“Almost there.” I said to myself as I drove passed the bridge into Canterlot City. I looked at my car’s radio. It was 6:00PM. “Great way to show up late Shimmer.” I sighed annoyed with myself. Usually I wouldn’t care too much about punctuality, but this wasn’t a usual occasion. Today would be the day I reunited with my friends after years of being apart. That was the main reason I came back to visit Canterlot City in the first place. I wasn’t going to be late for that.

As I drove around, I noticed the subtle and obvious changes the city had experienced in my time away. There were tall and imposing buildings next to older and equally tall and imposing buildings as far as the eye could see. One street I passed had a new video game store selling top of the line games and game accessories as well as computers right next to Sugarcube Corner my friends and I used to spend most of our time in as teenagers. I passed by the water park I had spent time with my friends and noticed the city had built an aquarium adjacent to it. Canterlot City had grown so much and yet somehow kept its nostalgic charms, and for a moment I considered trying to find a new home here. I sighed deeply, nostalgia still flooding into me. I felt like I was seeing the city in its prime again. With that in mind, I decided to make the most of my vacation here, because I knew something this great couldn’t last forever.

PON-3’s Turf was strangely bigger than I remembered. The walls were lined with dark blue booths and coffee tables. In the center of the restaurant were seven massive tables to seat large groups of people. Three of the tables were to the left of the entrance and the other four were to the right. The bar that Twilight was excitied about was in front of the table furthest to the left which was the table our friends had chosen to take. ”How convenient,” I thought with a smile.

Twilight walked towards the bar, but was immediately stopped by Rainbow Dash. I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Twilight. She was obviously nervous around her, especially when Rainbow goes into her little flirty mode. I thanked God I wasn’t trapped in a mess like that. Twilight looked a little bit uncomfortable and was trying to subtly edge away from Rainbow. I couldn’t help but crack a smile and a little chuckle.

As I continued my walk to the bar, I was greeted by some of my old friends. The first person who came up to me was a poofy haired girl named Pinkie Pie. She was one of the nicest people I had ever met. She would often read through my writings and give me useful feedback when she was on break at Sugarcube Corner. Without her help, I doubt I would have ever gotten any my books published. She ran forward and gave me a major bear hug. “Hey Pinkie. How’ve you been?” I asked.

“Great Sweetie Shimmy, and you?”

"I’ve been on the road almost all the time, traveling, trying to come up with inspiration for my next MLP book."

"Don’t worry Sunny, it’ll come to you."

"Yeah." I began to fan myself. The bar was considerably warmer than the outside. "Damn, it’s hot." I took off my leather jacket. "If it stays hot like this, I might have to take off more clothes."

"Oh," Pinkie said in a seductive tone. "Can’t miss that now." We both laughed.

Pinkie has been making perverted jokes since before she moved away to her baking university in Fillydelphia. This was fine, except me and Rainbow Dash were the only ones who seemed to catch on with those jokes and when I pointed them out, everyone dismissed them and labeled me as the girl who cried pervert. I had given up trying to expose her shenanigans years ago. "So how long are gonna be staying here?" I asked.

“I’m leaving tonight Shimmy. My family and I are going to visit my sister Maud. She lives out of town."

"Well at least your here now."

"Yeah," Pinkie looked around, “I’m gonna go talk to Twilight before Rainbow starts harassing her again." Twilight’s strange feelings towards Dash were more apparent than I thought. Pinkie walked over to Twilight. She seemed a bit more eager to talk to her instead of Rainbow which a little strange but understandable. A girl I knew named Applejack joined them. Rainbow had apparently sticked close to Twilight as she, Pinkie and Applejack talked away. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about at all, but it wasn’t any of my business anyway.

I sat down at one of the seats around the whole table. To my right was another friend of mine, Rarity. She was a very generous person from what I remembered. To my left was a woman named Fluttershy. She always had a bit of a habit of trying to make people feel good much like Pinkie. Though this was usually a good thing, she never seemed to know when to stop, especially when it came to caring for animals. It sometimes became a little annoying for me, and I knew for a fact that Twilight’s dog Spike felt the same way. I turned to Rarity. “Hey there, how’ve you been?” I asked.

“Absolutely great darling.” She smiled. She was practically vibrating with excitement. “And guess what, Sunset? Carasol Botique is officially making it’s fifth branch in Seaddle!” She announced excitedly not even waiting for me to reply. I could easily tell she wanted to announce that to as many people as she could.

“That’s great,” I said. “I always knew that you had the talent for it."

She laughed. “Thank you darling. I now get to start teaching fashion at our old high school."

"Congratulations," I continued. "I’ve wanted an excuse to visit Canterlot High again, and now I have one." Rarity smiled.

"Hey there Sunset." I heard Fluttershy call out to me. “I heard that your a writer now. Is that true?" Rarity and I turned to Fluttershy.

"Yep, you heard the truth. So what’ve you been up to?"

"I officially own Manehattan’s veterinarian clinic." Fluttershy said proudly. "I came to take a nostalgia trip for a few days."

“Cool." I replied as I looked around the table. I noticed that most of the people I expected to see here were nowhere to be found. "Where’s everyone else?” Fluttershy pointed to a door across from the bar.

"They’re all playing poker in there. Want to play a round?”

“Maybe later." I said.

"Are you hungry?”

“Not at the moment no.”

Fluttershy looked around for a moment and back to me as if she was scanning the room. “Hey Sunset, did you hear about all the bizarre things that have been occurring lately?” Fluttershy said in a raised voice so everyone else could hear her. Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash turned their attention to Fluttershy.

“Like what?" I asked with a spark of interest in my voice.

“Well, there have been all these suspicious disappearances going on lately and most of the cases were given too vague descriptions." Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow all came to listen to Fluttershy.

“What do you mean?”

“Take the five missing joggers for example. You guys know about that right?"

“Yeah.”Twilight interjected. “Five joggers went missing near the zoo in the northwest part of Canterlot."

“Oh, I remember that,” Pinkie said, “That happened a couple of days ago.” Rarity and Applejack nodded. Rainbow looked clueless as usual.

“Yeah, but they didn’t go missing near the zoo. They went missing in the forest near the exit of town. You see, a day or so before they went ’jogging’, my brother brought them over to my house and I told them about this weird looking wolf I saw near the entrance of Canterlot."

“What wolf?" Twilight asked.

“Well, when I was getting into Canterlot, I saw this enormous wolf jump in front of my SUV. I swerved out of it’s way and barely missed the fucker." Fluttershy said dramatically. This was the very first time I had ever heard Fluttershy swear in my entire life, maybe she’s changed a lot since then. "But when I came to a stop, I could see it clearly. That thing was twice the size of a normal wolf. And its eyes...” Fluttershy paused seemingly to only add to the drama. “I swear that thing was just staring at me and it looked mad as holy hell. But then it just walked away like nothing ever happened at all."

“Like It didn’t see you anymore?” Rainbow asked.

“No, like it just didn’t care that a huge SUV was about to run it over." Fluttershy answered.

“What does that have to do with the missing joggers?” Twilight asked.

“Well I told them about it and they all wanted to see it for themselves.” Fluttershy said. “They packed all kinds of shit like hunting knives and crap like that in case the wolf got too close. One of them brought a rifle too. I told them not to go,” Fluttershy paused again, but this time I could instantly tell she wasn’t trying to be dramatic. She looked like she blames herself for what came next. “I told them that it was a very bad idea, but they were so determined and excited that they wouldn’t listen to a thing I said.” There was nothing but bitter silence.

“You think it got them?” I finally asked

“I think so,” Fluttershy said sadly.

“Do you think that has something to do with the other cases?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy answered thoughtfully. “But it’s just one of the many weird cases that have been going on around here."

We all stayed in our seats in silence pondering what we had just heard. Twilight looked especially troubled. I couldn’t imagine what was being stirred in her head. We all turned to the sound of a door opening. Most of our other friends had entered. Twilight walked to the bar with Applejack following her. Everyone in the poker room, came out shortly after.

Instead of meeting up with everyone, I decided it would be best to get to know Twilight a bit more. Twilight and I were going to stay together in our hotel room for a couple weeks, so remaking friends with her seemed like a pretty great idea. I walked to an empty seat near Twilight. “So Twi, you having fun?" I asked.

“It’s actually going better than I thought it would go.” Twilight pointed to the bar. “Shall we?”

“Sure, I sure as hell could use a drink." We ordered a few drinks. Applejack watched as Twilight and I began drinking our first round.

“A little early to start drinking, don’t you think sugarcube?” She said.

"It’s never too early to drink. Haven’t you learned anything from college?” Twilight asked. AJ shook her head, but couldn’t suppress a chuckle. We continued talking about college life and how we managed to get through it all. After a short while, Twilight was obviously drunk, and I barely felt a thing. Applejack just drank water and cider. As Twilight and Applejack continued talking to each other, I started thinking about Fluttershy’s story and her assumption. I started wondering where all those people might have been. Maybe there was some kind of gang kidnapping people for sexual ransoms. Or maybe there was some kind of occult stealing people for their evil deeds, and maybe, just maybe, they were visitors from Equestia. None of the explanations I came up with explained the wolf, though.

“Let’s go to the zoo!” explained a very drunk Twilight. “It’ll be fun.”

“No thanks sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Ah’m gonna play poker. You should come.”

“No,” Twilight replied before I could even open my mouth. “We-we’re going to the zooey zoo.”

“I’ll take care of her,” I said. “We’ll be back after a quick trip.” Applejack shrugged. Twilight and I walked outside into the cool night air. We decided to walk to the zoo because Twilight was sure that I was as drunk as she was and didn’t want me driving. She knew I ordered a few drinks,but what she didn’t remember was that she had stolen them every single chance she got. In total, I had only one full drink and that was just a soda.

As we walked through the dimly lit street, I noticed that the streets were completely devoid of any life at all. The only sounds I could hear were the drunken slurs of Twilight. I started feeling a little nervous with every step I took. This was just weird; Canterlot wasn’t that huge, but there was always something going on. We were in a commercial area and it wasn’t even eight yet. Where the hell was everyone? I started to walk a little faster with Twilight staggering behind me.

“There it is!" Twilight hollered snapping me out of my trance.

“What?” I asked. “Oh, right.” Twilight was taking about the zoo.

“Why the fuck is it closed?" Twilight asked.

“Well Twi, its a zoo.”

“So?"

“Typically, zoos aren’t usually open at night."

“But I want to see Mr. Tigger.”

“Who?" I asked. Twilight pointed at a sign in the front of the zoo. There was a picture of a gigantic tiger and it’s name, Mr. Tigger, posted below it. ”Poor thing,”, I thought. A once powerful, courageous and great beast now reduced to a mere zoo attraction with a ridiculously childish name. How the mighty have fallen.

“What do we do now?” Twilight muttered.

“Let’s just go back." I suggested.

“Let’s walk a little bit more.”

I shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not? We may as well walk a little bit further, after all what kind of trouble could that cause?" We continued on until we reached another commercial area near the other side of zoo. “Alright, time to go ba—“

“Help!" cried out a woman’s voice. Twilight and I quickly looked for the source of the noise, but we didn’t find anything. “Oh god, somebody help me!!" the voice cried out again. This time though, I could get a pretty good idea of where the scream was coming from. We ran towards the source of the scream which brought us to an alleyway. In the dim light, I saw two large figures hovering over a smaller figure. The woman.

“Get off of her you fuckers!” I yelled in anger. Adrenaline coursing through my body, I ran ready to fight. As I ran, I saw blood all over the woman. Her neck and chest were completely covered in it. They must have had weapons. I stopped a few feet in case they tried to attack me. Twilight staggered forward next to me. The two attackers lifted themselves up from the woman and started speed walking towards us. I knew it was stupid trying to fight two potentially armed men off as I was about to do, but I just couldn’t let them continue hurting this woman. It was a matter of doing what was right. The figure closest to me was wearing a torn green shirt with khaki pants with a faint picture of a snail on it while the other wore a black shirt with a picture of a pair of scissors with blue jeans. The light now revealed more of their features with every step they took.

The anger I felt overcame my logic. Why would Snips and Snails want to stab her? Was it for money? Or was there an even worse reason? Were they planning on raping her?

Snips and Snails were now fully exposed in the light and all the rage I felt immediately disappeared giving way to horror and confusion. Their features were hideous and repulsive. Their heads appeared to be elongated and their eyes were missing, along with their new tails, smooth heads and dorsal tubes on their backs. Part of Snail’s upper lip was missing, giving him a wide necrotic snarl. While Snip’s chest had various bite marks on it and they were both drooling what appeared to be semen saliva which down right grossed me out to the point of no return. They now started picking up speed almost like a four-legged animal getting ready to run.

Twilight and I started backing away from the two alien-like Snips and Snails. This couldn’t have been real. Things like them doesn’t exist in real life. They were just demons we made up to scare people. They weren’t real, and yet here they were, right in front of us. The strange smell of Cinnamon rolls, cupcakes and pies were lingering in the air and becoming more overwhelming with every step they took. My brain commanded my body to turn and go, to run away from this impossibly real nightmare, but I was frozen. Panic kept me still.

I snapped back to life just before Snips and Snails were within pouncing distance. I turned and sprinted back towards the main street. As I ran, I noticed that Twilight wasn’t with me. I stopped and looked back long enough to see the alien-men and the girl behind me, but no Twilight. I had no idea where she could have gone to. ”Maybe she already escaped,”, I thought. If Twilight was near, I would see her soon. I finally reached the street and quickly turned towards the direction of the zoo. Twilight wasn’t in sight, and I was so distracted by her disappearance that I didn’t hear the sound of someone staggering behind me until it was too late—the source of the sound was a few inches away from me. I turned halfway, and was immediately struck in the head. Knocked out cold, I fell to the hard ground below me, completely motionless. A defenseless meal for the Demons in Black.

I slowly opened my eyes to a dark unfamiliar place. My head was throbbing so bad and I couldn’t remember what had happened earlier today, or was it yesterday? I couldn’t remember. It took me a moment to realize that I was in my bed at the hotel, covered in a blanket. I turned to the side to find a completely naked Twilight covered with the same blanket in the same bed. ”What the hell happened last night?” I thought.

I backed away from Twilight and fell out of bed landing on the hard floor. To my relief, I was fully clothed. “Oh thank god," I muttered. I still didn’t understand why Twilight was in my bed naked. She had her own after all. I wasn’t even sure how we ended up back here in the first place. I walked to the bathroom, turned on the light, rinsed my hands in the sink water and began washing my face. Thump-thump-thump. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and to my surprise Applejack stood right in front of me. “Ya fellin’ better Sunny?” she asked. Applejack had long blonde hair, soft green eyes, a stretson on her head, and one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen. I never paid too much attention to those features until now. She was wearing a plaid shirt with a tan skirt and light brown boots. She must have taken Twilight’s bed, putting her into mine. She looked amused.

“Does my pain amuse you AJ?” I asked.

She laughed. “Ah still can’t believe Twilight knocked you out! God, that’s hilarious.”

“What?” I said in disbelief. “Did we get into a fight or something? I honestly can’t remember.”

“No sugarcube,” Applejack said still laughing. “she thought you were a Xenomorph.”

“A Xenomor—“ I froze. A sudden rush of vague memories started flooding back to me. The image of the bloody girl and Snips and Snails began creeping back into my mind. “What happened after she saw the Xenomorph?” I asked, trying to hide my concern. Applejack didn’t notice the urgency in my voice and continued.

“She said that after you two left the zoo, you kept on walking and eventually ended up in the commercial side of Canterlot. There, you two heard a woman scream bloody murder and apparently witnessed two Xenomorphs trying to eat her.” She paused to yawn, not because she was bored, but because she was tired. “Then, she hit you thinking you were a Xenomorph. She brought you back and told us everything. She even took us back to the alley where she saw the Xenomorphs.” She stopped and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t continue.

“And?” I finally asked. Applejack looked confused. “What happened then?”

“We went to tha’ alley and found nothing there. Then I brought ya here.” She answered. “What’d ya think we’d find sugarcube?”

I paused for a moment. I wasn’t even sure what to make of all this information. I had just seen a girl being eaten alive, but there were no traces of her around. What did that mean? Was I just going crazy? But then how did Twilight see them too? Nothing about this situation made any sense at all. How could it? Creatures from sci-fi movies don’t come to life and make people turn into them like zombies. That thought alone was just plain ridiculous, but the fear of what I just saw still found its way back to my reality. There was now only one way to be sure what the living hell was going on. “We have to go back to that alleyway.”

“Ah don’t think that’s a good idea Sunset,” Applejack said.

“Yeah well, try and stop me.”

“Sheesh, I liked ya better when you were knocked out. Y’all aren’t even in the condition to drive back there anyway.”

“I’m not drunk,” I said frustrated. “I just—“ I wasn’t sure what to say. How could I even explain what I saw? It was just something I had to see for myself again. “I just need to go.”

“Okay,” Applejack said reluctantly. “but ah’m going with ya.”

“Fine.” I tried to sound as apathetic as possible, but I secretly wanted AJ to come with me. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, and this way I had another pair of eyes to keep us safe. “What time is it anyway?” I asked.

“About 3:30AM,” Applejack answered. “Do ya wanna wait till mornin’ to see your crazy ass delusional nightmare proven wrong?”

“Be in the car in five minutes,” I said coldly. I wasn’t in the mood for AJ’s mocking tone and bullshit. I walked to the door and half turned to her. “I’m leaving then, whether you’re there or not.”

I opened the door and began to walk through the hotel to get to my car. I wasn’t sure if I had been a bit harsh or not with AJ, but I didn’t really give a damn. I knew what I saw whether she believed us or not.

I reached the lobby and quickly made my way to the front doors. I stopped right in front of the door. I looked outside to the darkness ahead of me. I put my hand on the handle of the door, hesitating. ”Are you really ready for whatever is out there?” I thought. ”You could just go back to your room and leave first thing in the morning and never come back. You don’t have to go.” I looked at the ground for a moment. My friend’s faces flashed in my mind. I just couldn’t stand by and do nothing if there was something dangerous in Canterlot, not with my best friends in danger. ”I have to go, no matter what’s out there.”

The streetlights dimly lit up most of the street. There were, however, sections of road that were untouched by the dim lighting. There was a small breeze passing through the streets, calming me with every second I stood in it. I always liked the wind. I slowly made my way to the parking lot, making sure not to stand too close to the sections of darkness in the road. ”Maybe that girl went too close to the dark, and then they found her when her guard was down,” I tried to push the thought of what happened to the girl aside for the moment. It was still very possible that she never even existed. That she was just a dream. Maybe, just maybe that event never even happened at all. I could only hope.

I had arrived at the parking lot of the hotel and, unfortunately, it wasn’t as well lit as the front of the hotel was. I took a deep breath and sprinted through the parking lot towards my car. Luckily, it was fairly close to the entrance. I made my way to the car, opened the door, and sat in the driver’s seat all in a matter of seconds. I exhaled heavily again. The fear was starting to feel ridiculous. I was a grown ass woman; the dark shouldn’t scare me, and yet now it did. I searched my pocket for my keys, but they weren’t there. I checked the ignition in case the previous driver had left them behind, but they weren’t there either. I searched around but still couldn’t find them. They might’ve still been in the room. The thought of having to go back to my room only to see AJ’s smug, “forget something?” face wasn’t pleasant. I put my head on the steering wheel and just rested for a moment. My head was still throbbing and not having the keys didn’t help. Konck-knock-knock.The sudden sound of knocking startled me. I saw Applejack just outside the passenger door with the exact same amused look on her face. I got out of the car and saw the keys in her hand. She noticed I saw them. She held them up to her face, and began shaking em. “Ya forgot these when you were acting all fearless.”

“Thank you,” I said feebly. “Now can I get them back?”

“Nope, I’m drivin’.”

“Fine,” I sighed. I didn’t want to argue. You do know where we’re supposed to go right?” I asked as I walked to the other side of the car and climbed into the passenger seat.

She turned on the car and began to drive away. Neither of us spoke during the ride, instead I took the time to look through the streets. There weren’t any people up at this hour, it seemed. Every street was still and strangely peaceful. The fear I felt began to fade away and reason took its place. It began to become harder to believe that there were Xenomorphs lurking around. Maybe I was just seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe everything in this city was as it should have been.

The car suddenly stopped. AJ looked at me, catching my attention. “We’re here,” she said.

I nodded and took a deep breath. We got out of the car and began walking to the other side of the street. Applejack walked to another alleyway to the right of the one Twilight and I had been in. “What are you doing?”

“Goin’ ta show ya the alley Twilight showed us.” She seemed confused by the question.

“That isn’t the right alley. Twilight must have taken you to the wrong one.”

“Well she was drunk. I mean, she did hit you by accident.”

“Yeah,” I said as I scratched the area of my head Twilight had struck. “Hey, remind me to get her back for that.” Applejack pulled out two flashlights from her duffel bag and gave me one. We turned them on and continued to walk down the alley. At first glance, the alley looked empty for some reason. We walked through to the midpoint, when Applejack stopped. “See what ya needed to see?”

“Just a little further,” I replied.

We were a few feet away from the place where the girl’s body should have been. We made our way to the spot, only to see it empty. I walked a few feet forward, and kneeled down next to a few cardboard boxes that were hidden in the dark before. “I guess I was wrong,” I said with a mixture of relief and shame. “Well, Let’s just go back.”

“Now your speakin’ mah language,” AJ said. “Let’s go get some sleep. I feel like ah’m gonna—“ Applejack stopped mid sentence. Her eyes widened. She was staring at something I wasn’t able to see. I walked towards AJ’s line of sight and saw large marks of blood over a wall.

The sudden realization of how stupid looking for Xenomorphs without weapons hit me hard. “Let’s go,” I said in a low warning voice. She turned to me in utter disbelief. “What? We can’t just go. We need ta find out what this is about.”

“No, we can’t stay here. It isn’t safe.”

“Ah’m not leavin’,” she said firmly. Applejack was clearly set on seeing this mystery through. I took a moment to think. The only way she would go voluntarily was if I had a better plan.

“We can come back in the morning with more people. Safety in numbers.”

Applejack thought about her plan for a moment. “Fine,” she said reluctantly. “Ah need sleep anyway, but we’re coming back first thing in the morning.” I smiled at her and she smiled back. She was actually more adventurous that I had thought; that or just plain foolish. We began making our way back to th street. it was still empty as it was earlier, with the exception of four stray dogs wandering around a far distance away from us. Applejack noticed them and began calling out to them. “Here boys,” AJ said. She was obviously trying to relax herself from what she saw.

“I never knew you were an animal lover.” I said

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ve also been studying to be a veterinarian so I could work with Fluttershy.” Applejack now got the dogs’ attention after a few seconds, three of them looked straight at her. The fourth dog, and the biggest of the bunch, was just roaming around. Seeing the dogs relaxed us both. The three smaller dogs now looked towards the bigger one. The biggest dog finally stopped and turned towards me. It only took me a second to realize that the dog wasn’t just looking at me; it was glaring at me.

“Maybe we should get back to the car,” I said hesitantly.

“Why? Ya scared of dogs Shimmer?” AJ asked.

“What ever happened to sleeping?” I counter asked. I took a step towards the car. Suddenly, the biggest dog started growling and broke into a sprint towards us. The other three dogs quickly followed. Panicking, Applejack and I now made a mad dash for the car. The distance between the dogs and us was closing fast. The car wasn’t too far away, but the dogs were running with god-like speed. They would be on us soon if we hesitated long enough. I realized as I ran that they weren’t even dogs at all, they were god damn wolves, no even worse, Xenomorph wolves.

“What tha hell just happened!?” AJ exclaimed.

“I don’t know,” I said right on the verge of panic. I tried to steady my breath. “I sure as hell didn’t see that coming. Did you even see how they ran?” I asked with panic and disbelief in my voice.

AJ exhaled and looked back towards the wolves. She froze. A look of pure and true terror spread across her face. “They’re still followin’ us.” She said in a low disbelieving tone, “and they’re pickin’ up speed!” She was panicking now. I glanced at the rear view mirror. The wolves were much bigger than I had even realized. They were easily bigger than wolves should ever be, and much faster too. I looked at the speedometer. It was marking near 90 mph. The wolves looked much different the closer they were to us. Apart from being larger and faster than they should be, they looked much more Xenomorphic and had glowing red eyes that pierced the darkness around them. They instantly reminded me of the creature Fluttershy described. "Wait. Were they the same thing? Are these the creatures that killed those joggers?" They could have very well been. They weren’t dogs or wolves, they were like blood beasts.

The howls coming from behind the car were becoming louder as the Xeno-wolves continued sprinting towards us. “Do you think they can…” I paused, not sure what to even ask. “Do you think they could get in?” I asked, fear and concern stemming from my voice.

“Ah don’t know,” AJ said quickly, luckily the street I drove through had been empty for the most part. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger or get any attention from any nearby cops. Unfortunately, I was coming up to a stoplight that had a few cars passing through it. I looked back through the rear view mirror. The wolves were further away now. It seemed like they were slowing down for some reason.

“Stop!” Applejack yelled. I slammed my foot on the brakes. We had just barely slowed down in time to avoid any traffic. I turned my attention back to the wolves. The pack leader put his head up in the air for a few moments. It looked like he had caught another scent in the wind and ran in another direction. The other three followed. They now disappeared into the darkness.

I was breathing heavily. I wasn’t sure what to say about what had just happened. “What the fucking fuck just happened?” were the only words that I could form.

“Ah don’t know. Dogs are never supposed to be that quick or that big.” Applejack began to steady her breath. “Why—why do ya think they stopped all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know AJ, but do you think those were the exact same wolves Fluttershy was talking about?”

“An hour ago I would have just laughed at ya, but now…” Applejack was honestly unsure. Which was to be expected because she was the Element of Honsety after all. I had never seen her so unsure of anything in my life. It was rather unnerving.

“I know,” I reassured her. “Now what do we do?”

“Let’s go somewhere else, anywhere but here.”

“We can go back to the hotel if you want to. Although I doubt we’ll be getting much sleep after this.” I said.

“Yeah I know sugarcube, but where else is there to go now?” AJ asked.

“You mean a place that those things are less likely to be?”

“Yea.”

“Well, weird things have been mainly on this side of Canterlot, so we should be safe anywhere but here.

“Then let’s just get out of here. I don’t care where. Let’s just go.”

It was now close to 8AM when Applejack and I came back to the hotel. After our encounter with the blood beasts, we decided to try and relax for awhile. The encounter left us tired and hungry, so going to a diner and eating was the first thing we did. Afterwards we drove to Fluttershy’s house to tell her about the events last night. She seemed to believe us. We then decided to stop at a fast food restaurant to get Twilight a burger before heading back at the hotel, we headed to each of our separate rooms and agreed to meet up later on. I opened my room door and stepped inside. Twilight wasn’t in the room anymore. I sat her food on the dresser and threw myself on my bed. I was still a little shaken up from the zoo trip early that morning, but I was more tired than anything.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked from the open bathroom. “Is that you?”

“Yeah.” I replied. I got off from my bed and walked to the dresser. “Are you okay?”

“No, but I think I’m done throwing up,” Twilight said as she walked out of the bathroom.

“Hang over?” Twilight nodded her head in response. “Good because I got you a nice, warm double bacon cheeseburger drenched in greasy oils.” Twilight ran back to the bathroom. I could hear her throwing up again.

“I hate you so much right now,” Twilight said miserably.

“Yeah well, that’s for knocking me out in the alleyway.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that.” Twilight paused. I heard her flush the toilet. Twilight then staggered back into the room. “I was drunk and though you were a Xeno. The story I had just heard from one of the workers didn’t help at all.”

“Oh yeah, you’ll have to tell me that story later.” I had almost forgotten about the Xenomorph and everything else that happened before the wolf attack. “What else did you see around here?”

“Where? The alley?” I nodded Twilight sat down and brushed her head with her fingers. “I don’t remember. I just grabbed you and ran.”

“Thanks for not just leaving me behind,” I said. “So, do you think it was real?” Twilight stayed silent for a moment. She turned to me and said,

“It must have just been in my head.”

“Do you really think that?” I pressed on.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “No.”

“I don’t think we were just seeing things either.”

“So you saw them too?”

“Yeah, and something else happened afterwards.” I then told Twilight about taking Applejack to the alleyway and everything that happened after. Twilight stayed quiet throughout the entire story. She was noticeably worried when I finished.

"Well we have to get out of here then." Twilight said.

"Okay, but first we have to meet up with everyone and tell them everything."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Where's AJ now?" Twilight asked.

"She's in her room getting ready to go," I answered. "Fluttershy said to be at her house around ten."

"You should probably change your clothes too." Twilight was right. My clothes had been dirtied from being dragged by Twilight away from the zoo area of town. Luckily though, I packed enough clothes for a month or two.

“Yeah I will.” I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. After I was done, I went out of the bathroom. Luckily, Twilight had already left, so I would be able to get dressed in peace.

I began to wonder what we were going to tell the others. They wouldn’t believe us without any evidence. I took in the fact that my closest friends only planned on staying in Canterlot for a little while. They had lives to get back to after this reunion. Unfortunately, not everyone here was leaving soon. My doubts about convincing people were getting worse. I knew that if I told the news stations about the Xenomorphs and blood beasts, I would probably be thrown into an asylum. "But What if you do nothing and there is something bad going on?" I shook off the thought. What could I really do anyway? I sighed. For now, all I could do was tell my friends and convince them into leaving. Applejack, Twilight, and I arrived at Fluttershy’s house a little before 8:30AM. Fluttershy seemed surprised, but was glad we arrived early, because she wanted to hear our individual encounters again. She listened quietly, only interrupting with the occasional question. Fluttershy sighed heavily when we finished, occasionally wiping off a hidden tear. “I just don’t know what to say,” she said. “Rabid dogs are one thing, but Xenomorphs?”

“That’s what we saw Flutters,” Twilight said. “You asked for the truth and that’s the only truth we know.”

“Okay, so if there is something like that going on, what do you think we should do about it?” Twilight stayed silent. Even Applejack seemed unsure.

“For now, all we can do is just leave,” I said.

“Oh no, you guys don’t know, do you?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight, Applejack, and I exchanged confused glances. “The bridge out of Canterlot is out. We’re stuck here now.”

“What?” Applejack protested. “But a lot of us have ta get back to school after this visit. What’re we gonna do now?”

“I don’t know. The police have the bridge completely closed off. I haven’t the first clue for how long it will be like this.”

AJ just shook her head in irritation and disbelief. “It’s almost time to meet up with everyone,” Fluttershy said, trying to shift the conversation. “Sunset you wanna call the others and tell them that we’ll be on our way soon?”

“Alright.” I fished out my phone from my pocket and called Adagio. Adagio Dazzle was one of the many friends I came to see. I didn’t see her or her sisters yesterday at PON-3’s Turf, but Fluttershy assured me that they would be there. I waited shortly for Adagio to answer. There was a lot of static when she finally picked up.

“Hello?” She said.

“Hey, Dagi,” I answered. “Twilight, AJ, Fluttershy, and I will be heading out to Sugarcube Corner in a little while. Could you make sure everyone else knows where to go?”

“I’ll try and—“ the static on Adagio’s end was getting worse. “—we’ll tr——— arou——so hurry.”

“I didn’t hear any of that Dagi,” I said.

“Wha—“ the line went dead.

I put my phone away. “I guess this place has really bad reception.” She kept moving the iPhone around hoping to get a better signal.

“What?” Fluttershy asked. She then pulled out her iPhone and began to dial. “Great, I can’t even get a single bar right now.”

“Whatever,” Twilight said. “We still need to get to Sugarcube Corner on time.”

“Well let’s go then,” AJ said with a determination in her voice.

Twilight left with Sunset in her car. AJ had said that she wanted to stay behind and talk a little more with Fluttershy. Twilight was still having trouble telling the difference of what was real and what was fictional. She wasn’t even sure what to make of all the stories.

She thought for a moment that everything was just in her head. That everything she had seen was just an alcohol induced fantasy she had created, but that hope was shattered when Sunset and Applejack told her their veron of what had happened.

Twilight sighed. She thought about how boring her life had been and how much she wished for some adventure in her life. The words, "be careful what you wish for" kept swimming in her mind. Twlight’s head still hurt her a little from the hangover, but it was nearly gone now. The only thing hurting her brain now was the stress of trying to make sense of all the stories as she replayed them over and over again in her mind.

One of the stories Twilight wanted to tell Sunset resurfaced in her mind. “Sunset?”

“Yeah, Twi?” Sunset replied.

“Well its just—“ Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to sound stupid.

“Go on,” Sunset encouraged.

“Well it’s just, it might be nothing, but I remember a story I overheard Fancy Pants talking to Fleur De Lis about yesterday. He said that he had seen a friend of his, who had been sick most of the week before, go crazy and attack someone for no apparent reason. He said the police stopped him right away, but that no information was given to the guy’s family, and that the police denied talking to either of those people.” Twilight waited for a response.

“You think Fancy Pants’s friend was a Xenomorph?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, and the Xenomorphs have to be the ones responsible for the animal attacks and random disappearances too.”

Sunset shook her head. “This is insane, none of this should even be happening.” Sunset sighed heavily trying to come to terms with everything that was happening. “It feels like I’m dreaming, you know? Like you aren’t sure what’s really going on.”

“Don’t worry Sunny, we’ll get out of here somehow, and hopefully all of this will stay in Canterlot.” Twilight replied. “How much further?”

“Almost there.” Sunset turned a corner and parked into Sugarcube Corner’s parking lot.

They both got out of the car and walked to the front of the coffee shop. They heard the sound of another car parked by them. The yellow SUV obviously belonged to Fluttershy. Applejack and Fluttershy emerged from the car.

“Good,” Sunset said, “Now we might actually get some credibility in numbers.”

“Or we might all be thrown into the Canterlot asylum,” Applejack interjected.

“Well we have to say something regardless,” Fluttershy said, “I’d rather have friends that think I’m crazy than friends that became Xenomorphs because of me.”

“How exactly are we going to get out of Canterlot anyway?” Twilight asked. “The bridge is out, remember?”

“We’ll cross that bridge where we get there,” Sunset said. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy turned to look at her. Each of them had a confused expression on their faces. “I mean the metaphoric bridge.” They each gave her a slight nod. Sunset sighed. “Let’s just go in there and lay our cards out on the table.” She paused. “Our metaphoric cards on the metaphoric table.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “They’re gonna think we’re crazy,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Let’s get this over with.” They all nodded and proceeded to the front door.

The four of them entered the coffee house and slowly walked through it. The person Twilight saw was Rainbow Dash. She sighed. Rarity, Adagio, and a few others were wide smiling at the coming group. Among them was a girl named Aria Blaze. Aria walked over to Sunset and gave her a bear hug. “Hey punk,” Aria said. ”Too cool to say hi.”

“Hey Ari.” Sunset replied. “Haven’t seen you in years.” Aria was one of the sisters to Adagio and an old friend of Sunset’s. She had purple pigtails and violet toned skin. She always seems to smile nowadays for an unknown reason but there was no need to complain. She was one of the most bold going girls Twilight ever met, other than Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I’m here now.”

“Hey there, Sunny,” Adagio interrupted. “I didn’t get your entire message earlier. The static was a bitch.”

“Yeah I know,” Sunset replied.

“It’s been happening with everyone’s phones, the TVs have been bad too. It’s really just annoying.”

“Yeah,” Sunset said halfheartedly. “Hey, we have a few stories to tell you guys.” Twilight, Fluttershy, Sunset, and Applejack each took turns telling their story to the group. When they finished they were now sitting still waiting for a reaction.

The silence was finally broken when one of the girls named Trixie yelled, “Bullshit!”

“It’s true,” Fluttershy said in an irritated voice. “Why would we ever lie?”

“Are you listening to yourselves right now?” Trixie asked irritated. “Do you honestly know how fricking crazy that sounds?” The majority of the group never really liked Trixie very much. She was only there because she was in their class. Twilight knew that Sunset and Applejack didn’t like her either. Twilight wouldn’t lose any sleep if someone as arrogant and annoying as her decided to stay behind. Twilight knew she should feel bad for thinking that way, but she didn’t care. It felt like Trixie was intentionally trying to be annoying, like when she keeps talking in third person.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any less true,” Sunset said.

“Come on, haven’t you noticed anything bizarre going on?”

“Well yeah there have been strange things going on, but Xenomorphs? You really expect me to believe that there are real life Xenomorphs? How stupid can you be? Let me give you all the reasons why that is pure horse shit. Number one—“

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!” a shout of agony stopped Trixie mid-sentence. Before anyone knew it, Twilight was already running for the source of the noise with Sunset close by. They ran out of Sugarcube Corner and into the streets to a section by a group of idle spectators. Twilight was the first of her friends to arrive at the scene. She was frozen in horror by the sight.

Twilight’s mind couldn’t process what the holy hell she was seeing. The only other time she ever felt this way was when Twilight saw the two Xenomorphs with Sunset. Her eyes transfixed on the horrid sight. In that moment, all the doubts she had were completely shattered.

In the center of the group was what looked like a normal looking woman eating away at another young-aged woman. It looked like someone else had already tried to break them apart; the interloper’s torn and bloody remains were now on the floor next to the gruesome scene. The woman gripped the other woman’s shoulders as she could do little than squirm. Her jagged teeth easily found their way into the woman’s Jugular. The woman could only now choke out small yelps as I instantly recognized as pleas for help to the onlookers. The woman then extended her hand towards my direction. The woman’s face was contorted in anguish as the life was slowly draining out of her. Her arm slowly began to lower as the last tethers of life vanished from her. The woman considered biting off bit by bit of the woman’s neck even after the body stopped. I shook off the shock long enough to pull out my iPhone and dial 911, but no success. There was still no signal. I couldn’t even think of a way to help.

This attack now officially confirmed everything I feared. We were definitely not crazy anymore. There were now real Xenomorphs attacking right in front of us. I looked around at the crowd to see why nobody had bothered to help. The only people that sprang to life were the ones that ran away as quickly as they could. The rest of the crowd was frozen in sheer horror. My friends couldn’t pretend that I was going crazy anymore. They damn well knew what they were watching. It was a twisted horror show coming to life. The sounds of sirens pulled my attention away from the Xenomorph. They didn’t sound very far, but I didn’t think there was anything the cops or paramedics could do or the poor woman now. She was good as gone.

After a few more bites, the xeno-lady finally let the woman go and started looking through the crowd. The crowd immediately scattered. She then began to start jogging towards me. She was just as fast as the other Xenomorphs I had seen before, but she looked more normal. In fact, if wasn’t for the blood on her mouth and her clothes, along with the xenomorphic skin and sunken red eyes with the slit pupil of a cat, she would have been down right attractive. She wore an orange blood stained shirt with a yellow blouse. She had long rose colored hair with sunken red eyes with cat-like pupils that kept looking at me with hunger.

Two police officers had arrived and rushed out of their car. They pulled out their guns and aimed for the alien lady. “Freeze!” yelled out one young looking rookie cop. The rookie cop was tall and wiry. She had dark brown hair and a pale face which only became paler once she saw the bodies the lady had left behind. “What the fuck?” The Xenomorph lady looked at her quickly changed her direction. “Stop!” she warned again nervously. She began slowly walking to catch the cops off guard to then pick up speed.

“That’s far enough!” yelled out the second cop. She was a bit older than the rookie cop and strangely enough, way more calmer. She looked muscular and very thick dark blonde hair. Sunset wasn’t really sure what either of them were gonna do. The Xenomorph lady was now almost in arms reach of the rookie. She nervously shook a little as she approached. The rookie suddenly burst to life and aimed for the alien lady’s chest. Bang-bang! She shot her twice, and she stumbled to the floor right at the rookie’s feet. “Stop!” yelled the veteran cop to the rookie. “What the hell do you think you’re—“

The xeno lady sprang back to life. She aimed at her head, but she latched herself towards the rookie’s torso quicker than she could react. She wasn’t able to aim or fight back anymore. She sank her teeth into her chest. Bang! the veteran cop, whom I could confirm is Ms. Harshwhinney, aimed and shot her in the head. She slowly walked to her partner with her gun still raised to the alien lady.

Twilight grabbed my arm. “We need to get out of here, now!” she said with authority in her voice.

“Shouldn’t we try to help the cops?” I asked feebly.

“What can we do? Besides what if more of those things are running around, what if we get caught? We’re no good to anyone dead.” Twilight did have a point. I didn’t feel good about it, but it was the smart thing to do. The image of my friends being attacked by Xenomorphs crept into my mind. “Fine, but we need to go visit someone I know.” We walked to my car as we conversed.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

Images of my friend Octavia appeared in my head. “Tavi.”

Twilight looked pensively at me for a moment. “Alright then, but we need to make it fast.”

“Still, do you think there’s something we should do for her?” I pointed to the cops. The rookie cop looked like she was losing a lot of blood. Ms. Harshwhinny crouched by her side trying help her. I just didn’t feel right about leaving them like that.

“No, we have other things to take care of anyway. Besides, she must have called an ambulance or something. Where’s AJ?” Twilight quickly added trying to change the subject.

I looked around for a moment. I spotted her near my car. “There.” I pointed. Twilight and I ran towards her and the car. “Let’s get out of here,” I said as we reached Applejack and made for the car.

“Wait a minute, where will we go?” she asked. “Ah mean, is there a safe place to go?”

“We’ll figure out the details later. For now, I need to go check up on someone.” We go into the car without protest and I began driving away.

We sped away from the gory scene as quickly as we could. I was determined to make sure Octavia was safe. She was yet another one of my best friends throughout my reformed life and would have done the same for me. “So what are we going to do after this?” Twilight asked for our opinion, but judging by her tone, it sounded like Twilight already had a plan. We stayed silent. “Where do you want us to go?”

“How many more of those things do ya think there are?” AJ asked Twilight.

“I’ve only watched the first two Alien movies, so I know about these guys.” Twilight answered. “I’ve read these few comic books where they can infect people through a bite or a scratch. I’m not exactly sure how long it takes for someone to turn though. So there might be a few now, but thousands more in a few days or even minutes.” Twilight and Applejack continued talking about the Xenomorph attack, while I stayed silent.

We arrived at Octavia’s house after a few minutes. I jumped out of the car and ran for the front door. Twilight and Applejack quickly followed. I rang the doorbell and waited. There was no response. I turned the doorknob and, to my surprise, it was unlocked. I ran in while Applejack and Twilight cautiously walked in. “I’m going to Tavi”s room. You two stay here.” Twilight and Applejack nodded. I ran through the hallway and entered the second room to my left. I remembered that that was Octavia’s room from all the times I visited her. I stopped at the sight of Octavia already up with her back turned to me. She had been wearing that same gray blouse with her dark gray skirt and shoes, along with her little pink bow tie. “Tavi we have to get out of here and get somewhere safe. There are demons running around Canterlot,” I blurted out not even caring if I sounded crazy, but she didn’t move. “Tavi we have to go.” I walked forward to see if she had been hurt.

Twilight and Applejack waited in the living room for Sunset to return. The room was dark and completely still. Twilight couldn’t even make out any of the furniture or objects in front of her. She also noticed that Octavia’s house was way too quiet for her taste. She recalled seeing a car parked in the driveway, so someone had to have been home. “Why is it so quiet?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe They’re not here,” Applejack replied.

“Maybe they don’t know what’s going on outside.” Twilight fumbled around for the light switch. After a few seconds of patting the wall, she was rewarded with the light switch. She quickly turned on the room’s light and turned around to inspect the room. She froze in pure horror.

“Twilight you alright in there sugarcube?” Applejack turned around towards to what Twilight seeing.

“Oh my God!” Applejack and Twilight both edge away from the three partially eaten corpses that were spread out on the floor of the living room. The corpses were that of an older man and woman with a younger woman as well. Twilight was almost sure that they were Octavia’s parents and her girlfriend Vinyl Scratch.

“Sunset,” Twilight quickly reminded Applejack. She narrowed her eyes. They now bolted into the hallway. Twilight ran to the only open door she found with Applejack close behind. They saw Sunset getting close to another woman with her back turned turned to her. “Sunset, no!” AJ screamed. Sunset turned around in surprise. The woman soon turned slowly after. Her face was terrifying. It was Octavia, but she was missing slight patches of her skin below her eyes and around most of her mouth making her look like she was smiling. Sunset turned back to Octavia. She stopped and slowly walked backwards.

“Oh my God, Tavi...” Sunset said with a mixture of sadness and shock. Octavia began to walk forward. Sunset backed away slowly.

“Get back,” Twilight shouted. She pulled Sunset out of the room and quickly grabbed Octavia’s cello that was resting on a stand. Twilight charged forward to Octavia determined to end her suffering.

Applejack pulled me out of the hallway after Twilight went into Octavia’s room. I couldn’t believe it. Octavia and I were best friends. I couldn’t believe I would never see her again. I didn’t want to accept it, but I knew denying it wouldn’t help. Octavia was gone. She was dead. No she isn’t dead. I thought to myself. She’s worse than dead. I couldn’t begin to understand what Tavi was now. She wasn’t the old friend I knew anymore.

“Ya doin’ alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked with concern in her voice. I turned to her and looked into her eyes. I wasn’t sure wha to say.

”I-I’ll be alright AJ.” I replied slowly. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Twilight walked out of the room with a damaged and bloody cello. I closed my eyes for a moment and turned away.

“It’s done,” Twilight said almost proud. The three of us walked back outside to the car.

“So now what?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “What do you think Sunset?”

“Let’s start by getting into the car, no point in being out in the open.” I replied sorrowfully.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Twilight said. Twilight and Applejack both got into the car and waited for me to do the same. I turned to Octavia’s house and took a deep breath. I took a moment to remember all the concerts I watched Octavia in every time I got a chance to. I remembered all the times Octavia was able to smooth-talk us out of trouble. I remember how Octavia’s family treated me like a third sister. And finally, I remembered the look of hunger on Octavia’s Xenomorphic face. But all of that was gone now. I couldn’t even tell how long she had been like that. I didn’t even want to think about what happened to her parents and Vinyl.

I turned away from the house, knowing that I would never see it again. As I opened my car door and slipped inside, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to the rest of the people I knew and loved. I came to this world alone and my parents died while I was just a filly in Equestria, but I still had many friends to look after, especially the one moment Princess Twilight reformed me to good. I turned on the car and began to drive. For the moment, all I could do was watch after the two other people in my car.

Twilight, Applejack, and I decided to drive around town for a little while this morning. There weren’t many Xenomorphs roaming around. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where to go next. We spent the last few days back in our, now empty, hotel after visiting Octavia’s house. Twilight thought it was a stupid idea, but we had no other choice at the time. I parked my car in a deserted parking lot in front of a local supermarket. We decided it was time to start to look for another place.

“We should focus on getting weapons before getting food,” Twilight suggested.

“Do ya know where the gun shop is?” Applejack asked.

Twilight paused for a moment. “No,” she replied wearily.

“Wait, what about the police station?” I asked.

“That ain’t a bad idea,” Applejack said.

“Well there might be more people there. Plus it’ll definitely have guns and ammo,” Twilight said. “Let’s go.” I was proud of how quickly we had come to an understanding. I had worried that we might argue about what to do, but that was clearly not the case.

“Alright then,” I said. I turned on the car and drove out of the parking lot. The police station was only four blocks away, so it wouldn’t take long to reach it. The thought of joining other armed survivors in a place like a police station comforted me greatly. For the past week Twilight, Applejack, and I huddled together at the hotel waiting for the Xenomorphs, luckily they never came. We couldn’t stay though. The hotel was in the middle of Canterlot and more likely to way more Xenomorphs around. Every night we could see a few Xenomorphs casually walking in the streets. We left around the time we stopped seeing them. We partially hoped to see more of our friends go to the hotel, but they never came back. I tried not to assume the worst, but it was hard to imagine them coming back after so long.

We drove for a few minutes before we reached our destination. We exited my car and began heading towards the police station. I was actually bigger than I remembered. The building looked like that mansion from the game Resident Evil. It had grey stone walls with large windows protected by iron bars. Two tall light posts stood on either side of the entrance. The path that led to the entrance was also made of stone with two powerful looking manticore statues staring forward on both sides of it. There were two small but beautiful courtyards full of plants on both sides of the path. To the right of the entrance was one large fountain with a Pegasus standing strong on a platform with water pouring out far below it. The police station didn’t look this great the last time I had visited. It must have been renovated. I preferred it this way. The most appealing characteristic it had now was the stone walls and iron bars that constituted the police station’s gate and fence. “This is perfect,” Applejack said.

“What if we need to escape it?” Twilight asked. “If there are Xenomorphs in there and around the gate, then we’re fucked.”

“It should be big enough to find a safe place,” I answered. “And besides, it’s a temporary solution. We need to contact someone outside Canterlot for help.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “That sounds smart. It’s going to be hard to find someone who believes us, but I guess it’s the only plan we got.”

“Hey Sunset,” Applejack said.

“Yeah AJ?” I asked.

“Don’t ya have that journal you could use to talk to Princess Twilight in Equestria?”

“No I don’t, it’s back in my summer house in Manehattan so I’m afraid that’s out of the question.” I replied sadly.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Applejack said in a soft voice. “Ah mean, demons like them shouldn’t be real.”

“Relax girls,” Twilight said confidently. “I’ve kinda been preparing for something like this in my entire life—“

“That’s kinda sad,” AJ interrupted. Twilight glared at AJ until she broke eye contact. I chuckled a little.

“Anyway,” Twilight emphasized. “I know a thing or two about them so you should be safe with me.”

“Yeah guys,” I interrupted, “this is fascinating in all but don’t you think it’s time to go the police station?”

“Oh yeah, let’s go go go.” Twilight said, sounding like Pinkie Pie for some reason.

The three of us walked cautiously forward. Twilight opened the gate and quickly looked around the courtyard for any signs of movement. Twilight and Applejack proceeded forward while I stayed behind to close the gate. They checked the front door of the police station. “It’s locked.”

Applejack began to pound her fists on the door. “Hello!” she yelled out loud.

“Stop AJ, don’t yell.” Twilight commanded as quietly as she could. “Sunset, go check outside to see if anything heard her.”

I looked around from behind the iron bars. There wasn’t anything around. “It’s clear Twi.” I said. “It’s completely clear.”

“We can’t open the door,” Applejack said grimly.

I looked outside the gate again. “We might have to just drive somewhere else.” Just then, the door of the police station opened up. Two police officers walked out, each carrying automatic shotguns. They were both women, or should I say two anthropomorphic mares. One of the them had electric blue hair and red eyes but no cat pupils, while the other one had ebony colored hair and purple eyes. They both looked like they were in their late twenties, but they looked very familiar.

“Take off your clothes,” The blue haired one ordered.

“Oh shit,” Twilight said frustrated. “The first survivors we meet are those kinds of survivors.”

The black haired pony officer shook her head. “She just wants to see if you’ve been bitten, moron,” she said. She turned to the blue haired pony officer. “Although I can see how holding a shotgun and yelling ‘take off your clothes’ can make you think that.” They lowered their SPAS shotguns.

“Yeah, real nice way of asking,” I said sarcastically.

“We just need to make sure your not infected,” the blue haired pony officer said. “Normally we wouldn’t ask, but we’ve had liars before. Even in our time in Equestria.” Those last few words sounded bitter. “Just strip down to your underwear and we’ll be done.” We stripped as best as we could. The blue haired pony officer blushed a little as Twilight took off most of her clothes. The black haired pony officer stopped me from taking off my panties emphasizing that she had seen enough. After a seemingly endless infection check, the black haired pony officer let us put our clothes back on.

“Sorry about that dears,” the black haired pony officer said. “My name is Octavia Melody.” She pointed to her marefriend. “This is Vinyl.”

Twilight stepped forward. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Sunset Shimmer and Applejack,” she said.

“Is there anyone else here?”

“We have a few people,” Octavia said. “But Vinyl and I are the only cops.”

“They’re no other cops around?”

“Nope, the rest left to answer a bunch of emergency calls.”

“So have you managed to send a message outside of Canterlot?”

“We’ve tried, but nothing can seem to go through. No internet or phone signals. The only thing that works at all is the short range radio.”

“What’s yer plan then?” AJ asked.

“There are other survivor outposts set up around Canterlot.” Octavia said. “Most of them have other cops taking care of people they’re in. We have to send weapons to the other outposts.”

And at the same time gather and exchange supplies?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“How in the hell did this happen so fast?” Applejack asked. “I mean nine days ago everything was fine, and now people are setting up outposts?”

“To be honest with you, things have been bad for a long time before then,” Octavia answered. “It was just too well hidden.” I wasn’t sure what to make of Octavia’s last few words. She said them too matter-of-factly.

“It’s like they just came out of nowhere,” Twilight said.

“From what Vinyl and I heard, there have been a bunch of these outbreaks, all in crowded places like in buses or subways. It wasn’t bad before, but now…” she trailed off. I could see that the worry, stress, and fear were already getting to her. Octavia, the pony-version of Octavia hadn’t slept in days.

“Hey Octy, when was the last time you slept,” I asked. “You look like a zombie.”

“I don’t really ever have the time to sleep much lately. Let’s get you all inside.” Octavia guided the way into the police station.

The inside was much larger than I expected, not to mention that it looks exactly like the police station from the game Resident Evil 2. There was a large water fountain with a statue of what I could assume to be an alicorn on top. There was also a medium sized waiting room with a lot of blue chairs leaning against the walls. There was an elegant looking desk behind the statue with a few pictures and mementos from the secretary that worked there. There two doors on either side of the statue. The double doors to the left were brown and the door on the right was red. All of these features were enclosed in white colored walls.

“This place is a lot nicer than I remember.” I said.

“Yeah well, renovations do that.” Octavia said. “Okay, so before we go any further I have a question for you three. Are any of you willing to go with me through the city to make deliveries and rescue civilians?”

“What?” Twilight asked half mockingly. “You can’t be serious. I mean, you’re cops, as well as ponies. Isn’t it you job to out there?”

“We can’t both go,” Octavia replied. “Somepony needs to make sure these people are safe. None of us can go alone either, that would just be suicidal.”

“I’ll go.” The words came out of my mouth naturally. I didn’t hesitate because I knew going and helping people was the right thing to do.

“Ah’m goin’ too,” Applejack said. She turned to Twilight. “We’ll be okay sugarcube.”

“We’ll be armed,” Octavia reassured Twilight.

“Fine,” Twilight said frustrated. “I wasn’t going to stop you.” She paused for a moment. “I guess I should help out around here then.”

“Very well dear, Vinyl darling, take Twilight to the other survivors,” Octavia commanded. She then turned to AJ and me. “You two, follow me.”

Twilight followed Vinyl through the double doors without a word. Applejack, Octavia, and I slowly walked to the red door. I shot a glance at Applejack. She looked rather nervous. She had every right to be. The three of us were going back into a new world full of what I call Black Demons. We had been lucky not to run into many Xenomorphs thus far, but this time I knew we would run into something. At least now we would be somewhat prepared.

The three of us went through the red door and into another waiting area with an opening to another hallway. The room lined with red sofas and had a vending machine near the entrance. It looked like it was more for the police rather than anyone else. Octavia lied down one of the red sofas. “I’m gonna take a quick nap. Get something to eat and go through the hallway to the fourth door to your right and take all the weapons you can. They’re in some bags. There’s a map of Canterlot that we need too. Look for it.” Octavia yawned. “Don’t wake me up for a little while. I need some sleep.”

“Okay,” Applejack said. “Let’s go Sunny.”

Applejack and I walked through the hall and into the fourth door to the right. The door was the exact same shade of red the other one. The room had seven desks; each desk looked like it was full of personal items belonging to the owners. I spotted three bags on the desk closest to us. I grabbed all the bags, while Applejack looked around the desks for the map. “Should we take anything else?” I asked.

“No I think we should take a nap with Octavia instead of looking for anythin’ else. Ah didn’t sleep well last night and I know for a fact that you didn’t either.” She did have a point, it had been hard to sleep the past week at the hotel, the constant fear that a Xenomorph could attack us while we were asleep made it impossible to sleep right.

“First things first,” I said. “Where’s the map?”

“Somewhere in these here desks. Help me look.” I walked to the desk farthest away from the door. I set the bags on the floor and began searching for the map. I went through many files and forms before I came across a picture of some of the police officers that I had seen around in the city. Octavia wasn’t on it, but Vinyl was. I also saw the rookie cop and Harshwhinny standing near each other. I slowly put the picture down and continued looking.

“Ha I got it!” AJ exclaimed.

“Great now we can sleep.” I said.

Applejack and I walked back to Octavia’s sofa. She was still asleep. AJ lied down on another sofa and quickly closed her eyes. I sat down on the same sofa and began to think. I wasn’t sure what I had just gotten myself into. I knew too well that Canterlot would this time I would see more demons than I had seen before. The Xenomorphs were even more dangerous now, and they could easily pick up speed if they needed to. The thought that was scaring more was that if a wolf could be infected and turn into a super demon wolf, then what other things could be infected? What other demons were roaming around the streets of our Canterlot? These thoughts were lost as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I was the first of the group to wake up. Octavia and Applejack were still fast asleep. I decided that it would be a good time to see where we needed to go. I opened the map and looked for the destinations. It looked like there at least ten different places we needed to deliver goods to. The path also had paths and zones marked on it. Every now and again I began to wonder what Twilight and the other survivors were doing, but I had a good feeling that Twilight would be safe here. For a while at least. As soon as I saw Octavia sleeping, I began to now start getting confused. How can there be more than one Octavia and Vinyl Scratch? The only Octavia and Vinyl I knew, were my best friends before I left Canterlot, and I saw her xenomorphic face and Vinyl dead. But here she was right as rain, albeit for the muzzle, cutie mark, pony ears, and tail. I now begun to assume that maybe they’re the Equestrian version of my friends from the past. I would ask her why they came here but, I felt that now wasn’t the best time for it.

I used the vending machine to get a few snacks for the trip. I put a few candy bars and potato chips bags in my leather jacket’s pockets. I wasn’t sure how much food was left for the others in the station, so I decided not to take much.

I turned back to the sofa to see Octavia rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Hey Sunset,” she said. “Did you get all the bags and the map ready?”

“Yeah, AJ and I found everything already.” I replied. “I got some snacks out of the vending machine too. You know, for the trip.”

Octavia looked at the vending machine then back to me. “Did you use money?”

I winced at the question. “Yeah?” I replied questioningly.

“Oh alright,” Octavia said casually. “I mean, I would’ve just smashed the bastard open, but whatever works.”

“Well I was going to, but I figured that would’ve woken you two up.”

“Ah, very nice of you, but now we need to be awake.”

“Gotcha,” I said. I sat next to Applejack and gently shook her. It hardly took a second to wake her up. She opened her eyes after two seconds.

She yawned. “Time to go already?”

“Yeah,” Octavia answered. “The map has a lot of directions we need to take to get to the outposts. We’re going to a high school called Canterlot High, the hospital, and the supermarket today.”

“Where to first?” I asked.

“The hospital is closest, but the high school goes through a safer path.”

“So CHS then?” Applejack asked?

Octavia nodded. “We might see other survivors through our route, so keep your eyes open. Okay my police car is outside waiting for us.”

AJ sighed. “Here we go,” she said quietly.

We made our way back to the police station’s main lobby. It was empty. We continued through the main entrance, through the courtyard, passed the main gate, and back into the streets. “There.” Octavia pointed at a political car just outside of the entrance. We all quickly made our way inside the car. I sat in the back, while Applejack rode shotgun, and Octavia waited in the driver’s seat. She started the car and began to drive us to Canterlot High. “We might get some radio signals every now and again when we’re in range of an outpost.

“That’ll be useful,” Applejack said. “They can tell us if there’s Xenomorphs nearby.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Octavia said. “Most of the Xenomorphs are in the middle and northwestern sides of town.”

“Oh that makes sense,” I said. I had been wondering about why we hadn’t seen any Xenomorphs lately. I looked around the city.

The road we took looked like it hadn’t been touched too badly by the infection. There were some abandoned cars and the occasional pile of trash, but other than that no one would suspect Xenomorphs had infested it. I turned my attention back to the map. The route we were taking looked like it was longer than it needed to be, but I knew why. All the routes marked on the map were advoiding with Octavia’s cutie mark. I could easily and safely assume that the purple treble clef cutie marks were full of Xenomorphs and other demons.

“So your name’s Octavia Melody?” Applejack asked to break the silence. Apparently she wasn’t comfortable with silences.

“Well my real name’s Octavia Philharmonica but I changed my last name to Melody to fit my personality more.” she replied.

“So I’m guessing the areas with your cutie mark have a ton of Xenos right?”

“Yeah that’s right.” Octavia replied. “But they tend to move a lot, so try not to rely on the map too much. It doesn’t really matter though, but they can be fast at their own pace.”

“Oh,” I said. I wondered if Octavia knew that there were more than just Xenomorphs running around. I so far had only seen Xenomorphs and blood beasts, but there must have been different types of Black Demons out there too.

The sound of garbled static grabbed our attention. “Hurry———need help.” It was a radio transmission . There was too much static to hear the voice. The message became clearer the further we drove forward. “Please, can anyone hear me?” It was a woman’s voice

Octavia picked up the radio. “We can hear you. Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yes. We need help,” she said.

“Where are you?” Octavia asked.

“I’m at Canterlot Mercy Hospital. Aliens broke in, and we can’t fight them back.”

Octavia looked at Applejack for a moment and then to me. She turned her attention back to the radio. “We’ll try to get there as we can.”

“Thank you thank you so much.” The line went dead.

Octavia was now driving a lot faster. “What do you girls think? Should we go through the treble clef zone and help the hospital first or should we get to the high school and bring more people?”

“Do ya think they can hold off the Xenomorphs until then?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Octavia said. “But we might be too late if we go to the high school first.”

I didn’t think going to the hospital was the best idea. All the weapons we had would be lost if we died, then all the other outposts would be vulnerable, but the hospital would be doomed if we did nothing. The smart action would be to continue on.

“We’ll be careful and see what we can do.” Applejack said. “We’ll get help if we can’t do anything else.” Octavia nodded. From what I remember Applejack always preferred to do the right thing instead of the smart thing. It was a noble trait, but it could cost us more than just our lives if we failed.

I wasn’t going to object to going. I wouldn’t feel good knowing that we had a chance to save someone and didn’t do it. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something didn’t seem right about the call though. What really bothered me was how calm the woman seemed. She sounded almost apathetic.

Octavia continued to speed through the streets. She didn’t ask me for directions around the treble clef zone. She already seemed to know where to go. I was getting a bit tense as she sped ever so fast. We passed a few more streets before she finally began to slow down. I looked at the map and saw that we were getting to the treble clef zone.

Octavia suddenly stopped the car.

I looked out of the car to see what stopped us from continuing. There were cars, metal trash cans and other piles of junk driven into each other to close off the street. Applejack and I got out of the car and we examined the barricade. Octavia walked to us and handed us weapons. She gave me two berettas with a few clips of ammo. Applejack grabbed a shotgun and a few rounds before Octavia could object. Octavia was carriyng one of the bags with her. It seemed emptier than before. She had probably stored some of the bag’s contents inside the car.

Octavia saw Applejack’s confused expression. “Some of the police decided to close off streets leading into the treble clef zone,” she said. “It was to make sure that everything stayed inside.”

“How did we not see them before?” I asked softly.

“So we just climb?” AJ asked. My question completely ignored. I figured the reason we hadn’t seen the barricade before was because we had never been this close to the treble clef zones until now.

“Yeah, be careful and stay together.” Octavia said regaining my focus.

“Sounds good,” I said. Octavia began climbing the barricade with Applejack following after. I began climbing the barricade after Applejack reached the top. The barricade was surprisingly stable despite being made of junk.

Once I reached the top I gazed into the treble clef zone. So many thoughts came rushing into my head at the site. The treble clef zone looked like what I expected to be a Xenomorph infested city to look like. The streets were full of broken objects and burning debris. The asphalt had splotches of blood on it. There were bodies on the streets that either never became Xenomorphs or were put down before they could become too great a threat.

“So, where are all the Xenos?” Applejack asked.

“Oh don’t worry dear we’ll see them soon,” Octavia replied. We ran through the streets as quickly and quietly as we could. Octavia was leading the way.

“So ya know where ta go?” Applejack asked.

“Yep,” Octavia replied. “It’s less than four blocks west from here.” Applejack and I followed Octavia as she turned a street to go west. The first block had about nineteen Xenomorphs roaming aimlessly around. I tried not to look at them as we ran through. They jogged a bit too slowly to reach us. The fact that we were sprinting didn’t help their chances since their speed is limited.

The second block had only about eight Xenomorphs in It. While the street itself looked like it was thrashed by a tornado, the actual danger seemed to be low. The three of us passed through it without too much trouble.

We easily reached the third block. It was now completely clear of Xenomorphs, but looked just as bad as the second block. I turned back to the first two blocks only to see that the Xenomorphs were still kind of giving chase, but nowhere near close enough to pose a threat, unless they started to pick up speed which was a very great possibility. Although, I was glad that I didn’t have to waste any bullets.

Bang! Just as we entered the the third block, someone seemed to shoot at us. Applejack, Octavia, and I all took cover as quickly as possible. The shooter stopped for a moment. “Get the fuck away from me you dirty cock-headed bastards!” he yelled.

I poked my head out to see who the shooter was. In the corner of the street taking cover behind a car was an odd looking man. He looked like he was in his late seventies. He wore a red sweater with black dress pants. He also had a beard with that of a goat’s. He also wore sunglasses, sandals, and a hat with a pair of cow horns. ”What the hell? Tirek, is that you?” I thought. I wasn’t sure what the hell Tirek was doing, but it looked like he was just some guy who went bat-shit crazy given the circumstances.

He turned his attention to the Xenomorphs we passed earlier, which consisted of only males due to the elongated heads and began shooting at them. We took this time to dash forward to the hospital. Luckily, Tirek didn’t seem to notice us. I looked back and saw that some of the Xenomorphs were closing in on him. He ran to the nearest building and closed the door behind him.

The three of us stopped at the entrance of the final block to catch our breath. “Great,” Octavia said. “Now we have to deal with lunatics too.”

Our moment of rest was cut short by an all too familiar and terrifying sound. The not too distant sound of howling filled the afternoon air. Applejack and I looked at each other with horror on our faces “fuckin’. Run.” she stammered. Her voice was radiating fear. “We have ta get out of here.” The three of us ran faster than before.

“I don’t understand,” Octavia said between breaths. “Why are we running so fast? We’re clear of the Xenomorphs. Even if they could move faster, we’re faster than them.” Octavia turned back and saw the reason why me and Applejack were so scared. The four wolves we had seen about a week ago were now back. They looked just as ruthless as ever, but seemed bigger.

