“…but personally, I find such acts of force distasteful at best.” Raven said to the falcon, whom were both perched upon a tree limb near the Everfree Forest.

“Then why continue working with him?” The falcon returned in her avian tongue.

“Being a familiar to a mage is complicated. I could leave him, but then I would cease to have the mental power I do now. A familiar forms a connection with their master. In exchange for giving mages a new outlet to use their magic, we familiars grow stronger and smarter. Should I choose to leave Dante, I would revert back to a normal raven. Back where I’m from, animals aren’t as smart as you and the others.”

“So you can either live a dull and simple life, or you can be smart and in service to someone you can’t stand?”

“That’s not it!” Raven says quickly. “It’s not that I can’t stand him; I can. I just wish he wouldn’t go as far as he does to prove a point. I’ve only been his familiar for the past few years. I don’t know what’s happened to him to drive him so far, he’s never told me. Only Iatril knows, maybe Flurry too. And I don’t want to leave him, I’m grateful to be his familiar. Most familiars aren’t given the choice to leave, but Dante made it a point to let me know I’m free to go any time.”

The falcon just nodded her head. “I understand what you’re going through. Take the yellow one, for instance: since she has grown closer with her friends, she has become less and less timid. We animals can’t help her with that. You, however, can help to change your master’s ways. You can easily talk with him, guide him, help him however you can. If, in the end, you can’t end up changing him, then maybe he just can’t be changed. Not everyone is meant to think the same way, after all.”

Raven chuckled through his beak. “You are quite wise for a lowly animal.”

The falcon laughed in kind. “And you are quite naive for a magical animal.”

“Raven!” Flurry called, lazily walking over to the tree.

“Yeah, Flurry?” Raven replies, switching back to common speak.

“You won the bet. Iatril just told Fluttershy about us.” He says grudgingly. “I’ll start eating the berries today.”

“Excellent!” Raven says happily, leaving Flurry to grumble under his breath as he walks away. “Well, this gives me a chance to use your advice.” He says, turning back to the falcon. “I must travel to Canterlot and inform Dante of this. Maybe I can talk to him while I’m there. I’ll see you later.” And with that, Raven took to the air towards the mountain capital.

The falcon sat on the tree, watching Raven fly off in the distance, smirking to herself. “That should do for now.” She says to herself, taking flight into the Everfree Forest.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

The streets of Canterlot were just like they always were: busy. Of course, today was no exception. Unlike every other day, however, there were many more guard ponies around. Twilight Sparkle grew concerned. Sure, when special events are scheduled, more guards are sent out; that made perfect sense. But besides her going to the castle today, there was nothing going on. Even then, her going to the castle doesn’t count as an event.

As Twilight neared the castle gate, a pair of guards blocked her path, crossing their held spears.

“Halt!” The unicorn on her right proclaimed to her.

“Identify yourself!” Called the earth pony on her left.

“Uh, Twilight Sparkle?” She said, confusion in her voice. “It hasn’t been that long since I came for a visit, has it?”

“Just a moment, Miss Sparkle.” The unicorn said. He lit up his horn and a light washed over Twilight’s body. After a few seconds, he dimmed his horn and relaxed. “You may enter now, Miss Sparkle. My apologies.” Both guards then lifted their spears, opening the path to the castle. “Do be careful, Ma’am. A dangerous creature is loose in the city. Among other things, it has the power to shift its form.”

“Like a changeling?” Twilight asked nervously.

“Not exactly.” The earth pony replied. “We aren’t even sure what it really looks like. We just need to keep a look out for anything suspicious and check everypony coming to the castle.”

Twilight said her farewells and made her way up into the castle. There were more guards on duty than she’s ever remembered. After asking a guard where he was, she made her way to her brother’s quarters. She rapped on the door a few times and waited for a response. In no time at all, Shining Armor opened the door, fully clad in his royal armor.

“Shining!” She called out, embracing her brother in a hug.

