Of course, I had to follow this insufferable know-it-all! I couldn't just let her get through this damned Stargate and die under my watch. I would not forgive myself if my inaction led to her death or worse. What if she meets the Goa'ulds there? They will enslave her, pick everything they can from her head, and then invade this peaceful world. No, I would do my best to prevent it. And I don't want my caretaker's best friend to suffer such a grim outcome. So I jumped in the mirror and followed Sunset into another world.
The trip itself was not so bad, if a bit nauseous. And the wormhole tunnel looked quite different from the usual journey through the Stargate. All these bright colored flashes of light, a kaleidoscope of shapes and patterns, just like in those visions that I accidentally received once, when I chewed on a strange plant with thin leaves growing in a pot on the window of our neighbors. It was not a very good experience, and how much I vomited after that was not at all funny. So I hoped that at the end of the journey I would not be so sick.
But it seems that the fear of nausea will not be my problem now, because I have ached everywhere, even in those places that I did not know about before. The pain was so strong that tears in my eyes blurred my eyesight. As if I was turned inside out and back. Spirits, if the return is just as painful, then I swear that I will break this mirror myself.
But the pain subsided, and I was able to wipe away the tears, clearing my eyes and finally see the place of our arrival. It was midnight, and we were on a paved area in front of a one-story building next to the road. There were strange metal carriages with broken windows and dents on the sides. The windows and doors in the building were also broken, and from some of them smoke rose towards the sky. Other buildings nearby didn't look much better, and litter and rubbish were scattered everywhere.
I started to worry. But then I heard a groan behind me and turned to see a gangly creature waking up. It looked so familiar to me. It was pale, had a red-yellow striped mane, long limbs with fleshy claws on two front legs, and was dressed in some kind of light orange sundress with a two-tone decoration in the form of the sun. It groaned again and tried to stand on four legs, but immediately fell yelping in pain. And I jumped away from him, increasing the distance between us.
"Ouch! What happened to me?!" It said in a recognizable voice. This creature sounded like Sunset Shimmer, but it didn't look like her. "Whats this?! Where are my hooves?!"
She screamed again, and I finally agreed that this creature was probably our Sunset. Something turned her into this form. Great. More problems. We had just arrived, and she was already in trouble.
"Oh. That should be it. As it was said in the warnings of those books. I should have been ready for this. Geez, stupid me." She said looking at her altered limbs quizzically. "Hmm, something similar to the claws, same as minotaurs. And in tandem with these long hind legs, this form is apparently intended for a bipedal upright movement." Sunset carefully got on her hind legs and straightened up vertically. "It seems I was right" She did one hesitant step, then another, then several more and turned around. "It's not difficult at all! I have no problem with walking, so no harm."
Well, she looks fine. And now I seem to remember who she reminds me of — she definitely looked like those Tau'ri, just very pale, with brightly colored mane and eyes. But why did she changed, and I remained the same, still in the shape of a cat? Maybe because her original form was natural, but mine wasn't? And those additions to the Stargate were probably meant to give a traveling pony a resemblance to the natives of this world. If so, then it is alarming, because apparently this world is probably inhabited by Tau'ri, and the Goa'ulds may be here too.
While I was contemplating Sunset had just become familiar with her new body and, lifting her saddle bags, began to look around.
"This place is in very bad condition," She said thinking for a moment. "Those who live here apparently don't really care about cleanliness. What do you think, Midnight?"
Are you asking me? A cat? Are you gone mental? Its not like you will hear my answer. I tried to show her as much annoyance on my face as I could muster.
"You don't seem to like it here either."
You don't say.
"Well, we came in search of knowledge, so we have to find someone who lives here."
Are you sure you want to meet someone who leaves their homes and carriages broken without maintenance?
"Oh, I almost forgot to remember where the portal is."
She turned to face a monument of a reared four legged creature, which looked like a grotesque caricature of an oversized earth pony with an elongated snout and long thin legs.
"Ha! They seem to like abstract art. This pony looks very strange."
I don't think this is a pony. Maybe some local creature or even a famous citizen.
"Yep, I definitely have to sketch this in order to show Cadence and Princess Celestia. We still have enough time."
Are you sure you should start drawing in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it be better to wait until morning?
"So far, nothing interesting happens."
I wanted to snort but at this moment I heard the stomping on other side of the bushes.
First lieutenant Emily Piggot hated this mission from its very beginning. She knew that when they send you to the field without good intelligence, it always means that things will go FUBAR faster than you blink. They didn't even get much equipment or support, because some bastards in command decided that timing was more important than proper preparation.
