With the exception of Rainbow Dash trying to chase after Dante, the rest of the day passed by peacefully. Eventually, Iatril went up to the castle to fix what Dante damaged, as she promised. Afterwards, she went back to Fluttershy’s for the night. Dante had spent the rest of the day floating around, avoiding a pissed of Rainbow Dash, or getting sweets from Sugarcube Corner. He had to concede to Pinkie Pie that cake was far superior to doughnuts. He liked it so much he even paid for the cake, instead of stealing it.

When night rolled around, Dante made his way back to Canterlot through the plane of shadows. He arrived at the time the night guard came on duty, meaning Luna was sure to be up and around. Deciding to press on with his annoying of the princess of the night, Dante made his way to the throne room. Passing by Luna’s guards without even a second glance from them, Dante entered the throne room, seeing the princess preparing to open court for the night.

“Ah, Princess Nightmare.” Dante calls out. “How are you this fine evening?”

“Human.” Luna responds, glancing down at him.

“Awe. No resentment? No disdain? All I get is a one word greeting?” Dante strolls up to the throne, standing before Luna.

“Correct.” Luna responds evenly.

“Is this about me leaving in the middle of our last conversation? If so, you should know that I’m likely to do it again.”

“Not at all. I am simply accepting all that you say.”

“Well...okay then. See you later.” Dante says, disappearing from sight.

Luna shakes her head at the ground before looking back up to where Dante disappeared from. “I can still sense you.”

“Bitch.” Dante says, teleporting from the room. As he left, he couldn’t see the smile that crept its way onto Luna’s face.

Arriving back at the gardens, Dante opened up mansion from the night before and stepped in. Closing the portal behind him, he sent out a message to Shade.

“Hey. Have you made it to the Griffon Kingdom?”

“Yeah. I already delivered the amulet…I’ve decided to work for you.”

“Excellent! Now, see what you can do about getting an audience with the king. I’m sure you know how to do that.”

“Of course I can. What sort of message should I give him?”

“Just say that you work for someone who can make him more rich and powerful than any other nation. If and when he decides to—” “—work with me, or consider it more, be back here in six days. Questions?”

“What about after his decision? What will you do then?”

“If he agrees, I’ll meet him myself.”

“Got it.”

With that, Dante decided to call it a day. He made sure Raven and Flurry had access to the mansion before retiring to his room.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

A few days pass with little intrusion from Dante. He came invisibly to a meeting with Celestia, her generals and the arch-magi, but was easily discovered by Celestia and cast out. On that evening, Celestia decided to act on an idea she had the day before. For that idea, she needed her sister.

“You want me to what?!” Luna bellows at Celestia in the privacy of Celestia’s study.

“I want you to go into Dante’s dreams and see if you can find out anything about him.” Celestia replies coolly.

“Surely you jest, Sister! We refuse to enter that beast’s mind! We—”

“Luna, you’re using the royal ‘We’ again.”

Luna collects herself before continuing. “Why do you need me to enter his dreams. Haven’t you been able to read his mind?”

“No. Whatever spell he has placed over his mind is too complex to dismantle, especially without him noticing. But, if you enter his dreams, he may not ever know you were there.”

“But why now?”

“This is something we need to know. The search for this ‘Aselith’ has so far turned up nothing. Don’t you think finding out what he might be hiding from us would be better than trusting his word alone?”

“Of course I do!” Luna exclaims. “I just wish this didn’t need to be done.” Luna takes a breath before returning her attention to Celestia. “I’ll do it. Tonight.”

“Thank you, Sister.”

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

Luna lay on her bed, her eyes closed; her night guards positioned outside of her room to keep out intruders. She lay there, focusing on her magic, opening her mind to the realm of sleep.

When she opened her eyes, she was floating in the air in her astral body. She flew herself down to the garden, where Dante made his portal. Hovering into the spot, she stepped through and into the mansion. Inside, she could see the décor of the mansion: the finely crafted walls, the oak tables, even the barely visible servants. She flew down the hall, passing through the doors until she found the one Dante slept in. Approaching him, she concentrated again, changing her view of her surroundings.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a black portal before her, just like every other time she readies herself to enter one of her pony’s dreams. The portal hangs in the air, all around there is nothing but whiteness. When she comes close to the portal, she is blocked by several bars of force that cover the portal.

‘I see.’ She thought to herself. ‘Even his dreams are protected from sight.’

As she turns to leave, a small chuckle catches her attention. When she turns back, she sees a shadowy figure in the portal. The figure looks to be human in shape, and roughly the same size as Dante, but it’s not him; it’s definitely not him. This figure feels so…benign.

“Having trouble, are we?” The figure asks.

Luna moves closer to the barred portal before speaking. “Who are you?” She asks.

“Ah, yes. ‘Who’. That is an important question, but not the right one.” It says with a laugh, its voice seeming to be male. “Care to try again?”

“…what are you?” She asks.

“You’re closer.” The figure speaks again. “One more try now.”