“Twily? What are you doing here?” He asked his little sister.

“I came to visit, like we planned. Remember?” She let go of her brother, dropping back down onto all fours. “What’s going on here?”

“Something broke into the castle yesterday and attacked the guards.” Shining said, a serious expression on his face. “We don’t know what it is or where it’s hiding. You shouldn’t be here! It’s not safe!”

Twilight placed her hoof on her brother’s. “Shining, my friends and I have fought against both Nightmare Moon and Discord. We were even at your wedding when you and Princess Cadence fought back Chrysalis. I’ll be fine.”

“I know.” He said, letting out a breath. “I just worry about you.”

“Well, since I’m here, why don’t I help you out?”

“Twilight, that’s not…well, alright, I guess. You’d probably try to figure this all out on your own anyways.” He said with a chuckle. “But promise me you won’t try and go off on your own to find this creature.”

“I promise!” She replied happily.

“Okay.” Shining moved out of his room and closed the door behind him. “Well, follow me then.”

The two siblings made their way down the hallways of the great palace. Each corridor they passed, a pair of guards stood at attention; one a unicorn and the other a pegasi or earth pony. After several twists and turns in the palace, the pair arrives at a magical laboratory. Several unicorns are there reading through tomes and going over notes. One unicorn stands out from the rest.

“Crescent Moon!” Twilight called out, trotting over to a navy blue unicorn with short, white hair, wearing a dark blue robe with a full moon depicted on the back.

“Hmm? I recognize that voice.” The stallion said, turning to face the approaching lilac unicorn. “Why, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” He said with a smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“She’s here to help out with our missing creature problem.” Shining Armor chimed in.

“Ah, very good.” Crescent Moon said, looking over Twilight. “Perhaps we’ll actually get somewhere then. We’ve had no luck figuring anything out about this creature, even with the thing we caught.”

“What did you catch?” Twilight asked.

“Come over here.” He said, turning to a nearby table. Upon this table, there was a single glass box. Inside it, there was something Twilight wasn’t expecting to see.

“Is that an eyeball!?” She exclaimed. The thing in question was standing on its four spidery legs, looking straight across the room at an open space.

“Yes. I’ve theorized that it is the creature’s eye and that he can see through it, though I don’t have any proof of this yet.”

“Does that mean it can see us now?” She asked curiously, stepping closer to the box.

“Perhaps.” Crescent Moon returned coolly. “But I believe it’s just waiting right now. It hasn’t moved since we brought it in, except to stretch its legs every so often. I’ve looked into several sight spells and believe it can only see through this eye when it’s actually focusing on it. Maybe with you here, we can uncover something I may have missed or even…find…”

“Crescent Moon?” Twilight prodded the stallion. “What’s wrong?”

“The eye.” He said softly.

Twilight looked at the eye and saw why Crescent Moon was acting strange. The eye had turned and was now looking directly at her, and she looked directly at it. For a moment, nothing was said. Then, Twilight decided to take a few steps to her left. The eye turned its body, continuing to face her, its yellow iris never straying from her for even a moment.

Without waiting another moment, Crescent Moon lit up his horn and let a light shine over the eye. He then motioned to two other unicorns who followed suit. Twilight, however, was too preoccupied with her observer. She wasn’t sure what she was looking at. She knew it was an eyeball, but beyond that she couldn’t say. She knew what she felt, though. It felt like something was looking in her, instead of at her. It felt like she was being sized up, only to be eaten later. Before she could stare into it any longer, the eye turned to face Crescent Moon. After a brief moment of staring, the eye relaxed its legs, lowering itself closer to the table. Seconds after doing that, Crescent Moon and the other two unicorns ceased their magic.

“Damn.” Crescent Moon muttered under his breath. He turned his fellow observers. “What did you two find?”

“It’s definitely still in the city.” One of the unicorns responded. “I can’t tell where.”

