What happens in Frisco...

by aegishailstorm

Californiacation

The sound of buzzing filled the street, echoing off the skyscrapers. Cautiously, I drew my sidearm.

"I made a grave miscalculation! Run!"

Now, you may ask, "William? What exactly went wrong on your way to the nearest Pier?" Well, sit tight and I'll tell ya.

---

8:55 AM

Following his swift departure from the electronics store, William the Quiet Kid and Joey, his alicorn companion had begun to make their way across the city in hopes of reaching a somewhat civilized pier where there would be park rangers and, hopefully, armed guards that would provide him with the means to escape the phesdo dystopian hellhole he had found himself in. But even that was a pretty sketchy, 'if'.

"William, this is San Francisco, not Fallujah. Also, are you aware of the fact that you've been speaking to yourself this whole time?" William turned back and glanced at his friend as the two walked along a dirty trash laden sidewalk. They rounded a corner, and found an overpass to their direct front.

"... And there's the freeway. Now, we should be close-"

"Yo...!" A voice echoed down the street. William cringed, and clenched his fist. At the next intersection stood a half dozen humans wearing all black apparel and carrying baseball bats.

"William, what now?" Joey asked. William laughed, and then made a half circle in the air with his finger. " We're going around. They don't look the nicest. But I will not use force on other humans unless I don't have any other options. Waging a war in the streets'll only lead to trouble right now." The two slowly backed away from the open street and backtracked half a block, then advanced out over the road whilst the thugs were busy exacting a toll from an electric Prius driver that had happened to stop by the intersection. A process which involved the supposed leader dragging the two green haired males in the diver and side seats out of the vehicle, and then threatening them with their bats and, by the looks of it, a pocketknife, until they gave them some dollar bills, and then letting them off on their merry way as though nothing had happened.

"You could have helped them out." Joey said.

William groaned, and set his hand on the holster of his gun.

"Joey, you don't understand. It isn't my problem unless one of them were to come over here and actively involve me, besides, they didn't actually attack them. I saw no bruises or gashes. My first priority is my safety, my second is yours." He set a hand on his friend's mane and ruffled it. The alicorn smiled back.

"It's glad to know you care."

"Damn right it is. Now, c'mon. Let's go." William and Joey began to make their way down the sidewalk on the far side of the road, just under the overpass. They continued ahead for about a quarter mile until William found them an on ramp just up a hill that they could scale to reach the main freeway.

"Where are all the cars?"

"There are none, I haven't seen a single combustion engine vehicle since we showed up here. Nothing makes sense." he

"Things have definitely changed since we were here."

8: 56 AM

As William and Joey crossed Route 101, they were suddenly met by a peculiar noise.

"What in-"

"Pedestrian, halt!" The voice was came from a speaker atop a small sports utility vehicle. One with... Oddly enough, no visible driver. There wasn't any tinted glass. There was simply no driver.

"Joey, get behind me." The alicorn did as told, shimmying behind his friend. "William raised his hand and stepped aside. Glancing inside the vehicle.

"I think it's automated."

"Please submit your papers!" A voice within cried. William raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.

"What the heck are you? An AI, or is there some human behind that who I can talk to?" William asked the vehicle.

"Noncompliance detected. " The voice on the loudspeaker spoke. The Quiet Kid groaned. "What exactly are we doing wrong? This highway looks abandoned. And I doubt you hold governance over it. Leave me be." The vehicle drove off without speaking another word to him. William just shrugged, and then laughed.

"Cowards." William grumbled, pulling his friend along with an order of," C'mon, let's go."

9: 09 AM

The two crossed Route 80 and repelled down the far side though a combination of Joey's wing power, and some carabiners and paracord on William's part. They quickly made their way away from the highway and deeper into downtown. under the cover of an overhead offramp which led past the now defunct Consulate of Mexico. Passing scenes of chaos as they went. Trash lay piled up on the streets, store and first floor windows were either smashed in, or boarded up. Graffiti adorned nearly every surface, and they sidewalks were lined with tents. William and Joey took to using alleyway's to avoid the roaming gang and homeless activity. He wanted to make this ordeal short, the sooner he got out of the city and got back to Equestria, the better. He prayed that Twilight and the others had discovered his absence by now, and were now working on a way to get him back. Because this, was not the Earth he had remembered. All of a sudden, Joey's ears perked up in alert.

