Descent

The day that Princess Twilight Sparkle walked into the palace of her former mentor was filled with both a rigid sense of excitement and terror. Rarely did Princess Celestia call on her protege with such haste and urgency, which warranted Twilight and her five companions to come racing to Canterlot to offer their assistance. As they walked as a group toward the great Canterlot Royal Palace, Twilight's tension was practically palpable. She had an awful feeling that this day was about to rain on her parade, and she didn't mean that in the sense that it was actually raining on the particular afternoon. While most of her closest friends remained unphased by their companion's fear - Rarity pining over the wondrous towers and gardens of the capitol, Applejack and Fluttershy calmly discussing the latest happenings in and around the famous Sweet Apple Acres, and Pinkie Pie being, well, Pinkie Pie - the one Twilight knew she could always rely on was matching her nervous gait, eyeing the princess out of the corner of her magenta eye.

Rainbow Dash, the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, could sense her friend's stress and was itching to break down, grab her, and haul her off to calm down. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, that wasn't something she was supposed to do, according to Twilight Sparkle herself. Without taking her eyes off of the unicorn, Dash's mind wandered back to her memory of that discussion.

"Oh, come on, Twilight, it's no big deal! We have to tell 'em sooner or later, so why not while we're all together in Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash had pleaded, though to no avail. Her partner's face broke into a frustrated frown as she shook her head dejectedly.

"Dash, you know how I feel about that. If Princess Celestia is sending us out on a vital mission, we can't afford to emotionally compromise anypony beforehand. We need everypony functioning at peak efficiency to ensure that we don't let the Princess, or Equestria, down," Twilight explained for what felt like the dozenth time. Rainbow Dash growled in anger and tossed her callused hands into the air.

"You sound like a businesspony, Twi! 'Peak efficiency'? What the hoof is that? This isn't some plan you can postpone forever, y'know," Dash grumbled. "This isn't one of those things you can plan because --"

"Yes, I know, 'you can't plan love'," the other mare interrupted, mentally kicking herself for ever using that phrase in the first place.

"This isn't about them; this isn't about you or me; it's about us. You mean the world to me, Twi, and it kills me to think that I'm the only one who will ever know it. I wanna shout it from the tallest mountain, over every town, even at every little foal," Dash said to Twilight, who smiled sweetly at the thought of her girlfriend's romantic side. Still, her smile quickly fell as she looked reality in the eyes again.

"We're going to wait, and that's that."

As Rainbow Dash faded back into reality, she took notice of the fact that she had been staring at Twilight for far too long for the mare not to notice. The unicorn was now staring back at her, eyebrow inquisitively cocked. Dash gave a nervous laugh and whipped her face away to hide the growing blush. While subtlety was not exactly her strong suit, such a blatant move was just plain embarrassing for Dash. Still, she had nothing on her partner, who was willing to go so far as to risk reaching over and giving Rainbow's hand a gentle and loving squeeze. As much as Dash worried about giving them away, she couldn't help but indulge in the loving contact. They continued to walk in silence, the ticking of the rain speaking far louder than any of the six could at that moment. Soon enough, their silence broke as they reached the grand palace doors with which they were so familiar. The guards in front of them were unusually silent, even for palace guards. Normally, they would offer up some form of greeting to their Princess, but they neither spoke nor moved their pikes.

Breaking the treasured contact with Rainbow, Twilight Sparkle strode up toward the doors and flashed the stallions a friendly smile. "Afternoon, boys," she said, to which they responded with a rather unkind silence. Pouting, she tried a more direct approach. "Mind moving so the girls and I can get out of this awful rain?" She asked, which resulted in them only gripping their weapons tighter.

"Nopony enters nor exits the palace without written consent from her Majesty, Princess Celestia, and/or her Majesty, Princess Luna," the taller one on the left stated without batting an eye. Behind Twilight, Rarity scoffed in disbelief and shoved the princess out of the way.

"Do you have any idea who you're speaking to? See the wings and the horn?" Rarity questioned, poking a finger at the guard's armored chest. Though she couldn't see, Twilight was following her cue by unfurling her lavender wings from her back and pointing a thin finger to the horn poking out of her hair. Still, the guard didn't flinch for a single second. Instead, he tilted his head down until he was staring the white mare in front of him firmly in the eye.