Her squad, along with the others, was loaded into trucks and sent to this hellhole so quickly that they did not even received confirmation about danger they might encounter. And now, out of almost a hundred troopers, only a few survived. They were killed on the left and on the right, desperately trying to repel the attacking waves of monsters. And every moment their hope of survival melted away like snow on a hot day.
She did not shoot a gun that much since she served in the corps. Only today she and her squad had fired more than five years before. And yet they were losing. This onslaught continues with very short periods of lull, which gave them time to reload their weapons and regroup. They even tried to track down their fallen comrades, but it seems that these damned beasts dragged their bodies somewhere, as they did with their own dead.
They already lacked ammunition, they had already scooped out everything they could from destroyed trucks and armored personnel carriers. And she did not think that help would ever come. Their pleads for help fall on deaf ears. Their aerial support disappeared hours ago. And their parahuman support soon disappeared too. They were written off and left to die here. They will run out of ammunition, their bodies will give up, they will bleed to death and die.
She, sergeant Stirman and that creep Calvert from the 7th, are the only ones left relatively unharmed. Others had various injuries ranging from deep wounds to broken bones and gashes. And these abominable spawns are attracted to the smell of blood, like sharks in open waters. But if she is destined to die today, she will make them pay dearly for her life. She still had some frag grenades some leftover explosives.
"INCOMING!" Lieutenant Curie shouted to her left.
"Damned fuckers! I hoped they would finally leave us alone."
"As if Stirman, they are hungry, and we are the only pieces of meat left within a five miles radius." Sarcastically answered Emily. "Get a gun and get ready to give these fuckers hell."
"I have only six clips left."
"Then make sure you don't miss." Commented commander Jeeves.
She rose from the ground and crouched over to the left flank to reinforce Curie's position. And while she was running, she saw an approaching horde of child-sized freaks, armed with improvised spears and pointed metal pieces, with some creatures that looked like lizards spitting poison and acid into their targets. These will fall first, because they caused one-third of their troops to die during the landing. She unstrapped grenades, pulled their safeties and hurled them into the group of lizards with all her might, blasting the monsters apart.
"Nice throw, Piggy."
"Three years in the school handball team. The main team."
"Whoa, I didn't know you are former player." Exclaimed Curie shooting the next mutant.
"Everyone should have a hobby." Emily parried, kicking a freak who had come close to her and shooting another.
One sergeant to her right screamed in pain and fell to the ground with a spear sticking out of his shoulder.
"Cover me!"
"I've got you!"
Emily rushed to the wounded trooper pulling him aside for cover, and then breaking the pole of the spear began to bandage his shoulder rigidly fixing a fragment in the wound.
"Oh shit, LT, that wanker got me."
"Don't die on me, Mattews, it's too early to give up."
"It fucked up my shoulder!"
"It did, but clench your teeth and fight back!" She tightened knot on bandage and stretched out her right hand helping him to get up.
"Yes ma'am!"
The trooper crouched behind the improvised barricade, putting his rifle with his right hand on the hood of the burnt car and started shooting in single mode, while Emily took up a position next to him, carefully aiming at the oncoming monsters and killing them.
"Reloading!" Shouted Calvert, ducking behind the dumpster.
Commander Jeeves, his partner, turned around in confusion. Because his ammunition was also gone, and Calvert reloaded his weapon mere moments ago, and did not notice how the mutant lizard jumped right at him, biting through his throat, tearing his neck to a bloody mess.
"You fucker!" Cried Piggot sending a torrent of lead into the monster killing it immediately.
"Captain!" Curie hastily ran to the fallen body of the captain. And then she jumped on Calvert.
"Stop it Jean, he's already dead! And putting out anger on that bastard won't help you!" Emily quickly pulled her away from the sergeant of the 7th squad.
"Because that dickhead decided to reload again!" Curie glared at Calvert and gritted her teeth.
"Not now, Curie, he may be guilty of the death of the captain, but now you have to direct your anger at these creeps."
"You're right, Piggy, that facturd is not worth it. But I will put it in the report."
"Okay, okay, but for now, go back to shooting, LT."
She did so, but their battle dragged on and their ammunition began to end. And then the first rifle fell silent. Then another. Then Stirman sidearm failed. And he was overwhelmed by little toothy freaks, drowned in a wave of their bodies. Then another fell on the left flank. And troopers began to retreat farther and farther from the barricades, deeper and deeper into the doomed town.