Applejack, Octavia, and I ran as fast as we could. The wolves could easily catch up to us if we slowed down even for a moment. They ran for us with the same god-like speed AJ and I witnessed before. We were almost at the end of the block now, but I didn’t see how we would survive. I doubted that the hospital could hold the wolves off for even a second. I gave a quick glance and noticed that only three of the wolves were following us. The leader and one of the slightly smaller wolves. ”Where the hell is the fourth wolf,” I wondered. The three of us made it across the final block and hurried for the hospital door. It was locked. I took out my berettas as Applejack and Octavia began working on the door. I wasn’t sure what to do now.

“Hurry up guys,” I urged.

“Give us a cot-pickin’ minute!” Applejack shouted.

I continued aiming at the three wolves in a seemingly vain attempt to be prepared for the attack. I watched as they closed the space between us, I listened carefully for the sound of the door unlocking, but could only hear Applejack and Octavia fumbling with it. I could also hear the distant sound of something cracking.

Suddenly the wolves broke off their attack. They stopped near the end of the fourth block. They looked around as their faced contorted with expressions of disgust. They walked away slowly. “They’re gone?” I said not sure of what I had just witnessed. I continued to hear the sound of something cracking. The three wolves raised their heads in the air as if they caught a pleasant scent and began dashing away.

“What?” Octavia asked in confusion.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “What the hell are they doing?”

“Guys,” Applejack said. “We still need ta git in the hospital.”

I turned back to the wolves and noticed that they were still joining the fourth wolf who was currently slamming his head into a door. It only took me a second to realize that it was the door Tirek had gone in. ”Poor guy,” I thought, but there was nothing we could do to help him.

Applejack and Octavia continued to work on the door until it finally opened. I sighed heavily and prepared myself for whatever was to come. I closed my eyes and followed Applejack and Octavia into the hospital. The sound of wood breaking followed by s bloodcurdling scream piercing the air was the final sound I heard, as I entered the unknown before me.

The hospital’s first floor was completely deserted. No Xenomorphs. No humans. No bodies. It was ominously quiet. I looked around for a moment. The first floor was just a giant waiting area for patients. There were a few rows of seats and a pharmacy to the side. It looked like a normal hospital enclosed in boring white walls. Surprisingly, there weren’t even any bloodstains or broken windows.

“What the hell?” Octavia asked. “Where is everyone?”

“Do ya think we’re too late?” AJ asked.

“No,” I said. “There’s no broken glass or bodies or anything.”

“Let’s look around. Stay together,” Octavia said. AJ, Octavia, and I walked around looking for any traces of other survivors or even Xenomorphs. The hospital wasn’t very big and only had about five floors from what I remembered, so finding survivors wouldn’t be too difficult. The only problem would be the demons that must still be around somewhere. I stepped a few feet forward.

The ambient silence of the hospital made me feel nervous. Every sound I made only amplified tenfold. I could hear every one of my footsteps echo through the halls. Knowing that something was lurking around hearing my footsteps was unnerving, but worse still was the fact that we couldn’t hear them in return. The silence could’ve also meant that the area was clear, but I knew way better than to lower my guard. Octavia moved her hand in front of us to block our way. She pointed to a door on our left. Applejack and I followed her through the door and into a hallway. I could see a stairway at the end of the hall.

“Wait,” I said. “What’s our plan?”

“Well, I think we already know that splitting up is out of the question.” Octavia said. “Let’s just get to the top and search the building starting from the top floor. We can take a quick look at the other floors when we pass them.”

“Okay then,” Applejack said. “You lead the way.” Octavia guided AJ and me through the stairway. At first glance, the other floors were just as untouched as the first floor was. I could tell that Applejack and Octavia were beginning to feel uneasy. I couldn’t come up with a scenario that explained anything. If the survivors were dead, wouldn’t there still be any trace of them?

We finally arrived at the entrance of the fifth floor. The stairway led to into the middle of a long hallway with many rooms on both sides. The left side of the hall ended abruptly, while the right side ended with a set of double doors. We walked to the left side of the hall and checked every room we passed. Each room was as empty as the last. They were just normal empty patient rooms. We finished searching the left side of the hall and went onto search the other side. It looked the same at first, with one exception of the double doors at the end.

We walked through the hall inspecting every room as we went on just as before. Once we were done, we walked through the double doors and ended up in a rather large room. The room itself looked like it belonged in a hotel instead of a hospital. It looked like a lobby with a huge overview of Canterlot. It was full of comfortable looking chairs and even had a front desk facing the window. I looked at the front desk and saw another set of stairs leading up into another floor within the fifth floor. Octavia led the way to the stairs. Applejack followed next to Octavia while I stayed a few feet behind. The stairs themselves were made of metal and went into a metal balcony just above the fifth floor. It ran together with another hallway which led to a door at the end of it. We cautiously walked towards the door. Each step on the metal balcony creacked louder than the last. One particular platform appeared less stable then the rest. It screeched loudly as Octavia passed by it. Applejack passed by it as well, but she wasn’t as heavy as Octavia so the sound wasn’t as loud. The platform seemed to howl as I stepped on it.

“Wait,” Octavia whispered. “Did you girls hear that?”

“What?” I asked.

“It sounds like someone walking.” Applejack and I silently listened for anything other than the constant squeaking of the platform, but we didn’t hear anything. “I guess I was wrong.” Applejack, Octavia, and I were about to move forward when we suddenly heard a loud cringing noise. A split second later the platform wobbled around and before I could jump to the next one, it came down. I hit the floor with a loud crashing sound. I stirred around on the ground for a moment. “Oops,” Octavia said. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know the balcony would break.”

“Are ya alright ?” Applejack asked.

I slowly get to my feet. “I’m a little beaten-up, but I’ll live.” I replied.

Octavia looked at the balcony for a moment. She turned to me. “I doubt you’ll be able to get up here this way.”

“So what am I supposed to do then?” I asked with a little irritation in my voice. “Just wait until you get back?”

“Check the bottom half of this floor, maybe there’s another stairway you can use.”

I hesitated for a moment. I really didn’t want to go off alone, but I didn’t want to be useless either. “Fine,” I said hesitantly.

I walked through the hallway leading away from the room. I checked the door to see if it was locked. It wasn’t. I opened the door and prepared to go through it.

“Do you have a watch?” Octavia asked.

“No,” I said.

Octavia threw what looked like an Apple Watch to the ground near me. “Now you do,” she said. “Meet me back here in thirty minutes.”

“Okay,” I said. I picked up the watch in silence. I could hear the sound of the door above me open and close. I looked back towards the balcony where Applejack and Octavia had been. They left without saying a thing. I took a deep breath and turned my attention back to the open door and stepped through.

I entered another room. It was too dark to see, so I stumbled around until I found a light switch. I turned on the lights and took in my surroundings. “Oh my God,” I whispered to myself. The room looked like it’s just seen a war. The floor was riddled with the bodies of the outpost’s past occupants. The was even a body engrained into the wall. I looked over one of the bodies. She was a young woman with a slightly bloody green shirt and jean skirt. Her face was a creamy yellow. Crouching down towards the floor, I brushed her red hair away from here eyes. I lifted her sweater to see her bite mark, but instead I saw what looked like a stab wound. My eyes narrowed. I picked myself from the floor, not sure what to make of the stab wound. I also couldn’t believe to see Applebloome here, dead. I hope Applejack doesn’t see this. I walked around and examined the the rest of the bodies. None of them looked like they had been bitten. I hadn’t seen anything like this in any other part of Canterlot. I wasn’t sure what could have caused this. It didn’t look like the Xenomorphs had anything to do with this. Every body’s fatal wound or wounds were way too clean and too tame to belong to them. The thought that something other than the Xenomorphs and wolves were killing people were disturbing, but all too real, possibility. Thump. I could hear an odd sound in the distance. I wasn’t sure where to go next, but I knew that I couldn’t stay here. There was still a chance that these people could be infected. I went through another hallway towards the end of the room. Luckily, it also had a stairway that led to the subfloor that Applejack and Octavia were in. I ran up the stairs and slightly opened the first door I reached. I slowly looked in the room for any movement.

The sound of foot steps in the distance broke my concentration. I held still and made no sounds in hopes that I could get an idea of where the sound was coming from. The sound was fading and after awhile, it was completely gone. I gave a low sigh of relief and pushed on. I fully opened the door and stepped through it. It was too dark to tell what kind of room I was in, but I could see enough to get around. I walked around in hope of seeing a light switch near me. As I fumbled around the room, I noticed a lining of light in the shape of a door. ”Well at least there’s light,” I thought to myself. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for at this point. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to find it. Whatever attacked those people back in that other room wasn’t a demon I had seen before. It wasn’t another animal roaming around the streets. It was smart. Whatever it was, I had a strong feeling that it would find me way before I found it.

I walked up to the light-lined door and turned the doorknob. I didn’t make a sound as I walked in. There were desks overflowing with medical papers all around me as well as office rooms on the sides of the room. It looked like I was in some kind of secret office room.

A door on the side opened, and Applejack and Octavia walked through. “Sunset are ya alright?” Applejack asked. I nodded. “Did ya find anythin’?”

I walked forward to my friends. “Yeah,” I said hesitantly. “I found something pretty bad. Tell me what you found first.”

“We haven’t found anything so far.” Octavia said. “What about you? What did you find that’s so bad?”

“I found the people that lived here, but they’re all dead now.” I paused for a moment to think. “The weird part is that they don't look like they’d been attacked by a Xenomorph. It looked like they were stabbed to death and not by the Xenomorph’s bladed tails.”

”What do you mean?” Octavia asked. “You think there’s something else here?”

“I have no idea, but I don’t think we should stick around to find out.”

“So were just gonna leave that girl here ta die?” AJ asked. I had completely forgotten about the lady’s distress call and from the look on Octavia’s face, so did she.

“AJ’s right,” I said. “We can’t just leave her in danger. We need to look for her.”

Octavia didn’t look happy with that idea. “We shouldn’t risk losing our supplies looking for just one girl.”

“Look no further,” said a rather familiar voice from across the room. It was the exact same woman’s voice that called us to the hospital in the first place. She was wearing a yellow shirt and jean shorts under a white lab coat. She had long pink hair and had an apathetic expression on her face. “Thank you so much for coming. I was beginning to think no one would come.”

“Well we aim to please,” Octavia said. “Is there anyone else?”

“Just the four of us now.” Her emotionless expression never waned. There was clearly something wrong here. I also sensed that this woman looked very familiar, but I just didn’t know who she was. She didn’t seem hurt or shaken. Either she was away when the other inhabitants were killed, or she had somehow been involved with this.

“What’s going on here?” I asked. “Who are you?”

“What happened to everyone here?” Octavia asked.

“They’re all dead,” she said.

“We know that,” I said. “But what we want to know is what killed them?”

“Simple. I did.”

“What?! Why?!” I knew that she was suspicious, but I hadn’t considered that she actively and willingly killed all those people, including Applebloome, Lyra, and Bon-Bon. She didn’t seem like she had the strength to overpower all of them, much less embed one to a wall.

“I needed them for my experiments. I wanted to see if they could handle a crude version of the virus. I killed them to see if they would reanimate as the others did. Unfortunately I used up all of my test subjects. Not even the ones already infected want to come near me, but I don’t have to worry about a thing now that you’re all here.”

“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Applejack said under her breath. “How can she be so cruel?”

“I need new test subjects now,” she said. “And that’s why you’re all here.” She pointed towards us. She began to walk towards me. Bang! Octavia had taken aim and shot at her, but she somehow managed to escape the blast.

“Shoot her damn it,” Octavia commanded. Applejack and I both raised our guns and began blasting away in hopes of hitting her. Bang-Bang-Bang! She was faster than she seemed. She was able to dodge Applejack’s bullets with realative ease. I angled both of my berettas so that if she moved to one side to dodge a bullet she would be hit by the other. She ran up to Octavia, grabbed her by her shirt and flung her across the room. She then turned her attention back to me. I continued shooting her as she ran forward. Bang-Bang-Bang! I heard the sound of at least four bullets making contact with her body. Bang-Bang-Bang! I wasn’t going to stop shooting until she was dead and the closer she got the easier it was to shoot her. I think she realized it too, because she changed directions and sprinted towards Applejack.

“No!” I shouted out. Bang-Bang-Bang-Click-Click-Click. Both of my guns were now out of ammo. I quickly ejected the clips and reached for new ones to load in. I loaded my guns and raised them to continue fighting. I aimed forward but I was too late. She was now holding Applejack with a military knife to her throat.

“Put your guns down or she dies,” the familiar woman commanded.

“What do you think you’re planning on doing?” Octavia asked. She slowly limped back into my view.

“I told you,” she said with irritation finally breaking her emotionless face. “I want to experiment.”

“Where are you bitch?” I asked. “How the hell do you move so fast?”

She looked at me with anger in her eyes. “You hit me,” she said bitterly. “I’m gonna enjoy experimenting on you first.”

“Like hell you are. Your not going to get your hands on any of us.”

She paused for a moment and then smiled as if she had an idea. “I’ll make you a deal. Let’s make a trade.”

“She’s fucking insane,” I heard Octavia say. “One moment she wants to kill us all and now she wants to barter.” Octavia was right. She was jus out of her mind.

“What do you mean?” I asked her. “What do you want with me?”

“If you stay here, I’ll let the others go free. If not—“ she moved her knife from one side of Applejack’s neck to the other and smiled again, “then I’ll kill all of you and look for new test subjects.”

“What kind of experiments do you have in mind?” I asked. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Does it really matter?” she asked. I didn’t react. She smiled again. “Well, the chance is pretty high, but it’s absolute if you refuse my deal.”

I already knew what my answer was at this point. “Fine,” I said. “It’s a deal.” I didn’t even want to think about it. I didn’t want my friends to die if I could stop it.

“What?! No, you can’t do that Sunset,” Applejack said.

“Relax sweetheart,” said the mysteriously familiar woman. “She might live; she might even come out better for it.”

“Okay,” I said defeated. “Now let them go,” She threw Applejack to the floor in Octavia’s direction. Applejack got up and helped Octavia move across the room. “Don’t worry girls,” I said.

“Sunset this is stupid,” Applejack replied. “We can take her.”

“You didn’t see what she did to the people who were here before,” I replied. I could see the worry spread across AJ’s face, and I instantly regretted saying anything. “I’m sure I’ll be fine though.” We both knew I wouldn’t be fine, but denying the truth made it easier to accept.

“You better be sugarcube.” Applejack finally said.

“Good luck,” Octavia said awkwardly. She didn’t seem to know what to say. They walked out of the room through the same door I entered through. I heard the clanking of metal in the distance and then it was silent. I was now alone with the familiar lady. She didn’t look like a demon, but she played the part well.

“So, what are you gonna do with me?” I asked. She smiled again and walked towards me.

“Are you afraid?” she asked mockingly. “You’re most likely gonna die today. Doesn’t that scare you?”

“Let’s just get this over with,” I said irritably. She stepped even closer to me.

“Fine, you won’t last long anyway; there isn’t really any point in humoring you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. She pulled out a vial of red fluid out of her lab coat. She speared the vial into my upper body. The vial had small needles on the end broke through the skin of the center of my chest. I grunted in pain and backed away from her. I took a few steps back then tripped on something on the floor. It felt as if acid was shot into my body. I felt it run through my veins and spread beyond them. I cringed in agony. I wanted to claw out all of the substance from inside me. It spread like wildfire through my chest and into every part of my being. The pain was agonizing. It overpowered me and began forcing itself to corrupt my other senses. It was as if the entire world around me was fading away.

The lady walked closer to me. “How do you feel?” she asked. I couldn’t answer; it was as if I had forgotten how to talk. The pain wouldn’t let me form words. It took all the strength I had to focus on her words. The woman tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t hear anything. She looked amused. “Looks like your not gonna survive after all. Well at least I had something to entertain myself. Now let’s see if I can find out where that pony and cowgirl just left.” She walked out of the room and left me to die.

I walked around in the darkness for what seemed like years unable to find my way. I still hurt. I still felt the substance burning it’s way through my body like molten lava burning through my flesh. The room was still spinning and no matter how far I tried to focus, my drunken dizziness persisted. I wasn’t hungry or tired, I just hurt. I clawed at my chest in vain, still attempting to claw out the red and black liquid out. I heard a loud buzzing sound everywhere I went and saw blurry red figures all around me. I was in absolute pain. I was in total agony. ”Was this what it was like to be one of them?” I asked myself in the small moments of lucidity. ”Am I a Xenomorph now?” The thought alone filled me with dread, but it was always flushed away with every wave of agony. I must have been all alone for years. It had to ave been years. I started to walk again to try and find help, but I saw only the same red motionless figures. They wouldn’t move. They were bigger and stronger than I was. I fell back down to the floor whenever I tried to resist the urge their pull. I felt so hot. I knew it was almost time to die. I could feel it creeping around me. Iooked up to the ceiling. I could feel the fiery pain begin to leave my bod for an unknown reason. In fact, everything began to fade away. I closed my eyes in hopes that when I open the I would be in a better place. My exhaustion finally overwhelmed me. I let out a deep breath and then fell asleep and back into a world in which I felt no pain.

Just as I was about to transcend I suddenly felt the warmth and motherly nature of Princesses Celestia and Luna guiding me back to the world of the living. They didn’t say anything to me but I felt warm again and felt like everything was now returning to me.

I slowly opened my eyes again. I had forgotten where I was. I looked around as my memories slowly began to return to me along with my memories of my past struggles with myself, The Battle of the Bands, The Friendship Games, and Gloriosa’s reformation. That crazy lady who I had half and half doubts that the woman who infected me was Gloriosa Daisy with something, but somehow I was still alive. I pushed myself off the floor and began to stagger around trying to compose myself. I walked back to the first floor of the hospital. I walked to the main entrance of the hospital. I took a deep breath and walked forward. I still had my berettas with me, so I was pretty sure I could make it past the police blockade, find a car, and return back to Octavia, Applejack, and Twilight.

A buzzing sound broke my concentration. It was coming from the hospital’s front desk. I ran towards the noise and saw a fax machine spitting something out. I didn’t think it was important. I walked back to the entrance and mentally prepared myself to go outside. A sudden burst of thoughts came to mind. ”How did someone manage to send a fax through? Wasn’t there some kind of problem with sending information? And why would anyone send a fax to a dead outpost?” The other outposts must have known that the hospital was gone by now. I ran back to the fax machine nd pulled out the freshly printed paper.

You are not corrupred like the others. I can help you get through the Black Plaguelands. Go to the police station and I will send you another message. You can stop the X.X.X. Plague from spreading.

I didn’t know what to make of the message, or what it meant for me. It might just be that crazy woman trying to finish off what she started. I sighed. It didn’t really matter if it was her or not. I knew I was going regardless. I needed to make sure that my friends were still alive. I ran to the entrance again. I readied one of my guns and stepped back outside. I stepped into the nightmarish world I was slowly getting accustomed to.

The first thing I needed to do was find a fast and safe way back to the police station. I was pretty sure I could find a car or even a bike to help me get there quicker. A car would be better for safety, while a bike was ideal for traveling undetected. I looked around for a moment. The sky was still clear with the starts shining bright but then I saw the moon covering the sun and looking a sickly red color. I looked at the watch Octavia gave me. It was around one in the afternoon, but the sky was as dark as night. The street even looked almost exactly the same as when I had first arrived other than the unnatural nightly background, of course.

My thoughts returned to the fax I had just received. I still had no clue who sent the message, but I needed to know what they meant. The thought of me not being infected was comforting, but I had no idea what it meant for me. That crazy bitch might’ve infected me with something far worse. I continued looking around the street until I noticed something odd. There had been a barricade near the hospital separating the treble clef zone from the backward double quaver zone and another one separating both zones from the sparkle Xenomorph free route. The barricade separating the treble clef from the backward double quaver had been mysteriously destroyed. It looked as if a giant abominating monster truck had crashed into it and riddled the streets with its debris.

I pulled out the map I had taken from the police station and began to examine it. There were a few quick ways to get back to the police station. The first route was through another barricade and back into the long sparkle zone. The second route was through the broken barricade and into a backward double quaver zone. It wasn’t as slow as the sparkle route, but had a few more hazards. The third and final route went through a treble clef zone. It was the fastest route out of all of the routes, but also went through the zoo and had the most potential for danger.

The X.X.X. Plague, as the message called it, changed more than just humans. If my theory was correct, then there was a good chance that the zoo animals would be corrupted too, so it was easy to say that the treble clef zone was out of the question. The sparkle zone would take too long, so the only way left was the backward double quaver zone. I walked forward into the backward double quaver zone. As I walked, I tried to make the least amount of noise as possible so that I could hear anything coming around me. I walked about six blocks before I found a bicycle on the ground. I couldn’t help smiling at my stroke of luck. I examined it and fortunately for me, it was in great condition.

I took the bike and rode it as fast as I could. I saw a lot more Xenomorphs while traveling through the backward double quaver zone. They were clustered together in groups of thirty or less, that meaning twenty males and ten females. They didn’t seem to notice me, and I got away before they had a chance to. As I rode on, I noticed that there was an enormous area of clouds that had a reddish glow to them. It was ominously bright in contrast to the darker area I had just left. It didn’t look like the typical glow you would expect to see during a cloudy sunset. It looked more like the glow of an inferno. Whatever it was, it was too far away for me to think about it, and the sudden eclipse that actually looked eternal for the first time. There were way more important things to do anyway.

I was riding faster now. I was determined to arrive at the police station as fast as I could. I had a pretty good idea of the path I needed to take, so I was sure that I wouldn’t accidentally go into the treble clef zone or anything like that. It didn’t take long for me to reach the barricade connecting the two backward double quaver zones; it was also easier than I thought it would be. As I walked to the barricade, I noticed movement near the corner of the street. I quickly pulled out my berettas and aimed around looking for any sign of life. I waited carefully for a few seconds for anymore movement, but everything was still.

A faint noise of what sounded like flapping of wings occurred and a small gust of wind blew past my neck. A chill went down my spine. I heard a soft thud behind me with a soft grunt behind me as well. My eyes widened, and I was frozen in place. I had no idea what was behind me and had no way to retaliate. I was as good as dead. “Are you lost little one?” said a deep raspy voice from behind me.

I sighed in relief. “You scared me,” I said. I smiled at myself for being scared, as I turned around.

“Not many humans nor equines are brave enough to travel here alone.” I stood frozen in horror at the sight of the monstrosity that stood before me. Fear overwhelmed me. He was easily over twelve feet tall. His body was slightly skeletal but highly muscular. His skin was a sickly purple and his eyes were almost completely pitch black, with the exception of light purple pupils. He also had a pair of what looked like bat-like wings and a slitted bat nose. He had chains around his arms.

I turned around to run, but I knew it was pointless to do so. He threw the chain bound to his left hand towards me. It wrapped itself around my neck as if it could move by its own accord. He then flew and pulled me forward towards a street post and hooked his chain to it. He then pulled the chain until I was hanging above the street post. The cold chain was crushing my neck, I dropped my handguns in hopes of loosening the chain. I pulled as hard as I could, trying to breath in some fresh air. He actually looked like a living skeleton. He moved closer to me and began to sniff me. His eyes narrowed, and he release the chain. I fell to the ground, gasping for air as he approached me. I wasn’t sure what to expect now. He wasn’t just another Xenomorph; he was something a lot smarter and more dangerous.

“You have the look of a human and an equine, but I can sense something much stronger inside you,” he said. “Your appearance is still fair. That will change first.”

“Wh— What?” I said trying to catch my breath.

“You are a lot more than you once were,” he responded. “Just like them.” He pointed to a group of Xenomorphs that were roaming around the street.

”Oh no,” I thought. ”Is that what the woman injected with me with? Am I gonna to become a demon now too?”

I tried to relax so that I could process all of this information. After my mind was finally clear, I wondered what this demon was. “What are you?” I finally asked.

“I am a Plagasis,” he responded. His voice was as evil and harsh as before.

“So then you’re corrupted too?” I asked timidly.

“I’m not ’just’ corrupted,” he said with a little anger in his voice. “I am the X.X.X. Plague,” he said proudly. “And you—“ there was more rage and repulsion in his voice now, “you are nothing. You’re just a weak little parasite.” He stepped closer to me; I stepped back. “Now leave my home or I’ll tear you into pieces!”

I picked up my two handguns from the ground and then ran straight for the barricade. I tried to climb it as quickly as I could stumbling a little. When I reached the top, I turned back to see if the Plagasis was still there. He was gone.

I took a real moment to process what I just went through. The mysterious yet familiar woman had injected me with something, but most infected became Xenomorphs in a very short period of time. I was sure I was in the hospital with that fever for a long time. I should’ve looked like a Xenomorph by now shouldn’t I? People and ponies kept telling me that I wasn’t human anymore, but even now I still feel human.

My thoughts then shifted to the Plagasis. What the hell was he? What was the Plagasis before he was infected? He didn’t at all look like a pegasus because of the fact that he didn’t have any hooves at all. He looked like he had been human before his infection, but seemed to now despise humanity itself. He said that he “was the X.X.X. Plague.” What the hell did that mean? I didn’t know what to do. I shouldn’t see my friends if there was a chance I would turn into a demon and kill them all. Then again this isn’t the first time my friends saw me as a crazed she-demon. Then suddenly the memories of the fall formal started playing in my mind but I snapped myself back to reality. If I was I would put the whole police station in danger by going there but even then, I still needed to get the information from that person who faxed me. There weren’t many other things I could do, and I didn’t have the time to find any other choices. I would need to leave as soon as possible. I would go to the police station, get the information, and leave before anything bad happened. That way I could get what I needed, see how my friends were holding up, and keep them safe. It was the best plan that I could come up with. I knew it was the right choice.

I had to walk the rest of the way to the police station now. I forgot my bike when I went over the baricade and didn’t want to risk the Plagasis’s wrath if he was still around. ”No problem.” I thought to myself. I pulled out the map of the city and examined it again. I was close to the police station now. I just needed to cross a few more city blocks and another barricade and I would be in the sparkle zone near the police station. I put the map back in my pocket and walked forward. I stumbled upon a bunch of male Xenomorphs eating away at someone. I tried to walk past them, but there were even more males gathering around me. I pulled out my berettas and aimed for the xenos in my path. Bang! I shot away and almost instantly regretted doing so. The sound of the blast resonated and stole the attention of the group of busy Xenomorphs as well as a few pouncers nearby. I didn’t have enough bullets to defend myself for long, and if I tried, I would definitely be killed. My only chance for survival was to run.

I ran away as fast as I could to the sparkle zone. I narrowly avoided the Xenomorph pouncers’ grasping jumps and claws. Though I didn’t think much of it at the time, I noticed I was running longer and faster than ever before. I had easily sprinted through five city blocks without slowing down or even feeling tired. The Xenomorphs were fast but I was faster even if they broke into their quadrupedal sprint to be considered a threat now, but I kept running. I could easily get to safety with no problems if I kept running at this rate.

I had no idea why I could suddenly run so fast, but I had a feeling that the woman in the hospital knew something about it. ”I wonder what else I can do now?” I thought to myself. I ran towards a few parked cars and decided to see what else I could do. I jumped over the cars with ease. I started feeling tired and out of breath after a long while. I stopped near the final barricade to take a breath. From the corner of my eye, I saw Xenomorphs gathering nearby. I was still out of breath, but I could easily avoid them by getting through the barricade and into the sparkle zone. I didn’t think I had anything to worry about.

The sudden distant sound of howling sent an all too familiar sense of fear and dread through me. Gaining a new reason to get to safety, I jumped towards the barricade and climbed it as fast as I could. I had been lucky the last two times the wolves attacked, but this time I had nothing to stop them. I couldn’t out run them even with my new found speed. The sparkle zone’s barricade wouldn’t stop them either. I jumped down from the barricade and began running the moment my feet touched the ground. The barricade was about nineteen feet tall, but I didn’t feel any pain when I landed. The sparkle zone was completely deserted. It still looked like it had been untouched by the chaos on the other side of the barricade. It wasn’t going to stay that way for long however. I could hear the howling getting louder. I ran as fast as I could until I finally saw the safe iron cage the police station was surrounded by. I reached the gate, but it was locked. I turned back to the barricade in time to see three wolves jumping over it. I was panicking now. I jumped as high as I could, grabbed onto the iron bars of the gates, climbed the rest of the way, and jumped down to the police station courtyard. I sprinted to the door and knocked as hard as I could.

I turned back to the outside of the gate and watched as the wolves dashed forward. The police station’s door was opened slightly.

“Are you infected?” A voice asked bitterly.

“Let me in, there are wolves trying to kill me!” I shouted.

“Well that sounds like a personal problem,” said another voice.

“Oh to hell with this,” I said as I pushed the door open. I ran inside and locked the door as fast as I could. I stepped back and waited for the wolves to tear through the doors. Everyone inside the room backed away from me. One of the men raised his gun towards my face. I ignored them. I needed to stay focused. The howling started again, but this time, it was louder than it had before. I looked out one of the windows to see where the wolves had gone. They were waiting outside the gates. The bigger of the three wolves was the exact same one I saw it Applejack. It glared at me through the window. ”No fucking way,” I thought to myself. ”Does it recognize me?”

The largest wolf tensed its body as if preparing to dash forward. Bang! The loud sound of a gunshot echoed through the streets. The smaller wolves turned and prepared themselves to run. The larger wolf turned to see his companions run. He turned his head back towards my direction. He glared at me for a few more seconds then ran back over the barricade. I sighed loudly. “Are you infected?” asked the same irritated voice.

“No,” I replied. “Why do you think those things were chasing me? The corrupted don’t ever attack each other.”

“Well you could still be—“ she paused mid sentence. “Wait a minute. I know you. You’re one of the people that went with Octavia to deliver supplies.” Now that the wolves were gone, I finally had a chance to look at the people around me. The woman that was interrogating me was Vinyl.

“Are Octavia and Applejack here?” I asked.

“Octy’s here, but AJ stayed in one of the other outposts.” I sighed. Vinyl narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute. Last I heard you were about to be killed by some crazy bitch?”

“I’ll explain everything when I see Octavia.”

“Alright.” Vinyl and I went past the red door and into the room that Octavia, Applejack, and I had slept in before our trip to the hospital. She led me through the hallway and into the room where Applejack and I had gotten the gear for the trip. There on the desk furthest away from the door, was Octavia Melody.

Octavia had her head buried in her hands as we approached. She didn’t seem to notice us. “Tavi? You okay?” I asked.

Octavia looked up at me. “Sweet Celestia! You’re alive!” Octavia said enthusiastically. She ran up to me and hugged me. “But How did you get out? How are you alive?” Her face changed from glad to serious. “Are you corrupted?”

I turned back to Vinyl. “Can you give us a moment?” I asked.

Vinyl then turned to her wife. “It’s okay darling,” Octavia said. “You go make sure everyone else is alright.” Vinyl nodded and gave Octavia a peck on the lips. “Oh and do you know anything about that gunshot I just heard outside?”

“I think one of the girls was training,” she answered. “Nothing special.” I shook my head in disbelief. No one in the police station will ever know how close they just came to being completely wiped out by the wolves.

We waited for Vinyl to leave before continuing our conversation. “I’m not corrupted,” I said. “but I don’t feel completely human or pony anymore either.”

“What do you mean?”

“After you and Applejack left the hospital, that psychopath injected me with this bizarre liquid.”

“Injected you?” Octavia looked away for a moment. “Have you gotten faster or stronger? Can you heal quicker?”

I was taken aback by the questions. “Yeah, I—I got faster, but how did you know?”

“Just had a hunch,” she said. “Tell me about everything that happened since we last saw each other.”

“Alright, but I should warn you it might not be pleasant.” I then told Octavia everything that happened after I had left the hospital up until our conversation now. Octavia listened quietly. I finished and waited for Octavia to respond. She stood up and walked towards the front of the room.

“So all of that happened in the last ten days we were separated?” Octavia asked.

”Ten days?!” I thought to myself. ”Only ten whole days?” I couldn’t believe it. It felt like I was stuck in the hospital for years. It couldn’t have been ten days only.

“Sunset?”

“Ten days?” I asked slowly.

I looked back to Octavia. “Yeah, all that happened ten days ago. There’s some other stuff you should know too. New demons have been popping out of nowhere. It’s gotten so bad that the regular Xenomorphs aren’t even an important threat anymore. There were originally twenty six outposts, but now there are only three.”

“My god.” I whispered in disbelief. The sound of a fax machine printing something interrupted me before I had a chance to ask Octavia how the outposts fell. The fax machine was on the corner of the desk Octavia had been sitting on. I grabbed the two papers the fax machine printed out and began reading it.

I know that you must have a ton of questions for me, but I am afraid that I cannot answer them at this time. I am busy working on a suppressant for the X.X.X. Plague. The woman who infected you was a researcher working on the X.X.X. Plague. She unknowingly injected you with another experimental substance. I believe that the very same substance is the key for my project to work. I will give you the directions to my exact location. I fortunately have answers for a few questions you must have. Use the police station to stock up for your journey. I will be waiting here for you.

The second paper contained directions and a map to the location of the mysterious person’s hideout. I needed some provisions if I was going to go back into Canterlot again. “Tavi,” I said. “I need some supplies. I’m going back out there.”

What?—Why?”

“There’s someone out there that knows what’s happening to me. He said I can help him fight the X.X.X. Plague.”

“How can you do that?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I just can’t wait here to be rescued like everyone else.”

Octavia’s expression turned grim. “I’m not sure we’re going to be rescued.” I stared at Octavia for a seemingly endless moment. She met my gaze and continued. “We haven’t gotten a single word from the outside yet. I don’t know how, much less ’why,’ but somehow this entire city is being neglected.”

I’m sure that there’s a reason for that too. I think this person might have some answers.”

Octavia looked at me for a moment. “Okay, I’m in,” she said.

“No way. You’re not coming with me. Someone needs to stay here and keep the outpost from falling apart like the others.”

“They’re plenty of cops here to keep everyone safe now,” Octavia said. “And besides you don’t know what’s out there. I on the other hand do. I can help you get there safely.”

Octavia made a good argument. “Fine,” I said reluctantly. “Be out in twenty.” Octavia nodded and walked out of the room. I sat down on the nearest seat I could find and began thinking about what might happen if we went back out. Most of the scenarios I made up in my mind were pretty grim. After a few moments I gave up thinking about the future and put my head down on the table.

After a few moments of resting, I started to feel a bit hungry. I left the room to get some food from one of the vending machines near the front of the police station. I found the now broken vending machine and began eating some of the food inside.

Vinyl grabbed my attention after I finished. “Hey there Sunny,” she said. “Octy wanted me to tell you that she’s waiting outside with everything ready.”

“Thanks Vinyl.” I extended my hand to Vinyl. “I’ll be back soon.”

She grabbed my hand then shook it. “You better,” she said. “There’s still some stuff that you need to do for us ya know.”

I chuckled. “I’ll do what I can. Good luck here,” I said. Vinyl nodded.

“Oh hey Sunset,” Vinyl said.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Promise me to take good care of Octy. She means everything to me.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” I opened the door and walked back out into the courtyard. It looked almost the same as when I left with Octavia and Applejack on our delivery job. I passed by two manticore statues and continued walking to the streets.

Octavia was in a police car right outside the gate. She waved at me and I waved back. “You ready?” she asked.

“Yeah Let’s go.” I ran to the front passenger seat of the car and got in. Octavia wasn’t in her police uniform anymore; instead she was wearing a black tuxedo with white dress pants. “Where’s your uniform?

“I gave them back to Vinyl,” Octavia said. “Can I see the directions?” I handed Octavia the second fax paper. She studied it for a long moment. She sighed heavily, started the car, and drove us away from the police station.

“So you know how to get there?” I asked.

“So you guys decided to start ignoring me?” said a familiar voice from the backseat. I looked back and saw Twilight smiling. “Miss me?”

“Twilight!” I said enthusiastically. “What’re you doing here?”

“You need all the help you can get don’t you?”

“Xenomorph expert to the rescue,” I said mockingly.

“We’re not dealing with regular Xenomorphs anymore.” Octavia said grimly.

“Yeah, where’re we going anyway?” Twilight asked.

“If the directions that Sunset gave me are correct, then we’ll be heading into the middle of the Infernobraze.”

“The Infernobraze?” I asked. Twilight and Octavia both stayed quiet.

“What’s the Infernobraze?”

“It’s better if you see it for yourself Sunny,” Twilight said. We continued to drive in silence. I noticed that the sky was beginning to look slightly red. It was the same section of sky I’d passed on my back to the police station. The closer we got the brighter the red glow became.

I noticed large fires spread in certain areas of Canterlot. The fires were tall and seemed to constantly breathe into the sky. The buildings themselves looked much different than they ever were before. I”s this the Infernoland?” I thought to myself. There was another barricade seprerating the Infernoland from the sparkle zone. Octavia stopped the car right in front of the barricade. It must have been the entrance.

“What the hell,” I whispered.

“Let’s go,” Octavia said.

“What’s in there?” I asked.

“You’re about to find out for yourself,” Twilight said indefinitely. I had a feeling that neither of them wanted to talk about it anymore. We all got out of the car and walked to the barricade. Twilight was carrying a large bag that was probably filled with the supplies I requested.

We climbed to the top of the barricade. I looked back to the sparkle zone for a moment then I turned around. “Ladies and mares,” Octavia sighed heavily. “Welcome to the Infernobraze.”

The Infernobraze was much more horrifying than I had remembered. I had visited it a week ago with a small group to look for survivors. The place was barely an ember back then compared to the raging fire it was now. The fire was everywhere. It covered up the majority of the buildings and a large chunk of the street making it impossible to explore. There was only one real path we could travel through, and luckily for us, it was the path to our destination.

“Let’s get going,” Sunset said. “Lead the way Tavi.” We traveled for a few blocks until Sunset suddenly stopped us. “You girls hear that?” she asked.

Twilight and I stood silently as we tried to hear what Sunset had heard. I could only hear the crackling sound of the fires. We shrugged at each other. “We can’t hear a thing,” Twilight said. “What do you hear?”

“I can hear people talking. They might need our help.” Sunset began to run forward. Twilight and I followed close by. I prepared my gun and looked around to see if there were any potential dangers as we ran. Sunset may have been running careless forward, but lucky for her, I was around to keep her safe.

We ran through another block and into an alley where we saw two people talking. They turned to us. I immediately saw that they were corrupted. They were both women in their early twenties. They weren’t missing any skin but they did show some signs of corruption with the added physical features of tails. Their eyes were a glowing mix of red and orange. It looked like flowing dark magma. Their bodies were covered in orange veins from head to tail, with the same pair of wings I saw earlier, except they were also covered in the same veins as well.

Sunset pulled me behind her as she approached. “Let’s leave these ladies alone,” she said timidly. ”I don’t think they need anything.” Sunset, Twilight, and I turned and began to walking out of the alley.

“Stop!” shouted one of the women. We all turned slowly to face them. “Who the hell do you think you are coming here?”

“It was my mistake,” I said. “We’ll just be going now.”

“No you won’t,” she said. Both of the women’s hands burst into flames as they ran towards us.

“Run!” I commanded. We ran outside of the alley dodging fireballs all the while. I threw a quick glance behind me and barely avoided it. I could feel the heat passing above my head; it was intense.

After we exited the alley, we separated and took cover behind the debris around the street. Twilight had the bag with all the guns and ammo, while I only had a magnum with ten bullets and Sunset had only had her two berettas. The fireballs continued coming from the alley as the two women neared. I readied my magnum and signaled for Twilight and Sunset to do the same. We all aimed for the alley and waited nervously. I wasn’t even sure if our standard gunfire would do any real damage to them. After a moment of waiting, they finally ran out of the alley with their hands and arms now completely ablaze. One ran for Twilight and Sunset’s location while the other one ran to me. I hid behind the debris until I knew I could shoot her with ease. She jumped above the debris faster than I had anticipated and was able to shoot out a fireball towards my direction. I avoided the blast by rolling. She was now only a few feet away from me. I rolled to my side to avoid another blast. Now I had an opening. Bang. I shot her in the chest. She was blown a few feet away from me and didn’t move.

Bang-Bang! I heard the sound of two more gunshots near me. I turned to see Sunset and Twilight struggling with the other woman. She looked faster and stronger than the other one I just took down. She kept throwing fireballs as she ran to them. I ran to a burning car and took cover behind it. I was trying my best to avoid being seen by the blazing woman. I looked up and saw that she was too distracted trying to kill Sunset and Twilight to notice me. I walked quietly behind her with my magnum aimed at her back. The inferno lady was almost to the debris Sunset and Twilight were behind. “I hope you two are ready to burn,” she said demonically.

Bang! I shot her before she could react to me. She flew forward and landed on the ground a few feet away from Twilight. “Sorry madam,” I said. “but it looks like your candle’s burning dimly.”

“That was awesome!” Twilight hollered.

“That was pretty badass,” Sunset approved.

“Thanks,” I said, “but we should get out of here.” I lowered my voice. “The gunfire might have attracted some unwanted attention.”

“We’re following you girl,” Twilight said. We started walking away from the two inferno women. I was proud that I was able to kill both of the corrupted women, but something made me uneasy. ”Other than the fire wielding plagued community?” I thought to myself. I shook my head and continued on. It still felt like we were in danger.

The sound of coughing got all of our attentions. The inferno lady that I thought I had killed first was beginning to rise. She held her chest and continued coughing. I had a feeling that killing them like I had it too easy, but I had hoped I was wrong. Luckily she was disoriented, which gave us time to escape. We ran out of her sight. We stopped a block away from the woman where we felt the area was the safest. “Okay,” I said in a low voice. “We can’t fight them directly anymore. We need to sneak around them.”

Well there is that,” Twilight said as she pointed to a manhole leading into the sewer. “I doubt there are any of those things in there.”

“No,” Sunset said without hesitation.

“Fine then,” I said. “We’ll go into the city street by street, but let me be in front and lead the way by a few feet.” Sunset and Twilight both nodded and followed me from a distance. I dashed through the streets, paying as much attention to the environment as possible. We saw and felt more flames than before. The heat around us became more intense the further into the Infernoland we traveled. I put up my fedora to shield my muzzle from the raw heat.

I stopped at the corner of a street to view the surroundings. I saw one corrupted fire maker standing about thirty feet away from me. He was a man in his late-fifties. I figured that this was a perfect opportunity to test out my stealth skills. I walked towards him, until he was within arm’s reach. I took a quick breath then exhaled. I suddenly sprang forward, grabbed the man’s elongated head and covered his mouth. I pulled his head back so that I could see his eyes and make sure he was corrupted and not a free-will Xenomorph. I saw the dark magma colored eyes, glowing orange veins, and bat wings I expected to see. I took another deep breath as the man now struggled to free himself. I snapped his neck in one swift motion. Everything happened in a matter of mere seconds; the man didn’t even have the time to react. I dropped his limp body to the ground. Sunset and Twilight ran towards me. “I have a feeling he isn’t going to be getting up anytime soon.” I said.

Twilight was smiling at me, but Sunset looked uneasy. “Who taught you to do that?” Sunset asked.

“It was instinct I guess,” I said. Sunset nodded, but I could tell by her expression that she wasn’t satisfied with my answer.

“Just keep doing that and we’ll make it through here in no time,” Twilight said with admidiration. We continued going through the streets until we were about one block away from our destination. Unfortunately the block had many pyrokinetic Infernoland Xenomorphs around it.

“That’s the building,” I said. “Now what?” Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang! We all looked towards another buildings and saw a bunch of survivors fighting against the Infernoland Xenomorphs.

“Where the fuck did they come from?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “but this looks like a good time to get going.” We all crouched down and sprinted to the alley in the middle of the building.

“Shouldn’t we help them?” Sunset asked.

“They seem well armed,” I replied. “I think they can handle themselves.” I doubted my words as I said them, but finding Sunset’s contact was more important at the moment.

“What if they’re all killed? We might be able to stop it.”

“Or we could all die with them.”

“Still, it doesn’t seem right.”

“They knew the risks when they decided to invade this place.” Even as I said those words, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself why any survivors would have decided to invade the Infernoland, and how these survivors were so well armed.

“Tavi’s right,” Twilight interjected. Twilight’s words snapped me out of my trance. “We have a job to do.” Sunset looked between Twilight and me then finally nodded in agreement.

“Fine,” Sunset said reluctantly.

Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang! The sound of bullets continued to drum around us. The sudden attack seemed so perfectly timed. I figured that there would be a lot of dead after the smoke settled in this fire fight, but I knew this would be the perfect distraction to travel to Sunset’s contact, especially if it was who I thought it was. Sunset reached the alley first. She turned towards the street with her guns in hands to cover us. Twilight reached the alley after Sunset did. A fireball flew between me and the alley. I jumped behind a burning car for cover and readied my magnum. Two Infernoland Xenomorphs were walking towards me. Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang! Sunset tried to stop the two Infernoland Xenomorphs from reaching me. She sent a volley of gunfire to cover me. They were taken by surprise and forced to take cover. Sunset had provided a long enough distraction for me to jump behind the alley. Sunset continued shooting as she maneuvered her way back to us, I caught a glimpse of the fight that just broke out. The survivors were pushing the Infernoland Xenomorphs as far back as they could, but the survivors were taking heavy casualties. I watched as the Infernoland Xenomorphs blasted survivors with barrages of fireballs as they began their counterattack.

One survivor over-extended himself and placed himself in between a Infernoland Xenomorph and a car. I turned away as it shot out a fireball towards the survivor. I heard a loud painful scream as I walked further into the alley. I felt a sliver of guilt passed through me, but I ignored it. I knew that every cell in Sunset’s body screamed for us to go back and help even if the odds for the survivors were against them, but she knew that finding her contact was important too, and I was sure that we could benefit from what her contact knew more than helping the survivors.

We jogged through the alley until we reached the end. There was a gated door leading into a small courtyard. “There,” I said as I pointed to the gate. Luckily for us, this building wasn’t on fire. Twilight opened the gate and walked in. Sunset and I followed silently behind. The courtyard had a cement path leading to a lone door. Sunset knocked on it. We waited a short while before the door finally opened.

“You must be Sunset Shimmer,” said the man from behind the door. He stepped aside so that Sunset, Twilight, and I could walk in. We followed him through many rooms and stairways until we reached a steel door. “I know you all have travelled a great distance to be here, and I’m sure I can make it worth all the trouble with the information I have for you.”

It was him. The man in front of us was a tall man with a slender build. He had white hair that complemented his tan skin. He was a researcher I had met not too long ago before all of this started.

“Is what we need to know behind that door?” Twilight asked pointing to the steel door.

“Some information is, but the rest I can tell you myself.” He opened the door and motioned for us to go in. We all walked in silence. We went into a room that was almost completely empty with the exception of one chair near the entrance. He closed the door and sat down in the chair. “Okay, now where do we start?”

“What’s your name?” Sunset asked.

“My name is Discord Hammond, but you can just call me Discord.”

“What is the X.X.X. Plague?” Twilight asked.

“Well, the X.X.X. Plague was originally a form of energy with never before seen properties. It could force an abnormal evolution on anyone who came into contact with it. It doesn’t usually pass from body to body by physical contact, but one of the scientists who was working on the energy figured out a quicker way to cause the abnormal evolution to spread. She put it into a virus and forced the corrupted host body to produce more plagued energy.”

“She?—“ Sunset interrupted.

“The woman that injected you with another experimental serum, she was the devolper of the X.X.X. Plague variation spreading outside these walls.” Sunset’s eyes widened.

“And What’s your part in all of this?” I asked cynically. “How do you seem to know so much about what’s happening?” I already knew the answer, but it was better to keep up appearances. I didn’t trust Sunset or Twilight enough to let them know too much about me.

“I know because I worked on the X.X.X. Plague before she did,” Discord said. “But I didn’t know what it was truly capable of. My job was to research the energy and it’s effects on living organisms.”

“And now she’d used it as a bio-weapon?” Sunset asked.

“Yes and no.” Discord said contemplatively. “Dr. Gloriosa Daisy didn’t care about the virus’s application; she just wanted to understand it and the energy.”

I sighed heavily. While the information was important to Twilight and Sunset, it wasn’t very beneficial for me. Most of the information he had wasn’t new to me. “So what did she inject Sunset with?” I asked. This was a question I actually didn’t have an answer to.

“It was a different type of energy, one that never worked before.”

“And you can use it to cure everyone?” Sunset asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. I have been doing tests on some of the corrupted and it seems that after a certain period of time they’re officially incurable.”

I stepped out of the room as the three argued about why Sunset, Twilight, and I were there if Discord couldn’t make a cure. I took a small walk out of the room and waited for the others to relax. I returned only when I felt that everything’s was calmer. “Okay So what is the origin of the other substance?” I asked impatiently. Another real question.

“I don’t know, Dr. Gloriosa did most of the experiments on it. She knows everything about the serum and the X.X.X. Plague. I only know the basics.”

“Here’s another question.” Twilight said. “Why are the corrupted outside throwing fireballs?”

“The X.X.X. Plague affects people differently. Some people just die, some people have their bodies turned into piles of black goo, others reanimate, and the strongest and best become Chimeras.” My eyes narrowed. I hadn’t heard too much of the Chimeras before. Maybe he would know what the Infernoland Chimera was like.

“Chimeras?” Twilight asked.

“Chimeras are pack leaders that set up territories and pass on special abilities they have to the people they infect.”

So the Chimera that set up shop here can use fire?” Sunset asked.

“Yes, and so can their offsprings.”

“What else should we know about the one here, or any other ones for that matter?” I asked hoping for a little more clarity.

“Nothing that can help you at the moment,” Discord replied.

“How do we escape the town?” Twilight asked. “Can you contact anyone outside?”

“No. Dr. Gloriosa used her connections to make it impossible.”

“Is there a way to escape?” Twilight asked.

“Give me some time and I’m sure I’ll find something.”

“So what do we do in the mean time?” Sunset asked.

“I guess we should find this Gloriosa girl,” I said. “I’m pretty sure she can give us more information. Maybe we can take on a few Chimeras along the way.”

“Where would we even find her?”

“She’s most likely in one of her laboratories,” Discord said, “but your too weak to fight her. It’d be suicide.”

“Let’s bait her,” I suggested, “get her to fight on our terms. If Sunset is an experiment to her she’ll want to see the results, right?”

“That is something she’d do,” Discord said pensively, “but you can’t count on it.”

“Okay then,” I said. “We’ll comeback when something important happens or when you have more useful answers, whichever comes first.” I began walking to the door, annoyed by the lack of information.

“How has no one outside Canterlot notice this?” Sunset asked ignoring me. “I don’t understand how anyone could miss something like this.” I stopped and listened for the answer. This was actually something I had wondered myself.

“Gloriosa is a crafty one,” Discord replied. “I know that she’s responsible for the lack of communication, but I don’t know how.”

“Well no sense in staying here and waiting for help,” I said. “Let’s go find that inferno Chimera and get Gloriosa’s attention.” Twilight and Sunset nodded towards Discord and finally agreed to leave. We went back into the alley as fast as we could. Sunset stopped us when we were about halfway through the street.

“Tavi, why do you want to fight Chimeras?” Sunset asked.

“More benefits come from killing them than letting them live. Maybe if you kill the Chimera, their subordinates will fall or maybe it will draw Gloriosa’s attention. Either way it’s better than doing nothing.” Sunset and Twilight exchanged glances then shrugged at each other.

“Eh, worth a shot,” Sunset shrugged. My reasoning wasn’t very good, and I had no proof that my plan would work, but they bought it none the less. They probably agreed just to fell useful.

We walked back to the end of the alley and stopped before going back into the street. The sound of the survivors and the Infernoland Xenomorphs was further away now. We walked back into the open street only to find bodies scattered everywhere. I couldn’t tell which of the casualties were human and which were corrupted. There were bodies riddled with bullets and others just burning away. I saw movement in the corner of my eye. It was a kid who looked about ten lying on the floor. She was a little shorter than me and very skinny. She held out her hand for help. Sunset rushed to her side and Twilight and I followed suit.

“Help me,” the girl said weakly.

I blocked Sunset from advancing. Twilight turned to Sunset and said, “She might be corrupted.”

“H-help me please,” she pleaded weaker than before.

“We should find that Chimera,” Twilight said rationally. Even as dutiful as I was, Twilight’s indifference to the girl’s pleas for help disturbed me. I was being cautious: she was being indifferent. However, it was wise to deal with the Chimera as soon as possible so that it’s power wouldn’t grow out of hand. If the thing that Sunset was exposed to was what I thought it was, then fighting against a Chimera and it’s subbos would help strengthen her.

Sunset scowled at Twilight then moved past me. “Hey,” Sunset said as she lifted the girl’s head forward and supported it with her arm. “Don’t worry everything’s going to be fine.” The girl opened her eyes revealing their dark magma color and moved her arm forward. Her hand burst into flames and before I was able to react, she shot out a weak fireball at my right arm.

Sunset dropped the girl back into the ground and stepped a few feet away. The girl still looked very weak, but made an effort to speak. “H-her will s-spread with ev-every-“ she couldn’t finish, but she still smiled. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she became still. The fire and veins on her arms slowly began to fade away until it was finally gone.

We stood silently for a moment completely stunned until Twilight finally broke the silence. She glared back at Sunset and walked towards me. “Are you alright Octavia?” She asked.

“I’m fine.” I said while examining my burn mark. My arm didn’t look too badly burnt and it didn’t hurt too badly either. It more than anything tingled a little.” I walked over to the girl and ripped off a piece of her shirt. I used the torn shirt to cover my burn and walked away from the girl’s body. “Let’s get going.” I followed the sound of fighting hoping to see the Chimera near. I led Sunset and Twilight up a fire escape on a building near the sounds of fighting. We could get a bird’s eye view of the Infernoland from up there and hop see where the Chimera was.

Sunset chuckled. “We’re going up a fire escape in the middle of a fire like this? My god that’s twisted.”

“It isn’t natural fire,” I said, “or even a natural situation, but it is a little funny if you ignore the almost dying thing.” When we reached the top, I followed the sound of the fighting to the edge of the roof. We saw a large amount of the survivors still pushing back the Infernoland Xenomorphs further into the Infernoland.

“What do you think they’re up to?” Sunset asked. I couldn’t answer. I knew almost nothing about this group.

“They’re a faction of survivors, independent of the outposts Vinyl and the other police set up,” Twilight spat out. “They are led by a crazy fanatic completely obsessed with killing the corrupted instead of defending her followers.”

“I guess not everyone is into the smart strategic way to survive,” I said codly. “Well at least they’re a good distraction.” We watched as the survivors continued to press forward. They outnumbered the Infernoland Xenomorphs seven to one. Some survivors carried riot shields to help protect them from the ongoing fire barrage. “Well, at least they’re not completely reckless,” I commented.

The Infernoland Xenomorphs had been pushed back to the middle of the street. They were still shooting fireballs, but they were mainly just trying to hold their ground for a few moments before retreating back for cover. The number of Infernoland Xenomorphs was dwindling quickly. Some of them retreated while others stayed and fought. Something didn’t seem right about the way they fought to me. It almost looked like they were landing them away from something, or maybe even into something else. The survivors continued to push. Just before they could finish off the rest of the Infernoland Xenomorphs, some of the fire on the street began to flare up high. Small fires that were about the size of bushes now reached about fifty feet in the air. The rest of the Infernoland Xenomorphs that had fought now ran away as another small group of five Infernoland Xenomorphs walked onto the battlefield.

Twilight crouched down out of sight and signaled for us to do the same. Sunset and I crouched down with her. I looked at Twilight in confusion. She pointed into the street which was still in my view. The new Infernoland Xenomorphs that arrived seemed different than the others. One of them completely burst into the flames and charged forward. The survivors opened fire on him, but he was rlly fast of a target to hit. He was faster than any of the others Infernoland Xenomorphs and seemed almost impervious to the few survivors’ gunfire that did manage to hit him. He flew through the battlefield indifferent to both enemy and friendly fire, bashing through the survivors in his wake. The five new Infernoland Xenomorphs must have been the elite of the Infernoland.

Another of the elite shot out continuous streams of fire over the survivors. The riot shields didn’t seem to be as useful against them as they were against the normal fireballs. What was left of the survivors scattered and began to retreat. Unfortunately one of the elite made his way to the other side of the street and manipulated the fire around the buildings and streets into a wall caging the survivors. I looked away from the action below to gather my thoughts. I now understood why Twilight wanted to hide. The elite troops of the Infernoland were fierce. We wouldn’t stand a chance if they saw us. I was unnerved by how strong they all were, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the Chimera would be compared to them.

I looked back to the street and saw the last of the elite standing completely still far away from the action. He seemed to be observing the fight instead of contributing. It looked like he was scanning the place to make sure none of the survivors could escape. With that though, I ducked back down and signaled the others to do the same.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“You mean other than the people being burned alive down there?” Sunset responded.

“One of the leader inferno ones is actively looking around the streets,” I said. “We have to be extra careful or he’ll see us.”

“Do you think they’re Chimeras?” Twilight asked.

“No there’s only one Chimera,” Sunset replied, “Discord told us that. And I don’t think any of the ones down there are it. The question now is: what are they?”

“My guess is they’re Betas,” I said. “Maybe they were infected by the Chimera himself and got the strongest dose of the X.X.X. Plague.”

“If that’s true,” Twilight pondered. “Then maybe they’ll lead us to the Chimera—“

“Where we can die a brutal death because we went in without a plan?” Sunset said cynically.

“We have guns.” I said. “We’ll just make it up as we go along.”

“We were barely able to kill some of the weaker ones,” Sunset continued. “How do you think we can kill the strongest one?”

“Octavia can assassinate him like the other one,” Twilight said. Sunset and I exchanged skeptical expressions. “Or we can wait until the Chimera takes over the city and kills everybody, your choice.”

Sunset covered her face with her hands and sighed. “It’s suicide, but Twilight has a good point,” I argued. “We can’t let this spread.”

“So— what?” We just follow the Betas and hope they don’t kill us?” Sunset said sarcastically.

“I’m the Xenomorph expert remember?” Twilight said. “I’ve been preparing for this nearly my entire life—“

“That’s actually kind of sad.” I interrupted. Twilight turned and glared at me. She didn’t stop until I broke eye contact. Sunset smiled slightly.

“Anyway,” Twilight emphasized. “You both should listen to me.”

“Okay, so we follow the Betas, sneak into the Chimera’s nest, and assassinate it?” Sunset asked.

“Well that’s the basics I guess,” I said plainly. I was sure I could come up with something better to see the Chimera and it’s powers.

“This is just plain stupid,” Sunset said halfheartedly.

“You can’t let me go alone,” Twilight said to Sunset. “AJ would be pissed. Demons we can deal with, but Applejack…”

“I hear that,” Sunset argued.

“Tell me about it,” I said already knowing enough about Applejack to fear her. “Let’s go.” Sunset slowly rose from the floor and looked back at the streets.

“It’s okay,” Sunset said. “They’re falling back.” I rose up to see the Betas finish off the remaining rouge survivors. The Betas and the rest of the Infernoland Xenomorphs started marching back further into the Infernolands. As I watched them head for their Chimera, I thought about what possible routes we could take to follow them.

“I’ll take point again,” I said. I didn’t see any way to travel from rooftop to rooftop and wouldn’t risk the unknown dangers that the sewers held, so I decided that continuing to go through the street would be the best plan. I had a feeling that we would be safe as long as I was ahead of Sunset and Twilight and if I used all my stealth skills.

I began climbing down another fire escape on the other side of the building. I made sure not to make too much noise while at the same time getting down as fast as I could. Unfortunately the last ladder wouldn’t properly come down. I was about ten feet from the ground. I figured the fall might hurt a little, but I let go anyway. Thump. I landed on my feet with almost no pain. Twilight was hesitant of the small jump, but Sunset jumped and landed gracefully without a second thought. Twilight jumped after Sunset and also landed on her feet. She didn’t seem to be in any pain either. None of us did.

The three of us walked through one of the streets parallel to the street that the horde of Infernoland Xenomorphs were going through. It looked completely empty, but I was t going to let my guard down even for a moment in this place. I proceeded cautiously. We hid behind every piece of debris we could so that we couldn’t be seen. I made sure to check every one of the alleys as we proceeded on. After a few more steps further in the street, I acknowledged that it was empty.

Sunset and Twilight began to walk calmly forward after me. They waitied and watched me check the path before they proceeded. I knew that checking to see if the streets were clear was very important, but I felt ridiculous having to run around and hide behind objects while Sunset and Twilight just waited and calmly walked forward when the street was clear.

We stopped at every four way intersection and looked towards the road the Infernoland Xenomorph horde was traveling through. We always waited for the last Infernoland Xenomorph to pass before we continued to the next street. They traveled relatively quickly and didn’t seem to linger or explore around the other streets. I was sure that following the Infernoland Xenomorphs would lead us to the Chimera, but I wasn’t sure how to proceed after that. Our best bet was to attack the Chimera when it was alone, but it would take some time before that would happen. Fighting the Chimera alone might prove to be too difficult in and of itself. We would have to hide and wait for its army to scatter.

As I walked to another intersection, two Infernoland Xenomorphs emerged from the corner of the street perpendicular to the one the horde traveled in. One of them didn’t have dark magma colored eyes like the others. I turned around quickly to see what Sunset a s Twilight were doing, but they weren’t there. I was completely alone with two of the Infernoland Xenomorphs. “Hey!” The Infernoland Xenomorph with dark magma colored eyes yelled out. “Who are you?” His hand erupted into flames.

“Hey, Let’s all just calm down,” I said casually. “I don’t want any trouble.”

The other Infernoland Xenomorph laughed. “We’re just messing with ya,” he said. “We’re not gonna hurt ya.” He looked back to his brutish friend. “Well at least I’m not.”

“Okay,” I said confused. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but why aren’t you attacking me?”

“We don’t attack our own,” the calmer Infernoland Xenomorph replied.

“What?!?!” I said confused. “I’m not an Infernoland Xenomorph?”

“We prefer the term Pyronock, and yes, you are,” he responded calmly.

“I’m not one of you,” I said defensively.

“Relax,” said the calm Infernoland Xenomorph or Pyronock as he liked to be called. “It’s not so bad being a Pyronock. It feels great especially after your first fire fight.” I stayed quiet as he continued. “Don’t worry I’ll show you the ropes. The name’s Jaden by the way, and this is Zane.” He pointed to the brutish Pyronock.

“Are you sure she’s not infected?” Zane asked. “Look at her eyes. They’re not like ours.”

“You mean like yours,” Jaden corrected. I looked at his eyes. They were a light teal color.

“Why aren’t your eyes like theirs?” I asked.

“Some Pyronocks are different colors than others,” he answered. “I, for instance, still have self-control.” I sighed. The thought of still being in control calmed me.

“How in Tartarus do you have self-control while others don’t?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but Pyronocks they have those weird colored eyes aren’t in complete control of themselves. The infection got into their brains and now they’re just mere slaves to our leader.”

“But you aren’t?” I asked. “Why don’t you just leave?”

“Because we’d just hunt him down.” Zane said bitterly.

Jaden laughed at him again. “These damn lemmings know how to make me laugh, but no, that’s not why I don’t run. I like the fire. It makes me feel safe. Besides, I don’t think I’d be safe out there. I mean there’s the normal infected to look out for, the super infected, the other territories, these guys hunting me, and to top it all off the humans and ponies.”

“So you don’t have another option?” I asked.

“No, not really.” I could hear a little sadness in his voice.

“Wait, so I have self-control too?”

“Depends,” he asnwered. “How long have you been infected?”

“I don’t remember ever being infected.”

“Okay,” Jaden said. “Let me try that again. When were you burned?”

“Oh,” I said annoyed. I understood now how the Pyronocks infected their victims. “So you spread your Plague through the use of fire?” Jaden nodded. “I was hit about an hour ago.”

“It’s too soon to tell, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. So let’s go see what our leader wants.”

“I need to walk around a little to gather my thoughts,” I said to avoid the Pyronocks. “Where will your leader be?”

“We’re rallying in a park near some high school. The elite Pyronocks are going to speak to us in place of our leader at the park. They’re going to give us a bunch of orders and send us back around town.”

“So are there a lot of Pyronocks in the sewers?”

“No one ever goes into the sewers,” Jaden said. “I don’t know what’s down there, but I know it’s not for us.”

“How long do you think the rally is going to last?” I asked.

“Not long, maybe an hour or two.”

“So where is our leader in all of this?”

“She’s in the high school next to the rally point.”

“Does she have any Pyronocks around there?”

Jaden laughed. “No one’s crazy enough to go into her domain, except maybe her brother. She has quite a temper.” Jaden laughed again.

“Can we go now?” Zane asked in that same bitter tone.

“Fine,” Jaden said annoyed, “but you need to learn how to smile once in a while.” He turned to me. “Anyway, I’ll see you later…that is if you don’t become a Xenomorph like this guy. He pointed to Zane. He laughed once again and retracted his wings and flew away.

I waited patiently for the two to leave before I began searching for Sunset and Twilight. “Sunset,” I whispered loudly. “Twilight,” I waited for a response, but heard nothing. “Where are you girls?”

“Relax,” Twilight said from behind a burning car. “We didn’t leave you.”

“Did you girls hear what I said?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “But don't worry we’re not gonna kill you or anything. You may be corrupted, but your still you.”

“Thanks,” I said half-heartedly.

“No problem,” Twilight said with a smile.

Something was off with her smile. I couldn’t help but wonder why Twilight would be willing to spare my life in case I was infected. She seemed like the type that would get rid of me the moment I became a liability. Then I understood.

“Now we’re even,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

“Nothing, just a bad joke.” I reassured Sunset. I glanced at Twilight as Sunset looked around so that she wouldn’t see. Twilight looked uneasy. “Well what’s your guys’ take on this? What’s the plan now?”

“Well the sewers don’t have any of the Pyronocks.” Twilight interjected.

“Yeah but who knows what’s down there,” Sunset said. “We should keep going the same way until we’re close to that high school that thing was talking about. After that, we’ll just hide in a building until the Pyronocks scatter. We should only take the sewers when there isn’t any other choice. Are you two good with that plan?” Twilight and I nodded. “Good, lead the way Tavi.”

I started walking forward casually now. I didn’t see any reason to continue sneaking around anymore. I was one of the Pyronocks now. They would let me sneak around all as long as I didn’t grab their attention. Killing th Chimera didn’t seem as impossible now that we had a plan. The path through the Infernoland was now clear. The Pyronocks wouldn’t hurt me unless they were provoked. The only thing that really worried me was the actual Chimera. Jaden made it sound as if the Chimera was dangerous to everypony including her own people. I turned to see what Sunset and Twilight were doing. They were hiding and sneaking around like I was doing earlier. I smiled. It felt nice knowing that I didn’t have to skulk around like an idiot anymore. I walked in silence for another block before the fear of becoming a Pyronock began to sink in again.