“I think it noticed what we were doing.” The other unicorn added.

“Hmmm.” Crescent Moon hummed to himself. “It definitely transmitted what it saw to its owner. It may also have reacted to Twilight coming close to it.” Crescent Moon turned to look at the lilac unicorn next to him, only to find her staring at the eye still. “Twilight?”

“Twily?” Shining Armor stepped closer to his sister. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped back to reality. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” She said, half convinced.

“Are you sure?” Shining Armor asked, his voice full of concern.

“Yeah.” She replied, looking over at the eye again.

“Why don’t you visit Cadence for a while?” Shining Armor suggested. “I’m sure she’d be happy to see you.”

“I…yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Twilight conceded.

“I’ll have somepony take you to her.”

“No, that’s alright. I can go by myself.”

Shining looked at sister for a moment before nodding. “Alright. She should be in her study about now.”

Twilight didn’t hesitate even a moment in leaving the room. She quickly trotted down the hallway, looking for her former foal sitter’s study. All the while, an image kept flashing in her mind: Some sort of biped, wreathed in fire. In every direction of the biped was a sea of flames.

‘What was that?’ She thought to herself, but kept trotting on.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

“…and that’s how I really met Dante.” Iatril said, finishing her tale. The sun has already reached its highest point in the sky by now and has already begun moving down again. While explaining a part of her past to Fluttershy, Iatril decided it was a good idea to revert back to her pony form, less she be seen. Fluttershy had sat on the couch, listening intently to Iatril’s story, gaining answers and questions as to who Iatril was.

“Why did the, um, ‘peep-el’ at your monastery want to kill Dante?” Fluttershy asked, playing with the foreign word.

“Well, Dante was…is a terrible person. He’s done horrible things to others, sometimes for no reason at all; not even enjoyment. He’s done things just to prove he would.”

“That’s horrible!” Fluttershy exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air, then bashfully putting them back down.

“Heh, yeah, it is. But the reason they gave me was because he was a dangerous criminal that needed to be brought to justice. Of course, as I said before, they were hoping he would just kill me so they wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore. But that’s okay, I suppose. I left after I confronted them about it. Years later, I heard that the whole place was destroyed by some wizard. It didn’t take long to figure out that wizard was Dante. Though, back then, he didn’t know how to cast any wizard spells. It was just assumed a warlock could never lay waste to the whole monastery, so they called him a wizard instead.”

“What’s the difference between a wizard and a warlock? Can’t they both use magic?”

Iatril paused for a moment to think about that. “Well, warlocks don’t actually cast spells. They have…oh, what did Dante say they were called? I can’t seem to remember, but he also called them glorified tricks. Warlocks can also shoot out raw energy from their hands. Wizards, however, cast spells that they must prepare from a spell book. Being a wizard is more about learning how magic works, where being a warlock is about simply using it.”

“What about you?”

“Me? I’m a druid. I gain my magic through nature.”

“How does that work? Earth ponies grow the plants and pegasi change the weather. Do you get you magic from that?” She asked, full of confusion.

“Oh, no. Here, I get my magic from the Everfree Forest.”

With that, Fluttershy looked at Iatril as if she sprouted a second head, an action that actually isn’t impossible, given the right spell.

“But the Everfree Forest is such a scary place! Why would you get you magic from there?”

“It actually isn’t so bad. I was able to talk to the forest a few hours ago. It doesn’t really like ponies going through it. I think it has a grudge against your princesses for trying to get rid of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they didn’t know the forest was sentient.”

“Maybe they did and they just don’t want anyone to know.” A voice said from below them, causing Fluttershy to jump.

Iatril looked around for the source of the voice, only to find Raven walking out from under the table in the room.

“Raven! Don’t sneak up on us like that.” Iatril warned the avian.

“Oh please. I’ve been here for well over an hour.” Raven replied, hopping onto the table with a flap of his wings.

“Why?” Iatril asked.

