Powerful yet Powerless

A young foal walked quickly through the prestigious but empty halls of MIT. He is a small brown earth pony colt with messy chocolate brown mane, halfheartedly combed back, and his tail sloppily cut short. His sky-blue eyes were tired but determined and his green tie, that was a little to long for him, hung near his chipped hooves. On his flank was a picture of a hour-glass. His name is William Stritesev, but he was known to all of his friends as "Future" based on his obsession with time theory.

If you're like, "What's with the name Stritesev"? His Great, great grandparents were Russian, his great grandparents where British, his grandparents were born in America and so was his father. His mother was an American from North Dakota. And so, he had a British accent and a Russian name but also had the American spirit of invention and "Can be done" from his mother's side of the family.

He had graduated from high-school at the age of 14 and was finished with collage by the time he was 17. Before The Event, he was working on his Doctorate degree in Time and Relativity Theory. He had achieved the creation of a time window in which you could see into the past of the location you were at. It was revolutionary tech. When he was interviewed by the Collage president and the board of Regents, they had wanted to use the word "gifted" to describe him, but they said that using such a word would be an insult to his intelligence. But unlike the normal savants, that were completely socially inane and usually unable to interact with other people well, he was very out going, and he could hold a conversation in a group of people and speak in language that everyone he was with could understand.

He was a prodigy, a genius, and yet those words did no justice to his abilities. But what use was a genius with no one around to share the knowledge with? He walked into his lab and looked over his work. He was trying to find a way to get back in time and save everyone. He had the knowledge, all he had to do was build the thing. But that was easier said then done. He had already built the frame over the last three weeks, but his progress had been stemmed by the fact that he was a horse and the need to go find food out in the city. He walk over to his soon-to-be time machine and ran his hoof over it. The delicate wiring, the smallest circuitry, the amount of electricity he would need to power this thing would be incredible. But as soon as it got started it should sustain itself. He nodded and trotted over the table and started to work on one of his other projects.

Right now he really had no way to defend himself, not that he had seen any other people yet but you never know. He was building a head mounted laser gun. Not like something from Star Wars or anything like that, but an array of 13 laser pointers focused through a magnifying glass so that when it is activated, it will burn whatever it is pointed at, but is not lethal in small bursts. He would be able to activate it by biting down on a bit piece that went in his mouth. Though the draw back was he would not be able to talk to himself while wearing it. That wast the Worst! Possible! Thing! Not really, but it was a habit for him to talk to himself now more then ever. After a few hours of work on the device he tested the array and found that it worked as advertised. Taking a few minutes to relax, he found himself drifting off to sleep despite his efforts to stay awake. It must have something to do with the new body he had that seemed to be slightly younger then it "should" be. He was soon in a deep sleep and visions started playing through his mind.
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"Hey mom! I'm home!" I called into my house as I tossed my bags onto the couch nearby. It was oddly quiet and I knew something was off. "Mom? You here?" I walked into the kitchen and found no one there. My dad wouldn't be home for a while and I was an only child so I if my mom wasn't here I should be alone. Maybe she's taking a nap? She very rarely leaves this late to do anything so I don't know why she isn't here. This is not normal. I started to get a bad feeling and with my heart starting to speed up and climbed the stairs and opened my parents' bedroom door to find it empty. I heard a voice echo through the house just then, "Where were you when we needed you, William?" I heard my mom down stairs but no body was there when I arrived. I tried to leave the house out of fear but the doors and windows disappeared and a ghostly specter appeared in my living room and started to speak, "You know how to save us and yet you waste time sleeping." It sneered at me.

"H-hey! I'm doing my best okay? I have to do everything by myself here. All the stuff I need to build it needs to be found and properly placed and that's a big pain with hooves you know!" I held up my hooves and then realized that I was a pony now again instead of a human.

"You have the power to save us. So do something already." The specter vanished and I woke up.
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The young colt bolted upright and fell off the chair he was in. He was covered in sweat and had tears in his eyes from fear and even though he had just been sleeping, he looked even more exhausted then before and trudged over the his machine to slave over it some more. He worked for several more hours on the machine and managed to finish one of the six energy projectors. But, at this rate he would not be finished for months. But time was not an issue, he would have control over time when he finished this project, well, control over the ability to move through time and possibly space as well if his ideas worked. He sighed and rubbed his reddened eyes. He needed sleep, but with those nightmares always there to greet him, he feared every time that he closed his eyes.

Later, he walked through the parking-lot of MIT quietly and headed into town wearing his tie and his laser gun, it was getting cloudy and might rain soon but he needed to get more supplies so he could work on his machine without as many interruptions. He walked into the first store he came across and absentmindedly took things from the shelves by using a broom stick to nudge them off the shelf and into his cart. He was really out of it right now. The guilt of still existing while everyone else had met an unknown fate was tearing him up inside. He was blaming himself for not doing...something. He should have finished the machine sooner, but he was tardy as usual. He should call the machine The Tardy Machine or something like that....He put a rope around his neck and tied it to his cart and started to pull it back to his "home".