I didn’t want to become a monster. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing my identity. The only thing I could really do about it was wait and pray to Celestia that I would at least keep control when my transformation was complete. I knew worrying about it wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t stop myself. There was nothing I could do to stop the infection. The only bright side about the transformation was the power I would gain. I knew that it was only a minor control over fire, but it was at least another small taste of what the land had to offer.I decided that it would be best to get my mind off of what the XXX Plague was doing to me and instead focus on the road in front of us. We stopped at another intersection and waited for the Infernoland Xenomorph horde to pass before we continued. Sunset and Twilight rushed towards me to look at the intersection. We watched on as the crowd gathered closer to the Chimera. We were so distracted by the crowd that we didn’t notice a lone Pyronock that was flying towards us. “Hey you!” he called out. “What the Tartarus do you think you’re doing here?” he asked angrily.

“We were just leaving,” Sunset said.

“Oh and what makes you think I would let you leave?” he asked with a little amusement in his voice. “What are you doing so deep in the Infernoland anyway?”

“We’re here to kill your Chimera,” Twilight said annoyed. Sunset and I looked at each other in disbelief.

“No parasite,” he said still amused. “You’re not killing anypony. This is our home and now you will suffer for defiling it with your presence.” He then landed, retracted his wings, walked towards us and forced his hand to burst into flames. He looked much stronger than the normal Pyronocks. He marched confidently towards us with a sadistic smile on his face.

I recognized him for a moment. That was it. He was the Beta that stood behind the other Betas and examined the battle. He didn’t look like somepony who I would have been scared of, but I didn’t know anything about his abilities. He only wore black pants that looked severely burned. He looked slightly skinny and slightly pale as well. His eyes were a dark shade purple instead of the magma color other Pyronocks had. If it weren’t for his blazing hands, a normal person wouldn’t be able to tell that he was corrupted. Sunset, Twilight, and I scattered as he approached. He forced the fire on his arms to form a circle around him. He thrust his arms forward and the circle quickly expanded and burned everything it touched. Sunset ducked out of the way while Twilight and I just ran away from the fire. The fire dispersed itself after about eight yards. He looked amused. Again. “This might actually be fun,” he said arrogantly.

I looked at Twilight who was digging through her bag for something. She pulled out another magnum. Sunset and I ran towards her. “Twilight we can’t use guns here. The other Pyronocks will hear us.” I said.

“Our best bet is to lead him as far away from the other Pyronocks as possible,” Sunset said. Twilight and I nodded and broke out sprinting away from the Beta.

Sunset followed us after she retrieved the bag Twilight had put down. We ran as far away as we could from the Beta.

The Beta simply laughed. “You can’t run away from me,” he said. Small bush-sized Fire now licked the sky fifty feet above the ground. The growing flames spread as one by one the fires further away from him began to touch the sky as well. I remembered this happening to the rogue survivors that the Pyronocks massacred earlier. The Beta was planning on making a wall of not fire, but of magma that we wouldn’t be able to pass. Large fires seeme to start erupting close to us now. It was as if we were running from an invisible monster that was quickly gaining ground.

“You think we’re far enough?” I asked.

“I hope,” Sunset replied, “because now we have to use our guns regardless of the risk.” The Beta was quickly advancing towards our position. He was already half a block away when I turned back to look. His hands were completely ablaze now and it seemed like he was ready for the fight. Thankfully, so were we.

Sunset reloaded her dual berettas while Twilight pulled out a shotgun from the bag. After she had her shotgun, Twilight gave me her supply bag. I grabbed a handgun and knife from it then put the bag on the ground near a manhole cover. I sighed. We were as prepared as we could be at this point. I wasn’t sure if it was enough, but we had no other choice but to fight to the very end. It would either be his end or ours.

It didn’t take long for the Beta to reach our position. I could see that same arrogant and sadistic smile on his face when he reached us. “Did you honestly think you could escape me?” he said mockingly.

“No,” Twilight said spitefully. “We were just making distance from that army of yours and you.”

“Oh I don’t need them to kill the You three,” he said still amused. “I am or leader’s second-in-command. I am the best of the Pyronocks. Hell, I’m even almost as strong as my sister: our leader.”

“Oh,” I said casually, “so you’re just her subordinate?” His eyes narrowed to mere pin-pricks at my comment. “So that’s all you are, second rate.”

“The Chimera’s incest wife.” Sunset interjected.

“The Chimera’s little bitch.” Twilight said with a smile on her face.

“Quiet you repulsive parasites!” The Beta exclaimed. “How dare you belittle me! I have the powers that you could never begin to understand! I am a god here! he said while turning to the sky. “And now…” he turned back to us “now you shall feel the wrath of a god!”

The fire on the Beta’s hands began moving up to his chest. The fire spewed from it in the form of dense magma balls that began circling around him. He stretched out his hand towards our direction and propelled the dense magma balls towards us. I jumped to the sides and sprinted away from the fiery magma. Crash! I was able to dodge the incoming magma balls as they came. Crash! I kept hearing something that sounded like a battering ram/wrecking ball crashing into a wall. I looked back to the wall where each of the Beta’s magma balls hit. The wall was now riddled with giant lava melting holes.

“Watch out girls!” I called out. “His fire’s different.” Sunset and Twilight towards the wall then back to the Beta. The Beta launched magma balls towards pieces of debris it touched. The debris moved in the direction the Beta moved his hands. When the Beta moved his hands up, the debris did the same. It was very similar to telekinesis, but it looked way deadlier. He launched them towards Sunset and Twilight. They were able to dodge the projectiles with notable effort.

I sprinted to the side of the Beta when he was distracted placing me in firing range. I aimed my magnum towards his chest. Bang-Bang-Bang! he flinched in pain, but he didn’t look like he was in too much pain. He shot six more dense magma balls towards me. I dodged five of the six shot, but the final magma ball scratched my side causing me to crash to the floor. The fire was just as dense and painful as I thought it would be.

“Hey ugly ass-clown!” Twilight yelled out. Bang-Bang-Bang! She and Sunset bombarded the Beta with enough gunfire to cause him to stumble back and trip. Twilight rushed over to me and held out her hand. “It was a good idea to use yourself as bait like that to get him to let down his guard.”

“Yeah,” I said as I grabbed Twilight’s hand and rose up. “That’s exactly what I was doing.” I grabbed my side and walked towards the Beta. Twilight followed close behind me.

We were all a few feet away from the Beta now. He started to get back up after a few seconds. We all got our weapons back out and prepared ourselves to finish him off once and for all. He shot out another wave of magma. The wave was able to push us back and cause us to drop our weapons. The Beta flew back up to his feet. His hands burst into flames again, but this time he didn’t launch them. His legs burst into flames right afterwards. “You honestly think I’m that easy to kill?” he said with the very same sadistic smile on his face. “I’m just getting started.” He charged towards us in a flash of fire. Twilight pushed me out of the way and jumped to the side barely dodging the attack. Sure stayed close to the Beta and seemed to taunt him. Sunset was fast enough to hurt the Beta without her guns.

“Octy!” Sunset cried out as she pointed to my magnum which was a few feet in front of me. I jumped forward ignoring the pain to retrieve my gun. I grabbed it and aimed it at the Beta, but he was flying too fast to get a clear shot. I focused my gun forward while waiting for an opening.

Sunset was faster than a normal human should ever be. She dodged the Beta’s attack though not without difficulty. She was getting tired, as the Beta continued on. The Beta used his magma dash again. Sunset dodged it like before, but this time she ran towards the Beta and punched him in the chest. The Beta landed and staggered backwards and seemed vulnerable.

I aimed at the temporarily stunned Beta and took my shot. Bang! The Beta staggered backwards, but still didn’t fall. He wasn’t done. “Sunset!” I called out as I threw the knife I had taken from the bag. She grabbed it and plunged it into the Beta’s chest. The Beta staggered backwards and this time fell down. The fifty foot flames began to shrink back to their normal size.

Sunset, Twilight, and I walked towards the Beta’s body. We stood silent for a moment. “You alright Octavia?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “But I’m now out of ammo. My magnum is now useless.”

“Take this,” Twilight said as she handed me another magnum.

Sunset suddenly looked around wildly. “A bunch of Pyronocks are coming,” she said. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

I staggered forward, not being strong enough to run. “I can’t run,” I said. “Just leave me here. Maybe they’ll think I’m a Pyronock that got hurt.”

“No we’re not leaving you,” Sunset said determinedly.

“Then there’s only one way out of here,” Twilight said. She pointed to the manhole. “There’s nowhere else.” Sunset and I looked at each other and then walked to the manhole. Twilight removed the manhole cover that blocked the entrance into the sewers. Sunset and I exchanged another glance. Sunset went into the sewer first. Twilight grabbed the supply bag and followed after. I went in last. It was dark and dank. Again, I now found myself in an unknown land. Now Sunset, Twilight, and I needed to navigate our way through the Canterlot sewers.

We stood in silence for a moment. Octavia and I didn’t move. I could hear Twilight rummaging through the supply bag for something. A second later, she pulled out a flashlight. She turned on the light and went back into her bag to pull out two more flashlights. She handed one to Octavia and then one to me.

Octavia and I turned on our flashlights and looked around the sewers. Canterlot’s sewer system was larger than I expected a sewer to be. There were four ten-foot walkways on all sides of the sewer tunnel. There were countless pipes around the tunnel. One of the sewer trails was fenced off with a huge gate. The gate had a door that was lined up to the walkway we were currently on. The sewer tunnel beyond the gate was too dark to even see through.

“This is a pretty big sewer,” I said.

“Yeah so?” Twilight asked.

“It’s much bigger than it ever should be.”

“What’s your point?”

“Her point is that it’s odd for a simple city like this to have such an enormous sewer system,” Octavia said.

“I doubt that’s important,” Twilight said. Cling-Cling. Twilight, Octavia, and I turned to the gated path. There were Xenomorphs striking at the gate. They looked older and had big red glowing puss packets and had large hunchbacks than the other Xenomorphs I had encountered. Even the Plagasis I saw looked way healthier and in much better shape than they did.

“Homeless?” I asked.

“No,” Octavia replied. “Some of the groups of survivors disposed of their corrupted by tossing them into the sewers.”

“Can we just call them infected instead of corrupted?” Twilight interrupted.

“You have your way of calling them, and I have mine,” Octavia said apathetically.

“Octy,” I said. “How do you know that?”

“I stayed in touch with other outposts,” she said. “I was given information about most of the proceedings of the other outposts. Some disposed their dead by throwing them into the sewers. Others impaled and burned them. Everypony had their methods.”

“Do you know your way through the sewers?” I asked.

“I know the general directions,” she answered, “but I can’t get us to the exact place.”

“Then lead on.” I noticed Octavia was still holding her side. “Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Octavia said as she straightened herself. She took a deep breath and started to walk forward. Twilight and I followed. Octavia didn’t look too bad, but she must have been exhausted.

The three of us walked in silence through the seemingly unending darkness. It felt as if we were walking around in the same spot with no advancement. After about fifteen minutes, we could finally see a change in the tunnel. The tunnel split into four. Octavia pointed to the second tunnel to the left, and we followed her directions.

“Did you girls hear that?” I asked. Octavia and Twilight looked around and then back to me.

“You using that superhearing of yours Sunny?” Twilight asked.

“What do you hear?” Octavia asked.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the noise. It sounded like something small was scurrying around. “Never mind, it sounded like a rat or something.”

“Do you think we should be worried about that kind of stuff?” Octavia asked.

“Maybe,” I replied. “If wolves could be corrupted then who knows what else can.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight interjected lightly. “The majority of us are already infected.”

I shook my head at the comment. While Octavia was appropriately worried about her infection, Twilight just laughed it off as if it was nothing. I never remembered Twilight acting like this before. She was too at ease given the situation. We resumed walking through the tunnels. I could still hear the small movement, but it didn’t seem to be anything to be concerned about. We began looking for ways back into the streets. I tried to focus my hearing to hear if there were any Pyronocks near, but I couldn’t hear anything outside the sewers.

“Hey Tavi,” Twilight said. “How long have you and Vinyl lived town?”

“Almost about an entire year I think,” she answered. “Most of this I’m seeing for the first time.”

“So then how do you know where to go?” I asked.

“I studied a map of Canterlot around the time the infection began.” Octavia said. “I wanted to be familiar with the streets for rescues and stuff.”

“How was it that you knew the exact address of Discord’s house?” Twilight asked.

“That’s because I was around that part of town when the outbreak began.” Octavia answered in deep thought.

We continued walking until we reached another gated off area. This gate has its door on the same walkway Octavia, Twilight, and I were on. Octavia walked ahead of us and scanned the area. I walked forward and did the same. “I don’t hear anything,” I said. “It should be safe now.”

“We’re trusting you,” Octavia said.

“Yeah,” Twilight interjected, “So try not to get us killed.”

“Yeah sure Twilight,” I said coldly. I opened the door and walked in. I was sure that we were safe. We walked a few yards forward and saw that the tunnels diverge again, this time there were six paths. “Which way now?”

“The second to the left again,” Octavia replied. We walked in silence reached another gated area. I tried to open it but it was locked. I looked around for a moment until something shiny caught my eye. I pointed my flashlight to something that glittered in the sewage. “Hey what’s that?” I asked as I pointed to the glittering object. I raised my flashlight a little higher and saw a dead man with pale skin and short black hair who had the glittery object loosely tied to his neck like a necklace. I peered at the object and realized that it was a key.

“It’s a key,” I said.

“You don’t think that this is the key to the door do you?” Twilight asked.

“Only One way to find out,” I said. “Now, who’s going to get it?”

Octavia grabbed her side and started groaning softly in pain. “Oh no,” she said as she emphasized her pain. “My side hurts too much. I don’t think I can go up and down into the water right now.”

Twilight and I exchanged looks and glared at Octavia. “Fine,” Twilight said. “It’s not like he’ll mind.” She pointed to the dead man. “I’ll go.”

“Be careful mate,” Octavia said. “The Guy has bite marks on his right arm.” I looked at the dead man’s arms, and saw the bite marks.

I looked at Twilight. “I think it’ll be safer if I go,” I said reluctantly. “I’m better prepared in case the body is corrupted.”

“No complaints here,” Twilight said a little too quickly.

I jumped into the sewer water. It went up to my knees and surprisingly didn’t smell terrible. I couldn’t focus on anything other than the strangely pleasant smell as I swished around. I felt odd bumps beneath my feet. I wasn’t sure what they were, but I think I was better off not knowing.

“I can’t believe the key’s right there,” Octavia commented. “That’s Just so strangely convenient.”

“Maybe for you,” I said under my breath.

I reached the body after a few steps. He looked like he had been dead for a while. He was dressed in a sewer maintenance uniform which explained why he had a key. I grabbed the key cautiously and turned around to the others. When I moved the light, a group of Xenomorphs were quickly making their way towards us. The sound of the running water must have covered up the sound of their movement. There were some running through the murky water, while another group were running on the walkway we used.

I retrieved my berettas from my pockets and aimed for the Xenomorphs running in the water, while Octavia and Twilight prepared to fight the Xenomorphs on the walkway. Twilight grabbed her shotgun, while Octavia pulled out her handgun. They aimed towards the oncoming horde.

Bang-Bang-Bang. I began shooting at the Xenomorphs as they approached. The xenos didn’t seem like such a problem now what we fought the Pyronocks. They went down easily with every shot to the head. I hadn’t fired a gun in my entire life before the outbreak, but aim wasn’t a problem when they were as close as they were. Bang-Bang. “This isn’t that hard,” I said in between shots Bang-Bang!

“After fighting the Beta,” Twilight said. “What would be?”

“Sunset, behind you!” Octavia shouted. I turned around to see Xenomorphs rising out of the sewer water. They must have been the things I had been stepping on before. There were at least a dozen of them. Bang-Bang-Bang! I turned and began shooting at them. They were closer than the other Xenomorphs. Click-Click-Click. I ejected the magazines from both of my handguns and quickly replaced them with my last two magazines.

“Sunset!” Twilight yelled as she extended her arm towards me. I staggered forward and grabbed it. She pulled me back up onto the walkway and away from the Xenomorphs that were closing in on me.

Octavia ran towards the door at the gate. “The key!” she yelled. I instinctively threw the key towards her. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to see it through the limited lighting. The key went passed the door and ended up a couple of feet into the gate. I helped the light up to Octavia’s face. She was scowling at me. She sighed heavily and got down to the floor. She reached her hand out through the gate for the key. “Cover me,” she ordered.

Twilight and I turned back towards the oncoming horde of Xenomorphs. The sound of all the gunfire seemed to have attracted more Xenomorphs to us. I wasn’t sure if we had enough bullets to keep the horde under control for long enough. Bang-Bang-Bang. The horde was now closing in on us. Twilight began to step back as the infected advanced. Fortunately, many of the infected were a bit clumsy due to the wet floors and many of the normal ones fell into the stream of sewage below, but not enough to be safe. “Hurry up Tavi,” Twilight said anxiously.

“I’m trying.” Octavia responded. “What kind of moron throws a key in the dark?”

“Sunset Shimmer apparently,” Twilight responded.

“I’ve almost got it.” I couldn’t afford to turn away from the oncoming infected to see Octavia’s progress. Bang-Bang-Bang! I shot three more Xenomorphs and watched them slip into the sewer water. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference; the horde didn’t seem to slow down at all.

“Ha, I got it!” Octavia exclaimed. I could hear Octavia placing the key into the keyhole, the sound of her unlocking the key, and finally the creaking of the door being opened. “Let’s go!” Twilight and I turned and sprinted to the other side of the door. Octavia closed the door as soon as we were all on the other side. Twilight and I sighed heavily. We were both full of relief. Octavia was surprisingly calm given the circumstances. It was a little unnerving.

“Still think they’re easy?” Twilight asked me.

“They’re… a breeze.” I said out of breath.

“Never throw anything important in here ever again.” Octavia said. “I almost couldn’t find the Celestia damn key.”

“What the hell are you complaining about?” Twilight asked. “We were the ones handling them.”

“We could have all died. Sure they’re easier to kill than Pyronocks, but they damn sure are still very dangerous in a group.”

I sighed once more. “How much further until we get there?” I asked. “I don’t think I can handle much more of this.”

“We still have quite a way to go,” Octavia answered. Cling-Cling. We turned back to the gate we just came through. We saw an endless horde of the red glowing hump colored Xenomorphs pushing at the gate. If we had waited any longer we would have been as good as dead. Creak... We heard the unnerving sound of the gate beginning to give way. “We should run.”

“I agree. Lead the way Octy.” Octavia began to run forward as we followed closely behind. The tunnel seemed much longer the previous one. We ran through it as fast as we could, but it didn’t look like we were making much progress. It felt like it took all the running we could do just to stay in the same place. This continued on for a while. As we ran, we passed by many other tunnels diverging from the main tunnel, but Octavia kept leading us through the main one.

We finally started to slow down. Twilight was falling behind quickly, so we relaxed to give her time to catch her breath. “How much further?” Twilight asked exhausted.

“I don’t know,” Octavia said. “I think we should start looking for an opening back to the streets. That or we could just keep walking around until we get lucky, but we’re in the middle of a Xenomorph-slash-Chimera apocalypse, so I highly doubt luck is going to be on our side.”

Thump-Thump-Thump. “Wait,” I said. The sound continued. Thump-Thump-Thump. It was getting louder. “You guys hear that?” Octavia and Twilight stayed silent as the sound continued. Thump-Thump-Thump. They looked at me with widened eyes.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“Whatever It is,” Octavia said. “It can’t be good. This would be a good time to get the hell out of here.”

“Yeah,” I replied. We started running again. This time Twilight was running faster than before, even Octavia was moving quicker. It wasn’t hard for me to keep up, but we moved fast enough to get my heart pumping. Thump-Thump-Thump. We continued to hear the sound of thumping getting closer. Octavia flashed her light above us so that we could see manhole covers when we past them.

I could hear the sound of something metal being torn through. The vicious sound sent chills down my spine. It must have been something huge tearing through a metal gate. I could hear the sound of other smaller things running around as we ran, but I figured it was only more infected that we were able to get through the gate that was opened.

Twilight pointed her flashlight behind us. I was shocked to see an alligator the size of a house pursuing us. I couldn’t even begin to understand how an aligator that size alone could get into the sewers, but the only thing I had to think about was that it was obviously a Xenomorph alligator so I knew slowing down was not an option.

“There,” Octavia called out. I looked toward the spot that o was pointing her flashlight. There was the opening to the Infernoland that we were waiting for. Twilight took the lead. She ran to the ladder below the manhole cover and quickly climbed it. Octavia went in second, as I waited next to the ladder.

The monstrosity was gigantic. It had the largest, razor-sharp teeth I had ever seen. It was obviously a Xenomorph cause of the fact that it had no eyes, but had large dark-green scales that looked more like armor plating than anything else. I could even see scraps of of metal sticking out of its enormous mouth that must have once been the gate it tore through to find us.

Twilight reached the top and opened the lid while Octavia reached the halfway point giving me room to start climbing. I climbed the ladder as fast as I could, but the xeno-gator was almost upon us. Twilight made it outside and waited for Octavia. I was getting really nervous now. Octavia was injured and moving slower than I felt comfortable with. She would most likely make it, but my chances weren’t looking good. I had a feeling that the xeno-gator would still be able to reach me from my current height. I wasn’t safe until I was out of the sewers completely.

Octavia climbed out just in time for me to pull myself up to the last few ladder steps. The xeno-gator slammed into the wall causing me to lose my grip and let go of the bars. Octavia quickly reached and grabbed my arm. She pulled me in close enough so that Twilight could help out. They pulled me out together. We looked back down the sewer entrance only to see the xeno-gator slamming his head into the walls in frustration and then leaving.

We closed the entrance and ran for cover in case something tried to get out. After a moment I took a deep breath and relaxed. I looked around to see if there were any Pyronocks in the street. Luckily, it seemed that the fight we had with the Beta got all the Pyronock’s attention. I prayed silently to Celestia for the Chimera to still be there. If the Chimera was traveling with a group, then we would still have to fight her and her army and that wouldn’t be pleasant.

Octavia began walking again. “We’re not far now,” she said. “We have to be careful when we’re fighting the Chimera. I mean if she’s anything like the Beta was, then we’re in for a fight.”

“I can’t really imagine anyone stronger than the Beta.” I said. “His fire blasts left pretty huge holes in the wall. They’re strong.”

“You have no idea,” Octavia interjected. “They feel pretty dense too.” Twilight and I continued following Octavia through the streets. We had to keep down as Octavia staggered forward a few feet ahead of us. She looked exhausted.

My thoughts drifted to Octavia’s familiarity of Canterlot. I wasn’t sure how Octavia was so familiar with Canterlot for someone who had only lived here for a year when I knew that this version of Octavia was obviously in Equestria. Her explanation didn’t feel right. Octavia hadn’t given me a reason not to trust her, and I didn’t feel like she was trying to do anything bad, but I couldn’t shake off this feeling. I don’t know why, but I was certain that Octavia was lying to us. She was way too calm throughout everything.

“So Octavia, have any interesting stories to tell us?” I asked.

“None come to mind,” she said casually without even looking back towards us.

“No cop or Equestrian stories to tell us?” I asked.

“Nope.” She responded as nonchalant as ever. I didn’t press on. She wasn’t going to say a word. We continued walking in silence until Octavia stopped. “We’re near. I recognize this street. The school should be a block or two away.”

“What kind of school is it anyway?” Twilight asked. “Are you even sure we’re going out the right one?”

“There’s only one school in the Infernoland territory, Octavia replied. “So I’m sure she’s there.” Octavia paused for a moment. “And I could be wrong, but I…” She paused again. “I think it was a high school.”

Twilight and I exchanged puzzled looks. “Why make a high school ‘her domain’?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe she was a teacher,” Octavia answered, “just be ready for anything.”

I paused for a moment and began to think. A horrible thought crossed my mind after a moment. “You don’t think she’s holding kids do you?” I asked.

“Like I said,” Octavia calmly, “be prepared for anything.”

I sighed heavily. “That’s just wrong.” I didn’t even want to think about why the Chimera chose a high school to nest. All I knew was that I was going to rescue anyone the Chimera was holding captive or die trying.

We walked for a little while and finally reached the high school “I remember this place,” Twilight said. “This is where I went to before I transferred to Canterlot High. Chrystal Prep Academy.”

“I remember that,” I said. I took a long pause and sighed. Chrystal Prep was the high school I remember meeting the Twilight from this world and then memories of the Friendship Games started appearing as well the battle with Midnight Sparkle. I remember always feeling bad for Twilight when she told us the stories of how much of an outcast she was before she came to us. Seeing the school partially covered in perpetual flames while the Infernoland Chimera nested within broke my heart. “I guess we’ll just have to remember the school for what it was.”

“Remember girls the most important thing to do is get any information from the Chimera and then kill it,” Octavia said. Twilight nodded. One thing that annoyed and worried me about Octavia and Twilight was the fact that they held the mission above everything else. Both of them didn’t seem as concerned towards anyone who wasn’t involved in their current task. They didn’t even try to help the rogue survivor group from being massacred by the Pyronocks.

“We should sneak around,” Octavia suggested after along while of standing still. “Or you know, move instead of just acting like statues.” We began to sneak towards the school. We hid behind the cars and debris that covered the Infernoland as we had before. We continued until we reached the opened front gate of the high school. I looked around and saw no trace of anyone around.

I turned my attention to the attention the school. It was slightly rundown from I remember the strories Twilight told me. The main office building was still adjacent to the small auditorium. The class rooms were to the right of the main office. The school was strangely covered in some weird resin secretion all over the walls. It was a pretty big school, but I felt smaller that I had remembered Twilight telling me. I was sure that most of that that was because I’ve grown so much and the infection had changed it so much.

“So where do we start?” Octavia asked.

“I have no idea,” I said. “Do you know where the leader would be Mrs. Xenomorph-Expert?” I asked Twilight. She shook her head. I sighed. “I guess we’ll start with the main office.”

Octavia, Twilight, and I went into the main office first, but we didn’t find anyone. We began going through the classrooms next. The first seven classrooms were empty as well. We even started to search the rooms individually so that we could find the Chimera faster, but it didn’t seem to be helping at all. The Chimera was no where to be found.

“Hey!” Octavia called out to us. Twilight and I sprinted to room 772 and saw Octavia with a bunch of papers in her hands.

“Are you fucking insane?!” Twilight scolded Octavia. “Do you have any goddamn idea what would have happened if the Chimera was near?”

“Relax Twilight, I’m sure she’s not around,” Octavia said as casually as ever. “Here,” she handed us a bunch of papers. “Read it.” I started reading the page on the top of the stack.

My name is Iron Will. I am a— I was a teacher here before the outbreak. I wasn’t happy with my job. I wasn’t even happy with my life. Hell, I wasn’t happy with anything really. I thought I would never be able to appreciate anything about my fraud of an existence and then this impossible hellish nightmare began to happen. I was in the school at a meeting with Cinch when I learned what was happening. I tried to call my wife and sons to see if they were okay, but the phones won’t work anymore. A group of teachers and I began to venture away from the school in hopes of finding a way to meet with other survivors and see our families again, but our journey became short lived. The outbreak was spreading very fast. Everything went to hell so quickly. We were attacked a little after leaving the school by a horde of the demons in black. They took us all by surprise, but I was able to escape. I can still see the faces of my colleagues and friends as they struggled to escape as they reached out for me to help them. I never felt so much shame and guilt in my entire life, but I was too overwhelmed by fear. I couldn’t help anyone, so I ran back into my classroom. Then she took over the whole school. We were lucky that there weren’t any teenagers around in school when all of this began, not that it matters now. I am sure they’re gone too. Ever since then, I’ve been trapped in the school, too afraid to go, but I know I can’t stay here any longer. I decided to prepare myself to leave. I need to wait until she’s not around. If she sees me, I’m fucked. As long as I stay away from the auditorium, I should be fine. I am writing this in hopes that this small piece of information helps whoever is reading it to stay alive. Now, it’s all a matter of working up the guts to leave this hell-hole.

Remember: Under any circumstances do not go into the auditorium. She’ll be there, and she is not someone you want to fuck with.

I put the note down and looked at Twilight. I handed her the note and turned to Octavia. “Now what?” I asked.

Octavia shrugged then gestured to Twilight. “Let the expert think of something,” she said. Octavia and I waited a few seconds until Twilight finished. We waited for her to respond.

“What?” Twilight asked. “Let’s just do what we did when we fought the Beta.” She shrugged.

“Let’s go then,” Octavia said. We walked through the school and back towards the entrance. We readied our weapons and composed ourselves near the entrance of the auditorium. I grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath. This was practically a suicide mission, but not one I would let Twilight and Octavia do alone. I gently pushed the door open.

At first glance, the room was empty. The lights were on, but they didn’t illuminate the entire auditorium. Some parts were completely dark or had limited lighting. The stage’s lighting was especially dark. We inspected each row of chairs as we moved passed them. Everything looked clear. We continued searching until we reached the stage. We made our way through the stairs that lead up to the stage and stopped. I could hear something moving in the background. I readied my weapons. Octavia and Twilight followed suit. I noticed that Octavia began to fidget a little as if she felt uncomfortable.

I began hearing something moving. I looked around but didn’t see the source. The sound was starting to become louder. It sounded like light footsteps. It was like the person making the sound was relatively close, but not very large.

I could see movement in the corner of my eye. I instinctively pulled out my gun and aimed for the source. To my surprise, it was a little girl. She looked like she was about five years old. She had long golden brown hair and rosy pink cheeks. She was wearing a white shirt with purple sleeves and a matching bow on her head. The most important thing I noticed was that she had regular eyes for once.

I quickly put my gun down and rushed to her. Octavia and Twilight covered me on either side. When I reached her, I instinctively checked her for injuries. “Are you Okay?” I asked.

She didn’t answer me right away, instead, she stared at me as if she was looking for something. “I-I’m Fine.” She finally said.

“Who put you here?” Twilight asked, “and have you seen some weird crazy lady around here?” Twilight use have been talking about my mystery woman.

“No,” she said. “I shouldn’t talk to you.”

“Why not honey?” I asked.

“My brother said not to talk to anyone.”

“Where is he?”

“He left me here. He told me I would be safe here.”

“Is there anyone else here like a monster?” Twilight asked. “Or like a super strong lady or something like that?”

“No,” she said. “Just me and my baby dragon doll Georgie. Everyone else left.”

“Okay,” I said. I rested my hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her, even though it didn’t seem like she needed it. “We’ll get you out of here and into a safer place.”

Cough-Cough. “You alright Octavia?” Twilight asked behind me. I turned back to Octavia and saw that she was leaning on Twilight. She was grabbing her arm in pain.

“I’m fine dear,” Cough-Cough. “I just feel a little dizzy,” Octavia said between coughs. It looked like the inferno Plague wound Octavia suffered from was starting to get to here. She switched from holding her arm to her head and then to her side. “What does your brother look like?”

“I’ll go get a picture,” she said as she ran towards the back of the stage. She disappeared moment later.

“Oh by all means,” Octavia said, “don’t everyone try to stop her from going out alone into a place that’s always on fire all at once.”

“She’s just going to get a picture of her brother,” Twilight said. “She’ll be fine, and besides we should be focusing on doing more important things anyway like killing that Chimera.”

“Why are you guys so hell bent on killing the Chimera anyway?” I asked. “I mean what do we really gain for it?”

Cough-Cough. “Well,” Octavia said. “We would gain a great advantage against the Pyronocks. Without a leader, they’ll lose order.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I said. “They might go on a rampage instead and make thing worse.

“Hope for the best,” Twilight said mock cheerfully. I glared at Twilight. I could hear the sound of the little girl running back towards us. She ran back to the room and gave Octavia a folded up picture. Octavia grabbed it and held it in her right hand.

“I’m going to get my dragon,” she cheerfully said, “and then we can look for my brother.”

“Okay,” Octavia said, “but before you go, can you tell us what your name is sweetheart?”

She smiled at Octavia. “Pumpkin,” she said. She ran back to the stage and disappeared through a curtain.

“I think she likes you Tavi,” I said.

“Oh shut up Sunset,” Octavia responded. She unfolded the picture and glanced at it. Her eyes widened and then closed in frustration. “Of course.” She handed the picture to Twilight. Twilight examined it for a while and nodded.

“What?” I asked.

“Something you should know about Pumpkin,” Twilight said as she handed me the picture. I now instantly understood why Octavia and Twilight acted the way they did. This was the exact same small girl we had just met and her twin brother, the Beta we just killed. My heart sank.

“Do you girls think she’s the Chimera?” I asked weakly.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said in disbelief. “She’s just a kid. Maybe she’s another Beta. She —she just can’t be the Chimera. She’s just an innocent little girl.”

“I truly hope she isn’t,” I said.

“There are lots of things that determine wether you’re a Chimera or not,” Octavia said. “Maybe she had the proper mindset and genes for the XXX Plague to turn her into a Chimera instead of a mindless Xenomorph.

“How would you know that?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Twilight said. “If she really is the Chimera, then we have no choice but to—“ Twilight hesitated and looked at me. “You know?”

“I—“ I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. She might have built the Infernoland with her brother, but she was still just a kid. I didn’t have the heart to kill her and I knew that Twilight didn’t either. I hoped that Octavia couldn’t as well. The truth was that I didn’t know or trust Octavia enough to make any real decisions. It always seemed like Octavia knew more than she was leading on.

Cough-Cough. “We don’t even know if she’s infected.” Octavia said. “And even if she is, maybe she’s not hostile.”

“Let’s go see her then.” Twilight said.

“Actually,” Octavia said wearily. “I think I’m gonna sit down.” Cough-Cough. “My head is spinning.”

“It’s not smart to split up,” Twilight said.

“It’ll just be a minute.” Octavia walked to the back of the auditorium and sat down on one of the seats in the back row. I looked Twilight and shrugged. We began walking through the stage and into the backstage. The backstage had a hallway that was full of doors leading in various rooms. Only one of the doors was open. It was on the far left side of us.

“You first,” Twilight said. She motioned her hand towards the door and smiled to me. “You’d be able to take a magma ball to the face.” I rolled my eyes and began to walk forward. I tried to walk slowly so that I wouldn’t make any sounds, but every step I took seemed to echo. I continued walking until I finally reached the door. Twilight stopped a few feet away from me.

“Come in,” I heard Pumpkin say. Twilight pulled out her shotgun. I motioned for her to stay behind the wall in case she wasn’t hostile like Octavia suggested she might be. I slowly opened the door and walked in. Pumpkin didn’t even turn.

“Pumpkin,” I said, “do you need help?”

“Sure,” she said. She turned to me with a smile on her face. “I’m just looking for my dragon. Be careful, he doesn’t like strangers. He’s very protective that’s why my brother got him for me. Want to help me get him out of here?” She extended her hand to me. I looked at her for a moment. She was clearly just an innocent kid. She didn’t even have the look of a Chimera, and even if she was a Chimera she didn’t act dangerous.

“Okay,” I said and smiled. “I’ll help.” I extended my hand to shake hers. The moment our skin touched, an odd surge shocked us.

Pumpkin frowned. “You!” she said angrily. “You’re the one Pound warned me about!”

“Pound?” I asked cautiously. “I think you have me confused someone else confused with someone else.” I was trying to reason with her, but she didn’t seem to care.

“Don’t lie to me bitch,” she said while her voice began to lower. “I’m not just a kid.” She looked at her right hand and forced it to burst into flames exactly like the other Pyronocks we saw before. “Pound was right; we shouldn’t trust humans with lunar regular eyes. He told me about you and her friends. He told me you would try to kill us. She was right not to trust you.”

“Who’s Pound?” I asked. “Which lady are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean.”

“Shut up bitch!” she yelled. She paused and composed herself. “I’ve had enough,” she said darkly. “You’re going to regret ever trying to hurt me.”

I stepped a few steps back. I didn’t know what to make of the sudden change in the way she was talking. She didn’t sound like an innocent little girl anymore. She sounded like Principal Cinch now. “Okay Let’s just calm down,” I said.

“Don’t talk down to me like that,” she said in the same cold voice. “I’ve had enough of you.” She launced the magma on her arm. The magma looked much darker and somehow denser than any other fire I had seen all day. It even looked stronger the The Beta’s magma. I jumped out of the way and heard the sound of the magma ball blasting part of the wall into oblivion.

“Sunset!” Twilight yelled. She signaled for me to rush to her. I dashed for the door. I threw a glance back to Pumpkin and was able to avoid another magma ball before joining Twilight back into the hallway. The fire in the building began to spread around instead of staying stationary as most of the fire in the Infernoland did. Twilight and I ran back to the main stage to grab Octavia so that we could try to fight.

Twilight and I arrived back to the stage to find Octavia already back. We stopped to meet her. “Octy, she’s evil,” Twilight said anxiously. “She’s going to try and kill us. Let’s go.”

“What?” Octavia asked with shock in confusion. The exits of the auditorium suddenly burst into flames. We looked around anxiously for a way to escape. “Why did she suddenly snap now?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but she starting saying something about me being here to kill her and she just snapped.”

“There!” Twilight shouted. She pointed to a ladder that led up to the roof of the stage. We sprinted for the ladder. Twilight practically flew up thee steps like an eagle. Octavia slowly climbed afterwards. I began climbing after Octavia reached the halfway point. The three of us ended up on the catwalk above the stage. Twilight pointed to another ladder and we walked towards it.

A giant magma ball flew above us and obliterated the space above the stage. “Shit,” I muttered.

“Where are you?” Pumpkin said in a mock playful voice. “I thought you wanted to help me.”

“What the hell’s up with this girl?” I muttered.

“Octavia, Sunset, don't get distracted let’s go up.” Twilight said. We walked to the other side of the catwalk and began climbing up one by one. I looked towards Pumpkin Cake. ”I don’t want to have to hurt her,” I thought to myself. ”She’s just a ki— NO,” a harsh thought suddenly interjected, ”She’s the Infernobrazier Chimera now. Whatever she used to be is gone now.” The thoughts didn’t reassure me as much as I wanted them to.

She was circling around looking for us. Luckily for us, she had no idea where we were. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she said in the same playful and sadistic voice.

“We have to stop her,” I whispered to myself. I sighed heavily and began climbing the bars. I knew how to get her attention. As soon as I got to the top of the bars, I screamed, “Hey super bitch, you think you can put up a better fight than your arrogant twin brother!” She immediately responded by throwing a magma ball in my direction. I reached the roof and rolled away from the spot I knew the attack was going to hit. The magma ball bled through the roof and flew into the sky. I lifted myself up and dashed away from the hol the Chimera’s magma ball made.

I turned to Octavia and Twilight. They both had their guns ready, but Octavia looked a little disoriented. The three of us waited for any signs of the Chimera’s advance. We stayed completely silent to hear anything below us. Each of us looked at each other after a short time of waiting.

Twilight tossed a couple of clips towards me. I caught them and pulled out my berettas. I quickly loaded the clips into my guns and aimed them towards the hole the Chimera made. Seconds later another magma ball flew out. I backed up to join Octavia and Twilight further from the hole.

The sound of metal tearing behind us caused Octavia, Twilight, and I tried to turn away from the hole. I saw the metal of the roof curve and tear, but I couldn’t see what was causing it. I suddenly felt heat pour out of the hole near the roof entrance. I turned in time to see the Chimera rise a few feet above the roof’s surface.

The sound of tearing metal stopped, so I switched my focus back to the Chimera. She created ten small magma balls that circled around her just like the Beta had done. She raised her hand one of the magma balls immediately travelled to it. She threw the ball to the floor. It immediately turned into a small fire. The fire moved towards us and grew in size and speed the further it travelled, like a snowball rolling down a mountain. It passed Twilight and Octavia and ran straight for me. I waited until the fire was close enough for me to feel the heat, and then I jumped out of the way before it could burn me.

I rose up and smiled at the Chimera in triumph. She smiled back. I turned around just in time to see the magma ball traveling back towards me. I dodged it again. I looked towards the growing magma ball as fast as I could. I could barely out run it even with my new found speed and stamina. It was almost on me. My heart was throbbing in my chest. I was sure that I was done for. Suddenly, I felt an odd tingling sensation in my hands. It felt powerful, like my hands were mysteriously electrically charged. It surged through me and made me feel stronger than ever before, even when I ponied up and the help of those chrystal geodes.

I felt a surge of arrogance along with the power. My hands were even emitting a white aura. The power I felt was speeding all around me. It was amazing. I felt like I could do anything, like I could hunt down and kill every single Chimera by myself. I didn’t care who I fought anymore. The aura around my hands flared with anticipation. I instantly lost my awareness of everything around me, everything except the Chimera and her fire.

I could feel the power almost speak to me in the voice of Princess Celestia. I moved my body to its command obediently. I stopped and turned to face the fully grown magma ball. I moved to its side as it approached and grazed it with my right hand causing the aura around my hands to spread around the magma ball. In moments, the magma ball became a bright shade of rose red. I was now in control of it. I forced my magma ball to roll towards the Chimera. I wasn’t sure if my modified magma ball would hurt her, but I wanted to find out.

The Chimera forced two of the magma that were circling around her to hit the ground and roll towards me. They were both picking up speed and growing in size as they rolled. I realized that they weren’t heading for me; they were heading for my magma ball.

The three magma balls clashed with a thundering roar. I could see my light red orange and the Chimera’s dark red ones eating away at each other. Both flames moved and twisted into each other and eventually extinguished one another. There was a huge scorch mask left over afterwards.

Pumpkin scowled at me. I smiled. She raised her hand again and clenched it into a fist. I heard the sound of someone screaming in the background of my fight. The sound snapped me out of my warrior trance. I was able to see Octavia on the floor curled up in pain. It looked like she was cradling one of her arms and her side, the two places she had been burned. The celestial white aura on my hands extinguished itself the moment I stopped fighting.

“What are you doing to her?!” I shouted.

“Using my leverage,” Pumpkin said calmly, “if you keep fighting me I’ll kill her.

“I’m alright Sunset!” Octavia shouted in agony, “just stop her and I should be fine.” I looked forward to see her clenching her first even harder. I turned back to Octavia and Twilight. Twilight was dragging Octavia as far away from the fight as she could, while Octavia convulsed in writhing agony. The further away Octavia was from the Chimera, the less her power affected Octavia. I was truly glad Twilight did that, because now I wouldn’t have to worry about any one of my friends getting hurt as I fought.

I tried to force the aura to come out of my hands like they did before, but they wouldn’t come. The Chimera didn’t stop clenching her fist. The sound of Octavia’s constant anguish mixed with the Chimera’s arrogant smiled and my frustration with my lack of control over my new powers caused my heart to throb in anger. I began to feel the familiar surge of power and the irresistible urge to fight. Everything around me became blurry except for the Chimera. I once again entered my celestial warrior trance, and this time I knew that I was going to stop her.

She clenched her fist even harder, but I ignored Octavia’s cries of agony and continted walking to her. She stopped clenching her fist and forced the remaining two magma balls to form rings. One of the rings formed above her head and the other formed below her waist. The ring at her waist slowly descended and moved towards the ground in front of her. It smacked the metal of the roof and caused it to rattle.

She smiled at me again. I suddenly felt the ground shake and saw something tear through the metal where the ring had landed. It was the same thing that tore through the ground earlier, but this time it was actually going to present itself to me. It climbed up from its hole and looked at me with its burning, magma colored eyes. It was an overgrown behemoth covered in lava. It looked far more different than a normal monster I had seen in Equestria, apart from being gigantic and covered in lava; it also looked far more savage. It’s claws and teeth were much sharper than that of a normal monster. This once powerful beast was now the Chimera’s mere ‘teddy bear.’

It didn’t look like it would go under my control, so I’d just have to kill it before stopping the Chimera. The Blazer as I called it, stood motionless waiting for Pumpkin to make a command.

The Chimera lifted her hands up, and the right above her head began to float up to the sky. It went into the clouds and disappeared. The clouds suddenly began to quiver and light up. The sky began to glow a darker orange. This time however the light didn’t come from the ground below. The light looked like it was being emitted from the sky itself as if the sun was looming just above the school. I wasn’t sure what she was doing with the sky, but I knew that I wouldn’t last long if I just stood there waiting for her to strike.

I ran forward just in striking of the Blazer. I rolled to my side the moment it tried to swipe me with its claws. I launched myself to its arm in hopes that I could take control of it like I did with the Chimera‘s magma ball, but the magma the Blazer was coated in proved to be too much for me. My hands burned the moment I touched the Blazer’s skin. It tried to swipe me again, but I was able to dodge it like the first time. I moved away as it stopped and waited for me to challenge it again.

I began to understand her plan. She was using her Blazer to defend herself while she charged up her next attack. I understood what I had to do. I had to take her out before she gained enough power to fire her laser. I needed to find a way around her Blazer before I could do anything.

I ran towards the Blazer as I did before, but this time I slid to its left side before it could strike me and continued running forward. I was running right towards the Chimera at my highest speed. I could see the anger in her face and the frustrated roars or her Blazer as I approached the Chimera. The sky above began to roar in anger. It spat out seventeen meteor-like magma balls towards me. Each of them seemed to be going in various directions around me. I rolled out of the path of one of them and began running back passed the Blazer and to safety.

I took moment to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure if the meteors were what she was trying to make, or just a byproduct, but either way I was sure I couldn’t take control of them either. It seemed like she was adjusting her strategy to better suit my new powers. She was attacking me with things either too fast or too strong for me to control. She was smarter than a girl her age should ever be. Even the words she used sounded to advanced for her age.

I considered my options and thought of a plan. I took a deep breath and walked forward. It was ambitious, but it was the only thing I could come up with. I sprinted forward and slid under the Blazer. I aimed my handguns for her and began shooting. The Blazer ran towards me, while the Chimera forced ten bigger meteor-like magma balls to rain down on me. I sprinted around leading the Blazer into the battle zone. After I got a general direction of where the meteors were going, I began running towards the Blazer. I slid under him and used him as a shield to protect myself from the meteor shower that was meant for me.

I rolled away as the Blazer fell to the floor. I dashed for the Chimera. I jumped in the air and was able to grab her and bring her back down to the ground. I held her in my arms like I would a child. The Celestial aura in my hands began to react to her presence. She began to close her eyes and open them as if she was about to fall asleep. “Tigger,” she said as she closed her eyes. She stopped moving. My hands became plain again as I began to almost regret what I had just done. I wasn’t sure how much of her was still human, but there was enough to make me feel guilty for ‘stopping’ her. She looked like angel now that she was still.

I sighed heavily and put her body down. I collapsed to the floor from the exhaustion. I was too tired to fight anymore. I knew that this place was still dangerous even with the Chimera gone, so I forced myself to rise to my feet.

I heard the sound of large footsteps coming towards me. I lifted myself up enough to see that the Blazer was still alive and walking towards me. I dragged myself away, but I knew I was done for. The Blazer walked forward and stopped right in front of Pumpkin. It gently picked her up and held her to its chest. It lied on the floor with the little girl on its chest and closed its six eyes. I looked on as the Blazer kept still.

Octavia and Twilight ran over to me and picked me up. Octavia looked much healthier and more active than she had before. “Octy,” I said wearily, “You’re alive.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks to you.”

“Nice work Sunny,” Twilight said, “but let’s get out of here before more Pyronocks show up.” I nodded and walked forward with Octavia’s support. I looked towards the still burning tiger dragon and Pumpkin for a second, and then turned back.

“Where do we go now?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about that now,” Octavia said. “Just go to sleep. You’ve earned your rest dearie.” I closed my eyes and felt myself let go. In moments, I fell fast asleep.

I opened my eyes in a dark unknown place. A lining of light in the shape of a door was the only thing visible. I wiped my eyes. They last thing I remember was stopping the Chimera and passing out. I felt drained, but I didn’t feel like staying still. I could still feel a small amount of the power surge I felt when I stopped the Chimera, but this time I felt different. I didn’t have the primal energy or the celestial warrior trance I had before. Instead, I was left with another kind of foreign strength.

I lifted myself from the bed I had been placed on and walked to the door. It was dark, so I had to trace my fingers across the door in order to find the handle. I opened the door and cautiously walked into a hallway.

The hallway was almost completely black with the exception of a single light hanging above me and a dim glow stemming out of cracks of a door on the end of the hall. I walked forward slowly so that I wouldn’t make too much noise. I stopped in front of the door and tried to listen for any noise, but I didn’t hear anything.

I opened the door slowly and walked in. At first I was blinded by the surrounding light, but my eyes adjusted quickly. The room was large and mostly empty. The ceiling was full of bright low-hanging lights that were still irritating my eyes. The wall farthest from me was fenced off from the rest of the room, but had a door on its left sides. There weren’t any lights above that part of the room, so I couldn’t tell if it was empty or not.

Discord and the Pyronock Jaden were sitting on some chairs in the middle of the room, while Octavia stood off to the other end of the room. They looked like they were in the middle of some conversation, but for some reason i couldn’t hear any of it. They stopped the moment they saw me. “Ah you’re up,” Discord said.

“Yeah,” I replied weakly. “Where’s Twilight?”

“Twilight’s getting some food,” Octavia replied.

“How did we get here?” I asked.

“Jaden helped us get back to Discord’s hideout.”

“You’re welcome,” Jaden said as he took a bow. I looked at Octavia in confusion.

“He helped us navigate around the Infernoland,” Octavia continued. “We avoid Pyronocks that way. Then, we carried you to Discord’s hideout, and now we’ve just been waiting for you to wake up.”

“How long have we been here?” I asked.

“About three days,” Octavia replied. “You’ve been out ever since you took out the Infernoland Chimera.”

“Oh,” was all I could say.

“That actually reminds me,” Octavia said casually, “can I talk to you in private?” Octavia gestured to the door I had just been in.

“Yeah,” I said. The two of us walked out of the room and into the dark hallway I had just gotten out of. Octavia flicked the light switch. The lights turned on. I could finally see where I had been. Octavia closed the door and sighed.

“What do you remember about your fight with the Chimera?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure if Octavia and Twilight had seen me in my celestial warrior trance, but I didn’t think that it was a good idea to tell them about it. The whole experience made me feel crazy. Every single one of my senses were tuned in the Chimera’s attacks. The actual power was great too. I had control over her abilities and was able to counter her at every moment of the fight. It also left me with something I didn’t want them to know is gave me. It made me feel like I needed to fight. It gave me a craving for more.

“I mean do you remember what you did or how you won?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t really remember,” I said nervously. I didn’t want anyone to think I was infected. I knew all too well that being infected would most likely mean my death in certain parts of the Black Plaguelands.

Octavia examined my face as if she was trying to see if I was lying or not. “Well let’s keep whatever you do remember between you, me, and Twilight,” Octavia said. “No one needs to know what happened. You’re not a danger to anyone, so we don’t need to get any unwanted attention.”

I looked at Octavia then nodded. I noticed her eyes hadn’t changed to the magma color the majority of the Pyronocks had. “Your eyes,” I said, “they’re still normal.”

“Jaden said that it would take a full day before becoming a Pyronock,” Octavia said. “I’m still not a Pyronock, and it’s been three days now.”

“So you’re not infected?” I asked.

“Discord said that the XXX Plague won’t bond to me,” Octavia said pensively. “He thinks I have some kind of natural immunity just because I’m a pony which combats the XXX Plague.”

I narrowed my eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder if Octavia’s immunity was one of the things Octavia was hiding from us. “So can he use you to find a cure?” I finally asked.

“He doubts it,” Octavia answered. “He doesn’t any of the resources needed to complete a project like that.”

“Does he know about my fight with the Chimera?” I asked.

“No,” Octavia answered. “He’s somewhat in the dark about it.”

“That’s a surprise. I figured he would’ve watched it on one of his cameras.”

“What?” Octavia asked. “He has cameras around?”

“I think,” I replied. “It’s just weird how often Discord knows where we are. It’s like he has cameras all over the place, but I don’t know for sure.” Octavia looked away pensively. “So what’s the plan?”

“Jaden is going back into the Infernoland, and Discord is just going to stay here and do whatever he can to help us.”

“What about us?”

“You and I will wait for Twilight.” Octavia’s voice became serious. “As soon as she gets here, the three of us will be checking out another outpost.”

“Why? What happened?” Knock-Knock. We turned to the sudden knocking. Octavia walked to the door we had come from and opened it enough so that she could see the person on the other side. She waited a few seconds before she opened the door completely. Octavia stepped aside and allowed Twilight to walk in. Octavia poked her head outside the door, looked around, and then she closed the door again.

“Hey there Sunset,” Twilight said in a more friendly tone, “it’s good to see you awake again.” She turned to Octavia. “So,” she said casually, “does she know what we’re gonna do?”

“Yeah,” Octavia replied, “but I haven’t told her why yet.” Octavia’s face hardened as she looked at me. “One of Vinyl’s officers was circling the Infernoland to try to contact us.”

“And to see if we’re still alive,” Twilight interrupted.

“Anyway,” Octavia said without acknowledging Twilight. “She told us that they lost contact with one of the outposts.”

“Which one?” I asked.

Octavia and Twilight exchanged looks. Octavia turned back to me, but avoided eye contact and her ears drooped down. “It’s the Canterlot high school,” Octavia said somewhat strained. “The one Applejack was in.”

“What?!” I asked on the border of sheer panic. “How the hell did you let that happen? We need to make sure they’re not hurt.”

“Okay,” responded Twilight, “but how are we suppose to fight our way out of the Infernoland and back on to the main road?”

“I think I can take care of that,” Octavia said as casually as ever. “I’ll be right back.” She walked to the door and opened it. She turned back to Twilight and me. “Twilight, get Sunset something to eat. It’s been three days since she’s eaten.” She took a pause. “And don’t worry about Applejack. She’s a tough girl,” she said reassuring us, and for a brief moment, I was sure she was reassuring herself as well. She started walking again and exited the room.

I closed the door behind me and began walking back to Discord. I would have to work out some arrangement with Jaden later, but for now I needed to talk to Discord. I knew that he had a safe path throughout the city. With his help, I would be able to finish my task quicker.

I hated having to look for someone like this Gloriosa character. I hated trying to get her attention by having Sunset kill the Chimeras, but it needed to be done. I didn’t know who she was at the time we met and Sunset had paid the price for it, but this time I had a trump card. Sunset would make extracting information from her very easy. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of having the edge on Gloriosa; she deserved whatever punishment Sunset had planned for her, but in the end, I would be the one who advances from it all.

My thoughts shifted and an image of Applejack blossomed in my mind. I sighed. I also hated the fact that so many humans were caught up in all of this, especially people as good as Applejack. ”I already let someone I cared for get hurt," I thought to myself, "it’ll be a cold day in Tartarus when I let it happen again.”

I slowly walked into the room. I passed Jaden and walked towards Discord. I looked at Jaden. “Hey, can you give us a few minutes?” I said. “I need to talk to Discord.”

“Well what am I supposed to do?” Jaden said in an annoyed voice.

“Go get something to eat with Sunset and Twilight,” I responded.

He smiled. “Great idea,” he said cheerfully. I waited until he flew out of the room, and out of sight before I started talking to Discord.

“We need to leave,” I said.

“Well,” Discord said, “I suppose that it would be for the best. After all, you still need to look for whoever it is your looking for.”

“Yeah you’re right,” I said, “but the thing is, it’s dangerous out there especially now that the Chimera is gone. There’s no order. It’s just nothing but pure chaos.”

“And you want me to— give you something to blend in?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “I want you to show me your way around the town.”

Discord was taken aback by my question. “What are you talking about?” he asked with a little uneasiness in his voice.

“I found something of yours when Twilight and I brought Sunset in.” I pulled out a map from my back pocket and showed to Discord. “This are all your safe house locations aren’t they?”

“So?” he asked.

“They’re all lined up with some of the Canterlot’s underground tunnels. Tunnels we can use to travel the Black Plaguelands. The ones the Umbrella Yutani Corporation uses. The exact same corporation you worked for.”

Discord stayed quiet. I crossed my arms and waited for a response.

I continued. “You’re entitled to your secrets Discord, but if you have something that can helpful, you should know better than to keep it from us.”

“Why do you assume that I travel between my safe houses?” he responded with an edge in his voice. “Why do you think I have something to hide?”

“Drop the act Discord,” I said beyond annoyed. “I read files on you. We both have secrets sure, but we shouldn’t hide them from each other. That will hinder both of our agendas.”

“My job is to stop the X.X.X. Plague and save everyone that’s left. Don’t make it sound like I want anything more than that.” Discord composed himself. “Where the hell did you get those files on me anyway?”

“You’ll know in time.” The truth was I wasn’t even sure. “But the same source informed me about the X.X.X. Plague.” I saw Discord’s eyes widen. I smiled and continued, “And more importantly, I know the X.X.X. Plague’s source.”

“Really?” Discord asked not even trying to hide his interest. “The files you read talked about the source? Gloriosa didn’t even let me know about it. How did you find it?”

“It’s my job to find information,” I said nonchalantly, “and we could help each other out here.”

“You know my agenda, what’s yours?”

“I want to know why my part in all this is. I’m involved somehow and I want to know how.”

Discord walked to the other side of the room deep in thought. “Fine,” he finally said. “I will give you help if you give me the information you gain from your travels. Is that a deal?” I nodded. “Excellent. I do have a method of travel, but it’s very limited.”

“I know,” I said. “There are tunnels linking each of your safe houses, but you only have four of them.”

Discord smiled. “You have almost everything right,” he said smugly, “but not quite everything.”

“Enlighten me,” I said. “Where’s the tunnel entrance here?”

“Its in my room’s closet. Following the tunnel will take you to my primary safe house, but that’s the only place you can travel to.”

“What about the other safe houses?” I asked. “I thought they were all connected.”

“They are, but the tunnels closed themselves as a precaution against the outbreak. Each tunnel must be opened from the safe house it’s connected to.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “The center safe house is in the sparkle zone near the police station, and that’s where I want to go. Make sure the tunnel is ready for when Sunset, Twilight, and I leave.”

“I’ll change the tunnel’s locking systems so that it will be able to stay open from both sides after you reach the tunnel you want to use.”

“That’s perfect,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to make sure Sunset is ready.” I began walking back to the hallway to join Sunset and Twilight before we set off back to the police station.

“Wait,” Discord suddenly called. “So what do you know about the source?”

I smiled and turned back to him. “Sorry Discord, but that information is the only leverage I have right now.” I turned back to the hall and continued walking. “I just need to make sure I’ll gain the information I need first,” I said to myself once I was out of earshot. I continued walking until I reached the kitchen door. I opened it and went inside.

“Hey Octy,” Twilight greeted. “Did you get what you wanted from Discord?”

“Yeah,”I said. “He gave me a quick and safe way between his safe houses. They’re all connected by a tunnel system that should be able to take us to the police station.”

“Is there a way to the outpost we’re supposed to check out?” Sunset asked.

“No,” I responded, “but there’s a safe house out there we can use to get back to main one. It’s going to make traveling a lot safer and easier.”

“So we can use it to restock supplies and then we just take a car to CHS?” Twilight asked.

“That’s right,” I answered.

“What are we waiting for then?” Sunset said anxiously as she grabbed the supply bag Twilight had left in the corner of the room. “Let’s get moving.”

“Wait a little,” I said. “Discord still needs to get everything ready. It won’t take long.” I walked to a chair next to the table Twilight and Sunset were seated at and sat down. I could see that Sunset didn’t like my response. “There’s Nothing we can do to make this faster, so just try to relax.”

Sunset exhaled loudly. “I guess you’re right,” she said halfheartedly, and then exhaled loudly again.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “There at least veteran cops in that place. I’m sure that everyone there is safe, including Applejack. And besides, it’ll only take a few seconds.” Sunset nodded. Discord came rushing in the room with a bag in his hand.

“Are you all ready to leave?” he asked. We all nodded. “Good the tunnel is ready for all of you now. As for you,” he turned to Jaden, “may I examine you and your Plague for a bit longer?”

Jaden looked taken aback by the question, but he smiled. “Sure,” he said. “It’s nice talking to someone who isn’t a robot for a change, especially now that all of the robots are broken."

“Thanks for everything,” I said to both Discord and Jaden. They nodded. We went into Discord’s room. I noticed the carpet in Discord’s closet was ripped out. I saw the hole leading to the tunnels within it. I began climbing down the bars into the tunnels. In a few seconds I would be back in the dark underbelly of Canterlot, but I knew it was a safer path than before. At least, I hoped it would be.

Dr. Gloriosa Daisy had been in her lab for days studying the corrupted monsters she had contained. She took a moment away from her test subjects and virus samples to observe the evolution of the X.X.X. Plague outside her complex. She had been surprised to hear that one of the Chimeras had been neutralized by some unknown group of people and some anthro pony. Dr. Gloriosa had the pleasure of meeting the Infernoland Chimera briefly before her assassination. The Chimera was taken out right as Gloriosa had convinced her to expand her territory and infect more people.

Dr. Gloriosa was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice her visitor until she was right in front of her. “Hello Gloriosa,” the female voice breathed out, “it’s been far too long.”

She quickly turned around with her hands clenched and ready to punch whoever was behind her. She froze in place once she realized who it was. “Oh Krystrus,” she said timidly, “I’m sorry ma’am; I didn’t know it was you.”

“What progress have you made on your little experiments?” Krystrus asked.

Dr. Gloriosa looked at the woman in front of her. She was wearing a black leather jacket with matching leather pants and black high heels. She had long braided black hair with blue and purple stripes. Her eyes were covered with her sunglasses. She was taller than Gloriosa was, and though she was slightly physically weaker than her, Gloriosa knew that trying to kill her would almost instantly lead her to her death. “I do have some progress to report.”

“Well then,” Krystrus said as she sat down in the seat adjacent to Gloriosa’s seat, “show me your progress.”

“Of course,” Gloriosa said trying to sound apathetic. Gloriosa didn’t have any problems with most of her three superiors because she knew that most of them couldn’t touch her. She was too valuable an asset for everyone, with the unfortunate exception of the woman sitting in front of her.

“Let’s begin on the X.X.X. Plague’s effect on its host,” Krystrus suggested.

“The effects vary between hosts,” Gloriosa explained. “There are certain obvious factors like genetics and health that play heavily on the X.X.X. Plague’s influences on the host, but surprisingly, state of mind and self-worth seem to play just as an important part as well.”

“So your feelings affect the X.X.X. Plague?” Krystrus asked sarcastically.

“Let’s take a look at one of my test subjects,” Gloriosa walked towards one of the many containment rooms she had in her lab. There were up to a hundred containers in total. They each had one of the test subjects Gloriosa had collected throughout the Black Plaguelands. Each room had a glass cover as a fourth wall so that Gloriosa could easily see her subjects. She stood outside a room with a sign labeled MLP-624 and pointed towards the subject inside.

Krystrus then rose from her seat and walked towards Gloriosa. She peered into the containment room in moderate disgust. The current test subject inside the room looked more than dead. His body was deteriorating. What did remain didn’t seem strong or even stable, especially when she knew he might try to make himself explode. His head was partially damaged and his head was severely tilted back so that neither Gloriosa nor Krystrus could see his face.

“His genetics and health should have caused him to become one of the generic creatures,” Gloriosa stated, “but he wasn’t emotionally stable. He was completely broken when I found him. He was just waiting near a corpse of a woman. Holding its hand, waiting for the X.X.X. Plague to revive it. When the body reanimated, MLP-624 just allowed it to bite him. He wanted to kill him, but I took him so that I could observe the effects of the X.X.X. Plague.”

“So the effect is fueled by a subject’s current mental state?” Krystrus asked.

“That is correct,” Gloriosa replied.

“Do you have any other test subjects that show the opposite effect? A subject that became stronger?”

“Of course,” Gloriosa replied. She walked to another container with a sign labeled MLP-632 above it. Krystrus walked close behind Gloriosa. She pointed towards the subject inside. This subject looked normal. The test subject was a woman in her middle twenties. She didn’t have any outward mutation or any apparent corrupted related deformities. She had her head down as if she was asleep.

“She’s infected by the X.X.X. Plague?” Krystrus asked skeptically. “She doesn’t look strong enough to handle it.”

“I’ll show you,” Gloriosa said calmly. She tapped on the glass wall separating the corrupted human from Gloriosa and Krystrus. Krystrus leaned closer to the glass to see how the subject would react. Gloriosa tapped on the glass wall again. The test subject lifted her head and eyed the two people watching her outside her room. Her eyes were a glowing mix of colors people would see in fires. The red, and orange in her eyes were swirling and twisting as she looked at them.

Her arms burst into flames as she sprinted towards the glass wall. She savagely beat the wall in trying to attack Gloriosa or Krystrus. “I’ll burn this place to the ground you fucking bitch!” she yelled to Gloriosa.

Krystrus gazed at the subject at the test subject. “Does she retain her intelligence too?” she asked.

Yes,” Gloriosa said.

“So her state of mind caused her to evolve?” Krystrus said as more of a statement rather than a question. “Is this everything you found?”

“Not even close,” Gloriosa said proudly. “Follow me.” She lead her visitor to a table that displayed a hologram of Canterlot. “This was the city before the outbreak.” Canterlot looked normal. It’s industrial side, commercial side, residential side, and richer side all seemed to be clean and intact. It was healthier than Gloriosa could have ever remember. She had forgotten how beautiful her home city was.

“It’s cleaner than most cities,” Krystrus said. “It’s almost a shame.”

“Indeed,” Gloriosa said with a little regret in her voice.” Now look at it ten days after the first large scale outbreak.” The hologram updated itself to looked like the Plague ridden city Gloriosa last saw. Canterlot now had areas filled with debris and other clusters of junk. There were areas of fire, and areas that still seemed slightly clean. Many streets had barricades and other forms of defense against the X.X.X. Plague.

“And this,” Gloriosa said with a little pride in her voice, “is the current state of Canterlot.” The hologram updated itself once again. Krystrus gazed in amazement. The city was now divided into various territories. Each of the territories had their own unique features.

“What is this?” Krystrus asked not trying to hide her astonishment.

“This is what I call the Black Plaguelands,” Gloriosa said proudly. “The Black Plaguelands is made out of controlled territories.”

“Controlled territories?”

“The Infernobraze,” she said as she gestured towards a section of the land that was partially on fire. The fire stopped in unusual locations around the Infernoland giving it the appearance of a border. “The Frostfalls.” She moved her hand and pointed towards a more suburban side of Canterlot completely covered in snow. There were parts of that section that were completely frozen off creating another border like appearance. “The Electric Fields.” She motioned towards the richer section of Canterlot that was covered in clouds. It was difficult to see anything in that area. “The Psychological Industrial Complex.” She motioned towards the industrial side of Canterlot. It didn’t look very different from the hologram’s rendering of that part of the city. “And everything in between is known as the inner Black Plagueland.”

Krystrus paused for a moment. She turned towards the subject. “I’m gonna take a guess in saying that she’s from the Infernoland?” she asked.

“Yes,” Gloriosa responded.

“So the population of the Infernoland consists of people like her?”

“That isn’t all that resides in each Black Plagueland. Each territory has a leader. Discord Hammond calls them Chimeras. They are the first of their line and seemingly the strongest. Each of the Black Plaguelands has one with the exception of the inner Plagueland. There are currently three active Chimeras that we know of.”

