Descent

Twilight found herself staring upward at the stained-glass mural far overhead. It depicted the sun and the moon together, each split down the center and though they were two halves of the same coin. To Celestia and Luna, perhaps it was something much more personal than that, but who was Twilight to say. As the alicorn rolled onto herself, she took in the beautiful marble columns that supported the high ceiling and noticed how they lacked any kind of mark or blemish. They matched the same marble that made up the floor, the same white with intermittent streaks of black and grey. As she lost herself in the milky surface of the marble, she began to think about the coming trial. It was unlike anything she had ever faced, and she didn't even have her friends there to help guide her. She was quite thankful that she was able to bring Dash with her, but something about the six of them together makes Twilight feel invincible, like there's nothing that can get in their way.

And she still wasn't sure how she felt about Treachery. He oozed evil like an open sore and his name spoke volumes about his character. Something told Twilight that they don't give names like Discord and Treachery to those who don't earn them. Even if he was bound, what stopped in from attempting to strand them in Hell or even lead them to their doom? If he could be bound, isn't it possible that he could just a easily be unbound? The more she pondered, the further the panic set in. It seized her heart like a cold fist and she felt as though she couldn't breathe. Thankfully, a knock at the door broke her free of the clutches of her own mind. Gracefully sliding out of bed, Twilight made her way across the room to the large wooden doors, her hooves clicking on the floor as she walked. Cautiously, she opened the door an inch and it promptly swung wide open.

Steadying herself, Twilight shook her head in confusion as she closed the door once more. When she turned around, she found Rainbow Dash lying in the middle of her bed, staring back at her.

"Dash, what're you doing here? Celestia said she'd be waking us before dawn, and I've never seen you up before noon," Twilight said, pretending to be annoyed but actually thrilled that Dash had shown up at all.

Dash smiled and pulled Twilight onto the bed next to her, holding her close. "Well, if we're going to go to Hell, who knows when we'll make it back. Or even if we make it back! I just figured why waste our last night on Earth sleeping alone?". Dash then followed the rhetorical with a tender kiss on Twilight's neck. Reflexively, Twilight's head rolled back as she let out a nearly inaudible moan of pleasure. She gave her partner a playful shove to separate them.

"Dash, we both need our sleep if we're going to survive tomorrow," Twilight squeaked in between moans as Rainbow Dash kissed up and down her lavender neck.

"Who can sleep at a time like this? I don't know about you, but I think I need to take my mind off of the fact that we're going to Hell," Dash whispered, her mouth still close enough to Twilight to breathe hot breath after hot breath on the mare's neck. Twilight had to admit, even if she wasn't in this position, she doubted she'd be able to fall asleep when she had nearly just had a panic attack just from thinking about Hell. Grabbing Dash by the hair closest to her scalp and pulling her head back, Twilight looked her girlfriend in the eye.

"If we're going to Hell, we might as well earn it," whispered the alicorn, her voice sultry with anticipation.

Warning: Anthro F/F Clop Incoming, Skip to following red line to avoid

Dash smiled and leaned forward, pressing her lips to Twilight's. They both felt the same electric, nervous tingling they felt every time they kissed, and they both adored it. Twilight pressed her lips harder into Dash's reveling in how soft they felt against her own. Slowly, her tongue slid into her lover's mouth. She soon felt Dash's do the same as they began their elegant, romantic dance. Twilight could taste Dash's sweet, sweet saliva and it sent her mind swimming. It tasted like honey, but somehow spicier. Twilight reluctantly pulled her tongue back as Rainbow Dash's receded and her pale blue lips kissed Twilight's jawline tenderly. Inhaling sharply, Twilight tossed her head back, exposing her neck again.

Dash slowly made her way down Twilight's neck, making sure not to miss a single vertical inch as she descended. Twilight nibbled on her lip to hold back pleasured moans, and Dash quickly made it to the neck of her shirt. Twilight made to remove the garment that now felt far too constricting, but Dash was apparently too impatient for that. The pegasus ripped straight through the front of the shirt, starting from the top. Normally, Twilight would have been surprised by this, but she didn't have the strength of will to stop her lover now. Rainbow Dash grinned as she realized the hard part of convincing her girlfriend was already over with.

