"I'll ask one more time, who are you?" Gabe was asked again.
Gabe slowly turned to see his oppressor, a military operative, armored in a black power suit, an older version of Gabe's.
"I'd hurry up and answer, the sun isn't too nice when you're in it too long," he said.
Gabe looked at his armor, the white metal was steaming and beginning to distort. He looked back at the man, standing in the shadow of a tall rock to keep cool.
"I'm still waiting, unless you want me to kill you right now," he said, stroking his gun's trigger silently.
Gabe was getting very hot inside the suit, and warnings of the suit overheating flashed across Gabe's HUD. He couldn't take it, he spewed quick Korean to the man, claiming to be the Chronomancer.
"Chronomancer?" the man pulled Gabe into the shade, stashing his weapon on his back and seating Gabe down against the rock, "What'd you doing here? Can you even control the time weaving properly? Speak up! Quick! Nightmare will be coming,"
Gabe explained what had happened, how he had gotten to Equestria then here, and finally asked about the man's understanding of Korean and knowledge of Nightmare Moon.
"Took a class, finally paying off, Nightmare, nearly raped me, not literally though," the man said, "but listen, everything here has gone to hell, and-" the man focused his attention on something behind Gabe.
Gabe looked behind himself, seeing a crate on parachutes floating down into an abandoned township.
"I'll fill you in with all the details on the way, but right now, we need that crate, it's got food, ammo, and medical supplies. If we go fast, we can get them without being caught, and probably get them all to ourselves, you game for some running? Good, keep up, or die," the man began to sprint headlong towards the township, through the scorching sun and onto a rooftop in a single bound.
"Keep up, or die, man! Your choice!" he shouted from the rooftop.
Gabe copied the man, leaping up to the rooftop using the suit's artificial muscle. He caught up with him, only to watch him continue running. Gabe broke into a full sprint, unaided by hydrogen thrusters. Even without the useful tool, Gabe ran faster than he thought possible, covering three human bounds in a single bound of his own. He tailed the man, using the suit and his dusty knowledge of parkour to mimic the man's actions through the township.
"Mind the sun! Stop in the shade every so often to cool off!" the man shouted behind him.
Gabe leaped off a tall mud hut structure, following the man down to a shorter one with a roof of wooden boards. Upon landing, the boards broke, having both Gabe and the man tumble into the short mud hut. Gabe lifted his head just in time to see the man strike a creature across the face with a metal pole. It was the same as the ones at the portals.
"Guardians, nasty little fuglies, product of the nightmare forces. Just don't let them touch you, they feed on fear," said the mysterious man.
Gabe looked back at his armor, seeing the metal solidifying back in it's natural form. He had to be careful, the heat was surely lethal, and it wasn't afraid to show it. He looked up, and continued chasing after the man through the house, watching him break through the crumbling wall and leap to a new house. Gabe followed through the hole, running into more guardians, which he beat to pulp with both his thrusters and new-found friend. They sped on, leaping up and through the roof of one house, continuing onward through the murderous heat of the sun.
"Alright, all the shit that's happened, this'll take a while," said the man, stopping to rest in the shade, "Tia's dead, so the sun's dying now, who knew? Shining Armor and Cadence, dead, Mane Six, probably dead, Luna, in hiding,"
Gabe fired several questions at the soldier.
"Well, we're in Saddle Arabia right now, this was a colony that started maybe a month ago, already gone to shit, this would be your future of... I dunno, six years, maybe, assuming the nightmare forces win,"
Gabe gave a questioning look at the man's accuracy, then dashed after him as he began to run again. He followed him across many rooftops, leaping onto fallen poles like street lamps, and swinging on haphazard, smaller poles that hung between and over the houses. The man swung off of one of these smaller poles, landing in a small courtyard. Gabe leaped and grabbed the same pole, having it snap moments before he was to let go. Gabe flew, pole in hand, with his chest facing the sky into the courtyard next to the man, landing hard on his back.
