Time Soldier

by Havelock

Pony Style

The three humans were packing necessities inside the N.A.P.

"I told those ponies, they can throw as many rocks as they want, it's not gonna put a dent in this thing," Jack said.

Tevin took a peak outside from the platform's top hatch, "Yeah, well, looks like they're using magic now," he said.

Michael looked worried, "Any damage?" he asked.

"Nope," Tevin said, closing the hatch and dropping down to their level, "their best is a little more than a cute light show magicians use nowadays,"

Gabe came clanking in, opening the back vent of the ARX to release some heat. He disconnected the breathing apparatus from his helm, then pulled his helm off.

"Any luck with those ponies?" Michael asked.

Gabe gave a blank look, then shook his head.

"Well shit, we're gonna get stoned for sure," Jack said, "Gabe, follow me into the armory so we can get that suit off and keep it locked up tight, no doubt ponies'll still go for our tech,"

"When you two are done, we need to get packing. gotta take some standard gear just in case some kind of shit goes down, y'know, nothing like power suits or guass rifles, the tactical bow'll be fine," Michael said.

"Sounds like a plan, why don't you guys pack for us, while Gabe helps me with the ARX, Michael, you're done with those arrangements with Tia, right?" said Jack

"Yeah, no one gets in here without our permission, not even the princesses themselves," said Michael.

"Good," Jack said, leaving for the armory.

"Alright, what's the plan as soon as we get to Ponyville? Not like we have any money to support ourselves," Tevin said.

"Tia has it all arranged, first thing we do, we go see Twiley, she's supposed to house us," Michael said.

"And she's okay with this?" Tevin asked.

"More than okay, she wants to run some tests,"

"Whoa there, I don't want any test tubes stuck inside me,"

"Relax, it's just some observations, no dissection or any of that,"

Tevin paced a bit, "What's she trying to get?"

"Behavioral data on humans, anything she can study, she'll study it,"

"God, does this pony ever take the time to get laid?"

"Depending on the accuracy of clop, probably annually to every day,"

Tevin had his eyebrow raised, "Next time, don't answer that, okay, you can have your fantasies, but I wanna keep them nice and innocent in my mind,"

"Mmhmm, do you think Gabe and Jack are done yet?"

"Doubt it, that ARX comes on fast, but taking it off takes time. Why don't we find a way to get to Ponyville while we're waiting, cause I guarantee you, there will be no parking for an N.A.P."

Michael thought for a moment, "Aren't N.A.P.s multi-purpose? There should be a cargo bay somewhere with tanks and hummers, maybe even a Jackal,"

"Forget the Jackal," Tevin said, "we'll take the hummer, we'll all fit that way,"

"Alright, as far as I know, Ponyville ponies won't be as aggressive, news there has been rather slow lately,"

"Even this kind of news? It's been spreading like wildfire,"

"I'm going off of what Tia and Luna said, and I trust them with my life, so far that is, let's find that hummer and get going, sounds like they're some minutes from finishing,"

***

The team was traveling at high speeds in a light-weight, armored Humvee. There weren't many roads, given the ponies preference of the trains over cars. Regardless of the rough terrain, they continued on without any problems, gliding over the hilly landscape with unparalleled ease. Jack was at the wheel, steering around steep hills and deep depressions.

"Man, I'm getting hungry," complained Jack.

"We'll all get a meal when we've arrived at the Ponyville library," Michael said, "Twilight is sure to feed us,"

Gabe smacked his cousin's shoulder, spewing quick Korean at him.

"We'll be guests, that means she'll be obligated to feed us," Michael responded.

"Great, more grass to choke down... Hooray," Jack said.

"You prefer to starve, honky?" Tevin spat, "then shut up and be thankful we're still breathing,"

Jack slowed and stopped the car, looking back with distaste.

"Do me a favor and feel your stomachs," Jack said.

The three did so, noticing slight pains from hunger.

"Yeah, now you see? Let's get a bite to eat, seriously, I'm starved,"

The team unpacked provisions and lunched through the noon, then pleasured themselves with an after lunch nap. Michael and Gabe stayed up to keep watch. Both Michael and Gabe had no interest in driving, so they stayed and fidgeted with their equipment for a time. Gabe found himself more comfortable this time, wearing the standard ballistic vest, but still had his ponified weapons with him.The troops lacked bottled oxygen, but had some tanks and masks stored within the car's cargo in case it was needed. Gabe was playing with his glove, and Michael his combat scope, when they heard some muffled laughter. The two were immediately alert, grabbing their rifles and making a plan.

"We're a sitting duck out here, take the mounted gun, I'll wake up the nodders," Michael said.

Gabe was aiming the turret in an instant, making a quick check on the three barreled chain gun's munitions. Tevin and Jack were awoken silently by Michael, then informed of the situation. They all took arms, and readied themselves, peaking over the horizon for anything.