‘Hmmm. If not who or what, then what is the right one? It shouldn’t be where or when, and how shouldn’t matter. Therefore…’

“Why are you?” She asks, though not really looking for the answer.

“That’s right!” The figure shouts out. “Why! That is the question. But! That question is for another time. Now, you would like entry into the man’s dreams, would you not?”

Luna looked the figure over, trying to discern anything about it. “I would. You can do this?”

“Of course!” The figure extends a hand and places it over one of the bars. Instantly, the bars bend to the sides, making room for the princess to pass through. The figure steps further in, disappearing. It then reaches a hand out, free from shadow. The wrinkled, old hand curls its figure towards the portal. “Come along, Luna.”

Stopping herself before she enters the portal, Luna looks up. “H-how do you know me?” She asks.

The figure pulls its hand back in. “Another good question…” It says, its voice becoming harder to hear with each word. “…but for another day...”

Luna looks over the portal, seeing nothing wrong with it, and enters. The room before her is like that of a library: books lining shelves on the walls. Light pours down from the ceiling in the form of candlelight from chandeliers. Tall bookcases block her view, though she can see down each end of the hall of books. As she approaches one end and turns the corner, she sees another hallway of bookcases and books, with a few openings along the path to make turns.

‘I see. It’s like a labyrinth.’

She pulls a book from a nearby shelf with her magic and opens it, finding random words written on the pages. She puts it back and opens another to find the nothing but gibberish. Some words are formed, but mostly it’s random letters strung together.

‘This isn’t a dream. This is—’

“A hallucination.” The voice of the shadowy figure speaks out from a mouth that forms on the book Luna’s holding. “Or, perhaps, a better way of explaining this is like trying to read someone’s mind, but only hearing the surface thoughts.”

“Or having a vision of the future or even judging a book by its cover.” Luna states. “I’ve seen this sort of place before in the minds of strong willed ponies whose dreams I’ve tried visiting. I’ve even seen this sort of thing in those who do not dream.”

“Very astute.” The mouth in the book speaks. “And very accurate. Dante is quite strongly willed, but I’m sure a dream reader such as yourself will still be able to gleam some knowledge from this place.” The mouth in the book disappears, leaving the book as it was before. “Good luck.”

Luna places the book back on the shelf and starts down the hall again. She turns before reaching the end and travels down another hall, passing row after row of bookcases. She travels on for several minutes before hearing a noise. She stops to listen for the noise and she hears it again: laughter. Trying to navigate the halls to the source of the laughter, Luna presses on. Left, right, straight, right, left, she keeps getting closer and closer to the source. Finally, she rounds a corner to find an open area in the maze.

She sees Dante sitting at a table, laughing with chalice in one hand and a chunk of cheese in the other. He laughs, not in arrogance or disdain, but in merriment. Across from him, sitting at the table as well, is what appears to be a human skeleton, clicking its jaw together as if it too were laughing. The only flesh on the skeleton is a pair of dark red wings that hang from its back. Sitting next to Dante on the floor is a black wolf, gnawing on a rather large bone for its size. On top of the table is what looks like a miniature amber dragon, curled up in a circle around a bowl of fruit. Almost out of sight is a bat, hanging upside down at the edge of the table closest to Luna. The room itself is filled not only with the books on the walls, but scrolls on the floor, staves leaning against the bookcases, vials of various liquids and piles of gold and gems spread around the floor.

“What could it mean?” The voice from before rings out all around Luna.

“You could simply tell me.” Luna replies, stepping closer to the table.

“Ah, but then you learn nothing. You are only told. Nothing worth knowing was ever told to anyone!”

“As you say.” Luna turns to see a small bird cage in the corner with a small creature inside. The creature itself is green with horns and leathery wings; its arms and legs are long and slender, though it’s hard to see as the creature is crouching in its cage, shaking it back and forth as it rattles the bars. Luna brings herself closer to the creature to examine it, only to have it snarl at her. “And what are you?”

The creature halts its cage shaking and looks up at Luna. In a dark voice it speaks a single word.

“Power.”

Luna raises her head and notices something: the laughter has stopped. She turns to see all eyes on her; all but Dante, who has his back to her.

“Darkness comes for us all.” The skeleton whispers in a raspy voice. “Whether you are with someone…” It peters off, its body dissolving into dust as its wing tear and break, disappearing from sight.

“…or you are all alone.” The tiny dragon finishes, melting into a pool of blood.

“Whether you make enemies wherever you go…” The wolf says, just before its head falls from its body to the floor. Then, both it and the wolf’s body fade into darkness.

“…or you gain the closest of friends.” The bat finishes, its body glowing brightly before burning to ash.

“What is this?” Luna asks aloud. “How they died? Dante, who were those…Dante?” Luna looks over at the human, but he looks different. His once brown hair has turned as white as snow and travels halfway down his back. Luna walks over to his side to get a better look at him. When she does, she sees his face is worn and old, like an old stallion far past his prime. His hands are wrinkled and bony; his short goatee now long and white; his eyes without their hateful yellow, now brown and calm. Dante just sits there, casually swishing the contents of his chalice as he rests his head on his arm.

