Dante sat at the dining table in his conjured mansion, idly playing with a dagger he had hidden under his cloak. The food he had his servants bring him was barely touched, mostly just moved around on the plate. A chunk of cheese, a donut, and few pieces of meat from a pig, all being mixed together in an attempt to ease the burden on Dante’s mind.

‘He’s right.’ Dante thought to himself. ‘I can’t hold out much longer. As it is, excessive healing my body does on its own could very well set him loose. I’ll have to use divine magic to heal my wounds so my body won’t do it by itself. That, however, is a very short term solution. I still can’t regain my divine magic, so I’ll have to be careful how much of it I use.’

Dante turned to see Shade Strider walking over to the table from the hall of living quarters. Once Dante had awoken from his sleep, he decided to remain awake. He’d rather not have to see that demon again if he could help it, and he already got enough sleep to regain his spells, so he figured there was no harm in remaining awake. He did not, however, take into account his obsessive need to think about things beyond his control. He had spent several hours contemplating strategies to attain more energy for the demon, but it all came back to one thing: he didn’t know where any outsiders could be found. Or, rather, he had an idea about two, but wanted to avoid that line of thinking.

Princess Celestia and Luna both sound like they are outsiders. They have lived an incredibly long time and possess power beyond that of normal ponies. They could, of course, be like dragons instead. Dragons have been known to live thousands of years and have great magical abilities. If that’s the case, trying to bind their life forces to him would only end badly. Dante remembers the last time he tried that…somewhat.

‘Actually, when have I ever tried that? I don’t think I ever have. Could he have been talking about…well, that doesn’t really matter. If that is what would happen, I definitely don’t want to try that, especially with one or both of the princesses.’

Dante shakes these thoughts from his mind and rises to his feet.

“Okay.” He says aloud. “Shade, I’m going to check outside the portal. If there’s anyone there, we’ll have to move out before I enact my plan.”

Shade looks over his shoulder from his seat. “You mean the one about getting the amulet?”

“Yeah.” Dante replies, heading towards the doors that serve as the portal. “One second.” He opens the doors and sticks his head through the portal. Looking around, he sees no ponies around, but after a moment of listening, he hears a voice. He can’t tell what the voice is saying, but he can tell it’s just on the other side of the waterfall. Dante moves his head back into the mansion and faces Shade. “Okay, there’s someone outside of the cave, but that shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll move deeper into the cave, just far enough so they can’t hear me speak, and I’ll create another mansion. You can wait in there until I come back or I send you a message.”

“What’s wrong with this one?”

“This one will only last one more day; less than that, truthfully. I’ve prepared a spell to make another mansion that will last twice as long, given that I don’t know exactly how much time I’ll need to steal the amulet for you.”

“What if they find the mansion before you get back?”

“I’m actually surprised they haven’t found it already.” Dante says, laughing. “Even if they do find it, they won’t be able to get in. No amount of brute force or magic will allow them entry. They can, however, simply dismantle the spell. If they do that, well…just cooperate with them. I can break you out of the dungeon or jail or whatever they have in the capital. We’ll call that ‘extra credit’ on my part to show you how great a boss I am.” He finishes jovially.

“So, my only real hope is that you are as powerful as you boast you are.” Shade deadpans.

“Exactly!” Dante replies as he spins back around to face the portal. “Well, let’s get a move on then.”

Both Dante and Shade exit the mansion, right after Shade grabs his cloak. Dante ends the spell, leaving no trace of the mansion behind. They move deeper into the cave, the only light coming from the early sun rays passing through the waterfall. Soon, it is pitch black.

“I can’t see anything!” Shade exclaims in a whisper.

“I can see fine.” Dante replies in kind. “Just hand me your wing and I’ll guide you.”

“I…uh…that’s…” Shade stutters.

“Speak up!” Dante exclaims in the same whispering tone as Shade.

“Um…pegasus wings are very…sensitive.” Shade mutters.

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to pull out your feathers or anything.”

“No, I mean…it’s arousing for a pegasus to have their wings handled.” Shade says, clearly embarrassed.

“Really? Huh.” Dante replies. “Well, we’re far enough in that they shouldn’t see this light.”

