COMA

"As you can see by the patches of rough skin and bumps on her neck, back, right arm, and horn, the patient has begun developing tumors. We do not expect her to live much longer."

Unlike what Twilight had expected, what lied behind the wall was not a vent. It was more cave, a single stone tunnel leading further down. The heat pulses she'd felt through the wall were nothing compared to the infernal heat now radiating onto her face. It smelled absolutely putrid, too. Presumably whoever lived here had tried to close it off. Perhaps that's why it was empty now. Why was she even thinking about this? It's just a dream, none of this is real. Trying to make sense of things was the only thing keeping her going, she supposed. Despite the horrible conditions, Twilight begun moving down the dark tunnel, horn lit and sledge at the ready.

As she descended, she felt the air pressure rise and the sound of her own footsteps dampen as the barotrauma kicked in. The stench hadn't gotten better, either. Nor had she gotten used to it. The fetid smell of rotten flesh, stale air, and sweat was unbearable. The pitch blackness around her wasn't exactly much for comfort. Nothing was. The only thing down here was ages of pain and misery, judging off of the horrible... Well, everything.

As she continued downward, she thought about what she'd heard as she entered. Comas don't cause tumors. Was she really in a coma? Or, well, clearly she was, but something was off. Dreams weren't this coherent, not ever, but all other conclusions were illogical. This couldn't be another world or something, that'd be absurd. She'd wake up eventually and everything would be back to normal. Well, except for her recently diagnosed disease, but that's a bridge she'd cross later. For now, waking up seemed like a good objective.

The deeper she got, the afflictions got worse. Not only had the pressure given her a headache, but the stench was at the point where it'd empty her stomach if she breathed through her nose. And still, she saw nothing around her. Just more stone. Still just one tunnel, spiralling down, somehow getting darker. Yet still, she persevered. There was nothing for her behind.

Finally, she reached a cave chamber. More open than the tunnel, but still not very spacious. A few pathes brached from here, and to right was an old mining elevator with flickering lights. However, there was a keyhole obstructing the button that'd move the door blocking the way into the small elevator. Considering the stench, she had no doubt that multiple had died down here. Presumably miners. Maybe one of them had the key. She'd have to hurry up, she didn't want to stay here for too long. So, she picket a direction and walked - Another tunnel, opposite of the elevator.

As soon as she entered the tunnel, she felt a light draft. A breath of ever so slightly more fresh air, but still sickening. But alas, as she got closer, she saw another one of those metal doors that had been glued shut. The seal was no match for her sledge, however, breaking open in only two strikes. Brute force can be useful, occasionally. But, as soon as the door loosened, it was flung open in her direction, blown open by strong wind and snowflakes melting as soon as they were exposed to the caves noxious heat. On the bright side, bright, white light was streaming through the door. The freezing chill stung against every part of her body, but nevertheless, she valiantly pushed forward - At least she tried to, but the temperature weakened her enough for the wind to throw her straight back where she came from. This direction wasn't an option. At least not now. Maybe that door was sealed for a reason. At least the wind had slightly remedied the odor.

To the right of the tunnel was another one, this one pointing steeply down. Not so steep that she couldn't get back up, but she'd have to be careful not to fall. Except, that's exactly what happened. Immediately after her first step, the fragile rock beneath her hoof crumbled and she rolled all the way down. Fortunately, it wasn't that deep - only two meters or so, yet it was significantly warmer. Sweat started pearling practically as soon as she hit the ground.

This tunnel was seemed to be more worked on than the rest, as it had supporting wooden beams and clear missing chunks where ore had been mined out. Unlike the rest, this was an actual mineshaft. Continuing on, the cave somehow got hotter and she almost couldn't hear anything anymore due to the rising pressure. The persistent headache growing worse wasn't helping either. The worse it got, the fainter her magic became. Her horns glow had been reduced to a shine, allowing her to see about a yard in front of her.

The air had become difficult to breathe when she reached an intersection. A branching path to the left, or straight forward. Twilight felt the sweat running down her face as she continued forward, only to realise the shaft seemed to have been left behind in a hurry, with tools and helmets scattered about as the tunnel suddenly ended. Twilight turned back around, headed for the other tunnel. As she entered, she saw something she'd become used to at this point. More robots. About ten of them, all seemingly having stopped mid-step while walking or crawling away from something, all heavily damaged.

Twilight walked past robots, in the direction they'd been running from, not giving them a second thought. The mental fog developing from the headache didn't leave much room to think about things like that. Considering how old this place was, whatever was a threat then, was probably dead by now. Behind the herd, was a boarded up passageway. Despite her extreme exhaustion, she raised the sledge aloft once more, bringing it down upon the planks. One after one they broke off, and just as the last one was destroyed she stepped inside, and came to realise what they'd been running from.

The cave behind was shaking, in a breathing like pattern, every "breath" expelling more of that horrible smell. It was alive. The porous rock the chamber consisted of was drenched in brownish black liquid, slowly seeping down the walls and staining her hooves. Hanging from an outcropping in the wall was what seemed to be a leather pilot jacket lined with fur. Cautiously, she made her way closer, rummaging through the pockets of the jacket. She didn't have enough time.

As she touched the jacket, the pace of the rooms breathing increased. Faster, and faster. Frantcially, Twilight grabbed ahold of the jacket as she bolted out of the room. The entire shaft was shaking at this point. Her magic wasn't strong enough anymore to carry both the sledge and the jacket, so much to her dismay, she had to put on the heavy clothing despite the unbearable heat. Dragging the sledge behind her, she continued to sprint as she heard the wooden beams giving way to a cave-in behind her. She threw the sledge up the slope she'd fallen down from, causing the horn to get stuck in the ground. She then leapt into the air, grabbing ahold of the handle, and used it to hoist herself up. Just as she made it back up to the chamber with the elevator, the last part of the tunnel gave way to the collapsing stone. Whatever that thing in there was, it would be trapped for a long time.

Now that she was safe, she started rummaging through the pockets. She did find a key in one of them, but it didn't fit in the elevator. That meant she only had one way left to go - Into the snow.