The hard wooden floorboards and enclosed walls were what Dark bumped up against as he stirred in his sleep. Like Twilight had told him, she used her magic to create him an actual doghouse for him to crawl into for the night to sleep in. And though he was able to fit into it, he had to curl himself up if he was to have enough room to wiggle around in. The doghouse was nice, however, with its walls painted red and dark-brown shingles layered on top, but it was somewhat embarrassing that Dark's name was hanging above the opening into the doghouse in white wooden letters.
Now somehow sleeping on his back with his lower-half sticking out of the doghouse, Dark continued to sleep, unaware that Rainbow was watching him. Giving a mischievous grin, she lowered her head down towards the opening and took in a deep breath.
"WAKE UP!"
*THUD*
"Ow! Dang it all! What kind of wood did Twilight make this thing?!"
Recovering from smacking his head on the roof of the interior of his doghouse, Dark rubbed the sore spot on the top of his head while Rainbow held her side as she laughing at him.
"What the hay, Rainbow," he grumbled. "Why'd you do that?"
"How could I have not?" she returned with a chuckle. "You were setup perfectly for it."
"But did you really have to do it?"
"Hmmm... yep."'
With a groan, Dark rolled onto his stomach and brought his lower-half in to turn himself around and walk outside. Once clear of it, Dark began stretching himself out, feeling and hearing his joints pop from the stiffness of having to lay on a wooden floor all night long.
"You think she would've given me a pillow at least," he muttered.
"Hey, it's was only for one night," Rainbow reminded him. "Just be happy that Discord was there, or else it would've been a lot worse for you."
"I suppose. By the way, what was with all of the noise last night?"
"Oh, right. Discord used his magic on Pyre to show us his memories of when you two fought yesterday." Rainbow paused and began snickering. "He was bragging to us about how he kicked your flank before it started, but what we saw was a totally different story."
"He didn't even come close to beating me," Dark defended himself. "That whole time, Pyre was on the defensive."
"We know, we saw everything that happened. Speaking of you two, Pyre said that he was going to start your training this morning, and I'm going to watch."
Dark looked at her somewhat worryingly. "Are you sure that's a good idea after what happened yesterday?"
"Pfft. Yeah right. When Pyre told us about that, Twilight told him that she wasn't going to allow it unless she was there to supervise you two, so I'll be right there with her."
"I guess I can understand, but is Pyre really alright with it?"
"The guy's a bit stubborn, but Twilight wasn't going to budge on it. By the way, I'm kinda surprised that you actually slept out here all night. Can't you sneak back into the castle or something?"
"Not when Twilight has a magical barrier preventing me from entering it," he said while arching and popping his back. "Honestly, like I would actually try sneaking back in and risk upsetting her more than she already is. At least it's only for the night so I can go in and get some breakfast."
"You think it's down now?" Rainbow wondered.
"Guess I'm about to find out."
Following along side him, Rainbow looked between Dark and the doghouse he'd slept in.
"So, you gonna keep that for next time?" she asked with a grin, causing Dark to groan in response as he reached the castle doors and pushed them open. "Huh. I guess that the barrier's down."
"Looks like it," Dark said before sniffing the air. "And it smells like something's cooking."
Closing the doors behind them, Dark and Rainbow made their ways down to the kitchen where they started to hear voices.
"Can you teach me too?"
"That sounded like Spike," Rainbow said.
"Depends if you're able to keep up with me."
"And that sounded like Pyre," Dark noticed. "Is he staying here while he's here then?"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you after waking you up that Pyre will be staying here at the castle with you guys."
"Great," he sighed, shaking his head. "Just great."
"What's wrong? Afraid that he might walk-in on you and Twilight?" Rainbow joked, causing Dark to look away in an attempt to hide his blush. "Seriously? Is that seriously what you're worried about?"
"With our track record, Rainbow, I wouldn't doubt it."
"Just lock the doors and put up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door handle or something. Should take care of your problems."
Not wanting to really go much more into it, Dark nodded his head and just agreed with what Rainbow said before they turned the corner into the kitchen. As they did, they were greeted with Spike and Pyre sitting at the table, each with a stack of gem-sprinkled pancakes while Twilight was flipping several normal pancakes at the stove.
"All I'm saying is that you might want to think twice before you want to have me train you too, kid," Pyre told Spike.
"I know that already, but I want to," Spike argued.
Shaking his head in annoyance, Pyre noticed Dark and Rainbow walking in and looked to him. "Is this what you have to deal with?"
"Deal with what?" Dark questioned.
"This little hatchling wants me to start training him. Doesn't he ever ask you?"
"Not often," he shrugged. "I made him a training dummy back behind the forge for him to do some solo-training, and we'll sometimes have a sparing match if he asks me and I'm available, but that's about it."
"Well, he's wanting me to teach him how to control fire like we do. That, and he wants me to teach him how to better control his fire breath. Why can't you do it?"