With the uttering of a nonsensical word, a light springs forth from Dante’s right hand, illuminating the narrowing cave. The cave walls and ceiling have closed in slightly so that Dante can barely stand up straight without needing to duck a little. There’s still enough room for the two of them to stand side by side, but Shade remains behind Dante, merely following him.

After less than another minute of walking, Dante stops and turns to face the side of the cave.

“I’ll set up the portal here.” He says. “I’ll make it so you can enter and exit it freely, as well as open and close it.” With the same foci as before in hand, a nonsensical word, and a flick of his hand, a portal opened up before them. “I’ll come back in a day or so with the bauble, or I’ll send you a message telling you where to go.”

“How will I know if you send me a message?” Shade asks, turning his head to look up at the warlock.

“Like this.” Dante’s voice rang in Shade’s head.

“Whoa!” Shade jumps back. “How’d you do that?”

“Magic. Try saying something back in your mind.”

With a moment for Shade to collect himself, he thinks hard about his reply.

“LIKE THIS? IS IT WORKING? HOW CAN I TELL IF YOU CAN HEAR ME OR NOT?” The voice of Shade rang loudly in Dante’s mind.

Dante, for his part, simply rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, I heard you. You don’t need to yell it in your mind. You just need to focus on what you want to say back. Keep in mind you can only reply in twenty-five words or less.”

“Oh. Sorry about that.” Shade says sheepishly.

“It’s fine. I’m going to go now. If you don’t hear from me in…let’s say four days, assume I’m dead. I don’t think that will happen, but I figure giving you a time frame is the right thing to do. Besides, the mansion will last about that long anyway, so you’d have a reason to leave. Farewell.” Dante spins on his heels and heads toward the exit, leaving Shade to enter the mansion.

A short walk later, Dante is at the entrance of the cave. He quickly makes himself invisible, slips outside, goes around the waterfall, and slips past the guards. There are two pegasi and one unicorn guard stationed on a cliff just outside the cave.

‘Yeah, Shade will probably be in some serious trouble if I die. Pfft, like that’ll happen.’

Dante soars through the air, looking around on the ground, seeing more guards posted than the previous day, and much more than the day before.

‘Yep, they are definitely still looking for me.’

Dante quickly floats down to the familiar donut shop and sits down, crossing his legs.

‘So…what am I going to do now?’

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

As the early morning sun began its ascent into the heavens, its light bathed the village of Ponyville. The denizens of this village began emerging from their homes, ready to begin their day. In a certain yellow pegasi’s cottage, however, the occupants had already begun their day. Well, most of the occupants that is.

Fluttershy had already begun tending to the animals under her care. Iatril, waking a short time after Fluttershy, had tried waking Flurry from his slumber, only to be met with failure. Apparently, Flurry could hold his drink even less than when he was a wolf, despite his still great size.

After the attempt of waking Flurry, Iatril went downstairs and informed Fluttershy that she would be going for a walk. What she didn’t tell her, however, was that this walk would be in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy offered her breakfast before leaving, but Iatril declined; she already ate a berry she blessed a few days ago, but she didn’t mention that to Fluttershy.

As Iatril trotted through the forest, she took note of all the differences between this forest and what she’s seen in Equestria thus far, as well as the forests from where she’s from. From what she’s learned from Fluttershy, this forest acts on its own. The plants, the animals, the weather, it all acts as it does from her world. However, the plants are definitely different. In her world, plants respond to a druid when a druid tries to commune with them, like when regaining spells. The plants in this forest feel as though they are trying to commune with her. This isn’t entirely strange. When a forest feels threatened, it will try making its will known to any fey or druids nearby. What’s different in this case is the forest isn’t trying to ask for help. Rather, it is merely trying to speak to her, as if they were old friends.

Seeing no reason not to oblige the woods, she casts her spell.

“Hello?” She calls out to the trees, continuing her walk.

“What…are…you?” It calls back to her in a slow, old voice. The sound of heavy wood creaks in the distance.

“I am a druid, a guardian of nature.” She says proudly. “I receive power through nature and, in turn, use that power to defend nature from those who would destroy it.”

“Yes…you…have…some…of…our…power.”

“That is correct. I am thankful to you for that. And, well, I am here again to ask that you continue to support me.”

