//------------------------------//
// Mahikari  
// Story: Time Soldier 
// by Havelock 
//------------------------------//

Gabe was miserable, he sat in the nuclear platform's living area pondering what Luna had just said. Each time he found his time as a soldier to be as long as he lives, no matter what. But for Equestria? This struck Gabe most. The ponies obviously had no weaponry beyond what Gabe could make with a few magnets and boredom, he could have simply walked away and even Tia would reconsider confronting him. But why would I leave what I must fight for? Gabe asked himself. He was lost, unable to comprehend his own decision of staying to guard Equestria and his assumption of needing to fight for it. What would I even be fighting?. This concerned him most.

"Finally got out of that suit, huh?" Gabe, dressed in simple jeans and a grey t-shirt, turned to see Michael coming in with a glass of his favorite scotch.

Accepting the scotch, Gabe explained his plight to his relative.

"You're really not sure, are you? Listen, there's an old hard drive with some StarForge on it, go and clear your mind with it. Meanwhile, Tevin will be collecting data from the suit memory banks, see what happened during your disappearance, Jack is making some upgrades to your suit too, trying to reroute the EM emitter to feed into the gauss and actually make the gauss rifle a part of your suit, some folding and assembling on the battlefield method he was working on at MIT. I got a conference with the princesses and the Mane Six, they wanna know a thing or two about us, and we wanna know a thing or ten about this Chronomancer business. Have fun, I leave...-" he checked the clock, "-right now," he rose to leave for his meeting with the ponies.

Gabe understood why Michael was chosen, his fluency in English and non-hostile nature to the ponies made him a prime diplomat. He got up and shuffled down to the computer, a simple laptop. He checked the hard drive on it, and sure enough, StarForge was hidden in its menus. In the matter of minutes, he was already consumed in the game's survival mode.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO" he shouted, falling off a cliff in his game.

***

"I've already explained this, Tia, we're just four soldiers, we can't fight that," said Michael.

"Gabriel seems able for this service, we believe he can-"

"Gabriel is not ready for this, for a human, this is a lot to take in, from what I hear, Gabe had his ass handed to him when fighting Nightmare, too" said Michael.

"Nightmare Moon," said Luna, "is a sign of the nightmare forces returning, think of the disadvantage we have without Gabe, we cannot warp time like the Chronomancers,"

"Tell me," said Michael as calmly as he could, "what makes the nightmare forces able to warp time like Gabe? Maybe he just stumbled upon Nightmare through some crazy accident activating his... powers... how the hell does Chronomancer magic work, anyway?"

"Chronomancy is the art of summoning and weaving time portals leading to alternate realities, different time events, and nopony knows what else. What we do know is that there are only the rare few born with the innate ability to use such magic," said Twilight.

Michael was rubbing his forehead in an attempt to keep calm against these impossible ponies, "God, you really are an egghead,"

"I'm just well read," Twilight huffed.

"Yeah, so am I, I read philosophy, discussed it, interpreted it, and that made some degree sense compared to this nonsense,"

"Look, sugarcube," said Applejack.

"Already using 'sugarcube' I see, though I don't see how you'd have the sudden trust," said Michael.

Applejack grit her teeth slightly, calming herself before response, "We can see that Gabe means something to you, and we don't wanna cause any harm to 'im, but if half of what ah hear is correct, we need him to help us,"

Michael scratched his head. Why are these ponies so persistent on us helping them? Don't they have the Elements of Harmony? he wondered. He looked up, seeing the moon princess' eyes open and her horn suddenly stop glowing.

"We can't use the Elements, the nightmare forces would be much too cunning to give us a chance with them," she said.

Michael pointed his finger at her, an intense feeling of violation filling Michael up, "You, stay outta my head, stay outta my team's heads, stay far away from Gabe's head, he's had enough shit in his life, and no one here wants him going ape-shit,"

Fluttershy asked "What happened to Gabe?"

Michael looked up, causing Fluttershy to cower down, "If you're okay with answering that, of course," she squeaked.

Michael looked around him, the ponies were very interested in the Chronomancer's story.

