Previously rested and refreshed, Twilight Sparkle had made short work of her night’s sleep. The moment her eyes opened to the morning light, Twilight rose from her bed and poured through her books on magic and spells. She had spent hours going through every page she could, searching for spells that would help against Dante. While she knew Celestia wouldn’t be careless about having Dante around, she just couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. ‘What if he attacks the princesses again? What if he attacks us here?’ These questions tormented her the night before and continued to do so through her search.

Eventually, Spike was able to convince her to take a break sometime in the afternoon. Apparently, Fluttershy had introduced Iatril to Ponyville in her real form while Twilight was reading. This gave her an idea. She told Spike she was going to visit Fluttershy at her cottage for a while and left.

‘Sure,’ She thought to herself, ‘it’s not completely true, but I might be able to think of something for Dante.’

Sure enough, she hadn’t found anything in her books about the type of magic Dante used. She would have to rely on getting something from Iatril.

On her walk to Fluttershy’s, Twilight overheard several conversations concerning Iatril. Most of them were actually pretty calm about a strange creature living here. One pony even referred to her as ‘cute looking’ and another as a ‘hairless monkey’.

When Twilight reached Fluttershy’s cottage and knocked on the door, she was greeted by none other than Iatril herself.

“Good afternoon, Twilight!” She practically sings out. “How are you today?”

“Uh…good.” Twilight replies slowly. “I just came by to visit for a little while. Is Fluttershy around?”

“Actually, she’s visiting Rainbow Dash. She saw her glaring at me when we went around Ponyville and left to talk to her about that. I told her I didn’t mind, but she left anyways.”

“Oh…I see.” Twilight says, caught off-guard a little. ‘I didn’t plan on this.’ “Well, how about we just get to know each other more until she gets back then?”

“That sounds like fun.” Iatril says, standing to the side so Twilight can pass through. The two of them move over to the couch, both sitting at opposite ends. Twilight just lies on the couch, facing Iatril, while Iatril sits cross-legged. “So, should I start, or would you like to?”

“You can start.” Twilight replies almost too quickly.

“Alright. Now…where to begin…”

“Actually, could you tell me how you met Dante?”

“Ah, right. That is an interesting story. I suspect I’ll be re-telling this story many times. How I told you I met Flurry is actually how I met Dante. You see, at the monastery, I went through years of training to be as strong as I am today, decades even. Elves mature more slowly than humans, hence the long time. All the while, the older monks looked down at me and the younger ones copied their attitudes. They kept me doing the most degrading chores they had there. I hated it, but kept doing it in hopes of things getting better. As the only elf there, I should have known better.

“As keepers of peace and order, monks would often be sent to areas of unrest and conflict. There, we would work with the local guardsmen to stabilize things. Occasionally, monks would even be sent off as bounty hunters, bringing in criminals for the reward and using that money to aid the sick and hungry. One day, the headmistress of the monastery came to me with a job. She told me that a warlock was causing trouble near a city a few dozen miles away and wanted me to bring him in. I went to the city and asked around until I came across a name. Care to guess who it was?”

“Dante.” Twilight said, leaning forward in her seat.

“Exactly. After asking around for a few days, I learned that he was hiding in the nearby forest. I went in looking for him, looking to kill him, looking to bring back the bounty and earn the respect I wanted so badly from my elders. In not even a day of searching, I found him. All around his small camp were the bodies of humans who came looking for the same reward. We fought…I lost miserably. I was nowhere close to his league. Magic, flight, resistance to physical damage; the fight was over the moment I entered those woods.

“When I woke up, I had bandages wrapped around all of my burns. There was even a potion to heal my wounds right next to me. Dante was sitting on a rock, making tiny cuts on his arm with a dagger and watching them heal instantly. He looked over at me and basically told me how much of an idiot I was. He said he knew about my monastery and the weak elven monk who lived there. He said he once snuck around there in hopes of stealing something valuable; he found nothing but the elder monks talking about how worthless a person I was. He found it ironic that I was the one who came for him and let me live because of that, and the fact that I wasn’t a human. Sure, I tried to scold him about his wrongdoings, but being broken and wrapped in bandages takes away from the threats. He told me that he was going to study wizardry from the books he stole from wizards he’s killed and that I should study some magic as well. Then, if I wanted to cross paths with him again, I would have equal footing with him. After that day, I didn’t see him again for over fifty years.”

Twilight sat there for a moment, processing everything. “Let me get this straight: He beat you up, probably almost killed you, and you’re FRIENDS with him?!”

