“This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening!” panicked Cadance as she flapped through the air. She was still terrified at what just happened, constantly shutting her eyes and praying that she would wake up from this nightmare. But every time she did, she was faced with the same dragon-like claw, long scaly snout, and her hideous reptilian complexion.  

The formerly beautiful princess looked back at her castle and the enraged stallion glaring at her. What had happened to him? More importantly, what happened to her? It was all too strange for the princess to think about. Right now, she just wanted to get away from his toxic anger.

Cadance flapped higher and higher into the sky. Being an alicorn meant that she had flown before, but the dragon’s body was much different than her old one, much heavier and bulkier. The princess strained against the weight of her own body as she tried to break through the clouds. Alas, it was too much for her to handle. Cadance eventually fell from the sky, her body too exhausted to flap anymore and she landed in an old meadow.

It felt good for her feet to land against the soft grass of the valley, giving her wings a much needed rest from flying. The dragon princess took a look around the field, nothing more than endless grass fields and a few grazing goats. The wildlife didn’t seem fazed much by the presence of a terrifying dragon. Perhaps they knew she wasn’t a real dragon, perhaps they knew she had no intention of hurting them. Or perhaps they were just dumb and oblivious. She didn’t know nor did she care.

It wasn’t long before the night sky was shrouded with the dark clouds of a rainstorm. The rain fell fast and hard, a near typhoon in almost an instant. Cadance was soon soaked to the bone and drenched in rain water. She needed to find shelter and fast.

Looking around, she found sanctuary in what looked like to be an old abandoned farmhouse. Not exactly a royal palace, but she was not in the position to be picky.

The leaky farmhouse proved to be a relief for the distressed princess. It was thankfully abandoned like she had thought, not even a mouse would call this rickety old shack home, but she would, at least for the night.

The dragoness climbed onto one of the large piles of hay, burying herself in an attempt to get comfortable and warm. This wasn’t easy considering she had to call the itchy straw a blanket and the smelly barn shelter.

It was too much for her. The dragon started to break into tears, crying herself to sleep.

“What have I become?” she wondered. “What have I done to deserve this... this curse?”

She was met with silence, only the sound of her sobbing could be heard. As more tears cascaded from her eyes, she thought back to her fiance. How could he try and kill her so easily? Were her people not taught to tolerate and love all beings no matter how small or big they were? The hatred in his eyes terrified her, and she could sense a form of malice within them. How could she have loved such a pony and be blind to that side of him?

Her eyelids were becoming heavier, she was close to succumbing to a brief moment of bliss. Her stomach growled like it had a mind of its own, demanding to be satisfied as soon as possible. Cadance moaned as she held onto it, feeling it eating herself inside out. Luckily for her, her fatigue overruled the stomach’s will and she was soon cast into sleep.

The morning sun’s rays pierced through the cracks of the farmhouse, shining upon the face of the cursed princess. She groaned as she was willed into awareness, and she slowly opened her eyes to her environment.

Though it wasn’t as abandoned as she thought. She heard the clucking of hens, scurrying about the surroundings of the building whilst pecking the floor endlessly for any scrap of food. When she looked at a hen with her chicks, she felt a slight pang of envy enter her. Such a beautiful sight it was, a mother with her children. How she wished for it, having a few of her own. Though it felt that dream was ripped from her now, with this cursed body she was forced to reside in. Before she could even show frustration to the situation she was in right now, the door of the farmhouse opened slowly. Cadance panicked, looking around quickly before diving into a bundle of hay, hoping to not be seen by whoever or whatever.

“Feeding time, my little hens!” a male voice called out to the hens, as the owner of the voice entered the farmhouse. Cadance gasped, seeing as it was a pony. A stallion, wearing a green patched-up robe with an old looking wizard’s hat. He had lavender fur, with a purple mane and sky-blue highlights running through it. It seemed the mane was too long, as he keep brushing the mane out of one of his eyes. What intrigued her the most were his eyes. Purple like his mane, and showing not only a deep sense of curiosity, but care too. Others may dismiss him as being the oddball type, or as the youth of today would say, nerdish type. But to her, he was rather attracting.

“Hey, hey! Take it easy will you ladies!” he called out to the hens, as they bombarded him when he threw the seeds on the ground. He chuckled softly as they dispersed, and let out a sigh with a smile. “Now then, where did I put that book? Ah yes!” he said to himself, walking towards the bundle of hay Cadance was hiding in.

She reacted quickly, backing away from the bundle without being seen. Cadance saw him reach into the bundle, pulling out an old looking book from it.

