Scholar Arc
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Atlas could slowly feel his body again. After being suspended in what felt like an infinite void for an indefinite amount of time, he could finally feel the warmth of being alive once more. He opened his eyes to find himself lying face down in a cave.
The stone had a red tinge and seemed to smooth to be natural. The ground was even and the ceiling formed a dome in a perfect half circle. Confused, Atlas sat up from his prone position, not surprised to find himself in his old human form once again.
He got up on his feet and proceeded to dust off his clothes, nearly falling over from the alien sensation of standing on two legs.
"I see," Someone said behind him. "Being a quadruped for so long must have messed with your muscle memory a bit. Would you like a chair?"
Atlas turned around to take a look at the speaker, who turned out to be Hades, greek god of the underworld.
"That would be nice," Atlas responded. "Thank you."
Hades snapped his fingers and a table, accompanied by two chairs appeared out of thin air. One of the chairs appeared in such a way that it hit the back of Atlas knees, forcing him to sit down. He blinked a few times in confusion and shock before shooting Hades a semi-annoyed look.
"Thank you..." Atlas said, slightly miffed.
"Do not mention it, dear Atlas," Hades replied and approached the chair opposite of Atlas.
When he looked back down on the table, a tea set had appeared, steam slowly wafting out of the kettle next to it.
"Would you like a cup?" Hades asked politely while sitting down.
Atlas nodded and took a good look at Hades. He looked just as when he met him the last time, all those years ago. His long, black hair was slicked back against his head, accentuated by his full beard. The purple toga revealed some of his chest, although he seemed to have forgone bringing his golden bident this time.
Hades took his cup after pouring them some tea, humming in delight after the first sip. Atlas just dumbly stared at his own cup, wondering why his levitation didn't work, until he facepalmed in realization. He proceeded to pick up his cup like any normal human would, cursing himself for his stupidity.
"I must say, that was quite the humorous display," Hades said. "Although, I am pleased to see that your studies concerning runes seem to be progressing smoothly."
"Thanks," Atlas said with a slight blush. "Not one of my greatest moments to be honest."
"Oh but why not?" Hades asked. "Your fast actions saved a lot of... ponies today. That dragon may well have laid waste to half the town if you hadn't stopped her so quickly."
"I'm talking about letting her fall on me afterward... or... us? Was anypony else caught underneath her body?"Atlas asked, not looking forward to the answer.
"Oh yes, quite a few actually," Hades responded while taking another sip of his tea. "About ten ponies, flattened by a falling dragon. Not a headline you see everyday."
"So Aquamarine and Malachite... didn't make it?"
"I'm afraid not," Hades said. "One hundred twenty-three souls were lost to the furious dragoness today. Quite tragic."
Atlas somehow didn't believe him when he said it like that. In fact, Hades probably liked it when souls entered his domain. Was this still his domain, though?
"Where are we exactly?" Atlas asked, scanning the weird cave again.
"The ponies call it Tartarus," Hades explained. "It's their version of the underworld. I do feel quite honored that they named it after my prison."
"Is there someone in charge down here?" Atlas asked curiously.
"Not really," Hades answered. "This whole place just kinda manages itself, and I have honestly no idea how they pulled that off. I wasn't around when they made it, after all."
They fell into a comfortable silence, being content to just sip their tea and relax for a second, until Atlas broke it.
"So why did you pull me down here?" Atlas asked. "We both know that you don't have to come talk to me when I die, so what's the occasion."
"Oh nothing special, really," Hades answered. "It just provides a nice opportunity to relax. I did update you with that message just recently. So I guess you could say that I'm just checking in."
"Alright, well, if you don't have anything special to talk about, there's actually something I've been meaning to ask you," Hades motioned for Atlas to go on. "Most of the books about runes were eaten by that dragon that killed me shortly after we got them. We've just sort of been able to get by with what we could rescue. Could you maybe send a few more books our way?" Atlas asked hopefully.
Hades set down his cup and fixated Atlas with a deadpan stare. He even went so far as to raise an eyebrow to complete his 'really?' look, when Atlas didn't elaborate further.
"I'll have you know those books were from my private collection," Hades sighed. "And no, I can not send you more books. You'll just have to figure it out by yourself."
"What?" Atlas exclaimed. "But why?"
"Those books you got, were actually smuggled in here long before your prison was completed," Hades explained patiently. "It is now impossible for any god of the Greek Pantheon to enter without it being immediately known by Zeus. It's impossible."
"But aren't you here right now?" Atlas asked.
