The Cat, Witch and the Wormholes

Chapter 7. One Second After

When he began to wake up, Seth could swear that he had heard the same etherial female voice that had sounded before he passed out. This voice argued, shouted and whispered with some other voices in a familiar but unrecognizable language. And he might even have seen the flickering shadows in this blinding light, which seemed to take notice of him before he lost consciousness, but most likely it was his brain that played a joke on him. After all, he was severely exhausted, supporting that shield from the onslaught of hordes of monsters.

With this, his awareness came completely, and he woke up in a gray-scaled world of deafening silence. Everywhere, as far as his eyes could see, there was the same grayish landscape, and ashes swirled in the air like snowflakes. There were no remains of dead mutants, no ruins of destroyed houses, no trees, no grass, only ashes. And the only living creatures he could feel alive remained here on a small piece of land, the very one where they held their defensive position against the hordes of goblins.

The sound of the heart began to beat loudly in his ears when he made an indecisive first step leaving the safety of this paved ground, stepping onto the smooth surface of gray dust. And his paws left deep marks, as if he were walking in the snow. But the substance around him was not as cold and wet as snow should be, it was completely dry and loose, like sand in desert dunes, and even more.

There was no gust of wind, and the sun's rays did not penetrate the gray veil of falling ash. He had never seen a place like this before. It was quiet and lifeless, and he even thought that the afterlife should look like this. But this was definitely not the afterlife, because his heart was still beating, and he could feel faint magical emanation somewhere ahead of him.

He remembered how Sunset had been seriously injured by that tall monster's claws, and how that maniac squeezed her body in its claws, celebrating his victory. Well, or he thought so. Because Seth refused to believe that they lost, and Sunset is dead. He could still feel that weak magical signature, and he hoped that it was her, and that she was still alive. And so he rushed forward, like a ship through the waves, breaking through the ashes in front of him, approaching the source of magic. And when he got here, he was rewarded dearly.

Just as he hoped, there was Sunset, which lay sprawled on a large pile of ash. She had no visible injuries, not even cuts or bruises, and even her sundress was again whole and undamaged. Her saddle bags lay near, intact, just covered with a thin layer of gray dust. He could see that she was breathing evenly, and that was enough for him to understand that the worst was over. She was alive, and that was all he needed.

Seth approached her, stepping carefully on the deceptively stable surface of the mound, approaching her face. He needed to wake her up because their time was running out and the window to their home world would close soon. And so he began to lick her dusty face and pat her shoulder with his paw. But she did not wake up. Lying unconscious and unresponsive. So, he had to move her to others for the sake of her safety and hope for the future.

It was painful to use his magic after that deep exhaustion, but it was the only possible tool in his arsenal. He could not pick up objects with his paws, as those ponies did with their hooves, and so he was forced to use his thaumaturgical abilities, levitating her body and saddle bags to his back. It was not easy, because Sunset weighed a lot more than books and quills, straining his already aching magical pathways, but it had to be done.

His spine creaked in protest against such a large weight, his paws trembled with each step, but he refused to give up, overcoming pain and fatigue. The trip was not so long, only a few dozen yards, but for him it was like a walk through half the world. He almost collapsed several times, because his paws suddenly sank in dust, and stepping onto a hard surface was like coming onto land after a long sea voyage.

Seth carefully lowered his precious load to the ground and fell on it himself, breathing heavily, and the ashes in the air did not make it easier. The consequence of which was a strong cough and hoarse throat. They could not stay here for long, or they would suffocate and die, and he was not sure that he could drag Sunset into a safer place. But to his relief, others began to wake up.

The first thing Emily noticed after waking up was a feeling of dry throat. It was hard to breathe, and her eyes were watery from the dust that had fallen into them. She coughed and tried to get up, but her legs would not obey her, remaining motionless and lifeless. To her horror, she remembered the kick she received before losing consciousness, and this seems to be the reason why she cannot feel her legs.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" She exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the others. "Please, please, not my legs!"

"Piggy? What's wrong?" Alarmed, Curie rushed toward her.

"My legs, I ... I can't feel them."

"Oh god!"

"You don't think that's because..." Tears ran down her face, leaving pink traces on her dusty gray cheeks.

"No, Piggy, everything will be fine. It's just an injury, they will fix ya, I promise!"

Curie hugged her, trying to instill some hope.

"This is a spinal compression injury. Without a tinker-tech or a very expensive parahuman healer, this cannot be cured." Calvert said with an even voice.

"Fuck you Calvert! And fuck parahumans! It was them who got us in this shit." Retorted Curie.

"However, without them, we would be dead!"

It was then that Emily noticed the surrounding gray landscape and a small patch of concrete on which they were. Besides this, she could not see anything else. No buildings, no cars, no vegetation, nothing. And the lack of monsters, too. Only even gray mass, as far as the eyes can see in this veil of falling ash.

"What the fuck happened?!" Exclaimed Emily.

"That girl happened." Calvert answered with a still even voice. "It seems that she a second triggered and turned everything around her to ashes. We are still alive only because it seemed that this damned cat can really cast a shield."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"And who do you think did it? Girl?! She was almost dead, and no one could use their power unconsciously."

"Maybe she can."

"Yeah, but then, why was her healing and shields were teal colored, and that shield was yellow? Huh?"

"You are mental, Calvert. Animals cant trigger! They are not parahumans!"