"Contact!" Jack shouted, "It's... It's a giant dog,"

Michael groaned, "Diamond Dogs, either here to bargain or steal, let's just drive away,"

"Can they catch us?" Jack asked.

"Well, they're not a bullet, nor an RPG, so no,"

"Good afternoon," a growly voice said.

In the humans' discussion the hounds had converged on their position.

"Mow 'em down on my mark," Tevin whispered.

"Tevin, we got machine guns, we'll slaughter the poor fuglies," Michael said.

"Well what do you want me to do? Drive? We're surrounded,"

"Just tell 'em to piss off," Jack suggested, "we're not interested, and if they persist, then we mow 'em down,"

"Ahem, good afternoon," the growly voice said again.

"Piss off! No gems here! Get lost before things get ugly!" Michael shouted.

"Well, my dear sir, we're just here to make an offer," the dog said.

They moved closer to the hummer, nearly touching it.

"Get away from me," Jack said, pushing one away from his position.

"Don't shoot, Jack, they don't stand a chance," Michael said.

Gabe, who quickly became annoyed with the situation, began shouting pointless insults and threats at the dogs, taking his pistol and firing it several times into the air. The dogs put distance between them and the humans, as Gabe looked over to Jack. Jack understood that he was given a chance, and leaped into the driver's seat, almost casually flooring it and driving through the masses.

"Mental note, never take a nap in the wilderness here," Jack said, with the team responding in whole-hearted agreement.

"How far are we from the place? We've been out here for hours," Tevin said.

"Well, diamond dogs live around the outskirts of the town, if we've already come across them, we shouldn't be far," Michael reasoned.

"So what's the plan when we get there, I haven't been thoroughly informed," Jack said.

"Gabe and I are gonna see if we can do some shopping for tonight's meal," Michael explained, "you two just stick either with Twilight or at the library, get things set up and make sure our integration with their society will work, so that means to stow all the gear and put it in storage,"

"Well, why the hell did we drag all this shit along in the first place if we're just gonna put it away?" Jack asked.

"Well, there might be the chance of something or another going wrong and something threatens Equestria," Michael said.

"Right, right, I got that, but why put it away? Won't we need a quick response if this happens?" Jack said.

"A quick response would be good, yeah, but the thing is, we won't really need it, there are guards and fiercely loyal ponies in Equestria. The only time we step in is if everything goes to hell like the changeling invasion in... what was it, 'A Canterlot Wedding' I believe it was called,"

"What's the benefit in that?" asked Tevin.

"We won't be noticed as often," Michael said.

"I hear ya,"

Within moments, the town of Ponyville was seen in the distance. The ponies were busy with their chores, and the main six had returned there before the dragon incident, though they still had heard about it.

"What do we say when we get in?" Jack asked, he was obviously worried about making a better impression.

"Oh, just answer any question they have for you, you'll fit right in," Michael almost laughed.

They parked the Humvee outside the town, moving into it while trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. There were still some onlookers, but most seemed to give them a sideways glance then ignore them. They began to relax slightly, despite their confusion, when a little colt ran up to them.

"Hey, you're humans!" he shouted, "Why are you dressed all funny? And what happened to your arm?"

Michael noticed the colt pointing at his arm, "Well, you see, I hurt myself, so I need this to heal properly," he said, "and the reason we're dressed like this, is... because..." he tried to think of a plausible lie.

"We're adventurers," Tevin said, "so we need this to protect ourselves, it's very dangerous out there,"

"I could protect you! I protect my friends from Diamond Tiara!" the colt said.

"Man, I hate that bitch," Jack muttered.

Tevin hit Jack none too gently in the chest, then said, "I'm sure you can protect us, but, who's going to protect Ponytown?"

"Ponyville," Michael whispered severely.

"Ponyville," Tevin corrected.

"Oh," the colt said, "you're right, I gotta protect Ponyville, well, be safe!"

The colt ran off. Michael patted Tevin on the shoulder, "Where'd you learn to deal with children like that?" he asked.

"Ran two jobs since I was fourteen, one was babysitting," he said.

"And Burger King, too, right?" Jack said.

"Nope, Mcdonalds,"

"Man, I like BK better,"

"Screw BK, man, I like old Ronald better,"

"Guys," Michael said, "can we refocus here? We've gotta be careful for some ponies who'll draw attention to us, who know what this little hamlet has already heard about that dragon attack,"

They heard a long exaggerated gasp behind them.

"God..." Jack breathed.

"You must be the humans! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"

The four turned slowly, finding the party pony smiling hugely behind them.

"Uh, we're Jack, Tevin, Gabriel and my name is Michael," Michael said, pointing at the respective people.

"Really? Wow, human names are reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaallly weird! So, do you need help with anything?-" she gasped again, "-maybe you're looking for Twilight! Yeah, she told me you were coming here, well to find her you gotta gooooooooooooooo," she swung her tail around and pointed behind the humans with it, "thatta way!"