Rainbow's soft tongue trailed a line down Twilight's sternum, stopping as it reached the mare's black lace bra. Again too impatient to struggle, Dash bit down on the small metal ring that held the two sides of the underwear together in the center and pulled her head back fiercely. They heard stitches popping and knew that, somewhere, Rarity was rolling in her sleep, but neither of them cared much. Twilight suddenly felt a cool breeze meet the more tender parts of her chest and she fought her natural instinct to cover herself up.

Dash swallowed anxiously as she hopped over to straddle Twilight around the thighs. In front of her lay her beautiful girlfriend, whose generous breasts lay exposed. Arching her back severely, she leaned down until her face was back where it was before. Dash went to trailing her tongue around Twilight's stomach for a moment before ascending to her breasts. Slowly, she circled around the left, spiraling inward toward Twilight's petite, erect nipples. Dash proceeded to run her tongue all the way around Twilight's nipple before taking a playful, but gentle, nip at it that elicited a sharp gasp from the mare. The pegasus smirked cockily as she lowered her head until she was able to suck lightly on that same nipple while sliding her other hand up Twilight's side to continue groping her right breast.

"Oh, Dashie. . . Mmm," Twilight moaned, her breath becoming increasingly ragged. Her own hands descended and began grasping at Rainbow Dash's colorful hair. She had to get her pants off soon or they'd be ruined. As if reading her mind, Dash pulled away from her lover's chest and descended, looking up at Twilight's graceful features. Quickly unbuttoning the front of Twilight's khakis, Dash grabbed them by the sides and pulled downward as she slid toward the end of the bed and off of Twilight's legs. Soon, all that was left a pair of light blue panties that Rainbow Dash had picked out all by herself, just for Twilight. Dash actually had to resist the urge to swoon over the fact that Twilight was wearing them, despite them being two sizes too small. While Twilight knew Dash was no genius, she sure did get a stern talking-to about undershooting Twilight's rear by so much.

Licking her lips as Twilight looked down to meet the blue mare's eyes, Dash looked down between Twilight's legs. Her panties were soaked from side to side, a sight that made Dash smile. Instead of starting immediately, she slid her lower half off the end of the end and lowered her face toward her girlfriend's loins. Instinctively, Twilight's legs spread wider to give Dash more room. The pegasus responded by gingerly running her fingers along the middle of the underwear, causing Twilight to squeak with tension. Carefully, Dash lowered her mouth to Twilight's soaked panties and began running her tongue along right where she knew Twilight's clitoris was. Twilight saw stars and had to grind her teeth to keep from crying out in surprise.

Dash pulled her mouth away, licking her lips. "Say it," she whispered. Twilight bit her lip and cinched her eyes closed tightly.

"J- just f- fucking do it. . . Please," Twilight begged quietly. Having been given the word, Dash hooked her fingers into the top of Twilight's underwear and slid them off, pulling the alicorn toward the edge of the bed in the process. In front of Dash, Twilight's marehood was already drenched and just asking to be loved. Lowering her nose toward it, Dash took a deep breath of Twilight's sweet scent as she flicked her tongue out to run it along Twilight's lips. The resounding gasp for air told Dash that Twilight was pretty sensitive already. She pushed her face as far in as it could go and began trailing her tongue along Twilight's inner walls. To Dash, they taste like heaven on Earth. Twilight started to buck her hips just at the contact, so Dash wrapped one hand around her upper thigh to ensure that she couldn't pull away. The other hand snaked its way around the other the other thigh and the thumb went to playing with Twilight's swollen clit. Her breath was coming in shudders by now, so Dash knew Twilight had to be getting close.