“You best be going, Princess.” The voice calls out again. “That is, unless you want to experience it.”

“It? What’s ‘it’?” No sooner had she asked, a gust of wind blew in the room. A rustling was heard behind her, back at the cage. Both she and Dante turn to see the cage bouncing on the ground, lighting itself on fire, as well as the surrounding bookcases. The cage glows intensely as the ground shakes beneath it.

The cage breaks apart in a fiery explosion. In its place, a hole in the ground appears. The room has lost all its light, save for the eerie red light from the hole. Out from the hole sprouts a huge figure. Its lower body remains hidden underneath the ground with its upper half seemingly stretched above; its arms are blood red and covered in muscles; its head is adorned with a pair of yellow horns from the sides, barely bent forward; its hair is course and trailing down its back. This hulking beast holds the same yellow eyes Dante holds while awake.

Dante stands from his chair, pulling a green sword from his side and holding it at the beast in one hand with magic charged in the other. The beast brings its arm down at Dante as he fires a blast at it. The creature looks unhindered as its hand slams down onto Dante. Just as quickly as it came down, its hand is brought back up with Dante clenched in its fingers. In one quick motion, Dante is swallowed whole by the creature, yelling out in pain and fear as it does so.

“Voice! What is the meaning of this!?” Luna calls out around her. Instead of a response from the voice, the monster looks down at Luna with a look of hunger on its face. With a mighty roar, the beast lowers its head in an attempt to devour Luna as well.

Just as it is about to devour Luna, she awakens in her bed in a sweat. She looks around quickly, as if checking to see if the creature followed her back. Holding a hoof to her chest, she breaths out slowly.

Stepping from her bed, she leaves her room and heads towards the throne room. As she makes her way to what will soon be night court, her mind keeps going back to the face of the beast in the darkness.

‘This is a mistake waiting to happen. I’ll have none of it.’

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

The rest of the week passes by seamlessly and Dante and Iatril are called to the throne room to hear the Princesses response. Dante stands before the throne with Raven on his shoulder while Iatril stands next to him with Flurry at her side. Both Celestia and Luna are present, but no guards are.

“You sure took your time making up your minds. I didn’t expect you to take the whole week.” Dante says, crossing his arms.

“We had to make sure we had all the information before us before deciding on anything.” Celestia replies.

“What is your response?” Iatril asks.

“We have talked it over with our generals, magi and each other, and have decided to decline to your agreement.”

Dante brings one of his hands to his chin. “That…is unexpected, but not entirely surprising. What part of the deal made you decline?”

“It wasn’t the deal itself.” Luna interjected. “It was what you didn’t tell us about you.”

“And by that you mean…?”

“The monster that dwells within you!”

“Oho!” Dante lowers his hand again and crosses his arms. “Wherever did you learn about him?”

“Irrelevant.” Luna states. “The fact that you hid such a thing from us is more than enough reason to refuse cooperation with you.”

“Huh. Well, let it never be said I didn’t try. Guess it’s time to pack my things. You’ll have to forgive me. I got bored one day and bored a room in the earth beneath your castle, pun intended. I’ll just get my things from there and I’ll be out of your land. Iatril, I hope you’re ready to go.”

“Dante.” Iatril prods his companion. “Are you really just giving up?”

“But of course! We’ll try the griffons next. Maybe wrangle in a few more dragons.”

“More?” Celestia asks. “A dragon has already agreed to work with you?”

“Yeah. He lives in the Everfree Forest. We underwent…intense negotiations, but he eventually saw the wisdom of my words.”

Iatril just looks at him with boredom. “Rainbow said your clothes were in shambles.”

“Rainbow Dash is a liar and a scoundrel. Incidentally, I’m glad I’m back in my regular clothes. Now, ignoring my incredible sense of fashion, we need merely wait for Shade Strider to return—”

“Did somebody call my name?” The pony in question asks, opening the grand doors of the throne room. “You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to move around this castle after throwing your name around, Dante.”

“I don’t know how you show up right when I’m talking about you, but it all works out in the end I suppose. Well, Celestia,” Dante turns back to the solar princess, “are you sure you don’t want our help?”

“Indeed. I am sorry, but there is no place here for someone like you.” She states almost coldly.

“Oh well. Now, let’s get out of pony land!” Dante turns to face Shade as he reaches the group. “Firstly—Guh—!”

Dante looks down at his chest. There, sticking right in his gut, is a dagger, held firmly in Shade’s hoof.

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

I'm a terrible person and you should hate me forever for continuously delaying chapters. From now on, until I say otherwise, assume chapters will be put up about every 2 weeks or so.

So...Dante got stabbed...in the stomach. Can't say he didn't ask for it.

Also, I referenced a TV show in here (or, more accurately, a scene from a TV show really inspired the scene). Care to guess what it was? For fun? Not for the spell guessing game, which is still ongoing.

Well, that's it for now. See y'all in a few weeks.