Walking with Lyra I explored the facility at her side. She had decided to accompany me while I fed my curiosity about this place between fights. I had won my third round and thus came into the final four in the semi-finals, so I was one of ten who remained alive after almost three days of this place. By the end of today though, there would be only two left.

"How did you and Bon Bon find this place?" I questioned as Lyra kicked an old soda machine, getting a decade old can to fall out.

"Bon Bob's dad used to work for the government. It used to be a center they used before the cataclysm. It was more or less abandoned for a few years by the time we got here, but we figured with its location we wouldn't get many visitors." She gripped the can and used her magic to pop it open.

She offered me a sip, which I declined. Shrugging, she took a swig herself and grimaced a little. "Eh, lost a lot of carbonation over the years..."

I changed the subject. "Hey, would you happen to know about the Knights of Celestia?"

She blinked and lowered her drink. "What do you want to know about that for?"

"I intend on joining them when I get out of here." I explained.

She laughed. "So sure about your victory then? Shouldn't you be focusing on the fight?"

I shook my head. "I can beat any of those idiots, I'm not too worried about it. My brother is waiting for me, and I plan on getting to him as fast as I can. I haven't seen him in almost a year, so if you have anything that can get me to the knights faster, I would appreciate it."

She looked me over and then nodded. "Yeah, okay." She said before sitting down on a nearby bench. I did the same. "They're supposedly west of here. Probably a three day walk, but if you take the old minecart system just in the caves outside of here, you can make it in a day. It should still have power."

I smiled at this news. "Really? That's great!"

She giggled at my reply. "Your brother sounds like quite the guy if you're willing to do all this to get to him."

"My brother is a hero." I grinned.

"Heroes are overrated." Lyra winked.

"I know that Flare is out there doing great things right now. He may be a little nerve-racked half the time, but Flare never backs down when he sets his mind to something. Mostly because it doesn't happen often. A lot of the time, he avoids committing to anything because he has no drive for it." I smiled as I thought of my elder brother. "But when he said he was coming down here to Equestria, he had a look of determination that I had never seen on his face before. He was more adamant about coming to this place than I have ever seen him. That's how I know he's changing the world right now." I bragged.

Lyra grinned a little and nodded. "I'm not really concerned about that kind of crap really. For all I care we could just keep living like we are now and I'll be content. I'm not one for politics, and Equestria can stay fallen for all I care."

She certainly was cynical about the situation.

"You don't ever wish for more?" I asked. "Don't you ever want more out of this life than you're currently getting? Surely there is more to Lyra Heartstrings than this arena."

She stood up and winked. "Or maybe not. Maybe Lyra Heartstrings is a simple girl, with simple pleasures."

"Sounds depressing." I replied.

"No, your way sounds depressing. My expectations will always be met, and thus I'll always be happy. You however ask for the impossible and I am certain you'll be filled with discontent when you don't get it." She flicked her tail and tapped my cheek with it. "You expect too much out of the world."

I shook my head as I brushed my cheek where her tail hit. "I don't expect anything, I make things happen."

"Some may call that arrogance." She responded.

"And I would tell them that I don't care." I replied.

"You really love him don't you?" Lyra paused.

I blinked and shook my head. "To be honest, I don't even know what love is."

"So Torch, you told me before about how you had a son, right?" Tangerine questioned as she watched me do sit ups.

I grunted before I replied. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Where is he?" She was quiet about her question, as if she already knew it was a sensitive subject.

I sat up and stopped my exercise as I turned to her direction. "Back in SkyVale, why?"

"Are you going to get him back ever?" Tangerine kept her eyes locked on me.

I shook my head as I returned back to my sit ups, speaking between strained breaths. "Can't. SkyVale doesn't let any who leave back into the city; besides, he has a mother now. I can't just show up later and expect him to recognize me as his mother after somepony else raises him."

Her brow rose. "You gave him up? Just like that?"

I sat up again and gave her a serious expression. "I gave him up because she could give him a better life than me. I'm still a kid, and I know nothing about parenting. My mother and father were outside the city when the war happened. They were only gone for a few hours, but they probably died in the cataclysm. Flare and me raised ourselves from then on. I've been taking care of myself since I was a little girl. The stallion who is supposed to be his father left the city when he found out I was pregnant. What could I possibly teach my son about love? He is better off not knowing who his real mother is, maybe then he can grow up with love in his life." I sighed as I explained.