"Get up, we gotta break through,"
Gabe used the emergency thruster to leap to his feet, still holding the metal pole. The sky had darkened suddenly. He looked up, seeing Luna's moon eclipse the growing sun, cooling the earth and air around Gabe.
"Shit, we're late!"
Gabe looked around, seeing many, many guardians amass outside in the courtyard, eager to meet, and probably eat, the humans.
"What now?"
Gabe held the pole in his left hand, calling upon the hidden gauss rifle in his right hand. The long rifle unfolded, the long blade sending curiosity through the beasts, though some of those who were bigger, knew its dangers and retreated back slightly.
"Let's go," Gabe said with a thick Korean accent.
He rushed the nearest crowd, literally scattering them across the courtyard, most in pieces. Within moments, the force of Gabe's strikes proved too much for the metal pole, and it snapped after cracking a beast's skull with it. With the rod shattered, Gabe weld his lance with both hands, twirling the lethal blade at high speeds. He twirled it faster and faster, until it was nothing but a blur in the sight of those around him. To Gabe, however, it was not a blur, but the world around him seemed to be slower, the creatures floating through the air as if they were in jello. Gabe slashed through them, cutting them quite cleanly in pieces. The man watched Gabe in awe, seeing the whirling blade go speeds even he could not comprehend. He stepped back some paces, feeling a vortex of growing strength grow from Gabe's swordsmanship. He witnessed Gabe move across the courtyard like a phantom, moving faster than even Rainbow Dash after a sonic rainboom. Gabe stopped in front of one particular guardian, slashing the beast countless times, though he heard only a single splatter of blood on metal. The beast fell into multiple pieces, black blood squirting from its body and severed limbs. Gabe leaped from one end to the next, wasting the nightmare forces with the deadly edge of his blade. Gabe landed neatly in the center of the courtyard, not showing the slightest sign of fatigue.
"How... How did you do that...?" the man asked, his disbelief hidden by only his helmet, "uh... nevermind, the crate should be around the corner here, let's get it before something else comes, way I hear it, Chrysalis burrows her changelings all over the place, they come out during the eclipse, so we'd better hurry the hell up,"
Gabe and the man ran onwards, through the building across from the courtyard, and onto a small walled off space. The crate was there, but it seemed to be tampered with. Regardless, Gabe and the man celebrated their victory with a fist bump.
"Brohoof," said the man, "damn fine job, Gabriel, man, magic and machine, nothing greater in comparison. By the way, my name's Blade, figured I can trust you enough to know it,"
Blade checked the crate, looking through its contents and giving grunts of disgust.
"Water's poisoned, food's rotten, medical supplies are gone," he said, "what the fuck! what're are we supposed to eat?" he kicked the crate the aggressively. Blade suddenly grabbed his rifle and whirled himself around with inhuman speed, aiming it at another man Gabe did not see.
"What do you want? Piss off, there's nothing here," Blade said.
Gabe turned to see an African-American man standing there, his arms raised to show that he was no threat.
"I know there's nothing there, I saw the monsters take it all at the orders of some pony of darkness, but I know where another crate landed. I cannot get to it, but you have power suits, we can work together, the three of us can survive together," the man said.
"Where is this crate?" asked Blade.
"Some miles from here, but the area is thick with monsters during the eclipse, and changelings begin to emerge for food at this time too,"
"You expect us to get through miles of fuglies? Power suits are useful tools, but they can only do so much,"
"I have seen your work, and the white one's work too, you are chemist, yes? And the white one is an obvious sword master,"
Blade turned to Gabe, "You studied sword art?"
Gabe nodded.
Blade lowered his gun, "Alright, but don't get in the way, we'll go a bit slower for you, so keep up or die. You got a name?"
"They call me Sully,"
"Hm," Blade made a run for it, with Gabe and Sully in close pursuit.