“Well, how else am I going to learn about yours and Dante’s past? Seriously! You two talk so little about yourselves.”

“Why don’t you just ask us? It would save yourself the trouble of eavesdropping.” Iatril stated matter-of-factly.

“I have. Dante always ignores the question and you always say you don’t want to talk about it. Apparently, you have no problem telling someone you hardly know your life story. I see how it is!”

“I…Raven, I don’t mean…I’m not—”

“Hah!” Raven yells, hopping onto Iatril’s back. “I’m just ruffling your feathers. If you don’t want to tell me directly, that’s fine, I suppose. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t eavesdrop on your conversations.” Looking over Iatril’s head, Raven spotted the yellow pegasus looking at him. He hopped off of Iatril and landed on the couch, right in front of Fluttershy. “Hello. I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. I am Raven.” He said, bowing his head slightly.

“Hello.” Fluttershy greeted in kind. “I’m Fluttershy. I’ve never seen a talking bird before. That’s so interesting.”

“Hear that, Iatril?” Raven asked, turning to face the green pegasus. “I’m interesting.”

“Meh. Turtles are far more interesting than you.”

“Hey, now, I resent that.” Raven said, slowly walking over to Iatril. “Turtles are nothing compared to me. Now, dragon-turtles are far more interesting, I’ll admit.”

“Dragon-turtles?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yep.” Raven turns back to Fluttershy. “Just as it sounds: a dragon mixed with a turtle. I’ve seen some pretty strange things with Dante and Iatril…and Flurry too, I suppose. Listing mixed animal things alone, I’ve seen owlbears, dragonnes (dragon-lions), centaurs (human-horses), chimera (which have several different heads), sphinxes (basically human-griffons), and more! Oh, here’s one you can relate to: hippogriff. Those are like horses mixed with eagles. Imagine that, why don’t you.” Raven finished with a devilish smile on his face.

“Raven, stop trying to scare Fluttershy!” Iatril warns the bird again.

“Actually,” Fluttershy cuts it, “I know what a hippogriff is.”

“What?” Raven deadpans at Fluttershy.

“Well, I used to know a hippogriff in Cloudsdale. They have a pony parent and a griffon parent. It’s not too common, but they are around.”

Raven just stands on the couch, staring at Fluttershy. “You’re no fun.” He finally says, hopping off of the couch and taking to the air. “I’m just going to go bother Flurry now.”

“Hey, where is Flurry anyways?” Iatril asks.

“If he hasn’t moved since I started listening to you talk, he’s in bed, mumbling something about Rarity trying to flirt with him.”

“So that’s what that was about earlier.” Iatril said with a laugh. Fluttershy looked at her questioningly. “Flurry doesn’t like to socialize with others. He barely talks with Dante or Raven.”

“Which is exactly why I’m about to go up there and pester him. Don’t mind any yells you hear.” And with that, Raven flew up the stairs.

“So, what else do you want to know?” Iatril asked.

“Um, how did you and Dante end up traveling together?” Fluttershy responded.

“Ah, yes. That, well, is a more involved story, so I’ll only tell you about how we met up for the second time. That all happened a few decades later. You see…”

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

The day passed by quite smoothly, despite being stared down by a disembodied eyeball. The hours went by as Twilight visited with Cadence, both catching up with each other. After visiting for a while, Twilight dared to go back down to the laboratory to see what else was uncovered and to see if she could assist them. With the exception of what they uncovered when the eye moved earlier, nothing new was learned. The whole time she was down there, the eye made no movements, not even to stretch its legs.

As evening rolled around, Twilight began to realize how tired she was, which was weird given she usually stayed up half the night reading. She bid Crescent Moon and the other mages a good night and headed off to her room.

‘I still don’t understand.’ Twilight thought to herself. ‘Last time I was near the eye, it stared straight at me. Now it won’t react at all. Why did it react to me at all in the first place?’