"I hear people."

"How many? What do their footsteps sound like?" Joey shook his head. " There's a lot of them, that's all I can tell. And they're shouting something. They're over that way. About 100 yards ahead, just around the corner." William bit his lip.

"Damnit. Alright, we'll backtrack and see if we can't pop out behind the crowd and pass though that way." William turned to begin backtracking, when all of a sudden. He felt Joey's hoof tug on his coat.

"William, you need to come and see this."

9:10 AM

"What-" He looked around the corner, and his jaw dropped. From sidewalk to sidewalk stood hundreds of human beings, dressed in the most- short of Rarity's abominations, 'colorful' clothing he had ever seen. Strange flags of all colors adorned the street. The people themselves, were most certainly something to behold, blue haired, pink haired, green haired. Rainbow maned- Wait, what?

At the head of the crowd, was Rainbow Dash. Seemingly ignorant of the carnage going on around her. In fact, she seemed to be laughing gleefully. William winced, and gritted his teeth, regretting the stale apple he had eaten earlier in the day.

"What do we do?" Joey asked William. He ducked back into cover, and then poked his head back out into the street. He watched as the oncoming crowd showered Rainbow Dash in confetti.

"...And... She's dancing to Elton John! Shitake mushrooms!"

"Hey! Rainbow! Over here!" William called to her, waving frenziedly.

"RAINBOW DASH!! GIT OVER HERE!!!" He shouted through gritted teeth. The sky blue pegasus mare paused for an instant and turned her head in the general direction of William and Joey long enough for her to catch sight of Joey's softly glowing horn.

"C'mon!" She laughed. "Or what!? These people threw a whole celebration just FOR me!" William's facial expression grew harsh, and he waved to her again.

"Rainbow! Get the HAY over here!" He pointed to the sidewalk directly ahead of him. Her smile turned upside down, but she acknowledged William's command. She weaved her way through the crowd, and stepped towards William's hiding place. Stopping about 5 yards away.

"Those people are not your friends! They're just interested in you because of your appearance! They are not celebrating you! Trust me, do not go with them if you value your life. And what the hell is that smell-"

"Oh, they gave me these funny smelling tea leaves! I feel awesome!" William grimaced, a pounded his fist on the concrete.

"You birdbrain, those aren't tea leaves! They're hallucinogenic drugs! Get over here!"

"Hallo-what!?" She replied, her voice spiking with energy.

"...Or I'll have your flying license revoked!" William added harshly. It was a joke, obviously, there was no flying license to revoke. But he knew that she wouldn't be able to tell under the influence whatever she had carelessly consumed.

This got her attention much faster than William had anticipated. But, as she tried to approach her friends hiding in the alleyway, they were suddenly met with a weak cry of.

"Hey, it's that racist weirdo from earlier! Get him!" Without thinking, William picked up Rainbow Dash and threw her over his back, causing a yelp of protest. But less hoof shaped bruises than he had expected.

"I have done nothing wrong! Time to go!" The Quiet Kid shouted, just as a half eaten veggie wrap-a thing William only knew existed because he lived in a town where all most of the residents strictly ate plants, even if they could technically eat cooked meat just the same as any omnivore- sailed over his head and landed with a disgusting splat ahead of them.

"Nope, nope, nope!" William called, dragging his two equine friends down the alleyway and out onto a side street with the speed and efficacy of a Marine with a severe caffeine addiction going after a terrorist cell in the promise that their leader is the one who made him wait in line for his perfect, dark roast beans. They didn't even bother to check for cameras, all William knew was that he had to get out of there, or else something bad would happen. The feeling was a complex mixture of emotion and reason. His ears, telling him in a nutshell that," Big stinky city noise bad!" And the reasonable part of his brain, which said something to the extent of:

"This place is batshit insane- why and how did Rainbow Dash end up in the middle of a, 'parade' in San Fransico, and how the hell am I going to get her and my friend out of here without behind stabbed or poisoned to death?"

