his senses. Meet William, several years ago, he was unwillingly brought to Equestria, and given the ability to summon any piece of military hardware he so desired by a group of... No longer living mages.

Long story rather short, he ended up single handedly defeating a coalition of changelings, griffons, and dragons assembled by the leaders of their respective nations to try and take Equestria, and it just so had happened that Ponyville had been their first stop. William returned to earth soon after. Fast forward 4 years, and he was back in Equestria, fighting the Storm King. This time around however, he wasn't alone. by some freak accident one of his high school buddies had been dropped into the Everfree forest and transformed into an alicorn. Long story even shorter, he disposed of the Storm King and his army, got a house in Ponyville... Which he quite heavily renovated. Lived almost 2 years in it, made a few friends, and quite few more enemies. Most of which are not so tragically no longer living. That brings us to today...

William looked over at his bedroom window, which faced east, out towards the town. And cracked his neck. Just as he was about to slide out of bed when he heard knocking at his window. He identified the sound of the hooves softly tapping the glass immediately, and walked to the window with a dim smile on his face.

" Good morning William!" Called a voice from outside, he threw the curtains aside and opened the window. Hovering just inches from the window sill was an alicorn with white fur and a dark blue mane. "Good morning Joey. Mind using the door?" He chuckled, and dove down as William shut the window and looked back at his bedroom. "Well, time to go to work." He opened his bedroom door and turned left, heading down the stairs, where her turned left again, heading right to his front door.

He threw the door open. In place of his friend was a grey earth pony mare with a notebook in her hooves. " Sorry man! I couldn't stop her!" Joey's voice cried out from just beyond the brim of the door. William face palmed. "What do you want?" He asked her gruffly.

"Oh, sorry, I go by Frosty Fields. I was asked by Canterlot Daily to do an interview with the Quiet Kid. I take it you're him?" William hesitated. He had made it quite apparent by now that he did not want his face, or his name in the newspaper. He wasn't here for fame, and, seeing that he was an introvert. Did not want to intentionally go out of his way to look for it. His response to the mare was a simple. " No thank you. Please go away." And a slow closing of his front door.

"Please???" He peaked out to find that the mares pupils had widened, and her ears had drooped down. He raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?" She groaned, and stood back up. " Trying to get you to let me in through being cute? It's worked more often than you think." He facepalmed. " Damnit, you have 2 minutes. Start asking." He took a few steps backwards, as soon as she had stepped inside, he shut the door and motioned to the couch. "Sit, or stand. I don't really care."

"Alright, I'm not willing to disclose much. Other than the fact that I enjoy my life here in Ponyville. And I haven't really had much on my mind since I defeated Tirek and Cozy Glow. I still absolutely despise her name by the way. Chrysalis is still adjusting to living in Ponyville. I'm a relatively simple man. I like guns, I like the lonesome woods. And I like peace and Quiet." He checked his watch, " Oh would ya look at that. The 2 minute's is up." He practically pushed her out of his house and shut the door as fast as he could with out it being considered slamming.

"What did I tell you?" Joey asked with sarcasm as he trotted into view. William wasn't amused by his sarcastic remark. But let it slide. " So, how's you're morning been?" The alicorn asked William. " Good."

"Do you mind if I come inside? I need to talk to you about Chrysalis." He frowned, and stepped aside. "What about her?" William asked as he sat back down. "How do I explain this? Remember when Starwatcher moved in?" William nodded.

"So... She's having problems with the locals? Go figure. I mean, she doesn't even look reformed at first glance. But at least she's better than before, mostly." William chuckled, "Where's she staying?" Joey blinked back, " Twilight let her, 'borrow,' a room in her castle. At least until she trust's her enough to give her a house of her own. Oh, also, while Twilight might not trust Chrysalis, her friends are getting along great." William shrugged, " You ever heard Discord's backstory? One moment he's trying to corrupt all of Equestria, next moment they're eating at the same damn table and talking about old times. Only difference here is that she hasn't gone all soft yet. Oh, and she's still got those hole's in her hooves." Joey swallowed hard, "They give me the creeps." William jumped up and headed for his kitchen.