As she was about to open the door of her room for the night, a glimmer in the corner of her eye broke her from her thoughts. Floating just above her door was a tiny, shimmering sphere, smaller than a bit. The sphere was moving along the corner of the wall and ceiling and was moving towards where she just came from. Curious as to what it was, Twilight went after it. It wasn’t hard to follow; the sphere was moving no faster than a slow trot. The sphere turned down a corridor with Twilight following close behind, lighting up her horn and letting her magic flow over the sphere.

She wasn’t able to determine what exactly the sphere was, but she knew she’s never seen magic like it before. It was hard to describe: it felt like it was completely made of magic, but it wasn’t being controlled directly. A thought crossed Twilight’s mind.

‘This was made by the creature!’

She had no way of proving this, of course, but what else could it be? The orb turned another corner and flew out the open window towards the front gate of the palace. Not wanting to lose the orb, Twilight started galloping down the halls. She passed several guards, but they didn’t get in her way. Exiting the castle, she searched the sky frantically for the orb. Seeing pass over the gate and going down the street on her right, she galloped towards it. She saw the two guards that stopped her earlier that morning leaving, probably changing shifts.

“Hey!” She called out to them. The earth pony turned and motioned to his partner to do the same.

“Yes, Miss Sparkle? What can we do for you?” The earth pony guard asked.

“I…ha…I think I know where the creature is!” She panted.

“What? Where?!” The unicorn asked, full of anticipation.

“I saw some weird, glowing ball around the castle. It was a spell I’ve never seen before. It’s going down the street now!”

“Show us!” The earth pony called, readying his lance.

“This way!” Twilight turned and headed where the glowing ball went. Behind her, the two guard ponies followed. One of them yelled something to the guards at the gate, but Twilight didn’t hear what. She was too focused on finding the sphere again. Running down the streets, she looked all around for the elusive orb. A slight movement to her left told her where the sphere disappeared to: down an alleyway.

The alleyway was poorly lit due to the setting sun and how close the buildings that made it up were. She slowly walked into the alley, looking all around for anything. The two soldiers flanked her on either side, keeping their guards up. They came to a corner where their only option was to go right. Just as they turned, Twilight saw the sphere turn another corner to the left. The two guards, seeming to notice the orb, stepped forward, quietly. Twilight followed right behind them.

As they rounded the corner, they entered a small, square area with no other exits, save for the sky. The walls around them were made up of the bricks of the buildings. The ground was mostly cobblestone. In the farthest corner of the area, a creature stood with its back to them. Several other spheres were floating around the creature. Just around the creature, Twilight could see an appendage of it holding one of the spheres. A moment later, the sphere disappeared and one of the floating spheres took its place. One by one, the spheres went to the creature and disappeared, while Twilight and the two guards watched from the corner. Finally, the last sphere, the one Twilight followed back, went up to the creature. The creature grasped the sphere and it soon disappeared like the rest. Then, the creature made a noise. It slowly turned to face Twilight and the guards.

Its face had some fur around its mouth and its mane stretched just below where its neck met its body. She could see that its back was actually a red cloak and that it was wearing some sort of blue shirt and black pants. She also saw three necklaces around its neck and a band around its head. Most importantly, she saw a lightly glowing, yellow eye in the creature’s right socket, but its left socket was empty. The eye was looking straight at her, just like it was before.

“Hi~” The creature said, not taking its eye off of Twilight. “I suppose you were looking for me?”

The unicorn besides her let out a beam of magic straight into the sky, exploding into a bright light above them.

“Pretty.” The creature spoke again, looking up at the quickly fading source of light. “What was that about, hmmm? I’m sure it wasn’t to impress me, was it?” The creature returned its gaze to the ponies before it, slowly walking forwards. “Perhaps you’re signaling someone?”

“Retreat!” The earth pony guard yelled, grabbing Twilight with his hoof and turning her to the exit. Not sure what else to do, Twilight ran with the guards down the alleyway. When they turned the corner, right in front of the street, the creature stood in their path.