"They herding us!" Exclaimed Curie.
"As if it is not obvious!" Snapped Emily.
"They want to drive us somewhere, where they can crush us with their numbers."
"Then we must drown them in blood."
They turned a corner of the street and ran into a running girl in an orange sundress.
The first thought in Emily's head was a surprise, how this young girl, no more than fourteen years old, managed to survive in this hell. It turned into horror because she imagined what would happen to this child when the mutants caught up with them. Then it was replaced by shock, because the girl was not as harmless as it seemed. The girl was a parahuman.
She fired a long flame blasts from her hands at the monsters who were chasing her. Killing them in dozens and crippling those who did not die immediately. She seemed to be doing well, but the expression of pure horror on her pale face told a completely different story.
Her face and body were covered with small cuts and bruises, and her ragged breathing indicates that she was nearing the end of her limits.
"Don't shoot!" Someone shouted from behind Sunset.
She quickly turned around to face a group of very exhausted creatures that looked very similar to her current form. They were wearing some kind of black armor with a dark blue uniform underneath, and in their claws they held metal objects, some of which were trained on her, so she assumed that it was some kind of weapon. They all were dirty, in dust, dirt and blood and looked very nervous and alarmed.
"Who are you?! How did you get here?!" One of them demanded a definitely female voice.
"Uhm. I am Sunset Shimmer, nice to meet you," She answered sheepishly.
"Oh God, how did you get in the middle of this hell?! I thought all the survivors were already evacuated."
"Evacuated? What? I don't understand."
"You did not try to escape with other evacuees?!"
"Ehm, no?" She answered confusedly.
"Damn it. Please don't tell me you decided to fight these mutants."
"Well, excuse me, if I didn't have much choice, they're trying to kill me!"
"These damn capes and their overconfidence." Muttered female.
"Capes?"
"Damn it. Are you telling me that you don't know that you are a cape?"
"No?"
Emily looked at this poor girl who accidentally triggered in the middle of a nightmare, possibly because her parents or family died before her eyes because of the inability to evacuate with others. And now she was trapped here with them and, quite possibly, will die too. But there is still a chance that they will be able to find a working car and escape, and this girl may become their trump card. If only...
"Tell me girl..."
"It's Sunset."
"What?"
"I said my name was Sunset Shimmer, and you still haven't introduced yourself. It is not polite."
"Okay, smartass," Who named their daughter 'Sunset Shimmer', what a stupid name. "I'm first lieutenant Emily Piggot of the FEMA's Response and Recovery." The girl just smiled in return. "And we were here to assist in evacuation."
"So what happened here? Who are these monsters? Why are they trying to kill us?"
"Whoa, whoa," It seems that the girl has a serious case of amnesia. "We don't know much ourselves. These things came suddenly and began massively attacking everyone they could, killing them and abducting their bodies. Perhaps as a means of sustenance. We also have a suspicion that this is the work of the villainous biotinker. But we ourselves have not seen him or her."
"Who could have done something so horrible? Why all these murders?" The girl's face was horrified.
"We don't know it is quite possible that he or she is just insane."
"Oh Celestia! Why did I decided to come here? So stupid, stupid!" Girl began hitting herself with her palm to her forehead.
"Please calm down!"
"But what should I do? I can't go home until all these monsters are around, and I'm very tired of fighting so many of them at the same time. I lost track of time fighting them. It seems like it was hours or days."
"Do not worry, it can't be days, because it started just a day and a half ago."
"Great, just great. I'm alone and Midnight lost somewhere on the way."
"Midnight? Who is that? You sibling?" Someone called their other child as stupid as 'Sunset'?
"Oh no, he's just my best friend Cadence's cat."
"Cat? Are you worried about the fucking cat?!" Suddenly snapped lieutenant Curie, forcing the girl to recoil.
"Please forgive my friend, she's just on the verge."
"Well, I understand, I'm tired too. And he is not just any cat. He helped me drive these monsters away."
"A cat scared these mutants? Are you for real?!"
"Curie, thats enough!"
"I told you, he is special!"
And right at that moment, there was a meow beside them. She turned around and saw an incredibly large housecat nearly the size of a German shepherd. For a moment, she even thought it was a mountain lion, but, looking more, she saw big differences between them. It was still a typical tabby, which somehow grew to the size of a large dog, but apart from that he was no different from other cats.
"The hell?!" Exclaimed Curie. "Thats a cat?"
"Yep, It's Midnight." Sunset tenderly embraced the giant cat, stroking its head. "Where have you been? I thought they got you!"
