Nine Realms

It had to be said, whatever realm they had arrived in this time, it had not been a pleasant landing. Indeed, it actually felt as though someone had simply thrown them to the ground, and a hard rocky surface was there to greet them. Disoriented, there was a multitude of groans of discomfort as the ponies tried to get themselves standing, and Twilight, squinting her eyes to try and see better in the gloom, lit up her horn. This was no canyon or storage closet, but a cave, dark and barren. At its centre was yet another rune-covered stone, albeit one with many cracks and dents in it. It was a long-neglected thing, one that probably hadn't been touched in ages, but regardless, their priority right now was to find out where they were and what the next step in their journey was. Looking around, Twilight caught sight of Spike, who was the last to get himself standing, and walked over to him, holding him close.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice dripping with concern.

Rubbing his head briefly, the young dragon nodded, looking to his lifelong companion with a smile.

"Yeah...for now anyway."

Twilight smiled back, then looked to the others, just in time to see Applejack take off her hat and try to fan some air to her face.

"Phew! Is it me, or does this place feel kinda hot?"

Twilight hadn't noticed at first, but now that her friend had pointed it out, things did indeed seem very warm in here. It was a close heat, stifling, and in some moments she even found it difficult to breathe. But it was not so unbearable yet that she couldn't walk about with any issue.

"It's like a sauna in here," Rarity exclaimed.

She then narrowed her eyes.

"And not the good kind either!"

Twilight again nodded in agreement, but her eyes were instead focused on their immediate surroundings. Sure enough, she eventually settled on what appeared to be a tunnel leading out of the chamber they were in. Her friends too had spotted it, and after waiting for their leader to take that first step, they all joined in, moving as a group to get out of this place.

"Vikings, giants, dwarves...what do you think this world has for us?" Rainbow asked.

A long sigh escaped the young alicorn at their head.

"I'd rather not speculate. Because at this point, chances are it'll be even worse than what we can imagine."

Pinkie giggled to that.

"Cheer up, Twilight! I mean, sure, we've come across some bad stuff, and yeah, we're still pretty frustrated at not being that close to getting home, but at least we can say it's been a nice vacation, right?"

Everypony stopped, looking to her with raised eyebrows, and Pinkie, for her part, glanced around them all before shrugging her shoulders.

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

Twilight shook her head, then continued onwards, with the others not far behind. After a while, however, they started to feel a great deal more heat than before, and all of them were beginning to sweat a great deal.

"This...ugh...this isn't feeling too good, Twilight," Spike declared.

"He's right. It's getting harder and harder to keep going," Fluttershy added.

Twilight, who was herself starting to have a hard time going on, nodded to what she'd been told.

"I...I know...but this is our only path right now. So we have to...have to..."

She stopped, for just ahead, she could see a light of some kind, and as she tried focusing her vision, she saw that it was as she'd hoped. An exit out of here.

"There! A way out!"

Though still feeling the discomfort of this stifling heat, the spirits of the group were nevertheless lifted at being told this. So much so that they upped their pace, even in spite of how tired they were all feeling. The aforementioned entrance drew nearer and nearer, but as they walked on, the heat too was on the rise. It was almost to the point of searing now, though the party did their best to ignore it and press on. After a time, they'd finally managed to get to the exit of the cave.

"Finally! We're out...of..."

Twilight didn't finish speaking, and her expression soon became one of utter horror. For the land before them was unlike anything they had ever seen. This was no barren waste like the surface of Nidavellir. No, this was far worse. It was an utterly hellish landscape, with rivers of lava and a horizon dotted with constantly-erupting volcanoes. The sky was covered with a black fume from all the smoke in the air, and all around there was a violent orange-red glow, not unlike that of a furnace. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare, and always, there was the heat. Now, they understood why the temperature had been what it was, though they were, understandably, unhappy with having found that out. Seeing all this raging fire and primordial waste, Rarity fell to her knees, and soon after began to sob uncontrollably.

"I knew it! That last journey killed us! We've...we've...we've gone to the bad place!"

Twilight frowned at the devastating realm before her, but she snapped herself out of it afterwards, walking over to Rarity and helping her back to her hooves.

"It's okay, Rarity. We didn't die. It's just...this is what this realm is like."

Pinkie too looked on with unhappiness.

"This...this isn't good...this isn't good at all!"

But, it was here that one or two of them began to start coughing, and in that moment, Twilight realised that the air here was practically toxic to them. So, taking immediate action, she concentrated hard on a spell, though it was undoubtedly hard to do so with all this stifling heat and smoke everywhere. A flash emanated from her horn, and all of them, Spike included, were now bathed in a pale purple aura. Confusion took hold of them, and they looked to Twilight for answers.

"It's a spell meant to keep out the fumes. With luck, it'll hold long enough for us to get somewhere safer."

She looked out onto this new realm, narrowing her eyes as she did so.

"That is...if there is somewhere safer out here."

"Wait! Down there!"

Rainbow was pointing down to something just further down the slope of the area they were standing on. Sure enough, there seemed to be some kind of pathway there, right in-between the rivers of lava. It hardly seemed secure, but at the same time, it was also their only option right now. So, taking a deep breath, Twilight took her first step towards it.

"Okay, guys...stick together. Don't stray from the path..."

Her expression softened, and let out a deep sigh.

"...and let's hope there's a way out of this place."