“Where do you think you’re going?” It asked casually.

The unicorn guard quickly fired a blast of magic at the creature, which held up its appendage, stopping the blast. It then fired one of its own from its other appendage, right at the unicorn, knocking him out. The other guard charged at it with his lance, only to be sidestepped and hit in the side with a blast from the creature. Twilight quickly lit up her horn and teleported to the other side of the creature. She started to run again, only to have the creature teleport in front of her.

“You still haven’t answered my question, you know.” It said. Twilight lit her horn again, but this time the creature grabbed it with its appendage. Despite the discomfort, she tried casting her spell, only to find the magic for it disappearing. “No. None of that now. No more spells.” It said with a smile on its face.

“Let go of me!” Twilight yelled at the creature, trying to pull her horn away from it to no avail.

“That’s a silly request. I grabbed your horn to stop you from leaving, you know.” The creature moved its other appendage in front of Twilight’s face, lighting it up with magic. “Now, what to do with you?”

Twilight could see the energy in its appendage grow stronger and stronger, crackling with destructive power. Still struggling to get away, she called out to anypony that might hear her, but the streets were deserted, something she should have noticed earlier. They ran right into a less occupied area of Canterlot without her noticing. How stupid was she? Shining Armor told her not to do exactly this: go off and search for the creature. Sure, she was with the guards, but that was beside the point. Now she was going to be killed by this thing!

Just as she started to lose hope, a bright flash of light came from behind her.

“ENOUGH!” A regal sounding voice called.

Twilight was able to move her head just enough to see who had come to save her. “Princess!” She called out. Sure enough, Princess Celestia stood behind her, facing the creature, wings flared out. Another flash of light from behind the creature, this time revealing Princess Luna hovering in the air on her wings.

“Release Twilight Sparkle and surrender immediately!” Princess Luna commanded the creature.

The creature stood there for a moment, looking back and forth between the regal sisters. It then released its hold on Twilight and slowly raised its appendages behind its head.

“I surrender.” It uttered.

Twilight quickly moved behind Princess Celestia, who lowered her wings, separating Twilight from the creature’s view. She conjured up a pair of cuffs which she floated over to the creature. The creature, realizing what she wanted, slowly held out its appendages. The solar princess locked its appendages into the cuffs, sealing off its magic. In no time at all, Shining Armor arrived with a squad of unicorn royal guards.

“Captain,” Princess Celestia began in a powerful voice, “Take the prisoner to the royal dungeon. Keep it under surveillance.”

“Yes, Princess!” Shining Armor saluted, ordering his soldiers to surround the creature.

Princess Celestia lowered her head to her student. “Are you alright, Twilight?” She asked soothingly.

“I’m fine.” Twilight responded shakily. Celestia draped one of her wings over her student to comfort her.

“It’s alright now.” Celestia said, trying to calm her student.

The creature and its captors began heading off towards the castle and, thus, the dungeon. What no pony saw, not the princesses or Shining Armor or Twilight Sparkle, was the smile across the creature’s face.

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

Helloooooooo everyone! Here's the next chapter to feed your FIM Fiction addiction. I know what you're thinking: Fluttershy gets to know about Iatril's past before you do. Don't worry. I've given you enough vague information to keep you guessing (I think) and keep you happy (hopefully).

Also, I think I'll try out that idea I had before. The one about letting you guess what spells are cast in the chapters. In this chapter, Dante cast 1 spell. (Well, one you could see, at any rate. You know, the orbs thing). Whoever posts the name of the spell in the comments first wins. I'll check in every so often to see if there's a winner. If there is a winner, I'll let you all know. Then, the winner can PM me what they'd like to see in the story. It can't be some huge plot point, but it can be some minor twist or something small or even some sort of real world reference or something. More on that later, if there's a winner.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter in about a week.