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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9: A Conscious Reunion Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 16 Minutes