"If we have never seen this before, it does not mean that they cannot!"

"It can not be! It doesn't work that way.!"

"And how do you know that? No one knows for sure how the powers work. So it is still possible!"

"And can you imagine that? Triggering animals. If this were true, there would be millions of paracows and parapigs!"

"Maybe only cats can. I don't know. He is definitely not a normal cat! He is bigger than my dog!" Interjected Mattews.

"Not you too. One Calvert was enough for the nutjob."

Calvert just snorted and walked over to the lying girl and the fallen cat.

"Well, well, well, just look at it. She is definitely second triggered. There is no bruise on her. She is as pristine as new."

"Really?" In unbelieving voice asked Curie approaching the girl. "I'd be damned! No worse for wear. Hey Piggy, it seems that she may have received upgraded healing abilities."

"You think?"

"Because she healed this gruesome hole in her torso and even fixed a dress. Maybe ask her to patch you up? I don't think she would refuse her sister in arms, who fought along with her."

"It sounds good. Because I don’t think I have money for a tinker implant or a healer from the EU."

"Let's hope for the best."

Emily coughed again, this time spitting out a large drop of gray sputum.

"Fuck, this ash is going to kill us. We need to get out of here!"

"Already on it." Shouted sergeant Haaland, playing with radio controls.

At first there was only static noise, but soon they were able to hear voices and, finally, emergency traffic.

"Ten-Thirty-Three, all available forces begin to sweep towards the roads eight-seven, one-twenty-one, one-ninety-three and two-eighty-nine. Ten-Fourteen on all unusual. I repeat. Ten-Thirty-Three..." Announced a voice from the radio.

"Great, they are still here. Call for help!" Perked Curie.

"Yep." Haaland raised radio piece and pressed button. "Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is FEMA's R'n'R emergency broadcast. We need immediate evac from GZ. There are wounded and civilians among us. Our location is," He glanced to his GPS. "Forty-three-dot-seventy-three-thirty-three, minus-seventy-six-dot-thirteen-fifty-two east north east. Come in."

"Ten-four. This is a PRT Field Command. Read you five-by-five. Dispatching aerial transport. ETA in fifteen. Over."

"Roger that, FC. Awaiting for arrival."

"Nice!" Curie was delighted. "They will finally pick us up."

"As they should have done many hours ago. Bloody wankers." Grunted Emily.

"It seems that FEMA were replaced by PRT in the field."

"At least we got our evac."

"What about girl?"

"What about her? We will take her with us. We can't leave her here."

"And cat?" Asked sergeant Calvert.

"Of course we will take the cat too. We don't need a hysterical little girl whose cat is lost again."

"So it's not because of his powers?"

"One last time - he has no fucking powers! It's just a cat!" Snapped Emily. "And somebody light a fucking flare! I don't want to be squished by the coming chopper!"

Curie pulled the backpack off and took out a flare, lighting it and throwing further from them.

"Well, it seems that our only problem left is not to suffocate to death in a dusty wind when the helicopter arrives." Noted Calvert.

All swore.

Lying on the ground near Sunset, Seth thought about the future that awaited him and her. They will not be able to find this ugly statue on their own in all this dust and ashes. And he doubted that these Tau'ri would help them until Sunset would wake up. But it would be too late, because the window to the Equestria will close, leaving them trapped in this world without means of survival.

He knew nothing about this world, except that the Tau'ri apparently inhabited it, and nothing at all about their society, laws and rules. And their reaction to him told Seth that there would be complications. And how they will react upon learning that He and Sunset are in fact aliens who invaded their world without an invitation. What they will do with them. Will they decide to execute them or enslave them? He was not too worried about his fate, but Sunset should no longer suffer.

Seth felt like a complete loser. Who can not save even one little filly from the dangers of this world. She almost died, and if she hadn’t healed herself and turned their opponents into ashes, they would both be dead. And he could not do anything.

His ears twitched as he heard a whistling sound approaching from above. And soon he was able to see the shuttle descending, which was approaching them, and landed near their position. Its rear ramp dropped, and even more Tau'ri spilled out of the craft. They were dressed like the rest, but with clothes of a slightly different color, and with closed helmets with opaque visors on their heads. Only a few of them carried stretchers for the wounded Tau'ri and Sunset, while others began sweeping the perimeter for danger.

Suddenly one of them spotted Seth and pointed his weapon at him.

"Why is cougar here?!"

"This is not a cougar, take a look, it's just a cat." Answered lanky Tau'ri, who was with them from the very beginning.

"Damn, this is not every day, you will see such a big cat."

"And he can cast force shields too." Lanky Tau'ri boasted again.

"Shut the trap, Calvert." The wounded older mare shouted angrily while she was put on a stretcher. "And trooper, don't forget to take the cat on board too."

"Why?"

"He and this girl are together, and we don’t want her to wake up without her favorite cat."

"I've got it. Kitty-kitty. Come to papa."

'Really? You're an idiot? Where did you see the cat that would answer that? Just forget about it, I will not come to you.' With this, I followed the stretchers with Sunset on them and went inside the craft.

"Where are you going kitty?"

"It seems that the cat is smarter than you, Jonas" Another armored Tau'ri laughed at his colleague's misfortune.

"Well fuck you too."

And when everyone was on board, the ramp was closed, the engines of the shuttle roared, and the craft began to climb into the sky, cutting off me and Sunset from our house for a very long time.