"That's still not a very solid reason." Tangerine commented.

I nodded. "There was another reason too."

The mare leaned in. "And that is?"

"Equestria needs me. It needs ponies who want to fix it. There are ponies out here suffering, and begging for somepony to save them. Begging for somepony to bring light to this dark world. I had to answer that call, my son would understand when he gets older. I had to make the choice to use my life to help as many ponies as possible." I said.

Tangerine smiled. "That's pretty noble, foolish, but noble. I'm sure he'd be proud though. Hell if my mom was half the woman you are, then maybe I'd have turned out differently."

"I'm hardly his mom, just an egg donor." I remarked with a smirk.

"Virginity is overrated anyways." Tangerine winked.

"Its not a concern to me. I relinquished everything that didn't matter when I left SkyVale. I only care now about accomplishing my goal. I didn't care what happens to me or what I have to do to reach my goal. If I must step over dead bodies in the arena, then so be it. I'll crush any who stand in my way. Nothing will prevent me from getting to Flare." I gave her a look of determination.

"Heh... You certainly are ruthless." Tangerine laughed.

I trotted to the sink and splashed some water on my face.

"If they stand in my way, yes." I replied.

The next round was starting soon, and I was ready to take down any they threw at me. Trotting into the arena I grinned as I saw Lyra watching my every step. It was obvious she expected an excellent performance out of me.

"Well, we are here at the semi-finals with Torch Fires..." She paused as she lowered her megaphone and grinned. "And it’s time for the battle royale round! Seven ponies, one victor who gets to enter the finals!"

I blinked as I listened. Was she reserving this round for me purposely?

Bursting through the other gates, the other six combatants jumped into the arena, each more fierce than the last. All male, and all giant in comparison to myself. Each had a blood thirsty expression as they all circled me chuckling.

"Hey, Brick." One of them said as he kept his eyes locked on me during their circling.

"What do you want, Tack?" Another brute responded.

"I know this is a battle royale, but what do you say to taking a few turns with the girl?" He grow a devious grin as he licked his lips.

Another chimed in. "Amen to that. If we're going to die, let's get some action in before that. If we all hold her down, we can take turns with her before we kill her."

I rolled my eyes. "Can you ogres think with anything besides your cocks?"

"Feisty, I like that... Pretty little thing too..." A fourth one who had been silent up to this point said.

I could already see the folly of their plan, they were going to focus on catching me to the point where they'd be clumsy. I could already tell I had speed and intelligence over them.

Lyra's voice echoed as she gave the orders. "Ready!" The group all took a battle stance; I however just lowered my hood. "Fight!"

The group lunged forward, to which I rose a wall of fire around myself, making them all back off. Fire was my greatest asset, and I intended to use it to my full advantage.

One of them laughed. "You can't hide in there forever!" He pointed out.

Sure enough I flung a needle in the direction his voice came from. I could hear a grunt as it made contact.

"You little bitch!" He growled as he pulled the needle out.

"So she has some fight in her..." That time it was Tack's voice.

I hurled another in the direction of his voice, and sure enough another hit. He hissed as I heard him remove the needle and toss it to the ground. "Keep quiet, she is using sound to attack us. Just keep still until her energy drops so she has to come out of her barrier." Tack instructed.

Shortly after, all their movement stopped. It indeed was impossible to tell where to attack next, but I was far from out of tricks. I pushed the walls of fire outward sending it in every direction, burning all of them and pushing them back.

Lyra was getting excited from watching. "Just look at little Torch holding her own against all those boys! What talent! Perhaps her cutie mark should have to do with ass kicking?"

I rolled my eyes at the praise. It was good to see that Lyra still thought of this all as a game.

Unfortunately, my attack was far from enough to end any of them, but it certainly angered them. "You little fucker... I'll cut your horn off before I fuck you!" One of them called out.

"Come get me, boys." I winked as I leapt into the air and spun, hurling needles in every direction I could.

They all backed up, but sustained a few hits as they tried to dodge the assault. Coming down gracefully, I flicked my cloak out of the way as I threw another needle with my hoof through the skull of one of the other nameless savages. The others looked in shock as he fell and watched as the blood sprayed out of the new opening on his head.