Breaking into her arsenal of knowledge about Twilight's body, Dash kicked it up a notch. Twisting her tongue to the left and hooking it as far that way as possible while still moving it back and forth cause the lavender mare to begin bucking again.

"Da- Dashie, I'm gonna cu- Gonna cu- Ahhh!" Twilight cried, simultaneously tossing her head back and leaning forward to grasp at Dash's hair once more to hold her in. Her legs locked around her lover, though Dash cared little. All she cared about was the flood of delicious nectar that cascaded into her mouth. Slowly, as she finished cleaning up, Twilight released her grip on Dash and flopped back onto the bed, panting. Pulling herself up, Rainbow Dash settled herself beside the tired mare who rolled her head to the side to gaze lovingly at the pegasus.

"You never cease to amaze me, Dashie," Twilight panted, using the rarely-uttered pet name that she had stolen from Pinkie Pie some time ago. Dash responded by leaning forward and planting a kiss squarely on Twilight's mouth. Twilight made a grossed-out face as Dash pulled her face away.

"Is that what I taste like? Ugh, I'm so sorry you have to put up with it," Twilight apologized while blushing. Dash pulled her in closer and kissed her tenderly again.

"I love it," she said before rolling onto her back and looking up at the mural with Twilight.

**************************************End Clop************************************

The two of them lie in relative silence, aside from Twilight's heavy breathing. The silence carried for some time before Dash cocked her head to the side, knocking into Twilight's.

"You think Celestia and Luna ever go at it? I mean, I know they're sisters, but for a while there, it was just the two of them," Dash asked, which earned her a disturbed look from Twilight.

"What, you don't think that either of them could just call up whoever they wanted and land in the middle of a menage a. . . What's French for twelve? Anyway, I doubt it," Twilight explained, to which Rainbow Dash nodded an agreement. Quickly, she sat up and cracked her neck, which caused Twilight to flinch. "I really wish you would stop doing that. I know it keeps you limber, but that sound of it is just disgusting."

Dash laughed and stood up, walking toward the balcony. "I'm gonna go ahead and stretch my wings, they're a little cramped after that bit of exercise," she said with a wink before hopping up on the railing and doing a swan dive off the edge. In the past, Twilight would have worried, but she had spent long enough watching Rainbow Dash to know that a dive like that was something the expert could pull of in her sleep.

As the air rushed past Rainbow Dash, she pondered how travelling with her sworn enemy would be. On one hand, he seemed like a fairly likable pony. For a demon, that is. But they were polar opposites. It would be like trying to get two magnets labeled North to touch each other. She was pondering this as she coasted her way back up to the other side of the mural Twilight was watching. For some reason she couldn't explain, she just felt more comfortable knowing that her girlfriend was seconds away. While she sat and watched the storm clouds from hours previous slide over the mountains and away from the moon, a faint crackle and sizzle told her she was no longer alone.

Coming to a halt beside her, but refusing to sit down with her was Treachery, whose hands were folded behind his back. His formal garb of before was gone, replaced with a tattered black tunic, held together with white pins. The sleeves appeared to have been sawed off instead of cut off, and below the tunic sat a ragged pair a dark grey jeans that stopped exactly where the suit legs had stopped. Now, his top hat was gone, revealing his long black hair pushed back tightly on the left and loosely on the right. A few wisps of it still escaped his ear and curled about his forehead. His ear were - well, pierced would have been putting it kindly, as the needles seemed to have just recently been pushed through his flesh. No hint of a smile broke his face, he just watched the clouds roil in the distance.

"What are you here for, Treachery?" Rainbow Dash spat, and Treachery made no move to respond at first, as though he didn't even hear her.

"I'm perfectly aware how you feel about me, Rainbow Dash. Frankly, I don't trust me either, but I have no choice," he said calmly without moving anything but his face. Dash scoffed and looked toward the mountains as well.

"Great, so you know I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

This time Treachery chuckled and shook his head. "Oh I know all too well. Discord, he got a better deal than me. I mean, sure chaos can be a mother sometimes, but who wants to be pals with somepony who is sworn to betray them? I'm not exactly Mr. Popular in the Deep South," he explained and it was Dash's turn to laugh.

