The corridor Maple and her friends were traveling through opened abruptly into a wide room, the floor and ceiling plated with reinforced metal and several exposed support columns holding the whole thing up. The far wall consisted of a series of long, soot-stained windows... beyond which a familiar sight burned.
Making sure the way was clear, Maple crossed to them, putting one hoof against the thick glass and looking down into the central drilling chamber. Cylindrical and so far across the catwalks on the far wall looked like writing on a book, it plunged downward, a mechanical shaft more than thrice the radius of her Riverfall house hanging from the nearby ceiling and delving into the smoky, orange abyss. Hundreds of pipes spanned the distance between the walls and the column in maze-like tangles, meeting in junctions or boxes with vents that belched everything from clean air to open flame and acting themselves as supports for yet more catwalks.
She felt a whine building in her throat. "We're going to have to go through there, aren't we?"
"Yep." Valey patted her on the back with a wing, grinning contentedly. "Whoever built the flame barracks figured it would be smart not to make them too easy to get into or out of. Can't really blame them. But hey, as long as you're not afraid of heights, are cool with bad air quality, have no problems with sensory overload, don't mind getting roasted, and are confident you won't fall off if we get into a fight, you'll be fine! Seriously, I hang out here all the time."
Howe was nearly biting his hooves in glee. "This looks like such an awesome place to build a secret lair...!"
Valey raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, good for you, Pancake. Now, one more door this way..."
She hadn't been kidding about the heat, Maple realized as a sliding double-door hissed open, exposing the group to the Flame District core. They stood on a metal balcony near the very roof of the cavern, and between the array of wagon-sized ventilation outtake fans covering the roof and the quantity of heat-powered machines operating below, they were essentially standing in a giant chimney. Acrid smoke mixed with clear steam drifted upwards in visible trails toward the powerful suction fans, and Maple could practically see a hot wind rising where the platform ended not three steps in front of her. Unlike the jungle heat of the Earth District, it was a dry heat... which would have made it more tolerable if she wasn't instantly parched. The air irritated her throat enough, as it was.
"Very well," Gerardo announced, bravely stepping to the railing. "I assume you can point Howe and myself to our destination, or at least lead the way? Of the six of us, three are fliers, and I'd very much like to be in and out of this infernal place as swiftly as possible. How ponies work here day-to-day, I can't even begin to comprehend."
"Are you sure about that, Birdo?" Valey looked hesitantly at him. "If we do, dibs on Starlight. But I don't really think that's the best idea."
Gerardo opened his beak to reply, but was interrupted by a pouty Starlight. "Dibs on me? Why?"
Valey shrugged. "Because I'm tired of lugging Shades around..." She pointed to Neon Nova. "And Ironflanks would probably worry I was feeling her up. Also, she's super fat. And you convinced me to come along, so I'm your problem. Besides, would you rather be carried by Pancake?"
"Oh." Starlight looked away. "That makes sense."
"I take offense to that," Howe imperiously began, before Maple cut him off.
"I got rid of the stuff I was carrying, okay!?" She stomped a hoof. "I'm not heavy anymore! You don't have to keep calling me that!"
"As for flying..." Valey tapped the ground, pre-empting Gerardo's question. "Look at it this way. There are three fliers and three who can't, meaning no spares. Conditions out there are pretty fatiguing, pretty gross, pretty much every synonym for bad... so there's a decent chance someone would drop someone else and maybe themselves, too. Who's gonna catch them? Nobody. And if I'm feeling up to playing doom roulette, having to kiss either Selma or Herman would be a funner set of outcomes than all the random stuff there is down there to land on. If we hoof it, it'll be slower, but then there will be three of us who can catch anyone if they trip and fall."
Gerardo paled, which was difficult given the heat. "An excellent point. As urgent as our mission may be, it sounds as if walking very well may be worth the time after all!"
"I suppose you could fly us across in trips," Maple offered. "Howe and Gerardo take Neon Nova across, then leave him there and the three of you can fly me and Starlight. That way, there would always be one extra in case anyone needed help."
Valey looked her seriously in the eyes, the first walkway out into the metal maze shimmering in the heat behind her. "Are you sure about that? We'd be more likely to survive, but there's still just the same possibility someone will slip. Do you like scares, Ironflanks? I hear skydiving without wings is pretty spooky..."
Starlight nodded, eyes wide.
"I think we'll be all right." Maple squared her shoulders, boldly meeting the sight of the cavern. "We're in a hurry, and the faster we get through this place, the better. I trust that you won't drop us."
Valey stared... and shrugged. "Is anyone adamantly not cool with this?"
Neon Nova raised a hoof. "The boss and I used to fly around together all the time as a mode of easy transportation! We've got this act down."
"Anyone else?" Valey glanced around.
"I'm reasonably confident in both my grip and my lift," Gerardo offered, indicating his talons and ruffling his large griffon wings. "I know Starlight can attest that I've safely carried before not only her, but others simultaneously."
Starlight nodded at that.
"Well, cool." Valey shrugged again. "I know I know my way around this place. Pancake, let's take Shades first. I'd send you with Birdo so I can stay here and stand guard, but someone needs to show you the way. Birdo, guard Ironflanks and Starlight, avoid confrontations and bust up anyone who messes with you anyway. We'll be as fast as Pancake can manage."