“What…need…do…you…have…for…our…power?”

“There is a man, a creature similar looking to my true form, who brought us here. He is a threat to this world and its inhabitants.”

“Not…to…us. Not…our…concern.”

Iatril stops her walk to look around at the forest. “But, should he conquer the ponies that live around you, he will eventually come here. Does that not concern you?”

“We…fear…nothing. We…are…eternal.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means we don’t have anything to worry about from anything, pony or otherwise!”

Iatril turns to see a large timberwolf sitting before her on the ground.

“We have existed for hundreds of years here. The ones that lived in the castle in our forest have tried many times to push us back. While we forest sentinels are weak against them, the forest itself is beyond them. When the ancient dragon spirit came back, even his great power could not affect the forest. Being untamable to any being, it has truly earned its pony given name ‘Everfree.’ Why should this unmovable entity give you power?!” It finishes with a snarl.

“I-I mean no disrespect to you or the forest. This man…I believe he is beyond even the princesses. O Great Forest, you saw him as we came into this world. Do you truly think him so weak?”

“Not…beyond…us.”

“He is strong enough to cast the deadliest of spells! These spells are powerful enough to level mountains and forests, even you!”

“How do you know this?” The timberwolf barks.

“I have seen the remains of such a spell cast. The forest I once called home was completely consumed in a fire that rained down from the sky. Miles upon miles of trees, plants, and the animals and creatures that dwelled there were all eradicated. The land itself, I knew, would not recover from such a travesty; not for several centuries, at the very least. And, given the option, he will do it to you too.”

“Why?”

“If you cannot beat something, follow it. If you refuse to follow it, search out a way to destroy it. That is what he believes in.”

“How…can…you…stop…him?”

“The forest is right. If this creature possesses such great power, what can you do with the power you now wield?”

“To cast such a spell, he would require an artifact, an object of great and ancient magical power. Even then, he would need to invoke the spell, which I know takes a whole day to cast. My friend and I fought him right before we came here, and we beat him, but he tricked us and got away. If you continue to give me strength, then we can beat him again!”

It was silent for a moment, and then the forest responded. “One…condition.”

“What’s that?”

“The man you came here with. The one who is your friend. He is not welcome here. He killed a manticore using dark magic. Worse, he is…possessed by an evil spirit. We cannot allow such a thing to roam freely here.”

“I…” Iatril paused, looking at the forest floor. “I won’t be able to stop him, should he choose to enter the forest. But please, do know that he is in control, not that…thing he bonded to himself!” Iatril spat out.

The forest moaned in response, dropping leaves from its trees.

“Fine, but if he come here, we will attack him. Is that understood?”

“Yes, of course.” Iatril gives in.

Several roots from several trees slowly push through the ground around them and approach Iatril. As they near her, several vines spring forth from each of the roots, gently wrapping around Iatril. The vines then begin to glow green, lightly. As they do, Iatril can feel the power of the forest enter her body. Quickly, she forms the spells she wants in her mind and the forest easily obliges. After a few short minutes, Iatril accomplishes what is done in an hour: she has her spells set within her. Even the spell she just cast was replenished.

“Thank you for your help.” Iatril bows as she is released from the vines.

“Return…for…more.”

“I will.” Iatril then turns to leave. Before she takes two steps, she stops in place. “Oh, I also have a favor to ask.” She turns back around. “The yellow pegasus that lives near the forest border sometimes comes in to look for lost animals. If she does, please don’t harm her.”

“Fine, but only her. We will treat all other ponies as intruders.”

“Thank you.” She turns again and trots towards the edge of the forest. ‘At least one of the beings I care for will be safe.’

Exiting the forest, Iatril sees Raven and the falcon sitting on a nearby tree, presumably talking to each other. Deciding to leave them be, she heads back to the cottage to see Fluttershy.

As she enters the cottage, she sees Fluttershy on her couch, reading a book. Upon entering, Fluttershy looks up and greets her.

“Did you enjoy your walk?” Fluttershy asks.

“Oh, yes. It was just what I needed.” Iatril replies. “So, do you need any help with your animals today?”

“Not right now. I already gave them food for the morning, so they’ll be good for a while.”

