The pullback was just as bad as being shot through time, only serving to upset Gauge's stomach and make him dizzy before his hooves touched back on Pegasus' platform. A brief moment to collect himself was interrupted by an incoming call from Chief.
"Agent 5, what are you doing joyriding in the Pegasus?"
Gauge focused his eyes on Chief and regretted the decision, Chief looked so much older, despite being the same year Gauge had seen him before. His coat was entirely white and wrinkles could be seen in his eyes. "Chief?" Gauge whispered to himself, almost in disbelief.
Chief looked at him with further confusion himself, "Your research reconnaissance was not scheduled until 1200. That uniform is not the TSA standard, either. You have plenty to answer for soldier! Log your report at Command Center and come to my office immediately!"
The call ended and Gauge gave a nervous gulp, he now resided in an alternate timeline and began nervously thinking over how he could explain that he wasn't the Agent 5 of this timeline at all! "Well, you see sir," Gauge said to Chief in the hypothetical situation in his head. "I'm not your Agent 5, who you say should be coming in at 1200, I'm from another timeline that had something mess up really bad to it and now I have to fix it. Technically this means you are going to be undone, but you'll still be alive... technically."
Gauge had only half realized he was going in the direction of the Command Center when he passed by the guard robots, who remained stone silent. He moved on, even as the sound of the entryway was opened. His focus solely on the Command Center and the disk that resided in his inventory. "The moment I put the disk in... what's Chief going to say?"
Entering the Command Center and going to the center console, he put his hooves through his mane and gave a deep sigh. "Just follow procedure, quit thinking about it, this isn't your timeline, this isn't your TSA, this isn't your Chief, just... just breathe."
After a few calming breaths with his eyes shut, Gauge relaxed himself. Opening his eyes however added a new panic. What was before him was most certainly Discord, but the form suggested that he was feminine. It was well known that Discord had continuously been on the border when it came to allegiances, and during the Great War, he sat back and watched from the sidelines, only interfering when one side was ready to lose.
The womanly Discord laid on her side on top of the computer monitors, crossed legs and put her lion arm up to hold her head. She remained still as her half-open eyes lazily eyed Gauge as he cautiously pulled out the Historical Log. "Don't mind me, I'm just visiting."
Gauge quickly opened the disk compartment and put the Historical Log into it, prompting the system to begin its scan of historical inconsistencies through time. "TSA Protocol suggests that interaction with intruders in the main building shall be kept civil, but stern. Three warnings should be given before defensive action should be taken."
The female draconequus let out a raspberry and subsequently had her cheeks filled with something. Reaching into her mouth, she brought out a dripping raspberry and shrugged, shoving it back in and swallowing. "Come now, you don't need to be strict with me, I'm a changed creature of chaos after all."
The scan of the disk was finished as the computer now ran through each article made in order to find a more direct time to the event and its occurrence. "Chaos is still chaos, and this is your second warning," Gauge continued, becoming more annoyed at this unconventional beast.
"Is it because I'm a female instead of a male like you've seen before?" The female Discord smoothly said, a grin on her face as she ended her sentence.
Gauge's body froze as the scan finally finished and three incidents came up.
Stretching out and moving to her back, the lady draconequus briefly lifted her body up with her tail before settling down again. "Yep, I know a time anomaly when I see one." She inhaled through her nose and gave a slow breath out through her mouth, letting out a perfume. "Eris, is what you can call me. Can I still call you partner?"
Gauge felt his heart stop, there could be no way that this female draconequus was in any way a part of the TSA, let alone his partner. His heart reset as Eris began laughing loudly, letting him know that she was messing with him.
"This is your third and final warning," Gauge angrily spouted. "Any further action will be met with force."
Eris tapped the eyepiece of Gauge's, letting out a spark. "Can't have that."
Her form began to dissipate as Gauge's AI immediately came up. "Warning, unauthorized access o- o- of AI bi- i- i- i-ochip has occurred -d -d -d." The AI continuously skipped and changed pitch as the face began distorting. "Shutdown im- m- m-"
The AI shut off along with Gauge's neuroprothesis, temporarily leaving Gauge blind in one eye before it began booting up again. Unlike before, the load up was short as the AI appeared. Gauge shot back as Eris face now took the place of his helpful AI. "Boot up, complete."