As the three flew off, Maple waited, sitting at the edge of the platform and watching tensely. The thought crossed her mind that she could ask Gerardo then what he had been about to say about the Griffon Empire's goddess, but between her nervous fixation on Valey and Howe's distant forms and the all-permeating rumble in her ears, conversation was the last thing she thought she could stomach. Machines ground against each other beneath the orange-lit cloud curtain below, emitting harsh screeches and clangs that sent vibrations all the way through the platform she was waiting on, and she wondered just how much of her request had been influenced by a desire to clear the room quickly. Probably almost all of it, she decided. The Flame District wasn't a place she wanted to spend a moment longer in than she had to.
She must have slipped into a heat-induced trance, because before she knew it, Valey and Howe were back, the latter panting slightly. "All good," Valey snapped, sounding as if the heat was getting to her, too. "He's hanging out by the elevator we need. Want to do the rest in two trips or one?"
"Well..." Maple looked them over, considering.
"Birdo is carrying Starlight, period," Valey demanded. "Either way. He's safest. And I'm the fastest, so I need to go solo since I'll be the best backup. Ironflanks, either that means you go with Pancake, or you wait here, alone or with him, for us to get back."
"I'm coming," Maple instantly said. Waiting would mean an extra trip ... and she wasn't sure how much more of the Flame District she could take. No reason to keep the others waiting, either.
Howe crouched down for her to climb on his back. "As you wish!" He saluted with a wing, a few beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. "Honestly, the faster we can get out of this accursed place, the better off I'll be, too..."
Maple climbed on, suffering a recollection of the crash landing she had suffered in the Earth District on their entry the day before, when Valey had tried to lift both her heavier self and Starlight simultaneously and failed spectacularly. They lifted off, hot winds blasting upward as they cleared the platform, and she instantly found herself second-guessing the decision to fly... but Howe kept from wobbling too much, and held their course steady.
One quarter of the way there. The destination was completely on the opposite side, blocked from view by the central drill column, and they were just starting to round it. Gerardo glided powerfully beside her, Starlight clutched tightly in his talons... and the filly clearly knew what to expect, eyes braced against the wind and body limp, carefully not wriggling.
Almost halfway. "Whoo," Howe panted as they weaved between a pipe and the catwalk it supported. "I don't... see why Valey calls you Ironflanks, but I'm... sure glad this is the last trip..."
"Not a reassuring thing to say!" Maple reminded, holding him tightly as he dipped, flapping harder to make up lost altitude. Gerardo glanced in their direction.
"Yo, Pancake!" Valey flitted past. "You're flagging, and that's making my mark go off!"
"Nonsense," Howe chuckled, gasping. "I'm merely-"
CLANGGG!
His forehooves dipped too low, clipping the railing of an incoming walkway and causing him to flip forward from momentum. Howe plowed into the metal grate, faceplanting heavily and catching his mane in its latticed grating, but Maple was catapulted off, missing the far railing and sailing over the edge. She barely had time to gasp before gravity caught up with her, and she was falling.
Zooooom! A trail of green instantly bolted past her... or perhaps it took forever, her sense of time imploding as she twirled through the air, unable even to orient herself to the direction she was falling. Something pony-sized and fuzzy latched onto her side and applied torque, and with a rush of vertigo, the spinning stopped. She couldn't see where they had fallen from... but she could clearly make out an array of fire-belching pipe vents they were hurtling towards, attached to some fiendish piece of machinery reaching from the central column to a wall.
With a whistle of wings so loud it pierced the mechanical din of the cavern, their trajectory adjusted, and they shot through a hole between the pipes. She became aware that Valey was beating her wings, trying to slow their momentum... but they were still speeding impossibly fast, and this time, a massive, grated platform was rushing up from below, lit from beyond by chaotic orange and far too wide for Valey to simply dodge. Maple clung closer, squeezed her eyes shut...
A rush of something that felt like hot ice water passed over her senses, and she briefly considered that she had died, but the double-strength fiery updraft said no. She opened her eyes and looked up. The grate was receding above them; somehow they had passed through it... and she recognized the sensation as belonging to Valey's shadow sneak. The batpony had used her ability to catch them on the bottom-lit surface, and for reasons that made her head hurt, they had been able to fit through the lattice and emerge on the other side.
Valey's wings were locked into a glide, yanking them upwards, trying to convert their downwards momentum into horizontal. It worked with shocking efficiency, sending them into such a fast hurtle sideways that Maple became just as worried she would meet her end against a wall as she had been with the floor. Their turn continued until they were shooting roughly upwards... and at last, they collapsed onto a chunk of steel protruding from the central column, momentum completely spent. Valey flipped at the last second, shielding Maple's landing with her body, and then not getting up.
"Uggghh..." Maple groaned, trying to reconcile her stomach with the feat of acrobatics she had just been forced through, not moving either.
"Hey, uhh..." Valey's fuzzy form said from beneath her. "I know I just saved your life, and that cuddling's your thing, and all, but maybe you could get off and thank me later? I've got an injury check to do, and from the feel of my wings, we're going to be walking the rest of the way to the elevator."