"That's some cat! Never seen cat that big ever before."
"Yeah, now I can believe that he drove these mutants back."
"With such a size, he should be a menace to all town dogs."
"And there is not a scratch on him."
"He was probably got lucky."
Emily could have sworn that this cat snorted with indignation, as if he understood what was said.
"Okay, girl, your cat is back, but we have much more pressing matters that I may need your help with."
"I am ready to help!"
"Good, please tell me how well are you with your powers?"
"Powers?"
"These flame blasts you fired at monsters."
"Ah, my fireballs. Pretty good. They are my Special Talent."
"Special Talent?"
"Uh-huh."
"Is that's all? Can you do something else?"
"Well, I can teleport a short distance or longer, but it will take me a long time to make the calculations, and I cannot teleport to where I have never been before or cannot see with my own eyes."
"That's great! Can you take someone with you?"
"I don't know? I have never tried it before, and my teacher said that I shouldn't do reckless things without checking everything first."
"Damn." Making her teleport with someone else could turn into a disaster that Emily would prefer to avoid. "Maybe something else?"
"I can heal minor wounds."
"You can heal?"
"Oh right! I was so invested in fighting with monsters that I completely forgot about it." Her right hand shone with teal light, and then this light engulfed her entire body, immediately healing all the cuts and bruises, as if they had never been, even all the grime disappeared.
Emily was shocked. The ability to heal someone was rare. And the ones with no Manton limit, was even less. And she certainly can say that the girl won in the power lottery.
"Tada!" The girl smiled, demonstrating her work.
"That's, that's great! This is incredible! Can you apply it only to yourself, or can you treat others too?"
"Oh, well, of course it works for others too."
"Please use it on us if you can."
"Certainly can!"
And she casted this teal glow to Emily, Curie, Calvert and sergeant Haaland, having healed their wounds, but when she tried to heal Matthew, she could only heal his cuts and suddenly stopped.
"Sorry, I can only treat minor injuries. I can't fix his shoulder." She apologized.
"Thats okay, girlie, I understand," replied Mattews.
"Well, so much hope for that."
"You seem to be very diverse in your powers."
"Yes, I try to learn everything I can. Still not much luck with shields, I can't get a domed shield to work longer than a few moments. Even Midnight is better than me with this."
"Shields are good too. Wait, what do you mean that Midnight is better than you?" Incredulously asked Emily.
"What is he better with shields than me?"
"Are you saying that your cat can cast shields?!"
"He isn't mine, he was Cadence's. And of course he can. He was always good at magic."
"Magic... R-r-right..." Said Curie in disbelief.
Since their arrival in this world, Seth hated every moment of it. Suffering from painful transitions, being so far from home and comfort, and now this.
He was lucky that his feline reaction has not slowed down even slightly over the years, because it was the only thing that prevented the immediate death of his ward when these little freaks started to pour from the other side of the they did not even try to start a conversation or say something, going directly to the violence. And Seth was forced to protect the shocked Sunset, who froze like a frightened deer, and did not move an inch in a few minutes.
How much he hated this situation and those buckers for the destruction of the innocence of this little filly. Seth was sure that she had never seen anything worse than a dead bird or mice, and now she was forced to see all this dirty and bloody mess. And he can't do anything about it. He had to protect her, even if it meant killing anyone who dared to approach her with the intent to cause harm. And they had enough intent, okay. So, he had to rip and tear, rip and tear with his claws and teeth without stopping.
Thanks Spirits Sunset quickly recovered from her shock and began to help, throwing large fireballs at them or throwing monsters away with her telekinesis. But even that was not enough, and both of them were quickly pushed away further from Disfigured Earth Pony Monument. And soon they were forced to flee, saving their lives, being in danger of getting more wounds than they already had.
His body ached from the many cuts and gushes that he sustained while defending Sunset, but he did not regret it. Perhaps she was not his caretaker, but he could not imagine how he would be in front of Cadence, knowing that he had not done everything in his power to save her best friend and safely return her home. And so he invested every ounce of his martial prowess in the fight against these abominations.
As they ran, he began to notice her growing fatigue, and even these short stops in temporary shelters did not helped her much. She was not a trained royal guard or athlete, and she did not have his animal perks. And these freaks, it seems, are not going to stop pursuing them, forcing them to go deeper into the town. Even Sunsets teleportation didn't knock them off the track, so they probably have a strong nose and it won't be easy to run away from them.