“What happened to the fourth?”

“She was incapacitated,” Gloriosa said, “but nothing more is known about it.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Everything else will be in my report.” Gloriosa answered.

“Good, but I think I’ll stay here for a little while to make sure everything goes well. This event is a researcher’s dream. We can learn all we need to know about the X.X.X. Plague here. We’ll keep your findings between the two of us. There’s no need for our benefactors to have all the information now is there.” Gloriosa nodded. “By the way,” she said. “Where’s Discord?”

Gloriosa hesitated. She had completely lost Discord’s location and wasn’t looking forward to letting her guest know that.

“I’ve searched Discord’s house, but I didn’t find anything. Not even some of the research he was working on.”

“That truly is quite a shame,” Krystrus said with disappointment in her voice, “but at least you’re still alive.”

“I will continue with my experiments until I yield the results I need,” Gloriosa said.

“Good, but we need to gain all of the information we can before we start the real experiments.”

“What experiments do you have in mind?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Krystrus said ominously. “I think I should take a little trip around town and see all the sights. But before I go, tell me more about this incapacitated Chimera.”

It didn’t take long for Octavia, Twilight, and I to travel to Discord’s main safe house. The tunnels felt much safer than the sewers ever did. Discord’s main safe house was in a building in the same block the police station was located. I ran to the police station as fast as I could. Octavia and Twilight followed close behind. Twilight was carrying the supply bag again.

We reached the police station’s outer gate. It was locked. Octavia reached in her pocket and retrieved a key ring with a single key on it. She used it to unlock the gate.

I looked around and saw that the street was empty. As I inspected the empty streets, my mind began to wander on my trip through the Infernoland. I was still uneasy by how Octavia was acting. I was sure that she had something she was hiding and I began to feel like Discord knew something about it. Octavia’s private talk with Discord only fueled my suspicions.

“Hey Sunset,” Twilight called, “you coming or not?” Twilight gestured to the opened gate.

“Yeah,” I said half distracted. “I’m coming.” I turned back to Twilight and Octavia, Octavia was already knocking on the door, while Twilight was just waiting for me. I took this time to share my suspicions. “Hey Twilight,” I said in a low voice so that Octavia couldn’t overhear us. “Do you think we can trust Octavia?”

“Of course,” she replied somewhat surprised. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I just don’t think she’s being one hundred percent honest with us.”

“What makes you say that?”

“She sounds like she has knowledge and training about this stuff.”

“Well Octavia and I have traveled around the Black Plaguelands; we both have a good amount of knowledge. And as far as training goes, she’s a cop; she must have a good amount of training under her belt.”

“But don’t you think there’s still something she’s hiding?”

“Maybe,” Twilight responded, “but I think she cares about us. I’m sure whatever she’s hiding isn’t important enough to stop trusting her.

“I guess,” I responded halfheartedly, “but let’s keep an eye on her just in case.”

Twilight looked at me and sighed. “She doesn’t deserve this, but fine,” she said reluctantly.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Hey, what’re you two waiting for?” Octavia asked. “Are you coming or what?” I glanced at Twilight. The three of us walked through the door. A single guard protected it.

“Hey Twilight,” the guard said. “It’s nice to see you in one piece.”

“You too,” Twilight responded. “So where’s Vinyl?”

“She’s upstairs waiting for any sign of you guys,” he replied. “I’ll tell her your back.” The guard walked the three of us back into the room full of desks. Octavia walked to the desk I had found her before and sat down.

“It’s good to be back,” Octavia said. “So where’s Vinyl?”

“She’ll be here soon,” he answered. He grabbed a bag of chips that was lying on the table closest to the door and walked out of the room. I walked to the desk Octavia was resting on and waited for Vinyl to arrive.

“Why are we waiting for Vinyl anyway?” I asked.

“She’s going to give us details on the trip,” Octavia said. “We should probably figure out who’s going to go, and who’s going to stay.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Aren’t the three of us going to go like last time?”

“Maybe,” Octavia responsed, “but we might need more people in case there are swarms or corrupted humans or other animals.”

“I guess that’s fine,” I didn’t like the idea of having a group of people watching me as I go into my celestial warrior trance, but I did like the possible help.

“Don’t worry, you’ll still be paired with one of us,” Octavia reassured me.

“What exactly makes you think I’m going?” I asked.

“You’re the strongest one out of the three of us,” Octavia said,” Octavia said. “Just keep yourself in check, and you’ll be fine.” I knew what she meant by “in check.” She didn’t want to let the others see my abilities either. Twilight didn’t seem to care as much as Octavia. It was as if Twilight didn’t even seem to know at all. “So who would you choose to go with you anyway?”

“I have no idea,” I said. I knew that the clear choice was Octavia. She was smart and knowledgeable about the XXX Plague. Above all, I didn’t want to see Twilight put in harm’s way.

“Hey, you guys are back,” Vinyl said as she walked in and gave Octavia a kiss on the lips. “So how did everything go?”

“We’ll tell you on the way to Canterlot High outpost,” I said statically. Octavia gestured to Vinyl as if to tell her that we were in a hurry.

“Okay,” she replied, “but you guys can’t all go. Some people from the other outpost have sent people too. We only have to send two.”

“That’s understandable darling,” Octavia said. “Sunset should go for sure, but as for her partner…” she trailed off probably hoping someone else would be chosen.

“I think you should come,” I said to Octavia. “You know how to navigate around Canterlot, and I need that.” Despite my feelings towards Octavia, I wanted her to come with me. She had yet to let me down after all.

“Aright then,” Vinyl said. “Your car’s already prepped to go.” She handed a file to Octavia and then left the room.

“Twilight,” Octavia said, “put some supplies in the supply bag for Sunset and me.” She turned to leave. “Let’s go wait outside,” Octavia walked out of the room, and I quickly followed. We walked to the front of the police station in silence. When we reached the gate, the car Vinyl mentioned was already waiting. Octavia went to the door on the driver’s side and entered. I entered the passenger’s seat next to her. Together, we waited for Twilight.

“She’s taking her time,” I said annoyed.

“Tell me about it,” Octavia agreed, “but she’ll get here.” Twilight ran out when Octavia finished her sentence. “See? She’s right on schedule.”

Twilight ran to the car, handed me the bag, and ran back. “Good luck ladies!” we heard her shout as she ran back.

“What’s up with her?” I asked Octavia. She shrugged and began to drive forward. She must have been given something better to do by Vinyl. “You know where we need to go?”

“I do,” Octavia said nonchalantly. We were going through the sparkle zone path Applejack, Octavia, and I traveled through the first time we went out on our first mission. Octavia was driving faster than before. It almost looked like she could sense my urgency. “Don’t worry she’ll be fine.”

“I know,” I said trying to sound confident. We continued driving in silence until we reached Canterlot High. “Where is everyone?” I asked Octavia.

“Probably still coming,” she replied. “We must be the first ones to arrive.”

“We should explore,” I said. Octavia stayed quiet for a moment. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. She shook her head. “It’ll be quick.”

Octavia opened her eye. “You can explore while I wait here for back up. You’re strong enough to handle yourself, and if the need comes, you can use your...” Octavia hesitated for a moment. “Let’s call them magical talents.”

“Alright,” I said, “but be careful.”

“You too,” she responded. I exited the car and began walking towards the high school. It was a two story building made out or almost entirely yellow and gold bricks. It had many other smaller buildings behind the main building and a large Wondercolt statue with a large red fence entrapping everything. This was the high school I had gon to when I was younger. I sighed and walked forward.

I threw a glance at Octavia before I entered. She was watching me intently with a radio in one hand and her magnum in the other. I turned back to the school and walked forward. The gate was opened. I walked to the front building’s main door. I reached for the doorknob, but realized that someone had shot the lock on the door. “That’s not good,” I whispered to myself as I quickly retrieved my berettas from my pockets and slowly opened the door.

The first room I came across was Principal Celestia’s office. It was empty. I stood still trying to hear any noise or feel any movement, but I didn’t feel anything. I walked to the backdoor, but before I could enter, I heard the sound of someone moving. It was subtle at first, but I was sure there was someone in the next room. I opened the door and walked in. It was just as empty as the front.

I stopped moving again. I could hear someone breathing hard. “Hello?” I asked. “Is there anyone here?” I could hear the breathing try to steady itself, but it was still too fast to miss. “I know there’s someone in there.” The breathing quickened as if the person breathing was on the verge of panic. “It’s alright I’m not here to hurt you.”

I followed the sound of breathing outside another office. The office was small and looked like it belonged to Vice Principal Luna. The breathing started to slow down again and in a matter of seconds, it was smooth and controlled. I slowly opened the door and walked in. I wasn’t able to see anyone, but I could hear the person. I walked to the other side of a desk that was facing the door and found the person making the noise.

She was a girl who looked no older than seventeen. She had red hair and green eyes. She ran for the door the moment those green eyes looked at me. I caught her before she could escape the room.

“Let me go!” she yelled.

“It’s alright,” I said trying to calm her down. “Follow me.” I held her hand and escorted her out of the building. She didn’t resist. She was too afraid to react. We walked back to the front gate. I immediately noticed that there were four more police cars now. One of the cars had people inside. They rushed out at the sight of us.

“Are you two okay?” one of the cops asked.

“We’re Fine,” I replied. “Where’s Octavia?”

“She went out with the other three to explore the back.”

There were bodies everywhere and thankfully Applejack wasn’t among them. I examined,ost of them and came to the same conclusion for all of them. “These people weren’t killed by the X.X.X. Plague, they were killed by other people,” I said with a little sadness in my voice. “Demons weren’t even involved.”

“Dear God,” one of my reinforcements said. “You’re saying that other people did this?” I nodded. “That’s just beyond fucked up.”

“Is it really that much of a surprise?” I asked. “I mean everyone’s scared. The people who did this were probably fighting for their own outpost. Maybe they were low on food and decided to attack someone who had it.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t justify an attack on an outpost that was completely peaceful,” he replies with an edge.

“You’re right,” I said as I finished examining a bullet wound from one of the bodies. “But that’s how they justify it. It’s a very sad thing, especially for the people who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” I sighed. “Let’s go back to the front. There nothing more to see here.” The three of us walked out of the gymnasium and began walking back to the front of the building.

I wasn’t sure why anyone would want to attack an outpost, however I had a pretty good idea who was behind the attack. The only group I knew who would do something like this was rogue survivor group Sunset, Twilight, and I had seen in the Infernoland not so long ago. They were truly heartless towards their fellow man.

It didn’t take us long to reach our destination. Sunset seemed to be trying to comfort someone who survived the massacre, but it didn’t look like she was talking about what had happened. Sunset was starting to look frustrated. She looked towards us. The girl’s gaze turned to me. She burst to life and ran for me. At first I was taken aback by her sudden movement. I wasn’t sure what she was trying to do until she finally did it. The sole survivor wrapped her arms around me as tightly as she could. I put my arms on her shoulders and tried to calm her down. Thank god you came,” she said. I could hear the fear in her voice. It took me a second, but I eventually recognized her.

“Babs Seed, right?” I asked. She lifted her tear filled face up to me and nodded. “What happened here?”

“They attacked us,” she sobbed. “These people who call themselves The Shadowbolt Clan, and they just attacked us. They tried to take our supplies, but we didn’t let them, so they attacked us.”

“Is there anyone else here”? I asked.

“No they killed almost everyone,” she replied, “and the people they didn’t kill, they took them away.”

“Where did they take them?” I asked a little more intensely than I wanted to.

“Back to their outpost in the snowy place.”

I sighed and looked away from Babs. “The Frostfalls,” I whispered to myself. I looked at her again. “Hey Babs, these people are here to help.” I pointed to the two people that had followed me through the school. “Stay with them and the rest of us will try and find the others. She looked at me intently and tightened her grip on me.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She let go of me and walked to the others. I walked back to Sunset.

“Why did she talk to you instead of anyone else?” she asked.

“I saw her when Applejack and I delivered supplies here and she’s also Applejack’s cousin,” I answered.

“Did you find Applejack?” Sunset asked half hopeful and half terrified.

“No,” I answered, “but Babs told me where we can find her if she’s still alright.”

“Where?”

“The Frostfalls,” I answered. “I’ll start the car while you tell everyone to follow me.” I walked to my car and got in the driver’s side. I quietly waited for Sunset to finish talking to the other people. I started the car as soon as she was done talking. She walked to the passenger’s side and got in the car.

“They’re ready,” Sunset said, “but they don’t like your plan.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “We have to go if we want to save them.”

“I know, I’d do the same thing.”

“I know you would. Maybe we can kill the Chimera while we’re at it too. That would make things easier for everyone.”

“Yeah,” she replied, “but before that, I want some justice towards the rogues for what they did to the outpost.” I nodded. We traveled and passsed a few blocks until we arrived at the Frostfall’s barricade. Sunset exited our car as our back up did the same thing. I grabbed our supply bag and joined the others shortly afterwards. Babs stayed back in one of the cars.

Fourteen of us walked towards the barricade and stopped abou ten feet away. “So who’s staying behind?” one of the women asked. “Someone needs to take care of the girl.”

“You all decide who’s going with us,” Sunset said. “Octavia and I are not staying behind.” Sunset looked towards me for reassurance.

“She’s right,” I said. “The two of us will go one way and the other group will go another.”

“If you’re going to go you need something to keep in touch,” another woman said. “Take these.” She handed Sunset and me walkie-talkies. “They’ll cover the whole Frostfalls.”

“Thanks,” Sunset said. I waved to the others and began climbing the Frostfalls barricade. “Hey Tavi, why didn’t they try to stop us from coming alone?”

“Twilight probably told everyone about you,” I replied. We climbed to the very top of the barricade. Sunset looked back to the inner Black Plagueland and signaled for me to do the same. “You ready?” Sunset nodded. “Good. Now let’s go through the Frostfalls.”

I didn’t know my way through the Frostfalls like I did the Infernobraze. It was a completely new territoy for me. The moment I looked forward I felt uncertain. It was Sunset and me against another new world. I was nervous, but I couldn’t let Sunset know.

The Frostfalls was exactly what the name implied. The land was dominated by ice and snow. There was a thick layer of thick fog covering the area making it impossible to see passed a few feet. The sky was a light shade of grey that complemented the white and blue of the land. It seemed so unnatural, especially because the rest of the city was completely snow free.

“The fog might be a bit of a problem,” Sunset said. “It’s going to make it difficult to get through this place.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Stay close. I’ve never been to this part of the Black Plaguelands before, so I can’t navigate as well.” We cautiously walked forward. “Why do you think they’d set up an outpost here? The Shadowbolts I mean.”

“Maybe they thought they’d be safe against the other survivors if they stayed here,” Sunset replied. “If it’s like the Infernoland, I can understand why no one would come here.”

“Maybe,” I said, “but it doesn’t look like it’s worth the risk. Here, they have to fight ice demons and navigate carefully.”

“They might have some way of navigating that we can’t see,” Sunset said.

“You’re probably right,” I said, “but I don’t think it’s safe to wander around and try to find it. Our best bet is for you to use your super sensitive hearing.”

“Aright, but I’m not sure if it’s too reliable,” Sunset said. “I could use it for a while after taking out the Infernoland Chimera.” I was sure the reason for Sunset’s sense impairment had to do with her active ability taking hold.

“Try anyway,” I replied. Sunset closed her eyes and stood still. We stood in the middle of the street for a few seconds, waiting for Sunset to hear anything. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked to me.

“I can hear gunfire,” she said as she began to run forward. I followed behind, but Sunset ran too fast for me to keep pace. It looked like she was running faster, which meant her infection was taking hold. I was convinced that fighting the Chimeras would make her stronger. The first active power I saw her develop was her senses and physical abilities getting stronger. I was beginning to looked forward to seeing other possible skills she could end up having, but in the back of my mind, I also feared that they might be a problem to control.

“Slow down a little,” I said, “I’m not nearly as fast as you are.” I could suddenly see that Sunset was making an effort to slow down for me. She didn’t slow down by much, but it was enough for me to keep pace.

I ran through the mist as fast as I could until I finally slipped on the ice covered floor and slid forward a few feet. Sunset turned towards me while still running and laughed. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice the block of ice in front of her until it was too late. Crash. She smacked into the block of ice at full force. It made a large and painful cracking sound. Sunset fell onto the floor completely motionless.

“Sunset?” I whispered. She didn’t respond. “Sunset?” I whispered again. This time, I could hear a soft moan of pain. I sighed in relief. “You alright there honey?”

Sunset moaned again. “My head,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. “That sounded painful. I heard a crack.” We both got up and walked to the block of ice. It was almost completely covered in a layer of snow. The only part of the block that wasn’t covered was the section Sunset’s head had collided with. “Yeah, that’s quite a crack.”

“Why?” Sunset asked angrily. “Why would there be a random block of ice in the middle of the street?”

“Comic relief maybe?” I asked mockingly.

“It’s just too random,” she said as she rubbed some of the snow off the block of ice. Sunset let out a cry or surprise as she tumbled to the ground behind her. I looked back at her. She pointed forward into the block of ice with a shaky figure. I walked to the block of ice. I looked at the segment of it she was pointing towards and felt a jolt of surprise and alarm. There was a pair of eyes looking out of the block of ice.

“Sweet Celestia,” I said as I rubbed off more of the frost from the block.

“What? What does that-?” Sunset trailed off. She was clearly confused about the situation.

“This was a person who was unlucky enough to get caught by one of the locals,” I said to her incomplete question. Sunset began to wander a little ahead of me trying to shake off the shock. It was becoming harder to see her, but I could still hear her footsteps. I examined the frozen body carefully. He was dressed in a black leather jacket much like Sunset’s and was armed with a shotgun. I began pondering what he has been doing here. He clearly had some reason for being here. The sound of Sunset’s footsteps stopped.

“Octavia,” she called out. “Look at this.” I walked carefully passed the man trapped in ice and towards Sunset. I followed her footprints in the snow until I could see her again.

“What?” I wasn’t sure what she was trying to show me. I couldn’t see very far passed the fog, so I had to wait for her to show me. “What am I looking for?”

“Just look around,” she responded. I walked around trying to find whatever Sunset was talking about. I walked until I reached a section of land that wasn’t completely covered in fog. I stopped in shock of what was around me. There were more blocks of ice around us. There were at least thirteen of them. I walked to the nearest one and rubbed off a layer of snow covering it, and as I feared, there was someone inside. I walked to the next block, uncovered it and saw another person frozen within.

“They’re all wearing winter gear and holding a weapon,” I said.

“Do you think they knew what they were doing here?”

“I’m sure of it. I’m almost sure that they were part of the Shadowbolts.” It did make a lot of sense. They almost looked like they were stationed here. They were all armed. Unfortunately though, this information didn’t really help us on our search for the hostages the rogue survivors took. Seeing this only help us better understanding the powers the ice Xenomorphs had.

“This place is worse than the Infernoland,” Sunset said. “Look at all these bodies. At least the Infernoland didn’t display its victims on the border so that everyone could see them.”

“Yes they did,” I said factually.

“What?” Sunset asked skeptically. “I never saw any of them around the Infernoland.”

“That’s because I avoided all the bodies. The Infernobraze was worse than this place. We took a route that didn’t have any bodies in it. At least here you can’t smell them.” Sunset looked unnerved. I almost regret saying anything. “Sunset, try to remember where the sound of the gunfire came from.

It was clear by Sunset’s expression that she has forgotten about the sound of gunfire she had heard not too long ago. Sunset nodded and stood still trying to listen to any signs of movement. I waited patiently for her to hear anything. “Either my hearings gone bad again or the gunfire stopped,” she said. “Whatever, we’ll just go to where I think the sound was coming from.”

“No running this time,” I protested. “The fog’s too thick.” Sunset nodded. We walked carefully together passed the blocks of ice and back through the street. The fog became thinner the further into the Frostfalls we traveled. It was becoming easier to see around. We walked further along in utter silence. I tried my best to listen for movement, but my hearing wasn’t as good as Sunset’s. We walked for a few more feet and Sunset suddenly stopped. She stood completely still for a few seconds. “I hear something,” she said as she began running again.

“Like talking to Applejack’s dog Winona,” I said to myself completely aware that Sunset could have heard me. I didn’t object. There wasn’t as much fog this time. Sunset constantly turned through the streets which made predicting her movements a little harder than usual.

She stopped walking after a while. I slowed my pace and then stopped right next to her. She stood as still as before to try and hear movement. “I hear people walking near by,” Sunset said. “There are only a few of them, and they’re walkng slowly, like they’re being careful.”

“Okay, lead the way.” Sunset ran forward in a full sprint. I ran as fast as I could, but was still not able to keep pace with her. She ran to the end of the block and turned to the left. When I reached the corner, she was gone. I stopped and looked around for a moment. I saw Sunset’s footprints leading into an alley. I followed the trail until I was out of the street.

Sunset stood in the center of the alley. She signaled for me to stay quiet by placing her finger over her mouth. She then signaled me to follow her. I nodded. We both walked through the alley until we reached its end. Sunset signaled for us to hide behind the back of a staircase leading to a door into a building.

I waited patiently for whatever Sunset was expecting me to see, while she looked intently towards a door I hadn’t noticed the first time we passed. We were waiting out of sight. All I could hear was my own low and steady breath. It took a few minutes before I heard the sound of someone walking nearby. I looked to Sunset, Who was beginning to tense up; she looked like she was ready to fight.

I opened my mouth to try and ask her what was planning, she covered my mouth with her hand and signaled for me to be quiet again. I had no clue what Sunset was going to do. I was a little uncertain but proud of her behavior. She was acting more like a soldier the longer she explored the Black Plaguelands. ”Maybe she’ll lose that ‘I don’t trust you’ look she always seems to give me when she thinks I’m not looking.” I thought to myself.

I tensed up as I saw the doorknob turn. The door opened and two tall bulky men walked out of the room. As big as they were, I had a feeling that Sunset could easily overpower them alone.

Sunset turned to me. “Go,” she said so low that I had to read her lips to understand. I pulled out my knife and looked back at Sunset to see what she thought.

She signaled for me to put the knife down, and I understood what she wanted me to do. I waitied for the two strangers to walk into the street before peering out and watching them from the side of the staircase. They walked together slowly as they headed back out into the street.

I sprinted forward towards the men. None of the steps I took made any sound. I jumped onto the man on the left and struck him in the head six merciless times. As soon as he was down, I turned to his friend. The remaining man hadn’t reacted to me yet from sheer surprise, but he seemed to regain his awareness just in time for me to punch him in his stomach. He kneeled down in pain unable to call for help. I had punched the air out of his stomach.

Sunset quickly walked to me. “Damn girl, where’d you learn how to do that?” she asked, a lot of surprise in her voice.

“Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?” I asked confused.

“Well yeah,” she said still shocked, “but I thought that you were going to use a brick or something to bring them down. I didn’t think you could do that with your bare hands. Where the hell did you learn that? I’ve never seen a police officer nor an anthro pony do that before.”

“Let’s just say I’m full of surprises,” I said casually. “So what did you want this guy for?” Sunset still looked a little dazed by the sudden burst of power I showed. I could see in her eyes that despite her developing abilities, she was intimidated by me. I smiled on the inside. “Sunset?”

“Right,” Sunset said as she focused back to me. “Let’s get him out of here before he calls for help.” Sunset dragged the conscious thug out of the alley and into another alley on the other side of the street. I did the same with the unconscious thug. Sunset moved her hostage with ease. I on the other hand, struggled to move mine. After a while, I reached Sunset.

Sunset had found a door and already forced her hostage through it. She came back outside and helped me do the same. When we entered, I looked at the hostage Sunset had taken and noticed something was off. “Wasn’t this guy conscious when I finished him?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Sunset replied, “but it was easier to take him in like this.” I didn’t respond. We were in what must have been the back of a bar. Sunset had tied both of the thugs to chairs she found in one of the backrooms. They were still out cold. I went into another backroom and got a pail. I filled it with water and went back into the room with the thugs.

“So you’re sure they’re Shadowbolt rogues?” I asked Sunset.

“Pretty sure,” she replied, “but what are we going to do with them after we get them to talk?”

“Let me worry about that,” I said with false confidence. I wasn’t sure what we’d do to the thugs, but it didn’t matter at the time anyway. I poured some of the water on the man that had been out the longest, but he didn’t respond. I poured the rest on the guy Sunset had taken out. He woke up almost instantly.

“What the fuck’s going on,” he said.

“Are you one of the members of the Shadowbolt rogue survivor group that’s been massacring other outposts for supplies?” Sunset asked angrily.

The man grunted. “So what if I am?” What’re you gonna do about it bitch?”

“Well we already took you and your friend out,” I replied. “So there’s that.”

“You assholes are sick,” Sunset said with the same anger in her voice.

The thug just laughed. “We’re just trying to survive,” he said. “It’s just human nature.”

“Enough,” I said. “Here’s the deal: tell us what we want to know and we’ll come back here when we’ve finished our mission and let you go, or we could march you into the center of the Frostfalls and you can hope that your friends find you before the ice Xenos do.” I could see worry enter the thug’s eyes.

He stayed silent for a minute. He was thinking about what to do. “Okay,” he finally said. “Alright, I’ll talk; just please don’t leave me to the Cryo Spiders.” I assumed the words “Cryo Spiders” referred to the ice Xenos.

“Are you apart of the organization we talked about?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said reluctantly.

“Where are the hostages you took from the outpost?” Sunset asked determinedly with an edge in her voice.

“They’re in a warehouse a few blocks from here,” he replied.

“Where’d all that gunfire come from?” I asked.

The thug’s eyes narrowed. “A bunch of Cryo Spiders were following us. Some of us hid in buildings when they passed by.” He looked at the floor. I could se the anger in his face. I suspected that he might have lost a comrade or friend to the Cryo Spiders, but I couldn’t muster any sympathy for them. His organization was full of selfish bastards that didn’t give two shits about what happened to anyone they screwed over. The human world wouldn’t suffer if a few of them were in ice.

“How many people are in the warehouse?” I asked.

“There were about twenty of them, that’s all I know,” he said.

“Where’s the Chimera?” I finally asked. While this was a rescue mission, I couldn’t lose sight of taking down a Chimera.

“The what?” he asked in confusion.

“The leader of the Cryo Spiders,” Sunset said impatiently.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Now let me go."

“The deal was we’d come back when we finished,” I responded. “We aren’t letting you go until we free everyone.” The man glared at me. “By the way, why did your people take them away?”

“I didn’t ask,” he said with a trace of smugness. “I only did what I was told.”

“We’ll be back in an hour,” Sunset said. Sunset and I walked out of the bar and back out into the alley. I locked the door behind me and followed Sunset back into the streets. “Okay So here’s plan: I run and you follow. Agreed?” I didn’t like Sunset’s plan, not because it was simple, but because she seemed to improvise most of her actions. I was skilled enough to make it work, but not without difficulty. I nodded.

Sunset dashed through the streets in her now very familiar sprint, while I ran as fast as I could to reach her. This time however, something had changed. I noticed that the gap between Sunset and me began to close. She was keeping me near. Sunset must have finally begun to treat this place like a hazard.

We passed three more street blocks when Sunset began to slow down. “I can hear something,” she said.

“Should I stay quiet?” I asked loud enough for only her to hear me.

“No,” she replied. We ran through another block before Sunset was able to slow herself down to a walk. I began to walk right after I caught up with her. She pulled out both of her berettas, I prepared my magnum in case Sunset was going to run in blind again. We walked a little forward until we could see the warehouse the thug was talking about.

“Okay,” I said, “now we do this my way. Follow me and try to be as stealthy as possible.” Sunset nodded.

The two of us walked towards the warehouse, but still kept a small distance from it. I examined the surroundings carefully. I saw one main entrance to the warehouse, but there was also a side entrance that was accessible through another alley.

“Octavia,” Sunset said in a low voice, barely audible voice. “Someone’s coming.”

“Just follow me and keep out of sight,” I said to Sunset. The two of us ran into the alley and waited behind a car.

“There are at least six people outside,” Sunset said.

“Are they Shadowbolts?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. They sound like they’re sneak around the place,” she answered.

“What else could they—“ a sudden realization hit me. This was the Celestia damn Frostfalls. There should have been Cryo Spiders all around this place, but we had yet to see any of them. The only people we had seen were the Shadowbolts. Was it possible that unlike the Infernoland’s Pyronocks, the Frostfall’s Cryo Spiders were smarter and more organized than the other infected?

“Let’s get a better look,” I said. We both walked carefully to the end of the alley and peered passed the entrance to see who was going to enter the warehouse. I saw six people: four girls and two guys all of which looked about my age. They were all unarmed and had light clothing as if the cold didn’t affect them. Their eyes were an icy light blue, and they were glowing just like the eyes the Pyronocks did.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about this situation. On the one hand, the Cryo Spiders could provide a distraction for Sunset and me to take back the hostages, but on the other hand, using the Cryo Spiders as a distraction was dangerous. They were going to kill anything that wasn’t one of them.

“This is perfect,” Sunset said. “All we need to do is sneak around the warehouse. The Cryo Spiders and Shadowbolts will be too busy fighting each other to see us escape with the hostages.”

“That plan is a little ambitious,” I said truthfully. “What if we can’t find a way to get everyone out?”

“They’ll die if we leave them here. Do you have another plan?”

“I don’t,” I admitted. “You’re right, but you need to be careful. You can’t just improvise.”

“Fine,” she said. “You lead.” We waiter hidden behind an abandoned car as I tried to listen in for any sound of a fight. I turned to Sunset.

“Tell me when you hear them start.” Sunset nodded. I waited intently for Sunset to give me a signal. She was just as tense as I was. Crack. The sound of a wooden door being forced opened echoed across the streets. Bang-Bang-Bang. Moments later I heard the sound of gunfire. Bang-Bang. I dashed for the door in the absolutely silent stride only I knew how to do. Sunset ran behind me just as fast, but not as quiet.

We reached the door. I swiftly opened it and scanned what lay ahead of us. It was a small room with two doors and a single window facing the warehouse’s main storage room. There was a door leading to the storage area and a door leading to what I assumed was the back.

We crouched down and walked forward. Carefully, we walked to the window and peered through it. Bang-Bang-Bang. The sound of gunfire was louder here. I could see people taking cover behind cars and giant shipping boxes. They were trying to avoid what looked like projected ice shards. The shards were stronger than ice should’ve been. Some shards pierced through the metal and wood that shielded the Shadowbolts.

I made my way to the door that led to the back with Sunset a few feet behind me. I opened the door slowly and scanned the room. It was a hallway that turned to the right after about a fourty feet in. We lifted ourselves up from the floor and walked to the turn in th hall. There was a door at the very end. I walked to the door and opened it slightly. Sunset and I hid behind the door as more of the Shadowbolts ran and joined the fight a few feet away.

“I can hear people panicking in the back,” Sunset said. “I’ll take the lead now. You should cover me and do these stealth attacks you know how to do.”

“Okay,” I replied, “but tell me what you plan on doing before you do it. I absolutely hate going in blind.” Sunset nodded.

I waited for Sunset to move or give an order. She was able to hear the hostages and the Shadowbolts, so navigating would be easy. Sunset peered out the side of the door then ran for the back of the warehouse. I followed in the same silent manner I had been done before. When we arrived towards the back, I noticed there were no survivors here. “Where is everyone?” I asked.

“They’re all further back,” Sunset answered.

“We’re already in the back.” I said.

“No, we’re in the back of the warehouse, but not in the back of the thug’s base.” Sunset pointed towards the door and went through it as quickly as we could. We were back outside.

Sunset ran to another warehouse. She opened the door and walked quietly inside. I followed moments later. We crept around the main storage area until we came across a couple of guards. They were both near the end of the warehouse with their backs turned to us. There was a single door in between the two of them. I rummaged through the supply bag for the walkie-talkie I was given earlier. “Sunset and I found the hostages,” I whispered into the radio.

“Do you need our help freeing them?” one of the men asked.

“No,” I replied. “We can liberate them on our own, but you can clear a safe path for us.”

“Where do we go?” I spent the next few seconds giving the man on the other end of the walkie-talkie directions and a description of the dangers that were around the area. “Okay we’ll clear a path and meet you at the end.”

“You’re up,” Sunset said. I ran forward towards the two guards. They didn’t hear me running until it was too late. I punched the guy to the left once in the head and then switched to the other. I kicked him in the stomach then switched back to the first. I punched him twice more in the head and then I disengaged.

“Why do you always leave one unconscious?” Sunset asked.

“In case one of us has any questions,” I replied. I opened the door, peering inside as cautiously as ever. There were no guards in this room; the only people here were the hostages. They were all tied to chairs by fairly thick rope. There were about twenty five of them in total, and none of them seemed to be badly hurt.

I walked towards the closest survivor. Her head was down as if she was asleep, but I knew better. Every step I took towards her echoed through the room. I wanted them to hear me coming so that I wouldn’t scare them. “What the hell do ya want now?” she asked with an odd controlled anger in her southern voice. She didn’t even bother to look up.

“AJ?” Sunset asked. She looked up towards us in shock. After a moment, she smiled. We smiled back. She looked at Sunset, then to me, then back to Sunset.

“You’re alive,” she said happily. Her smile faded into a false irritated glare. “What took y’all so goddamn long?”

”Apperently a friend coming back from the dead wasn’t surprising to her,” I thought to myself, ”but then again this whole situation wasn’t exactly normal.”

Sunset and I looked at each other then back to Applejack. “Bad weather?” Sunset said as more of a question than a response.

“Well okay,” she said with a half-smile on her face, "thanks for comin’ Sunset. I knew you would come,” she said more to me than to Sunset. My smile widened.

“Don’t thank us yet,” I said as I began cutting through her rope with my knife. “We still need to find a way out of this place.” I moved on to another hostage as soon as I finished cutting Applejack’s ropes.

“That’s not a problem “ Sunset said. “My new friend over here will help us find a way.” She was pointing towards the guard I had left unconscious. “Isn’t that right?” she asked as she walked towards him.

He struggled to talk, but I couldn’t understand the muffled, “fuck you,” he was able to say.

“Let’s just tie him up and leave him and let the Cryo Spiders deal with him,” I suggested. The man looked to me with shock. Apparently he knew what the Cryo Spiders could do.

“Wait, wait,” he said. “I know hot to get you out of here easy. I’ll show you, but you have to take me with you.”

“Why? So that you can attack other outposts and kidnap people again?” Sunset asked bitterly.

“It’s wasn't my idea,” the guard said.

“You just helped?” Sunset interrupted.

“No, I didn’t!” The guard said with a surprising amount of anger in his voice. “I had nothing to do with any of the things these people are doing. I’m only here because they told me that it was safe with them.”

“It’s true sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Some people are only here because they think this place is safer than the other outposts.”

“I could’ve called for help, but I didn’t,” the guard said. “I was here since the beginning. If you get me out of here I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Deal,” I said as I cut the last hostage free.

“What?” Sunset asked in surprise. “You can’t possibly think that these people will—“

“Listen,” I interrupted Sunset. “I understand that you’re mad at these people, but you need to think. This will help us. You can judge him later, but for now you have to let him help. Just keep an eye on him.” We both looked towards Applejack for either her support or opposition to my idea.

“Ah think Octavia has a point,” she said.

“How can you think that?” Sunset protested. “You were kidnapped by them.”

“Ah learned to trust Octavia’s judgement,” she replied as she looked at me. I blushed a little.

“You girls find an exit,” I said composing myself. “I’m going to make sure nopony follows you all.” I also planned on seeing the Cryo Spider’s abilities firsthand, but I didn’t want Applejack or Sunset knowing that.

“Just be careful,” Applejack said.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied. I nodded to Sunset and she nodded back. I took out a few supplies that I needed out of the supply bag, then handed the bag to Sunset. I was careful not to take anything that they would need.

I didn’t have Sunset’s super hearing to rely on anymore, so I’d just have to use my own stealth skills to keep me safe. I carefully walked back to the warehouse where most of the fighting was taking place in. I took a deep breath and opened the backdoor. I quickly glanced inside the warehouse to check the situation. There were still a few Shadowbolts fighting, but most of them were frozen. The Cryo Spiders that had invaded were all still alive.

I snuck around the main battle and back through the path Sunset and I first used to enter. I was back in the first room. There were only two doors. The door to the left that led to the fight nearby, and the door to the right that led back outside. I took the door on the left.

I ducked down as close to the floor as possible. There was a staircase leading to the second floor and to a catwalk above the fight. I immediately climbed it to the top. Every step I made was unnaturally quiet. I walked on the catwalk and looked below to watch the Cryo Spiders.

My vision was good enough so that I could see each bullet and ice shard being fired. I was able to see an ice shard penetrate one of the Shadowbolt’s chest. I watched as the ice from the shard began spreading through the rogue’s chest. He screamed in horror as he tried to reach out for help. I almost felt bad for the brute, but I knew better than to pity the enemy. The Cryo Spiders didn’t seem to be taking any damage from the bullets. It took me a moment to realize why that was, and then I saw it. They had glimmering pieces of ice under their cloths that acted as armor. In addition to the armor, they also protected themselves by creating walls of thick ice between them and the Shadowbolts.

I watched carefully as the Cryo Spiders passed on. One of them looked around and rested her eyes on me. My eyes widened as she raised her two left hands towards my direction. A bullet shot by one of the survivors hit the Cryo Spider and caused her to stumble back. She then turned back to the fight in front of her and shot shard after shard of ice towards the survivor. She looked back at me with those eight icy blue eyes and turned back to the fight.

I sighed with relief and began to run for the door out of the warehouse and back to Sunset and Applejack, when a thought suddenly came to me. If I ran away then there would be a chance that they would follow me and attack my friends. I couldn’t do that to them on the chance that I would survive. The only way I would live without putting my people in danger was to try and fight and hope that Lady Luck was smiling down at me.

I needed to plan my attack on the Cryo Spiders carefully. I wouldn’t last long if I jumped in while the Shadowbolts were still shooting them. I waited patiently until the Shadowbolts began to back off. They were slowly losing ground to the Cryo Spiders. I continued following the action, and I made sure that I was completely above them.

The final Shadowbolt escaped the warehouse and left me alone with the Cryo Spiders. They would attack me soon, so I decided that it was time to take action before then. I grabbed both of my knives and jumped forward off the catwalk. I fell so silently that none of the Cryo Spiders realized what I had done until it was too late. I landed, jumped onto one of them, and thrust both of my knives into his back. The blades sank in harder than I expected. It felt as if he had let the armor melt away; he must have done it thinking that the danger had passed, but there was a toughness to their skin I hadn’t expected. It was starting to make sense why it was so hard to kill the Pyronocks using just firearms. I rolled off of him and looked towards the five other Cryo Spiders. They immediately launched their ice shards towards me, but I was fast enough to dodge them.

I took cover behind one of the ice walls they had created against the Shadowbolts. I quickly retrieved my magnum from my pocket, and then took aim from behind the cover of the ice. The five Cryo Spiders were running and crawling forward. I caught glimpses of each of the angry expressions on their faces whenever I looked behind the wall. I aimed for one of the girls and shot. Bang. The bullet sound echoed across the room. The Cryo Spider I shot flew backwards and stopped moving. It seemed that she had melted her armor too.

The other four Cryo Spiders ran faster. Ice began forming around their four hands. What was worse, they were still shooting ice shards towards me. The danger of being hit by an ice shard forced me to have to retreat behind the ice wall. I now had no visual on the enemy and worse still, I had no plan.

I looked around in case there was something I could use to help, but I didn’t see anything useful. “What the Tartarus do I do?” I whispered to myself, but I couldn’t think of anything. I closed my eyes when a sudden realization came to my mind. I had no way of escaping. In the end, I decided if I was going to die, I would take as many of them down as possible.

I began climbing a support beam to gain the high ground. I doubted jumping as I did before would help, but I couldn’t think of any better plan. As soon as I reached the top, the Cryo Spiders began shooting ice shards at me. I was able to avoid most of the shards, but one of them was able to scratch my arm. I jumped from the support beam to the top of the wall. I propelled myself to the ground and landed right in the middle of the four of them.

I quickly rolled towards the girl. She was too surprised to avoid me and so my knives found their way through her chest easily. She glared at me until she succumbed to her wounds. I shielded myself with her body against the last three of the Cryo Spiders. They shot at her regardless. Most of their ice shards hit her but a couple hit me in the arm. I could already feel the cold from my other wound start to spread. I resolved to hurry and kill the remaining three Cryo Spiders before my wounds turned me into a pony icicle.

I dropped the girl’s body and ran to the next Cryo Spider. He forced ice to form around his four hands in the shapes of swords. He thrust his sword-arms forward in my direction, but I was able to block it with my two knives. Our weapons were locked together. We both pushed each other in hopes that one of us would gain the advantage over the other. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t corrupted. Corrupted beings were somehow always physically stronger than their uncorrupted counterparts.

His sword-arms were overpowering my knives. I broke away from the power struggle and rolled to my right. I moved just in time to dodge two ice shards fired by the other two Cryo Spiders. Every shot hit the Cryo Spider with the sword-arms. The last Cryo Spider looked to the other two Cryo Spiders. Her face was an expression of oral apathy and the other had the same look. I took this time to put my knives down and retrieve my magnum. She looked at me just in time for me to blast her in the chest with the last of my magnum ammunition. She stumbled to the floor and stopped moving.

I noticed that two of the other Cryo Spiders were still moving. I had only incapacitated them. I wasn’t at all surprised. The Pyronocks I had fought were durable and I expected the Cryo Spiders to be too. I retrieved my knife and stabbed the male with the two ice shards already in his chest. He twitched a little, and then stopped moving. I turned to the last Cryo Spider and walked towards her. I quickly stabbed her in the chest and walked away. I leaned back on a metal column and smiled; I had won. They underestimated me and paid for it.

I moved a little to my side, and immediately felt the pain in every place I had been hit. I pulled back my sleeves, I saw what I had feared. The ice had begun spreading, but something felt off about it. I could somewhat feel the ice, but I didn’t feel cold. I sighed heavily. I wasn’t turning into a block of ice; it was foolish to think that in the first place. I was turning into a Cryo Pony Spider. I wasn’t sure if I would, change or even survive. I had seen Cryo Spiders infect Pyronocks before. The Pyronock never survived the process and I still had Pyronock Plague inside me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw another one of the Cryo Spiders I had fought, breathing. Her chest slowly rose then fell back. I walked over to her with my knives in hand. I stood over her and was immediately stopped by how innocent she looked. She was the youngest that the rest of the Cryo Spiders and far less menacing. I looked on for a little while unsure of what I was going to do. She didn’t look like a monster. She just looked like an innocent girl who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. My thoughts immediately went to my friend Sugarcoat who I had lost during the initial outbreak.

The girl moved and darted her head around. She opened her eyes and saw me. She moved as if to attack me again, but I beat her to it as I stabbed her as hard as I could. She jerked around and looked at me. Our eyes looked for a moment, but in that movement I could see the ravenous behavior of the X.X.X. Plague leave her eyes changed from an icy blue to a bright and beautiful violet. She closed her eyes and became still.

I clenched my knives as I processed my fears coming true. I wanted to believe that the X.X.X. Plague was turning everypony into demons but underneath the corrupted mind, was still humanity. I felt like I had failed the Cryo Spider. Like I failed to do something that would save her, and in some way I knew I had.

I walked over to a column and rested on it for a few minutes. There wasn’t much I could do now. I would be dead in a manner of minutes. I closed my eyes in despair and waited for the ice to consume me.

Octavia was now making sure we would escape. I knew she had to be good girl. I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that she wasn’t telling us everything, but even so, I couldn’t ignore what she was doing. In any case, she was still an asset to us.

Applejack and I had taken the survivors out of the Shadowbolt’s base from another path one of our prisoners recognized. We had radioed for the other group that was in the Frostfalls from our location. They took all the hostages along with the two thugs Octavia and I had taken down earlier to the Frostfall wall.

“What do we do about Octavia?” Applejack asked.

“She’s probably good as dead,” one of the cops said.

“You don’t know Octavia,” I said, “she’s full of surprises.”

“So should we go back?” Applejack asked.

“Nope,” the cop said. “Absolutely not. We still need to get back to our outposts.”

“I’ll go alone,” I said, “besides there are other things I have to do here.”

“We need you here,” the cop replied. “You’re strong and skilled. You even took down a Chimera.”

“If I see the Chimera of the Frostfalls then I’ll stop him, but for now I need to focus on finding Octavia.”

“Ah’m goin’ too,” Applejack said. The cop shook his head reluctantly. He walked to the barricade and helped the others over it. Applejack and I turned back to the Frostfalls and walked forward. “Ya do remember how things ended up the last time you, Octavia, and I teamed up don't you?” Applejack asked.

“Don’t worry,” I said.

“So how did ya survive what that crazy woman did to you?” Applejack asked.

I spent most of the trip back to the Shadowbolt’s base telling Applejack every detail about what happened in between the time we saw each other at the hospital and now. I even told her about my new abilities.

“That’s a hell of a lot ta take in sugarcube,” Applejack said nervously.

“I’m still the same Sunset Shimmer you reformed at the Fall Formal,” I said.

“Ah know, it’s just weird that you can do that now,” she said. I suddenly heard a noise near us. It was the sound of nearby footsteps. I wasn’t sure where the source was. The sound seemed to echo everywhere. I tensed my body for battle and sure enough, a pair of Cryo Spiders came running towards Applejack, one with ice covered arms that looked similar to gauntlets. I didn’t know what the contact with the gauntlets would do to Applejack, but I wasn’t willing to risk her life over it.

I ran towards the Cryo Spider with the gauntlets and suddenly felt a rush of power and heat enter my body. It felt similar to the celestial warrior trance I had used against the Infernoland Chimera, but I knew it wasn’t the same. My body began to feel like it was in the middle of a fire, but the fire didn’t hurt or scorch me. Instead, the fire comforted me. It felt like it wanted to be released, and so I forced it to come out. My hands erupted in flames—almost exactly like the hands of the Pyronocks. I smiled. A sudden desire to find the Chimera overtook me. I wanted to find the Chimera of the Frostfalls and take his abilities too.

The Cryo Spiders quickly fell to my flames. I was able to catch the Cryo Spider before he hit Applejack and caused his gauntlets to melt off. The other Cryo Spiders quickly ran away leaving his partner completely alone. The remaining Cryo Spider held up his hands in submission. His eyes were a dark green, so he must have been in control of himself. I walked passed him and escorted Applejack forward. He didn’t attack; he just stood still with fear.

“Where’d ya learn that?” Applejack asked.

“Just now,” I replied. “Now let’s go find Octavia and the Chimera.”

I waited for the ice to consume me, but it never did. After a while, I began to feel the ice recede. I lifted my sleeves one last time to see my frost wounds. I could see the ice slowly moving back. My body was healing itself. It almost seemed like I was gaining strength I never knew I had, but I was pretty sure that that wasn’t the case. The X.X.X. Plague didn’t seem to react to me at all. It seemed like I had some kind of immunity.

I stayed in the same place for a while; I was too tired to move. I was on the verge of collapsing, but I used every bit of my will to keep myself awake in case someone tried to sneak up on me.

I suddenly heard a sound that caused me to stop breathing. It sounded like a large door was being opened. My mind began running every possible scenario. It was either the Shadowbolts who had come to kill me, or the Cryo Spiders who had also come to do the same. Either way, I wasn’t looking forward to fighting again. My mind was so scattered that I even imagined a scenario where the Shadowbolts and Cryo Spiders teamed up with the mutual hatred of me.

I heard the sound again, but this time I was able to identify the source. It was the main door of the warehouse being opened. It saw two figures rushing towards me, but I was too tired to attack them. It didn’t take them long to reach me.

“Are ya okay?” one of them asked. It was a familiar southern girl’s voice.

“I’ve been better,” I replied. The two figures became clearer the longer I stared at them. It didn’t take long for me to recognize that it was Applejack and Sunset Shimmer.

“Looks like we got here just in time,” Sunset said.

“Good. You guys are here,” I said. “Do me a favor and take care of me while I’m asleep.” I finally let myself collapse from exhaustion. I felt myself drift away slowly to sleep. I was out in seconds.

I opened my eyes in a dark and unfamiliar place. I was tired, but I forced myself back on my feet. There was no guarantee that I was safe, and I didn’t want to stay and find out. I walked around trying my best not to bump into anything. I wasn’t sure where I was, so I thought it would be best to stop walking in the dark and give my eyes a moment to adjust before continuing on anywhere. After a moment, I could see where I was. I was in a boutique. There were larger winter jackets on the racks next to me. This didn’t seem like a place that the Cryo Spiders would have claimed.

I heard footsteps near me. They were getting louder and closer. I quickly hid behind the clothing rack and out of sight so that I could plan what to do next. “Octavia?” Sunset called out. “Where are you?”

I sighed in relief. “I’m over here,” I said. I heard the footsteps get louder until I was able to see Sunset.

“Man, it’s hard to hear you even with my super hearing,” Sunset said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I can’t hear you when you go into stealth mode,” Sunset explained. “It’s like your invisible.”

“Oh,” I said. It looked like my stealth skills were improving. This time I wasn’t even really trying to hide myself. “Did you both get everyone back in one piece?”

“Yeah,” Sunset replied.

“Why do you think the Shadowbolts took hostages anyway? What do you think they wanted them for?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset replied. “Applejack told me that they just kept them tied up. They didn’t do anything other than that.”

“That’s weird,” I said. There had to be a reason why the hostages were taken, but it wasn’t apparent to me. Usually people used hostages for leverage against someone or other more sinister actions, but this was obviously not the case. “Where’s Applejack anyway?”

“She’s getting food for us,” Sunset replied. “There’s a small restaurant nearby and she’s getting food from there. Hey tell me something Octy, how many of those Cryo Spiders did you take out by yourself?”

“All six,” I replied. Sunset looked shocked. “It wasn’t hard. They basically left themselves open for attacks.”

“Sure,” she replied as if unsatisfied by my answer.

“It’s really dark in here,” I said trying to change the conversation.

Sunset smiled. “I can fix that,” she said. She opened her hand and forced fire to form in her palm. I gazed in awe. Apparently the fight with the Chimera had given Sunset more than I thought.

“How long have you been able to do that?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I just found out how to use it like four hours ago.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About four hours ago,” Sunset replied. “AJ bandaged you up. I gotta tell you, I half expected to find an icicle instead of an actual mare.”

“You underestimate me,” I said with a false confidence.

The truth was that I probably should’ve been dead. I wasn’t sure how I had lived, but there were a few possible explanations. I knew enough about the X.X.X. Plague to come up with three possible explanations. The first possibility was that being exposed to the Infernoland Plague made me immune to the Frostfalls Plague’s affects. The second possibility was that I had some sort of natural immunity to the X.X.X. Plague that allowed me to resist it completely just because I’m a pony. The third and final possibility was that I still had some form of the X.X.X. Plague inside me that kept me safe. Either way, I was grateful for being alive.

“Let’s find AJ,” Sunset suggested. We slowly walked to the front of the store. I was too hurt to walk quickly, so Sunset decided to help support me.

“So why did you two leave me here?” I said. “Why a boutique? I’m sure that there were many other safer places.”

“Applejack needed a jacket,” Sunset replied. “She said that she was freezing out here, but to be honest, I don’t know what she’s talking about. It feels fresh.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. For some reason neither Sunset or I were cold here. The Frostfalls felt a little colder, but not cold enough to wear a thick jacket like the ones in the boutique.

Sunset and I walked towards the entrance of the store. I was careful not to trip on any of the trash that littered the front. Sunset opened the door and walked me through it. I didn’t like to have anyone help me walk around like this, but I was too weak to protest.

“We need to find you some help,” Sunset said.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll just stay behind you guys of something.” Sunset didn’t reply. I didn’t want to think of myself as a burden to Sunset and Applejack, but I was in no shape to fight anypony; I wouldn’t be able to run away. I began to ponder whether staying with them would help them at all.

I looked around the area and noticed that the fog wasn’t as strong here as it was in the border. I could see all the stores and shops around. None of them looked like they had been looted. In fact, I began to think that it was weird how so many shops around the city were completely untouched by looters, but then I remembered how brutal the first day of the infection was and how it spread so quickly. None of the criminals must have had the time to steal.

“There she is,” Sunset said after a few moments of silence. We walked to the restaurant that Sunset mentioned earlier. We went inside and sat down in one of the booths.

Applejack walked out of the restaurant’s kitchen with a plate full of food. She laid it on the table and sat down with us. “Good ta see ya up sugarcube,” she said.

“It always is,” I said to Applejack with a smile.

“Good ta see your attitude didn’t suffer either,” she smiled back. The three of us ate most of the food on the plate. Applejack and I didn’t eat too much, but Sunset devoured everything in sight. I almost felt sorry for the food as it was mercilessly gulped down by Sunset.

“I’m full,” I said after eating a small portion.

“Where does it all go?” Applejack asked with a hint of disgust in her voice as she saw Sunset continue eating.

“Do you really want to know?” I asked her. She shivered a little at that thought.

“I’m full,” Sunset said after eating everything left in front of her.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Because I think Applejack and I can make another mountain of food for you if you want.”

“Nah, I’m good,” she replied.

“Oh thank god,” Applejack said under her breath.

“Now let’s get going,” I said. Applejack and Sunset exchanged looks. “Or you know what, I can go alone and hopefully find Discord’s safe house.”

“Wait you want to find the safe house?” Sunset asked. I nodded. ”You’re not trying to find the Chimera and kill him?” I shook my head. ”Okay then, we’ll find it, but you need to stay there after we do.”

I shrugged. “That’s good enough for me,” Applejack said.

“I’ll lead,” I said. “I’m the only one who knows it’s location after all.” I pulled out the map Discord gave me and walked away from the booth with Sunset and Applejack following behind me. “Wait,” I said before continuing any further.

There are two ways to get to the safe house, one is quicker and easier, but it goes through the main street, so it’s a little less safe, and the other path is long and longer and goes through alleys, but most likely safer. Which path should we take?”

“It’s up ta you,” Applejack said. Sunset nodded her head in agreement.

“Short and fast it is then,” I said. We walked out of the restaurant without bothering to clean up after ourselves for obvious reasons. We started walking through the alleys to our destination. I walked as quietly as possible, but Sunset didn’t seem to care about safety. I was almost convinced that she wasn’t even using her super hearing ability to hear any nearby danger.

We walked through another alley and ventured forward. We reached the other side and found that it was closed off by a giant gate. We saw another alley and walked through it. Unfortunately it was also closed off at its end. We continued through alley after alley trying to find a way out. The original entrance was nowhere to be found either.

I suddenly stopped when something caught my attention. There was a beautiful garden hidden away in the maze of alleys. I could tell that Applejack and Sunset wanted to get a closer look, and honestly I did too.

The garden reminded me of the courtyard back at the police station and the Canterlot gardens back in Equestria, except it was adorned in ice. There was a fountain in the center that shot out water despite the fact that it was partially frozen. The fountain had an ice sculpture of a bird at the very top of it. Some of the flowers were real plants, but others looked like colored water frozen into the shape of flowers. The central ice sculpture radiated blue giving the whole garden a beautiful blue glow.

“This is amazing,” I said to no one in particular.”

“You like it?” asked a voice unfamiliar to me. I turned around to see a woman wearing a white dress. She was just as beautiful as the garden. She was about my height. She had long raven black hair and rosy cheeks. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of magenta. She smiled at me and I smiled back.

“Yeah,” I replied after a while.

“I made them,” she said.

Sunset tried to retrieve her berettas, but I stopped her before she could aim. “What’re you doing Octavia?” Sunset asked. “She’s a Cryo Spider, look at what she made with her power. She’ll kill us the moment she gets a chance.”

“Look at her eyes,” I said. “She still has free will.”

Sunset looked at her. She smiled at us again. It was almost as if she knew she wasn’t in any danger. Sunset reluctantly put her guns away.

“Are ya alright, Sunset?” Applejack asked. “Ah’ve never seen ya this aggressive before.”

“I’m fine,” Sunset said trying to calm herself. “I’m just a little stressed I guess.”

“We’re all a little tense hun,” Applejack replied. “Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.”

“Are you hurt?” The beautiful lady asked me.

“I just have a cut or two, nothing bad," I replied trying to sound tough.

“I can help heal you,” she said.

“That won’t be necessary,” I said hesitantly.

“Please,” she said. “I want to help. Just take off your shirt and follow me inside.” My hands moved almost of their own accord and unbuttoned my shirt. I heard Sunset snicker behind me. “Would you two like to come in too?” she asked Sunset and Applejack as she opened the door to what I assumed was her house.

“Sure,” Applejack said. She walked to me. The Cryo Spider walked further into her house and out of sight. “Don’t worry Octavia, we’ll keep you safe.”

“Yeah Tavi,” Sunset said with a grin on her face. “We won’t leave you two alone even for a second.”

“Thanks,” I said to Sunset in a sarcastic tone. I turned to Applejack. “Don’t worry I can handle myself,” I said to her as confidently as possible.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Sunset said.

I doubt it,” Applejack retorted. “She isn’t thinking straight,”

“Don’t think that’s the problem.”

The truth was I wanted to see more of the Cryo Spider’s abilities firsthand. I sighed. “Relax AJ,” I said. “Nothing’s going to happen. Now can you please help me take off my clothes?” Applejack glared at me. It might have been better if I had selected my words carefully, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.

“Undress yourself Shimmer,” Applejack said bitterly. “We’ll be hunting that Chimera.”

“Okay, so I’m just going to finish up here and then look for Discord’s place. Radio me when you find the Chimera.”

“Chimera?” the beautiful Cryo Spider asked. “Do you mean the leader of the Ice Spiders?” I hadn’t even noticed her return.

“No,” I said casually not sure if we could trust her or not with our mission.

“I want that son of a bitch dead,” she said.

“Why would you want that?” Applejack asked suspiciously.

“Because he turned my fiancé into one of the Ice Spiders too, but he became different. He lost his sense of self. He became too loyal to the leader.” She looked away from me for a moment. “He passed away while under his command.”

“When did he die?” I asked hopping that I had nothing to do with it.

“Three days ago.” Relief surged through me.

“Where’s the leader now?” Sunset asked.

“He’s in the center of this land,” she replied, “but he’s almost never alone. He always has spiders, special Ice Spiders following him.

“I can handle that,” Sunset said confidently.

“I’ll bring a map. Just follow me,” she said. The four of us entered her house. The first room looked similar to a waiting room in a hospital. It had chairs lined up on the walls. There was a single table in the middle of the room. The table looked odd. It’s edges were protruding upwards acting as a container for the water that was inside the middle.

She returned seconds later with a map for Applejack and Sunset. “Here you are,” she said with a smile. She turned to me. “Now take off your clothes and lie down on the table.”

“Okay,” I said. I took off my hoodie shirt, shoes and socks, and the bandages Applejack had me covered in. I saw Applejack blush a little. Apparently she wasn’t used to seeing a half naked anthro pony with muscles. I suppressed a smile. “Do I have to take off my pants too? Cause I’m married.” I saw Applejack’s blush further at my question.

“That won’t be necessary,” the Cryo Spider said. I climbed onto the table and lay down. She put her hands on my chest. The water began to rise over my body.

“I didn’t know you could manipulate normal water too.” She nodded. “I guess I should start calling you Hydro Spiders.”

She ran her hand down my chest causing the focus point of the water to shift from my chest to my stomach. The sensation was amazing. I closed my eyes in relaxation. Her hands felt so soft against my fur covered skin. She moved her hands back up to my chest and gasped.

I opened my eyes in concern. “What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re body has so much unusual potential and power,” she replied. “It feels like all that power is trapped inside of you and it wants to break free. I’ll try to set it loose.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked. “What power does she have?”

“I don’t know,” she said as she tensed her hands on my chest. “But it’s hard to release. I don’t think I can do it.” The sensation of water caused was beginning to sting.

“Wait,” Applejack said as if she had just realized something. “Sunset’s full of energy. Could ya use her?”

“That actually might work,” the Cryo Spider said as she pulled her hands out of the water. “But I have never tried to channel another human’s power before.” Sunset walked towards her.

“What do I have to do?” she asked.

“Just put your hands where mine are,” she said. Sunset put her hands in the water just above my chest. “Okay now, just touch her chest and begin extracting her power.”

“How do I exactly ’extract’ her power?” Sunset asked.

“Just feel it coming out,” she replied.

“Okay,” Sunset placed her hands on my chest in the similar manner as the Cryo Spider did. Her hands felt odd on my chest. I liked the Cryo Spider’s soft warm hands in place of the uncomfortable rough ones that belonged to Sunset. I could feel that this was just as uncomfortable for Sunset as it was for me. We both avoided eye contact.

“You have to feel her energy,” she encouraged.

“I feel something,” Sunset said. “I feel the energy in me get stronger like it did when I fought the Infernoland Chimera.” Sunset was beginning to breathe harder and faster. Her hands began to glow the same sickly white color that I had seen before. She used the aura to kill the Chimera, and now I could feel that she was doing the exact same thing to me.

My body became tense as I tried to resist Sunset’s ability. I felt like my life was being siphoned away from me. “Is she supposed to look like that?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think so,” the Cryo Spider replied with concern in her voice. I let out a small cry of agony as Sunset continued. The water was restricting my movement making it impossible to free myself. Applejack and the Cryo Spider each grabbed one of Sunset’s arms in an attempt to pull them away, but she was too strong.

“Sunset!” I yelled. “Snap out of it!” She ignored my command and continued to siphon away my energy. I could feel the world around me slowly begin to expand and contract. Everything felt surreal now. It felt like I was slowly sinking into a dream, I resisted as long as I could, but the urge to just let go was getting too strong to resist. I could almost see the dark gathering around my body, and a moment later I realized that the dark wasn’t just in my mind; some weird black aura was covering me.

I suddenly felt something in me spark. It was a power that felt somehow familiar. My strength began to return to me. I was even strong enough to break free from the water. I grabbed Sunset’s hands and struggled to push them away. Sunset seemed to get stronger the longer she pushed back. She was beating me. I could feel her try to drain more of my energy but now I was becoming strong enough to resist. I pushed her as hard as I could into a wall. Crash. She hit the wall with a hand thud and fell to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Applejack asked me. She helped me back on my feet. She gasped in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” I asked with a little worry in my voice. She pointed at me. I looked at my torso in time to see that the last of my cuts and bruises heal themselves. “Oh, well that’s new.”

I heard Sunset grunt from the wall. “Sunset, are you alright?” Applejack asked.

“Why the hell did you throw me into a wall?” Sunset asked in between moans of pain. “That hurt.”

“What?” I asked indignantly. “You tried to kill me.”

“Aright Tavi,” Sunset said condescendingly. “When are you going to let that go?”

“What?!” I said indignantly again. “It literally just happened.”

“Whatever. I forgive you for throwing me like that, so you should do the same.

I glared at Sunset. “You’re a horse’s ass Shimmer,” I finally said.

“Morons,” Applejack said under her breath. She shook her head at us.

“Okay enough,” I said. “You two need to get to the Frostfalls Chimera and stop him, while I look for Discord’s safe house alone. Unless you want to join me?” I asked the Cryo Spider. She smiled and nodded. Through the corner of her eye I saw Applejack shake her head. “I’ll radio you as soon as I finish. Is that understood?” Everyone nodded. “Good now let’s get going.”

Octavia and the Frostfalls girl stayed in the girl’s house to look through the map for Discord’s safe house. Applejack and I were left alone to try and find the Chimera. The map we were given gave us a general direction, but it wasn’t completely accurate. I felt energized after draining Octavia’s energy. The experience was odd. I went back into the celestial warrior trance I had once used, but I wasn’t able to control it as well as I did before. It was like something in Octavia caused me to want to hurt her. I tried not to and I resisted as long as I could. Luckily, Octavia’s abilities stopped me from really hurting her. ”Abilities that she apparently had trapped inside her,” I thought to myself. ”What if that was apart of her secret?” I pushed away the thought and pressed on.

I began to wonder what other ablilites Octavia had recieved apart from the rapid healing Applejack told me about. I had thought that Octavia was tough before, but now I was really scared of her raw potential. She could kill six skilled Cryo Spiders with no serious injury and that was when she was normal. There was not telling what she could do now.

Applejack and I traveled through an alley that the Frostfalls girl told us would lead to the inner Frostfalls. The alley was long, but it was safe. It wasn’t until the end that we saw Cryo Spiders lurking about. Luckily, they were too distracted with moving something to notice us. I looked towards the group of Cryo Spiders and saw that they had a normal person in the center of the group. Upon further inspection, I noted that they had her tied up to a metal rod.

Applejack and I hid behind a car and looked on. “What do ya think they’re doin’?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think this girl’s gonna make it through.”

“Wait a minute, I know her,” Applejack said. “She was one of the Shadowbolts that helped destroy the Canterlot High outpost.”

“She helped bring down the outpost?” I asked in surprise. Despite her part in the destruction of an outpost, I knew we needed to help her. It was the right thing to do. “It doesn’t matter, we can’t let her die.”

“Ah know,” Applejack said thoughtfully. “But she isn’t going to get away with it.”

“Wait, you need a weapon,” I said. I began to rummage through the supply bag for a weapon that Applejack could use to defend herself. The only thing that was left was one handgun. I handed it to Applejack. “Stay hidden as long as you can.”

“What? Why?!” Applejack protested. “Ah’m not useless.”

“AJ,” I said calmly. “These guys aren’t like the Shadowbolts or the Xenomorphs. They’re stronger, faster, smarter, and above all, they have equestrian powers.”

“Octavia killed six of them,” she retorted.

“Octavia’s a cop and highly trained in combat,” I responded. “Not many people or ponies could do what she did.” I rested my hand on her shoulder. “I can handle this. You just cover me in case they start to beat me.” Applejack reluctantly agreed.

I rose from the car and dashed to the Cryo Spiders. There were four of them. They all looked at me in unison and began using their abilities. The two Cryo Spiders furthest from me forced the ice on the ground to gather and rise to form a wall that covered them and their prisoner. The other two thrust their hands forward and fired dense pieces of ice that looked as sharp as daggers. I dodged a few by taking cover behind a dompster, but three of the ice daggers were able to strike my shoulder.

“How do you do it, Tavi?” I whispered to myself. Octavia would have been able to not only avoid all the ice daggers, but I was sure she would have already killed at least three of them. Stealth was Octavia’s strength just as raw power was mine. I was done trying Octavia’s way; it was time to fight like I knew best.

I forced both of my hands to erupt into flames. I wasn’t able to use the fire ability like the Pyronocks could, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying. I rose up from the dumpster and shot the fire in a steam towards the Cryo Spiders. They jumped out of the way as my fire hit the buildings around them melting some of the ice in the process. I took another shot, but the Cryo Spiders easily avoided the stream of fire.