To make a not so long story short, he did. As it turned out, all of the strange specimens of 'human's' who had decided to attempt to try and chase down The Quiet Kid and two quadrupedal ponies didn't necessarily have the best stamina. The one's on bicycles and Segway's kept up for a little longer, but eventually, William and his two companions were able to loose them as well.

9: 25 AM

"Put me down!"

"Put this on, and don't open your wings." William handed her a jacket and fedora, similar to the one Joey was wearing along with a pair of sunglasses.

"If anyone asks, you're a furry. Answer with that and that only and you should be fine." She responded with a hesitant nod.

William, Joey, and Rainbow Dash made their even deeper into the downtown region of San Francisco. Their pegasus mare companion stared up wide eyed in awe at the massive buildings. William noticed this, and turned to speak to her.

"Don't envy them, this place is nothing but trouble." She raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" William almost facepalmed, but caught himself. "Take a look around, it may have been nice a long time ago. And there might yet be places here worth the while. "

"Like that thing?" Rainbow pointed off in the distance at the faint spires of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"Well... Yes." William responded.

"What about..." Her eyes went from calamity to calamity, and her voice trailed off. "Yeah... You're right." She sighed and hung her head. "So, what's the plan?"

William's voice went dead with apathy. " In the words of the great Ron Swanson... My favorite activity." He paused for a moment, and then ended his sentence with, "Not getting killed."

"That does sound like a good plan." Rainbow murmured. William led them past a strange overhead city park.

9:40 AM

"Miss wide open spaces, don't ya?" William asked Rainbow, who nodded. "Yeah, I do. I never really liked Manehatten. And this is just a worse version of it. Smellier, louder, and... Ugh!" She yelped in surprise as something stuck to her hoof. William reached down and scraped the miscellaneous slime off with the blade of his knife. He manifested a new one out of disgust.

"What's the actual plan?"

"I'm gonna find a pier we can find ourselves a map that'll lead us out of the city. We've been wandering around here for the past 2 hours. How'd you get here, by the way?"

"There was this big flash of light, and all of a sudden, I was on the corner of some city block, I looked around, and spotted those people. " William smiled. "Same thing, except for the fact that I ended up right by the coast." They turned off onto Salesforce plaza, William advanced ahead of the two ponies, until he stood right in front of a multilane intersection. The assortment of homeless people waiting to cross the street paid no mind to him. He glanced up, and spotted that Transamerica building. A massive concrete pyramid which crested atop the cities skyline. Atop it flew the same unsettling flag William had spotted earlier. Rainbows and a hammer and sickle. Alongside a myriad of other strange banners.

"Ugh, see the wind blowing that, 'thing' eastward? We're gettin' close."

---

10: 01 AM

And now, here we are. Back at the beginning. All at once, a cacophonous buzzing noise filled the street. Echoing off the buildings like a massive swarm of metal bees. It took William a moment to realize what the noise was coming from.

"Drones, lot's of drones." For the moment, William just stood there, ushering his friends behind him and glancing around at the skyline. Searching it for the UAV's he had heard. He spotted one, about a hundred yards down the road. Four rotors and a compact center, with a camera and what vaguely looked to be a Glock 19 dangling from it's underside with a modified trigger mechanism. It was joined by two dozen others.

"Do not resist!" A voice cried from a loudspeaker. "By order of the California People's Union of Diversity, stop!" William turned to look back at Rainbow Dash and Joey.

"I've made a grave miscalculation! Run! Go Eastward!" They both looked at him with confused expressions.

"Which way is East?" William groaned, and pointed off to the side from the intersection. "Go that way! Don't stop, and for the love of God, or Celestia, or whomever- Don't fly, don't use magic, and don't reveal your wings!" William drew his sidearm, keeping it within his coat as he went to back away behind a telephone pole.

"What the hell do you think I've done wrong!?" He called back.

"Entity is in violation of the Weapons Law. Surrender, or you will be made to." William went to raise his sidearm, but realized that the drones might posses sensors which could detect his motion.

"Go!" He urged his friends to start running." They didn't wait for him.