"One down, five more to go." I grinned as I brandished another needle in my hoof.

The others all took a step back and looked to each other. Clearly it was starting to connect that their plan of going all out on me was not going to be successful. It also became evident that they also realized they would need to slay each other to get out of here, and their short alliance was breaking.

One of them drew a blade on his hoof and growled as he darted towards me. Quickly, I teleported out of the way, and his blade instead met another stallion in the ring who growled in agony.

"Why you-!" The wounded stallion took a punch at his accidental attacker, and the two soon broke out into a brawl.

Before we knew it, two of the other three began to lock hooves in a struggle. The last one I grinned at and gestured for him to approach me. "Looks like its you and me, ugly." I said.

He growled as he readied himself, taking a powerful stance. "I'm sorry that I have to kill you." I added.

With a snarl he bolted to the left, hoping to surprise me, however I tossed a needle that way and got him right in the neck.

"Gah! Son of a-" He gripped his neck in pain as he felt blood trickle down his torso. Not wasting a great opportunity, I tossed another through his ear. No doubt it pierced his brain. I had studied pony anatomy before I left SkyVale. I tried my best to learn the body's weak points so I knew how to exploit them in combat.

Watching the other three fight (one apparently had been killed during the struggle while I was occupied with my own fight) I sighed and shook my head. They foolishly had forgotten I was there while they brawled.

I levitated a few needles and lined up my shots. I would need to hit them perfectly if I hoped to take them down quickly. Their massive size meant that skull penetration would be difficult.

Waiting for the right moment, I saw one of them turn just enough to where I could see his eyes. Taking my chance, I tossed one directly at him.

It was the perfect shot, right through the eye. The penetration was perfect as well, because he collapsed without so much as a scream.

The pony whom had been taking a punch from him turned to look towards me, and sure enough, he received the second needle through the opposite eye. Once again, I watched as the station fell.

The final stallion looked to me with a scowl. He was the last obstacle, but fortunately he looked significantly weaker than the other two.

"Just you and me then?" He grinned as he took a step forward.

Before he had a chance to speak again, I teleported behind him and hurled a needle into the back of his hind leg. The blow brought him down as I bolted in front of him and tossed another through his face. It happened too quickly for him to even wince in pain.

As he fell in front of my hooves, I stepped over his body and stood at the center of the arena on full display as I looked around to make sure none of them got back up.

Not to much surprise, but they all laid there in the dirt.

Lyra rose up from her chair and clapped before raising her megaphone. "Little Torch has conquered once again! Looks like she'll be making it to the finals! I must say, I'm impressed."

My attention however was not on Lyra, instead it was on the orange mare sitting in the grandstands below her.

Tangerine and I stared each other down, now fully accepting something that I knew the both of us had neglected to even think about when we first met a few days ago. That being, we would need to face each other to get out of here, and only one of us would be leaving.

There was no doubt that Tangerine was not going to let her emotions stop her, and I certainly could not let mine stand in my way either.

The truth of it was that only one of us could win this fight, and it had to be me. I had to come out victorious, or I'd never make it to Flare. It wasn't going to be easy either, as no doubt Tangerine had been watching all my fights, and studied how I do battle. She probably thought she knew an opening or flaw in my strategies at this point. There was one thing she didn't know though; I had not exhausted every move in my arsenal yet. I had a feeling she was counting on seeing all I was capable of, thus why I purposely reserved some attacks to use specifically on her.

Lyra interrupted both of our thought as she yelled again. "I suggest you both get some rest; tomorrow you both enter the final round, and decide who will be leaving the arena a champion, and who will be leaving in a body bag."

I was hardly even listening to what the mare was saying as I kept my eyes locked on Tangerine, who returned the glare with her powerful eyes.

There was no doubt; this was going to be probably the hardest fight I had endured since I came to the ruins, and maybe my entire life up to this point. No doubt that Tangerine would not fall for the same tricks and traps that my previous enemies did. She was a lot smarter, and a lot stronger. No doubt that she could take a few hits before she went down.

"Torch..." She spoke loud enough so I could hear her in the grandstand.

I stood still and said nothing.

"Give me your best fight." She nodded as she began to trot away back to her sleeping area, I assumed. My eyes stayed locked on her until she was out of sight.

I nodded in return as I began to gather up my needles. I intended to do exactly that; give her one hell of a fight.