“Damn it,” I whispered to myself. I couldn’t hurt them if I kept fighting like this. My aim was awful. I suddenly had an idea. I peered back to the Cryo Spiders. I smiled when I saw the fire that hit the building still burning. I touched the ground and focused spreading the fire. I heard the sound of the fire erupting. I glanced back and saw the small flames grow twenty times their original sizes. I had set up the field so that I could finally fight the Cryo Spiders on my turf.

I shot several magma balls in the Cryo Spider’s direction. They dodged them as I thought they would. I gave the fire I had spread around the area another command of attack. The Cryo Spiders were so busy fighting me back that they didn’t see the fire spread out from behind them until it was too late. I had used my direct attacks to distract the Cryo Spiders while at the same time forcing the background fire to attack them. The fire had forced the two Cryo Spiders onto the ground. They scattered around until they lied on the ground completely still.

I walked to the wall of ice and began blasting it with streaks of fire. It began to melt, but more ice formed to replace it. I forced all the fire in the surrounding area to launch itself into the wall. The ice repaired itself, but it wasn’t fast enough to keep up with all the surrounding fire. I got my guns out and aimed forward. I waited for an opening before I fired. After a few seconds I saw an opportunity and repeatedly fired my guns. Bang-Bang-Bang.

I fell to the floor out of sheer exhaustion. Moving the rest of the fire had used up all of my remaining energy. The wall of ice had completely melted away. I could see both of the Cryo Spiders on the floor completely still. I also saw the metal rod that they were guarding. The person that was bound to the rod was now replaced by a solid chunk of ice.

I rolled on my back and closed my eyes. I heard footsteps in the snow and assumed that it was Applejack. Bang! A lone gunshot pierced the silence. I heard a body fall in the snow and I immediately rose from the floor. I saw Applejack pointing her gun towards one of the Cryo Spiders. Apparently I hadn’t finished off all of them like I thought I did.

“Are ya alright Sunset?” Applejack asked.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “How the hell does Octavia do it?” Applejack grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I couldn’t eye handle four Cryo Spiders even with my powers, but Octavia could take out six on her own.

“Well you saw Octavia heal,” Applejack answered. “Maybe they had something to do with it.” I began to think for a moment.

“Why do you think Octavia was able to heal fast?” I asked.

“How are you able to control fire?” Applejack retorted.

“That’s not the same,” I answered. “I’m not completely human or pony now, but Octavia is still…” I trailed off after realizing something. “Octavia isn’t a pony either is she?”

“What?” Applejack asked.

“Think about it,” I said. “It makes sense. It explains everything like her skills, or her knowledge about everything or her ability to heal.”

“Some of that stuff is actually normal,” Applejack said. “The only stuff that isn’t, started after you tried to kill her.” Applejack became silent as if she was lost in thought. “Do you think you infected her with whatever you have?”

“I—I” I wasn’t sure what to say. Applejack was right; most of Octavia’s skills and knowledge could have been gathered through other ways, but it wasn’t clear if I had infected Octavia and gave her healing powers.

I began hearing radio static. “Sunset,” I heard Octavia say. “Did you find the Chimera yet?”

I unhooked my radio and held it to my mouth. “No,” I replied. “Did you open the safe house tunnel?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I’ll be heading your way in a bit. I’ll go as soon as I say goodbye to Celaeno.”

“Who?” Applejack asked with a slight edge to her voice.

“The girl that helped heal me,” she replied hesitantly. “The point is I’ll run as fast as I can to you two. Calaeno told me where to go.”

“We’ll meet you there,” I said. I put my radio away, and afterwards I turned to Applejack. “Octavia’s second girlfriend gave her directions here. She said she’d get here as soon as she could.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “So what do we do until then?” she asked.

“Wait I guess. Do you really think I infected Octavia?” I asked getting back to the conversation.

“Ah dont know. There’s a possibility.”

“Wait, no,” I said as a thought popped into my mind. “Maybe I did infect her, but what if that’s what she wanted to happen?” Maybe that’s what Octavia was hiding. “Want if Octavia has something to do with the X.X.X. Plague?

“You think she started the X.X.X. Plague?”

“No—I don’t know. Everything’s so complicated. Octavia has been helping us so much, and maybe she’s helping because she feels guilty for causing it?” It was a farfetched speculation.

“You think she planned on meeting Gloriosa here or planned that Gloriosa infecting you, and then felt bad about it at the last moment?” Applejack asked cynically.

“Maybe,” I replied. “Let’s talk about it some other time. For now, let’s just keep moving.” Applejack opened her mouth as if to protest, but I continued talking before she could. She knew she had won, I didn’t want her to gloat. “She has direction and she knows the city. She’ll find us in no time.”

“Aright,” Applejack said. We began walking passed the dead Cryo Spiders and towards the Chimera’s domain. I was nervous about confronting him, but also looked forward to it. Killing him would make me stronger.

Dr. Gloriosa Daisy was analyzing her test subjects for further signs of evolution when Krystrus arrived. “Hello, Gloriosa,” she said. “Have you found anything important?”

Gloriosa had to suppress the desire to kill her because she knew that nothing good would have come from it. She trivialized her current findings and, in her eyes, that was enough reason to do the deed, but unfortunately she was too important to her company to risk it. If Gloriosa wanted to hurt her, she would have to wait until she was strong enough to avoid the negative repercussions for doing it. “Nothing new. Did you enjoy your tour of Canterlot?

Krystrus smiled. “I found exactly what I wanted to find,” she replied. “As soon as you’re finished gaining all of the data I need you to collect, and I’m done gathering the assets I need, we can leave this place and clean up the mess that’s left behind.”

“What assets?” Gloriosa asked. “How are you going to clean Canterlot?”

“No need to concern yourself with that,” she said, “and I believe you know what I mean by “clean.”

“Yes ma’am,” Gloriosa replied. “We can’t risk anything from the city escaping. No information or survivors should be allowed to escape.”

“And we won’t allow it,” Krystrus replied as she looked to the test subjects. “Nothing will escape the explosion we trigger as soon as I have what I need.” She smiled and turned away to the exit. She had retrieved one of the resources vital to her plans, but there were still three that remained.

Applejack and I had cleared five more groups of Cryo Spiders on our way to fight the Frostfalls Chimera. I was exhausted from using the fire ability, so Applejack and I resorted to using our handguns for fighting. Applejack wasn’t a very good shot. She had gone through four magazines trying to shoot all the Cryo Spiders to death. After the fight, we decided that moving forward without Octavia might’ve been a bad idea. We waited near the camp of the last group of Cryo Spiders for Octavia to arrive. It only took about five minutes of waiting for her to get there.

“Hi ladies,” Octavia said.

“Hi,” Applejack and I said together.

“How have you two been doing against the Cryo Spiders?” Octavia asked. I looked at the last group we had just killed.

“We handled them,” I answered, “but we can always use your help.”

“That’s why I'm here,” Octavia replied.

“How’s Calaeno?” Applejack asked with the same edge in her voice.

“She’s taking the tunnel to Discord’s location so that he can study her,” Octavia replied nonchalantly.

“Why does Discord need to study her if he can’t use her to cure the X.X.X. Plague?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Octavia said, “but there’s no harm in letting him try.” I nodded and began walking towards Octavia.

“Here,” I said to Octavia as I handled her the map Calaeno had given us. “You’re better with directions than AJ and me, so you lead.”

Octavia smiled and took the map. She scanned the map then put it in her pocket. “Alright,” she said. “Follow me.” Octavia dashed forward in a full run. I could easily pass her, but I didn’t want to leave Applejack in the back, so I just kept pace with her. We ran like this for a few town blocks. Octavia suddenly stopped near an intersection. I was able to hear movement just beyond that and immediately understood that Octavia had spotted another group of Cryo Spiders.

Applejack and I walked to Octavia who was taking cover against the wall. We looked to the side of the wall and saw four more Cryo Spiders talking amongst themselves. I was just horrified y the way the males looked. I thought that the Pyronocks looked terrifying enough but since the fact remains that these Xenomorphs are part wolf spider except they had six legs and four arms which just made them more repulsive. “Octy,” I said, "show Applejack how you handle things.” Octavia nodded and sprinted forward.

Octavia ran with the same silent steps that I had come to expect out of her. She was almost six feet away from the first Cryo Spider when they spotted her. She pulled out her knives and stabbed the closest Cryo Spider in the chest before moving on to the next. She dodged all of the ice daggers the remaining three shot at her. Octavia rolled to the side of one of them and stabbed him. The other two continued their barrage of ice daggers. Octavia rolled away from the Cryo Spiders and took cover behind an alley.

“Hot damn,” Applejack said in surprise.

“Told you,” I said.

“Ah had no idea that Octavia was that fast,” Applejack said with the same surprise in her voice. “She killed two of them from that close. You couldn’t even do that. You had to use a lot of your power to kill the same amount of Spiders, but she isn’t even letting herself get hit from that close.”

“Okay AJ, I get the point,” I said with mild irritation in my voice. “Octavia’s stronger than me.”

“You’ve seen her do this before?” She asked.

“Not like this,” I replied.

Octavia rose from her cover and aimed her magnum towards the Cryo Spider furthest from her. Bang. Octavia shot and killed the Cryo Spider with a single shot. The last Cryo Spider looked scared so he began to run away. Octavia sprinted towards him. I was a little surprised to see how fast Octavia could run now.

Maybe she is like me, I thought to myself. I shook the idea off and concentrated on the fight at hand.

Octavia was still chasing the Cryo Spider. She managed to tackle him to the ground as soon as she was close enough. Applejack and I ran towards them afterwards. “You’re not as brave as the others are you?” Octavia asked the Cryo Spider.

“Please—“ he said.

“Please what?” Octavia interrupted harshly. “Please let you go so that you can tell your boss?”

“I won’t,” he said on the verge of panic. “I swear I won’t tell anypony.”

“Why should I let you go?” Octavia asked. “You’re a Cryo Spider and loyal to the Chimera. You’ll tell him as soon as I let you go.”

“I’m not loyal,” he said. “Just because I’m a—a—a Cryo Spider or whatever you called it doesn’t mean I want to help him. I’m not like the other Xenomorphs he ordered around. I still think on my own.”

I looked into the Cryo Spider’s eye, and knew that he was telling the truth. His eyes weren’t the same color as the ordinary Cryo Spider. They were magenta.

“Okay,” Octavia said. “Maybe you do have free will, but why should I risk it? It doesn’t look like it’s worth it.”

“I’ll give you whatever you want,” he said. “I’ll help you escape this place.” He was still panicking.

“I don’t want to leave just yet,” Octavia replied. “I’m still looking for someone.”

“I’ll help you find him. Whoever it is, I’ll help them in time. Just give me a name.”

“I’m looking for the Frostfalls Chimera,” Octavia said.

“The what?” he asked.

“This land’s big boss. You know the first of the Cryo Spiders. The one that made the Frostfalls.”

I could see the Cryo Spider’s eyes widen at Octavia’s request. “Do you want to kill the leader?” he asked with what I was almost sure was hope in his voice.

“Yes,” Octavia said plainly. “That’s the deal: his life or yours.”

“Fine then,” the Cryo Spider said. “I’ll tell you where he is.”

“Show us,” Octavia insisted. “I want to make sure you don’t double cross us to your boss.”

“Me and a lot of other Cryo Spiders want him dead too,” he replied. “So I’ll gladly help you with that.”

“I don’t care what you want,” Octavia said apathetically. “We just want to kill the Chimera. You help, and we’ll let you live. So start walking and show us the way or we’ll find another Spider who wants to live.” The Cryo Spider nodded nervously and walked forward.

Octavia turned to us and signaled for us to follow. The three of us followed a few steps behind our tour guide. He led us through many streets that were completely Cryo Spider free. We occasionally stumbled upon blocks of ice that hosed wayward explorers, but other than that the streets were completely empty.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Most of them are out fighting the invaders,” the Cryo Spider answered.

“The invaders?” I asked.

“He must be talking about the Shadowbolts,” Applejack answered.

“That’s right,” Octavia agreed. We followed our tour guide until we reached a water park.

“He’s in there,” he said. “Do I have to go with you?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“No,” I answered before Octavia could. “You did what we asked you to do, and now you’re free. However if you want to leave this place, gather as many Spiders who still have their free will and bring them here to follow us out.” He smiled and bowed to us. He walked away moments later.

The three of us walked inside the water park. There was an aquarium right next to it with the same blue and gray colored pattern. They were clearly conjoint attractions. The water park was as deserted just as the rest of the streets we had just passed through had been. We walked in and began searching for the Chimera. It didn’t take us long to stumble into the main pool area and find him.

There he was. The Chimera was sitting on a large throne-like spiderweb made of ice that you would expect to see a queen on and not a king. He was directly above a large pool of water that was completely frozen over. He stared at me as soon as I walked in.

“AJ,” I said. “Take cover. Octavia and I can handle this.”

“Okay,” she said without a fight. She ran to the entrance of the building and stood there with her handguns raised.

“You ready for this Tavi?” I asked.

“You know it Shimmer,” she answered. “I need to find somepony to test my new power on. He’ll do.”

“And I still need practice with my fire power,” I replied. “This asshole doesn’t stand a chance.”

“You two sound a little overconfident,” the Frostfalls Chimera said arrogantly. “You May have killed some of my followers, but you’ll find out that I’m not so easy.”

“You don’t stand a chance,”, I replied. “I was made to kill Chimeras like you.” Octavia shot me a quick uneasy glance then turned back to the Chimera.

“Two against one hardly seems fair,” he said with a smile. “What do ya say we even up the odds.” He lifted his arms forward and forced the ice in certain parts of the pool to melt and allow the Cryo Spiders waiting below to rise. There were ten of them now. “There, problem solved.”

“Sunset,” Octavia said. “Let’s take down the Cryo Spiders first. Afterward, we can fight the Chimera together.”

“Sounds good,” I said. We both prepared our weapons. I pulled out one of my berettas, while Octavia grabbed her knives. I blasted the Chimera with a magma bolt, but he countered it with a condensed field of ice in the form of a ball. I switched targets and shot magma at the Cryo Spiders. All but one of them dodged the magma bolt. The one that did get hit went flying out of the area.

Octavia was handling herself well too. I threw a glance in her direction and saw that three of the Cryo Spiders were already dead. Another ran towards me with two swords of ice. He tried to strike me, but I dodged it in time. He left himself opened, so I shot him in the chest from point blank range. He fell to the ground and didn’t move.

“Enough!” The Chimera shouted. He rose from his web chair and forced ice to form around his body. It started from his four arms and moved to his chest. The ice continued growing until his entire body was encased in ice. He was making his own armor. “Fucking useless minions.” The five remaining Cryo Spiders backed away from the fight. They were thrown out of the area by a wave of water thrown by the Chimera.

The Chimera charged for Octavia while simultaneously making th the ice form swords on two of his arms. He lunged toward Octavia, but Octavia countered his attack with her pair of knives. They both held their ground against each other. I suddenly noticed something was wrong. There was something ripping through the ice and heading for Octavia and the Chimera. It looked like an overgrown fin was sprouting from the ice and swimming towards the two.

“Tavi! I shouted. Octavia looked to me then towards the shark fin that was moving towards her. She dodged the first strike, but the fin circled around and followed her. I suddenly hear the sound of another fin tearing away at the ice. The ice behind both fins replaced itself just as fast as the sharks tore through it.

“Sunset!” Octavia shouted. “Take him out with your magma!”

“Magma?” The Cryo Spider Chimera asked unthreatened. “That won’t help.”

“Let’s find out,” I said as I attacked him with a stream of magma. He forced a wall of ice to form between us. He shot out ice daggers. I barely managed to dodge most of them. One scratched my side. The smug bastard smiled. The Chimera lifted his four hands, forcing chunks of ice to rise from the pool in the form of columns. I used the columns to cover at first, but they quickly turned against me as the Chimera forced the columns to topple and nearly crush me to death.

In the corner of my eye, I could see both of the fins following Octavia. Octavia evaded them with ease, but the sharks weren’t going to give up so easily. I could tell that Octavia was starting to get tired. I knew that the longer the battle was drawn out, the harder it would be to win. I had only one choice if I wanted to win. I would have to go back into the celestial warrior trance like before. The problem with this was that I didn’t know how to use it. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, but nothing happened.

Tentacles made of water burst out from the floor and grabbed me. I couldn’t break away. They were constricting me as the two shark fins changed direction and began coming towards me. I felt so defenseless that moment, but I suddenly began feeling a change. I felt the power surge I had come to love. This time it felt stronger. The alabaster white that signaled my powers sprouted from other parts of my body instead of just my hands. My arms up to the elbow and parts of my legs and chest, now had small streams of the white aura on them. Then I felt the power hunger that came with my abilities. There were two possible targets that would satisfy my hunger. The first was the Frostfall’s almighty Chimera, and the second was Octavia.

The water that restrained me became paler. The water tentacles moved as if to shake off my influence, but eventually they surrendered themselves to it. They let go of me in time for me to dodge the shark attack. Both of the sharks had launched themselves out of the water in an attempt to eat me, but I easily avoided them. They sank back into the water and continued to hunt Octavia.

I looked at the Chimera and smiled. He seemed taken aback by my appearance and confidence. “You look worried Flash,” I taunted. “I like that.” I stepped forward and he left his ice web throne. I ran to him and forced my hands to burst into flames. Flash created more walls of ice to keep me from him, so I allowed the fire to build up in one of my hands and touched the ice walls. The embers spread themselves around and began melting the ice. Flash forced the wall to repair itself. I was forced to change tactics.

I replaced the fire with the alabaster aura I used to control the Infernoland Chimera’s fire. The walls of ice paled and collapsed to the floor leaving the Frostfalls Chimera open for attack. He formed more swords and charged towards me. The swords melted the moment they came into contact with me. I forced the ice I still controlled to form a wall behind him.

With his back to the wall, the Chimera forced the ground below him to open. He sank in and escaped my wrath. He rose from another spot and created a column to keep himself off the ground and away from me. Chuncks of ice began to rise from the ground. Each chunk twisted itself into the shapes of knives sod launched themselves towards me. I allowed a few to hit me, pretended to be hurt, and allowed myself to sink into the water. I quickly stopped playing dead and swam to the other side of the column.

Flash laughed and allowed the column to sink partially back into the water. He turned his attention to Octavia who was still fighting the Chimera’s sharks. He launched a volley of ice daggers in Octavia’s direction. The ice that had covered the pool was beginning to re-form, so I only had one more chance to him.

I waited for the ice to completely re-form before I used my white aura power. I used it to control the water around me into breaking the ice and pushing me back up. I jumped on to Flash with me white aura in hand and threw him to the floor. The white aura reacted to Flash as it had before. It latched on to him and siphoned his energy. He tried to struggle, but after a few seconds, it completely stopped. I had finished him, but I wasn’t done yet. I turned to Octavia.

Octavia was out of the pool now walking towards me. I dashed forward. My hunger was overwhelming. It was messing with my brain and causing me to seek out power, and Octavia was full of it. Octavia quickly understood what I was doing and switched to a defensive stance. It wouldn’t do her any good; she would be done the moment I touched her. ”Like last time”? I thought to myself. ”No, this time will be different...this time I’ll win!” I reached out for her chest with my white aura covered hand. Octavia didn’t resist; instead she touched my forehead. I was instantly unable to move. Everything around me began to spin. Octavia let go of my face and allowed me to fall to the floor. I closed my eyes and was unable to resist. ”Is this what I did to the Chimera?” I finally gave in to Octavia’s power and fell asleep.

Sunset was still asleep when I set her down on the bed. We were currently at Discord’s central safe house. I had carried Sunset to Discord’s Frostfalls safe house after she had tried to attack me. From there we went through the tunnel to the central safe house. Discord was already waiting for us when we arrived. Discord, Applejack, and I decided to wait for Sunset before we discuss what had happened in the Frostfalls.

“How long do you think it’ll take for her to wake up?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered. I put Sunset to sleep by using a command ability I discovered when I was traveling with Calaeno. I don’t know what triggered it, but I knew that Sunset was responsible for it. I used it through instinct.

Sunset would be asleep until I wanted her to wake up, however, I couldn’t let Applejack know that I had done anything to her. I would just have to wait for Applejack to leave before I could command Sunset to awake.

“Ah’ll get Discord to take another look at her,” Applejack said as she walked to the door.

“Good idea,” I agreed. “I’ll stay here in case she wakes up.” Applejack nodded and ran out of the room. I felt the energy surge through my hands. “I have you to thank for this, Sunset. I guess I should wake you.” I put my hand on her forehead and commanded her to slowly wake up. She began to move.

“Wha-“ Sunset tried to speak, but she was unable to just yet. She was still half asleep.

“Hey Applejack!” I called out. “Sunset’s awake!” I could hear two sets of footsteps running in my direction. Applejack and Discord appeared a few seconds later.

“Sunset!” Applejack called as she ran to her. Sunset grunted softly.

“Octavia,” Discord said to me. “We should probably give Sunset some time to breathe. Let’s talk outside for a moment.”

“Alright,” I replied. We both walked out of the room and back into the hall. I closed the door behind me so that Applejack wouldn’d hear. “What’s on your mind?”

“A few things,” Discord said.” First of all, what is Sunset? Applejack told me what you told her, but I want the unabridged version.”

“I’m not sure what she is,” I said. I turned around and began to pace the hall. “I know that she’s not corrupted, but that’s about it.”

“Alright. What are you then?” Discord asked bluntly.

“Next question,” I replied.

Discord rolled his eyes in annoyance. “What can you tell me then?” he asked.

“Discord,” I said with a serious tone. “You have to understand that I don’t know the majority of what happened here. Most of the stuff I do remember was Vinyl and me being held in your company’s prison as test subjects. That’s why I need to talk to Gloriosa. She has answers we both need.”

Discord stayed quiet. He walked over to me slowly. “She’s been experimenting with the X.X.X. Plague. She most likely already integrated it into her body.”

“I figured as much,” I replied.

“That’s why you have Sunset going after the Chimeras isn’t it?” Discord asked. “You want Sunset to overpower her and take what you want.”

“That’s right,” I said, “but I just wanted her to be familiar with the X.X.X. Plague. I had no idea she would absorb abilities like that.” There was no point in denying my original motives. “I have my own powers too, thanks to Sunset.”

“How in the name of God did Sunset manage to do that?”

“She tried to siphon my energy, but instead she stimulated it,” I replied. “I have power now as well as another ace in the hole for my talk with Gloriosa.”

“Well that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” Discord said. I looked at Discord in silence. “When you find Gloriosa, you have to take everything you find and bring it here. Every single piece of research and anything you can carry must be brought here.”

“Alright,” I said. I trusted Discord enough to bring him back whatever he wanted me to with minimal details. He wasn’t responsible for the outbreak but still felt accountable.

“There’s one more thing,” Discord said. “We have to find everyone who’s not infected and round them up in one place. We need to find a way to escape the city, because I have a suspicion this town is going to be purged as soon as Gloriosa gets what she’s looking for.”

I figured,” I said. “So how do we escape?”

“Leave that to me,” Discord answered. “For now, you should continue killing Chimeras. Gloriosa will know what you’re up to, and she will try to stop you.” Discord looked thoughtfully to the door. “Can she hear us?”

“No,” I answered. “I implanted a command that slowly restores her super hearing along with her other more dangerous abilities.”

Discord stayed quiet. He looked troubled. “What else can you do?” he finally asked.

“I don’t know yet,” I answered honestly. “Let’s not risk Sunset hearing us.” I opened the door and motioned for Discord to walk back into the room. We walked in to find Sunset awake and talking to Applejack.

“Octavia,” Sunset said with regret in her voice. “I’m—I’m—really—“

“It’s okay,” I reassured Sunset. “I’m okay.”

“No you’re not,” Sunset said with the same regretful tone. “You’re infected with whatever that crazy bitch infected me with.”

I wasn’t sure how to reply. Discord and I both knew that that statement was true. We had both compared our notes on the X.X.X. Plague and on Sunset’s infection. None of them were consistent with me. I was different. I couldn’t have been infected by Sunset, but I wasn’t sure if telling her the truth would make things better or worse.

“It’s okay,” I finally replied. “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.” I didn’t want to flat out lie to Sunset, but I had no choice. Sunset rubbed her eyes as if to break eye contact with me.

“What exactly happened?” Sunset asked.

I raised my eyebrow. “You don’t remember,” I said in surprise. I looked at Applejack. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Sunset asked with authority in her voice.

“What do you remember?”

“I remember going into my celestial warrior trance and fighting the Frostfalls Chimera and—“ Sunset’s eyes widened. “I remember having a thirst to take his power— and then yours.”

“Do you remember draining the Chimera?” Applejack asked.

“No,” she replied.

“In the middle of the fight, you let him strike you with those ice shards,” I explained. “You used your power thing to melt most of the tips, but only enough so that they would still stick out of your chest without hitting anything important.”

“How do you know that?” Applejack asked.

“I examined the cuts on her chest,” I replied. “They’re all significantly shallower than they should be.”

“Since when do you know how to examine cuts?” Sunset asked.

“Since, shut up,” I replied not wanting to give Sunset a real answer.

“Anyway,” Discord said clearly irritated. “How do you feel?”

“I feel tired,” Sunset replied. “That’s about it.”

“You don’t feel like killing me anymore?” I asked.

“No, did I hurt you?”

“No, I stopped you before you could touch me.”

“How?”

I shrugged. “It was reflex,” I lied. “I just knocked you out.” Sunset didn’t look like she believed my story.

“There are other matters to discuss,” Discord said. He explained his thoughts on how Gloriosa was going to clean up Canterlot. Sunset and Applejack exchanged looks of horror.

“Oh mah God,” Applejack said slowly.

“Yeah,” I said. “But standing here in shock wouldn’t help anyone. Sunset and I are going to find Gloriosa and make sure everyone is out of the city before she destroys it.”

“We can’t let her destroy the city, it's our home!” Applejack protested.

“We can’t just let the X.X.X. Plague roam free either,” Sunset said.

“Sunset and I are going to the Electric Fields to find their Chimera and hopefully get Gloriosa’s location from them,” I said. “Meanwhile, you and Discord can round up all of the survivors into one place and find a way to escape.”

“That sounds good,” Applejack said unsure.

“I don’t think I should go,” Sunset said. “I almost got you killed last time.”

“We don’t have a choice,” I replied. “Unless you have a better idea.” Sunset shook her head. “Then Let’s get going.”

Sunset, Applejack, and I traveled back to the police station after getting Sunset her strength back. When we arrived, we saw that the cop car I had been using was outside of the police station’s gate already prepped for me. Sunset and I got into the car as Applejack walked into the police station. I turned on the car and was about to leave when suddenly I heard the police station’s gates reopening and closing. ”Wait for me!” I heard Twilight shout.

“Oh Celestia,” I said half amused. “This trip just got more interesting.”

“I’m right there with you,” Sunset said with her head buried in her hands. “This won’t end well.”

“Hey there you two,” Twilight said as she entered the car. “You guys didn’t think you were going to the Electric Fields without me did you?”

“We were kind of hoping to take people who can handle themselves,” Sunset said and I started the car and drove off.

“I can handle myself,” Twilight said bitterly, “and besides, Octavia can barely handle herself.

Sunset and I exchanged smiles. “I’ve gotten a lot stronger than when we were in the Infernoland, and so has Sunset.” We spent the next few minutes telling Twilight what had happened in the Frostfalls.

“Wow,” was Twilight’s only reply.

“Yeah, it’s actually an amazing trip,” I said.

“So that white aura thingy came back?” Twilight asked.

“Back and stronger than before,” I replied. “This time instead of just covering her hands, it covered a bunch of different places of her body. It was truly amazing.”

“I tried to kill you,” Sunset said negatively.

“Yeah,” I replied, “ it would have been an amazing death.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

“The Electric Fields are pretty far away,” I said. “You two should get some sleep, and we’ll be there in no time.”

“No. I’m tired of sleeping,” Sunset said. “I’ll rest when we get to the safe house Discord has over there.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again with all this happening.”

“Not me,” Twilight said. “I’ve been awake for too long. I could use sleep.” Twilight yawned and placed her head down against the door. She was out in seconds.

“Is it me, or is Twilight eerily chipper for someone in the middle of a Xenomorph apocalypse?” Sunset asked.

“Well technically it’s not a Xenomorph apocalypse,” I replied, “but I see your point.”

“I don’t even know how she can sleep. Everything’s falling to Tartarus all around us. Not to mention the backseat of a cop car looks pretty damn uncomfortable.”

“Twilight spent almost all of her summer vacations asleep,” Sunset said. “She’s slept in the most awkward positions, so I’m not surprised she’s sleeping now.”

“Actually I’m a little tired too,” I said. “Do you mind taking the wheel?”

“No I don’t mind,” Sunset replied. I stopped the car near an empty gas station. Sunset and I switched seats. With Sunset around I would be safe. I fell asleep as soon a I closed my eyes.

I had been driving for a long time now, and I wasn’t sure wether or not I was going the right way. Octavia was the one who was good with directions, but I couldn’t ask for her help mow that she was asleep. I continued driving through the streets until I saw a familiar sight. It was PON-3’s Turf. The bar my friends and I were in when we first heard about the corrupted wolf. It looked untouched by lotters. It almost looked inhabitable. I knew that wasn’t the case though. Now the bar was just a reminder of the last day of fun most of my friends had with me. It was also possibly the last place I would ever see more than a few of them. I watched it as we began to pass.

I looked back to the road in time to a massive elephant in my path. It was one of most horrifying animals I had ever seen. It still kind of looked like an elephant, but I could see all the xenomorphic deteriorated skin, and it seemed to be twice as big as an elephant should ever be. There were sections of damaged skin on his body. The left side of its ribcage was slightly exposed along with the top right part of its skull. He had no visible eyes on his head which gave me a clear indication that it was indeed a Xenomorph.

I quickly swerved out of the way and drove straight into PON-3’s Turf. The crash woke up Twilight and Octavia. “What the hell, Octavia!” Twilight yelled while rubbing her head. “I can’t even take a fucking nap because of your—“ Twilight stopped mid-sentence. She stayed completely quiet in shock.

“Is that an elephant?” Octavia asked almost matter-of-factly. The elephant advanced slowly towards us. “We should run.”

The three of us ran out of the car and away from the elephant. It saw us a moment later and charged for us.

“We can’t run together,” I said loud enough for Twilight and Octavia to hear. “We need to split up.” Twilight and I ran to the right of the street while Octavia ran left. The elephant followed Octavia. She ran faster than I had seen her run before, but the elephant easily kept pace. They were heading towards the zoo.

I shot magma balls and ice daggers towards the elephant, but he was too quick and didn’t stay in one place long enough to get hit. I suddenly had an idea. I aimed for Octavia and began firing. Most of the shots hit the elephant’s back legs. My attacks only seemed to aggravate it further.

Octavia led the elephant to the zoo entrance and quickly rolled out of the way to avoid being trampled. She quickly ran back towards the car. Twilight and I followed Octavia after realizing that the supply bag was still in the car. Octavia reached the car before us and pulled the supply bag and a map from the wreckage. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Octavia exclaimed.

The thunderous sound of the Xenomorph elephant shook the earth, but this time it wasn’t coming back alone. I could hear other animals running towards us too. Twilight, Octavia, and I ran into another alley and hid near its end. “Please tell me you can get us out of this?” I asked Octavia.

“I don’t really know this part of town,” she replied.

“Oh great, the one time you don’t know where to go is now,” Twilight said in disbelief.

“There,” Octavia pointed to a fire escape. “Let’s start climbing.” The three of us took turns climbing the fire escape with me being the last to climb. I glanced to the opening of the alley and saw a corrupted lion. It was just as hideous as the elephant. It was bigger than a normal lion, and it moved with a grace I wouldn’t have expected it to have. It was quickly closing the gap between us. It can’t get up here, I thought to myself. It’s too high for him to reach. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I began climbing even when Octavia was still near.

“Hurry up guys,” I urged. “There’s a fucking Xenomorph lion following us!”

Twilight stopped climbing to look down. “He can’t get to us, Sunset,” Twilight assumed.

The lion jumped up and grabbed part of the railing of the fire escape. “Goddammit! Hurry up Twilight!” I yelled. Twilight and Octavia rapidly climbed the fire escape while the lion struggled to regain balance. I shot the lion with as many magma bolts as I could. Four of the shots were direct hits. The lion seemed to become faster as if hitting it only angered it more. It jumped from the fire escape onto a nearby rooftop and then jumped higher up onto the fire escape. I couldn’t let it get any closer, so I began freezing the areas below me. The lion struggled to balance itself on the frozen areas until it finally slipped and hit the ground. Thump! I sighed in relief and continued climbing.

Twilight and Octavia had already reached the top. Octavia extended her hand to me and helped me reach the roof; the three of us walked to the edge and peeked down into the streets. We stared at groups of animals running out of the zoo. There were many different types of them, but they all were just as alien looking as the lion and the elephant we had seen.

“My God,” I said. “They look terrible.”

“Sunset?” Octavia got my attention. “Remember that other corrupted animal we saw before?”

“Yeah. It was a wolf,” I replied, “but it wasn’t as xenomorphic looking as these animals are. He was healthy and strong.”

Octavia stayed silent. She looked like she was pondering the information. “You don’t think these animals can be Chimeras too do you?” Octavia finally asked.

Twilight and I stayed quiet. Up until now I only thought that humans could become Chimeras, but the possibility of an animal Chimera was just too much to process. “We’re fucked if animals can be Chimeras,” I said flatly. “The X.X.X. Plague just keeps getting stronger. My abilities aren’t even close to a Chimera’s level, and the only ability that will likely get Octavia killed.”

“I really don’t like being killed,” Octavia said to ease the tension. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now we should continue heading for the Electric Fields.”

“How are we going to do that?” Twilight asked. “There are packs of animals down in the streets, and unless you know a way to fly us over, we’re screwed.”

“I could try to make an ice bridge over the buildings.” I suggested.

“That might work,” Octavia said.

“Let me test out the strength first,” I said as I manipulated the water in a water container out into the open air and froze it between two buildings. I walked on the bridge to see if it could hold. It felt a little unstable, but I was sure it would hold. “Let’s go.

Twilight and Octavia followed shortly after I finished walking across the bridge. Twilight seemed a little nervous, but Octavia didn’t seem to care that the bridge was a little wobbly. She walked forward as she looked at the streets instead of on the ice below her. She only tore her eyes away from the animals below once she was done walking on the bridge.

“That’s a really cool power,” Twilight said. “You’ll have to show me what else you can do after you kill the last two Chimeras. This is going to be fun.” Octavia liked at Twilight with uneasiness in her face. I wasn’t all too thrilled at how lightly Twilight was taking this mission. In fact, Twilight seems oblivious to both our uneasiness.

“You okay there, Twi Twi?” Octavia asked.

“Don’t call me Twi Twi,” Twilight said in an annoyed voice. “I hate it when people call me that.”

“Alright,” Octavia said, “but are you good? You seem a little off.” I agreed with Octavia. I always knew that Twilight was a little on the darker side when it came o morals, but I never expected to see her so excited about doing something so big.

“What do you mean by off?” Twilight asked.

“Never mind,” Octavia said. “I guess it’s just in my head. Let’s get going.” Octavia sounded like she regretted what she had asked. The three of us continued moving forward. I created another ice bridge which seemed slightly more stable than the last. We all crossed it with ease. I continued making bridges until Octavia finally stopped me. “Wait.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“The Electric Fields are nearby,” Octavia said, “look over there.” She pointed towards the sophisticated section of Canterlot barely in view. It was covered in a fog.

“Are those the Electric Fields?” Twilight asked.

“That’s where it’s supposed to be,” Octavia answered, “but I’ve never seen it before so I could be wrong.” I continued creating more bridges that led to the Electric Fields.

We walked closer together through each rooftop we passed. I was beginning to feel exhausted by making the bridges. I could barely move the water that I needed to the proper location.

“Sunset, are you doing alright?” Octavia asked. Either Octavia was more receptive than I knew, or I wasn’t hiding the exhaustion as good as I thought I was.

“I’ll be fine Tavi,” I assured Octavia. “I’m just a little tired from making the ice bridges.”

“Then we’ll just have to climb down and get inside the Electric Fields the same way we’ve gotten into every other place,” Octavia said. Neither Twilight nor I disagreed. We climbed down another fire escape back to the street. There were no animals or anything that were an immediate threat. The three of us headed for the entrance of the Electric Fields.

“Another Chimera is going to die to and I’m going to do it,” Twilight said confidently. Octavia threw another glance towards Twilight and then focused back to the barricade in front of us. We climbed the wall together.

When we reached the top, Octavia said almost the exact same thing she had said in the Infernoland and the Frostfalls. “Welcome to the Electric Fields.”

The Electric Fields were covered in an extremely dense layer of fog. It was difficult to see passed even a couple feet. It wasn’t like the fog in the Frostfalls; this fog carried an odd feel to it. It felt like it contained some kind of charge to it. Despite the way it felt however, it looked like an ordinary fog.

“Does something feel wrong to you guys?” Sunset asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Doesn’t it feel a little too clean for our taste? This place almost looks normal. Are you sure these are the Electric Fields Octavia?”

“Yeah, this should be the place. I followed the directions correctly. I’m certain that these should be the Electric Fields.”

The sparkle zone wasn’t as clean as this place. There were still pieces of debris and looted shops in the sparkle zone, but this place was completely intact. There weren’t even any reanimated virus victims here.

“It doesn’t matter what this place looks like,” Twilight said, “we can’t forget that this place is the Electric Fields. Which means that the Xenomorphs here most likely use electricity as their ability. Who really cares about the details after that?”

“I guess,” I said thoughtfully. “Man, I am not looking forward to meeting the Electro Squids.” I decided to call the Electric Fields Xenomorphs “Electro Squids.” We called the Infernoland Xenomorphs Pyronocks and the Frostfalls Xenomorphs Cryo Spiders, so calling them Electro Squids seemed appropriate.

Sunset took point and carefully walked forward with her berettas already in hands. Twilight and I followed with our own weapons raised. We walked a couple of blocks with no problems at all. After reaching the forurth block, Sunset suddenly stopped. Twilight and I stopped and stayed still as Sunset listened. I tried to hear whatever Sunset had heard, but as always, I wasn’t able to hear a thing. “What is it?” I finally asked, but before I could reply I saw what Sunset must have heard. There were two Veltromites flying towards us.

Sunset still didn’t seem to notice them advancing towards us. I had to push her out of the way of one or the bright blue bolts of electricity that was flying towards her. Twilight ducked down and ran for cover. I helped Sunset up and ran for cover afterwards. Sunset and I hid ourselves in one of the open buildings. We went inside and stayed near the entrance in case we needed to escape quickly.

“They’re just as silent as you are,” Sunset said. “There’s no way we’ll be able to sneak up on them, especially with all this damn fog in the way.”

“Oh we’ll see about that,” I said determined to win. “Can your power over water affect the fog?”

“I’ve tired, but it won’t work,” Sunset replied. I was only a good fighter when it came to close combat. The two Veltromites had a long range advantage against me. The only way to win was for me to get close enough to the pair to assassinate them, but for that to work I needed a distraction.

“I need cover,” I said. “Can you shoot a few magma balls?”

“Not a problem,” Sunset replied.

“Good. If my plan works then this will be done quickly, so just wait for me to call you.” I ran forward into the street while Sunset began to fire wildly into the fog. I had to be careful not to get hit by any of the magma balls while at the same time try and listen for any sounds to indicate where the two Veltromites were.

I used my stealth skills to remain unseen by the Electro Squids. I was having difficulty finding them. I suddenly hear a faint cracking sound like someone had just stepped on some paper. I quickly and quietly ran towards the sound and pulled out my knives for close combat. I lunged forward the moment I saw the figure.

I was careful not to strike the Electro Squid at that moment. I wanted to its eyes and make sure it was bound to the X.X.X. Plague like the other virus beings I killed were. It was a woman. He had electric blue eyes the same shade of the electricity they used. I stabbed him in the chest five times and quickly ran off back into the fog from the other.

“You’re the stealthy one aren’t you?” He asked. I could suddenly feel his presence near me. “You’re the one who killed all the other corrupted monsters from the shadows. She warned us about you.”

“Who told you about that?”

He just laughed. “You don’t know? That’s good,” he said as he appeared in front of me. “But the power of the Electric Fields are also well versed in the art of stealth.” He walked backwards and the fog seemed to swallow him up and just like that he was out of range of my senses.

“Octavia!” Twilight called. “Is it clear?” I stayed silent trying to listen in for any movement.

“I don’t know,” I finally admitted. “This bastard is pretty stealthy. He could still be here, or he could be gone.”

“Figure it out!” Sunset shouted. I began to walk silently as I had done before. I was careful not to let myself stay in one place for more than a few seconds.

“Sunset,” I called out. “Can you hear him?”

“I hear breathing,” she replied, “but it’s getting further away.”

I sighed. “Then I think it’s safe to come out guys,” I said. Twilight and Sunset walked back into the street.

“Where’d you go Octavia?” Twilight asked. I was still in my stealth mentality and difficult for Sunset and Twilight to see.

“Octavia, don’t un-stealth yourself,” Sunset said. “Just follow me and be ready to fight.”

“Alright,” I said. I decided that I wouldn’t just stay near Sunset and Twilight. It was best if I explored a little ahead in case there was an ambush nearby.

“So who was stealthier?” Twilight asked. “Was it those Electro Squid things or Octavia?”

“I could still hear very faint sounds of movement by the Electro Squids, but Octavia completely disappeared.” I felt a little pride at Sunset’s words. I liked to believe that I was good with sneaking around and evening the odds when it came to fights. Sunset already thought I was a good fighter even though I didn’t have powers. It was nice to feel needed.

I rushed forward as silently as before. “We should find a Electro Squid that we can interrogate,” I suggested.

“A Electro Squid with free will would be better,” Sunset said.

“Or you can use your power to skip interrogating,” Twilight suggested. “Maybe you can sense Chimeras.”

“Is that possible Tavi?” Sunset asked. Her question surprised me. She clearly knew that I had more information on the X.X.X. Plague than I was giving, but she didn’t know that I had almost no information on what she was.

“How would I know,” I answered trying not to sound defensive.

“I don’t know,” Sunset replied. “It’s just that you know so much about, like, everything here and I figured maybe you knew something about this.”

“Sorry Sunset,” I replied. “I don’t know anything other than what I already told you both.” I was hoping that Sunset wouldn’t catch my lie. She looked away and didn’t question me any further. I wasn’t entirely convinced that Sunset trusted me, but I couldn’t afford to jeopardize our partnership over a few lies. She was still my ace in the hole against Gloriosa. If she didn’t fight, then there would be a good chance that Gloriosa would tear me apart even with my stealth.

I started running through the streets. Sunset didn’t seem to react to me separating from the group. I doubted she had even noticed. The land was great for me. I had a place where I could fully utilize my abilities. The infected her might use my style, but I was miles ahead of them on raw talent. I could easily take on any of them by picking them off in small groups, but I knew I was screwed if there was a large group.

I recognized where I currently was. I was near a tall freeway that lead to the middle of the Electric Fields. I waited for the others to catch up before I said anything about what I found. “Hey guys, there’s a freeway that goes right through the Electric Fields,” I said.

“So we can use it to travel faster?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, and maybe it doesn’t have as much fog as the rest of this place,” Twilight commented.

“Aright Octavia,” Sunset said, “lead the way.”

“Follow my voice,” I said. I walked to the freeway and continued going forward. The fog seemed to stop at the top. All we could see was a giant cloud of fog covering the entire Electric Fields.

The actual freeway was different from the rest of the town. It looked like people had tried to use it as a camping ground. There were tents and fires set up in this place. Sunset, Twilight, and I walked out of the fog together. We walked to the tent ground. There was a fire pit enclosed by ten large pink tents. There didn’t seem to be anyone outside in the open.

A teenaged guy opened his tent and walked out. A look of surprise washed over his face. He looked at each of us in the eyes as if he was looking for something. “Who are you guys?” he asked. “What do you want?” He looked like a kid in his teens. He was skinny and slightly pale. He had dark blue hair and green eyes.

“What’re you doing here in the middle of the Electric Fields?” I asked completely ignoring his questions.

“I’m here cause it’s safe,” he said as if his statement was oblivious.

“How the Hell is it safe here?” Sunset asked with notable confusion.

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight said apathetically to Sunset. She turned to the kid. “Do you talk to any of the Electro Squids here?”

“Why the hell should I tell you?” the kid answered.

“Sunset,” I said, ”burn him.” Sunset opened her hand and forced a magma ball to appear.

“Wait Wait Wait!” the boy said rapidly. “I’ll talk just don't hurt me.” The kid was breathing hard now. Sunset extinguished the magma and waited for him to talk. I waited for the kid to stop hyperventilating before interrogating him because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

“Okay,” I said after the kid finished. “I think we’ll start with something simple. What’s your name?”

“My name’s Button Mash,” he said still half panicking.

“Are you corrupted?”

“What?” he asked nervously.

“Sunset,” Twilight said. Sunset held out her arms, creating a magma ball in one hand and a small ball of still swirling bits of ice in the other.

“How do you think your world will end little Button?” Twilight asked. “By fire or ice?”

“Wasn’t that poem about the end of a relationship?” Sunset whispered to me.

“It’s up for interpretation,” I replied. “Next question,” I said loudly. “Are you infected?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not infected or corrupted or anything.”

“Do you know anyone who can throw electricity?”

Button looked hesitant for a moment. “Yeah," he said timidly. “One of my friends got corrupted or whatever and got powers.”

“Did his eyes change colors?”

“No,” he said still on edge. “He looked just like he used to look like that girl.” He pointed to Sunset. “The same as before.”

“Did your friend ever mention a leader or the first creature who could use electricity?”

“Yeah, he told me about both of the leaders.”

“Both?” Sunset asked in surprise. The three of us looked at each other in shock.

"Just when I think I understand everything,” I complained.

“What?” Button asked with a new wave or fear in his face. “Is there something wrong? Are you girls going to let me go?”

“Relax kid, we’re not going to hurt you,” Sunset said. “You’re going to be fine as long as you cooperate.”

“Did he tell you where the leaders were?” I asked.

“Yeah, they're both near the end of the freeway. The strongest of the leaders lives in Filthy Rich’s mansion. The other lives near. They’re fighting to take control of this place.”

“What else should we know?” I asked.

“That’s all,” Button replied.

“Okay, thanks for the information. I’m just going to talk to my friends real quick,” I said. I turned and led Twilight and Sunset away from Button. “What do you guys think?” I asked. “Think it’s a civil war between the Chimera and a Beta?”

“It could be,” Sunset replied.

“So we could use this against the Chimera,” Twilight suggested. “We could get the Beta to help us to kill it and when we’re done we’ll kill him too.” I felt a little disturbed at how cheeky Twilight was when she made her suggestion. I felt like the further we explored the Black Plaguelands the darker she became.

“Maybe we could help one side and get their help against the next Chimera,” Sunset suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” I blurted out. I could fight Gloriosa with the strength of the Electric Fields on my side.

“We need to find the Chimera, the Beta, and Discord’s safe house,” Sunset reminded us. “It isn’t a very easy task.”

“I can travel through the streets unseen and find the safe house,” I said.

“No,” Sunset replied. “We need you to fight. Give Twilight the directions and come with me.”

“Because that doesn’t sound stupid,” Twilight commented sarcastically. Twilight was now beginning to annoy me. I ignored the comment so that I wouldnt cause any problems. I gave Twilight the map and walked back to Sunset. We both watched as Twilight walked forward through the highway and disappeared in the distance.

The freeway was actually a lot shorter than I had expected it to be. It dipped into the fog a few times, however, Sunset and I had to take it to the Chimera. While it did impair my stealth abilities severely because of all the areas free of fog, taking the path would allow Sunset to use her abilities with a bigger chance of hitting the enemy. The Veltromites would also have their stealth abilities impaired too, so at least I wasn’t the only one losing something.

Sunset and I left Button and the other people in the camp that we hadn’t seen with the belief that we would return and take them to the main outpost in the inner city. We had also told Twilight to help lead them to Discord’s safe house in the Electric Fields so that they could meet the people in the police station after traveling through the main safe house.

Sunset and I walked through the freeway towards the first dip back into the fog. We entered cautiously. There were no signs of other than our own. The dip in the freeway wasn’t very long; it only took us a few minutes to clear it and reach the other side. I was half expecting to be attacked by a horde of Veltromites, but that was just my paranoid nature.

We rose back out of the fog and back into another high part of the freeway. This area wasn’t dirty at all. There weren’t even any cars. It was just a straight walk into the next dip into the road. “Hey,” I finally decided to break the surprisingly comfortable silence. “Did Twilight seem odd to you? Or is that just how she’s always been?”

“Well she was always a bit quiet in school,” Sunset replied. “I had no idea she was so trigger happy.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “The first time I met her she seemed normal, shy, and a little depressing at times, but nothing that seemed too bad, but now she’s so energetic at the thought of killing the Chimeras.”

“It almost sounded like she thought we were hunting,” Sunset said. We continued walking until we reached the second dip. This dip wasn’t as short as the last one. It looked like it stretched out for a while longer. We would have to be extra careful.

Sunset and I reached the second dip and slowly sank back into the fog. This time Sunset walked very carefully. She got one of her guns ready in one hand and freed the other so that she could use her abilities through it. I instantly blended into the background and followed Sunset forward.

I could tell that Sunset was trying to listen for any signs of movement. She moved her head sharply towards sounds I couldn’t hear myself. I felt a change in the wind and knew that one of the Electro Squids was about to attack. I ran towards Sunset with both of my knives at the ready. I pushed her out of the way in time to dodge a blue lightning bolt.

“Run,” I said. The two of us sprinted towards the other side of the fog. We avoided the lightning, but came dangerously close to being hit by a giant bold that went right in between us. I could feel the Electro Squids following us towards the end of the fog. Sunset and I both knew that once they were out of the fog, they wouldn’t stand a chance against us.

We finally reached the end of the fog and passed without slowing down. Sunset and I continued running until we saw the first Veltromite cross the fog. We stopped and turned to face them. Now I had no idea what to say about what the Veltromites looked like. They looked similar to the Cryo Spiders in the Frostfalls, but they looked more like squids with wings and hands. Five more Electro Squids came out of the fog following the first. We were outnumbered, but they were outmatched.

Sunset and I quickly switched to the offense. I lunged at the Electro Squids, but they were quicker than the Cryo Spiders and Pyronocks were. They were able to move with god-like speed. It almost looked like they could teleport around at a short range. I ended up turning back towards Sunset trying to avoid being surrounded by the Electro Squids. Luckily for me, my speed and Sunset’s cover fire allowed me to escape just before they had me cornered.

“We need to fight smarter,” Sunset said. “I think I can kill at least half of them, but it will use almost all of my energy.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked. “Exhausting your energy here might screw us over in the future.”

“You have a better idea?” Sunset asked.

“I don’t,” I admitted. “Just don’t overdo it.”

Sunset chuckled. “When have I ever—“ Sunset seemed to stop herself. “Never mind.” Sunset launched a volley of magma balls towards the Electro Squids. They easily dodged them and seemed to regard the attack as a mere joke. They laughed demonic laughs as they dodged the magma balls with almost playful movement. After the attack, they advanced towards our location. They produced streams of electricity from their six hands and readied themselves. “Get ready Octy,” Sunset said confidently. “If we do this right, we should be able to get them all.”

“Alright,” I said. I still didn’t like the fact that Sunset never let in on her plans until right before the point that I needed to help, but it has worked in the past so I wouldn’t complain.

Sunset dropped her gun on the floor. She lowered her head and clapped her hands together making her look like she was praying to Celestia. A moment later the fire Sunset had spread around the freeway erupted into a flame ten times its original size. Then I noticed what Sunset wanted me to look out for. All six Electro Squids were too busy to notice the true weapon Sunset wanted to conceal them from. Me.

I silently ran to the closest Electro Squids and stabbed him in the chest with my knives. The other Electro Squids became aware of my presence and focused their attention to me. Sunset took this opportunity to launch magma balls from one of the fire pits she had created. It was able to blast two of the Electro Squids off the freeway.

Only three remained. I thought it would be just as easy to kill these three as it was their associates, but I was wrong. They constantly used their short range teleportation to dodge my knives. Sunset had exhausted herself and wasn’t in any condition to fight.

I had no idea what to do now. We couldn’t kill them, and even if we did, at the rate we were fighting we would be too tired to fight against their Chimera.

“Now what do we do?” I asked hoping Sunset would have an answer. “These things are too fast for us. We can’t win like this.”

“Think of something Octavia,” Sunset said. “You always have good ideas.” I struggled to find a way to win. There was an obvious way we could win, but I didn’t want to risk losing Sunset to her dark abilities. It seemed hopeless until I remembered one of Sunset’s comments about my stealth compared to that of the Electro Squid’s. If I could go back into the fog I should be able to at least kill one of them, but the fog was too far away. I thought of a way to fix that too.

“Sunset can you manipulate the fog?” I asked.

“No, for some reason I can’t manipulate it,” she replied.

“Then make your own.”

“I can’t make water, ”Sunset said after a few moments, “but I can hear running water nearby. Follow me.” Sunset ran forward through the freeway away from the Electro Squids.

“Where are you going Sunset?” I asked.

“I can hear water flowing,” Sunset answered. “That will give you all the water that you need to do whatever it is you’re planning to do.” We ran together and dodged every few seconds to keep from getting hit by the lightning the Electro Squids continued to throw at us.

Sunset suddenly stopped. She clapped her hands together again and assumed the celestial prayer stance I had seen earlier. A moment later, a dense cloud of fog flooded the top of the freeway and provided the perfect cover that I needed to end this. I instantly disappeared into the fog and began looking for the three remaining Electro Squids.

I stood near Sunset so that I could see them try to attack her. It didn’t take long for one of them to fall for my trap. One of the Electro Squids flew for Sunset with electricity in hands. I stabbed him quick and clean. He fell to the floor motionless.

“Something’s happening,” Sunset said.

“What?” I asked.

“They’re leaving,” Sunset let go of her control over the other and began to walk forward again. I exited the fog and followed a few feet away from her. I wasn’t very tired from our past two encounters with the Electro Squids, but I was sure that Sunset was exhausted by now.

“Are you alright?” I asked her.

“I’m just a little tired that’s all.”

“I think I have something to help get your strength back.” I rummaged through the supply bag until I found something to eat. I gave Sunset a cupcake and closed the bag again.

“Thanks,” Sunset said as she ate the cupcake. I was almost horrified by how animal-like Sunset ate. She ripped away at the food like a crazy wolf. The poor cupcake didn’t deserve such a sad fate, but then again, the Pinkie Pie back in Equestria always loved to eat food like that.

There was another cupcake meant for me, but I offered it to Sunset instead. She was still noticeably hungry and I didn’t want to risk running into more Electro Squids without her.

“This is delicious,” Sunset said.

“Glad to hear it,” I replied. We sat down on the floor and took a small rest. When we finished we would surely finish off the next Chimera as we originally intended on doing.

Dr. Gloriosa Daisy was performing more experiments on her next test subjects when her visitor Krystrus returned to her lab. “Gloriosa, how’s your progress on the X.X.X. Plague coming?” she asked.

Gloriosa suppressed a sigh as she tried to hide her irritation with the woman she believed was beneath her. She tried her best to keep herself composed. “I have almost obtained all the information I needed. Have you finally retrieved your targets?”

“I sent out a team of my finest agents to retrieve the second,” she replied. “But I must wait for the third and fourth to be available.”

“Agents?” Gloriosa asked. “I thought you were alone here?”

“Nope,” she replied. “I have a few highly trained field agents out in the city.”

“What’re they out for?”

“They’re retrieving combat data on each of the infected,” Krystrus replied. “By the way, I was told by my mentor that you were working on a project for yourself. ‘The Giger Project’ I believe it was called.”

Gloriosa was shocked. The Giger Project was the pinnacle of her planning. She wanted to combine the power and strength of the Black Plagueland monsters into her own body. She would be a god, but now it was over. Krystrus would now shut her down and end her dream of power. The desire to kill Krystrus and the other two superiors of Umbrella Yutani was now overwhelming her.

Krystrus seemed to read the worry and desperation in her face. “Don’t worry,” she said calmly. “I won’t try to stop your little project. I just wanted to make sure it was true. You see, Gloriosa,” Krystrus walked closer to her as she spoke. “You have the kind of ambition that makes you much more valuable than Discord ever was. I can’t afford to lose a valuable asset such as you.”

Gloriosa didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t trust Krystrus, and she knew Krystrus didn’t trust her, but there was a power to her words that intrigued Gloriosa. “What do you get out of this?” she finally asked.

“That isn’t important and it won’t affect you in any way,” she replied. “Think of this as a loose partnership. I get what I want and you get what you want.”

“And let me guess, what you want is my research?” Gloriosa asked.

“Oh I want much more than that,” Krystrus answered as she put her face close to Gloriosa’s face. She began walking away from Gloriosa and back to the entrance of the lab moments later. She stopped a few steps away from the exit. “Prepare the last of your experiments for departure, because as soon as I get the last two Chimeras, we’re leaving.”

“Why should I help you?” Gloriosa blurted out.

“Other than the fact that I’m your superior?” she asked with an edge to her voice. “How about the fact that I have Discord’s research too? You have no idea how important his findings are, but you could see for yourself if you agreed to share your own research.” Krystrus opened the door out of the lab and walked through them. “Oh and Daisy? Don’t be late. Canterlot will be cleansed soon whether you and your work stay here or not.” And with that she closed the lab doors.

“You feeling better?” Octavia asked.

“I think I’m getting my strength back,” I replied. “I’ll be able to take on the Chimera in no time.” Octavia and I were almost ready to fight the next Chimera, but before we could do that, we still needed to become allies with the Electro Squids that defected from the Chimera. They would be able to help us bring down the Chimera with less of a risk. The only issue that came to mind was that we had no way of talking to them. “How exactly are we going to get the Electro Squids to cooperate?”

“I have no idea,” Octavia replied. “I think we just have to hope they believe we’re on their side.”

“I hope we didn’t accidentally kill their men.”

“I honestly doubt they’ll care if we did or not,” Octavia replied. “They barely care about themselves let alone others.”

“Let’s get going,” I said. “So the next dip in the freeway will take us to the Chimera’s mansion?”

“Yeah,” Octavia replied. Octavia and I prepared all of our supplies and began walking forward. We walked for a few feet before we heard a familiar voice.

“Guys!” Twilight shouted. “Wait up!”

“This won’t end well,” I whispered.

Octavia didn’t speak. She looked like she was in deep in thought. “How did she finish so quickly?” she finally asked.

“Luck, Maybe.” I could see that Octavia wasn’t satisfied with my answer. “Just let it go. Don’t drive yourself crazy thinking about stuff like that.” Octavia exhaled loudly and shrugged.

“Wait!” Twilight called out again. It didn’t take him long to reach us. “Good thing I came when I did.”

“Did you take the people in the camp back to the police station?” Octavia asked.

“I didn’t have to,” Twilight replied. “I just told them where to go and they went.” Octavia looked at Twilight with an expression of disapproval, but Twilight was too full of herself to notice.

Octavia began walking forward. Twilight and I followed close. We walked through the freeway until we reached the last dip into the fog. Octavia disappeared with the use of her stealth skills as soon as we were fully covered by the fog. I didn’t know why I couldn’t see or hear her. She didn’t just become hard to find——— it was as if she stopped existing.

We continued following the freeway until we reached one of the exits that branched into the streets I knew the mansions were in. “Octavia, scout ahead and tell us what we should be worried about,” I said.

“Alright,” Octavia said from in front of me. Twilight and I continued forward. We each looked around the place carefully. I didn’t want to be taken by surprise again. This time, I listened and adjusted my movement with every sound. I could hear some faint traces of movement, but the Electro Squids were too far away to pose an immediate threat. I could hear some movement fairly close by. I began to wonder why so many of them were trying to hide in their own territory. I remembered their civil war they were having, but then I wondered why they were having a civil war in the first place.

The sudden sound of fighting caught Twilight and me off guard. We rushed to the battle ground, but it was silent when we got there. We found four bodies with stab wounds on them. It must have been Octavia because no one stabbed creatures and just left them behind like that. “Octavia are you there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said from behind Twilight and me.

“Warn us next time you’re going to do something like that okay?” I asked. There was another sudden sound of fighting near us. “Goddamn it, Tavi.”

“What? I’m still here,” Octavia said defending herself.

“Then what was that noise?” I asked myself. It still sounded like the battle was going on. I could hear the sound of electricity being manifested and used as a weapon. Twilight and I rushed over to the scene, but were careful now to get in the middle of the crossfire.

“Don’t fight,” Octavia ordered. “Just watch.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“It’s because she wants to learn how they fight and see which ones are against the Chimera and which ones are its followers,” I answered. “Am I right?” Octavia nodded. I agreed with Octavia’s analytical approach towards the fight. I didn’t want to ask the wrong side for help, so this was a good way of finding out where the leader of the rebels was.

There were two groups of twenty one Electro Squids fighting each other. One side had the same dark electric blue eyes I had seen with the other kind of Electro Squids. The other group had a mix of pink, green, and gray colors. The free will group fought strategically while the dark electric blue-eyed Electro Squids fought with more savage maneuvers.

We hid in the cover of the fog as before. Neither group noticed us.

“Maybe we done need to get the rebels on our side anymore, Octavia said. “All we need to do is ride their distraction until we reach the mansion.”

“It sounds safer than talking to those lunatics,” I agreed. The three of us traveled in silence to the mansions of the town, JR didn’t take long to find the mansion we were looking for. It was the biggest and most expensive looking mansion I had ever seen. I didn’t know much about architecture so I wasn’t sure what to make of all the pillars, columns, and archways that held parts of the mansion. It was the size of a small hospital and must have just been as many rooms.

“That’s one amazing mansion,” Octavia said. “Look at all those pillars and archways. "It’s beautiful.” Octavia clearly loved the mansion. She seemed to study it carefully. I looked at the building and began looking for the only thing I cared about, an entrance.

I saw many guards around the mansion and knew that it would be difficult to pass without a distraction. Unfortunately, the rebel Electro Squids were too far away to provide a big enough distraction for us. I could only think of one way to lure the guards away from their post smother I could fight the Chimera alone. “Octavia, attack one of the Veltromites and lead them to the rebels,” I commanded. “That way I can fight the Chimera alone.”

“Alright," she said after a moment. Octavia didn’t sound happy about my plan, but I knew she couldn’t think of anything better. She wasn’t in any real danger. She was better with stealth than the Veltromites were, so she could slip by them if they became too much of a problem for her.

I was so busy justifying sending Octavia alone that I didn’t notice that she had already left. I heard the sound of clashing metal and then silence. I could hear the subtle movement become distant as Octavia led her followers away. “She works fast,” Twilight said in surprise.

“We have to work just as fast and clear a path for Octavia,” I said. Twilight and I ran forward as silently as possible. We weren’t as silent as Octavia or even the Electro Squids, but there were enough guards gone for us to go unnoticed.

I looked to the direction Octavia led the guards in. I couldn’t see anything through the fog. I began to wonder why the fog in this area wasn’t as thick as the fog in the outskirts of this Black Plagueland. I wasn’t even sure what the source of it was. It seemed too well placed to be just fog, and the Electro Squids seemed to be skilled in using it as cover. The odd thing was that even with the fog thinning, Octavia could still somehow blend herself completely into it.

Twilight and I walked to the front door, and to my surprise, it was open. We both slowly entered the mansion. I didn’t really look at the design or beauty of the inside of it, instead I began to look for the Chimera. There were five doors on the right side and five on the left. There was also a stairway that led to a second floor, and behind that was another door. I was sure the Chimera would be passed that door.

Twilight and I rushed over to the door in the back of they stairway. Twilight scanned the second floor and I decided to do the same. There were a few more doors in this room, but nothing else. I turned my attention back to the door and put my hand on the door handle. I turned back to look at the room one more time before I entered the next area. I opened the next door.

The room was as extraordinary as the entire house was, but the only thing that caught my eye was the woman in the middle of the room. She had long black hair and teal eyes behind thick glasses. She wore a dark blue shirt and a light blue skirt. She didn’t look like a threat, but I wasn’t going to let my guard down.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“You come into our home and ask who I am?” she asked annoyed but surprisingly calm given the circumstances.

“Are you the leader of the Electro Squids?” I asked her as matter-of-factly as I possibly could.

“No,” she answered. “What’s your business here?”

“We’re here to see the Electric Field’s Chimera,” I responded.

“Chimera?” she asked.

“A Chimera is a Xenomorph that goes through an abnormal evolution and gains an ability that can be passed down to everyone else it infects,” Twilight answered.

“Why would you want to see her?” she asked.

“Because we’re going to kill her,” Twilight said.

“Twilight, What the hell,” I whispered. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Look at her eyes Sunset, she isn’t under her control,” Twilight answered.

“You think I would sell out my mistress,” she answered.

I scowled at Twilight. “Then again maybe I should have asked whose side she was on,” Twilight said.

“You think?” I replied.

“Great, I guess we’ll do this the hard way then,” Twilight said with a smile on her face, but before we could do anything, the woman in front of us began to speak again.

“I will show you where our ‘Chimera’ is, but I am only doing this by her request.”

Twilight and I looked at each other. “She knows where we are?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, “she ordered me to escort anyone who managed to get into the mansion to her more specifically anyone who was looking for her.”

“Why? Does she have a death wish,” Twilight said with a devilish smile.

“No,” she answered, “but there’s no possible way you can kill her. And she’s actually expecting someone.”

Twilight and I followed the Chimera’s servant through th mansion until we reached another large door like the one at the entrance.

“Shes in there,” the Chimera’s servant said. “Do yourselves a favor and don’t go in.”

“We have to,” I said.

“If that’s how you feel,” she said as she turned her back on us and walked out the room.

“What do you think?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered, “I doubt Octavia is going to be with us anytime soon, so I guess there’s only thing we can do: go in and hope to God and we can win.”

“You took out two other Chimeras, this will be easy.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but this time is different. This time I can’t use that alabaster aura. It’s too dangerous.”

“No risk, no reward,” Twilight simply said. I was now beggining to understand why Octavia was becoming uneasy around Twilight. Either she really didn’t have a clue how dangerous this was going to be, or she didn’t care. Either way, I had to be on my guard around her. Her solutions to most problems seemed to violence.

I opened the door and Twilight and I walked in. There she was, the Electric Fields’ Chimera. She stood in the middle of the room and didn’t even bother to look in our direction as we entered. I created a magma ball in my left hand and an ice ball in the other. The sounds of the newly created fire and still shifting ice seemed to get her attention. She finally looked towards me. “What do you want?” she asked.

“Your power,” I said.

“That’s something I’m not gonna give,” she said.

“I know. That’s why I’m going to take it from you,” I said.

“Oh I see now, so you’re the one who’s been killing the Black Plaguelands’ leaders? Well I’m not like the others. I’m smart. I know how to fight.”