Several hours after he has arrived back at his lab he was still working on his machine he had his head lamp on because the power was out and was soddering a wire junction when he heard a howling sound, like wing tearing down the hall at high speeds and he spun around to see a ghostly apparition looking through the door at him. He screamed and scrambled over to his laser gun and fired it at the ghost, but he only managed to scorch a line into the door and the ghost ducked out of view. He place the weapon on his head and chased after the ghost firing the laser spasticly but the ghost just dove and weaved around, never saying a word and never getting hit. For over an hour he chased it through the massive complex of MIT, leaving burned walls and scorched glass behind him. He collapsed on a couch panting and wheezing for breath, he didn't catch it and whatever it was it would probably be back later. He fell asleep on the couch and slept fitfully for several hours.
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Several months later he had nearly completed his machine, but unlike before, he looked malnourished and rather sickly. He needed a quick break from his work so he limped over to his time window to see if it still worked. He hadn't touched the Time Window for a while and was interested in what might be in store for the future of this building. He turned on the machine and it hummed to life. He was glad now that he had installed that power unit while people were still around, it could last for years. He watched through the screen as the window showed time in fast-forward. The walls collapsed, plants grew out of control, the bigger buildings in the distance soon crumbled to dust and he watch the land go back to a natural state. He sighed and turned it off, no need to think about that, he was busy with other things. He couldn't ever find peace if he didn't fix this mess and keep it from happening.
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It was impossible...he had gone back in time a thousand-thousand times. Do you know how many times that is? And he always went back as a pony, nothing he did could change that apparently. He sat in defeat, no matter what he did nothing could change this. He had gone back and prevented global warming, he had stopped Hitler from becoming a dictator by making sure he became a famous painter instead, he had tried warning people, telling the FBI, CIA, or anyone who would listen what was going to happen and sometimes they did something about it, other times, they tried to shoot him or take him to prison. He had even become the leader of the world once. But every-time he went back, at about 3:20AM May 23 2015, he was sent back to his own timeline at his young current age and everyone disappears. He had never found an explanation or any reason for it to have happened, but he was left alone every time.

His health had gone rather quickly soon after he returned, he hadn't been eating well or exorcising the entire time and it was catching up to him. He was currently sick and bed ridden. His cough sounded like he was trying to remove his lungs through his mouth and he wondered how things may have been if he hadn't been so obsessed with going back in time. Maybe he would have ever found others. It's not like he was any more special then anyone else was. He knew that he had wasted so much time on doing this, and it didn't even work. But now he could know with a clear head that he had done everything he could do to try and bring them back. All his power had failed but at least he tried. He tried to fall asleep and when he did, he finally defeated his demons and slept peacefully.

When he awoke, he was feeling good about himself, but his physical health was out the window. He was sicker then a dog. He couldn't keep any food or water down and was constantly using the restroom...He was not a happy camper. Because he was so thin, he did not have the strength to move very much and so he was left to use only what he could reach with his short legs. He had decided to camp out in the bathroom because out how often he needed the toilet. He was like that the entire day and when he finally didn't need to use the bathroom he was able to drink a little water and go sleep on the couch again.

William was awoken by voices the next morning, "--cking MIT man! I wanted to go to school here one day before this happened." A female voice said from the hall adjacent to his lab.

"Yeah, whatever. But didn't you see those scorch marks on the walls? Someone has been here already or is still here and I don't want to be on the receiving end of what ever made those marks." A male said in response.

"Whatever, man. You're a wuss." She scoffed.

"No, I'm cautious, and you should be too." They opened the door and came into the lab, "Wow, it's a real mess in here." She said not seeing Will right away. "You go check that room over there and I'll look around here." The stallion left and she walked around to check out The Tardy Machine. William was able to see that she had wings and thought that was pretty cool, then he noticed that she had noticed him and tossed a blanket over his head like a fool to hide. "Hey Mat!? Come here a sec?" She called to her companion.

He soon trotted in, "What?"

She pointed to the trembling blanket on the couch, "I think there's someone under there." She said and walked over and poked Will in the side, "Hey, we know you're in there little buddy, so come out already." She said in a soft tone. Will peeked out and let her pull away the blanket. "Awwww~! The poor thing!" The Pegasus squealed and scooped him right up into her arms.

Her friend objected, "Hey, Simone! He might have, like, rabies or something! Don't just grab it and start hugging it." Will was slightly offended, he did not have rabies and he wasn't that dirty...well, maybe he was, but still! Simone gave Mat a glare, "It's just a child, Paul. Who knows how long he's been alone! Look at how thin the poor baby is!"

William was a pretty prideful guy a lot of the time but he still felt like crap and it was nice to be held and taken care of, plus his voice hurt from coughing a lot and the vomiting, so talking wasn't an option right now as far as he cared. Paul and Simone stayed with William the entire night, making sure he got what he needed and the next day they started cleaning his lab up. Paul was adamant about that part, he probably has OCD or something. He was soon able to talk again, and was able to get his feelings out there about what happened. Paul wanted to destroy the machine because there was no more use for it and it might be dangerous, but he changed his mind because Will objected loudly. It took several days, but Will, with the help of Paul and Simone, was able to take it apart and load it up with a lot of the other stuff into their cart. It might be useful someday.

Will went with them to where a small group of others were waiting for them in a small apartment building. He made a lot of things for his new group over the next few weeks, mostly tools and the like, and was happy to finally be living in the present, rather then the past. He was able to be productive here with his new friends and he liked the feeling of being useful again, he would always do his best to take care of his group, but wouldn't blame himself for bad things that happened, and did everything he could to improve the lives of those around him.

Author's Note

Well, this chapter was interesting to write. I felt it was a little forced, but I was having trouble writing it, but sometimes you just have to push through. I hope it was enjoyable though. Also this it the longest chapter so far! As always, I love to hear from you guys and any ideas are welcome.