"Get out of there!" Gauge grit through his teeth, feeling violated of his property being taken over.
Eris face gave a dramatic frown, "But if I do that, you'll use physical force to hurt me." Her face went back to normal as she chuckled. "What better way to travel than by biochip?"
Gauge knew he had little time for this and instead focused his efforts on the three separate times of history that were affected.
15 May 2112 - Altered
Today, amid the worldwide peace treaty between all kingdoms a megaspell was launched by Equestria toward the Griffon Kingdom. The megaspell, despite its launch, was self-destructed before it could touch down. The fear caused by this event on all sides has now given the peace treaty little to no chance of being passed by any side.
Gauge carefully looked through the information and came up with the area that allowed the launch to take place, an underwater base that Equestria used in their own fights on the sea.
"There was never a spell launch during the treaty signings," Gauge murmured to himself.
Eris gave a tap on her chin, "No, I didn't have thoughts on a change of looks until later." A grin came on her face, "Although, I did enjoy seeing everyone in that conference freak out. You'd never see so many stuffy shirts puff out in anger in your life."
15 May 2112 - Unaltered
The Griffon Kingdom finally appears ready to sign the worldwide peace treaty, effectively ending fights on all sides and in turn also allowing all creatures to throw down their arms and accept every race and creature without threat of harm. One terrorist faction had sent notice of their disagreement of this treaty and have taken several hostages. Regardless of these threats, it appears that all sides are willing to sign and bring about a new era of peace and love for everyone, not just everypony.
Eris stuck out her tongue, "Bleh, happy endings are always the worst."
Gauge gave a smile at the sight of an infamous picture of Celestia wrapping her wings and hooves around the former ruler of the Griffon Kingdom. "All the books I read about this moment, and that picture is the only thing I ever wanted to remember."
Eris pursed her lips and turned down from the picture, "Stupid Celestia, looking so happy..."
02 August 2185 - Altered
The Samurai Corporation Moon Colony suddenly went offline last night, moments after the sighting of an unidentified spacecraft in the area. While it is still unclear as to the cause of this sudden event, many believe the cause is tied to this same ship. The only information about the ship that is confirmed is the scan which detected forms of life as the ship traveled through space. The sighting of the craft, along with its sudden rapid departure and an explosion reported moments after, only adds more fuel to the theory that whatever was in the craft, it is malevolent and dangerous.
Gauge watched sadly as the moon colony faded from sight, "That colony was meant to be successful, it was only a few years after that scientists were talking about options on colonizing other planets."
Eris made no comment, her fingers pushed together and in front of her lips as she concentrated on the Unaltered history.
02 August 2185 - Unaltered
Early today, a cargo ship in transit to the Samurai Moon Colony caught a ship in its long range sensors that was hovering over the colony. Landing scanners confirmed these scans of the unidentified spacecraft and sent notice immediately to Equestria. Soon after, the spacecraft sped off toward the outer reaches of the solar system. This is the first verified alien spacecraft by the governement, which has sparked emergancy closed door meetings on this momentous event and the implications that must now be addressed.
"It was right here," Eris calmly spoke. "When Celestia had heard of this attack done by the aliens, she threw into a rage and promptly secluded herself in the sun."
Gauge watched Eris as her face fell in sadness, making him curious as to what other things caused by these changes have altered the world.
"She left Luna in charge and said she wouldn't return until all the world called for her return, not just her little ponies," Eris softly said, her eyes slowly getting wet with tears. "I was about to propose to her on that day..."
Eris went quiet as Gauge moved on, not wanting to pry further into what had to have been a painful past for Eris. Though not on the list of changed events, he made a search for the day that the aliens returned and sent a message throughout the world about them.
06 November 2308 - Altered
Today, one hundred twenty three years after the first official UFO encounter, an alien spacecraft entered into earth's orbit. Several hours of silence and mounting tension later, the spacecraft sent a message which resonated through every concievable transmitter. This was the message.
"We will return when you are ready."
No pony is sure as to the meaning behind this message, however, many leaders have voiced concern over interacting with these powerful and potentially dangerous aliens.