“Is that why half of the Electro Squids are rebelling against you? Because you’re smart?” I asked insultingly.

“Actually, yes,” she answered. “The rebellious Electro Squids, as you call them, are useless. All they know and desire is to infect and destroy.”

“And what, you’re different?” I asked insultingly again.

“I don’t want to fight or rule. I just want to leave this place.”

“My God,” Twilight said annoyed,” can we just kill her and get it over with?”

“Fine,” I said halfheartedly. In truth, I didn’t know what to make of this Chimera. She wasn’t outwardly aggressive and didn’t become defensive until we threatened her. She didn’t seem to be all that bad, but I knew that there was no way to go about taking her powers without fighting her. I knew that Octavia would encourage me to do what needed to be done.

She whistled loudly. I could hear growling coming from two corners of the room behind her. Two massive gray dinosaur-like xeno-lizards emerged from the shadows. They each slowly walked to the Chimera’s side. They both seemed normal with the exception that they’re xenos and their massive size.

The Chimera looked at me and smiled. “They’re my pets,” she said gently as she caressed both of their heads.

“Great,” I whispered to Twilight. “I bet those things can use electricity too.”

“How do you figure?” Twilight asked.

“The last two Chimeras had animals that could use the Chimera’s abilities,” I answered. “So there’s a pretty good chance that it’s the same deal now.”

“How did you beat them?” Twilight asked.

“I didn’t,” I replied. “I just killed the Chimeras first. Distract the lizards so that I can get a shot at the Chimera.” There was no avoiding it; I would have to use my alabaster aura power again despite the risks. “Let’s go.”

I ran towards the Chimera, and two wolves countered me almost immediately. One moved to the front of me and formed a shroud or electricity around itself, while the other positioned itself behind me and charged towards me forming another electric shroud. I panicked and fired the magma ball at the wolf in front of me and the ice ball to the one behind me. The attack confused and disoriented both of the wolves long enough doe me to get away from danger.

Bang-Bang-Bang. Twilight began shooting the beasts, but the bullets didn’t seem to be affecting the duo. The Chimera walked to a chair near the end of the room. She sat down and looked towards us with mild interest. I tried to run towards her, but the lizards seemed to notice my change in direction and positioned themselves to counter me.

The lizards were faster and stronger than Twilight and I were. I didn’t understand why they didn’t just kill us and move on. That thought troubled me until I realized what was happening; they were toying with us. They were just playing with us, but not the way a dog would play with his master; it was more like a predator plays with its food.

I sighed heavily and began concentrating on using my ace in the hole. Twilight ran in my direction and began shooting the lizards to keep them away from me. It didn’t take long for me to begin to feel the energy flowing like the previous times I went into my celestial warrior trance. The power surged through me and I could begin to feel the thirst for power I had before. Suddenly, Twilight and pair of wolves began to slowly drift into the background. It felt like the only people in the room were the Chimera and me.

I ran towards her. She suddenly understood what was happening and began shooting bolts of electricity towards me. I easily dodged them and continued running towards her. I could feel the lizards still busy playing with Twilight. They were too far away to protect their master now. I was about twenty feet away now and ready to finish her. I extended my hand forward, ready to take all of her power.

I suddenly felt a swift strike to my side. I was sent soaring to my left by an undetected enemy. I tried to compose myself as quickly as possible. When I was back on my feet, I noticed that my alabaster aura had shut itself down.

“Octavia?!” The Chimera shouted in surprise.

“Octavia!” Twilight yelled in anger.

I looked towards the Chimera and saw Octavia in front of her as of she was protecting her. “Octavia? What the hell are you doing?” I asked in confusion. “That’s the Chimera.”

“I know,” Octavia replied.

“Then why did you stop me from getting her fucking power?!”

“Relax Sunset,” Octavia said. “Just calm down so we can get what we want without causing any unnecessary deaths.”

“What?” I asked. “What does it matter if she dies? She’s corrupted and a Chimera.”

“So?” Octavia asked. “What does that matter? She wants the same thing we want.”

“She can’t leave because the X.X.X. Plague will leave with her,” I responded.

“Discord thinks that he can keep it from spreading,” Octavia answered.

“Octavia,” the Chimera said, “I thought you were dead.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Octavia said halfheartedly.

“But Tavi,” she continued.

“We need to get Sunset the power to control electricity,” Octavia continued. “We’re going after the woman responsible for the infection.” The Chimera paused for a moment then nodded. “Come over here and I’ll walk you through it,” Octavia said to me. I walked towards Octavia and the Chimera. I wasn’t sure what to make of this at all. I was too tired to argue and I just decided to go along with it.

“I won’t die from this?” The Chimera asked suspiciously.

“Why would I’ve stopped Sunset from killing you if I just wanted to kill you now?” Octavia replied. “And besides, I wouldn’t let you get hurt.”

Octavia turned to me when I reached her. “What do I do?” I asked.

“Just touch her and I’ll do the rest,” she replied. I touched the Chimera’s shoulder. She looked nervous.

“Alright,” Octavia said. “I’ll start the process.” Suddenly, I felt my white aura return to me. My hands were completely covered in it, but it felt different. The white aura felt controlled and reserved. It didn’t fill me with the impulse to fight as it usually did. It moved independent from my command and began draining the Chimera. I saw her slowly begin to fade away. She looked like she was dying, but before I felt the last of her energy fade, the alabaster aura faded.

“You alright Moondancer?” Octavia asked.

“I’m fine,” she answered.

“How about you?” Octavia asked me. “Did you gain control over electricity?” I forced electricity to form above my hand. I dispersed it as fast as I could.

“It feels more like lightning in my hands than electricity,” I said.

“Good to hear.” Octavia turned to the Chimera Moondancer. “Moon I have a way for you to escape this place, but I need to take down the last Chimera before I can do that. Would you be willing to help me stop it and fight the woman responsible for all this?”

“You said you can stop us from spreading the X.X.X. Plague?” Moondancer asked. Octavia nodded. “Good, I’ll promise to help you if you promise that you’ll help cure my people,” she said.

Octavia looked at me for a moment. Discord might have a way to stop the spread, but he told us he was unable to cure it. We couldn’t promise her anything. Octavia held her gaze for a second longer then turned back to Moondancer. “Deal,” she lied.

Twilight still seemed mad at me for letting Moondancer live. She constantly shook her head at me whenever she thought I wasn’t looking, but I didn’t care. Moondancer, and I had been through a lot over the course of the X.X.X. Plague outbreak. I couldn’t help but feel that Moondancer being corrupted was my fault. We had been separated in the middle of the outbreak and I just assumed she had died, but now I know that wasn’t the case.

Twilight, Sunset, Moondancer, and I were now journeying to the Psychological Industrial Complex. It was the last of the Black Plaguelands and our last stop before fighting Gloriosa Daisy. After all the fighting was done, the only thing left to do would be to escape. Discord had told me that he was working for another medical company with much less evil plans than the Umbrella Yutani Corporation that was responsible for all of this. He had called the benevolent corporation Chrysalis Medical. I wasn’t looking forward to trusting another organization, but they were the only ones with a way out of the Black Plaguelands.

“So what power do the Xenomorphs at the Psychological Industral Complex have?” Sunset asked.

“I haven’t really seen their powers,” Moondancer replied. “I have sent people over there to talk to the leader, but none of them have ever returned. I suspect that they are stronger than any of the other Black Plagueland Xenomorphs.”

“I suspected the same thing,” I said. “Which group of the Veltromites are under your command anyway?”

“The ones with normal eye colors,” she replied.

“What?” Sunset asked with a look of confusion on her face. “I thought that the Veltromites with the dark electric blue eyes were supposed to be loyal to you. The others have free will, why would they join you?”

“The others joined me because they had free will,” she answered. “The Veltromites with dark electric blue eyes only want destruction and cause mass chaos. They only follow me so long as I provide them with carnage. The Veltromites with free will follow me because I don’t follow the will of the X.X.X. Plague.”

“Great story,” Twilight said apathetically. “How long until we kill the last Chimera? Or are we just going to let it join us too?”

“The Psychological Industrial Complex isn’t very far,” I said completely ignoring Twilight’s last question. “We should reach the entrance soon.”

“Does Discord have another safe house in this Black Plagueland too?” Sunset asked.

“Thankfully he does,” I replied.

“Convenient,” Sunset said happily.

“We should split up,” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Twilight said.

“Glad you think so,” I said. “You and Moondancer are going to make sure that the safe house is open while Sunset and I explore.”

“What!?” Twilight and Moondancer shouted in unison.

“Sunset and I are better suited for exploring,” I said. “Plus, I also need to talk to Sunset about her abilities.”
Moondancer looked annoyed at me. She held the glare for a few seconds then sighed. “Fine,” she finally said, “it really feels like a big mistake to me, but I’ll trust your judgment Octavia.”

“Whatever,” Twilight said with an edge in her voice. They both began to walk away from us.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I have your map,” Twilight replied.

“How do we keep in contact?” Moondancer said.

“I don’t know,” I replied. I still had the walkie-talkies from before, but I didn’t want to give mine away.

“I’ll send a signal fire and we’ll meet there,” Sunset suggested.

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Twilight interjected. “You don’t think they’re going to notice a signal fire?”

“Actually, I highly doubt they’ll notice,” Moondancer said. “The normal corrupted creatures don’t really notice anything other than intruders and things like that. So I would say that a signal fire should be safe.”

“Aright then, we’ll be on our way,” Twilight said as she walked away with Moondancer.

I waited until Twilight and Moondancer were out of sight before I began to speak. “Sunset,” I said. “There are a few things you should know about your powers.”

“Is that all your going to talk about?” Sunset asked with a serious tone.

I sighed in frustration. I understood what she wanted to talk about. She wanted me to explain my role in everything in the Black Plaguelands. I knew it was best to keep her in the dark befor we fought Gloriosa, but it was starting to look like that wasn’t an option anymore. “Okay,” I finally said. “I have a feeling I know what you're talking about. I should ask you what we want to talk about first.”

“Okay,” Sunset said. “First, are you in anyway responsible for the X.X.X. Plague?”

“No.”

“Then what’s your involvement with it?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t have much memory of anything past a few years.”

“What happened to your memory? What do you remember?”

“I remember being stuck in a Celestia damn container on the underground prison floor of a corporation you might know. It’s called Umbrella Yutani Corporation. That place was crawling with their precious Blackguard soldiers.” My last few words were full of resentment.

“The Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s prison floor?” Sunset asked surprised.

The Umbrella Yutani Corporation was a corporation that was dedicated to the advancement of science and genetics. They always seemed noble in their principle of advancing human life, but I had no idea they were capable of doing something like this.

“That’s right,” I replied. I began walking forward towards the Psychological Industrial Complex. “The prison was full of experiments they had created. Most of them were X.X.X. Plague related.”

“Why did they have you there?” Sunset asked.

“As a fucking test experiment. They injected me with a prototype of the X.X.X. Plague. It was watered down, so when I didn’t ‘evolve’ or whatever they called it, I figured it was just a small dose, but then the Pyronock infected me and the Cryo Spider after that. I guess that I was immune to the infection because I was a pony, but I don’t know why. Then there’s the other stuff.”

“What other stuff?” Sunset asked. “I think you should just start from the beginning.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll start from the beginning. I’ll start from my prison cell...”

I had been stuck in this Celestia damn cell for a good five years. The Blackguard was a group of elite soldiers and combat androids under the Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s command. They were charged with making sure none of the test subjects or experiments became a problem for the scientists. I didn’t know what the point of their research was at the time, but it was obviously bad.

Being stuck in one place for so long was driving me insane. I wasn’t some kind of common animal like the rest of the things imprisoned. I was a civilized pony of Equestria. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.

I spent my time waiting in my cell. Every day was the same. I stood in my cell and watched as the Blackguard patrolled the prison. Some were human, but others were androids. I saw them drag out old test subjects, subjects that I never saw again afterwards. I saw them bring in new and normal human test subjects and I watched as they slowly became the demons in black. They gave me books and let me watch movies every now and again, but that was only because one of the scientists pitied me——— but not enough to let me out.

I watched the cycle repeat itself every few days from my glass prison. Nothing ever changed, until something odd happened one day. The Blackguard soldiers and androids that were supposed to be taking care of the experiments were gone, but what was odder was the fact that the prison floor was completely quiet. None of the experiments were making any noise.

“Hello?” I called out. “Is there anypony here?” The floor remained silent. “Anypony? What’s going on here? Where is everypony?” Usually somepony would respond even with just a demon’s hiss or a scientist’s threat, but this time there was only silence.

A spark of anger suddenly ignited in my mind, “Why the Tartarus am I here!?” I shouted. “Who the Tartarus are you humans!?” I had asked the same questions over and over again before this. It was foolish for me to think that I would get an answer this time.

I heard the sound of footsteps and immediately stopped talking. I listened closely for the source, but the room was too dark to see who made the sound. I stayed completely still with a mix of relief and resentment as the figure approached the cell block. It stopped at my cell. “Do you want to escape this place?” he asked barely audible.

“Yeah,” I replied. “You have a way out?”

“I do.”

“Why should I trust you?” I asked.

He moved his head as if he was looking around my cell. “Do you really have anything to lose?” he asked.

I didn’t want to get myself killed, but I couldn’t stand being in this prison any longer. “What do I have to do?”

He began pushing buttons on the side of my container. “You have a few minutes before the lock in your container releases you. After that, you’ll have a little over ten minutes to escape.” He placed a flash drive on the ground in front of my cell. “This will help you from here on out.” He turned around and began to walk away.

“Wait, where is the exit?” I asked unsure if my rescuer had really thought the situation through.

“That you’ll have find on your own,” he said. “I want to see if you’re worth the trouble.” He walked out of the room and the room became silent again.

”Wait?” Sunset asked. ”Did you figure out who set you free?”

”To this point I have my suspicions, but I can’t be sure.”

”Who do you think it is?” Sunset asked.

”Discord, or somepony who works for him,” I said. I sighed heavily not wanting to continue, but I knew it would be best to finish quickly.

The man that freed me had used the few minutes before the door opened to leave the area. I was impatiently waiting for my five years of hell to be over. My time in the cell seemed to be at its end. I heard a beeping sound, and the container opened. I cautiously stepped out and picked up the flash drive. I wasn’t sure what was happening, or why that mysterious man had freed me, and I wasn’t going to let my guard down only to get myself recaptured.

I walked towards the door I saw the figure leave from. Before I left, I noticed something displayed on one of the computers. It was a file on one of the test subjects that was in a container near me. As I saw it, an idea sparked in my mind. They must have information on me too.

I took the flash drive the man had left for me and plugged it into the computer. I spent the next two minutes downloading all the data I could find. As soon as the download was complete, I began focusing on my escape again.

I ran out of the room and into a dimly lit hallway. I could see six doors; three had thin lines of red lights around them, the other two had blue lights it and one of them looked like an elevator door, and the final two doors had green lights around them. I ran to the first blue door. It had a sign on it that read, “Main Elevator.” I decided it would be best to travel incogtto to keep me safe, so I was going to look around before using the elevator.

Five minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked to the middle red door. It had a sign that read, “Blackguard.” If I could disguise myself as a Blackguard soldier, I would be able to escape easily. I opened the door and walked inside.

The room was full of lockers. I could hear the faint sound of running water nearby. It sounded like somepony was taking a shower, so I would have to be extra careful. I rushed to the only open locker in the room and began taking equipment. I put on all the clothing the locker had. By the end I was completely disguised as a soldier. The gear covered up most of my body and face, so nopony would recognize that I was a prisoner.

Clunk. I accidentally dropped a nearby soda can. I was sure that the noise would cause whoever was in the shower to approach, but I heard no change. I walked to the direction of the showers but stopped before reaching them. I decided not to investigate. I didn’t have the time.

Seven minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked back to the locker and took the last of the supplies I would need. I went to the Blackguard locker room entrance and ran out.

Eight minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked back to the blue elevator door. I took a deep breath and pushed the elevator button. It didn’t take long for the elevator door to open and to my relief, the elevator was empty. I quickly walked inside and began scanning the elevator buttons. There were about a hundred floors to this building. I pushed the first floor button and waited for the elevator to ascended out of the underground prison.

Nine minutes had passed since I was released from my container. The doors slowly closed. I impatiently waited for the elevator to rise to the main floor so that I could leave. I was gettin anxious. The man that had released me had told me that I only had ten minutes to escape. That time was over, and the only thing left to do was hope I still had a chance.

Ten minutes had passed since I was released from my container. The doors opened and to my horror four other Blackguard soldiers walked into the elevator. They pushed the button to the lowest floor. I was sure that that was the floor I had been held captive in.

“So what’s the problem?” one of the Blackguard soldiers asked. “What’s so fucking important now?”

“Security breach,” another soldier replied.

“Security breach?” the first soldier asked. “What happened to the guard that was supposed to be taking care of the prisons?”

“I don’t know,” the second soldier replied, “but she isn’t at her post, so we need to investigate.”

“What about the cameras?” the third guard asked. “What did they pick up?”

“Your guess is good as mine,” the second replied. “I wasn’t given a lot of intel on this breach. I was told to only investigate, report, and wait for orders.”

“I always knew that rookie was useless,” said the third soldier. “Seventy seven bucks says he got himself eaten by one of the experiments.”

“Oh you’re on,” replied the first soldier.

“Be professional,” the second soldier ordered. “A few more soldiers and some synths will be joining us soon, so don’t do anything you’ll regret, or else.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the first soldier said dismissively.

“The five of us will have to split up in pairs,” the second soldier said. “You,” he spoke to me, “drop whatever you were doing and follow us.”

I nodded nervously.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, and the five of us exited. I had no idea why the fifth and final soldier remained silent throughout the whole thing, but I had a feeling that this one was a synthetic. We entered the hall cautiously and walked to a door with a white light lining around it. It had the sign that read, “Storage.” It was the place I had originally escaped from. It seemed like I would have to follow the soldiers until an opportunity to escape arose.

The third soldier opened the door. The four soldiers entered cautiously. I imitated their movements and did the same. The second and third soldier moved to the left, while the first, the synthetic, and I moved to the right. “This dumbass rookie better be alive,” the first soldier whispered to me.

“You really care about him?” I asked with a little surprise in my voice.

“Hell no,” she replied. “If he’s dead, then I won’t get my fucking money.” That repsonse seemed more like what I expected to hear from the Blackguard. “He’s a rookie you know, just like you.”

I nodded. It looked like I was lucky enough to wear clothes that belonged to somepony who just joined the Blackguard. Hopefully, this would allow me to go undetected among the Blackguard even if I had to take off the head piece. But then again, I had no idea if ponies were even working for this corporation, so maybe I would have to be extra careful than I thought I would.

The three of us made our way to the main computer. The same computer I had taken information from earlier. “I’m going to check the computer to see what happened here. I need you two to cover me in case something escaped and tries to kill us,” the first soldier said.

I nodded and began to look around. I didn’t know for sure that I was the only thing that escaped from the prison. I had only assumed I was the only thing that escaped. I searched around as my partner looked through the files. I was a little nervous that she would find something on me, but that was a risk I had no choice but to take.

“Everything appears to be in order, except one escaped test subject,” the first soldier said.

“Any idea where it is?” I asked as nonchalant as possible.

“No,” she replied. “The cameras were down, but that shouldn’t have been a problem if that fucking rookie was doing his job.”

“Any idea what the test subject looked like?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “All the data on this subject has been erased. I don’t even know it’s gender. The only info here is its code name.”

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“Code name: EQUESTRIA,” she replied.

That name didn’t mean anything to me, but it was the closest thing I had to a real identity.

“This is useless.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw the two other soldiers walking back to us in an eased fashion. “The area is clear,” the second soldier said. “There isn’t any hostiles. Did you find the missing soldier or any clues about what happened?”

“No to both,” the first soldier replied. “The rookie and I will check the container that held the test subject and assemble back in the main hall.”

“What about Mr. Synth?” the second soldier asked.

“I told it to report back to the main hall.”

“Understood,” the third soldier replied.

The first soldier and I walked to my container. It was just as neat as I left it. It wasn’t very furnished. The only thing in the room was a white bed, a dark gray desk, a black table with a few books on it, and a television that turned on from the outside the prison cell. “What the hell?” she blurted out.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“This container is different than the rest,” she replied. “It doesn’t look like a hostile infected ever lived in here.”

“What does that mean?” I asked trying to keep my fear under control.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “It could just be nothing, but it’s worth reporting.” We began to walk to the door. The first soldier seemed like she was trying to figure something out. We reached the door and entered back into the hall. The two other soldiers were just casually waiting for us.

“Find anything?” the second soldier asked.

“I believe the missing test subject might have been uninflected,” the first soldier replied. “Her container looked like it belonged to a human but I saw a bail of hay so I believe it might have been a horse. Kept human I mean.” A shiver ran down my spine at her words.

“Maybe our missing guard will know something,” the third soldier said. “Now if only we can find him.”

“We don’t need to carry too many weapons if the missing test subject is still just human,” the second soldier said. He opened the door to the Blackguard locker room. We all heard the sound of running water from the shower. “Weapons ready.” The second soldier took point and led the rest of us to the showers. He signaled for us to stay right outside the door as he entered.

“Wha- stop! Don’t shoot!” the man in the shower shouted with a Russian accent. The rest of us ran into the room. There we saw the second soldier aiming his gun towards a man and anthro mare completely naked. That confirmed my theory that there were ponies working here after all. “I’m part of the Blackguard!”

“What was your first assignment?” the first soldier asked.

“I am assigned guard duty over in lab,” he said.

“Why the hell aren't you there?” the second soldier asked.

The Russian man smiled and threw a glance towards the mare. “Obvious reasons,” he said smugly. The third soldier grabbed two towels from a locker and threw them towards the naked couple. They took the towels and covered themselves.

“You’re obviously unaware of what happened in the lab dumbass,” the second soldier said.

“What are you talking about?” the Russian man said. “What happened?”

“One of the test subjects escaped from the lab on your watch,” the first soldier said. “The information on it was erased too.”

“What? How the fuck was I supposed to know that would happen?” he asked defensively.

“You were supposed to guard the area you fucking idiot,” the third guard said calmly. “Failure to do so deserves action.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m in the Blackguard,” the Russian man said. “I am above normal soldiers. The Blackguard is above threats.”

“We’re Blackguard too!” the second soldier shouted out. “You are not above us.” She turned to the third soldier. “Surprise, get rid of the witness.”

Surprise pointed her gun towards the naked mare and fired. Bang. She fell to the floor and didn’t move.

The second soldier pointed to the Russian man. “Him too,” he said.

Bang. Surprise shot and killed the Russian without hesitation. “Prick,” Surprise said harshly.

The second soldier turned to me. “Let this be a lesson to you rookie. Don’t ever think you’re above our orders.”

“No ma’am,” I said as calmly as possible.

“Stupid asshole,” Surprise said as she kicked the Russian man’s body.

“How do you propose we dispose of the bodies?” the first soldier asked.

“We’ll let the scientists deal with that,” the second soldier replied. “I’m sure they’d enjoy having these two, even if it is just to feed the test subjects. For now, we need to search for the missing test subject. I don’t think it couldn’t have gotten too far.”

”A group of soldiers took me outside to continue searching,” I said. ”There were more of them waiting outside for us. The moment I was alone, I took off the Blackguard uniform and ran.”

”What happened?” Sunset asked. ”Where did you go?”

”One of the Blackguard androids saw me taking off the headpiece. Unfortunately, it recognized me. It was on guard duty before the rookie, so it didn’t take too long for it to realize who I was. I thought that I could easily blend in as a normal human, but I was wrong.”

Twenty soldiers had convened outside the building to search outside for the missing prisoner. To search for me. The first soldier and I had gone outside first. I tried to slowly sneak away from the rest of the soldiers and synthetics. I took off my head piece wjen I thought I was out of sight from the rest of the Blackguard, but there was a synthetic I hadn’t seen. I was immediately fired upon by it. It fired several shots in my direction, but I was able to avoid them by hiding behind a wall.

I ran through the streets as fast as I could, but other Blackguard combat androids and soldiers were already following me. I was able to climb a few fences and ran through a few yards before I realized I was alone. I walked through the dark areas of the alley and streets. I stoped at every sound I heard in fear that it was a Blackguard android or a soldier.

I took off all of the Blackguard uniform and walked back into the street. I was wearing black clothes underneath the uniform, so I wasn’t very conspicuous. After a few seconds I realized that nopony was around. The street was completely empty. There was an ominous silence in the air. It almost felt unnatural. I slowly walked forward. I wasn’t sure what my next move would be. I had nowhere to go, and I didn’t even know anypony in the city. After a moment of thought, I decided that it would be best if I left the city altogether and try to find a way to get back to Equestria away from those loathsome humans.

I was, without warning, tackled by an overgrown soldier wearing the Blackguard uniform. I struggled to get him off of me. He was stronger than I was, but with careful maneuvering, I was able to escape his grasp. I was able to outrun him, but now there were other soldiers gathering around. I ran away and took cover behind walls. I had no choice but to continue running through the streets and hope that ther was somewhere to hide nearby.

The only light source I saw in the street was a light inside a library. I ran to it and opened the door. There was only one person in the library at the time, and she looked startled by my sudden intrusion.

“You can’t be here,” she said. “The library is closed.”

“Just let me stay here for a few minutes,” I said. “There are,” I paused for a brief moment to choose my words carefully. “There are thugs around. I don’t feel safe.”

“So?” she responded. “That’s not my problem.”

“You can’t kick me out, they’ll murder me,” I walked towards her and tripped.

She laughed softly and looked to the door. Her expression changed. Fear and uncertainty replaced the amusement. She looked at me and softened her face. “Quick hide,” she whispered to me.

I crawled under a desk and stayed there completely motionless. I heard somepony open the door. “Have you seen an anthro horse dressed in black?” he asked. He sounded exhausted.

I waited for her to respond. “No,” she finally said much to my relief. “I haven’t seen anyone.”

“Are you sure?” he asked leaning on the corner. “She’s a very dangerous creature.”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen her.”

“Very well. Keep an eye out and yell if you see her.”

She took another pause. “I’ll be careful.” The Blackguard soldier left moments later. “It’s safe. You can come out now.” I crawled out from under the desk and cautiously got back up. “Why is the Blackguard after you?”

“You know about them?” I asked.

“Everyone in Canterlot knows about the Blackguard,” she responded. “They’re basically over-glorified, well equipped thugs. They work for the Umbrella Yutani Corporation. Why were they after you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I decided to tell her the truth and hope that I wouldn’t pay for it. “I was a prisoner in the Umbrella Yutani lab for as long as I could remember, I’m not sure why they were holding me, but I escaped.” I decided to leave out the part of the story with all the black demons around my cell as to keep her from freaking out.

“So you don’t have anywhere to go?” she asked.

“I don’t.”

‘You can stay with me for a few days,” she said much to my surprise. “What’s your name anyway?”

“I don’t remember,” I answered truthfully.

“That’s alright,” she said. “You can call me Moondancer.

”Thats How you met Moondancer?” Sunset asked.

”Yeah, for the next few days she let me stay in her house. She wanted me around because she didn’t feel safe around the city anymore.”

”Why do you think that?” Sunset asked.

”She told me, I answered. ”I’m not sure why, but for some reason she trusted me, which made what happened next all the more painful for the both of us.”

I had been staying with Moondancer for the past few days. I tried to help her with all of the chores and jobs around the house in order to try and repay her for her kindness. We had left her apartment after the first large scale outbreak because there were Xenomorphs in the building. When we went outside, it looked like the whole city was on fire. I didn’t know it at the time, but this section of Canterlot would later become the Infernoland.

“Hurry up!” I yelled to Moondancer. “Theses Xenomorphs will overrun us, we need to leave the city or at least find a safe place.”

“Where can we go?” Moondancer asked exhaustedly. “Nowhere is safe now.”

“The police station!” I exclaimed. “There must be something useful there.”

“Good idea,” she said. “You have to lead.”

“I’ve been studying the city streets whenever I had a chance, so I know where to go.” Moondancer and I traveled through the flame covered roads in hopes of reaching the police station as soon as possible. I had to keep Moondancer safe. I owed her that much.”

I didn’t notice we weren’t alone in the street until it was almost too late. There were several Xenomorphs lurking in the shadows and blocking the road. I quickly grabbed a steel pipe that was lying near one of the bodies on the street and swung it at the Xenomorphs. I struck two of the Xenomorphs at once, but the other four quickly advanced. I took another swing with my steel pipe and was able to knock another one down giving us an opportunity to run. We escaped the rest of the demons with ease.

We continued running for another few city blocks, but I stopped when I noticed that Moondancer was out of breath. “Let’s slow down,” I suggested. “You’re way too out of breath to continue on like this.”

She nodded; too exhausted to say anything. We walked slowly for the next block. The next intersection was covered in a mount of cars and debris. I climbed it and pulled Moondancer up. “Look!” she exclaimed. I looked forward and saw a car speeding towards us. “Maybe they’re here to rescue people.”

I waved my hands to get the car’s attention, but they didn’t seem to slow down. They veered to the left of us and sped away, I shook my head in irritation. Suddenly, I heard something. It sounded like someone calling out for help. “Do you hear that?” I asked. Moondancer stood silently and listened closely to the sounds around us. Bang-Bang. We both jumped at the sound of gunfire and rushed towards it.

Normally I would think that rushing towards the sound of gunfire was a stupid idea, I said to Sunset, ”but views tend to change in the middle of something like this.

When we reached the source of the sound, we were relived to see groups of survivors running together. “Oh thank God,” Moondancer said, but our relief didn’t last long. Moments after we reached the group, a horde of Xenomorphs rushed towards us, most likely attracted by the same pleas for help that attracted us. The group of survivors was relatively large, but scattered quickly at the sight of the oncoming horde. Some ran away while others fought. In the confusion, more Xenomorphs flanked us from an almost completely unnoticeable alley. Many humans were taken by surprise.

I grabbed Moondancer’s hand and pulled her to another alley. We rushed towards the other side as quickly as possible. “Wait, Wait,” Moondancer said. I stopped and turned towards her. “Shouldn’t we go help the others?”

I couldn’t think. I wasn’t sure what I should do. I knew that helping the others would greatly decrease the chance of Moondancer and me surviving, but if she really wanted to help them, there would be no way for me to stop her. “Are you sure that—“ Thump. “What was that?” I asked with caution in my voice. Thump. I looked around, but didn’t see anything move. “We should get moving.

“We can’t just leave them there,” she said.

Thump-Crack. I began backing away from the area, but Moondancer stood her ground. “We should go,” I said as I backed up further away from Moondancer. She began walking towards the other survivors. “Moon, it’s the smart thing to do.”

Crack. My warning was lost as a door to my right burst open and a flood of Xenomorphs poured out. I was forced to back away from them and Moondancer. “Moon!” I yelled.

“I’ll be fine,” she shouted back. “Just get out of here and find help.”

“Celestia damn it!” I shouted. “I told you this would happen!”

“Really!?” she shouted back. “You’re doing this now?!” I saw a few Xenomorphs getting closer to her. They didn’t seem to be too interested in me.

“I’m sorry!” I finally said. I knew that she wasn’t going to survive and there wasn’t anything I could do against so many Xenomorphs, so I just ran away. I didn’t feel right about it, but I knew it was something I had to do. It was the only thing I could do.

“Wow,” Sunset said in shock as we both continued walking. “What happened after that?”

“I went into the street and got picked up by my Vinyl,” I answered. “She used some kind of memory spell with everything that happened before I ended up in your world and she suggested that I dress up as a cop so that people at the police station would feel more comfortable about being here. They’d feel safer. You know? Strength in numbers I guess.”

“Alright, but how did you figure out all that fighting shit and everything else you know.”

“I read throug the data I stole from the Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s main databanks,” I answered. “The rest I got from memories that I could suddenly recall and training I had time to do.”

“Training?” Sunset said in shock. “You learned all that assassin stuff from training in like a week?”

“These weird memories that just randomly popped into my head gave me the fundamentals,” I answered. “The training refined them, and you perfected them.”

“Me?” Sunset asked. “How did I help you?”

“I’m still not completely sure, but I know that thanks to you I have powers. My stealth ability is ridiculously strong now.”

“You’re welcome, but did you read anything on me? Is there some clue about what I’m infected with?”

“There was something,” I said unsure if this was significant. “Some of the data spoke of the source of the XXX Plague and all of its variations. I’m not sure, but I think you have one of the variations.”

“How can we know for sure?” Sunset asked.

“Nothing short of reading Gloriosa’s research data will answer that, and for that we need to make you stronger.” I stopped right before hitting the barrier to the Psychological Industrial Complex.

“That was quick,” Sunset commented. We both climbed the barricade and looked back towards the inner Black Plagueland as we did with every arrival to another Black Plagueland. “You really like doing this don’t you.”

“You know me well,” I smiled. I took a deep breathe and exhaled. We both turned around. “Welcome to the Psychological Industrial Complex.”

The Psychological Industrial Complex was nothing like I imagined it would be. It looked like the XXX Plague hadn’t even so much as touched it just like the Electric Fields. Every building, every block, every street was completely clean. It even looked cleaner than it had before the X.X.X. Plague outbreak.

The Psychological Industrial Complex was filled with large buildings, warehouses, and churches. The streets were completely devoid of any cars or other vehicles. There were a few large towers that seemed to overlook the entire Black Plagueland. The territory seemed almost deserted. Much like when Princess Twilight told me about her quest to find this place that was called Mount Aris.

“There,” Octavia said as she pointed towards the closest tower to us. “We should go up there and look over the city for signs of the Chimera.”

“Alright,” I replied. We walked towards the tower. “This place is surprisingly really clean.”

“Yeah,” Octavia replied. “I wonder why.”

“So what do you think these creature’s powers are?” I asked.

“My guess would be something to do with metal.” Octavia replied.

“That would be something,” I said as we arrived at the tower’s base.

“Hey, I have another question,” I said.

“Shoot,” Octavia replied.

“In your past where did you get your last name ‘Philharmonica’ from?” I asked.

“Well, like I said once before my name was originally Octavia Philharmonica, and that’s actually a fascinating story,” Octavia replied, “I had—“ Thump.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Let’s go to the top of the towers and see,” Octavia suggested.

The two of us quickly began to climb up the tower. We climbed faster than we did we had when Twilight was around. It didn’t take us long to reach the top of the tower. I saw a bunch of completely unrecognizable Xenomorph with horns that looked horrendously mutated moving crates without even touching them. “Check it out,” I said to Octavia. “Are those guys moving things with their minds?”

Octavia took a good look at the group I had pointed out. “It certainly looks that way,” she replied. “That’s going to be a major problem when we’re fighting the Chimera, but it’ll make fighting Gloriosa a lot easier.”

“What do you want to call these guys?” I asked.

“You get to name them. They’re your discovery.”

I looked at the crowd of mutant psychokinesis Xenomorphs and began to think of a name. “Let’s keep it simple and call them Wraith Mutants.”

“As in psychokinesis Wraith Mutants?” Octavia asked. I nodded. “I thought you said you were a writer. Couldn’t a writer come up with a better name?”

“I smiled. “Teleptics,” I said. Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Because they can move a bunch of heavy things at once like they’re unicorns when using levitation spells.”

“I actually like Mutant Wraiths,” Octavia said.

“Too late, they're Teleptics now.”

“Alright,” Octavia said questioningly. “So we should get back down and interrogate the...um—“

“Teleptics,” I said to finish Octavia’s sentence. “Don’t worry, it’ll catch on.”

“Right,” Octavia replied. “I’m sure at least one of them will know where the Chimera is.” Octavia and I slowly descended back down to the ground. Once we reached the bottom, we carefully checked to see if we were alone. We walked through buildings, both to find careless Teleptics to interrogate and to stay out of sight from anyone who was in the other towers. Unfortunately, we didn’t seem to find anyone. The upside was that we hadn’t been detected.

Octavia and I cautiously walked into the the building we had seen the group of Teleptics come from. “Hey, I’m going to try something alright?” Octavia had asked half said. I lost track of Octavia almost instantly. She must’ve used her enhanced stealth ability to completely vanish from my senses. The room was well lit and hardly had any places to hide.

“Tavi you there?” I asked as I looked around.

“Yeah,” I heard Octavia say in front of me. “I’m here.”

“Are you invisible?”

“No,” Octavia replied. I felt a knife in front of my throat. Octavia was behind me clutching the blade. “I’m just hard to find.” Octavia removed her knife from my throat and put it away.

“How did you do that?” I asked. “It was like you teleported or something.”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just wanted to see how good my stealth abilities are, and as it turns out they’re really good. Also my speed makes it that much better.”

“You couldn’t have tested it out on the enemies?” I asked.

“No,” she replied not trying to catch her breath. “They would fight back, and it takes a lot out of me too. I’m exhausted.”

“That might be useful later on, but for now just stick to your other method of stealth. I don’t want you overdoing it.”

“Yeah, alright,” Octavia said reluctantly. “It tires me out way too quickly anyway.’

Thump. Octavia and I turned to the source of the noise. It came from just outside of the building we were currently in. We turned to each other. I jerked my head towards the direction of the sound and gestured that we should investigate the cause of it. Octavia nodded and the two of us silently moved towards the door.

We waited silently behind the door and I listened for any sounds of movement. The sounds indicated that there were at least four of them. “Four,” I mouthed to Octavia.

Octavia nodded and mouthed, “On three; one, two, three,” Octavia and I burst through the door and jumped at the first Psychics we could see. Unfortunately, these corrupted Xenomorphs didn’t seem to be taken by surprise. Their unicorn-like telekinetic blast sent Octavia and me hurling back into the building we had just come from. I ran to her.

“God, they're quick,” I complained.

“This might be a problem,” Octavia said. “See if you can darken this place.”

I immediately understood what Octavia was planning. I used my lightning powers to short out all the lights above us effectively plunging us into the dark. “There’s your darkness,” I said proud of my abilities.

“I meant for you to turn off the light switches that were about ten feet to your left,” Octavia said with irritation in her voice.

“Oh,” I said a little embarrassed. “Well now I know.”

“Get ready,” Octavia said. I tensly waited for someone to enter the building. After a minute or so, twelve Teleptics rushed into the room. They used their unicorn-like telekinetic blasts to propel themselves forward quicker. I was surrounded in a matter of seconds. I could see pairs of the Teleptics’ onyx black eyes with light purple cat-like pupils around me. I had no idea how to describe what they looked like. They looked so overly mutated beyond comprehension that I don’t even know what they evolved from, but they weren’t unicorns because they didn’t have hooves. They’re skin color was a dark shade of amethyst which looked a lot like that one Plagasis I saw earlier before all of this happened. One of them thrust his arm forward and fired a blast of telekinetic equestrian energy towards me. I quickly dodged it and jumped away from the group.

I decided to switch from the defensive to the offensive. I shot out blasts of magma towards the Teleptics, but they quickly dodged. I tired using my lightning powers to strike two Teleptics that seemed stationary, but they blasted themselves out my range.

From the corner of my eye, I could see one of the Teleptics charging towards me. Four of his arms had scythes, but the darkness seemed to move around him. One moment he was about to stab me, the next moment he was gone. It was as if the shadows consumed him. I looked to the other Teleptics. There were only nine of them now. Three of the Teleptics, counting the one that was just taken, completely disappeared.

It took me a moment to understand what was happening. Octavia was assassinating them. This gave me the opportunity to fight back. I threw a ball of magma in the middle of the ground and forced it to keep itself lit, but not to grow or burn anything around it. I could now see the remaining Teleptics perfectly.

“Don’t kill them,” I heard Octavia said from somewhere above me. “Just keep them at bay.”

I wasn’t completely sure what Octavia was planning, but I knew that she usually knew what she was doing. I shot out bolts of lot try and stun the Teleptics. Two of them tried blasting the lightning away, while the rest evaded them. The lightning bolts weren’t affected by the blasts. I saw Octavia move out of the shadows and take the Teleptics furthest away from me.

I shot out more streams of lightning to try and stun the Teleptics, but they all dodged them again. Each Teleptics fired a single equestrian telekinetic blast in my direction. The combined force of the blasts sent my flying across the room. I struggled to get back to my feet. I fell back to the floor and saw the other six Teleptics were advancing towards me. I closed my eyes expecting another volley of equestrian attacks.

Crack. I quickly opened my eyes in time to see Octavia jumping from above and striking one of the Teleptics down with her fists. She quickly leaped towards the next Teleptic and struck him down as well. I stared in amazement as Octavia took down the remaining Teleptics so easily. She ran in between two of them and jumped as to avoid both of their blasts. She kicked one of them to the side, and just disappeared.

It was like watching a ninja fight. One moment she was in plain sight, and the next moment she was a shadow. I took this opportunity to fire my lightning bolts towards the remaining Teleptics. They were so distracted by Octavia that they didn’t notice the lightning until it was too late.

“Damn It, Sunset!” I heard Octavia shout from somewhere in front of me. She walked out of the shadows holding her arm. I could tell that I had struck her with my lightning too.

“You alright there, Tavi?” I asked nervously.

“You fucking shot me!” she yelled. “You shot me in the arm, and now I can’t move it! So now we’re going to die because I can’t fight anymore! Are you happy?”

“I’ll fix that,” I said as I conjured another lightning bolt from my hand.

Octavia sighed heavily. “No,” she said. “Let my body recover by itself, and besides you’ll only make it worse.”

“Fair enough,” I replied as the lightning bolt dissipated. “So why didn’t you want to any of these guys?”

“Don’t you think enough of them have died already?” she asked. “These creatures are mindless wrecks. Maybe they can be cured, maybe not, but somewhere deep down they’re still humans, not demons. I can’t just kill them knowing that it can be helped.”

For the first time ever, I felt like I could actually trust Octavia. It felt as if she actually cared about something and someone around her, even the corrupted. I had thought that Octavia and Twilight were both single-mindedly trying to kill Gloriosa and nothing more, but now I knew that Octavia actually cared about the other things happening around her more than me at times. I couldn’t help but think that Moondancer was the true cause of this revelation.

“What brought this up?” I asked.

“Seeing Moondancer and her people. Seeing Jaden and Celeano and others. Seeing you and me…” she trailed off.

“I get it,” I finally replied. “We’re all still human and pony.”

“Yeah, but don’t beat yourself up. Just try to keep more alive.”

“So they’re alive?” I asked. “You didn’t kill any of those guys right now?”

“That’s right,” Octavia replied. Octavia walked into the shadows and came back dragging two of the Xenomorphs she had knocked out.

“So we’re just going to wait for them to wake up?” I asked.

“No,” Octavia replied. “I have a much easier and faster way to get information out of them.” Octavia put her left hand on the forehead of one of the Teleptics. She closed her eyes and kept them closed for a while. I could suddenly feel Octavia’s power around her. It wasn’t very strong. It felt concentrated and controlled.

Octavia opened her eyes and stood up. The Teleptic’s eyes opened after. “Wha— what the fuck’s going on here? Why can’t I move my body?” he asked.

“Because I’m commanding you not to,” Octavia replied. “I’m going to try and suppress the X.X.X. Plague control over your body.”

“No—“ the Teleptic protested as Octavia put her hand on the Teleptic’s chest. I immediately saw a change in the Teleptic’s eyes. They went from onyx black and purple to light green. He seemed to be more relaxed now. “Wha— what happened? Why can I think clearly now?”

“I temporarily suppressed the X.X.X. Plague from controlling your mind,” Octavia answered. Octavia was sweating and breathing hard. Freeing the Teleptic from the control of the X.X.X. Plague must have taken a lot of energy.

“Temporarily?” the Teleptic asked with despair in his voice. “So I’m going to stay a Xenomorph then?”

“I’m afraid so dear,” Octavia replied, “but maybe you can help us take down your Chimera before you become his slave again.”

“Will that free me?” he asked with a hint of hope in his voice.

“It’s very likely that it will,” I said before Octavia could answer the question. I knew that killing the Chimera would free the Chimera’s subordinates from its control, but it wouldn’t free them from the X.X.X. Plague’s control. I thought it would be a good idea to let the Teleptics think we could permanently remove the X.X.X. Plague’s control over him. At least he would remain hopeful until the end.

Octavia looked at me for a moment then looked back at the Teleptic. She must have understood what I was doing, because she didn’t correct me. “I’m going to let you move your body again,” Octavia said. “What’s your name?”

“Capper,” he said as began to pick himself up. “My name’s Capper.”

“Do you know anything about your Chimera’s location?” Octavia asked.

“No. He knows about the other leader’s deaths, so he’s trying to keep himself well hidden. He knows you two are coming for him.”

“Oh great,” I said. “That just makes finding him that much harder to find.” I turned to Octavia. “So what are we going to do now?”

“Wait, I do remember something,” Capper said. “He has three different places he likes to travel to, I think I might—ugh,” he grabbed his head in pain.

“Oh great, it’s wearing off,” Octavia said unhappily.

“No—“ he said as he lowered his hands. “No, I can handle it.”

“What?” Octavia asked surprised. “You can handle it?”

“Yeah,” Capper said as he struggled to resist the X.X.X. Plague. He was breathing hard now. “I think I can control it.”

Octavia nodded. “Well tell me when it feels like it’s too much for you,” Octavia said.

“No problem,” he replied. “So like I was saying, our leader has three different places he likes to stay in.”

“We need to check them all out don’t we?” I asked unenthusiastically.

“No you don’t, I can check them all,” he replied. “You just need to make sure that his elite are gone first.”

I looked at Octavia. “You think he’s talking about Betas?” I asked.

“I’m almost sure he is,” Octavia responded. She turned back to Capper. “So where are the locations the Chimera goes to?”

“I’ll make you a map, but I can take you to the elite myself.” Capper suddenly grabbed his head in pain again.

“No offense, but I doubt you’ll be able to help us for much longer,” Octavia said. “I think it would be better if you give us a list of places we can find the elite and the names of those who want to help us.”

“Sure,” Capper said. He rushed off to another room. It took about five minutes or so before he came back. “There you go,” he said to me. “Find the leader and destroy him.”

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” I said as Octavia and I began to walk away. We went back outside and began following the map to a nearby building.

“Alright, we cannot take out the whole Wraith army alone,” Octavia said.

“Teleptics,” I corrected.

“Whatever,” Octavia said as she rolled her eyes. “We can’t just kill or knockout all of them.”

“So what are we supposed to do then?”

“I’ve been thinking about your power to drain Chimeras of their power and I was wondering if you can do it to their subordinates,” Octavia said,

“You mean to say that I drain the Teleptics of their power instead of the Chimera?”

“Yeah, and hopefully you get enough out of them so that you can blend in as one of them.”

“So that I could sneak around unnoticed?” I asked.

“Exactly,” Octavia said happily.

“But what about you?” I said. “How are you going to blend in with them?”

“I think I can blend it with a crowd as long as they aren’t trying to find me beforehand. That’s one of my stealth skills.”

“How do you know that?”

“More of the weird memories guiding me.”

We had almost arrived at the entrance of one of the areas of the Psychological Industrial Complex map, when I suddenly heard two sets of footsteps nearby heading towards us. “I hear someone,” I said. “Get down.” I hid behind a giant box and signaled for Octavia to do the same with the adjacent box. She quickly ran and took cover behind the box.

“Sunset, how many do you hear coming?” Octavia asked.

“Only two,” I said, “but these guys are tough.”

“Maybe for you.” We waited behind the boxes for a few moments. After a few short seconds had passed, I finally saw them nearby.

“Alright,” I said. “We need to do this fast, so I think our best bet is to—“ I turned to Octavia mid-sentence, but she wasn’t there anymore. Agh! I suddenly hear a shout of surprise from one of the two Teleptics. I turned in time to see Octavia knock the air out of one of the guys and I turn to head-butt the other. They were both on the ground and defeated in moments.

Octavia wiped her hands on her shirt. “Did you say something?” she asked with a little smugness in her voice.

“That’s pretty impressive,” I said. “Considering…” I trailed off.

“Considering?” Octavia looked amused. “Considering what?”

“Nothing,” I said condescendingly.

“Alright,” Octavia said as nonchalant as ever. She began to examine one of the Teleptics.

“It’s just…” Octavia stopped and looked up in annoyance. “It’s impressive because you’re not as strong as them,” I said jokingly.

“I’m not as strong?” Octavia asked half amused.

“No, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure you have some useful talents,” I said as condescendingly as I possibly could. “I’m sure you’re strong,” I paused. “By your definition, that is. Maybe one day if you try hard enough you can be as strong as I am now.”

“Not as strong as you are at the time?” Octavia asked.

I laughed. “Oh you and your ridiculously high goals.”

Octavia laughed. “Yeah right, I could take you out if I needed to,” Octavia said. One of the Teleptics began to move, but Octavia quickly touched his forehead and forced him to go to sleep. “Alright here’s the plan: I trigger your power and you don’t kill me. Understood?”

“Gotcha,” I said. Octavia put her hand on my forehead as began to trigger my power. I closed my eyes. I almost immediately felt that familiar surge of energy I had learned to love. I placed my hands on both of the Teleptics and began to feel my own strength grow. I felt strong again. I felt like I could take on anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross my path, but the power sure get didn’t last long, sadly. After only a few seconds, Octavia forced the alabaster aura to recede. The rush was gone. The immense power I just had was suddenly silenced, but the urge for power was stronger now. It felt like the only reason to continue living was to get more power. That was my purpose now.

“Sunset,” Octavia called out. Octavia shook my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been sitting still for the past five minutes glaring at me,” Octavia answered. “It’s kind of creepy.”

“Five minutes?” I asked in surprise. It had only felt like a few moments to me, but apparently I had been staring at Octavia for much longer.

“Yeah, are you alright?” Octavia asked. “I’m still not sure what side-effects come form draining one of the subordinates instead of the Chimera, so if you feel like anything about you is off, tell me right away.”

“Yeah,” I said calmly. “You’ll be the first to know.”

Octavia nodded and walked forward. “Alright,” Octavia said as she grabbed the Psychological Industrial Complex map. “This is definitely the place that guy’s map is pointing to.”

“Then let’s explore,” I said anxious to get my hands on that Chimera. I opened the door and entered the room.

The room was full of Wraiths. They were all amassed around a stage that was a few feet above the ground. All the Wraiths were talking amongst each other, and more were gathering. I looked around and felt a little nervous towards the sea of piercing black and amethyst eyes.

“Sunset, don’t wander off,” I said.

“He isn’t here,” Sunset said coldly.

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“I don’t sense anything strong here,” Sunset replied. “Nothing strong enough to be the Chimera anyway.”

I was a little worried about Sunset’s new ability to sense power, but I decided not to make anything of it until it became an actual problem. “Glossing over your new ability that you failed to mention, can you sense if there’s a Beta nearby?” I asked. “If there’s a Beta nearby, maybe it will know where the Chimera is.”

Sunset closed her eyes and stood still for a few moments. I looked around and saw that one of the Wraiths had gotten up on the stage. All the other Wraiths instantly became silent. “Yeah, there’s definitely a Beta here,” Sunset finally said.

“It that him? The one with the three horns?” I said as I pointed towards the Xenomorph in the center of the stage.

“Yep, that’s him.” Sunset said seriously.

The lights were turned off plunging us into darkness. A spotlight from above was turned on and focused on the Beta. He stepped forward and began to look around. “Hello, my brothers and sisters,” he said loudly. He had a very powerful voice that seemed to resonate around the room, and he sounded a lot like Lord Tirek back in Equestria. “Our great leader has called to me and the other elite to tell you something very important.” He paused and looked around for effect. His black and purple eyes seemed to be scanning each Xenomorph in the room. “The leaders of the other territories have been mysteriously but successfully vanquished.” Cheers of roars erupted from the spectators. “But not by our hands!” He interjected. The cheers instantly stopped. “It was by the hands of the worthless heathens and their leader! She wishes to bring chaos to our land of order and kill our leader! She does not accept the divine gift our leader gave to us! She would only steal it for herself! Can we allow such a woman to live?”

“No!” the crowd screeched in a deep and demonic sounding unison.

The crowd roared in protest. The Beta seemed to compose himself and began to continue talking to the crowd. “But she did not act alone,” he said. “She enlisted the help of others.” He took another pause. “She enlisted the help of traitors. She used the weak to gain power over the strong.” Five people with sacks over their heads were forcibly walked to the stage; they were all tied up. “The humans I’m talking about are the ones who don’t share our vision, the ones who have refused to give themselves up to the divine.” He took off the sack from one of the five people. “Like her,” he said as he grabbed the face of the woman that was set before him and forced her to look at the crowd with her bright blue eyes.

She looked badly bruised and injured, but even with all that she was still beautiful. My first instinct was to jump on the middle of the stage and kill the Beta to rescue her, but I knew that would only get us both killed. The only thing I could hope to do was avenge her. I hated myself for thinking that, but there was nothing that could be done.

The Beta pulled the sacks off the remaining four “traitors.” I lowered my head in shame. I didn’t recognize one of the free will baring traitors, but I did recognize the other one. It was Capper. I had just given a death sentence by temporarily giving him free will. I looked away, guilt overwhelmed me.

“Tavi look,” Sunset said. I turned back to the stage. The Beta had pulled out his four other scythe hands and began swinging them back and forth like pendulums. “What do we do?”

I took a long pause as I tried to come up with a solution that would allow us to save them, but nothing came to mind. “I—I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” I replied. I took pride at my ability to keep a level head even in the worst of situations, but this felt too much like when I abandoned Moondancer to the Xenomorphs; I was unable to help. I could only watch as things unraveled in front of me, knowing that I was responsible.

Sunset looked at me then turned back towards the stage. I sighed heavily and she did the same.

“These five heathense shall now be put to death for their refusal to accept the divine into their hearts,” the Beta said to the crowd. His eyes swept through the crowd. I instantly realized he was looking for others with the sign of free will.

I turned to Sunset. “I’m going to alter the crowd’s perception of you so that they think you have black and purple eyes too,” I whispered to Sunset. They could sense that Sunset was like them, but if they saw her eyes they would kill her regardless. I was finished in about three seconds. I turned back to the crowd and continued listening.

“We shall put them to death, but not because we want to——— we shall kill them because we have to. We must protect our leader at all costs. Anypony who defies the leader shall die.” He pressed one of his scythes to the traitor I didn’t recognize and decapitated him without hesitation. The Xenomorph’s fell to the floor and his body twitched in agony. His movements began to slow down until he finally stopped altogether. The crown burst into screeching cheers again.

“What should we do?” Sunset asked me. “They’re going to see us.”

“No, my ability won’t let that happen as long as you don’t attract attention,” I reassured Sunset.

The Beta grabbed the white skinned woman. “You have seen the heathens haven’t you?” he asked.

“Fuck you,” the woman replied in defiance. He shook his head in disappointment.

“They’ve already gotten to you. I’m afraid you’re beyond hope now.” His second scythe hand went and sliced her throat just as mercilessly as he had decapitated the first victim. She fell to the floor. She struggled to get back on her feet but was too weak. She grabbed her throat as the blood poured out.

I wanted to help her badly. It took every ounce of strength I had in me not to jum on the stage and rip the Beta’s throat out right then and there, but I couldn’t. I had to look at the bigger picture for the moment and mourn the details later. Moments like this made me realize that the regular Xenomorphs weren’t the most savage beasts in the Black Plaguelands.

She continued to struggle, but I could see her slowing down. It wouldn’t be long until she was gone. She looked towards the Xenomorphs in the crowd. My heart sank the moment her eyes met my gaze. ”Thats not possible,” I thought to myself. ”She shouldn’t be able to see me”. She watched me intently, until she finally couldn’t hold on any longer. She fell back and didn’t move. I shook it off and reassured myself that it was all in my head.

The Beta grabbed Capper. “Do you know where the others like you are?” he asked. Capper shook his head in fear. “I believe you.” The Beta looked back towards the crowd. “I know you still have loyalty to our leader, so I will give you a chance to embrace the divine once again. You can live among us again. Do you want that?” Capper nodded. “Then retake the gift.”

I watched in sadness and disappointment as Capper’s eyes became black and dark purple again. “He has accepted our power back into his heart,” the Beta exclaimed. The crowd screeched again. “Now go and find the other traitors bring them to me, the other elite, or even the leader himself.”

The crowd gave one final cheer, then scattered. I walked outside with the crowd and began to follow the Beta. Sunset followed close behind. We followed him at a distance. I used my ability to allow Sunset and myself to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible.

“No one’s in earshot,” Sunset finally said. I dashed forward and grabbed the Beta’s forehead with my right hand. I commanded his body to be still, so that he couldn’t fight back.

“Alright,” I said. “Where’s your leader?”

“I will never betray my kind,” he responded. I suddenly felt a jolt of rebellion towards my paralytic command. He was resisting.

“Wrong answer,” I said. I forced another command into home to make him less resistant. “Where is your leader?”

“He—is—in,” he said as he tried to resist my commands. His malformed xenomorphic face began to contort in agony. He didn’t understand that my commands affect the mind.

“Can’t we just beat the answers out of him?” Sunset asked.

“That won’t be necessary,” I responded. “I’ve almost broken him and then he’s mine.”

The Beta was breathing heavily now. “He’s in the center of our land,” he finally said. “If you go to the top of the building you’ll be able to see a cathedral with four large towers on all corner sides. He is in that building, but you’ll never get in. There are too many guards for you to handle.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I said as I commanded him to sleep.

“Should I drain him too?” Sunset asked.

“No,” I replied.

“Draining him wouldn’t make you stronger, only draining the Chimera will do that. Let’s go make that signal fire you were talking about.”

Sunset and I walked outside and she began to use her fire ability to make smoke. The small smoke clouds floated gently into the sky. “Now what?” Sunset asked.

“Now we wait,” I said.

Octavia and I waitied about ten minutes before Twilight and Moondancer finally found us.

“You find the Chimera?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, “but he has an army guarding him.”

“An army?” Moondancer asked in surprise.

“Well he has a bunch of Betas in this place,” I replied, “but they’re just as bad as an army.”

“So you’re sure you know where he is?” Twilight asked.

“Positive,” Octavia replied. “He’s been in his little stronghold ever since the other Chimeras began falling. What about you guys? Did you find Discord’s safe house?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied. “It was on the residential part of this Black Plagueland. I found it pretty fast. No thanks to my partner.” Moondnacer rolled her eyes. “So what’s the plan now?”

Wel all looked at Octavia in unison. She looked away and began to pace. Twilight, Moondancer, and I watched her as she contemplated our next move. “I believe the best strategy would be for Twilight and Moondancer to create a distraction to lure the Betas away, while Sunset and I use my stealth abilities to sneak in and hopefully kill him.”

“You have stealth ’abilities’?” Twilight asked in confusion. “I thought you said thst stuff was all skill?”

“Well it’s a little of both,” Octavia replied. “I’ll explain it later. For now, Twilight, Moondancer, start making a distraction.”

“They’re Betas!” Twilight said loudly. “We could barely kill the last Beta we met.”

“Well I think I’ll be able to hold them off for a while,” Moondancer replied. “A few Betas don’t scare me.”

“If only Twily had a pair to go help you,” I said to Moondancer right in front of Twilight. Octavia smiled.

Twilight glared at me. “I’ll kick their asses until there’s no one left,” she said. “Me and Moondancer will make it to the Chimera before you guys.”

“In the unlikely event that that happens, remember that we can’t kill it,” Octavia said apparently not understanding that Twilight’s comment was a joke. “We still need his power for Sunset.”

“So if all of this is to get strong enough to handle Gloriosa and nothing else, then how are we going to find her?” Twilight asked.

“Discord will know soon enough,” Octavia said with malice in her voice. “We’ll deal with her when the time is right, but for now we need to focus on the task at hand. Let’s move.” Twilight and Moondancer nodded and ran off.

“I hope those two don’t kill each other.” I said.

“We can only hope,” Octavia replied. We left the meeting point and waited in a building overlooking the Chimera’s stronghold. We had been waiting for a seemingly large amount of time without any sign of Moondancer’s diversion. “You think they got caught?”

“No, I’m thinking Twilight convinced Moondancer to begin the distraction at night,” Octavia replied. “It gives us an edge, but it makes it difficult for them to fight.”

“Lethal or non-lethal?” I asked.

Octavia paused for a moment. “Lethal,” she finally said. “You saw the rally with the Beta. Most of them choose to be this way.” Octavia peered out a window. “The Betas are moving.”

“Let me see,” I said as I walked to the window. I could see a group of five Betas running out of the stronghold’s entrance. They ran in the direction Twilight and Moondancer had taken earlier. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Octavia and I rushed outside. The last rays of light were quickly fading away. The Psychological Industrial Complex was covered in darkness now, but it didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. Octavia dashed for the stronghold’s entrance and I followed close behind. There were two guards just outside the door. Octavia seemed to see them as well because she changed her direction and hid behind a human sized crate. I did the same.

“Damn, how many Betas can one Chimera have?” I asked. “The Infernoland Chimera only had like four.”

“The Infernoland Chimera was only a child. She didn’t directly infect many people there. Her brother was the one that did the wide spread infection.”

“So what, each generation after the Chimera is weaker?” I asked.

“I don’t really know for sure.” Octavia looked towards the guards. “I’ll take down the two guards.” She dashed forward and within moments she was gone. I looked at the guards and waitied. I began to see the shadows move behind the guards. I saw two silvery fang sharp objects emerge from the shadows and stab both of the Beta guards in the neck. Moments later, the silvery daggers disappeared and the shadows became still again.

“Nice job Tavi,” I said softly.

“Thank you,” I heard Octavia say from somewhere behind me.

“Jesus Christ, Tavi!”

“Sorry,” Octavia said half laughing. We opened the door to the stronghold and entered.

“Alright we’re in, now what?” I asked Octavia.

“Now we need to search every room in this place to find the Chimera, which means we’ll have to kill a lot more Betas,” Octavia explained our only options, but I didn’t listen. There was something in the air that made it hard for me to listen to her. I could feel my body start to tingle. The desire for the Chimera’s power was so strong, that I was beginning to sense him.

“I can find him,” I interrupted Octavia. “I can sense his power.”

I wasn’t sure how the words came out as I said them. I felt like this was a good enough reason for Octavia to permanently shut off my powers. I knew that Octavia would take my attitude as a sign of me losing my mind. “I figured that might happen,” Octavia said as nonchalant as ever.

“You knew?” I asked in surprise.

“Well,” Octavia said. “I figured that after you drained the Wraiths to blend in with them, you might be able to better sense the Chimera.”

“Psychics,” I corrected Octavia.

“Whatever,” Octavia said. “I doubt your sensitivity will last long. We need to use it while we can. You lead.”

“No arguments here.” The cathedral was huge. The room we were in looked like an ordinary lobby. The front desk was left unattended. As we walked closer I could see doors on either side, as well as a staircase that led to a set of double doors that led to the second floor. The room itself hardly had any lighting. One lone light dangled above the front desk and dimly lit the entire room. The walls and floors were dark shade of purple. It almost looked like they were made of crystals.

“This place looks...” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure if I could describe how ominous this place was. Like it belonged to King Sombra who tried to take over the Crystal Empire back in Equestria.

“Yeah I know,” Octavia said as she walked to the desk. “Where is he? Above or somewhere on this floor?” Octavia was playing with the computer in front of the desk as she spoke.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the location of the Chimera as Octavia continued to play with the computer. It took a few minutes, but I began to locate the Chimera’s presence both above and below me. “It’s weird, but I can feel his power above us and below us.”

“Great,” Octavia said. “We know he’s upstairs then.”

“How do you know that?”

“This computer had tons of files about the operation these guys are working on,” Octavia said as she continued reading. “One of them is a project involving the transfer of power from the Chimera to another corrupted monster. One of these files said that they keep all the corrupted monsters in the basement. So the Chimera energy you sense must be one of those things.”

“Can I drain it?” I asked.

“No, the power is centered through the Chimera. It’s almost like the demon downstairs is an extension of him.”

“So it’s almost like he’s got eight limbs,” I said with a smile on my face.

Octavia looked up from the computer and her eyes narrowed. “Get downstairs and look for another computer like this one. Once you’ve found it, Wait there for further instructions.”

“Why?” I asked.

“The door to the room the Chimera is in is locked to anypony without equestrian telekinesis. According to this computer, the only other way to open it without equestrian telekinesis is with the computers. This computer and the computer downstairs are the keys.”

I walked towards the door Octavia pointed to and opened it. Before I walked out of the room, I turned back towards Octavia.m”if the demons downstairs see me, does that mean that the Chimera will see me too?”

“I think so,” Octavia said.

“Great,” I whispered to myself. I turned back to the door and left the room.

“Good luck,” I heard Octavia say as I left. “And from what you told me, squids have ten limbs.”

Sunset exited and left me in the room alone. I continued reading through the computer files. I tried to make sure I only read the important files. I was fascinated to find a file regarding experiments done to the Wraiths and Blackguard synthetics. The files were heavily censored so I couldn’t gain any real idea of what was happening, but I was able to find a file regarding a meeting with Gloriosa that happened recently.

I began to suspect that the Chimera of the Psychological Industrial Complex knew Gloriosa before the outbreak. The fact that they were running experiments on the Wraiths only supported my suspicions. After about ten minutes, I activated the first computer command. I got up from the desk and began walking up the stairs and into door on the left. I had scanned through the computer to get a general idea of where I would need to go to find the Chimera.

I reached the door. I gently turned the knob and opened it. There was nothing there. The hallway was brightly lit with strong white lights. I knew that the majority of the Betas were outside, but I didn’t want to let my guard down in case any stragglers were still around. I cautiously walked forward.

The current room I was in was another office setting. There were a few desks around the room, but none of the, seemed to have anything useful. I suspected that none of the Betas were using any of the desks. All of the Psychological Industrial Complex Xenomorphs seemed brutish and single-minded. I wasn’t even sure how they were able to set up a computerized look like they did. I dropped the thought and continued on.

I went into the next room and observed the surroundings. Oddly enough, no one was here either. I had expected the Chimera to send some of the Betas outside to fight Moondancer and Twilight, but I didn’t expect him to send all of them. He had to know that Sunset was coming for him. He was the last Chimera thst remained, and he knew Sunset was killing Chimeras, but then why would he have all of his guards out fighting Moondancer? Maybe I’m just overestimating his intelligence, I thought to myself.

The Wraiths were all brutish and unrefined. In fact, with the exception of the ones that had free will, all the corrupted beings were pure brutes. They might have had some intellect, but for the most part they were single minded Xenomorphs. The Chimera should be no different. The reason why the Chimera had sent all his Betas to fight Moondancer must have been because he believed that the one who was killing the other Chimeras was outside fighting with her.

I looked around again to make sure my surroundings were safe. I sat down on a nearby chair and relaxed. I was unable to do anything until Sunset gained access to the computer with the lock program in the basement. “Why would anypony make a lock this way?” I asked myself. “It’s way too impractical.” I let out a frustrated sigh and turned my attention to the entrances of the room. I had nothing to do, so I would just have to guard this room until Sunset signaled me.