“Okay. Could you give me a moment then. I think I’m going to try waking Flurry again.”

“Oh, he already got up while you were on your walk. Rarity came by not too long ago and asked him to an early lunch. They left just a few minutes before you came back.”

‘Oh, this is going to be good.’ Iatril mused. She turned her attention back to Fluttershy. “So what would you like to do today?”

“Well,” She shifts nervously, closing her book, “I was hoping we could talk some more, like we did yesterday.”

“Of course!” Iatril replies happily. “Although, I’m not sure how much more there is we can talk about nature and animals without repeating ourselves.”

“Actually,” Fluttershy says quietly, “I wanted to know more about you.” She says, gradually getting quieter.

“More about me?” Iatril questioned.

“I don’t mean to ask you anything you don’t want to answer, but I feel like you know all about me now and I hardly know anything about you and I really enjoy talking with you and I want to get to know you better, but if you don’t want to talk about anything that’s fine, I just wanted to see if you did but I can see you don’t want to talk about it so—” Fluttershy spoke so quickly she started to sound like Pinkie Pie.

“Fluttershy!” Iatril interrupted. “I’m fine with telling you about me.” She trotted over to the other end of the couch and sat down. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, whatever you want to tell me.” She said, visibly more relaxed.

“Hmmm.” Iatril took a moment to think this over. ‘What am I thinking? There isn’t a lot I can tell her that isn’t…well, something she would frown upon. I could just make stuff up, but…no, I shouldn’t. I don’t understand how Dante can lie all the time and keep all the lies straight. Maybe…maybe I should just tell her the truth.’

She took a breath and looked at Fluttershy, who was waiting patiently for her to begin.

“Uh, before I begin, I have a question for you, Fluttershy.” Iatril says hesitantly.

“What is it?”

“What if…what if I said I wasn’t a pony?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I said this form you see is just one I took using magic, and I’m really something else?”

Fluttershy drew her hooves closer to herself. “A-Are you a changeling?” She asked, panic in her eyes.

“I don’t know what that is, but no, I’m not. I’m…not from this place, this world, this plane, whatever you wish to call it. We were brought here through a spell.”

Fluttershy just sat there, starring at Iatril. She didn’t move a muscle or her gaze from Iatril’s eyes, searching for an answer, hoping this was just some funny joke she wasn’t getting.

“I know this can’t be easy to accept,” Iatril continued, “but it’s true. I’ll…I’ll show you.”

She stood from the couch and took a few steps away from her. She closed her eyes and focused on her spell, sending her magic into her jade amulet, making it clasp firmly around her neck. She opened her eyes and looked at Fluttershy again.

“Please don’t be afraid.”

In a moment, her form changed back into that of an elf, her hair coming together in its bindings, her clothes forming around her, an oak staff in hand. She stood about a foot taller than Fluttershy, who only sat there in awe. They continued looking at each other, waiting for something to happen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as neither one said anything.

At last, Iatril broke the silence.

“Please…say something.”

Fluttershy, who seemed far more relaxed than Iatril thought she would be, took a moment before speaking.

“Why did you lie?”

Such a simple question and not something Iatril was expecting either.

“I…I don’t know. I thought…aren’t you mad?” She exclaimed.

“Not really.” Fluttershy responded calmly. “I mean, I guess I would have been scared if I saw you coming into town looking like that. I’m not the bravest pony around. So I can see why you would change what you look like. I guess what I’m really asking is, why tell me know? We’ve only known each other for a couple of days.”

“I…” Iatril started, only to stop to consider her reason. ‘Why did I tell her? She’s right. Why bother hide something if you’re just going to show it off anyway? I asked those animals not to say anything, something I probably didn’t need to do in the first place, all for nothing. Why didn’t I, right from the beginning, just say I wasn’t a pony? It would have…Dante. That’s why.’

“-Sigh-, I don’t like lying to others. It just feels so unnecessary. I only shaped myself into a pony because my friend is a paranoid, callous idiot.”

“Who?” She asked. “You mean Flurry?”

“No, someone else. Flurry is, well, a wolf.” Fluttershy shuddered at the mention of the word. “He’s not dangerous!” Iatril quickly added. “He doesn’t eat meat, at least not real meat. He’s not really a wolf, either. It’s like how you aren’t really a…pony. Hmmm, this is hard to explain. Dante would be better at explaining this type of thing.”