"If you're expecting sympathy from me, you're barking up the wrong tree, buddy," she grumbled. He responded with a snap of his fingers that had her standing in front of him.

"I don't want your sympathy, I want you to understand why," he said icily. He pulled on the pins on the front of his tunic, which fell out, tips covered in blood. Pulling the sides of the tunic apart, he revealed a line of strange symbols going down the center of his torso. They appeared to have been burned into his skin, as the fur was gone and the skin was raised in that aged-scar way. There were three tiny, bleeding holes where the pins had just been removed.

"It says 'And lo, he did betray his loved ones, forever damning him to sacrifice others as he did them'," he explained to her. "Celestia told you I was once a pony like you. She wasn't lying. When I was a stallion, far older than you or your friends, a stallion came to me. He said if I gave him my firstborn I would live forever. Without a second thought, I gave him my son, who was nearly a stallion by then. He looked at me again and told me if I gave him my second-born, I would have eternal wealth. In a heartbeat, I handed my daughter, a little filly of five, over to him. With a grin, he looked at me and said I could have whatever my heart desired. All I had to do. . . All I had to do was kill my wife," Treachery told Dash, meeting her eyes the whole time. The conviction and power with which he told this story showed her that it was a memory that was seared into his mind.

"I told him that I couldn't possibly do that, and he shook my hand and left, leaving with my children. I felt no more youthful and no wealthier. I went into my kitchen to find my wife cooking dinner. She was so happy at that moment, I felt even more disgusted. Not with myself, but with her. How dare she go so happily about her business while I wallow in misery? So, I walked up behind her. . . And I broke her neck," he said flinching at the words. "The man appeared instantly and grinned at me. He told me all I had to do now to receive my rewards was to kill myself. I looked around my house, at my son's empty workshop, my daughter's empty playpen, and my wife's broken, lifeless body. Without another word, I walked to the door and jumped out." With an agonized cringe, he unfurled wings that Dash didn't even know he had. Technically, he didn't have them anymore. They were charred, broken, sawed husks that stopped several feet short of how long normal wings would be.

"So you lived in a cloudhome," she stated. Treachery nodded an affirmation.

"The wind was so blinding, I couldn't open my eyes. I felt my skin burning and bleeding. My teeth grew cruel and sharp, and my wings were ripped from my back. When I opened my eyes, there were ponies all around me, strung up by hands, wings, hooves, whatever was closest to the hooks. I spun around in confusion and saw her. My wife, hanging by her hands, dangled in front of me. When I walked over toward her, she showed no sign of recognizing me. When I looked down, my blue coat was gone. I was the color of ash and I radiated hateful energy. In my new claw I held a wicked, bloody knife. When I looked back up to her, I saw terror in her eyes. . . And I smiled," he said sternly.

"This brand ensures that if there is a way I can betray others, I will. I tempt others into betrayal, as well. I've turned so many an innocent pony. I may have lived less than a century ago, but I'm old as time itself. I was there when my Lord was born of hate and darkness, as he betrayed the higher power he had been given," Treachery said in a monotone voice. Dash narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why tell me all of this? To make me despise you more?" She asked, eyeing him.

"Yes. Hate me with every fiber of your being because when the time comes, I want you to do the right thing," he said, grabbing her shirt and pulling her close to his face. "I want you to do the right thing - and kill me." He released her just as he vanished with a hiss of black smoke and she stumbled forward. Regaining her balance, she turned to look back toward the dark mountains. In the silence, she asked herself, Even if I hate him, will that be enough for me to kill somepony? This question buzzed around her head as she flew back into Twilight's room to find the princess passed out under the covers.

Pushing Treachery to the very back of her mind, Dash smiled sweetly and stripped off her clothes before climbing in beside Twilight. Her lover sleepily rolled over and hugged Rainbow Dash tight as they both drifted to sleep in each other's arms.