"Nopony enters or exits without her Majesty's consent," he grumbled coldly, his brown eyes boring into Rarity's fiercely. Quite intimidated, she shrank back into her cluster of friends, hiding behind Applejack's more muscular, toned body. The guard immediately went back to staring blankly forward, awaiting one of the mares to make a mistake. Twilight Sparkle pouted in disappointment, holding a hand out gingerly to hold her secret girlfriend back.

"Don't worry girls, I've got this," she said, flashing the guard a cheeky smile. Twilight began concentrating as intensely as she could manage in the disruptive rain, and the air began to crackle around them. It made their coats stand on end as Twilight felt the space around them resisting her disruption. As she felt it give way, a purplish-pink bubble began to envelope the six of them causing the guards, the doors, and the entire palace to vanish from sight. The next second, they were standing in the middle of the throne room, encircled by a black scorch mark on the elegant carpet. The guards behind them raced forward, pikes poised to run anypony through to took one false step. The mares were practically surrounded with deadly intent. They held their breath in fear. Even Rainbow Dash seemed to forget her wings for that moment.

"Stop!" Celestia commanded from her throne, shattering the guards' focus. "Release them at once!". The guards withdrew their pole-arms and resumed their positions around the room as Celestia strode toward the girls. Though the six friends were not short by any means, the Princess towered over them. She stood even taller than the guards, who were fully-grown stallions. Her frustrated face broke into a more passive visage of peacefulness. She wore her same characteristic smile as she approached them and placed a graceful hand on Twilight's arm.

"Twilight Sparkle. It has been far too long," Celestia said affectionately. Twilight was about to pull away for the customary bow just as her former mentor pulled her in for a smothering hug. Twilight found herself so caught off-guard that she hardly took notice of the fact that Celestia's breasts were, in fact, smothering her. As the Princess's iron grip released, Twilight managed to pry herself away, gasping for air. For once, it was Celestia's turn to blush bashfully.

"Forgive me, I've missed your friendship letters since you became a princess as well, so it's quite nice to see you in person for once," she confessed, to which Twilight smiled shyly and rubbed the back of her neck, stepping back slightly.

"It's wonderful to see you to, Princess," she said in a friendly tone, "But that couldn't be why you called us here so urgently, could it?". Celestia's face fell and she stared at the carpet, not sure where to begin. Pacing, she made her way toward the center of the throne room, waving her hand dismissively. On that cue, the dozen or so guards lined up and marched their way out, leaving the seven of them alone in the massive room. Spinning on a heel, Celestia met Twilight's eyes and swallowed.

"Discord has gone missing," the Princess stated.

"We knew this day was coming! We should never have trusted him! Where did her go, Princess? We'll take care of that liar," Twilight said determinedly. Celestia shook her head in response.

"Discord is not 'off the leash', as I like to call it. No, I mean missing missing. I can't even sense his power in all of Equestria," she explained. Twilight's brow furrowed, as well as that of her friends. Stepping forward, Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at her Princess.

"So, what, he's been draconequus-napped? No offense, your Majesty, but he's not exactly somepony you can keep under wraps," Dash asked skeptically. Again, Celestia swallowed nervously and began pacing again.

"No, Rainbow Dash, I'm afraid you're right. He's not easily controlled, which is why I had to enlist the assistance of someone a bit more like Discord than you or I," she said, casting her gaze toward the shadows beside the throne platform. Out of it, they watched the shadows manifest a black shape, growing up and out, taking on a texture slowly. The blackness broke and a being came swaggering toward them. His coat was a dark grey and he was wearing a completely white suit, cane and top hat included. The buttons on his uniform were rimmed with a cold black and an off-white color in the center. On his hands were many silver rings, boasting large jewels each. They could practically hear Rarity salivating a the sight of them. The hem of his pants stopped several inches too high, revealing a receded fetlock-line.