“Is that your friend?”

“Yeah, for lack of a better word. He’s in Canterlot right now looking for clues.”

“Clues for what?”

“I wasn’t lying when I mentioned we were looking for somepony…I mean someone. He dragged us to this world and Dante is looking around Canterlot for anything that may help us find him.”

“Why are you looking for him?”

“Heh, I’ve got to say, you’re handling this better than I thought you would.” Iatril let out a chuckle. “He… is very dangerous, to say the least. We fought right before we came here. He had some wizard cast some weird spell which sent us into the Everfree Forest. After we realized what had happened, he flew away, out of the forest and towards this village. Dante went after him, leaving me to fight a bunch of timberwolves (don’t worry, they’re fine). The timberwolves did get the wizard, and his body just burnt to ash.

“After that, Flurry, Raven, and I came out of the forest to see your village. I wanted to look around so I came in and met you. The next day, Dante left for Canterlot to look around, albeit a lot more stealthily, while I stayed here and…did nothing productive.” Iatril looks down at the floor. “Kind of makes me feel bad. But!” She says, looking up again. “Dante did say I should enjoy myself, since it would take a while to pick up a trail anyway. And, well, here we are I guess.” She finishes with a shrug.

Fluttershy sits there, processing everything she was told. Soon, she perks up and asks Iatril, “Could he still be around here, in Ponyville?”

“No,” Iatril replies calmly, “He’s too smart for that. The best thing for him to do was to get as far away as possible. He could have dove into the earth, hidden in the shadows, or simply turned invisible and flew away. Staying here would only make finding him easier for us.”

“Maybe we should contact the princesses. I’m sure they would be able to help find him.” Fluttershy said hopefully.

“That…would be a very bad idea.” Iatril replied despondently.

“Why?”

“Dante…isn’t a very good person. Rather, he’s a terrible person. From what you’ve told me, your rulers are the most benevolent creatures I’ve ever heard of, right next to angels. If Dante were to approach them for help, either he or the princesses would start a fight.”

“The princesses wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Then Dante would for sure. He doesn’t trust anything waving a flag of peace. He’s been betrayed by those deemed ‘good’ so many times he’s just stopped listening to them. Seeing how you and this village act, I wouldn’t doubt the goodness of the princesses. Dante, however, would never see this. For now, let’s just let Dante search around. I doubt Aselith, the one we’re looking for, would show up anytime soon.”

Before Fluttershy could say anything else, a familiar large unicorn pushed open the door, stomping right into the cottage.

“I’m back!” Flurry called out. “You would not believe what that—” He stopped in mid step, staring at the now elven Iatril.

Iatril looked around, hoping to find some sort of distraction. Seeing none, she decided to just confront him.

“Okay, now, before you get mad, let me say—”

“WHAT THE HELL?” He yells at the top of his lungs. Fluttershy scrunches up in a ball on the couch from his booming voice.

“Look,” Iatril says quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation. “I know you’re mad about me blowing our cover, but—”

“I don’t care about that!” He yells again.

Iatril looks at him skeptically. “You don’t?”

“NO! Why couldn’t you wait longer before doing this?! Now I lost my bet!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I made a bet with Raven about how long you could keep this secret. I bet him you could last a whole week, but you couldn’t even last THREE DAYS! Now I have to eat those stupid magic-berries you make for a whole month!” He turns around, grumbling. “Better go tell that stupid bird he won.” He leaves the cottage, slamming the door behind him with his rear hoof.

Iatril just stares at the door for a minute, making sure what just happened really happened. Then she just turns back to Fluttershy and shrugs. “Oh, yeah, and Raven is a talking, magical bird.”

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

Well, someone can't seem to make up her mind. Now, I know what you're thinking: Did The Main Man just try to move the plot along haphazardly, or is there some sort of plan to all this? Or, maybe he's just pulling this all out of his ass and makes it up as he goes. Well, I'll tell you. It's...

~3 hours later~

...and that's how I saved the world. No, wait, I was supposed to talk about something else. Oops.

Well, that's all for now then. See you in about a week.