"Gabe," he began, "is not, shall we say, easy at letting go of things. It started years back, when he was hardly eight years old, I was ten at the time, and we all, including his thirteen-year-old brother, went for a little exploring. We all loved My Little Pony, and had some crazy idea of finding the double sided pool some old man told us about. Turns out it's real, we found it hardly a week ago, and that's how we got here, anyway, little did we know, where we explored in the jungles of I don't even remember, a tiger stalked us, and killed Gabe's brother, ate him alive on the spot. Now, Gabe refuses to lose any of his friends or family, that zealot would do amazing things, and was just too stupid to die during those great feats,"

"Sounds like that loss made him stronger," said Applejack.

Michael glared, then said, "maybe, but him always putting his life on the line for someone else's, it's hard to watch when you've helped care for him for years on end,"

"Ah see the problem, but if Gabe's doin' so well, why is it a problem?" asked Applejack.

"Because it's extreme, but it's best that I don't stop him, he had seizures almost every night after his brother died, anxiety attacks, depression, the same would happen if he lost any of us,"

"I'm curious," said Celestia, "would Gabe be so willing in serving Equestria like he does his friends? He is certainly, by our standards, a super soldier,"

Michael scratched his eye a bit, then said, "If you plant the right ideas, Gabe is relentless in protecting the ideas he has, working to make it happen. In the past, some of those more... persuasive to Gabe, have gotten him to do things for their own gain, some... pretty horrible stuff, that was only in school, we do well to keep that from him,"

The ponies exchanged some glances among each other, pondering the new information they were given.

"Well," Michael sighed, rising from his seat, "I am going to retire for the day, and Tia, if you'd be so kind as to send some rations to us, thanks," he left the conference table and headed back for his home within the giant mech.

***

Michael slid down a ladder into the machine, passing by Tevin as he made his way to the living area from the armory.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Damned impossible ponies, I would do almost anything for them, even Molestia probably, but putting Gabe, and ourselves, in the damned front lines of a war bigger than freakin' World War 2, does not sit right with me," Michael said vehemently.

"I hear ya, but this is something Gabe has has been looking for his whole life, and from the many shows he's forced me to watch, I don't blame him. In fact, I was even considering on staying here myself, maybe get a job as a doctor, like I've always wanted," said Tevin.

"What stopped you?" asked Michael.

"Same as most other people, got drafted, I was at least able to get my degree, finding a job, well, I just wasn't fast enough. What was Gabe's and your story again?"

"Oh, I was learning about nanotechnology and quantum-physics when I got drafted, second year of college too. Gabe, he got drafted when he was nearly finished with high school, I honestly thought the little bastard would become something big, like, I dunno, an astrophysicist, or... some damn entrepreneur that becomes a billion-air over night, yeah, academically, that sounds like him,"

"Mmhm, well, get Gabe off his ass when you find him, he's a fast learner and I want him knowin' about how his suit works, wearing that thing is like having a bomb strapped to your fucking body,"

"You really don't like that thing, do you?"

"What gave ya the hint? When you've gotten Gabe to meet up with Jack on the suit, get to the living quarters and mix me a drink, that embedded memory gave me a headache from watching it, all that damn movin' around like some retarded roller coaster,"

Michael laughed at Tevin's plight, "Why you have a headache: you can't pull that stuff off, cause you're not physically able,"

"No, it's just that I'm not Asian,"

Michael laughed out heartily, he knew Tevin for years on end, treating him like an older brother, and Tevin, watching over the team like the big brother should. Michael finished up his reminiscing and went to find his cousin, still playing StarForge.

"Nice economy, how many trade routes you got?" asked Michael.

Gabe held up four fingers.

"Four? Damn, lots of goods, huh? Anyway, Tevin wants you to take a look at the new upgrades to the suit. And, I think he also wanted to rename the thing, both lance and suit, given the major alterations to it. Got a name in mind?"

Gabe only shrugged. He saved his game and rose to find the fortress armory, where they found Jack working on a console.

"You done?" asked Michael.

