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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Sunset Shimmer vs. Chimera Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 51 Minutes