I wasn’t sure what I expected to find in the cathedral’s lower levels. I could safely assume that there was at least one thing running around here with the Chimera’s control. If whatever that was saw us it could inform the Chimera I was here and not with Moondancer. I needed to make sure that he didn’t realize I was down here, otherwise Octavia’s plan was ruined.

The cathedral’s lower levels weren’t very remarkable. They were mainly storage areas that housed large containers. Every single floor I Check was full of useless material. The computer was nowhere to be seen, either. The entire area was unnaturally quiet. The more rooms I searched, the stronger the feeling of dread and uneasiness in my stomach became. A sudden realization came to mind. I was almost sure I knew where the computer was now. It would surely be in the same room as the Chimera’s pet was. It would have made sense for him to keep the lock under watch with his beast. I would have to find the beast and hopefully find the computer.

I found an elevator and used it to reach the bottom floor of the basement. I could feel the Chimera’s energy nearby. The lowest level of the Chimera’s cathedral was different than the rest. It looked like I had stepped into some kind of dungeon. The walls and floor were embedded with crystals. There were suits of armor leaning against the walls and a few shelves around the place, but nothing else of interest. I proceeded onward.

I tried to hone in on the Chimera’s pet’s location, but his energy scent was all over the place. The only way I would be able to find it and the computer was by exploring the area. The only problem with exploring was that I had no idea what to expect. I was nowhere near as stealthy as Octavia, so the chances of my being discovered was significantly higher. I cleared my mind and continued on.

I examined my surroundings as I walked forward. I noticed the some suits of armor had a number imprinted on their chest plates. One suit of armor had a three imprinted on its chest plate on the other side of the room. It stood motionless on the left side of a door almost as if it was guarding it. The door was the only other way out of the room apart from the entrance. I cautiously walked to it. I was a little intimidated by the armor, especially because of the massive axe it held, but I shook off my uneasiness and continued on.

I quickly reached the door and extended my hand for the doorknob. The suit of armor suddenly burst into life and swung its axe down towards me the moment I came into contact with the door. I quickly dodged the attack and rolled to the floor. It turned its head to me. It picked up its axe and leaned forward in the air to strike at me again. I rolled again to my right and quickly got to my feet. The suit of armor raised its axe again and swung it horizontally. I was able to roll to the floor one more time, but the force of the impact caused another suit of armor to fall on top of me. I struggled to free myself in vain; the armor was too heavy for me to move in time.

I watched the armor in terror waiting for its final, unavoidable strike. I was filled with astonishment and disbelief as I saw the hostile suit of armor suddenly fell apart before finishing me. There was no one in the armor; it had attacked completely on its own. I lay under the armor in confusion trying to make sense of why I was still alive. I wasn’t sure what to do now. I picked myself up and carefully walked over the dismantled suit of armor, heading for the door. I hesitantly reached for the handle. I took a deep breath and turned it. I gently opened the door and walked inside.

The room I walked into wasn’t very big. It looked more or less like a wide hallway than an actual room. It was dimly lit, so I had a hard time seeing around. I walked in and cautiously continued walking to the other end. It took a while, but my eyesight finally began to adjust itself. I could see four suits of armor, two of which were guarding the door to the next area. The other two were far enough for me to escape, should they come to life.

I sighed heavily as I saw the number two on the chest plate of the suit of armor to the right of the door. The suits of armor in this room all clutched spears. I walked to the door slowly and reached for the doorknob in the same manner as before. I watched both of the crystal statues carefully. I touched the doorknob and immediately jumped back. The armor with the number two imprinted on it immediately sprang to life and jabbed the ground I would have been on. I regained my balance and quickly shot out a barrage of magma balls.

I stopped and waited intenylymfor any sign of movement. I saw something covered in flames dashing towards me. I fell on my back as the suit of armor jabbed the space I was just in. The armor fell apart immediately after its attack just as the last one had. I picked myself up off the floor again. What the hell? I asked myself as I continued to the next room.

I wasn’t scared of the armor springing to life so much as I was confused about it attacking then falling apart. Being in the Black Plaguelands and having to fight for my survival desensitized me for most of the stuff the Black Plaguelands had to offer, but these armors just confused me.

I tried to understand how it was possible that the armor sprang to life by themselves. It was a complete mystery to me. It wasn’t like the suits just fell over and happened to almost kill me; the suits had actually come to life and actively tried to kill me, and for some reason they stopped in the middle of a fight and collapsed. The first suit attacked me three times, but the second suit only attacked twice. I remembered the numbers on the chest plate and assumed thst the armor had been somehow been programmed only to attack a fixed amount of times. I didn’t know what the significance of the number of times it attacked was, but I was sure it was something worth noting.

I entered the next room just as cautiously as ever. The room had much better lighting than the previous few rooms. I could actually see the entire room in this light. There were five more doors leading out of the room: two doors on the left, two doors on the right, and a final door in the middle. Each door had a suit of armor guarding it. Each armor had a different number engraved on its chest plate. I instantly understood that each of these crystal statues could come to life and try to kill me. I sighed heavily as I began to decide what door to take.

I walked around the room and looked at each door. The suit of armor to the left had the number twelve engraved on it. The next armor had the number three engraved on it. The armor across the room from the entrance had the number five engraved in it. The next armor had the number one engraved. I looked at the final armor which had a seven on it.

I wondered where to go for a moment, but then I had an idea. It was so simple, I almost completely overlooked it. The numbers of the suits of armor started at three, then the next door continued with two, so the logical number that continued was one.

I walked to the door guarded by the suit of armor with the number one engraved on its chest. I touched the door’s handle and jumped out of the way. The suit of armor was holding a sword, and thrust in my direction. I quickly moved to the side and dodged the attack. The armor fell apart afterwards. I ignored the armor and opened the door to the next area.

I could sense the Chimera’s power in this room in more than one place. It was a strong cluster of the Chimera’s power, but it wasn’t the same thing I had felt before. It was significantly weaker than the original that led me here. The Chimera’s power was coming from three more suits of armor. I then realized what had caused the other suites of armor to attack me before; the Chimera must have used his energy infusion to force the suits of armor to attack a person a fixed number of times. I knew he could infuse creatures with his power like the other Chimeras had, but I had no idea he could infuse objects.

I looked around and saw a door with a table and a vase next to it on the other end of the room. There were three suits of armor that were lined up on the right wall leading to the door to the next room. I also saw what was engraved on the suits of armor’s chest plates. They were all marked with the infinity symbols. I took a deep breath and ran for the door in hopes that I could enter next room without getting caught by the suits of armor. I grabbed the doorknob and looked back to see if any of the suits of armor had moved. None of them seemed to care about me.

I tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn’t move. I examined the door and saw three keyholes above the doorknob. I sighed and shook my head. Now I was going to have to find three keys in addition to avoiding the suits of armor. A thought suddenly formed in my mind. There were three keys and three suits of armor. I looked at one of the suits and saw a key tied to its neck. It was barely noticeable, but I could just make it out.

“Damn It,” I said under my breath. I kicked the small table next to the door. The vase on the table broke into pieces as it hit the ground. The flowers inside lay ruined on the floor. I clenched my fists and prepared to use my fire to try and keep the suits from killing me. I couldn’t believe my luck. Every single time I thought I was done with the hardest part, something even worse waited around the corner to prove me wrong.

I opened my fists and created flames. The flames quickly covered my entire hands. I walked forward wanting nothing more than to tear apart the armor and grab the keys as my reward. The thought of fighting the Chimera only fueled my desire to destroy.

As I walked over to the vase, I noticed that the floor around it was wet. The vase was full of water. I forced the fire in my right hand to burn out. I forced the water to rise from the floor and wrap itself around my arm. I at least had another weapon to fight the suits of armor with.

I looked at the water swirling slowly and had an idea. The remaining flames on my arm burned themselves out. I put both my hands together and forced the water to go back to the ground. The water formed a puddle around me. I forced the puddle to split into three smaller pools. I guided the waters towards each suit of armor using the power I had gained from the Frostfalls’ Chimera.

Each stream of water slithered towards their targets. I had each of them climb up the suits of armor and wrap themselves around their armor’s key. I forced the water to solidify and tear the small ropes holding each key. I made the water fly towards me and quickly extracted each key.

I scrambled to open the door, when I finally heard the sound of the suits of armor reacting. I could feel them all coming to life behind me, but I couldn’t afford to throw a glance at them. I inserted the first key and turned it. I could hear the sound of the suits searching around the room for their keys. There was a sudden silence thst came afterwards. It was as if they were done searching and had all found me at once. I inserted the second key and quickly turned it.

The suits of armor were already advancing. Luckily, these suits of armor didn’t seemed to be as fast as the previous suits I had encountered, but I had a pretty good feeling that these suits were much more durable than the others. I readied the third key and placed it in the final keyhole. I turned around in time to see one of the suits of armor lunge at me. I rolled out of the way and shot a magma ball. It pushed one of the suits onto another one. Apparently my constant use of magma made the fires I had created now denser than before.

I turned my attention back to the door. I opened it and quickly entered. I wanted to scan the room for any danger, but I decided that it would be best to just lock myself away from the danger already present. I closed the door behind me and relocked it with the three locks.

I turned around to inspect my surroundings. The whole room was dark with the exception of the small space around me. I created a small flame in the palm of my hand. I used the small flame to light my way as I continued walking around. The room was full of massive machines and giant tube like container s full of some weird purple liquid.

I could feel the Chimera’s energy. It filled the room making impossible to find the exact source. I walked around and searched for the computer that could unlock the Chimera’s sanctuary doors. There were a few computers, but none of them had the program Octavia had showed me.

I tried my best to focus on finding the computer and unlocking the door to the Chimera, but the Chimera’s energy was messing with my concentration. I felt like he was close. I could feel the alabaster aura raging around inside of me trying to get to the surface. I was anxious now. In a matter of minutes the door to the final Chimera would be opened and I would be able to take his power, and after I was finished with him, I could move on to Octavia’s power.

I shook my head furiously. The alabaster aura inside of me was also messing with my mind. I knew I didn’t want to kill Octavia, but it made me want her power more than anything. The thought of gaining more power was exhilarating, but would it be enough me? Would the power I gain from killing the last Chimera and Octavia to satisfy my power-lust?

Another sinister thought came to my mind. ”I could always take some of the X.X.X. Plague with me when I escape Canterlot and spread it,”I thought to myself.“I could breed whole new generations of Chimeras. A whole new world of power I could take. I could be a goddess.” I smiled. The seduction of power was too great to fight. I wanted all the power I could handle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything while this Chimera was still alive.

I came across another computer with a program that could activate the lights. I read the command index and typed the correct command to turn on the lights. The room lit up all at once. Unfortunately, the lights were all dim. “It’ll have to do,” I said to myself as I extinguished the flame in my hand and continued my search.

I looked around until I finally saw a computer I hadn’t inspected. The area around the computer was almost completely black. I walked over to the computer and immediately saw the lock program l I also noticed another program designed to light up the rest of the area. I activated the lights. The area immediately lit up. These lights were far brighter than the lights I’d previously activated.

The sudden flash of bright light momentarily blinded me. I staggered around until I thumped into something hard. My eyes began to adjust to the light after a few moments. I turned around to see what I had bumped into. I immediately jumped backwards in horror at the monster I was sure was linked to the Chimera. It looked far worse than I had remembered. A disturbing concern began to form in my mind: What had the Chimera done to control him?

I had been waiting in the same room for what seemed like hours. I stayed ever so vigilant in case Sunset contacted me, but it was becoming difficult to handle the waiting. I hated the fact that I couldn’t advance without her help. Precious time was being wasted with every moment the doors to the Chimera were closed. I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

I sighed. Being impatient wasn’t going to help me. I took a deep breath and tried to relax as I continued waiting.

Beep. Beep. The two-way radio I had begun to beep. I quickly answered the call. “Octavia?” I heard a very frightened Sunset say.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I found it,” she replied with worry in her voice.

“Great, are you having trouble getting the computer to unlock the door?”

“No,” she replied hesitantly. “I see the activation program right here.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“You know what, never mind I’ll take care of the lock. Wait for me alright?”

“Wait what did you—“

AHHH! I suddenly heard an ear shattering scream come from above me and most likely beyond the locked doors. It wasn’t just any scream, it was Moondancer’s. I dashed forward not even trying to come up with an actual plan. All I could think about was how I had abandoned Moondancer before. I would not allow myself to let someone like Moondancer get hurt for my inaction again.

“Octavia?” I heard Sunset call out in the radio. “Tavi!” I turned off the radio not wanting to be distracted. My hesitation could mean Moondancer and Twilight’s death. I didn’t know what to expect, but I took comfort in the fact that’s I could use stealth if things got too out of control.

I ran for about one more minute before I finally saw the doors. I recognized them from the files in the computer in the lobby. Without a second thought, I ran to the doors and burst into the room. In retrospect, I probably should’ve thought things through, because the moment I ran in I was sent flying to the right side of the room. I landed on a desk and completely smashed it into pieces.

I closed my eyes unable to move. I was mad at myself for doing something so stupid. I could see the Chimera’s shadow looming above me. I was about to pay for my stupidity with my life. I sighed in disappointment as the Chimera looked over at me.

“Come on Octavia, answer,” I said to the radio in hopes that Octavia would answer. After Octavia abruptly left and turned the radio off, I activated the lock program on the computer and began looking for a way to get back to the main floor. I couldn’t stand the thought of being helpless to save the others. I wanted to save them partially because they were my friends, but also because I wanted Octavia’a powers. The presence of the Chimera’s pet made it difficult for me to concentrate on anything other than power.

I knew I couldn’t go back the way I came, because there were still three Chimera charged suits of armor ready to fight me. That path would also take too long to get through. It would be best to try to find an alternative way to get to Octavia and her powers before going back the way I came.

I began to walk in the areas that were still dark. The light seemed to activate in these areas as soon as I started walking in them they must have been operating with a motion sensor. I continued walking until I saw what looked like an elevator nearby. I hadn’t seen it before because of the lack of light. I pushed the elevator button and watched as the doors opened for me.

I walked into the elevator quickly. I pushed the button for the top floor hoping that I would take me to the same floor as the Chimera. The doors closed in front of me. I felt the elevator gently rising up the building. I readied my weapons. I didn’t rely on my powers alone, because using them exhausted me.

The elevator came to a gentle stop at its destination. The doors slowly opened and allowed me to see my new surroundings. The room had the same dark and ominous feel the basement had, but with a setting of the world’s biggest confession room. The lights were dimly lit. A water cooler, a few rows of school desks, and a set of stairs leading to the next floor were the only things in this room.

I walked to the stairs and immediately picked up the scent of the Chimera we were after at the very top of the stairs. I could also sense that Moondancer was there. I carefully ascended to the top and tried to listen to the conversation just beyond the door.

“So you’re the one that’s been giving the other lands so much trouble?” asked a low demonic harsh voice. Almost sounding just like King Sombra but much more evil. “The holy mother is unpleased by this.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Octavia replied in a tired and disoriented tone.

“Forget it, it’s nothing a filthy mongrel like you would understand. I would gladly put you out of your misery, but for some reason the holy mother wants you alive, Sunset Shimmer.”

I was taken aback by what the Chimera had just said. A sea of questions began forming in my head. What was the Chimera talking about? Who was the holy mother? Why does she want me? I listened back to the Chimera’s conversation in hopes that he would reveal more about this holy mother he worshipped.

“Who exactly is this holy mother of yours?” Octavia asked.

“She is the one that gave you your power,” the Chimera replied. “She is the one that gave everypony her divine gift.”

I instantly understood who they were talking about. I instantly knew who had spread the X.X.X. Plague, despite the fact that I had only met her once at Camp Everfree and in the hospital. “Gloriosa,” I whispered to myself. I had more questions that needed answering, but there wasn’t any way for me to ask them. My only hope of getting my answers was if Octavia happened to ask them before the Chimera became hostile.

“Why does your holy mother want me alive at all for that matter?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t know why,” the Chimera replied, “but don’t think that she’s going to be pleasant to you. She hates you. I can feel it.”

“Aw, what’s the matter? Mommy hasn’t told you what she’s planning, has she? Maybe she’s realized how much stronger I am than you all. I’m just better in her eyes.”

I couldn’t see the Chimera, but I knew Octavia was getting on his nerves.

“The mighty Chimeras,” Octavia continued. “The best of the Black Plaguelands. Wouldn’t you be ashamed if you knew your ‘children’ were being taken down by a mongrel like me?”

“Shut your filthy mouth animal!” the Chimera yelled.

“Great,” I whispered to myself. I knew that there weren’t any questions I could get answered now, so now wouldn’t be a good time to take action and save the others.

“And you,” the Chimera continued in a disgusted tone seeming to talk to someone else. “You betrayed our mother too. Luckily for you our mother is forgiving. The lightning squids who are loyal to the holy mother are spared of her wrath. The others that follow you shall perish along your side. We’ll start with you here and now.”

I could hear the sound of the Chimera walking towards someone. I couldn’t let the Chimera kill or hurt Octavia until I had the chance to take her power. I had waited too long already; it was time to strike.

I began to prepar myself by creating a stream of fire that I forced to spiral around both my arms. I wasn’t going to use my other abilities just yet. I could feel the alabaster aura sensation begin to creep up my spine. It was trying to claw its way back to the surface, but was unable to. Octavia’s suppressive power was still in effect. I wondered if killing Octavia would stop the suppression or make it permanent. I didn’t want to risk it.

I took a deep breath and blasted the door open. The first Xenomorph I saw was the Chimera. He looked so hideous beyond comprehension at this point. He had black amethyst skin and tattoos all over his body. He had five arms and five sythe arms and had ten horns on his head. His eyes were glowing green with purple flowing eye-lashes. I had thought he was never heard from again back in Equestria, and yet here he was. King Sombra the Psychological Industrial Complex Chimera. He looked at me with a mixture of surprise and anger.

I clenched my fists and sent a barrage of magma balls at him. He quickly dispersed the barrage with a telekinetic blast. I sent another magma ball towards him. He dodged it and sent a dark telekinetic blast towards me. I jumped out of the way and quickly composed myself.

“What is your business here blazer?” Sombra asked.

I stood silent.

“Fine,” he said annoyed. “It doesn’t matter why you’re here anyway. You’re not going to leave my cathedral alive.” Sombra stepped back and out of the shadows emerged ten Teleptics. These were no doubt Sombra’s elite. “Kill her.”

As soon as the order was given, the Teleptics sprang into action. Half of them tried to blast me with telekinetic blasts, while the other five propelled themselves towards me. I was knocked back by all the attacks. I quickly got to my feet and began to run around the room. I hoped that they wouldn’t be able to hit me as much if I was a moving target.

As I ran, I looked to my side and saw Twilight, Octavia, and Moondancer tied up in the corner of the room. The Chimera stood in front of them watching me fight. I was going to need Octavia to kill Sombra, but I couldn’t free her as long as the ten Teleptics continued to attack me, and I had no idea how I was going to stop them. There were too many for me to handle. As I was beginning to plan out my victory over the Teleptics, one of them used a hard telekinetic blast to throw me across the room. The blast sent me flying through a wall and into a large fountain.

I slowly got back up on my feet. I could feel the blood dripping down my face. My clothes were completely drenched in water, but before I had a chance to exit the fountain and dry off, the Teleptics approached.

All ten of the Teleptics stood in front of me. I slowly backed away as they approached. As they got into the water, I suddenly realized that I had the upper hand and that the Teleptics were at my mercy. I replaced the firs thst covered my arms with lightning. I slammed my hands into the water and electrocuted the Teleptics. They all screamed in agony and then suddenly each of them fell back into the fountain.

I jumped out of the fountain and back into Sombra’s room. The Chimera looked impressed by my performance. “You are stronger than I gave you credit for,” he admitted. “Maybe you’re smarter too. Come with me and see the holy mother.”

“I’ll see her when I want,” I replied. “Right now, I’m here for you.” I forced my right hand to burst into flames while sustaining the lightning on my left hand. I forced some of the water from the fountain to find its way into Sombra’s room as well. My powers were ready, but I still wasn’t sure how to kill this guy without my alabaster aura. I needed Octavia to reactivate it for me, which meant she was my top priority.

I threw a magma ball towards the Chimera followed by a lightning bolt. He easily stopped the fire with a telekinetic blast, but the lightning was too fast for him to counter. I smiled as it struck him. Sombra wasn’t fast like the Teleptics were, which put me at a huge advantage.

He ran towards me sending blast after blast of telekinetic energy towards me. I easily dodged every single one while still being able to hit him with lightning bolts. For a moment, I thought I could beat the Chimera without using the alabaster aura and the celestial warrior trance.

The Chimera looked angry now. He brushed off my attacks which clearly weren’t doing too much damage. He was clenching his fists and grinding his teeth, he thrust his hands to the floor and shot a blast of energy through it. The blast easily carved a hole through the floor. The sound of the initial blast was followed by several more floors.

I wasn’t sure what the point of the Chimera’s actions had been. My first guess was that the Chimera was simply showing his frustration. It wasn’t until I felt the energy I had sensed in the basement of the building began to rise that I understood why he had made the hole. It was made so that the Plagasis could quickly travel from the basement to me.

I extinguished the flames from my hand and retrieved my beretta. I showered the Chimera in a rain of both lightning and bullets. He began backing away from me and more importantly from Octavia. I dashed towards Octavia all the while continuing my barrage of gunfire and lightning bolts.

I got in front of Octavia and quickly retrieved one of her knives from her pocket. I used the knife to slash the rop around her hands just in time for us to dodge another one of Sombra’s telekinetic blasts. Twilight and Moondancer couldn’t move out of the way, so they were sent flying through the room and into another. Neither of them moved. I figured that Moondancer must have survived because of her Chimera strength, but I didn’t think Twilight was as lucky. I closed my eyes at the sight of Twilight and turned back to Sombra. Rage was growing in my body and the alabaster aura was desperately trying to claw its way out.

“Shit,” Octavia said with worry in her voice. “Do you think they’re alright?”

“That’s not important right now,” I said.

“What?” she asked surprised.

“We can’t help them until we kill the Chimera,” I pointed out. “To do that, I’ll need my alabaster aura back.”

Octavia looked at me doubtfully, but nodded. He put her middle and index finger on my forehead. I could instantly feel the flood of power coursing through my veins.ni could feel the alabaster aura becoming visible and beginning to spread all over my body. I was definitely ready to fight.

I turned back to the Chimera in time to see his pet emerge from the hole in the floor. It was the exact same Plagasis I had seen before. His cold slightly skeletal skin was just as pale purple as I had remembered it. It still had the same chains covering its body. It did however, look taller and more feral than I had remembered. It didn’t matter to me though, because I knew I was unstoppable. As soon as I had my prey in mind there would be no stopping me from killing it.

“Where’d you get him?” I asked.

“The holy mother,” Sombra replied.

The Chimera’s love for Gloriosa was starting to annoy me. I didn’t even truly understand why I needed to siphon Sombra’s powers. I was more than strong enough to kill her as I was. It felt like it was more for pleasure. At this point I didn’t even think she was worth talking to. I didn’t care about what I was anymore. All I wanted was more power.

The Plagasis quickly sprinted for me. I threw magma balls towards him. The magma ball swerved around him instead of hitting him directly as it should have. He jumped forward and landed right in front of me. He slashed the air in front of me trying to strike me, but I was fast enough to dodge it, I was suddenly struck down by the dense air around his arm and sent flying backwards. I rose up ready to dodge the next attack. Again the Plagasis slashed the air to my side, and again I was sent flying backwards.

I rose to my feet completely confused. He never hit me or made a visible telekinetic blast, but it felt as if he had sent me flying with telekinesis. I wasn’t sure how he was able to dodge my magma ball either. I analyzed the Plagasis’s moves for a second. ”Wait a minute, he didn’t dodge it, he redirected it,” I thought to myself. "The Plagasis must have some sort of telekinetic shield around him.”

I looked to my side to Octavia fighting the Chimera. Octavia could distract him while I continued fighting the Plagasis. I aimed for the Plagasis’s face and shot another bolt of lightning. It veered off and struck him in his right shoulder. The Plagasis tumbled down to the floor and shook off the attack. I quickly ran passed it and towards the Chimera.

Octavia was dodging blast offer blast of Sombra’s telekinetic attacks. Knowing Octavia, she was probably trying to tire him out. I shot Sombra with my handgun which caused him to turn his attention to me. Octavia ran for the Chimera and slashed away at his chest. She then backed away and taunted the Chimera with a hand gesture unfamiliar to me.

Sombra sent a large telekinetic blast towards Octavia. It looked like it was about to hit Octavia until she rolled to the floor at the last moment. The blast hit the Plagasis who, at the time, dashing behind Octavia. The blast swerved away just as my attacks had done before. At that split second I formed an idea. I forced the water I had dragged with me form the fountain on the floor in between the Chimera and the Plagasis to turn itself into ice. I watched as the Chimera and the Plagasis clashed together. Their telekinetic powers sent them both flying away from each other. They landed on separate ends of the room completely unconscious.

I quickly rushed over the Chimera and placed my hand on his forehead. The siphoning process started almost instantly. I could feel the new power beginning to manifest within me. The siphoning only took a few seconds this time. As soon as I finished, I used my new power to push everything away from me.

I could suddenly feel another Chimera’s power nearby; this Chimera wasn’t as developed as the other, but it was very near. Before I could seek out the other Chimera and spread the X.X.X. Plague, I was finally going to take Octavia’s power for myself.

I turned around ready to fight Octavia when Octavia suddenly slammed her hand onto my forehead. My body refused to obey me. The longer she held on, the darker the world around me became. She finally let go and I fell to the floor unable to stay awake.

I woke up in Discord’s main safe house. This was the safe house that was near the police station. I sat up from my bed and rubbed my eyes. I looked around for a moment and saw Octavia watching me from the door.

“Good, you’re up,” she said.

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Just a few hours,” she replied.

“Why’d you knock me out?” I asked angrily.

“I was only trying to lock away your alabaster aura stuff,” she said. “I thought it would take more to bring you down, it’s not my fault that you’re a lightweight.” Octavia was as smug as ever.

“Where are Moondancer and Twilight?”

“Moondancer is right next door, and Twilight’s in the police station with Discord and the others. They’re trying to organize an escape plan for all of the survivors.”

“All of them?” I asked.

“Not including the Shadowbolt rogues,” Octavia said. “They’ve already burned that bridge.”

“Everyone agrees with that?”

“No, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m in charge, so they do what I say.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “When did that happen?”

“It happened about an hour ago. They liked the fact that I was the only apparent pony who helped take down the four great Chimeras in their own respective Black Plagueland.”

“They think I’m not human or pony?”

“Well they do, but they think you’re the reason why Moondancer is still alive and here with the rest of us. They don’t see anyone with the X.X.X. Plague as human or pony. Some of the religious people are calling the Chimeras pandora demons.”

I suddenly remembered the other mysterious Chimera I had felt around the time I killed Sombra. “Wait a minute,” I said. “There’s another Chimera out there.”

“Are you talking about the wolf Chimera?”

“No,” I replied. I thought back to my encounter with the wolf. I wasn’t sure if it was a Chimera, but it didn’t mutate like a normal infected animal. I never sensed any Chimera-like energy from it so it couldn’t have been in the Psychological Industrial Complex. “I think there’s another one out there. It’s probably human too.”

“Can you still sense it?” Octavia asked intently.

“No the Chimera’s energy is gone.”

“Well we don’t need another Chimera anyway. You’re perfectly capable of fighting Gloriosa as you are.” Octavia turned her back in me and took a few steps forward. “Sunset, stay here and rest for as long as you need. I’ll go get everything we’ll need to fight Gloriosa. It won’t take long.” Octavia continued walking forward until she was finally out of my sight.

I wasn’t sure what to make of Sunset’s behavior towards me. I used my command ability to force Sunset to sleep because I didn’t trust her to not try to kill me. I knew it was underhanded of me to lie to her face about what I did, but I didn’t want to risk her getting mad at me. I couldn’t afford to lose any allies, especially now when we were going to fight Gloriosa. All The answers I want are just a few hours away, I thought to myself as I smiled.

I walked out of the safe house and back into the streets. I looked around and took in everything that was here now. The city blockhad been taken back and fortified by us. The survivors that remained at the police station at the time cleared out the Xenomorphs and other infected monsters while Sunset and I were hunting Chimeras. They created great walls and gates around our territory to only allow survivors in and nothing else. Discord had told me that the free will baring Pyronocks, Cryo Spiders, and Veltromites were all in a smaller area bordered off from the rest of the outpost because the uninfected were scared of them. Some people thought of this as segregation, but I thought of it more as a quarantine. This area really looked like it was ready for anything the Black Plaguelands could throw at us.

I looked around and saw many familiar faces. There were many people I helped over the course of my time away from Sunset. I looked at many of them. The majority of them gave me lols of gratefulness and admiration. Those that didn’t were clearly too tired and devastated about Canterlot’s fall or the deaths of loved ones to acknowledge me, or anything for the matter.

I saw a grown man crying his heart out with a picture of him and what I presumed to be his wife in his hands. The picture depicted the man, and a gorgeous woman both hugging and looking at the camera. I slowed my pace as I passed, looked at him with pity. The X.X.X. Plague had ruined him.

I kept walking and I eventually crossed paths with a girl who looked tired and empty. Her expression was blank and her appearance was messy. Her blue hair was filthy and unkempt, her clothed were dirty and wet, and her face was painted with two long lines of mascara that ran down from her eyes to the bottom of her face. I wanted to talk to her and try to comfort her, but she was too destroyed to even notice me there. She walked forward as if there was nothing else around her. “She probably doesn’t care if she lives or dies anymore,” I thought to myself. I felt bad for all of them, but I knew that I couldn’t lose my focus. Still, after traveling the Black Plaguelands for so long, I had truly forgotten how many people suffered through this whole tragedy. It almost became normal to me to kill them. They became villains in my eyes and the thought that they were everything else had withered long ago. I shook off my thoughts and kept walking forward as if there was no one suffering around me.

As I walked to the police station, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of pride and shame for what I had done. It was true that I helped cripple the rein of the Chimeras, but I only did it for myself. Before, I didn’t really care too much about anything other than the mission, but now I was different. Fighting with my friends made me different. I would still hold my mission beyond most other things, but now I had to be more careful on how I was going to complete my goals.

I walked through the police station gates and headed for the entrance. Vinyl was standing in front of the police station doors. “Come back from your adventure already babe?” she asked. “Told You you’d be fine and kill all the bad guys.”

“You do know I didn’t really kill any of the Chimeras right?” I asked. People had been treating me as if I was the only one who killed all of them.

“Yeah; that reminds me, say thanks to Sunset for me and everyone else.”

“Of course sweetheart. So,” I said as I looked outside of the police station gates. “Are these all the remaining outposts? Including any of the Shadowbolt ones?”

“No,” Vinyl responded. “We found one Shadowbolt rogue and we’re interrogating him. He told us about where they had gotten all of the guns they were using, but a little more.”

“Well don’t leave me in suspense. Where did they get them?”

“They got them in a deal with someone named Gloriosa Daisy. He said that as long as they supplied her with some of the infected, she would send them guns and any other weapons they needed.”

“Gloriosa gave them what they needed to raid the outpost near the Frostfalls for food. She must have wanted more test subjects or experiments. At least all of the outposts here are safe now.”

“Yeah, and they all brought supplies from their outposts. We can stay here for a month.”

“We won’t be here for long,” I reassured Vinyl. “Why aren’t you guys leaving now? I’m sure the road out of here is safe enough to use.”

“The bridge still isn’t open.”

“Why can’t you guys just activate it? It’s just a normal drawbridge, right?”

“Discord says that there’s some problem with the bridge’s computer.”

“I’m sure he can fix it. He’ll have enough protection especially now with the new muscle we brought with us from the Black Plaguelands.”

“Well he wants you and Sunset to do one more thing before that.”

“Another mission?” I asked. “Can’t we just get Gloriosa already?” Vinyl shrugged. We walked inside the police station. She led me into the operations room. Inside, Discord, Twilight, and a few other people waited for me.

“How’s Sunset doing?” Discord asked.

“She’s awake but resting,” I answered. “We will be ready to go to the Umbrella Yutani Corporation headquarters in a little while.

“Before you fight Gloriosa, I have one more thing for you to do.” I looked at Discord with a puzzled expression. “You need to visit another of my properties.”

I sighed heavily. “Another safe house?”

“Oh there is nothing safe about this house.” Discord said with a serious tone. “The property is a lab filled with dangerous experiments.”

“Alright, what’s so important over there that’s worth risking our lives for?”

“All of my research is there. I have very little doubt that Gloriosa is combing the land searching for it. There’s no telling what will happen if anyone were to get their hands on it.”

“Who else knows about that location?” I asked.

“No one should know about them, but our enemies are resourceful. They’ll find it if they hadn’t already.”

lOur enemies?” I thought to myself. ”There’s somepony other then Gloriosa who’s a real threat?” I didn’t ask not wanting to scare anyone around us.

“I’ll get everyone ready then,” I said. “Make sure we have all the necessary supplies. I want everything ready in an hour.”

“That’s what we were hoping that you’d stay. While you and your team are data, everyone else here will be beginning the operation to leave Canterlot.”

“The drawbridge won’t be a problem for you right?”

“I’ll have it up in no time, just make sure you finish everything you need to do quickly. We can’t risk keeping the bridge down for too long. We don’t want any of the X.X.X. Plague spreading out.”

“Speaking of which,” I said. “Have you come up with a cure?”

“I have something. It’s a X.X.X. Plague cure, but so far all it does is make the X.X.X. Plague almost impossible to spread from the one who takes it.”

“Thats good enough for now. Good luck with your operation, Discord.”

“You too,” Discord said in a grave tone. “Octavia, be aware that Gloriosa will be stronger than before. If she was able to repel you as easily as she did when you first met her, then her strength now will be unmatchable even to you and Sunset.”

“Are you saying we might not survive?” Discord nodded. “If you had seen Sunset in action, you wouldn’t say that.” Discord nodded again.

I walked out of the operation room and walked as quickly as possible to the safe house. I walked inside and began to pack a few supplies I thought I would need in a satchel. I took the obvious supplies along with a laptop. I wanted to read over some of the files I had collected over the course of the infection. I also wanted to read through the files I would see in Discord’s lab and the Umbrella Yutani Corp. headquarters. I was going to know as much as possible about the X.X.X. Plague to make sure it never causes something like this to happen again.

I couldn’t rest like Octavia had told me to do. The thought of taking down another Chimera and siphoning his power filled me with energy. The alabaster aura wasn’t pushing as hard as before, though. I felt it become more and more silent as I waited. I was feeling a little more like myself.

I waited impatiently for more news about our mission. I noticed Octavia pass by, but I wanted her to thing that I was still resting. She eventually came back to my room.

“Hey Sunset,” she said. “We’re going to head out on a little less than an hour.”

“We’re going out to fight Gloriosa already?” I asked a little disappointed that the news wasn’t Chimera related.

“No, we’re going to make one quick stop before that. Start getting ready.”

“Is it about the other Chimera?” I asked a little more eager than I meant to. She shook her head. “Alright then, I’ll see you at the front of the police station when I’m ready.” Octavia nodded then walked away. I prepared the bag I had been using throughout my adventure in the Black Plaguelands. I loaded it lightly knowing that I would use my powers more thn my guns. I finished packing and began heading out to the police station.

I left the house and was surprised to see so many people in one place. These must have been all the survivors the Black Plaguelands had to offer now. I walked forward and immediately ran into Aria.

“Hey there Ari,” I said. “Nice to see you’re still alive.”

“You too,” she replied. “Hey, do you know how we’re going to get out of town?”

“No, you have to talk Octavia about that. All I can tell you is not to get too comfortable here. You’re probably going to leave this place soon.”

Aria pulled out a double-barrel shotgun from behind her back. “You think that’s going to be a problem?” she asked with an expression of mock concern.

I chuckled. “Nice,” I said.

“Where is Octavia anyway?”

“She’s getting ready for another mission.

“What mission?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “She didn’t really say much. I don’t even know who else is going with us. I’m sure she’ll take Moondancer too.” A concern suddenly popped into my mind. “Is everyone else safe? All of our friends I mean.”

“Not everyone,” Aria said with depression in her voice. She looked down at the ground. “A lot of people are gone now, Sunset. It’s been pretty bad.”

“Is Trixie dead?”

“Yeah, the xenos got her.”

“Well at least there’s that,” I said under my breath. I really didn’t like Trixie. “Good thing it wasn’t anyone important like you or Pinkie Pie, or Applejack.”

“Hey that reminds me, Applejack was looking for you, Twilight, and Octavia.”

“Did she say why?” I asked. Aria shook her head. I sighed. “Well I guess it’s going to wait until we get back from our mission. Be safe.” I walked away from aria and towards the police station.

As I walked to the police station, I began to look back on my behavior. At first, I only wanted to kill Octavia and drain her power when I was using my alabaster aura ability, but the craving for her powers stayed with me throughout the majority of my time in the Psychological Industrial Complex. Now that the alabaster aura was suppressed however, I could finally begin to think clearly. A wave of guilt overtook me. You were willing to kill one of your friends to become stronger. “I thought to myself.” Then you wanted to infect the world for the same reason. Are you really better than Gloriosa? I shook the thought away.

On my way to the police station, I noticed people staring at me. Some of them looked at me with hope and admiration in their faces, but others looked at me with contempt. They couldn’t have known about my powers. The only people that were aware of them we the ones who told me not to tell anyone, Octavia said that the remaining survivors thought that Moondancer was still alive because of me. They must have been very uneasy with her around. It made sense that they would blame me for that.

Twilight waited for me in front of the police station gates. She had a bag of her own. “Hey Sunset,” she said. “You ready to get going?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Do you know where Discord is? I have to talk to him.”

“He left a while ago to talk to Octavia. He wants to give her a private briefing.”

“You’re going with us aren’t you?” I asked.

Twilight nodded. “Octavia is pretty hell-bent on me staying, but I know she’s going to let me go. Moondancer’s coming too.” We stood in silence for a moment. “I’m going to see who will be driving us. I’ll see you soon.”

“Alright,” I replied. “I’ll see you there.” Twilight slowly walked out of my sight. I continued waiting for Octavia, and hopefully Discord to arrive. I was starting to get impatient. I closed my eyes and leaned on the gate.

Fifty minutes had passed and there was still no sign of Octavia or Discord. I was ready to go to the Black Plaguelands alone, but just before I began walking, Octavia finally arrived.

“Are you ready?” Octavia asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “So what did you and Discord talk about?”

“He just told me what I should expect. We’re heading out to the Umbrella Yutani Corp, but we’re going to make a stop first. Discord wants us to destroy a lab nearby.”

“That’ll be quick,” I said confidently.

“Hopefully,” Octavia said. “Now, it’s time to get going. Our ride should be ready by now.” Octavia and I walked outside of the outpost. We waited for a minute until a cop car pulled up next to us. Applejack was in the driver seat.

“Howdy sugarcubes,” she said. “Ready for a hankerin’ adventure?”

“No,” Octavia said. “I’m sorry, but I’m driving.”

“Beg pardon?” Applejack asked insulted. “Why not?”

“I’m the only one who knows both locations.”

“When did you learn to drive anyway?” Moondancer asked. “You never knew how when you were living with me.”

“Wait a minute,” Applejack said as she was moving out of the driver seat, “you two were living together?” A bit of shock appeared in her voice.

“Long story,” Octavia said she got into the driver seat, “I’ll tell you later. And just so you know Moondancer, I learned in the middle of all of this, when I posed as a cop.”

“Let’s get moving.” We jumped into the car and a few seconds later, Octavia drove us away. We drove silently. Octavia’s driving had always been a little wilder than a normal human driver, but I had just thought it was like that because she was a pony and there was a Xenomorph apocalypse around us.

We swerved every street constantly avoiding debris on the road by only a few inches. I looked at everyone in the car. Everyone seems a bit tense, except for Octavia. She seemed oddly relaxed. She was constantly examining the streets. Apparently she was very confident of our chances against Gloriosa.

Octavia drove for what seemed like a few seconds then suddenly stopped in a residential area I recognized being miles away from the police station. The amount of distance that Octavia covered in the short amount of time when she drove was unbelievable. She parked the car near one of the houses. I sighed. This was the same neighborhood that this world’s Octavia lived in.

“You alright there sugar?” Applejack asked. “You look like you have a lot on your mind.”

“I’m fine,” I replied. “I just hoped I wouldn’t see this place again.”

Octavia turned off the car and turned to us. “Applejack and I are going in by ourselves,” Octavia said.

“What? Why must you two?” I protested.

“You, Moondancer, and Twilight will just attract the wrong attention,” Octavia replied. “Applejack and I, on the other hand, know how to sneak around.”

“I bet,” I said under my breath, “just be careful.”

“Nice advice Shimmer,” Twilight said sarcastically. “It’s really going to be helpful.” I rolled my eyes and turned away. Octavia and Applejack got out of the car and walked to a nearby house. Octavia opened the door, and the next moment they were gone.

The living room we were standing in was painted in a metallic gray color. The room was almost completely unfurnished and had no photographs or personal belongings thst would have made it apparent that it belonged to Discord. The only things in the room were a single black sofa on the right of us and an open door that lead to what looked like another equally unfurnished room.

“So what exactly are we lookin’ for Octavia?” Applejack asked.

“A room full of computers and stuff like that,” I replied. “Follow me and don’t stray.” I wanted to be extra careful here with Applejack around. I knew that she had been extraordinary lucky up to this point ever since we left the outpost. I didn’t want to push our luck. We hadn’t seen anything or anyone on our trip here, but I was sure that this moment of peace was just the calm before the storm.

Applejack and I quickly looked around through most of the house without finding anything. The last room left to explore was the basement. It made sense that he would have his work underground just like his tunnels, his safe houses, and the rest of his properties. We should’ve looked there first, but I was nervous about leading Applejack into such a potentially dangerous place. At least in the rest of the house she could rush to the entrance or a window to get help, but the basement wasn’t as escapeable. We would have to go regardless now. I needed to finish my mission.

I opened the basement door and cautiously stepped inside with Applejack waiting just outside. The room was pitch-black, but my eyes adjusted almost instantly. I continued walking down the stairs until I finally reached the bottom. The room was completely silent and there wasn’t anything apparently dangerous.

“Applejack, come on down,” I said. “It’s safe.” The room had a corner that was full of computers, four other corners that were full of boxes of junk, and a final corner that had a very sturdy looking cage. I saw a light switch towards the end of the stairs. I walked over to it and turned it on. The light came on and illuminated everything. I heard Applejack’s footsteps as she walked down the stairs.

“Did ya find what you needed?” she asked.

“I think so,” I replied, “but I need to make sure.” I walked over to the computers and turned them on. As soon as I could, I began searching through the files. I copied everything thst looked relevant to the X.X.X. Plague and downloaded it into my flash drive. I read field about the Giger virus Project and the X.X.X. Everfree virus Project. The head of the Giger virus Project was Gloriosa Daisy which didn’t surprise me too much, but the Everfree Project didn’t have much info on it. It only had a few works types under it: ”The concepts of the Everfrees show greater potential than the Chimeras ever had. Once the Giger Project is complete we must focus on the Everfrees.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of the file. The thought of another kind of infected wasn’t pleasant, especially if it was stronger than the Chimeras. I finished downloading the files and unplugged the flash drive.

“You have everything ou need now?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Let’s get out of here.” Applejack and I walked up the stairs, into the living room, and back outside. I felt like Applejack wanted to talk a lot more, but I was too focused on the data. “You’re going to drive this time. I want to check some of the data I just got out of this place.”

“That’s probably for the best sugarcube,” Applejack said with a playful smile. I smiled back. I was really glad Applejack came with us on this trip. I was scared for her safety, but I loved having her around. It felt really selfish for thinking that way, especially since I’m married to Vinyl, but she could handle herself.

“Hep Applejack,” I said. “I’m glad you came with us, and I just wanted to let you know that you’re safe as long as I’m around.” I put much more passion into this statement than I wanted to. I looked away beyond embarrassed.

“What’s the matter,” Applejack teased. “Are ya suddenly having trouble talking to a girly girl like me?”

“After what you did when we left the hospital? You’re definitely not a girly girl.” Applejack and I continued teasing each other until we reached the car. It was nice to mess around with her. Meeting her was by far the best thing that happened to me during all this.

Sunset looked in our direction and I was suddenly reminded of my mission. “Sunset, get out and torch the place,” I said to Sunset as soon as I reached her.

Sunset got out of the car and walked towards the building without question. I followed behind her as she forced her right arm to erupt into flames. She threw a magma ball in the direction of the house. The fire quickly grew and engulfed the house. I silently watched as it burned to the ground. I turned my attention to Sunset who watched the fire much more intently than I had. She seemed oddly inattentive and passive.

“Are you alright?” I asked. “You look distracted.”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I’m just thinking about a friend that used to live around here.”

“Is she okay?” I asked not sure what else to say.

Sunset shook her head and looked down. “I’m going to fucking make her pay,” she finally said.

“I know you are. Gloriosa will answer for everything she’s done to us and your world. She’ll wish she never met us.”

“Let’s get going,” Sunset said darkly. We walked back to the car in silence and sped away in moments.

I began to think about everything in the car and about what led them to be going with me to see Gloriosa. Sunset and Moondancer were some of the strongest women infected by Gloriosa and now they wanted revenge. Sunset once told me that she and her friends used to know Gloriosa from a few years ago but she wouldn’t tell me where they met her. She also told me that Gloriosa was affected by Equestrian magic which in turn transformed her into an entity name Gaia Everfree and somehow she and her friends were able to free her from Gaia’s grasp using the magic coming from geodes that she discovered in a quarry. Twilight had gone through some kind of sociological and physical change which caused her personality to become violent and dark. No longer the adorkable Twilight she used to be. And Applejack was just unlucky enough to have friends like us. Friends she cared about enough to risk her life to make sure they were alright. I wished I could have had a reason as kind as her’s.

I turned my focus to the road. The deeper into Canterlot we traveled, the worse the scenery seemed to become. There were hordes of Xenomorphs everywhere, but none of them were a real threat. They clustered together and and speed walked towards us as we passed. There was an gigantic rhino on the floor with oversized Xenomorph crows eating away at it. There was another barricade blocking the road ahead of us.

“Can you move it?” I asked.

“It’s too heavy,” Sunset replied. “Is there another way through?”

“No,” I replied. “There are barricades like this all over the place. A lot of good it’s done.”

“Then the only thing left to do is continue on foot.”

“We can’t—“

“We have to,” Sunset interrupted. “We can’t let her get away,”

Sunset opened the car door and walked outside. She looked around for a little while, and then signaled for us to come out. We all looked at each other and eventually everyone looked to me. I shrugged and left the car. I heard everyone exit the car and we walked over towards the barricade.

“Applejack you don’t have to go with us,” I said. “It’s too dangerous for you and Twilight.”

“Don’t worry about us sugarcube,” Applejack said. “We’ll be fine. We’ll just stay behind you where it’s safe.”

I began to protest, but stopped myself before I started. I knew that she would have her way no matter how much I fought. “Fine,” I said, “but you’re going to stay put in the first safe place we find. I’m not letting you get near Gloriosa, even if you knew before all this.”

Applejack nodded and began to climb the barricade. The rest of us followed her shortly after. We all climbed to the top and looked forward. I jumped down off the barricade into the new zone. Sunset jumped after me while everyone else climbed down.

“What kind of zone is this?” Sunset asked.

“It’s a treble clef zone,” I replied.

“Of course it is.”

“What? You think our good luck decided too start now?” Sunset shrugged and continued forward. We followed close by. “We’re about five blocks away. Stay close and make as little noise as possible.” We traveled together for six and a half blocks without drawing any attention.

“Does this feel kind of easy to anyone else?” Twilight asked. The distant sound of howling could be heard immediately after Twilight finished speaking. We all glared at Twilight in perfect unison.

“Well...that was bad timing.”

“We have ta find cover,” Applejack said worried.

“Wait,” Sunset said. “Something’s different. The howls sound scattered. They usually come from one direction.” Sunset looked around as if trying to find something. “The pack leader’s howl’s missing.”

“You can hear and understand all that?” Twilight asked with what I was sure was envy in her voice.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I think they’re trying to find him.”

“That’s great and all, but is it safe to travel?” Moondancer asked.

“No,” I responded.

“Great,” Twilight commentated ignoring me completely. “The wolves are leaderless, so we don’t have to worry about surprise attacks.” A small mob of fully armed Blackguard soldiers rushed out of the buildings around us almost instantly after Twilight stopped speaking. They aimed their weapons at us and advanced. We all glared at Twilight again. “That was just more bad timing.”

“Just shut up,” I said not even trying to hide my irritation. We all raised our hands above our heads and calmly stayed still.

“Why the hell are you all this deep in a treble clef zone?” one of the women asked. I recognized her voice almost immediately. It was the soldier named Spitfire.

“Relax honey,” I said as calmly as I could. “We just want to see someone. I’ve been told that she wants to see us too?”

“Who are you looking for?” Spitfire asked with curiosity in her voice.

I wasn’t surehow to tell Spitfire that we wanted to kill her boss, but I didn’t have time to think of a plan, so I would just say the truth, but leave out the part of killing her. “We’re here to see Gloriosa,” I said.

Spitfire and the rest of the Blackguard tensed up as these words. “Why do you want to see her?”

“We want to kill that pompous bitch,” Twilight said bluntly. I turned around to face Twilight ready to sucker punch her for blowing our plans.

“Really?” Spitfire asked cynically. “And how are you going to do that?”

“We have two anti-virus girls with us who want to kill her,” Twilight said as she pointed to Sunset and me.

I was about to knock Twilight out, but I stopped myself from punching Twilight the moment the Blackguard soldiers lowered their weapons. “What do you mean they’re anti-virus?”

“They both have powers that kill off the X.X.X. Plague.”

“You’re all going to the building that held her in it, aren’t you?” Spitfire pointed at me. Twilight nodded. “Well I’ve got news for you ladies, she ain’t there. After her city-wide dispersal of the X.X.X. Plague, Gloriosa went around the Black Plaguelands. She eventually settled down on the Umbrella Yutani Corps’ second building. This building is only meant to hold the prisoners until they’re called to be sent into that building for the real experimentation.”

“Can you show us where it is?” Sunset asked.

“I can,” Spitfire said, “but the only reason we’re helping you is because we want that bitch dead more than we want you dead.” The statement was directed more to me than anyone else. “Let’s get that straight.” I nodded. “Follow me.”

“At least she’s honest about her reasons for helping us,” Applejack whispered.

“For some odd reason, thst doesn’t make me feel better,” I whispered back sarcastically.

“Ah don’t like it either, but what other choice do we have?” Applejack began walking behind Spitfire. I despised having to trust these soldiers, but Applejack was right. There weren’t any other options. We all followed Spitfire until we reached Umbrella Yutani Corp building. We walked in and entered the elevator. Spitfire pushed one of the buttons, and the elevator began to rise.

I didn’t take in any of the environment around us. I was too distracted by a creeping sense of dread climbing up my spine to focus on anything around me. I was beginning to feel uneasy I was beginning to feel uneasy I was beginning to feel on easy about our plan to fight Gloriosa. She was strong the first time we fought her, but now she surely must have found a way to become stronger.

The elevator stopped and it’s doors opened. In front of us was a long hallway. The room was plain white in color and felt like any other room. The only thing in the hallway was a door at the very end. The door looked like a slab of metal was placed there instead of an actual door. It had no handles or doorknobs, but it did have a keypad to its immediate right. Spitfire fished a keycard from her pocket and slid it through the keypad. She typed in a few numbers. I heard the sound of gears turning and when they stopped, the door opened.

I stepped inside the room and was immediately overwhelmed with fascination. There was a wall of computers monitoring what seemed like every inch of Canterlot within a ten block radius of the building. The wall opposite the computers as full of weaponry that looked like it was from the future. The wall opposite the entrance was full of what looked like Xenomorph shaped robots of all sizes. Some of the robots looked humanoid while others looked like quadrupeds. The most impressive piece o technology to me was the table in the center of the room. The table had a purplish hologram figure of the entire city as it currently was.

I walked over to the table and stared at it in wonder. “This is amazing,” I said.

“A room full of technology years ahead of its time, and you go for the least impressive thing around?” Applejack asked amused.

“What can I say? I find this kind of stuff enjoyable.”

“I stil can’t believe you escaped us,” Spitfire said shaking her head in disappointment.

“How did I escape?” I asked. “It looks like you had everything you needed to catch someone who ran away from here.”

“I don’t understand it either. We should’ve been able to catch a stupid animal like you, but you just kept disappearing and reappearing.”

“Like if she was melding into the shadows?” Sunset asked. Spitfire nodded. “That’s her one of her special talents. It was strong even back then.” Sunset was silently thinking for a moment. “So what’s the plan and situation?”

“We’re going to let you guys go in as we escape the city.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “We won’t have to worry about any of you people getting in the way.” I looked around the room and at all the people that wanted Gloriosa dead. There were about thirty five of her people in this room alone. “Why did you all turn on Gloriosa anyway?”

“We didn’t turn on her. She turned on us,” Spitfire explained. “We are all apart of the same organization.”

“Umbrella Yutani?” Sunset asked.

“No,” Spitfire said. “The Umbrella Yutani Corporation is owned by it. The organization is much bigger than just one corporation. It extends all over. Most of it isn’t even interested in this corporation.”

“So the Blackguard soldiers are this organization’s elite military force?” I asked.

“The Blackguard isn’t where the elite soldiers belong. It’s where all of the soldiers started off. They’re trained and molded to be better than any other brand of soldier the world has ever seen. Blackguard soldiers are usually untrained, but exceptionally strong soldiers. When they become skilled enough they’re tranferred to another of the organization’s sects and gain a higher position.”

“What do you mean by other sects in your organization?” I asked.

“The organization has many goals and many ways to achieve them. Each sect has its own particular way of doing things. The sect I currently belong to is in charge of basic needs of the other sects and circulating assets from the others.”

“What’s your sect called?” I asked.

“You can just call it the blackbolt sect.”

“What can you be promotied to after Blackguard?” I knew the question wasn’t really important, but I was curious.

“I, personally, am trying to become Blazerbolt elite, but that’s neither here nor there. If you’re going to ask a question, make sure it has significance.”

“Alright. What did Gloriosa do to anger the organization?”

“She released the X.X.X. Plague, destroyed Canterlot, and kidnapped several Blackguard soldiers.”

“”What does she want with Blackguard soldiers?”

“I have no idea, but I doubt they’ll be the same people we knew before. If they’re still alive that is.” Spitfire paused for a moment and though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was full of rage. “The road to the second Umbrella Yutani building is a lot more dangerous than this one. We”ll have a transport ready to take you to it. It’s the safest vehicle we have.”

“Good,” Sunset said. “AJ, Twilight, and Moondancer can go downstairs and get ready to go while Octavia and I have a conversation upstairs.” Spitfire shrugged and and turned to the map. Applejack, Twilight, and Moondancer each looked like they were about to protest, but they all stopped after seeing the seriousness in Sunset’s eyes.

Sunset and I walked away from the group and back into the elevator. Sunset pushed the button to the top floor. The elevator doors closed and we began to rise. “So,” Sunset said trying to start a conversation, “are you going to want to ask AJ to join you and Vinyl when we leave Canterlot?”

“Beg pardon?” I asked sounding a little more defensive than I wanted to. “Why would you say that?”

“I’m not blind Tavi. I know you like her too.”

“I never said anything. How could you come up with that?”

“It’s easy to tell from the way you two look at each other. You’re very stealthy when it comes to fighting my friend, but you’re transparent in the art of love.”

I looked at Sunset and shook my head. “Applejack was right. You’re definitely a writer,” I said casually. “A writer can see romance where it doesn’t exist.”

“Whatever you say,” Sunset replied. For some reason her response bothered me. “And besides, I’m not a writer anymore.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“I couldn’t come up with anything to write about. I wanted to go out to new exciting places to find stuff to write about, but I don’t think I can do it anymore.”

“I’m sure you’ll write something great one of these days. Besides, you’re not exactly low on adventure.” I was glad we changed the subject. I didn’t really feel comfortable talking about Applejack to anyone. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. We were on the roof. “Why are we here?”

“I want to see the city again,” Sunset said and she walked to the edge of the building. “This place used to be amazing, you know?” Sunset said somberly. “I always felt good coming back here every time I visit. The scenery was breathtaking: the mountains, the forest, Camp Everfree, Canterlot High, and the city. God, I loved this place. No one can outgrow a place like this. This city was my home away from Equestria.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “Though I’ve been apart of cities back in Equestria, I never been part of a city the way you have.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for that,” Sunset said, never turning away from Canterlot.

“Don’t be. I can’t grieve for something I never felt I had.”

Sunset grabbed the railing on the edge of the building. She stayed silent for a few seconds then tightened her grip on the railing. “She’s going to die today, Octavia. You can get what you want from her while she’s still alive, but after that I will end her.” Sunset spoke with pure hatred in her words. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to kill Gloriosa. She didn’t just destroy Sunset’s new home from Equestria; she turned it into a nightmarish world.

“Are you scared?” I asked. “Gloriosa is adaptive. She’ll undoubtedly have stronger abilities at her disposal. From the way Sombra spoke of her, she probable had more than just common XXX Plague carries around her now.”

“She can have an army behind her, but it won’t make a difference, Octavia. There is only one outcome to this fight that I’ll let happen.” She paused for a moment taking in her words. “That’s the one that ends with her dead at my feet.”

“You’re pretty confident,” I commented. “Do you truly believe you can handle Gloriosa as easily as you claim?”

“We’ve both been through the a Black Plaguelands. We’ve both been responsible for the deaths of each Chimera. I’ve become an unstoppable machine. None of the Chimeras could hurt me, so why do you think she’ll have a chance?” Sunset spoke with dark glee in her voice. She walked back to the elevator. “Are you coming?”

I walked over to the edge of the building and looked at the city and as I looked over the fires and monsters all around us, I knew that it was beyond hope. All that could be done now was to make sure something like this never happened again. I turned back to the elevator and walked forward knowing that this was going to be the last mission I would ever go in the Black Plaguelands. One way or another, it would be the last I ever saw this place.

The transportation the Blackguard was providing us was ready when Octavia and I arrived. There were two large armored vehicles outside waiting for us. They looked like two small black tanks that were missing the cannons on top. The normal virus carriers and regular Xenomorphs wouldn’t be able to break something like that.

Octavia, Applejack, Twilight, and one of the Blackguard soldiers went into one vehicle while Moondancer and I went in another with Spitfire and another Blackguard soldier. Octavia and I talked to each other through our radios. We would make comments on the conditions of Canterlot on our way to Gloriosa’s building and on what we would do after escaping, but my heart wasn’t in it.

The road to Gloriosa was full of Xenomorph hordes roaming around aimlessly. Every now and again I would see a Xeno that I recognized from before the outbreak. They weren’t people that I wasn’t close to, or even people I talked to. They were just people I noticed one day on the street and smiled to. They were gone forever. Replaced by these sci-fi demons. I clenched my hands into fists. I felt anger build up inside of me. It felt as if I was ready to burst. Suddenly I felt the alabaster aura begin to flow around me. It was if it was trying to calm me down. I inspected myself to see if the aura was visible, but I couldn’t see it.

The rest of the trip seemed to pass quickly now that I could feel the alabaster aura. It didn’t take long for us to reach our destination, I didn’t even notice when we stopped. We stopped right at the entrance of the building. There was another horde of Xenomorphs heading our way, so we had to exit the armored vehicles as fast as we could. Twilight, Octavia, Moondancer, Applejack, and I ran to the door, but it was locked.

Octavia turned back to the armored vehicles, but they sped away before she could run to them. “Celestia damn it,” Octavia with frustration in her voice. “They didn’t give us any codes or keycards to get in.”

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“You’re going to have to blow the door down,” Octavia said to me. “We’ll figure things out after that.”

I used my new telekinetic shockwave power to break the doors in half. The burst of power left me breathless. “That power’s great,” I blurted out. Using a new power sent a rush of joy throughout my body. At that moment, I knew that her power wasn’t going to be enough for me. I craved more.

The five of us rushed inside the building and barricaded the door with everything the lobby had to offer including the front desk. “I think I’m gonna call this telekinetic burst, shockwave,” I said with joy. Nobody seemed to listen or care.

“I don’t know anything about this building,” Octavia said hurriedly. “Sunset, can you sense Gloriosa?”

I closed my eyes and began to try and feel Gloriosa’s presence in the building. I almost immediately began to feel the power of another unknown Chimera. “I sense a Chimera,” I said. I concentrated hard, but my concentration was Interrupted by a sudden earthquake-like shake. Everyone fell to the floor except for Octavia.

“What the hell was that?” Applejack asked as she picked herself up from the floor.

“I’m gonna guess that someone knows we’re here,” Moondancer said.

“Great,” Twilight said sarcastically, “now we have to worry about that.”

“Can you still sense the Chimera?” Octavia asked as she grabbed Twilight’s hand and pulled her back to her feet. I closed my eyes and tried to send the Chimera’s presence,but it was gone now.

“No,” I replied. “I can’t sense Gloriosa either.”

“So I guess we’re going to have to try and find her the old fashion way,” Octavia said. I looked at her in confusion. She looked at me in disbelief. “Looking, looking is the old fashion way.” I nodded. Octavia shook her head in annoyance. “Let’s look around.”

We walked to the only door out of the lobby and cautiously walked through it. We entered a dark room with a dimly lit ceiling fan being the only source of light. I noticed a flight of stairs going down into the basement. ”We should split up,” I suggested. “That way we can cover more ground.”

“What do we do if we run into Gloriosa?” Moondancer asked skeptical of my plan.

“Just keep your distance from her and radio the rest of us,” I said casually.

“Alright let’s separate,” Octavia said. “Applejack and Moondancer should go with you, while Twilight and I explore the basement.” I wanted to be paired with Octavia again so that I could talk her into restoring my power, but thst wasn’t going to happen now. I think Octavia could sense what I was planning.

“Be careful Octavia,” Applejack said. I didn’t know what Octavia and Applejack had been through after their escape from the hospital, but at least I had an idea how much they bonded. “You too Twi,” Applejack Finally said after a long pause.

“Don’t worry Applejack,” Octavia reassured. “I promise I’ll take care of myself. Promise me you’ll be fine too.”

“Ah promise,” Applejack said. AJ leaned into Octavia and wrapped her arms around her. She leaned onto her and hugged her back. I saw Moondancer glaring at AJ from the corner of my eye, Octavia seemed to be quite the ladies mare. They let go of each other and walked to their groups. Octavia and Twilight began to walk downstairs. They waved back to us and disappeared into the darkness from below.

“Let’s go,” I said. I walked forward while Applejack and Moondancer followed close behind. The sensation I felt when I activated the alabaster aura was beginning to creep back up my spine. It felt neutral now, as natural as breathing. It still couldn’t manifest itself completely, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be able to until Octavia released it. It was still nice to know it was trying to make its way to the surface.

As we continued on, we came across another stairway that led it to the next floor. I began to climb the stairs while AJ and Moondancer stumbled around trying to follow me. “Why is everything so dark?” Applejack asked.

“Just give your eyes time to adjust,” I said. I heard something move towards the top of the stairs. I tried to hear more movement, but nothing moved anymore. “I’ll scout ahead,” I whispered. “Don’t make any noise.” I slowly walked up the stairs making as little noise as possible. I reached the top and turned the corner. Something covered in darkness pounced towards me, and before I could react, it tackled me and had me pinned to the floor.

Twilight and I made our way to the basement without any problems. It was dimly lit by the few lights above us. The area was bright enough to light a path forward, but not bright enough to allow us see everything around us.

“Why is everything here so dark?” Twilight asked. “It’s like they’re trying to emphasize that they’re evil.”

“I know right,” I responded. Something caught my attention. “Look over there.” I pointed to a desk with a computer on top of it. “Good, there’s a computer. We can use it to find data about this place, and hopefully some information on Gloriosa.”

“Moondancer told me that you would rush to a computer if you saw one,” Twilight said. “I just thought she was joking.”

“If it helps our cause,” I retorted. I looked through file after file of seemingly useless information until I finally found something that looked important. It was a file about creating Chimeras. I plugged my flash drive into the computer and downloaded the file. Upon further researching, I was able to find a map of the building filled with more basement levels than I had originally thought. I turned to the printer and printed out the maps. I picked them up and walked away from the computer.

“You got everything you need?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I found a map of the building. According to the map, the next floor down will be a storage area and below that will be an underground laboratory.”

“Is there anything below that?”

“Yeah but I have no idea what it is. The map doesn’t say anymore.”

“Is there anything important here on this level?”

“No.” I studied the map for a little while then I put it in my pocket. “Alright, I think I know where to go. Follow me.” I walked towards a set of stairs that led down into the basement’s second floor with Twilight walking just behind me.

The walk downstairs seemed to go on for hours. I decided that it was time to talk to Twilight about a serious matter that has been bothering me for a while now. “Hey Twilight,” I said not sure how to go without bringing up the delicate subject. “How have you been feeling?”

“Good I guess?” Twilight asked with suspicion in her voice. “Why do you ask?”

“You know why,” I said bluntly.

“Octavia, I don’t like whatever you’re implying,” Twilight said with annoyance in her voice. “If you have something to say then say it or drop it.”

“Relax. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” The staircase seemed endless.

“Well I’m fine, so you can drop it.” Twilight was being unusually overly defensive.

“Alright, I believe you. I’m only asking because Sunset felt another Chimera apart from Moondancer nearby twice now and you were there both times.”

Twilight stayed silent. She walked the next couple of steps then stopped. “What, so you think I’m a Chimera too?” she said in the same defensive tone. “Are you going to feed me to Sunset now?”

“Sunset doesn’t suspect anything,” I reassured her. “The only reason I know is because I saw you get bitten the first time we went to the Infernoland.”

“You knew this whole time?” Twilight asked in shock. “How did you see that? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I didn’t have the heart to turn you in and worry about what the survivors were going to do to you. I thought it would just be easier to put you down when you turned. So I just kept my eye on you at all times.”

“Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance? I could’ve become a Xenomorph and hurt someone.”

“Calm down Twilight,” I replied. “I could’ve killed if I needed to. Besides,” I said trying to take her mind off of my comment. “I knew even the possibility then about the possibility of you keeping your intelligence, and I needed someone to help me fight Gloriosa. That was before Sunset came along, but now I think there’s something wrong with her. If I told her you were a Chimera I wouldn’t put it past her to kill you with no questions asked. I need help in case she gets out of line.”

“Alright,” Twilight said cautiously. “Why do you think I’m a Chimera though?”

“You were infected by the unaltered X.X.X. Plague like the rest of the Chimeras were but, two of them became Xenomorphs or weird mutant types while the other two didn’t. The X.X.X. Plague has clearly made you more aggressive and Sunset always feels a Chimera near when you’re around.”

