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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Sunset Shimmer vs. Chimera Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 16 Minutes