Fallen (Original)

Several minutes later:

Celestia swooped down, scanning the area for any unwanted presences. She found nothing and landed in the crater, seeing Twilight now holding the cooled off Arkantos. Though the young human was still unconscious and appeared to be in pain.

“Celestia!” Twilight looked up at her.

“Was there anypony else down there with him?” Celestia asked, quickly kneeling beside Twilight.

“No, he was all alone, why?”

“Just… don’t worry, if there wasn’t anypony else, than we have nothing to worry about.” Celestia sighed.

“No, you can’t be hiding things. That’s ALWAYS lead to trouble.” Twilight said.

“I’ll explain it to you and everypony else once we’re sure everything is safe.” Celestia said, “Let’s get Arkantos to the medical unit.” She gave Twilight a comforting smile.

Twilight however wasn’t any less stressed than she was the moment before, she looked to her unconscious lover. “Yes… Let’s.”

Ten minutes later:

Arkantos had been taken by the medical team and all essential personnel were working to make sure he didn’t die.

Now Twilight, her friends, and Chrysalis were gathered around Celestia, who had set herself up in the command tent.

“So, why did Luna teleport me out so quickly?” Chrysalis hummed. “Haaad to be important, right?”

Celestia took in a deep breath. “First, you were in direct danger, if the blast from the elements veered off and hit you, it could have been devastating. Secondly, Hades decided to grace us with his presence, more than likely… he was claiming something that belonged to him.”

“A… and what would belong to him?” Twilight muttered, fearing the absolute worst.

“The being that was inhabiting Arkantos’ body.” Celestia said. “It… wasn’t some ‘god’ but simply a demon he let in. How he got in contact with it? I don’t know. It should have been impossible without summoning or going to Tartarus itself.”

“He was bathing in pure magma when I first met him, well… stepping out of it at the very least.” Chrysalis spoke up.

Celestia froze up. “What?”

“He… was stepping out of magma?” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“T… that’s just his magic, right?” Twilight asked.

“That would give the demon plenty of access to Ark… But, how would it have escaped Hades’ detection?” Celestia sighed, “And… what did it take from Ark with it?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up, “Wait, it… could have taken something from Ark? We wo-”

“No, no… it wouldn’t have definitely taken something from him, and if it did… I’m sure if Hades takes a liking to Arkantos… it shouldn’t be too long before he returns it.” Celestia explained. “Hades is… eccentric. He does what he wants, but doesn’t care for any of us up here. He enjoys his job and realm far too much to even give one iota of care for even attempting a conquest of us… it’d be too much work for him.”

“But… lording over the most evil and vile things ever seen isn’t?” Chrysalis asked.

“He doesn’t lord over them. They fear him to the point of even hearing his name causes most of them to break down… if the things sealed in the deepest pits are true evil, Hades is their worst nightmare… A lot of ‘myths’ were changed… to completely erase him and a few others from history… solely because they took up different duties and didn’t want anything to go looking for them.” Celestia continued. “It wasn’t just my sister and I who originally wielded the Elements. Hades was also one of the bearers. That of Honesty. Even if he is cruel to those he imprisons… he won’t lie to any of them. He won’t lie to anything.”

“What…” Applejack mumbled.

“Don’t worry, you aren’t ‘destined’ to be anything but who you are.” Celestia assured, “He took up the mantle of guarding the depths because he saw no other creature fit to do so… and he’s been guarding them for centuries now.”

“So… which elements did you and Luna wield?” Twilight asked.

“I held the element of Loyalty… and Luna held Kindness.” Celestia said.

“Who were the others?” Rarity asked.

“No… I… can’t tell you. None of us can.” Celestia shook her head. “They wish to remain anonymous... I… can only tell you of Hades because he decided to return.”

“So, you’re just g…” Twilight trailed off, fully realizing why she’d keep something like this a secret… they were all scrubbed from history…

“Why wo…”

“There are things far more chaotic than Discord… more tyrannical than Chrysalis appeared to be…”

“Hey! I was not a tyrant. My children were starving…” Chrysalis muttered.

“You appeared tyrannical, today has proved otherwise.” Celestia sighed, “More evil than Nightmare Moon, and far… far more destructive and murderous than Sombra was. I pray that you’ll never battle any of them… I pray that the sacrifice they each gave was more than enough to seal them away forever…”

Everypony was silent at that last statement.

“But… enough of that for now… we have to alert the populace that all of you are alright.” Celestia said, walking to the entrance of the tent. “It’ll be a massive relief for everypony to find out all of you are unharmed… and hopefully, there will be a change in Arkantos’ condition.”

“I hope so…” Twilight mumbled quietly.

“If you’d prefer… you can stay with him.” Chrysalis spoke up, “Not many ponies would want to see me. But I could, at least temporarily act as you.” She offered, a genuinely kind hearted offer. “I’ll stop the charade right after we tell everypony what happened, well… of course when I’m out of sight.”

Twilight was silent for several long seconds as she thought. “Thank you.” She said, offering a small smile to Chrysalis. Chrysalis returned the smile before she turned into Twilight.

“And, for you… I do hope he comes back soon. It is painful for me to feel how badly off you are right now. It doesn’t sit right to feel you like this.” Chrysalis said, looking to Twilight’s friends who were eyeing her suspiciously.

“Girls, she won’t do any harm.” Both Twilight and Celestia said.

“She’s more than proven herself, going as far to offer her hive to help defend Canterlot, and almost coming to sacrifice her life for them as well.” Celestia continued.

“Just trust her.” Twilight begged, her horn slowly lighting up, “For me.” She teleported herself to the medical tent.

She found that the medical team was settling down, all of them sweaty and coming down from some sort of high, she at least hoped it was a high.

“Oh, thank the gods you’re here Princess!” One of the doctors said upon noticing her, all the others straightening up and turning to greet Twilight.