“Alright... now where did I last leave off?” he wondered to himself, flipping through the pages of the worned out book. “Basic enchantments... charms and jinks... transfiguration... Ah! here it is!” He stopped flipping through the book. “Beginner Spells and mana generation!”

He took a seat on the hay, his rump just inches away from the dragon princess’s terrified face.

“Alright, let’s see,” the pony said as he studied the page and began to read.

“As you probably now know, all spells are composed of the five elements that make up pony magic: Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, and Generosity. When combined, they can unlock true magical potential of any pony young or old. Spells covered in this section will fall under the three trees of Kindness, Generosity, and Loyalty.”

“Alright, seems easy enough.” He flipped the page over, and continued to read.

"First thing that any aspiring wizard should get is a wand. This is an important tool to allow you to channel the magic within your body into a more primal and physical form. It is recommended to use a professionally crafted wand, but a sharpened stick can be used as well and allows for some magical channeling. As a beginner, you can make due with a stick for now, as it will be an inexpensive way to replace broken wands from misfired spells.

“Alright... stick... stick...” wondered the young wizard. “You’d think that one could find a stick in a barn.” He got up from the hay pile and took a look around. Finally, he was able to spot a stick sticking out of the hay behind him. “Perfect!” He smiled, reaching for his soon to be wand. However, it was just out of reach of his fingers so he climbed onto the hay, swimming through the straw to reach the long twig.

Unknown to the wizard, he was standing on top of the dragon Cadance, accidentally kicking her in the gut as he finally grabbed a hold of the stick.

“OOPF!” groaned the dragon, doing her best to stifle the croak of her voice but couldn’t help but let out the tiniest moan.

“Hmm? What was that?” wondered the magician, turning his head around the corner of the barn. There was no one there besides him and the flock of chickens. But he was sure that he had heard something... right?

He just shrugged it off.

“I must be hearing things,” he muttered, sitting down and looked back down to his page.

“One of the most easily casted spells is the simple ‘Fizzle Spell,’ a trivial and very helpful spell. The ‘Fizzle Spell’ is a level one magical projectile spell that can be used to illuminate rooms, push small objects, and even stun smaller creatures. To cast, you must have mana of the ‘Loyalty’ tree. This can be strengthened with every bond you make. For a point of reference, see page 98.”

He turned the pages over, but then he felt himself moving up and down slightly. Raising one eyebrow in confusion, he bounced slightly on the bundle of hay. He heard groaning, and the sound of hay falling apart. He looked down to what he was sitting on, which was the stomach of a dragon. His eyes widened as he blinked twice, with his stare fixated on the dragon.

“Could you please get off of me?”

He then screamed, jumping off of the dragon. He rolled off to the dragon’s side, hitting his head on the ground. As he groaned and clutched his head, he noticed the dragon coming closer to him. He ran for the door, making it outside and getting away from the beast.

“Please don’t go!”

He stopped abruptly, and turned back slowly to the voice that called to him. It belonged to the dragon, yet it didn’t sound like a dragon’s voice at all. With sweat pouring out of his pores as fast as hail, he faced the dragon’s direction. He let out a slight gasp at seeing the dragon cry. None of the books he read about dragons had he ever heard of them being able to cry, let alone show emotions.

“W-why are you crying?” he asked her hesitantly, staying right where he was in case the dragon had other ideas.

Cadance wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffing slightly to ease the tension building inside her. “It’s just.. I’m not what you think I am,” she responded to him, though she feared he might call her pleading a bluff.

“What do you mean?”

She was surprised by his straight forwardness, and his curiosity that held no snide in it. “I’m a pony just like you,” she said softly, looking away from him.

“... Come again?”

“Look, I don’t understand it either but last night something happened to me... and I ended up like this,” she said in a clearer tone, looking at the pony before him. She expected him to laugh at her, or give a foul rebuttal. She was, however, met with even more curious eyes and he actually came towards her.

“Incredible!” he whispered as he took a closer look at her, “I’ve heard of curses before, but never anything like this! Actual transformation is imperfect, but this... this is beyond any book I have ever read,” he spoke to himself, inspecting the dragon with a keen eye from every angle. He noticed her shy away slightly and he panicked a little, thinking he may have gone too far. “I’m sorry! I-I just—”

“So... you believe me?” she asked him, turning towards him.

“Of course! I don’t see a reason for you to lie to me,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s... it’s just a relief,” the dragon sighed. “So, do you think you could break the curse on me?”

“Huh?”