"Yeah, just doin' a final check up on the hydrogen feed," said Jack.

"What'd ya do to it?"

"Made it better, but... also more dangerous, I released the forced limiters, ones you can't bypass by normal means, so, Gabe, listen up! You push the suit too hard without those limiters, Boom! Fuglies get roasted Gabriel for lunch... if they can find anything left,"

Gabe shrugged, unaffected by the warnings of imminent death while wearing the suit.

"But! on a happier note, check this out!" Jack punched some code into the console, "watch the cradle" he said pointing at the device which the suit was mounted on. On the suit's right arm, the cuff opened, as the armoring moved down along the arm, assembling itself into a long rifle with an over-sized bayonet stretching out across the bottom. Some thin mechanical manipulators poked out of the cuff, aiding in assembling the gun in the suit's hand. A grin flourished on Jack's face.

Michael whistled loudly, "You finally did it, that folding method, does it work with other guns?"

Jack's smile disappeared, "No," he said, "had to redesign the whole damn gauss rifle just to get this to work,"

"Did you have to weaken it?"

"Oh, no no, I just needed to have it put together in a different way, actually strengthened it. But, when it comes to mass producing weapons like that, it'd cost a damn fortune,"

"Yeah, I hear ya,"

Gabe tapped his cousin on the shoulder, the same rough way he always had. Getting Michael's attention, he pointed at the armor.

"Right, right, we're getting off topic, well, Jack, any other modifications you've made to the suit?" said Michael.

"Well... I redesigned the armoring, focused it in other places, replaced some of the hydraulics with carbon nanotube muscle fibers, they prove more natural and stronger too, actually. I also... well... remade the cooling function," Jack said with some hesitation.

"That's supposed to be good, right?" asked Michael.

"To a point, there's a circular vent on the back of the suit, between the shoulder blades, it was protected before, but now with the greater thrust output of the hydrogen engines, it must be exposed for faster cooling. The vent is Gabe's soft spot, get a bullet in there, he's a walking bomb then, but the new increased output can roast even the toughest armor, can provide a significant amount of more thrust, and the vent doubles up as a both an emergency thruster, and an emergency burn-off vent, so in case of a leak, he can burn off the hydrogen before something happens," explained Jack.

"I... don't know, Jack, it's still a problem that the vent is exposed so openly," said Michael.

"Another feature, armoring for the vent was added, it closes over it like some science fiction automated door, but it can only be temporary, otherwise it heats up,"

"Great, so that means Gabe is using hit and run tactics, unleash hell, fall back to cool off,"

"Sounds like a safer strategy compared to running in, guns blazing like he always does, this forces that, so...-"

"Yeah, yeah, can we get this thing out of the cradle and onto the field please? We gotta test these things,"

***

"Alright, Gabe, we've gotta test every new feature in the suit, any features I missed while back at the N.A.P. we'll cover while we're here on the field," said Jack through a comm.

Gabe stepped out into the middle of a flat field, not far from Canterlot. The grass proved short, and was wet from a short-lived sprinkle not too long ago. Looking up, Gabe could see the clouds still hanging overhead, threatening a heavy storm. He focused his gaze back on the fields, seeing what little light penetrating the clouds dancing on the moist green blades.

"Grass is wet, good, you won't start a fire when you engage, the ponies have no idea what we're doing and we'd like to keep it that way, to say nothing of wherever the hell hostile soldiers might be, be discreet and nothing too fancy, we just need to get the testing done, got it, Gabe?" said Michael.

Gabe confirmed his understanding with some casual Korean, then readied himself for orders on how to test.

"Okay, let's get to work, before we do anything with the thrusters, I wanna test out the carbon nanotube muscle fibers, see if it woks as a replacement to the hydraulics. Gabe, get you tactical bow out and adjust the spider silk string tension, with those muscle fibers, you're over two-hundred times stronger than your normal muscle, so don't hesitate on making the tension extreme," said Jack.

Gabe did so, turning some knobs on his bow to tighten the string. When he felt it was enough, he pulled out an arrow with a carbon tip and notched it to the string.