His legs and hooves were completely bare from halfway down the calf all the way to the tip of his hooves, though it wasn't exactly as though you could tell. Just after the top of his hooves, they radiated some sort of black energy, which snaked its way around his black-skinned legs and faded as it reached the suit. As he strode across the carpet, his hoofsteps left behind slowly-fading marks that seemed to burn into the rug. He stopped himself a single foot from Twilight and looked up a her. His irises were a scarlet red, but the rest of his eyes were black as the shadow that birthed him. Looking her up and down, the stallion broke into a welcoming grin that revealed overly-elongated teeth that all narrowed to points. It looked as though he was sporting a mouth full of canine teeth.

Faster than Twilight's eyes could move, he seized her hand and lifted it. She trembled slightly in fear as he lowered his face toward her hand. He stopped an inch from it and paused. To Twilight the pause seemed to last an eternity. Then, he kissed her hand and released it. Stunned, Twilight left her hand hanging in the air, shaking slightly. Breaking into a grin again, he stepped back and looked around at all of them.

"Evening, all! I see why Dissy decided to stick around these parts after all," he said, casting a wink in Celestia's direction, who then scowled as if she had been insulted. "Treachery's the name, and stabbing backs is my game!". Twilight looked from Treachery, who was now making some grandiose gesture for his reveal, to Princess Celestia, who was intentionally averting her eyes.

"Princess, how is this. . . Thing going to help us find Discord?" She asked, glancing back at Treachery. He simply smiled and vanished.

"Because I know where he went," came a chilling whisper from just next to her ear. Twilight whipped around so quickly that she nearly fell down. Treachery was standing there, hands on his hips, grinning that same terrifying grin. He then vanished and reappeared behind Rarity, who was on the far left of their group.

He proceeded to run a hand, which now looked more like a claw, through her carefully-tended hair as he smiled. Rarity yelped in surprise and spun to find her face mere inches away from his own. "You must be Rarity. I've heard great things about you, sweetheart," he said in a hushed tone that caused Rarity to blush. In a blink, he had vanished in a wisp of that same black smoke and appeared behind Applejack.

He ran his claws gently along Applejack's sides, thrilling over each muscle. She spun around just in time to stop his hands from reaching her rather well-sized breasts. She crossed her arms in anger and glared at him, to which he smiled a thin, cheeky smile and leaned in close to her face.

"I love my mares built," he hissed, giving her his best bedroom eyes. She scowled at his advances and a small business card appeared in his hand. "Give me a call if you ever want a crazy time," he told her with a wink. When she didn't make a move to take the card, his smile fell and he vanished.

"Lovingly busty, this one," he said from behind Fluttershy, who leaped several inches into the air in surprise. Upon realizing his comment about her chest, she promptly covered herself up, even though she was already wearing a thick turtleneck. Treachery laughed a shrill, barking laugh before vanishing and manifesting on the ceiling, along with Pinkie Pie, who was spending less time freaking out than she was admiring being upside-down.

"This one's off the deep end of the crazy scale," he said, stroking a thin goatee he sported, eyeing her as though making a diagnosis. Throwing his hand into the air happily, he exclaimed, "I love it! You and Dissy must have a chipper time together!". Pinkie just giggled and he transported them both back onto the floor. Spinning around to see who was left, he found himself face-to-face with Rainbow Dash's coldest glare. He studied her face for a second before breaking into a grin that seemed to split to the sides of his head.

"Rainbow Dash. Element of Loyalty. Oh, how I've wanted to meet you, dearie," he hissed, black smoke escaping his clenched teeth. "You and I were made for each other, y'know? I'm the tic to your tac, the yang to your yin, the Hell to your Heaven." Dash scowled at him with such disgust, Twilight thought she might punch him.

"We're nothing alike, you and me," she spat at him ferociously, which earned her a wide grin.

"Precisely my point. We're so far apart on the scale we're practically the same person," he said, turning and strutting away arrogantly. Treachery turned to look at Celestia and said, "I do so hope she chooses that one."

Confused, Twilight Sparkle looked at the Princess and leaned her head to one side. "What's he mean? Who's choosing who? For what?" She berated Celestia with questions, and the Princess raised her hands in defense.