"Yes, but not really," Hades asked. "Similar to you, it's just a part of me that's here. My soul, so to speak. I had someone install a backdoor for me when they worked on the prison."
"Damn..." Atlas muttered.
"Do not worry, young Atlas. You may not have fully realized it yet, but you have time on your side. You are immortal now, take your time." Hades advised. "But it would seem like our time today is being cut short." He added with a sigh.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Atlas asked in confusion.
Hades got up from his chair, leaving behind an empty cup. He motioned for Atlas to do the same and the furniture disappeared back into the nether it came from.
"Just look at yourself," Hades said, gesturing towards Atlas' lower body.
Atlas' legs seemed to have vanished, where they usually were, only nothingness remained. It felt weird to stand on appendages that weren't there and Atlas furrowed his brows.
"Uhmm, care to explain?"
"Certainly," Hades chuckled. "It would seem like the ponies are aiding in your recovery, speeding up the process considerably. It's time to return to the land of the living."
"Oh, that's good," Atlas said while watching how his body slowly dissipated. "I guess?"
"Let me tell you one more thing, before you leave," Hades said seriously. "You have been saddled with a great burden, and for this I am very sorry. Atlas and I were actually good friends and his fall pained me greatly. You remind me of him in many ways, and it looks like you were a worthy successor to his soul.
"The way ahead may be long and full of hardships, but remember that you are never truly alone. I can see that he likes you as well," Hades said with a smile, one hand resting on Atlas shoulder.
"What do you mean?" Atlas asked.
"You seem to stand quite a bit taller than when we last met," Hades added, his smile transforming into a smirk.
Atlas had barely enough time to register that he was right before he disappeared from the realm of the dead completely. At their first meeting Hades was almost a head taller than him, but now, they were seeing eye to eye.
--------------------------------------------------
Dull pain greeted Atlas as he awoke, once again, in an unfamiliar place. It smelled sterile and he found himself to be tucked into a warm and comfortable bed. A groan escaped his lips as he slowly opened his eyes to a blinding light. He wanted nothing more than to close them again to protect himself from the pain, but he pushed through the pain and opened them anyways.
"Atlas?" He heard a voice next to him say, undoubtedly belonging to his friend Crimson. "You're awake."
The statement hung in the air as Atlas took a look around his surroundings. He was indeed in a hospital room, although it didn't look anything like they did back on earth. Unicorn hospital rooms were a lot more homely, actually reminding him of what his regular bedroom looked like back at home. Atlas turned around with some difficulties, to face the other way, coming face to face with a tired looking Crimson sitting in a chair next to his bed.
"Crimson?" Atlas asked. "How long was I out?"
"It's been almost three days now," Crimson replied with a sigh. "Everypony was really worried about you, no matter how much I tried to reassure them that you'd pull through."
"You... you mean they don't know?" Atlas asked in disbelief.
"I don't think so, no. It took almost a day before they could safely remove the dragon without something else collapsing." Crimson explained. "They found you under it, barely clinging to life and brought you here as fast as they could. They say it's a miracle and that you got really lucky."
"That's a relief," Atlas said, letting his head fall back to his pillow, wincing at the spike of pain going through his skull.
"Where's Belle?" Atlas asked after a few moments of silence.
His inquiry was met with no reply and Atlas looked over to Crimson to see what was going on. His friend’s gaze seemed to be locked on the floor, and Atlas noticed the bags under his eyes for the first time since waking up.
"Crimson? Where's Belle?" Atlas asked once again, slightly impatient.
That seemed to do the trick as Crimson was shaken from his stupor and he instead looked out the window.
"On the day the dragon attacked, Belle and Blue Current met up at your home," Crimson told Atlas. "You two had just come back, so they got together to cook something nice for you and me. Wrapped it up all nice and warm and rushed out the door to bring it to us.
"Belle was on her way to bring you lunch when the dragon attacked Atlas, She was at the academy."
Atlas hooves started to shake and he began to feel a little queasy. His breath got a little shaky as he thought about the implications.
"What happened?" Atlas asked, dreading the answer.
"She took shelter in one of the buildings when it all began, and... the building... it was one of the first ones that collapsed.
"Atlas... She..." Crimson swallowed empty. "She didn't make it."
Atlas went into shock. His eyes started to water as he processed Crimsons words. He didn't want to believe what he was just told, didn't want it to be true. But when he saw the tears falling from Crimsons face, he just knew it was true.
His love was ripped from him, possibly by a mistake he himself committed. The world seemed to lose all of it's color, and for the first time in his life, Atlas truly felt...
Alone.