And so Seth opted to delay them for a long enough time so that Sunset could escape further in hopes of finding help. He held them back as best he could, plunging into the thirst of battle, until suddenly they stopped attacking him, due to all of them being dead.
To his amazement, he did not die and somehow could even able to defeat them all, thought his injuries arched like hell. But he did not bleed much and was not even tired at all. So he sighed and rushed to catch up with Sunset, hoping that she was still alive. And soon he got to her and some of the locals who seemed to be amicably talking to her. With this, he came closer and meowed to get their attention. And immediately got a hug from Sunset.
"The hell?!" Exclaimed one of the strangers. "Thats a cat?"
"Yep, It's Midnight." Sunset answered, caressing his head. "Where have you been? I thought they got you!"
Well, she was alive, and everything seemed to be okay.
"Why did they stop harassing us?" Emily said aloud.
"Maybe they are tired of us and decided to look for easier prey." Shrugged Curie.
"Who knows..." Muttered Emily looking around.
Then suddenly a loud male voice roared behind their backs.
"Because they have already led you to where you should be."
Everyone turned to the speaker, who was standing on a small church balcony. He was a very ugly man with an overly wide mouth, full of sharp teeth, that towered above them, and was at least nine feet tall. And he was surrounded by dozens of those terrible monsters who hissed on the survivors.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Emily shouted, training her rifle on his face.
"I am King Rinke, you mongrels, The God King of Ellisburg, the Father of Goblins and the Shaper of Life."
"So you're the nutjob who fucked up everything around here?" Smirked Curie.
"Shut up! Pest. You are in the presence of God!"
"As if! You're just another bloody wanker whose ego is bigger than his dick!" Chipped Emily.
"Are you mocking me?! You will pay dearly for this. Your flesh will become a source for my new subjects, for my children! This is your fate!"
"Fuck you!" Piggot shouted, shooting him in the head, but the bullets just bounced off his hardened skin without doing any damage.
"For this disgrace you will die slowly to amuse me! Take them, my children! Kill the others, but this one must live. I'll deal with her myself."
And all hell broke loose. Mutants - 'goblins', began to attack them from all sides, spitting out acid and poison, throwing spears, stones and rubble, but the survivors persisted. To their surprise, the yellowish glowing dome of the force field encased them around, stopping the enemy and the enemy projectiles, stopping them short from reaching them, but allowing their bullets to cross over to enemies without much trouble.
"What is this heinousness? You dare to deny my will?!" Shouted madman seeing a barrier that suddenly appeared. "Is there a parahuman among you? Curious. I will take care of taking them apart to get their strength for myself!"
"Like hell you are!" Emily shouted, throwing a grenade into the horde of goblins.
"My will is undeniable! You will fall because I command that! Prepare to die, you worthless insects!"
Seth put everything he could into this shield, shielding the survivors from the apparent doom, everything he could muster was forwarded to sustain that barrier, the only thing between them and the hordes of goblins, as this maniac called them. Seth did not feel the slightest emanation of magic from him, and so he suggested that this psycho could not be God or even a wizard. But he could somehow spawn dozens of these monsters, sending them to the survivors, thereby significantly complicating Seth's plans to quickly return home with Sunset.
The stress from overloading his magical abilities began to come to him, and his shield began to decrease in size with each passing moment. Then, suddenly, the shield received a powerful blow, knocking Seth to the ground and almost shattering the shield, forcing Seth to reduce its size to a few yards in an instant, leaving this Tau'ri mare and Sunset without protection.
Fortunately, Sunset on time applied a directional shield, covering herself and the armed mare from incoming strikes, but this action caused her to stop firing fireballs and focus on defense, trying to retreat to the safety of the dome of Seth's shield bubble.
They had only a few steps left when a tall monster with long claws appeared in front of them, bucking older mare with a powerful kick in the side, sending her flying towards the survivors, and, to Seth's utter horror, piercing Sunset with its claws right through her chest.
"Wha.." All that she managed to mutter, widening her eyes in shock, before she was flung straight to the feet of the psycho-king.
He caught her flying body with his large clawed hand, tightening his grip around her neck and triumphantly lifting her dying body above the ongoing battle.
"I told you that you cannot resist my will! This is your fate, and you should obey it! Because I wish it!"
This is when Seth noticed that Sunset's eyes lit up and he, succumbing to the subconscious impulse, put every last drop of his magical reserves into his flickering shield strengthening it beyond the possible.
Then everything was bathed with a blinding white light, and loud etherial female voice commanded:
"ENOUGH!"
And then he knew no more.