“He told me what I needed to hear. Despite what led up to his words, he’s helped me more in the few minutes we spent talking than the monks have over the decades I’ve lived with them.”

“What about at Canterlot? You two looked like you were about to kill each other!”

“Yeah, heh. That happens sometimes. We never get so angry that we lash out at each other though.”

“You punched him in the stomach and broke his ribs.” Twilight deadpans.

“Yeah, but he healed quickly from that. Besides, are you going to sit there and tell me you didn’t enjoy seeing him hurt after what he did?”

“I…don’t enjoy seeing others in pain.” She says, looking to the side.

“That’ a ‘yes’. So, what else did you want to know about Dante?”

“Well, I was thinking maybe—I mean, uh, Dante? What about him?” Twilight asks, shifting around in her seat.

“Oh, come now. Don’t try to hide it. The second I started talking about Dante, you got a serious look on your face. What do you want to know about him?”

Twilight sat there, staring at her. ‘Was I that obvious?’ She didn’t think she let on too much, or even at all, about Dante. But now, Iatril figured her out from nothing but a story. “Well, how does his magic work?”

“Is this from a learning student perspective, or from a strategist perspective?” Again, Twilight didn’t know what to say. “I figured as much. Well, he specializes in evocations, which—”

“Wait!” Twilight interrupts her. “You’re just going to tell me?!”

“Of course! You want to know and, no offence, but I don’t think this knowledge would pose much of a threat to Dante. Knowing what a wizard can and can’t cast is one thing, but planning against a warlock as well is pointless. May I continue?” Twilight nods. “Okay. Evocations are spells that manipulate direct energy, like shooting lightning. He can’t cast illusions, which make things that aren’t real, or enchantments, which influence the minds of others. He also likes necromancy spells, which deal with the life force. Beyond that, magic gets to be a bit too complex for me.”

“But you transformed into a dragon just yesterday!”

“My spells are not learned, but given to me. While Dante spent years pouring over spellbooks and tomes, I spent years communing with nature. That is where my magic comes from. And, before you ask, by ‘nature’ I mean the Everfree Forest.” Twilight lets her mouth hang open. “I got a similar reaction from Fluttershy. Anyway, is there anything else you want to know about Dante?”

Twilight thought to herself for a moment. She knew what was bothering her and needed to know. “How do you know he won’t attack the princesses again? Moreover, how can you trust him?”

“He and I have been…friends…for a long time. He can surprise me every now and again, but he knows just how valuable the princesses are. More so, any potential allies won’t be discarded by him, despite what he may say. And, I’ll tell you something else. Something I told Princess Luna before I left: don’t react to his words. Don’t give him the satisfaction of letting him get to you. He’s like a child in that regard. If you just accept what he says, or merely acknowledge the merit of his words, he’ll lose interest. As for how I trust him, well…let’s just say no one alive could possibly know him better than me.”

“I…see.”

“One other thing.” She says smiling. “You should try giving him a chance. Yes, he’s brute and a scoundrel, but once you get past that, I think you’ll find you have something in common with him.

Content with Iatril reassurance, Twilight bid her farewell and headed home. On her way, she contemplated the whole situation.

‘I suppose Iatril does know best. I still don’t like Dante staying at the castle, but I guess there’s no harm if he doesn’t do anything. And if Pinkie is okay with him, I guess he can’t be all bad. The only thing for me to do now is make sure I don’t react to him. It’s not like I’ll have to worry about that anytime soon.’

As she entered her home, she was about to call out to Spike when she heard a voice.

“And that’s when I burst out of the purple worm’s stomach. Very messy, but quite the experience.”

“That must have been scary.” She heard Spike say from the next room over.

“It was quite a shock. I’d never been eaten before, but after a while you get jaded about things trying to kill you.”

Twilight galloped right to the room the voice was coming from. ‘It couldn’t be.’ As she entered the room, she saw Spike sitting on a cushion drinking tea with Dante right across from him. The man in question turned towards Twilight and grinned.

“Hey, Twilight.” He said, keeping his grin. “How’re you doing?”

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

Hey everyone. Yes, I know, I'm a horrible person. I told you all 2-3 weeks, and here we are at 5. Not only that, but it's a short chapter to boot! Sorry, sorry, I'll just go sit in the corner.

(I made a vow to myself that I wouldn't post any chapters for this story shorter than 3,000 words.)

Next chapter should be up in about 2 weeks, and then maybe back to every week.