"I can see the smoke of the crate's flare, we go towards that," said Blade.
They ran straight for it, with Sully lagging behind with Gabe helping him get along. Blade was getting ahead gradually, clearing out any changelings that sprouted from the ground as he went by them. The numbers were increasing, and Gabe fired his rifle in controlled bursts to keep them at bay.
"We don't have that much time y'know, now get your asses up here! Won't be long before-" the ground burst open with changelings swarming out of it, "... shit, shit! We're falling behind schedule! Pick up the pace you two!"
Gabe grabbed Sully and threw him at Blade, who caught him at the last moment, not expecting such an action. Gabe rushed forward leaping upward several meters with the thrusters, kicking changelings out of the sky as he landed heavily by Blade and Sully. Sully had a small handgun with him, contributing to the defense against the changelings. Blade used a small sub machine gun to clear their path. Gabe grabbed Sully by the arm pulling him forward to keep up with the speeding Blade.
"Underground! Now!" shouted Blade.
They leaped into a small circular opening, leading into sewer system. Blade stopped to set down a small device, C4 explosives.
"Clear out! Exploding right the hell now!" the C4 detonated, caving the entrance in and effectively blocking out the changelings.
The three let out a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling the entire sewer shake. They looked up, seeing the pipes rumble and shake loose.
"It's collapsing!" shouted Sully.
"Shut the hell up! Group together!"
The three huddled together, their backs to each other in a circle. Some pipes and large rocks fell from the top, crashing around the survivors. They were unharmed. Looking up again, they saw the largest pipe still intact, the exact pipe they were under.
"Keep quiet, these tunnels are unstable from the blast, and the changelings will try to burrow through to us," whispered Blade.
Carefully, they trekked through the tunnels, hearing the occasional creaking and some loosened chunks of rock falling from the walls and ceiling. Along with that, the sound of changelings trying to get to them was unsettling. Before any of the minions of Chrysalis could get close, something else got to them first, a rock falling on them, or some unknown beast that stalked the humans in the dark, almost waiting for the perfect opportunity. Little did they know, the paranoid superstitions of the humans was proving itself true, as sapphire slitted eyes observed them in the dark. Gabe looked behind himself, feeling the overwhelming paranoia engulf him with fear of the unknown. Much to his surprise, he thought he saw the same slitted blue eyes watching him from afar. He muttered panicked Korean to Blade, pointing him in the direction of the eyes. Nothing.
"Ease up, Gabe, I'm sure it was nothing, just your mind playing tricks," said Blade.
Blade looked back in the direction he was pointed after leading Gabe back on track. The slitted eyes were watching him. He looked back at them nonchalantly, seeing expectation glow in them.
"Hmph, just wait," Blade muttered.
The eyes closed and vanished without a trace.
With time, they emerged at an opening. Climbing out, Blade saw nothing in the way, the debris had been piled up off the path, and no guardians or changelings in sight.
"What the hell?" Blade murmured.
He fished the two other humans out of the sewers, pointing up at the top of a mud hut. The flare had stopped burning, but the crate was still there.
"How did you know the sewers would lead here?" asked Sully.
"When you live here for so long," said Blade.
They located a ladder on the side of the hut, which was quite tall. They climbed up, seeing the crate intact and untouched. Gabe removed his helmet, laughing slightly at the achievement. Sully was laughing too, approaching the crate to open the spoils of victory. Behind him, however, Blade pulled out an intimidating, high caliber pistol, shooting Sully in the back of the head, and sending a shock through all around him.
"Sorry, boy, but there's only enough for two," Blade said, rolling Sully's corpse off the side of the roof.
Gabe was wide eyed, mouth agape in utter disbelief. Blade went to the crate, cutting a string which held it down with his survival knife. He opened the crate, looking through the contents with great interest.
"Well, what're you standing there for? There's meds, ammo, and food here. I've been starved all day, so let's eat,"