"Let me explain," she pleaded, which quickly quieted the mare. "As I told you, Discord is missing. In my urgency to find him, I summoned Treachery to assist me."

"You summoned him?! This- this- thing --"

"Demon," Treachery interjected without looking up from his claws.

"Demons! Why would you ever need to summon a demon?" Twilight implored.

"I needed Treachery because he was able to confirm my fears. Discord isn't missing, he has indeed been draconequus-napped, as you so kindly put it, Rainbow Dash. There are monsters out there far worse than Discord, I'm afraid, and far more clever than I. Treachery knows how to find Discord because he is being held captive in Treachery's home," Celestia explained, which earned her six confused looks.

"Let me spell it out for you," Treachery said coldly, no hint of a smile coming to his face. He appeared inches from each of their face as he spoke, "There's a place out there where the dark lives when the light is about. It's the place where all of your worst fears are born and dwell. It's a place as old as time itself. It's a place where no mortal has ever tread alive. Any guesses?" He asked, stopping in front of Twilight, his black pupils glowing with a powerful hate and fear. Realization dawned on the princess as she thought of a place filled with hate and fear.

"Hell," Twilight answered, her voice hardly more than a whisper. Treachery grinned once more and clapped in excitement.

"Wonderful! Tell her what she's won, Celly," he laughed.

"I cannot up and leave my post here, as you know, and neither can Luna. We need somepony just as capable and reliable. We need you, Twilight," Celestia explained. Twilight took several steps back in horror.

"You need me to do what exactly?"

"I wish there was another way, Twilight, but there isn't. We don't have the strength to send a battalion of guards into Hell, and I'm afraid none of them are strong enough to withstand the mental trials it puts ponies through. The stallion you see upon my throne right now - he was once like you. Hell corrupts you and turns you into the stuff of nightmares. That, my little ponies, is where Discord was born," the Princess told her protege, her eyes falling. "He was once a friend. Long ago, he was a normal stallion, but he was lost to his crueler side. And that, Twilight, is why I must send you into Hell to retrieve him. Last time, he came back ten times as evil and a thousand times more powerful. If we let this go, the consequences could be nigh on unimaginable."

Twilight's knees started to shake and she started to collapse just as Rainbow Dash rushed to her side and held her up. Twilight gave her girlfriend a weak smile of thanks before looking back to Celestia. "Y- you're going to send me into Hell by myself and hope I can make it back out with Discord in tow?". At that, Treachery cackled from across the room.

"Oh heavens, no, dear! You'll be taking a companion with you on your journey, and, of course, I'll be going with you," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at Twilight.

"I have to go with him? He's a demon! He'll betray me as soon as we leave here," Twilight exclaimed, practically frantic by now.

"Try as I might, sweetcheeks, I ain't going nowhere," Treachery said, hopping up from the throne and walking over. He spread his arms and rolled his hands back. Faint, shimmering gold thread seemed to bind about his wrists and link them together. "Long as you say I'm bound, I'm bound. If I ever wanna be free of these things, I need you alive."

Twilight relaxed slightly, asking Celestia, "So the girls and I are supposed to follow Treachery through Hell? That sounds too simple."

"Unfortunately, no. I cannot open a portal directly to Hell, only Treachery can do that, and only enough for two ponies to go through. Since he can normally come and go from Hell as he pleases, that means you have to choose one other pony to go with you. Be sure it's somepony strong of both body and will, for Hell is like nothing any of us have experienced before," Celestia explained. She could see the fear in Twilight's eyes growing, but could think of no way to pacify it. "Take tonight to make your decision and prepare yourself. I will wake you before dawn." Twilight nodded and exhaled a pent-up breath as she walked toward the door.

She barely took notice of Rainbow Dash still helping her along until the mare, without any subtlety, slid her hand down around her waist and pulled her a bit closer. Even if it meant giving Treachery what he wanted, Twilight already knew who she wanted to accompany her to Hell. If there was one strong-willed pony Twilight knew she could always count on, Rainbow Dash would be it. She just hoped that Dash was as strong-willed as she needed her to be. . .