Gauge once again found himself stunned, but slowly began to understand the pattern behind the attacks. "Someone doesn't want the world to acknowledge the human race... but why?"
Eris' ears twitched at the name of human, "That's what they were called! I knew that they had a name and Celestia had knowledge of them before, but I couldn't remember their names! I love those guys and gals! The potential of chaos they brought to the table in their early years, mwah, magnifique."
"A lot like the pony race in that regard, huh?" Gauge asked.
"Well, yeah, but that race had difficulty understanding the concept of a round earth for over two thousand years," Eris scoffed. "It didn't take long for your race to figure out the basics in comparison to those suckers."
06 November 2308 - Unaltered
More than a century after the first confirmed sighting of a UFO, aliens have finally made contact with Earth. Early this morning, a huge triangular shaped vehicle entered into Earth's orbit. After three hours, the spacecraft went through the atomosphere and hovered over Ponyville. Moments later, the following message was transmitted over all communication frequencies.
"We are the human race, please, do not be alarmed. We have come because we feel that you are ready for the acceptance of additional races and their traditions from beyond the dimensional plane. You are no longer dangerous to yourselves or to others, which is why we wish to invite you to join us in the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings, which includes more than just ourselves, but other alien races and technologies. We are an alliance of sentient beings with the objective to benefit from the sharing of knowledge and culture."
"We understand that there may need to be some time for you to process and comprehend the significance of this encounter, so we will leave you for now and return ten years from now on this same day. Human delegates will touch down and extend this formal invitation to you, but until then, we will look forward to this meeting with every one of you in person."
As suddenly as they appeared, they humans departed, leaving Earth to ponder and delegate over the implications of their existance and of the proposal that was set before them.
Gauge nodded, remembering that moment as he was caught up in a virtual reality game that was suddenly cut off and the voice of this new being reached his ears, making him nervous. In his mind, he had thought that the game was broken or he had found a hidden easter egg, as the games usually would, but the moment the voice ended, the game resumed as if nothing happened. His parents held him close as they also felt the sudden weight of this new development and hoped that their fears would be over nothing.
Eris smiled, "They are slow to start, but humans can go when they put their minds to it." She suddenly had a sense of realization, "But, it didn't happen here... only in the proper time line from where you are." Her face became serious as she looked into Gauge, "It's settled, I'm sticking with you and going back to your timeline! This one stunk anyway."
"One last entry," Gauge said, attempting to ignore the zealous of Eris.
17 January 2310 - Altered
Doctor Castiwho, well known biologist and advocate for establishing alien relations has been murdered.
Gauge's attention finally was turned away from the tragedy that had befallen these time lines and began feeling ill. Who? Who was responsible for these horrific acts? From world peace being absolutely decimated, to entire colonies of lives destroyed, to finally the keystone of establishing relations with humans being wiped from the earth, all because someone planned it to happen.
During his speech at the World Science Center, a single shot was fired at Castiwho from an unknown assailant. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the medical complex. The murderer still remains at large, and the tragedy of this outspoken supporter of establishing contact and relations with the aliens will be sorely missed and lost forever to the few that stood by his belief.
Gauge couldn't get himself to move to activate the unaltered section as he felt his heart break.
"Agent 5?" Eris cautiously spoke up, tapping on the screen of Gauge's eyepiece. "You, uh... You wanna show me what happened in your timeline?"
Gauge remained quiet as he leaned forward onto the Command Center desk, holding his head and trying to find the urge to yell or cry or scream or display some kind of emotion. "I never followed the news," he choked out. "I have always had the firm belief that we could all do the right thing, and what was going to happen today..." Gauge swallowed, trying to wet his throat. "Today we were going to be rewarded for doing the right thing after all these years, for every war, every plague, every struggle, we were going to reach our pinnacle."
Eris established a wireless connection to the Historical Log and began the Unaltered segment.
17 January 2310 - Unaltered
The Symposium on Alien Contact began today at the World Science Center in Horsetrailia. The debates are centered on whether the Equestrian race is ready for interaction with alien races. One speaker, Doctor Castiwho, had a moving speech on the subject and embarrassed neighsayers by effectively handling their arguments and shooting them down. His thoughts have thrilled the scientifc community with the prospect of further advanced medical and technological advances which could be gained with the relationship with these alien species. Although both sides had strong keynote speeches, most in attendance appear to be in favor of establishing alien contact.
