“Cadance, this is amazing!”

“Really?!”

“Really!” Dusk Shine shouted out loud as they were soaring above the skies towards the Dragon’s Keep. Dusk looked down on every corner, feeling the sense of adrenaline coursing through him. He saw how small the trees were and how the animals were even smaller.

Cadance turned to him for a brief moment, letting loose a small smile. “Dusk, I’m going to land now, okay? I’m feeling a bit tired...”

Dusk turned to her and smirked, “No problem, let’s take a break.”

With those words, Cadance descended to the ground. However, there was an issue with landing for her. She was good at taking off from the ground, but landing was another story altogether.

“Hold on, Dusk!”

She collided with the ground, rolling until she hit a tree. Once she regained her senses, she stood up and looked around her. “Dusk?” she called out to him, only to hear a muffled voice behind her. She turned and saw Dusk’s body submerged in the ground with his legs flailing non stop.

“Oh my!”

Cadance reached out and pulled him out of the ground. Dusk was gasping for air and coughing uncontrollably. “I’m so sorry!” Cadance told him apologetically as she patted him on the back, trying and succeeding to stop his coughing.

Dusk shook off all the dirt from his robes, “Haha, well... let’s not try that again.” Dusk said. He waited for a reply, but only silence came. “Cadance?” he turned to her and gasped slightly.

Cadance’s eyes became moist, as she looked down to her body and to her claws. Her lips started to quiver and she began to sob in her claws.

“Cadance, what’s wrong?”

“It’s... it’s nothing,” she finally said. “I just thought I had hurt you.”

“Trust me, Cadance, I’m fine,” said Dusk Shine reassuringly as he wiped some dirt off his shirt. “It’s nothing.”

“But it could have been something.”

“Do you always worry this much?” Dusk chuckled.

The dragon’s cheeks blushed red. “N-no, I just... umm, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Thanks?” Dusk Shine wondered, oblivious to the concern that the dragon clearly had for him. He looked around the spot where they landed, a small opening in the forest. The two were surrounded by a wall of thick trees and bushes with a small pond in the center. Dusk Shine quickly hopped down onto a nearby log and took a seat. “How long do you think you’ll need to rest up?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Cadance. “I’ve never flown that much before in one go. Even as a princess.”

“Tell me about that,” asked Dusk Shine. “What’s castle life like?”

“Castle life?” The dragon wondered. “It’s nice. Sometimes it gets a bit boring, what with the royal duties and having to attend countless ceremonies yearly. It can get a bit heartbreaking at times when you have to deny a pony’s request, but we can’t solve everypony’s problem.”

“Sounds better than being a farmer,” smiled Dusk Shine. “Living in a big castle, all those servants waiting on you hand and hoof. Must me a paradise.”

“It wasn’t awful, I’ll admit that,” she said. “Just a bit exhausting at times.”

“Can’t be any worse than the farm life,” Dusk said. “Wake up at dawn every morning, feed the chickens, mend the barn, stack the hay... I could go on, but I’m afraid I’ll bore you.”

“Impossible,” Cadance said. “It’s sounds like a nice simple life.”

“Maybe, but it can get really boring,” he said. “That’s why I took up magic.”

“You know, I could help you with that if you want,” offered Cadance. “I was really good back when I was a pony.”

This peaked Dusk Shine’s interest. “You really think you could help me?” Dusk asked. “I’m really not that good.”

Cadance beamed, “Well, you will be good now that I am here!”

“Great! Lets get started!”

Cadance just shook her head, smiling softly. “You’re always so optimistic, aren’t you?”

Dusk just shrugged, “Life’s too short to be sad,” he told her plainly.

Cadance stared at him with focused eyes. She then smiled softly, “You’re right,” she said and then walked past him. “Okay, what magic do you know exactly?”

Dusk tapped his finger to his chin in thought, “Well I do know how to do fire magic.”

“Excellent, could you show me an example?”

Dusk pulled out a branch from his robe, “Okay, lets see,” he said, and he looked around him before stopping in front of a tree stump. “Watch this!”

When he spoke these words, the branch in his hand began to glow with a bright red aura and as he focused on the stump, the branch grew brighter. He let out a shout as he pointed the branch to his target. Instead of fire shooting from his branch, a loud explosion erupted from the branch. He was sent flying at top speeds, falling into the stream behind him.