"fire it upwards, we're tracking it via UAV, so we'll get the data,"

Gabe pulled the arrow back, hearing some creaking and whining from his bow through the slow and difficult overdraw. He pointed upwards, loosing the arrow, as it whizzed past him like an angry hornet.

"Holy shit, that thing broke the troposphere," Jack said several seconds after the launch.

Gabe folded and stashed his bow, readying the hydrogen thrusters for testing.

"Yep, Gabe's got this, try out every thruster, including the emergency ones, do a little parkour, just stay outta sight," said Michael.

Gabe ran forward, having the engines propel him faster, while an audible roar of heat being exhausted rang from Gabe's back. He slid to a stop, boots gliding across the water droplets nestled upon the grass. He then ran the emergency thruster, having it propel him forward with a sudden force knocking him face flat. An idea came. Gabe rose, brushed himself off, then ran forward again, leaping at one point and landing on his knees, activating the emergency thruster and gliding across the wet grass at breakneck speeds.

"WWHHOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOO" shouted Gabe in glee. He cut the engine, rolling forward onto his back, where he engaged the vent thruster again, being thrown into the air and landing expertly on the ground in a low crouch. Gabe rose upright, allowing large amounts of heat and steam to be released with a low hiss.

"Gabe, that's... that's just kickass, that's what, anyway, get the user console up, I fixed the cloaking, but at a cost, you're emitting heat waves to bend the light, so you are going to heat up, remember stay cool, otherwise, boom," said Jack.

Gabe went to the console, seeing a standalone option labeled 'cloak'. Pressing the button once, he watched his arm disappear.

"Oh, thank god, it works," said Jack, "that's all we really need, Gabe, you only really needed room for the thrusters, head on back, everything works, cloaking, cooling, and thruster output, just a reminder, that emergency engine can be the death of you, extremely useful, yes, but extremely dangerous too,"

"Actually, before you come back," began Michael, "I want to see something, I want to see if you are a Chronomancer. Can you replicate what you did a few days ago? Just to prove those ponies wrong, man, I wouldn't want you getting hurt,"

Gabe disabled his cloak and looked around a bit, "How?" he said.

Michael sighed, "You know there's a problem when Gabe starts speaking English,"

"Still not a complete sentence, so not really real English," said Jack.

"That's not the point, however, I was right, Gabe is not a Chronomancer, this war against the nightmare forces is not our war,"

"Whoa, whoa, a war? That's what you got called in for? I thought we came here to avoid that,"

"Relax, Jack, unless Gabe can pull off the mother of magic tricks, we don't have to worry,"

Gabe continued looking around, staring up. While aiming his gaze in an aimless manner, Gabe noticed the clouds parting slightly, then significantly. The day had passed, and only stars were visible in the sky. Gabe stared long into the stars, almost hearing a whisper, a whisper of a secret long unknown. His fingers twitched, and he saw the stars flicker. He looked at his hand, then the stars. He rose his hand to the stars, as if he were offering something to them, and curled his fingers inwards, causing the stars to burn brightly. His hand was feeling warm, he looked back at it, seeing it glow a blinding white. He kept his fist tight, holding it out in front of him, feeling something inside trying to get loose. Gabe opened his hand, seeing a white ball of light float in front of him.

"What the hell is going on?! Where's Gabe?! How'd he disappear?!" Gabe could hear Michael shout.

"I don't know! I can't get a reading! Energy signatures are off the charts! I've never seen anything like it!" shouted Jack.

Gabe moved towards the ball of light, feeling nostalgia, but at the same time, fear.

"Jack, we need to get this goddamn thing back online! This shit's for real!"

"I'm working on it! This thing is producing more energy than a high frequency laser! I need more-... Fuck!"

Gabe walked into the ball of light, seeing a flash of blinding light, before him. When the light faded, Gabe found himself in a desert landscape. The air around him was wavy, a sign of intense heat. He looked around, trying to comprehend what was around him, when the long barrel of a gauss rifle was pointed at his face.

"Who, the fuck, are you?" Gabe was asked.