Gauge's eyes looked up and saw a fleeting image of a pony and promptly moved the playback a little back to see the image. It was Time Turner, the inventor of the first time machine.
Before Gauge could get information as to why Time Turner was there or what he was doing, his feed was immediately cut by Chief.
"Chief!" Gauge nervously yelped. "D-don't worry, I was going to go to your office and-"
"Save it, Agent 5," Chief tiredly waved off the nervousness. "I've been alerted that you have the historical log."
Gauge gave a nod, "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, part of the protocol and all that."
Chief continued to look sadly at Gauge, "I have the information about the temporal distortions that you've just looked into and part of me still believes that this event still couldn't have happened." His face began to look guilty as Gauge heard a hiss at the Command Center door as it locked. "I can't send you back to change things now."
"What?!" Gauge yelled, forcibly moving from his chair to the door and attempting to unlock it in some way. After a few moments and banging at the metal, Gauge looked back at Chief. "You can't do this, Chief! You and I both know that what is happening now should not BE happening!"
Chief banged a hoof on his desk, "This is the only life and world I've ever known! Damn the regulations, I won't let you go back and erase everything that I am!"
It was Gauge's turn to bang a hoof as he smacked the Command Center door again, "I don't care if you think the regulations are for better or for worse! The Chief I know if he was faced in a situation like this wouldn't act like a sniveling coward about how his entire life and career were now for naught! Let me out this instant!"
Chief remained still as Gauge continued smacking the door, even throwing the Command Center chair to try and dent it perhaps, but it was all in vain. "As of right now, you are a hostile enemy of the state. The robots One and Two are being sent to guard the Command Center door until I figure out how to dispose of you."
Gauge collapsed at the door, his head resting against the metal as he began shaking. "Why, Chief? Why are you doing this?"
"I'm sorry, Agent 5," Chief solumnly said. "Once I destroy the Historical Log, the only memories of your world will be in your head." Chief swallowed and attempted to puff his chest out. "And that's where they are going to stay."
Gauge began crying, knowing that his only way out was now taken from him. "You son of a diamond dog." His body slumped away from the door as he sat looking at his only way out remain shut.
"Ahem, excuse me, gentlemen?"
Gauge looked back to the monitors and saw Eris now take control of the call. "Yes, I've been reading here in this book of protocols on time travel that Gauge has in his AI library. Says here, Chief that what you're doing is against contingency 13 which states that, ahem, pardon me."
Eris pulled out a pair of reading glasses and began speaking in a proper English accent, "Any attempt to obstruct a TSA agent while on a mission is a direct violation of TSA regulation 11." She wiped the glasses off with an arm and chucked the book over her shoulder. "Fact is, I'm now running this show, so your robots are going to safely guard the entryway and out of sight of my boy over there, mmkay, old pony?"
Gauge could hear outside the door a shuffling of clanking hoofsteps go away and the door hiss again, signaling that it had unlocked.
"Y-You can't-!" Chief was about to object when Eris ripped the mouth off of the Chief and stapled it shut.
"Excuse me, I have a date with a TSA agent's eyepiece," Eris slyly said before disappearing from the Command Center monitor and back on Gauge's neuroprothesis. "Come on, secret time agent pony, let's ride on the Pegasus!"
Gauge made no response, but bolted to the Ready Room and back into the chute down to the time machine. Entering inside, Eris made a whistle as the machine's screens began showing up. "It looks so much bigger on the inside than on the outside, isn't that weird?"
The screen immediately came on with a call from Chief as Gauge went to activate Pegasus. "Gauge! Wait! Please, don't do this! We can talk this over! I- I can get you whatever you want! Promotion, blank checks, your own country, just don't-!"
Eris immediately shut off the communication as Gauge gave a smile. "Thanks, I couldn't stand another second of that guy."
"Me either," Eris cheekily smiled. "Now, time traveler, where are we going?"
"We got three choices," Gauge said, pointing to the three times and locations. "So..."
"Eenie."
"Meenie."
"Miney."
"Mo."