“Why doesn’t she sense me always?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied. The only reason Sunset couldn’t sense Twilight now was because I was constantly suppressing the X.X.X. Plague inside her. It was difficult to do this without raising suspicion in Sunset because suppressing the X.X.X. Plague required skin contact. I had to be subtle or else Sunset might suspect something. The earthquake had been the perfect cover for me to suppress Twilight’s Chimera side while I was helping her up.

Twilight and I continued to walk down the stairs until we finally reached the end. “Do you think I’m going to end up like the rest of Chimeras?” Twilight finally asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I think it’s too early to tell. Have you gained any powers?” Twilight shook her head. “We’ll ask Moondancer how it worked for her, and even if it starts to change you, we’ll find a way to suppress it. You don’t have to worry Twilight. Just because some of Chimeras became monsters doesn’t mean you will. It also doesn’t mean you’ll become Midnight Sparkle either.”

Twilight nodded and shivered at the mention of the name Midnight. She looked at me once more. “Do you think I was selfish for hiding the bite?”

“I figured you were scared more than anything, but you had a right to be. If anyone else had known, they would’ve killed you right on the spot.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said. “Octavia.” Twilight looked at me hesitantly. “There’s something I need to get off my chest.” She took a deep breath and continued. “This whole Xenomorph apocalypse thing it’s— it’s made me feel different.”

“Well you are infected by the X.X.X. Plague.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I feel like I’ve grown because of this. Like this whole thing has forced me to become stronger,faster, and better.”

“Are you talking about that, shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude you’ve been having, because I’m sure that’s just the X.X.X. Plague talking.”

“No not that,” Twilight said frustrated that I didn’t understand her. “I feel more complete now. Octavia, after I left Canterlot to attend college, I hated my life, but all of this— it— it made me feel useful, like I was apart of something that mattered and after I left my friends behind I’ve never felt like that before.” She paused gathering her thoughts. “Do you think I’m a bad person because of that?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” I answered.

“Come on Octavia, tell me what you think,” Twilight pleaded.

“I think it’s good you’ve gained something good out of this otherwise horrible experience. I don’t think you should feel guilty about feeling complete, but try to feel bad about Canterlot in general.”

Twilight and I walked in silence for a few feet. I saw a light switch to my left. I turned it on and the lights around us burst to life. These lights were as dim as the other ones, but at least there were enough of them to light up the whole room.

This room was full of huge metal cages and human sized containers. There were thousands of them lined up against the walls. The cages were all in the center lined up against each other in rows with gaps meant for people to pass between them. I could hear growling, hissing, and movement coming from some of the cages, but other than that everything went silent.

“The stairs to the next basement are across the room aren’t they?” Twilight whispered.

“Yep,” I whispered. “We’re going to have to move around this place as silent as possible.” We walked for a few feet into the cage area and Twilight suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked notmsure of what she saw or heard.

“I hear footsteps coming towards us,” Twilight said. “Can you stealth us?”

“It only works of there’s somewhere to hide in. I can’t stealth us if we’re in plain sight or out in the open, especially if they’re already looking for us.”

“They’re looking for us because we turned on the light,” Twilight said. “What do we do then?”

I looked around, not sure what we could use to cover ourselves. I found nothing. “I guess our best bet is to keep the cages between us and the people guarding this place, and hope my stealth powers are good enough to keep them away from us.”

Twilight and I carefully snuck around the people guarding the cages. I didn’t see their faces, but it looked like they were wearing clothes similar to that of the Blackguard uniform. They walked around completely unaware of us. They were heading over to the stairs we had come from.

Twilight and I walked around taking cover whenever we could and staying still whenever one of the guards was near. We were able to make it halfway through the room with ease. I was beginning to think that Twilight and I were in the clear since most of the guards were behind us now.

Twilight began to walk in front of me. She was moving quicker than she should’ve, and she wasn’t checking her surroundings as carefully as I wanted her to. The X.X.X. Plague inside her was apparently making her arrogant too. She rushed over and hid behind a cage that had a huge ice blue Plagasis inside of it. A wave of dread spread through me when I realized it was awake and worse than that, it noticed Twilight.

The Plagasis immediately launched itself in Twilight’s direction. Twilight jumped away from the cage and out of the Plagasis’ reach, but the real damage had already been done. The sound of the Plagasis’ body colliding with the cage resonated around us.

I could hear the distant sound of running getting closer to us with every passing second. I knew that my stealth abilities wouldn’t be able to hide us out in the open, so staying still and trying to blend in with the surroundings was useless. There was only one thing we could do now.

I sprinted over to Twilight, and in what seemed like an instant, I was right in front of her helping her to her feet. We both rushed over to the other side of the room ignoring the caged animals that had been awakened by the Plagasis. We were about three quarters of the way, and the exit was now in sight. Unfortunately, my bliss was short lived. Four guards were standing near the exit Looking for us. I could hear the others almost catching up on us.

“Damn It,” Twilight swore nervously. “What’s the plan now Tavi?” I looked between both groups of guards and noticed that they weren’t armed. “They aren’t armed,” I said. “I’ll take them out and then we’ll just go down to the next floor.”

One of the guards walked in front of the others and ignited her right arm. I shook my head in frustration. Twilight and I were in a room full of Pyronocks. The same guard opened her left hand and created a stream of electricity from it. My eyes widened. Here were the Blackguard soldiers Gloriosa had taken. She must have used them as test subjects for the Giger Project I had been reading about, and it was apparent that the result of that project were these hybrid soldiers.

“What the hell’s going on?” Twilight asked with confusion. “How can they use two have Equestrian powers?”

“They’re Giger soldiers,” I replied. “Gloriosa created them. They’re going to be a problem.” The Giger soldier launched a barrage of fireballs towards us. I dodged all the fireballs with ease. I turned to see Twilight had done the same. I ran to the left with Twilight following a few feet behind. The Giger created a stream of electricity that barely avoided us and hit one of the cages. The caged animals howled in agony.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said. She grabbed my magnum from my pants, completely ignoring my personal space. Bang! She shot the lock on one of the cages. The cage housed a Xenomorph velociraptor that looked exactly like the one Sunset called the Chimera raptor. It immediately jumped out of the cage and attacked the Giger soldier that attacked it.

Twilight smiled smugly back at me and shot another one of the locks, confident she would receive the same results. The cage she opened housed a large frilled Xenomorph lion. It jumped out of the cage and dashed towards Twilight. I ran as quickly as I could and pushed Twilight out of the lion’s path. The lion continued running towards the guards now.

“I think that’s enough help for now,” Twilight said. She was breathing hard and was sweating.

“Yeah. I think that would be best,” I said. Twilight and I watched as the two Xenomorphs killed several of the Giger soldiers. The lion tore its victims to shreds, while the wold seemed to perform cleaner kills. The wolf either used its claws or its teeth to cut through the Giger’s neck. It seemed to be avoiding the lion as if it was disgusted by it.

Twilight focused on the animals while I observed the Gigers. Each guard seemed to only be able to use two of their four powers the Chimeras used. A Giger guard that could use fire shot a barrage of fireballs towards the lion. The fireballs knocked the lion back and set it on fire. It still continued on despite of it slowly burning to death. It completely ignored the pain and continued killing the Gigers.

The raptor saw the lion on fire and seemed to act differently against the Gigers, anticipating their next attacked. It moved and dodged the fireballs, shards of ice, and electrical streams with ease. Thats no ordinary dinosaur, I thought to myself. The perks of being a Chimera seemed to be great.

Two Giger guards snuck up behind me and blasted me with telekinesis. I was thrown forward into the group of fighting animals and Gigers. I quickly grabbed my daggers and picked myself off the floor. I stabbed one of the Giger guards in the chest. She fell back, twitched a bit, and then completely stopped moving.

Bang-Bang. I looked back and could see Twilight killing the two Giger guards with my magnum. I turned back in time to see the lion jump for me. I dove out of the way and saw the lion tear through another Giger guard instead. One Giger guard manipulated the drinking water inside the animal cages and wrapped the lion in it. Another Giger created electric streams and electrified the lion while inside the water shroud. It fell to the floor and finally stopped moving leaving the wolf as our only ally.

There were only three Gigers left. The lion had decimated their numbers. I ran over to one of them and punched her with my energy charged hand to the ground, while the wolf pounced on another one and tore its way into her neck. The guard I punched stumbled and fell to the floor completely knocked out. Apparently I was strong enough to knock people out cold now. I looked up and eyed the last Giger.

“You’re lucky those beasts killed so many of us,” the Giger said. I instantly recognized is voice.

“Wait a minute I know you,” I said in surprise. “You’re the same Blackguard soldier that was with Spitfire and me when we were looking around the containment area in the other facility.”

“We should’ve killed you then,” she said.

“So you’re one of them now?” I asked. “You’re just another virus-made abomination.”

“I’m so much more than just an ‘abomination’ now. I am the elite Giger beast.”

I sighed in frustration. Is she the Giger’s version of a Beta? I asked myself. If she was, then that meant the others we had just fought we’re below him. I began to wonder for a moment how strong this made her.

“What’s so special about you?” I taunted. “You’re nothing more than another run-of-the-mill monster. What’s so different about you? You can use one additional power or something?”

“Wrong,” he said. He covered his right arm in fire and his left arm in electricity. He then blasted the area around him with a telekinetic shockwave. He stood there silently as if wanting for me to cower.

I smiled at him. “I’m not scared of you just because you can use another power,” I said arrogantly. “I have a friend who can use all four of the known X.X.X. Plague abilities.”

He just smiled. “Can she channel?” The Giger Beta revealed two machine guns he had been hiding under his suit. He lofted them up in front of him and forced the elements in each of his arms to spread onto the guns. The electricity and fire seemed to create a design on the guns, but I had no idea what it meant. When the Beta Giger was finished, he raised his guns and aimed towards me.

Bang-Bang-Bang! I quickly ran out of the way in time to avoid a barrage of bullets. I looked back and saw that the areas hit by the bullets were either scorched by the fire infused bullets, or had a field of electricity sparkling around it because of the electricity infused bullets.

I was amazed by the concept of being able to imbue a weapon with power. The guns would be useful in a fight against Gloriosa, I thought to myself. Naturally, I decided to get his weapons and use them to gain an advantage against Gloriosa. The Giger Beta was focused on me, so I needed a distraction so that I could take him out and take the guns.

The wolf suddenly sprung towards the Giger to attack him. He dove onto him and sank his teeth into the Giger's right armmjust above the flames around it. I dashed forward as the wolf let go of the Giger. I was able to strike the Giger in the chest twice before he unleashed a telekinetic shockwave that sent the wolf and me flying away.

“Tavi!” Twilight called as she slid my magnum towards me. I grabbed the gun and got back to my feet. I looked over to see the Giger and the wolf fighting each other. The Giger had pushed the wolf to the ground and bombarded it with telekinetic blasts.

I held up my magnum and aimed for his head. Bang! I pulled the trigger and heard the loud bang that rang around the room. He stumbled forward but quickly gained his footing. He blasted me with a telekinetic blast and sent me into a wall. The impact left me unable to get back on my feet. The Giger turned to his side and aimed his fire infused machine gun at me. I aimed my magnum at the Giger and pulled the trigger again. Click. To my horror the magnum was empty.

I closed my eyes in frustration. I couldn’t believe I was goin to die because of such a stupid mistake. This was the second time I had made a life-threatening mistake, but this time Sunset wasn’t going to show up and save me. I opened my eyes and prepared myself.

Bang! One final gunshot sent the Giger flying backwards. I turned to see Twilight with her shotgun in her hands. I lowered my head and sighed in relief. I slowly got back to my feet and staggered over to Twilight. She smiled triumphantly. I looked around and saw all the bodies of the dead Gigers on the ground. I turned around and saw the once great lion completely motionless next to a group of Giger corpses.

“Oh my God,” Twilight said exhausted but with a bit of excitement. “That was awesome. See what I mean when I say this makes me feel like I have a purpose?”

“I do,” I said still trying to catch my breath. Twilight and I were the only two left after the battle. Then I suddenly remembered that this statement wasn’t true. There was still another being who survived the fight. I looked around for the raptor, but I found no trace of him. I suddenly hear a soft grunt followed by something hard hitting the floor. I turned to Twilight only to see the raptor pouncing towards me.

I was so taken aback by the sudden attack I had no time to prepare myself. The xeno-raptor quickly pinned me to the ground. He put his paw on my hand preventing me from doing anything. It was as if it knew what made me dangerous.

The Xenomorph looked directly into my eyes as if it was studying me. His glowing rose red seemed to leave me paralyzed with awe. I stayed completely still. I wasn’t sure what I could do now. It began to run its muzzle on my face and sniff me. After a few seconds, the xeno eased its hold on my arm and began to lick my face.

I was so taken aback by the raptor’s friendly nature that I didn’t notice Twilight getting up off the floor to the side of us. She got up to her feet and smiled as she saw the creature licking me. “He likes you,” Twilight said amused.

“What’s not to like?” I joked.

“That sucker’s fast,” Twilight said as she held her sides. I didn’t even hear her coming. One moment I’m standing victorious over my kill, and the next I’m sent backwards by a freaking mutt that can blend darkness. “He’s almost as good as you.”

The raptor growled and hissed at Twilight. I scratched one of his small horns which seemed to calm him down. “I don’t think he likes being called a mutt.” The Xenomorph was so relaxed with me around it, that it decided to lie down and rest. However, I was still under the raptor when it lied down, crushing me a bit.

“Need help?”

“I might need a little,” I answered.

Twilight walked up and grabbed the dinosaur. She immediately let go and turned to me. “This dino’s definitely a Chimera,” Twilight said, “but there’s something different about him.”

“What do you mean?”

“The X.X.X. Plague is there, but it isn’t as strongly bonded with him as it is with the other that are infected.” Twilight rubbed her chin as she continued to think about the Chimera velociraptor. “It might be the fact that he’s a Chimera and an animal that makes him this way, but the X.X.X. Plague in him just feels so incomplete.”

“You can sense the X.X.X. Plague in people?” I asked annoyed. Twilight nodded. “That might’ve been useful information.”

“Well I couldn’t exactly tell you that I could sense the X.X.X. Plague without you knowing I was infected.” I reluctantly nodded.

“If it’s as unstable as you say, then there’s a good chance that I can remove the X.X.X. Plague completely from his system.”

“Is that really how it works?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“It’s worth a shot.” I touched the wolf and commanded the X.X.X. Plague to dissipate. I suddenly felt a surge of Equestrian energy flowing between me and the wolf. I could feel the X.X.X. Plague begin to recede, but I felt another odd sensation. I could feel something else being passed onto the Xenomorph. The connection ended and the raptor turned itself from me.

“Is it out?” Twilight asked a little worry in her voice.

“Yeah,” I replied, “but I think something else happened. It felt like something else passed I think.”

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure, Equestrian energy I think.”

“Like the same energy that makes the X.X.X. Plague?” Twilight asked with curiosity in her voice. “Maybe you passed on some weird supernatural juice onto it like the Chimeras do with their minions.”

“Okay first off, I don’t have any ‘weird supernatural juices,’” I tilted my head. “Other than my stealth, energy, and command ability, but I’m sure they can’t be passed. Second, I’m not infected with anything like the X.X.X. Plague creatures are, so I can’t pass on anything even if I wanted to.”

“Alright, alright it was just a thought. It’s weird though, he’s smart and stealthy like you are. You two would make a good team.” The Xenomorph wolf licked my hand. “I think you should keep him.”

“I can’t keep him. He was infected by the X.X.X. Plague. What if he still has some in him and bites somepony? It’ll be like a second outbreak. Or what if he becomes wild and tries to eat one of us?”

“Now that I think about it you’re probably right. Let’s put him down.” Twilight walked over to her shotgun to grab it, but the moment she grabbed it the beast jumped off of me and appeared in front of Twilight. The raptor’s speed was amazing. I was awestruck by this display.

“Don’t worry boy,” I said to the xeno hoping he wouldn’t kill Twilight. “We’re not going to put you down.” He seemed to understand me, because he walked past Twilight and ran back to me after I tried to reason with her.

“Why do you think he didn’t try to kill us?” Twilight asked. “He had the opportunity and the power to kill us both with the Giger Beta.”

“I’m not completely sure,” I replied. “My best guess is that the X.X.X. Plague didn’t take him over as it was supposed to and it just had time to improve him before it fell apart. It’s a stupid explanation, but I can’t come up with a better one.”

“I probably could, but I don’t really care,” Twilight said. “I just want to kill more bad guys.

“Sounds good but I still need to get something,” I said as I ran back to the Giger Beta and quickly took his guns. I checked his uniform for other weapons and found ammunition for the machine guns as well as some for my magnum and Twilight’s shotgun. He also had a X.X.X. Plague-infused magnum on him. I decided to take his gloves too so that I wouldn’t hurt myself when the powers of the guns activated.

“Let’s go,” Twilight said impatiently. Even the raptor groaned with boredom.

“Follow memand don’t touch anything.” I walked towards the elevator to the next basement for with Twilight and the wolf on either side. For some reason I felt safe around the raptor despite the fact that it was both a Virus creature and a wild animal.

I pushed the elevator button and a few moments later, the doors opened. The three of us walked inside and I pushed the button for the next floor. I wanted to go to the lab to see if Gloriosa was there, but what I really wanted to check for was information about the X.X.X. Plague, it’s source, and everything else thst seemed off in this place including me.

The elevator doors opened and I was immediately captivated by the lab’s interior. The whole lab was filled with machines embedded into the walls casting a blue glow and giant empty human-sized containers filled with water. The machines’ light and water glow covered the room with a radiant shade of blue. The room wasn’t brightly lit, but we could easily see around. The thing that really left me awestruck were the cables above us. They surged with weird but wondrous lights that seemed to ebb and flow like the waves in an ocean. I was so relaxed here despite the fact that I knew this place was evil.

“This place doesn’t look that bad,” I said, “especially considering that this place is where the X.X.X. Plague that destroyed Canterlot outside was refined and unleashed.”

“I know what you mean,” Twilight said. Twilight, the raptor, and I walked forward into the lab. The raptor suddenly ran off further into the lab, and in moments there was no sign of him. “He’ll be fine.”

Twilight and I continued to explore the lab. It didn’t take me long to find another computer to examine. Unfortunately after a quick search, I realized the computer had nothing useful. I continued to check the computers around, but found nothing in any of them.

“There’s nothing here,” I finally admitted to myself.

“Let’s keep looking, maybe there’s some kind of super weapon to kill the X.X.X. Plague or something.”

We began to walk around and observe the machines. I knew we were wasting time, but I didn’t really care. I felt like I could stay here for hours on end. The environment was so relaxing that I felt myself become a little drowsy.

We stopped in front of a wall that hasn’t been visible from the entrance of the room. There was a huge painting of a woman in silky blue robes seemingly coming down from the sky with many people below here. The people were on their knees bowing to her. It looked like she was painted like a goddess.

“That’s an odd piece of art to have in a place like this,” I said.

“Maybe it’s some kind of empowerment thing,” Twilight suggested.

“No, no, that woman is meant to be more then just empowering,” a man’s voice came from behind us. “She’s meant to represent life and all of its wonders, even though that’s not what she really is.”

I turned around and looked at the man. He had faded gray hair that flowed to his shoulders. He wore a dark blue dress shirt under a dark coat along with slacks and dress shoes. He looked at us and smiled. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”

I looked at Twilight and then back over to the man. “Who are you?” I finally asked while slowly reaching for my gun.

“I’m sorry. Where are my manners,” he said in a amused way that was unsettling to me. “My name is Starswirl.”

“And what are you doing here Starswirl?” I asked wondering why neither the wolf nor I were able to sense him beforehand.

“I believe I could ask you the same question,” he replied with the same amusements still in his voice.

“We’re here to kill Gloriosa,” Twilight said.

“May I ask why?” he asked.

“She destroyed the city by unleashing the X.X.X. Plague,” I answered.

“She is definitely responsible for the deaths in Canterlot. Her inaction doomed this miserable place, but she is not the one who released the X.X.X. Plague.”

“What do you mean?” I asked not sure what to think. I still wasn’t sure if I trusted this guy.

“Think about it, Gloriosa would’ve benefited if she studied the X.X.X. Plague in a larger environment, but not in an environment so hard to control or cover up. The whole Umbrella Yutani Corporation would have trouble covering up this mess. And besides, she would have been trapped in a prison surrounded by Xenomorphs with no support from the corporation. She wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“No, the one responsible for the damnation of Canterlot was someone else. It was an escaped test subject riddled with the X.X.X. Plague that spread this. It was the perfect carrier really. It showed no sign of infection and could therefore infect tons of places before anyone was the wiser.”

“You’re saying somepony else was responsible for the X.X.X. Plague?” I asked. “Who was this test subject?”

The man gave me a dark amused smile. “You really haven’t a clue do you?”

“Enlighten me,” I said coldly.

“Think about it,” he said never losing that amusement in his voice. “It’s not hard to figure out. It was the only test subject to escape one of our facilities. The only one to hide in the shadows out of the Blackguard’s reach. She was the only one the X.X.X. Plague didn’t bond with. I’m sure you can think of someone who fits that description. Right Octavia Melody?”

I was frozen. Horror gripped my entire body. I couldn’t believe what Starswirl had implied, but it made sense. The possibility of me being responsible for the state of the city was terrifying. I was filled with a sense of vertigo. I breathed harder and harder as the world titled and spun around me. I couldn’t accept that I was responsible for Canterlot’s state: I refused to believe it.

“You’re lying,” I said with self-assurance. “I couldn’t be responsible.”

“Am I?” Starswirl suddenly sounded insulted. “You think you’ve been going out and saving the world haven’t you? No, all that you’ve been doing here is cleaning up your own mess. You’re the one responsible for every single death. Every single man, woman, and child; every monster and demon; every abomination and atrocity this city has seen is your fault. Do you still feel like a hero?” He paused and waited for my answer. He continued when he saw that I was speechless. “Or have you finally realized just how much of a monster you truly are?”

I couldn’t move now. I couldn’t even breathe properly. Guilt filled my lungs with every breath. The dread felt like a heavy shroud covering my body and weighing me down. I was beginning to feel numb.

Starswirl laughed as if he had heard an hilarious joke. “Relax kid,” he said. “I was only fooling.”

“What?” I asked with a mixture of relief and confusion. The world began to slow down and steady itself around me. The feeling of vertigo was slowly leaving me.

“I had you going there for a moment didn’t I?” I glared daggers at him without saying a word. “You don’t have to answer. The sheer expression of despair on your face said it all. You don’t have to worry though; the X.X.X. Plague in you didn’t try to find itself a new host. Your body fought it off and ended up destroying it.”

“So then how did the X.X.X. Plague spread?” Twilight asked.

“It was Gloriosa, she injected a prototype of the Giger virus into her infected brother Timber Spruce and wound up spreading the X.X.X. Plague into the water supply,” Starswirl answered. “She did it.”

“What about that whole scenario with her being trapped in here like a prisoner without support,” I asked. “Was that all apart of your joke too?”

“No, it’s all true, and it would be the case if it wasn’t for the help she has.”

“What help?”

“Gloriosa isn’t working alone; she’s taking orders from someone else.”

“Who?”

“Focus on the task at hand ladies. Killing Gloriosa and evacuating the survivors is your main objective.”

“How do you know so much about everything?” Twilight asked, “and give us a real answer.”

“I am one of Discord’s friends,” Starswirl reassured us. “I’m here to take advantage of the commotion you’re making to help get rid of the problems with the bridge out of the city. Discord and the rest of the survivors are making their way there now. The bridge will be ready when they arrive thanks to the distraction you caused the moment you all arrived here.”

“I thought we were in charge of the bridge,” Twilight said.

“You were,” Starswirl replied, “but Discord wanted reassurance, and so did I. He wants me to lift the bridge back up the moment the group of survivors leave the city, but don’t worry. Discord didn’t want to leave you all without a means of escape, which is the other reason why I’m here, but for now I’m going to go and hide until it’s safe.”

“Why didn’t he tell us about you?” I asked.

“Because I told him not to. I wanted a chance to surprise you and entertain myself.” His smile widened. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to greener pastures.”

Starswirl began to walk passed some of the machines. He slid his hand over one of the large human sized containers. It looked different from the other container, but somewhat familiar. It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a container at all. It looked like it was meant to hold a human but not for a long period of time.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Look familiar? It’s a machine meant to implant or extract memories and other bits of information from a test subject. It’s one of the many inventions we created. I’m sure you’ve seen one of these from the inside before being a test subject as you were.” He smiled to me as if expecting me to understand his apparently private joke. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get to my safe place.” He began to walk away from us.

“How will you know when it’s safe anyway?” I called out.

“Discord isn’t the only one who can hack cameras,” Starswirl said with the same annoying amusement. “Oh, and one more thing.” He turned towards us and looked straight at me. “You’re not going to find anything useful below this floor, so I wouldn’t even bother looking.”

“What about the source of the X.X.X. Plague?” I asked. “One of the files says it’s somehwere below.”

“It’s in the last basement, but I doubt you’ll want to go there.” Starswirl’s voice became grim. “Don’t keep me waiting too long.” Starswirl walked forward until he was out of sight. The Xenomorph raptor emerged from behind us not having found anything.

“What do we do now?” Twilight asked. I eyed the machine Starswirl had leaned on. It felt so menacing now that I knew what it was for. “Octavia?” I looked back to Twilight ignoring my oddly strong dread.

“We have to go to the last basement,” I said halfheartedly.

Applejack, Moondancer, and I had been exploring the first six floors of the building without finding anything important. The floors all contained stereotypical offices filled with cubicles, there was one sign of anything else. The three of us walked up the stairs and entered the seventh floor. I expected to see another bunch of soldiers ready to fight me, but after the past surprise attack they launched and it’s failure, I figured they would know better by now.

The door to the seventh floor didn’t lead into an office filled with cubicles like the other floor had, instead it led into a hall with only one open door. Applejack, Moondancer, and I went through the hall and throguh it.

The door had a security pad on it, but was still opened thanks to a severed arm blocking the door. I gently opened the door and walked into the room. This room was completely empty with the exception of three doors on the other side.

“Where do we go now?” Moondancer asked.

I walked to the door at the end of the center hall and tried to open it. It was locked. “Well this door’s locked,” I said. “You two explore the room on the left while I look in the room on the right.”

Applejack and Moondancer looked at each other awkwardly and then back at me. They both nodded and slowly mad their way to the door on the left. I knew it was awkward for them both to be together because of their mutual attraction to Octavia, but I didn’t care. We were too close to Gloriosa for me to care about whether or not someone was comfortable.

I walked through the hall to the door on the right. I opened the door and cautiously peered inside. The room was silent and dimly lit. There was no one around, so I walked in. As I did, I was immediately telekinetically blasted to the other side of the room. I quickly got to my feet and set the room ablaze. Two figures ran around on fire trying to put themselves out. I shot two streams of lightning towards the figures. The lightning struck them and caused them to fall to the floor. They were completely motionless.

I commanded the fire to burn itself out. The embers receded and eventually stopped. The room looked like it had never seen the fire I created. There were no scorch marks or ashes anywhere. The fire I could create was almost like the fire that covered the Infernoland. It burned freely without burning the things the Chimera had commanded not to burn.

I walked over to the two figures and or iced that one of them had dropped a key. The only locked door around was the door in the middle of the previous room, so I figured I would try my luck. I walked back into the room with the three doors.mi used the key on the middle door and unlocked the middle door. I turned the doorknob and opened the door.

I turned around and walked to the door Applejack and Moondancer had gone through. I needed to get them before I could move on. As I walked over the room Applejack and Moondancer were in I began to ponder what I should do when I saw Gloriosa. She was the reason why Canterlot was such in bad shape but she didn’t deserve to die for it, and she might know a way to suppress or even stop the desire to kill Octavia and harvest her power. I wasn’t even sure of what I really wanted to do.

Octavia was my friend, but she had powers I wanted and strength that I craved. I often changed opinions about what i should do. I felt like I would never decide. I reached the door and slowly opened it. I not sure what I was going to do, but at least I still had time to thing about it. I fully opened the door and walked inside not fully ready to go on, but still forcing myself to.

The Xenomorph velociraptor, Twilight, and I had skipped looking through the rest of the basement floors and went straight down to the last basement. The ride didn’t take too long. The elevator stopped and the doors opened after a few seconds. I took a few slow steps into the room and cautiously walked forward. The room was relatively small. It’s walls and floor were made of metal. To the right of the entrance was a tunnel-like hall that curved around to the left. This floor was bright lying lit especially compared to the rest of the building.

“Something isn’t right,” Twilight said.

“What’s wrong Twily?” I asked.

“I can’t explain it. The X.X.X. Plague in me wants to follow you in there, but the human in my is telling me not to go.”

“What?” I asked with confusion in my voice.

“I’m going to stay here with the raptor while you explore.”

“Alright,” I said unsure of what to say. I didn’t know what Twilight was sensing, but I knew better than to question the intuition of a virus carrier. I briefly wondered for a moment whether Moondancer could also sense things like Twilight. Maybe it was Twilight’s ability. I followed the tunnel into another room that looked exactly like the last room. It even had another tunnel on the other side. There was also a window overlooking a large chamber suspended over a seemingly bottomless pit of darkness. I looked towards the next tunnel and continued walking forward.

I took a few steps inside the tunnel and saw a man on the floor with a knife plunged in his chest. I walked closer to examin the body and immediately saw another body nearby and then another in the exit of the tunnel. I walked the full length of the tunnel and passed over body after body trying not to step on them. I finally reached the room and found it riddled with bodies. There was a woman with stab wounds leaning against a computer. I pushed her off the computer and began reading what was written on the computer. It was like a journal.

Dr. Gloriosa Daisy has assigned my team with watch duty. I would normally protest, but thankfully we were assigned to observe code name: Acheronsis. The majority of the scientists have been trying to convince Gloriosa to allow them to study it, but my team has proven themselves and our prize is here. I am making my team write down their experiences in journals. It is more or less for me to keep track or my team’s every thought during their time here. I’ll write a log as well. One for Gloriosa and another for myself. This is the journal I’ll write for myself. I can’t help but wonder why Gloriosa has denied us access to this subject for so long. Whatever the reason may be, I am confident that it was justified.

I had the chance to see inside the storage chamber today. I saw code name: Acheronsis. He was standing in the middle of the chamber with his shirt off. I couldn’t help but feel an odd attraction to him. He was muscular and had nice short red hair. I couldn’t believe he was the man we were observing. I am looking forward to this experience.

I skipped a few of the logs and tried to read only the things that seemed relevant to the source of the X.X.X. Plague.

I had a chance to actually speak with the Acheronsis today. I felt something was wrong the moment I looked into his eyes. I never allowed my feelings to get the better of me, but something was terribly disturbing about him. He spoke in an odd harsh dialect and say very disturbing things about humanity. He has an obvious superiority complex and sociopathic views. Everything I observed is in my formal report to Gloriosa. I’m not looking forward to talking to him again. I still feel chills

I have noticed thst some of my teammates have been acting odd. The ones that have been studying the Acheronsis psychology seem to be acting stranger than anyone else. I am not surprised though; one talk with him was enough to give us nightmares for days. At least I’m not the one talking to him now, but I suspect that it will be my problem again soon enough.

The majority of my group seems to be cracking under the pressue of observing the Acheronsis. They’re suffering from insomnia and occasionally hallucinations. And to make matters worse, Gloriosa has now quarantined us on this floor and the bunker below.

Today I was forced to examine the Acheronsis again. He didn’t say much, but his gaze gave me chills it had gotten to the point that even examining his blood give me goosebumps. I can’t even sleep anymore. Last night I only got a half hour of sleep, I don’t know what’s worse anymore, the restlessness and exhaustion of my insomnia, or the terrible nightmares I have.

Longhorn, one of the physiologists that first studied the Acheronsis, has been talking to himself again. He tried hiding it the first few times, but now he just talks to himself everywhere. No one else is as bothered at the behavior of the team as I am. It’s the Acheronsis. He’s doing this somehow. I know it’s too late to save my team, but I’m at least going to save myself. That monster has ruined us in less than four weeks. I should’ve resigned the moment I was assigned this subject. I knew it was a mistake to try and study the Acheronsis the moment he looked into my eyes the first time we met. I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but I could hear his voice whispering into my head. He wanted me to release him, but I am not letting that happen. I am going to make sure he never sees the light of day.

This will be my final log. My former team has begun to become violent. Some of them are even trying to open the chamber to let him out. I have no choice but to act. I found a knife stashed away in the bunker and now that I have a weapon I have the means to do something. If you find this message, I want you to know that I love you Moondacer and that I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I guess I’ll never see your new home or meet your new friends or that girl you like. I miss you.

I looked at the dead girl on the flor and assumed that the message was from her. From what she said, taking a quick look at the “Acheronsis” wouldn’t be a problem as long as the look was brief. I was sure I could live without ever seeing the Acheronsis, but this was the only chance I would ever get. ”That’s probably what the dead girl said right before her team went crazy and killed her,” I thought to myself.

I walked through the next tunnel leading into the last room and the bridge to the chamber. I entered the room and looked around. There were bodies on the floor just like the other rooms and a control pad near a door to the left. I walked over to the control pad and began to use it. I activated the door and the bridge to the chamber.

Before entering the bridge to the chamber, I noticed one of the dead men had a journal next to him. I walked over to the journal and picked it up. I opened the book and began to read the author’s entries

Gloriosa has assigned us another subject to study. Great, now I get to study another bloodthirsty monster. I fucking hate this job. There is nothing interesting about this or any subject here for the matter. They’re all just animals with no patterns other tha surviving. On the other hand, the pay is ridiculously good, and a lot of the scientists are doable, both the men and women if we’re being honest. Heh. Heh. He.

I raised my eyebrow and then shook it off. I wasn’t sure what kind of guy this was, but his writing was a little too unprofessional for it to be reviewed by Gloriosa. Not to mention he reminds me Prince Blueblood.

I finally got a few of the scientists and others to play some strip poker. I was practically naked by the end, but unlike Magnus the guard, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Heh. Heh. Our team leader didn’t like the fact that we played strip poker on our second day in, but there is nothing else to do, especially because we’re here 24/7. I can’t even go to the bar and find a local lady. Well for now I am going to focus on what’s really important, and that is getting our team leader to play strip poker. I know playing with her would make all this suffering worth it. Heh. Heh. Heh.

The more I read, the more I was sure that the writer of this was definitely Blueblood and in the wrong profession.

Two scientists, a guard, and I walk into thst bridge to study the infamous Acheronsis. He referred to us as heathens. For some insult really got to me. He has a huge superiority complex. He is both fascinating and annoying. One of the scientists told me about a blood sample they had taken from him. She told us that she had never seen anything like it. It was far from human and had traces of what Gloriosa called “The X.X.X. Plague.” What the fuck was he? Aside from all of the conversation we had, there was something that really troubled me. I kept hearing his voice inside my head belittling me. It stopped when I left, but how is that type of shit possible?

These sessions are really getting to me. The voice in my head is always judging me. It’s gotten so bad that I can hear him speak to me even when I’m away from the chamber. I begged our leader to let me out so that I can walk or breathe the fresh air, but she refuses to allow us that. I don’t know why she wants us here so long. I’m starting to think she’s hiding something.

It’s getting harder to breathe in here. I feel like I’m about to burst. I try to stay asleep most of the time now to take my mind off the maddening words I hear when I’m awak, but it’s hard, especially because I still have a job to do. That smug son of a bitch is making it hard to work. He knows he’s getting to me, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. I’m trying to act normal. I noticed people around me, people who have seen and talked to the Acheronsis as much as I have and they are starting to lose it too. For now the only thing I can do is try to sleep.

Goddamn him! He took away the last thing I had——— he took away my sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes, I am attacked by images of Canterlot in a state of destruction. Part of it’s on fire, part of it’s in ice and everything’s dead or worse. I don’t know why he’s showing me this. Is he trying to make my nightmares look true?

The nightmares are becoming more vivid. It feels like it’s really happening. I think it might be. I think that this is the reason we are not allowed outside. Gloriosa must know about everything. Of course she knows. They tell me she knows. He doesn’t like her. He will punish her. He will punish everyone here. They told me so.

I wasn’t completely sure who he was talking about whe he said, “They.” I could see that he was clearly losing his mind rapidly. I was starting to have my doubts about seeing the source.

I finally understand everything he showed me, what he wants for all of us, but more importantly, they showed me what she wants. We need him to see her in her glory. I know that the others don’t want me to let him go, but those heathens will not stop us from seeing her. I can’t wait to see her. Her beautiful form covered in that bright blue clothes she always wears.

I put the journal back on the floor next to its writer. I took a deep breath and pressed on into the bridge. I knew that the “Acheronsis” had destroyed this group, but I felt like I was stronger than they were. Something in the back of my mind told me that I was better than anything inside that suspended chamber. I walked forward confident that I would be alright.

I walked to the other side of the bridge and saw him. He had dark pale gray skin with two seven inch long horns. His head appeared to be in the shape of a goat, and his eyes were two black abysses. He had a scar just below his right eye. He wasn’t wearing a shirt so I could see his muscular body. I could also see countless scars all over his torso; he was very tall too. I felt like I was looking at a warrior.

He looked at me and I looked back. He raised his eyebrow and gave me a confused look. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who could break me down. I began to wonder if I could beat him in a fight. He may have been a warrior, but I was an assassin.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Who wants to know?” I asked back a little more snobbish than I had wanted.

“I am Gensis.”

“My name is Octavia Melody. Nice to meet you.”

“What are you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked with confusion in my voice.

“I’ve never seen a pony like you. You’re so different now.”

“You should see my friend.” I was talking about Sunset Shimmer.

“You are familiar,” he said with the same confusion.

“So you’re the source of the X.X.X. Plague? I’m underwhelmed.”

“Release me and be overwhelmed by my power.”

“Why would you want to be released? You look so comfortable in this cage.”

“I am not comfortable here,” he said clearly not picking up on my sarcasm. “I must be free to spread my maker’s will.”

“And whose you’re maker?”

“I will not say.”

“Then have fun rotting in your cage,” I said as I turned back. I didn’t want to stay too long in case I caught Gensis’s crazy.

“Wait!” he shouted. “Why can’t I hear you? I hear your outer form, but not your inner one.”

I thought about his question for a moment and came to a conclusion. “You’re telepathic aren’t you?” He looked at me in anger. Clearly he didn’t like the fact that I could understand him especially since he couldn’t understand me. “Are you aware of what’s happened to the city outside your cage?”

“Nothing that concerns me,” he said slightly calmer but still with anger in his voice. He seemed to be trying to relax himself, but clearly not very well.

“I guessed you might not care.”

“I do but only because my maker wishes it. She is very kind, even to those who don’t deserve kindness.”

Gensis was clearly delusional. “How did you cause this?”

“My maker’s followers did this with the use of my blood.”

“How did your blood do this?”

“It just did.” He said. I was beginning to doubt he even knew how he was responsible for the X.X.X. Plague. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this guy, and I was sure I overstayed the amount of time I was supposed to. I turned around and began to walk away. “She will destroy you! Release me and I promise you a swift but painful death!” I was almost at the end of the bridge. “She will bury you! One day I will find you and you will regret this choice.”

“But until that day comes, it’s best you hide behind your cage.” I walked away and closed the bridge. I grabbed my magnum and fired three bullets into the control pad in case there was someone around who wanted to free Gensis. I walked through the four rooms until I was finally back with Twilight.

“What happened?” Twilight asked. “What was in there?”

“Just some weird guy,” I said. “Nothing to worry about though.”

“Well if there’s nothing here, then maybe we should go back upstairs and meet up with the others.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. There wasn’t anything here important anyway. “Let’s go.”

The Xenomorph raptor, Twilight, and I walked into the the elevator and began out ascent back to our friends.

I had killed another group of Psychics patrolling the building. It wasn’t hard now that I had all four of the powers of the Black Plaguelands’ Chimeras. I noticed that my version of the Psychic’s Powers was stronger and more refined than theirs. Seeing this made the craving of power resurface. I even start to seriously consider stealing a vial of the X.X.X. Plague and spreading it to another city, but that went away when I saw Applejack and Moondancer. I looked at them and saw the type of people I would hurt if I decided to infect anyone. They helped remind me what was right and what was wrong at least for the moment.

Applejack, Moondacer, and I began to explore the floor, but we were unable to search far because of the seemingly endless wave of Psychics that rushed us after opening the door. It didn’t take long for me to dispatch them and after that, we finally got through the last Psychic and began walking through the door again.

When we entered the room, I was left amazed by how different this room was from the rooms in the floors below it. The room looked like a gigantic communication station complete with tables full of computers and headsets, a command center, and large tatical screens. It looked like something out of a war movie. I began to wonder if the Psychics were using this equipment through the Black Plaguelands, but I figured that’s the X.X.X. Plague’s aggressive nature wouldn’t give them the patience to be able to work any of the machines.

I went through the remainder of the room and found a passcode for the elevator in the command center’s desk. “This might be useful,” I said as I saw it. Applejack, Moondancer, and I walked to the elevator in silence. Moondancer and Applejack still seemed to act awkward around each other despite the fact that we were fighting Xenomorphs together which was how Octavia and I bonded. They didn’t seem to have their priorities in check.

Before I pushed the elevator button, I noticed that the elevator was already on its way up. I forced my hand to catch on fire, and then I pushed the elevator button. I was prepared to fight off whatever monster came out way. The elevator doors came to an abrupt stop, and the doors opened slowly. To my surprise, Twilight, Octavia, and a xeno wolf stood inside the elevator ready to fight.

“We didn’t find Gloriosa in the basement,” Twilight said.

“We haven’t found her here either,” I replied. “What floor were you two heading to?”

“Top floor,” Octavia responded.

“So what’s with the dinosaur?” I asked nervously. “It looks like the same wolf that’s been stalking me.”

“It can’t be the same one,’ Octavia said. “This Guy is well trained and everything.” Octavia scratched the wolf’s head. “So where are we heading to?”

“I got a password from one of the computers in a communications room. It’s made for the elevator.” Twilight and Octavia stepped to the side of the elevator so that I could type in the password into the keypad just above the elevator buttons. I typed in the code and stepped aside so that Moondancer and Applejack could walk in. The doors closed and the elevator began to rise.

I looked around and noticed Octavia had thick black gloves on. “What’s with the gloves?” I asked.

Octavia smiled. “You’ll see,” she said.

Elevator finally came to a halt and the doors opened. The six of us walked out of the elevator and into the new environment. This room looked like it took up most of this floor and the floor that should’ve been above it. There were giant human containers around the entrance filled with Plagasi. There were giant machines everywhere. Most of the machines were silent with the exception of one in the middle of the room which was constantly making odd sounds. There was a large computer near it.

“I’m going to take a look at that,” Octavia said as she rushed over to the computer. She stopped midway and turned back towards us. “Uh, try not to fuck anything up,” Octavia said to me in a casual voice. Octavia ran over to the computer and began pressing buttons. The rest of us walked aimlessly around the room while the Xenomorph wolf walked over to Octavia. I looked around at the machines in the center and began examining.

A few minutes had passed and no one had said a thing. I was just about ready to call it a day and look through the other floors again. There was clearly no trace of Gloriosa.

“Alright, I got something,” Octavia finally said. Twilight, Applejack, Moondancer, and I turned to Octavia and waited for her to explain, but she only muttered to herself. She looked up every now and again, but always looked back to the computer a moment later.

“Is there anything important?” I asked.

“There is a lot of information about Gloriosa and what she was doing to her subjects. There’s even some info on the experiments she did to herself.” I knew that Gloriosa had used something to make herself stronger, but I was still surprised that she was experimenting on herself. “What?!” Octavia shouted in pure horror.

“What’s wrong,” I asked.

“This file says that—“ Thump. She was thrown right through the computer by an unseen force. She landed on the ground motionless. Octavia’s raptor rushed over to her and began to try and move her. I turned around trying to look for the source of the attack, and saw Gloriosa standing above us in a balcony I hadn’t seen before. ”Wait a minute, that’s not Gloriosa, that’s Gaia Everfree! I screamed in my mind. She laughed maniacally as she watched us.

“Gaia!” I shouted. “How are you able to force blast her?” The power that Gaia used was undoubtedly the same one the Psychics had.

“You’re not the only one who’s grown in their time here.” she laughed again.

“But against me you have no chance Gaia,” I replied. “I hope you know that.”

“You don’t have a chance without that ability your horsie friend locked away in you,” she said with arrogance streaming from her voice.

“How did you—“

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Your time ends now.” She jumped from above the balcony and landed on the floor gracefully. She rushed towards me, but I stopped her by shooting a magma ball in her direction. She easily dodged and maneuvered away from me. I suddenly became aware of my surroundings. I had been too focused on Gaia’s appearance to remember that my friends were still near. I looked around and saw that Moondancer was the only one near me. Twilight and Applejack were nowhere to be found.

“Focus Sunset,” Moondacer shouted. I turned my attention back to Gaia. I created small embers and forced them to cover my hands. I shot out a volley of magma balls towards Gaia and as expected, she dodged them. She gave me an arrogant smile. She didn’t even seem to notice that the magma balls I had shot were still burning to her left.

I shot out a small bolt of lightning to her right and just as before, she dodged it with minimal effort. She still didn’t notice the small fires. I focused on the fire and forced it to burst towards her. She was so surprised by the attack that she left herself open for another. I used my telekinetic blast to shoot her backwards. Moondancer blasted Gaia with a bolt of electricity to try and finish her.

Gaia rose up with notable effort. She looked like she lost her arrogance and was ready to fight us seriously. From above the balcony, came out about eight electricity wielding Veltromites. Their eyes were the shade of dark electric blue I knew belonged to the corrupted controlled creatures. These Veltromites must have been with the group that separated themselves from Moondancer.

I quickly used my telekinetic power to blast four of them away. The other Veltromites shot bolts of electricity towards me. I dodged the bolts and watched Moondancer shot out a web of electricity. All of the remaining Veltromites were down in an instant and the only enemy up was Gaia. She looked at the Veltromites with disappointment.

“Alright bitch,” Gaia said in a bitter tone. “You May have caught me off-guard, but now I’m ready.” She dashed towards Moondancer and punched her hard in the chest. Gaia then used a telekinetic blast to send her flying backwards. She then turned to me. She ran forward with blinding speed and elbowed me to the floor.

I opened my eyes and saw Gaia above me with a smug smile on her face. I forced fire to surround me and burn her, but she moved the moment I started it. I forced it to move towards her, but she easily dodged it.

I allowed the fire around me to burn itself out as I got back on my feet. Sustaining the fires too much energy, so I wasn’t going to waste it. The moment my fire armor was out, Gaia dashed towards me with the same god-like speed. She punched me in the chest then in the face. ”Damn, she hits like a freight train, I thought to myself. She punched me once more and knocked me to the ground. She lowered herself so that our faces were inches apart. “Lucky for you I’ll need you alive.” She began to unbutton my leather jacket and my shirt and feel my chest. I was surprised by the sudden action. I instantly felt that something was wrong. I couldn’t move or use any of my powers. Gaia had won.

I looked over Sunset and Gaia. It didn’t look like Sunset was going be able to break out of Gaia’s borderline inappropriate hold. I wanted to blast Gaia with her shotgun, but I knew that that action would only get me killed.

“Twilight, we have to something,” Applejack said next to me, “I’m goin’ to help Octavia back up.”

“No,” I said. “That’s too dangerous and Octavia will kill me if she finds out I let you run into battle like that.”

“We need ta do somethin’ or else we’ll all die.” Applejack had a point, but Twilight wasn’t going to let her put herself in danger like that.

“I’ll go,” I finally said. “I don’t want Sunset and Octavia taking all the credit for taking down Gaia.”

Applejack nodded. “Be careful Twi.”

“Don’t worry AJ, I’ll be fine,” I said as she ran towards Octavia. I didn’t care about the sound I was making with every step; i only wanted to make sure Octavia was okay and to get her on her feet. Through thr corner of my eyes, I could see that I had gotten Gaia’s attention, but before Gaia could figure out what she was doing, Moondancer sent a bolt of electricity to distract her.

I made my way towards Octavia while Moondancer Gaia fought in the background. She didn’t want to look back and lose time. Twilight reached Octavia and began to move her around. “Get up Octavia, we need you,” I said.

“What?” Octavia said half dazed. “What happened?”

“Gaia launched you into the computers,” I explained.

“Is Applejack alright?” Octavia asked sounding more focused.

“She’s fine,” Twilight said. “Sunset and Moondancer are the ones that need help.” She extended her arm towards Octavia.
Ready for some payback?” Octavia looked upset, but took my hand regardless. She grabbed my hand and lifted herself up.

“Thanks Twi,” Octavia said. “Stay out of the fight. You’ve already done enough.” She ran towards Gaia with those silent steps of hers ready for her turn in the fight.

“Just wait until I get a power Tavi,” I said to myself, “then you’ll see how badass I can be.”

Gloriosa, or as everyone else now calls Gaia, knocked me out for a while, but now it was my turn to get her back. She was copping a feel on Sunset when I got to them. I pulled out my magnum and aimed it towards the back of her head. I waited for a moment then took my shot. Bang. The bullet caused Gaia to fly forward and hit the ground. Sunset suddenly began to move around. She got to her feet and ran towards me.

“Nice shot Tavi,” Sunset complimented.

“I didn’t want to kill her just yet,” I said, “but I didn’t see any other choice.”

“You honestly think someone like me can be killed with such a pathetic attack?” Gaia said as she rose up. “I will kill you both for this.”

“You took me out because of your speed, but that isn’t a problem now that Octavia is here,” Sunset said confidently. She readied herself to pounce, but Gaia jumped back to the balcony.

“You think you can stop me?” she asked smugly. “You have yet to see the X.X.X. Plague’s power.” She laughed maniacally as she looked towards us.

All of a sudden the room began to change. The light suddenly dimmed around us. Curtains that covered the glass wall’s roof receded revealing the Black Plaguelands outside. I watched the rain pouring just outside the glass walls. The room seemed to be sound proof, because I had no idea that it had began to rain. The clouds were moving around fast.

I turned my attention back towards Gaia. My eyes widened as I watched her change in front of me. A large bale of fire suddenly formed around her.nher right arm began to violently mutate and extend itself with a sickening cracking sound. Claws began to sprout from the tip of her fingers. Her skin became a deep shade of black and her eyes became dark orbs of onyx with pink pupils.

The environment continued to mimic Gaia’s changes as water cooloers suddenly burst and the water within them began to flow towards her. The rain movement caught my eye next; instead of the rain trickling downwards as it would normally, it began to run up the building. I saw the water flowing to the top of the room and amassing on the roof.

I turned back to Gaia. The fingers on her right hand were now talons. Her hair became raven black and some odd resin substance began to form on her chest. A set of dragon wings violently emerged from her back. Gaia’s skin was becoming black as the night. She created steams of electricity that flowed through her right arm.

The water that had amassed at the top of the roof suddenly burst through the glass at the top of the roof. Water and wind raged to get inside the room. Water covered Gaia and became ice around her as if it was supposed to be armor. Two sharp ended tentacles ripped themselves around her left arm. After a few seconds, the rain had stopped and the wind began to settle down. Gaia jumped down from the balcony back towards us. The clouds above her were quickly dispersing with every step she took. She stopped about twenty feet away from us. The sky became clear and beams of blood moonlight entered the room. Gaia’s full Xenomorphic-form glowed in the blood moonlight. She truly was just the X.X.X. Plague now.

Sunset sent a volley of magma balls towards Gaia, but she moved her right arm and directed the magma balls to move to her right instead. “She has all for the the Black Plaguelands Powers,” she said. “Unlock my alabaster aura so that I can kill her.”

“No,” I said. “That’s too risky. You might go crazy again.”

“Tavi!” Twilight shouted. She threw the Giger Beta’s wepaons towards me. I grabbed them, and one of the guns immediately burst into flames while the one began to spark with electricity. Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang! I began to chip away at Gaia’s ice armor with ease, but it quickly began to reconstruct itself. Sunset shot out a lightning bolt but Gaia simply jumped up to avoid it. She began to flap her wings and fly. We continued to shoot at her, but she simply flew away from our attacks.

Gaia formed ice daggers, magma balls, and streams of electricity around her and threw them in my direction. She used a telekinetic blast to propel them even faster. I jumped out of the way just in time Crack. The impact of all the powers left a hole in the floor. I was lucky enough to have jumped in time, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge them forever.

Sunset continued to shoot attack after attack at Gaia, but she dodged them all easily. We were never going to be able to bring her down like this. I suddenly had an idea. “Sunset!” I called out.

“You got a plan?!” she shouted back.

“Yeah, be ready to push her.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the third gun I had taken from the Giger Beta’s corpse. It was a magnum like my own and was filled with specially imbued ammunition just like the other two guns I had taken from the Giger. I aimed just above Gaia towards the glass and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the glass and immediately pushed everything around it. Gaia was pushed to the right. Sunset took advantage of her disorientation and force blasted her to the roof. She fell to the balcony as I hoped she would.

I put my fingers in my mouth whistling loudly in hopes that my wolf would take my cue. My whistle was immediately answered by a nearby howl. The Xenomorph raptor suddenly appeared from behind Gaia and jumped on her. She wildly tried to shake him off, but he refused to let himself fall. He began to bite and tear Gaia’s wings. He was able to rip both of her wings out before jumping off of her and returning into the darkness. The raptor was clearly smarter than I had ever given him credit for. He knew that her wings were an advantage that he could take out. I was definitely going to keep him after all of this was done and Vinyl and I return to Equestria.

“Did you plan all that out?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, more or less,” I lied. I was just hoping she would help.

Sunset and I were suddenly sent flying backwards by Gaia. This telekinetic blast was stronger than the others. It seemed like no matter what edge we had on Gaia, she was always ready to counter it in some way. It seemed like there was only one possible way to ensure our victory.

“Sunset, it looks like it’s time to let you handle this,” I said. Sunset smiled towards me. I was a little uncomfortable by the smile, but I pressed on nonetheless. I put my hand on her head and allowed the lock I had placed on her to break. A flow of energy began to emanate from Sunset. The alabaster aura that I had seen before formed around her. She looked directly into my eyes and then turned towards Gaia.

“Pretender,” she said under her breath. She ran with unnatural speed towards Gaia. She launched shot after shot of magma balls towards her. Gaia’s armor was constantly damaged, but it reconstructed itself moments later. I took this moment of peace to find everyone else. I found Twilight and Applejack near the elevator and my wolf was still hiding itself among the shadows. The only one missing was Moondancer. I tried to look for her, but it was impossible to do with so many magma balls flying everywhere. I had no choice but to wait until Sunset was finished fighting.

Gaia shot continuous streams of electricity to try and slow Sunset down, but each attack seemed to be redirected to her sides. Neither of them seemed to be able to land a direct shot. Sunset ran towards Gaia. She quickly used the water on the floor to create a prison of ice around hers. Sunset touched the ice which caused it to melt away. She was free within minutes. Sunset casually walked towards Gaia with a dark smile on her face. The alabaster aura around her quivered with joy. I shuddered at the sight. In this moment I was more afraid of Sunset than I had ever been before.

Sunset continued walking towards Gaia. She sent attack after attack towards Sunset, but she either deflected it, or let it hit her head on; she was unharmed in either case. She swung her right arm towards Sunset. She jumped in time to dodge most of the attack, but one of the talons was able to scratch her bare chest.

I looked at Gaia and instantly knew that the fight was over. She tried to force push Sunset away, but easily countered it with her own blast. Gaia Everfree was finished. Gaia backed away until she hit a corner. The storm outside had started to kick back up. The wind and rain flowed back in the room. Gaia dashed away with unnatural speed. Sunset chased after her.

The storm outside raged with red lightning now. One strike came close to the building and illuminated everything inside. Sunset’s alabaster aura was completely visible for that brief moment, and in that moment I became terribly aware of how dangerous t was to let the alabaster aura loose.

Sunset quickly closed the distance between her and Gaia. She punched her in the back of the head, and she fell to the ground. She struggled to pick herself up, but Sunset grabbed her and lifted her up before she could escape her.

“The X.X.X. Plague in you is strong,” she said. “But the power that I have will never be beaten by someone so weak.”

“Forgive me my lady,” Gaia said as she struggled under Sunset’s grip.

“Shhh, no more words,” Sunset said. “No more talking. You don’t have to speak ever again.” Crack. Sunset closed the grip on Gaia’s throat. Gaia twitched for a moment and then the magic left her body, then it stopped moving all together.

I stood in shock at how mercilessly Sunset killed Gaia. She stood silently for a moment, and then she turned to me. Her eyes were now completely black with red cat eyes. She quickly threw Gaia’s body towards me. I was so mesmerized by her eyes that I didn’t even think to react until it was too late. The impact of Gaia’s body sent me falling down the hole on the floor the battle created.

I fell down to the ground and tried to get back up, but Sunset was in front of me in a flash and grabbed me by the throat. “And now its time to take my final prize,” Sunset said.

“Sunset please stop,” I said. “Think about this for a minute.” I knew that there was a risk that Sunset would turn on me, so I wasn’t completely surprised when she did. I had prepared myself for this scenario, so I knew what to do. I opened my right palm and focused all my energy there. I would have to keep Sunset distracted until my hand was fully charged.

“I know precisely what I’m doing. When I’m done here, I’m going to take a little trip around this world with a vial omthst precious X.X.X. Plague.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked still trying to make time.

“The more the virus is released, the more Chimeras that’ll rise. I am going to kill them all and take all the powers. I’ll be a goddess,” Sunset said proudly, “and this is where it’s all going to start. Your death will make me stronger.”

“A goddess? Like— like Gaia wanted to be.” Sunset’s eyes narrowed and looked between me and her. I was surprised that she simply didn’t kill me and take my powers like she did with the rest of the Chimeras. I was starting to think that she was trying to stall for time too. “She was obsessed with power too, and now look at her.”

Sunset looked at Gaia for a long while in disgust and turned back to me. “Her body was weak,” she said. “I will not let it consume me.”

My right hand was almost halfway charged. When it became fully charged, I would be able to strike her in the head and command her to die. ”It will be a painless death,” I told myself.

“It’s already consuming you,” I said.

“It hasn’t.”

“It has,” I said strongly, “and if you don’t do something about it soon, there’s no telling how many of the people that you care about will die. No telling how much of a monster you’ll become.”

Sunset’s grip tightened. She looked at me then to Gaia and then back to me. She was breathing hard now trying to figure out what she wanted. Her grip began to loosen, the alabaster aura began to fade, and the black-red in her eyes receded. Sunset looked down in shame as she let go of my neck and broke down in tears. “T-T-Tavi—I—“

“Don’t worry about it,” I interrupted. Sunset and I stood there motionless. We looked at Gloriosa quietly. She and Gaia Everfree were gone. Our journey through the Equestrian Black Plaguelands was finally over.

”Aaaaaaaaaah!” A loud scream shattered the silence. It was Moondancer’s. Sunset and I jumped out of the hole back into the top floor. Twilight and Applejack were on the floor and my wolf was hiding under a desk near them. Sunset and I rushed over to their side. Applejack was out cold, but Twilight was still somewhat awake.

“What happened here? Where’s Moondancer?” I asked.

“Some guys took her. They’re heading for the helipad.”

“Sunset,” I said.

“You go,” she said. “I’ll make sure everyone here is alright.”

I nodded and ran forward. I climbed up a previously hidden set of stairs that were now visible without the curtains on the top of the roof. The wind and rain washed over me all at once. I looked around for the helipad. I saw it on the other enemy of the building. I ran across the roof ignoring the heavy rain and strong wind.

There was a helicopter Just about to leave when I reached the other side. There were two guards and a woman in a black suit leaving. The guards looked like they were wearing Blackguard gear, but their outfits looked bulkier and more like armor. I looked at the helicopter and noticed that it was carrying four human sized containers and in the third one was Moondancer. Upon further examination, I noticed that the Chimera of the Psychological Industrial Complex, or rather King Sombra was also there.

The two guards grabbed me as the woman in the suit walked to me. I heard her chuckle and she tilted my head forward. “That’s ever so much for getting rid of that bitch Gloriosa for me,” she said. “Sorry about the beating the Black-Elite Just gave you. It’s a shame too, I expected more from one of the ones that helped take down the Chimeras. And thank you for that too. Taking the Chimeras was easy after you and your friend incapacitated them all. They are necessary in my plans.” She smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a chopper to catch.” She began to walk away. “Before this place becomes a crater,” she said under her breath.

One of the Black-Elite punched me once more in the head and walked away. The world was spinning around me. My head was throbbing like crazy. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t help Moondancer now.

I watched as the woman in the suit boarded the helicopter followed by the Black-Elite soldiers. The helicopter’s blades started spinning, and a few seconds later the helicopter was airborne. I watched helplessly as it left us behind. A sense of guilt overtook me. Moondancer had been nothing but great to me throughout the time I knew her, and I always failed to help her. I couldn’t protect her from the Xenomorphs before, and I couldn’t protect her from the Black-Elite now. I was worse than useless to her. The helicopter was gone.

“Octavia!” I heard a familiar voice call out. “Tavi, are you hurt?” It was Sunset Shimmer. She grabbed my arm and lifted me up. I leaned on her as she helped walk me back.

“They took Moon,” I said.

“I know,” Sunset replied, “but there’s nothing we can do now.” Twilight got a message from someone named Starswirl. He says that he’s going to get us out of here. We just need to wait a little.”

“Starswirl? I guess he was telling the truth after all.”

“Gaia’s gone. I’m sorry for killing her like that.”

“No, it was necessary,” I reassured Sunset. A helicopter flew nearby us. We hadn’t heard it coming with the sound of the other helicopter covering it up. It stopped above the section of the building Twilight, Applejack, and my wolf were in before coming to us. “Sunset,” I said as I remembered my bad news. “There’s something I read on the computer about what happened here.”

“What did you find?” Sunset asked.

“I found references to the Everfree project, but I also found some info about the source of the X.X.X. Plague.” The helicopter finished picking up Twilight, Applejack, and my wolf from the other side and began to head towards us. “The file said that the source of the X.X.X. Plague, ‘The Acheronsis,’ was found buried underneath Canterlot adjacent to ‘the interloper’.”

“Are all those code names?”

“Yeah, but my code name in the holding cells was the ‘Interloper’.”

Sunset looked away from me. She looked like she was in deep thought. “What does that mean?” she finally asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” The helicopter began to descend next to us. Sunset helped me into the helicopter and climbed in afterwards.

“Are you alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“I’m fine,” I said halfheartedly.

“Are ya sure cause you look—“

“I said I’m fine,” I said irritated.

“Looks like you finally got something to write about Sunny,” Twilight said to Sunset. The sky began to clear and orange rays of light became visible as the eternal eclipse was finally over.

“Hey yeah,” Sunset finally said with optimism in her voice. “I guess I do.” Sunset looked over Canterlot thoughtfully.

“Discord and the other survivors escaped the bridge thanks to me and by extension, you I suppose,” Starswirl said from the cockpit.

“It feels good knowing we could help our friends and so many,” Sunset said.

“But we couldn’t save everyone,” I said with guilt in my voice. I could see Applejack look a little hurt by my reaction to losing Moondancer, but I didn’t care.

“Hey don’t worry Tavi. We’ll find her somehow and stop the bad guys too.” Sunset smiled at me, and in that moment, I began to believe that maybe we could still save Moondancer. “What do you guys plan to do now?”

“I’m going to go back to Equestria with Vinyl and hope that the Princesses can help us in the future.”

“Ah’m goin’ to finish school,” Applejack said awkwardly.

“School? I can’t do anything like that now,” Twilight said. “Maybe I could live with Sunset.

My raptor began to whine a bit like a human infant. He walked towards me and rested his head on my lap. “Don’t worry sweetheart you’re coming back too.” My xenosaur lifted his head and licked my face. We all laughed, even I cracked a smile. “What about you Sunset? What are you going to do?”

The sun finally began to rise. It’s light shined all around us. “I’m going to go home with Twilight, write my book, and then we’re going to take the longest nap of our lives.” I didn’t look back to the city as the helicopter flew away. We were all just happy to be done with this nightmare. And now, all that was left to do was ride out the city, and back towards to the normal world.

I looked out of the helicopter and watched my Canterlot. It used to be the one place where my whole life changed for the better, it used to be where I finally understood the meaning of friendship, but now that was nothing but a memory. I lost a few people I knew, but I was glad knowing that I was able to save all of my friends and so many others. I may have crushed the throat of the woman responsible for the main infection, but there were still others that had to answer for this unforgivable tragedy.

I knew Octavia had her own score to settle, but for the moment I wasn’t going to help her. I would fight the organization in my own way. I looked towards the clear and clean sky and I saw a bright light begin to emit from one of the Umbrella Yutani Corporation buildings. It was almost certainly whatever these people would use to cover up their tracks. I sighed and turned away from the bomb. The blast must’ve equaled the radius of an 80 megaton bomb because now Canterlot, our home, the very city where everything happened in our lives, were now nothing but a black hole in the ground.

The beautiful sunrise looked amazing. It felt good knowing we were heading towards it and away from everything else. There was a moment when I saw the light resonating behind me. It was extremely bright, but moments later the light dimmed. I didn’t want to turn back. I just kept forward, towards the better future.

I thought this song would be fitting for the end of Canterlot City.
https://youtu.be/IevSNPbzpIU

It had taken some time and effort, but Gensis had finally broken to the surface of the ground. He rose into a barren wasteland after digging his way out of his prison. He wasn’t sure what exactly caused it, but he was free. One moment he was standing in his annoyingly strong chamber, and then the next moment there was suddenly some huge blast above that had completely incinerated his chamber. He didn’t know how she did it, but he was sure it was his mother’s doing.

He walked towards the slowly ascending sun in front of him. The only way out of the wasteland what’s the fragile looking bridge. He slowly walked across it. Every footstep he took was one more than the bridge could handle, but it somehow held. He reached the end of bridge and took his first step out of the gigantic crater. The bridge immediately shattered and fell into the river.

Gensis saw a group of people near him. He slowly walked over to them. One of the people immediately saw him and ran over. She was middle aged, had long dark blue sparkling hair, and wore a long black and purple robe with Equestrian markings on it. “Hello Gensis,” she said excitedly.

“Who are you to use my divine name?” he asked insulted.

“I hear her whispers. She told me to come and help you find your way.”

“If she wishes it then let it be so,” Gensis said letting go of his irritation.

“What would you like to have some first?”

“We must make preparations for her as well as find my brothers.”

“The maker’s children shall be found,” the lunar woman told Gensis confidently.

“I sensed the X.X.X. Plague’s spread through the city,” he said. “Was that apart of her plan?”

“No, but the maker has told me her true plan. Shall we begin the preparations?”

“In time, but first there is somepony I need to find now that I am no longer hiding behind my cage.”