"Hold on, hold on! I have something to say!" He called out to the drones, cautiously holstering his sidearm and replacing it with a Benelli M4 loaded with Dragonshot- birdshot pellets made from magnesium.

"William, you're fighting drones now? Heh, well... You did joke about it a while back. " He thought a moment for a good counter.

"Your Regime's name sucks!" He finally shouted back, raising his middle finger. The Quiet Kid dashed out of cover and raised his gun, he calmed his breathing, and took aim at the first drone. With two quick pulls of the trigger, he downed it, sending it crashing to the ground in a flaming wreck. The two shell casings hit the ground as he ran. And he could hear and see people running and screaming as he reloaded. He began to hear the crackle of pistol fire behind him, the sound of the drones trying, and failing to engage him before he knocked them out of the sky. William turned, and fired another shot, bringing down another 2 drones, the first one flying just above the second one and then damaging both in the process. The crackle of gunfire and buzzing of drone motors drew even closer.

William took cover behind a set of overflowing trashcans. He peaked out from behind them to see if they were still following him. All of a sudden, a drone zipped over his head and began to spin to face him. William brought his shotgun up and downed it before it could get a shot off, but this did prompt the rest of the drones to attempt the same maneuver. In a burst of magical energy, William swapped from casual wear to a set of civilian clothes to a ballistic helmet and vest. He slung his shotgun over his shoulder, and manifested an AR 10 pattern rifle rechambered in 20 gauge. In his other hand, he took up a steel riot shield. Holding the shield up like an umbrellas, he sprinted down the street towards his friends while bullets pinged off the steel and showered the ground around him with sparks. A drone flew down directly ahead of him, he took up his shotgun and blew it away, scattering its pieces across the asphalt as he continued to move down the street. He ran to the next 4 way intersection, right around several finance buildings. Everywhere, more and more drones encroached on his position. 10 became 30, 30 became 60, and 60 became a hundred, and a hundred became 300.

He had to put a stop to this. He looked around at the carnage surrounding him. He was the only human left around for hundreds of feet. Going prone and scrambling into nearby bushes, he transitioned to a trusty M32 rotary grenade launcher loaded with airburst shells. He poked out of his concealment, and began to drop the 40MM shells at 10 yard intervals at a 60 degree angle to the ground. The shrapnel and pressure waves rained down across the drone swarm, tearing apart dozens with each detonation. He emptied all six cylinders, and then, with a flash of light, manifest a brand new launcher with a fresh magazine. Flaming debris rained down all around him, and he made a dead sprint for Joey and Rainbow Dash. Ignoring the crowd forming on the edge of what was now a warzone. He ran with his launcher in the air until he was safe behind one of the columns at the base of an old Wells Fargo bank. He glanced at a couple of the cameras, swaying slowly back and forth.

"Hell, they're probably automated. Same as the rest. What's it too them anyhow? I just need to make it out of this damned city by day's end, and Joey'll be able to, hopefully, bring us all back to Equestria. Because there is no way in hell that this... Is the Earth I left behind." He turned for an instant to check on his friends. They were much farther down the road then him. They had made it past the former Federal Reserve Bank, and were now in visual range of the waterline.

In an instant a rowdy crowd of several thousand people swept them away before his eyes. Carrying them off with them. William just stood there, in the middle of all the carnage.

"Son of a- No!" He cried frantically. He began to raise his gun, but it fell on a sling instead. He mindlessly swapped magazines and glanced around. Electric cars and drone wrecks burned eerily. Casting shadows across the wildfire smoke clogged streets.

"I'll find you. Oh, I know I will." William murmured. around at the drones still remaining in and around his hiding place.

"But, I've got a job to do first."

10: 15 AM

Comments

[AmlpfanREADER]

Huh never thought he would fight drones.

[Starlight Nova]

The Quiet Kid choose to stay in Equestria for a two deliberately specific reasons.

Which one of your stories is this a squeal to?

[AmlpfanREADER]

Now I'm wondering how many guns do the quiet kid know?

[aegishailstorm]

11644801
It's a sidestory with no real relation to any of them. You'll see.

[FHH]

Are we going to see John Lovell later in this story?