“You’re a wizard right?” Cadance asked, starting to get excited. “You must be able to perform a counterspell or a ritual or something to help me get back to normal.”

“Umm...” the pony gulped, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sort of... well I’m not... very... good at this magic stuff yet.”

“What about your mentor? Could he help me?”

“Mentor?” asked the magician. “I don’t have a mentor. I just bought this book from a traveling sales pony a while back and read it whenever I can. I don’t know any spells besides one or two of the simple ones. Nothing that could do something like... well, this.”

The smile vanished from Cadance’s face as her hopes were extinguished. “I understand,” she sighed, collapsing onto the hay pile. “I guess I’ll be stuck like this forever.”

“Sorry...” apologized the pony.

“I’m going to be stuck like this forever!” she cried, sobbing into her claws. “I don’t even know what I did wrong to deserve this!”

“Hey...” said the pony, patting the dragon on the back and trying to do his best to comfort her. “I’m sorry. I’m sure that whoever did this to you was probably just some big jerk.”

“That’s not making me feel better,” wailed the dragon as her crying intensified.

“Sorry! I’m not very good at this,” he said. “Look, I’m sure things won’t be that bad. These things have a way of working themselves out. You’ll see, and if you need any sort of help you know that I’ll be here to help you through it... Umm, what was your name again?”

“C-Cadance...” the dragon whimpered. “P-Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of Canterlot.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” gasped the pony. “You’re a princess? And not just any princess, but the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!? Holy sh—how did—what are—This is incredible!”

Cadance just looked down somberly, “There’s nothing incredible about this...” she said as she turned away from the pony.

“O-oi! Please don’t cry!” the pony pleaded to her, “Maybe this is a sign or something,”

She turned to the pony, curiosity edged onto her face. “A sign of what?”

The pony just shrugged, “I don’t know, but maybe there is a way to get you back to your body,” he noted to her, and then he tapped his finger to his chin. “But how exactly?” he asked himself as he went into deep thought. A few moments passed, not noticing Cadance looking slightly confused.

“Hey... are you o—”

“I got it!”

She jumped back slightly at his sudden proclamation, and she saw him grab a book from his bag.

He turned the pages, looking over each one he turned to. “Aha!” he exclaimed as his finger stopped on one page he skipped to. “This is it!” he then showed her the book’s page, which was displaying a mountain formed in a cone-like shape.

“What is it?” she asked as she had no idea what it meant.

“This is the Dragon’s Call. It’s said that this is the place where all dragons come from. I bet you anything, one of the dragons knows why you became cursed.”

Cadance’s face brightened in joy, with a smile beaming on her face. She proceeded by hugging the pony before him, holding onto him for a few moments. She then blinked and let go of him quickly. “Sorry.”

The pony just shrugged, “It happens.”

Cadance turned to him, “What are we waiting for!? Lets go!” she told him, lifting him onto her back and spreading her wings.

“Sounds like a great idea, but just one problem.” he said to her.

“What’s that?” she asked him. The sound of thunder roared in the air, and heavy rain fell down upon them. “Oh, joy.” she grumbled to herself as she was becoming soaked.

“It looks like it won’t let up for a while,” said the pony. “I guess we’ll have to wait it out until the storm passes.”

“Great,” Cadance mumbled as she headed back into the barn. “Just my luck. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Do you want me to leave?”

“No... but don’t you have a nice warm house? Maybe a family that’s waiting for you? I’d imagine you have better things to do than sit in a smelly and small barn with a dragon.”

“Not really,” said the pony. “My mother died a few years ago and I never even knew my father.”

“What about a marefriend? A wife perhaps?”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “I’d just be going to an empty house. Not a lot of ponies this far up the valley.”

“Oh... well I’d appreciate the company,” she said as the two entered the barn. The dragon laid down upon the bed of hay, leaving a small space for the pony to sit down. “Comfortable?”

“Yeah...” he said, shivering a little. “Although it’s a little colder than my house.”

“Here,” she said, extending one of her wings out so the pony could grab ahold of it and use it as a blanket.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Cadance said. She took a look out the door of the barn and watched the pouring rain. “Hey, I never asked you for your name.”

“Oh?” chuckled the pony. “I guess it sort of slipped my mind.”

“So...”

“Oh, right! It’s Dusk Shine,” he sighed. “Named after the father I never knew.”

“Well, Dusk Shine,” the princess dragon smiled at Dusk demurely. “I’d like to thank you for agreeing to helping me.”

“Don’t mention it, Princess," Dusk Shine smiled. "Happy to help.”