“Dusk!” Cadance shouted as she ran to where he fell. Once she reached the stream, she saw him lying there dazed and his robes slightly burned from the magic. “Oh my—Are you alright?”

“I feel like I fought a bar keeper,” he told her as his eyes rolled in place. “I did once you know, it was not a fair match.”

Cadance just placed a claw to her face, “Nevermind that. First thing’s first, we need to work on your channelling.” Cadance told him as she saw him stand up from the stream.

“Channeling, got it!” Dusk told her as he stepped out of the water, but failed to notice his robe falling off of him from the burns. He heard Cadance give a yelp and saw her putting her claws to her face.

“What?” He asked, unaware that his robe had been burned off his body.

“Y-y-your clothes...”

“What about—Oh, mother!” He shrieked, quickly covering himself. “Look away!”

“Sorry!” The dragon cried, quickly turning around. “I didn’t mean too.”

“So, now what?” Dusk asked. “I can’t just be naked for the rest of the trip!”

“I wouldn’t mind...” thought Cadance, quickly shaking her head. “Focus Cadance... you have a fiance... kind of... you’ll have him again once you’re back to normal.”

“Hey Cadance, do yo know any spells for repairing clothing? Or how to summon new ones?”

“Only dresses...”

“Dresses?!” groaned Dusk Shine. “I’m not going to... fine. How do I cast the spell?”

“Just focus your magic into creating something flat, then weave your wand as if you were drawing on a piece of paper. But don’t focus too hard or you’ll have another magical backfire, and I’d hate to see what comes off after that.”

“Same here,” he murmured. “Alright, let’s see here. Create somthing flat, create something flat...”

Dusk Shine flicked his wand out and started to focus. He tried to imagine a flat plank of magical energy in front of him. When he had that thought in mind, he started tracing the design of what he wanted. He tried his best not to make it look like a dress, just a simple robe like the one he had.

When he was done, he opened his eyes. Floating in front of him was an identical robe to the one that he had lost.

“Hey, I did it!” The pony cheered as he quickly slipped the newly made robe on. “I actually did it!”

“Wonderful,” smiled Cadance, turning around. “I knew you could do it. It’s a fairly simple spell.”

“You don’t understand, that was the first time I’ve ever cast a spell that didn’t end with me getting blown up!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Dusk Shine grinned. “I think I’m ready to try that fireball spell again!”

Cadance eyes grew slightly larger, “Um, are you sure about that?”

“Yes. why?”

Cadance just looked to the ground, playing around with her claws. “No reason, just be careful, okay?”

Dusk looked to the stump, “I will.”

He channeled his magic again, this time less brighter than last time. When he was ready to fire it however, a small bird came flying over and landed on the stump just as he the magic came out. The fire flew towards the bird, engulfing it in a endless inferno.

“Oh no...”

Cadance looked in horror at the sight, but soon it turned to confusion as the fire stopped. The bird looked alright, but its colour changed to red with gold feathers mixed in. They both walked closer to the bird to inspect it.

“Did you just—”

“I think I did,” Dusk noted.

“The bird changed to a phoenix?”

Dusk nodded his head, not looking away from the phoenix.

Cadance looked from Dusk to the new phoenix, “I never knew you could perform such magic, Dusk.”

“Neither did I...”

The phoenix chirped and then looked up to the dragon before it. It flew up to the dragon’s head and rested upon it, falling asleep.

“I think it likes you,” said Dusk Shine.

“What is it doing on my head?!” Cadance panicked, “Oh goddess, it’s not messing up my hair, is it?”

“No,” shook Dusk Shine. “He’s just sleeping.”

“Well, get it off!” she said, bending her neck down to grab the phoenix off of her head.

The second her claw touched the fire bird, it immediately woke up. It quickly burst into flames and took off again, only to land on the floppy end of Dusk Shine’s hat.

“Hey there little guy,” said Dusk Shine. “You wanna come with us?”

    The little bird nestled into hat, answering the wizard’s question.

    “Well, there we go,” he said. “You ready to go, Cadance?”

    “I guess,” Cadance said. “I’m feeling a bit more rested.”

    “Alright, let’s do this!” Dusk Shine said, jumping onto Cadance’s back. “We should be getting close to Dragon’s Reach soon, right?”

    “I think so,” the dragon said as she started to flap her wings. “If we’re lucky we can get there by nightfall!”

    “Then what are we waiting for?”

    With that, the dragon took off from the forest floor and back into the air, flying towards the entrance of the Dragon Badlands.