"Tell you what, I'll grab myself a snack from the pantry and we can head on over." He twisted the knob on his pantry door and pulled out a sack of freeze dried apples and a glass of water. He reminded himself to make a stop at Sweet Apple Acre's later on in the day. " Let's go, I can eat on the way." He donned his boot's and set off down the cobble road towards Twilight's castle on the far side of town with Joey in tow. He made sure to steer clear of Sugercube corner. Regardless of how many, " Free cupcake's." She offered him, he couldn't help but cover his ear's or tune his amplified hearing protection down whenever she started talking. Now, while he himself was no stranger to talking fast. But she took it to a level that most sentient being's would consider 'extremely annoying'. As he passed through the center of town he suddenly found is path blocked by a wooden cart full of carrot's.

"Hey, ma'am? Please move your cart before I force it out of my way." A head of an earth pony poked out over the top. " To answer your question, I can't. The front wheel's broken. I hit a patch of bumpy road on the way into town, and it just got worse from there." William knelt down. " Damn right it is." The mare in front of him rubbed her eye's. " You're William, right?" He nodded. " Yes, and you're Carrot Top. The local carrot farmer. I'm gonna be on my way now. "

"Wait-" She stopped him. He looked back at her, and noticed that she was clutching a single Equestrian bit in her hoof. "It's yours if you fix it." William took another look at the front wheel. " You've got a broken few spokes. Hold on." He reached into his plate carrier and pulled out a roll of ducktape. 30 seconds later, the wheel was as fixed he could manage. She inspected his work, then tossed him the coin. " Thanks for the help. Hey, did you know that Twilight's going to be crowned the ruler of Equestria in a few day's?" The information hit him like an Abrams tank. He looked off into the distance. " Yeah, yeah I did. You're welcome." He tipped his hat and continued on his way.

---

William turned off down a side road near the School of Friendship and knocked on the front door of Twilight's castle. "Hello? Anyone home? It's me, William-" The double door's swung open before he could finish. Revealing none other than Twilight Sparkle. Well... That's what fool would have though, any being with a set of working eye's would have noticed that her eyes were glowing green. "Hi Chrysalis." She chuckled. " Hello William. I see you're to smart for this old changeling's tricks."

"It's not that I'm smart. I mean, I am... It's that our eyes were glowing, kind of a dead giveaway do ya think?" She groaned, " Why yes, I suppose it is." He stepped inside. " What do you mean by suppose?" He thought to himself. William shook his head. But regardless, he would excuse it.

"So... What seems to be the issue? Let me guess, you keep terrifying others. Or perhaps you're hungry?" She snuffed, and looked back at him as the two walked down the hallway towards the double stair's leading up to the rest of the crystalline structure. "A combination of both. I can't stand living with them! Why must everything be brightly colored!?" She stomped her hoof. " Aye, I understand. If it wasn't already apparent, I despise it as well. Keep in mind, it is still their property. As long as they keep it away from me, I don't care how nonsensical it gets. "

"You told me about it the last time we talked. But how the hay am I supposed to deal with it, how do you keep yourself from ripping them to shreds?" William laughed. " I use something called the Warrior Poet mentality. As long as what they are doing doesn't bother you directly, or is hurting any other being that matters to you. It's fine, just give them a wide berth. As for the anger... Have you tried cutting firewood? If not that, then punching trees. " She rubbed her chin as the two of them walked into the map room and came face to face with Twilight Sparkle. William cracked a smirk. " Excited about your crowning?" She stared at him. "What? Oh, yes... That, yes I am!" Her gaze shifted to Chrysalis. Whilst they weren't trying to kill each other anymore. Neither was glad to see the other. William broke the tension.

"Twilight, you're supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, correct? Well... please fix- Try to fix Chrissy's problems. I've some stuff to do. See you later." He tipped his hat to the both of them and left.

Meanwhile...

Frosty Field's left Williams house and boarded the Ponyville Express. From there she took a train northwards towards Canterlot. After delivering her rather inconclusive report the the Canterlot paper she headed to the royal castle. She kept going until she was at the precipice of the royal vault. Contained within were some of the most powerful and dangerous artifacts in all of Equestria. Among them was Grogar the Necromancer's damaged bell. She looked at the lock and grinned. "Someday. Someday." A malicious laugh filled the hallway as a single bolt of lightning crashed through the mid day sky.