They looked in the direction where the tail pointed, seeing a large tree turned into a home of some sort.

"Oh, the library, who'da thunk it was right there?" Michael said, "thanks pink-"

She was gone.

"Uh, where'd she go?" Michael asked.

"Don't know, don't care, that was more weird than I could take in one sitting," Tevin said.

"Has she ever heard of decaf by any chance?" Jack asked.

"Can we just get to the damn library? This pack is getting heavy," Tevin said.

The four gratefully made their way to the tree house library, knocking heavily on the wooden door. The door almost immediately opened, with Twilight standing there, gawking at the aliens.

"Oh, um, hi there, come on in!" she said cheerfully.

The humans had to duck down a bit to enter. They scanned their new surroundings with a careful eye.

"If you'd like, I could take those bags for you," Twilight said, her horn radiating magic.

"No thanks," Tevin said holding onto his backpack tightly, "if you could show us where we're bunking, that'd be great,"

"Oh, well, I didn't have a lot of room to put you all upstairs, so I set you up in the basement, where it's completely empty for you to store your stuff,"

"And not have a curious purple pony looking through it, listen, for your own safety, do not touch our gear, it's taken more lives than you can imagine," Tevin said.

They located the stairs and made their way down, finding four beds and plenty of space to drop their gear. Gabe was already taking advantage of this.

"Okay, just follow Gabe's lead," Jack said.

Gabe hastily threw off the pack he was carrying, stretching out his shoulders and beginning to strip the military gear off his body. Eventually, it was just a grey t-shirt and camouflage pants on Gabe's body.

"Gabe, see if you can find a bathroom or closet, we'll designate that the place we change clothes," Tevin said.

Gabe ambled off to do his chore, finding Twilight waiting curiously at the top of the stairs.

"Looking for something?" she asked expectantly.

Gabe simply shrugged, continuing to search for a closet of some sort, while Twilight followed closely behind him.

"Getting hungry at all? I have some daffodil sandwiches ready in the kitchen," Twilight insisted.

Gabe politely denied with a gesture, then found an empty room with no light.

"Oh, that's supposed to be storage, but I haven't run out of room in my other storage room,"

Michael came striding in, relieved of gear.

"Could we use that room?" Michael asked, "so we can change our clothes from time to time,"

"Interesting, you need a private spot to change your clothes," Twilight said.

"Well, yeah, we don't anyone seeing us naked, so we change in private,"

"But, don't you have body fur?"

Michael was frozen at Twilight's question, and her assumption of humans having body coverage through hair.

"No," he said, "we wear clothes to keep our privates... private,"

"... Oh,"

Jack and Tevin came running in, "Hey, you guys need to check this shit out, we got something on radar," Jack said.

The two hurried down, with a particular purple pony in close pursuit.

"It's not very discreet, and it's coming from the Everfree," Jack said, trying to keep his reading on a small handheld device.

"The Everfree, it's always the Everfree," Tevin said.

"Well, get this, it's going off like a beacon, anyone could be getting this, and you know how many soldiers are hiding out there," Jack said, "whoever this guy is, he wants to be found, by who? I have no idea,"

Michael was standing awkwardly, "Uh, Tevin, I think we should look into this before the ponies," he said.

"Why's that? You said yourself, these ponies are fierce and fiercely loyal,"

"Yeah, but the thing is-" he looked back at Twilight, standing stone still at attention, "-I'll explain later,"

"Buddy, that guy may be a friendly, and he's left out there to rot with other soldiers, it's best we find him, pony following us or not," Jack said.

Twilight's face lit up, "Does that mean I can come with you?"

"Only if you've got a death wish," Tevin said, turning to Michael, "so why do you think we should go after it before the ponies?"

"Because we have no idea what's out there, I don't want any pony blood spilled on my account, and I'm sure you'll agree," Michael replied.

Gabe was already refastening his ballistic vest to his chest. The team followed his example, quickly wrestling on their equipment.

"You, stay, and keep quiet about this," Micheal said, pointing at Twilight as he exited her home.

"For Christ's sake, as soon as we arrive, we've gotta leave for a wartime effort, this plan of assimilating with society is working like a charm," Jack said.

"We'll get to that, Jack, we've just got some business to take care of," Michael said, "besides, this should only take a couple hours, right Gabe?... Gabe?"

Gabe slowed his run and dropped to his knees, enveloped with sudden nausea and a violent headache. Michael rushed to his side, checking his cousin for the problem.

"Tevin you see this? Something is really wrong with Gabe,"

Tevin kneeled by Gabe, removing the soldier's helmet and looking into his eyes.

"What the hell..."

His eyes were bloodshot, with the whites turned sapphire blue.

Author's Note:

It's finally here, after a very long time of procrastinating and working on other stories that have yet to be published, it's here.