"How about because I myself don't know how to fully control my own dragon breaths? Yes, I can use my fire breath, but I haven't even touched my shadow breath."
"Your what?" Twilight asked, turning around with three plates of pancakes in her magical hold. "By the way, good morning, Dark. Sleep well?"
"Not too bad considering that I slept on the hardwood floor," Dark answered with a hint of annoyance. "And what did you make that doghouse out of anyway? I can have pony-sized rocks fall on top of me and maybe get a bruise, but it really hurt when I was startled awake and banged my head in the ceiling without leaving so much as a crack in it."
"Just some ironwood," she shrugged.
"Iron... wood?"
"It's a type of wood that's as hard as iron. It should be pretty self-explanatory."
"Alright."
Making her way over, Twilight began setting the plates of pancakes down for her, Dark, and Rainbow.
"You're not too upset about it, are you?" she asked hopefully.
"Not really I guess," Dark answered with a small sigh.
"Well then, hopefully this'll make you feel better," Twilight said, leaning over and giving Dark a kiss on the cheek. "That, and I also made you some chocolate chip pancakes."
Taking a second look, Dark noticed the melted chocolate chips within his pancakes before giving a joyous smile and started eating them. Giving a small giggle at Dark, Twilight turned to her own breakfast and followed suit. When they were almost half-way done, Twilight looked back to Dark.
"So, ready for your training today?" she asked.
"Yeah, about that," Dark began, "is what Rainbow said about you overseeing us true?"
"After what you two did yesterday?" Twilight leaned in close to whisper into Dark's ear. "You bet your sweet flank I am."
Dark didn't know if it was the wording or the tone of how she said it, but either way, Twilight's words sent a chill up his spine that made his whole body shiver. Although, as subtle as it was, it was still enough for Rainbow and Pyre to notice while Spike was too busy eating away at his withered tower of pancakes.
"It wouldn't work if I tried to argue it, would it?" Dark questioned, getting a headshake from Twilight. "Yeah, I thought so."
"Hahaha! Look at you!" Pyre laughed. "The Lord of Death, supposedly the most feared of us all, is reduced to this!"
"Just you wait, Pyre," Dark said. "One day, you too will find yourself somepony special. And when you do, you'll understand why I'm like this."
"Since when did I say that I would want a pony for a girlfriend?"
"You get what I'm saying. Pony, dragon, griffon, it doesn't matter to me. All that I ask is that you promise me that you won't try dating any gorgons," he requested with a shiver.
"Don't worry about that. I already learned that lesson from watching Fissure's failed relationship with one." Pyre looked around to see everyone looking at him in disbelief. "What?"
"How did he survive the gorgon's stare?" Twilight questioned.
"Have you really forgotten? Fissure is Earth Incarnate. He's immune to petrification of any form since he's more-or-less made up of rocks."
"Really?"
"Yes. You may not notice it at a distance, but up close, you can see that he actually has rocks in place of scales and skin, and that his eyes are actually gems."
"Does he also have rocks for brains?" Rainbow joked.
"Yes, actually. His brain and other internal organs are made of some form of rock. And if I remember correctly, his blood is actually made up of magma."
While they were looking at him in surprise, Twilight's eyes were shimmering.
"He's a being made of living rocks?!" she asked giddily. "Is there any chance that Fissure can come over here for a visit so that I can run some tests and other experiments on him? Oh, and maybe even get a few samples?"
"No can do. He and Aques are guarding Aurora's egg down in Aques' cave."
"That's neat," Rainbow commented. "So, where's this cave at?"
Pyre smirked. "At the bottom of the Mareana Trench. I doubt that anything will be able to get down there and harm Aurora's egg now."
"How'd the they survive the trip down there with the egg still intact?" Twilight questioned. "The water pressure should've crushed anything that's gone down that deep."
"Aques can become water, so she doesn't have to worry about it. For Aurora's egg, Aques manipulated the water surround it so the water pressure wouldn't crush it. As for Fissure, he melded into the earth and entered the cave from there. You know, since the cave is made of rocks."
"Oh."
"Okay, we get that," Rainbow began, "but if they're there, and you're here, then where's Aero? Shouldn't she be with them too?"
"Aurora's egg is safe enough with Aques and Fissure there, so she's probably flying somewhere around the world. Now, back to Dark's training," Pyre redirected, now looking directly at Dark. "Dark, I want to have a word with Nocturne."
"Why?" Dark questioned.
"Because I need to talk to him in private."
Shrugging, Dark summoned his Death Reaver in his claw and held it out for Pyre to take.
"Okay. Knock yourself out."
"Damn it, Dark, I told you that I didn't want him to see me like this!" Nocturne shouted in anger.
"Hey, you had this coming after you hijacked my body yesterday unannounced."
"It was just the half!"
"Calm down, Nocturne," Pyre said as Dark handed the sword over to him. "I needed to talk to you without the others hearing. Besides, you don't look half-bad as a weapon. The black fleshy stuff is really interesting."
"... what is it?" Nocturne begrudgingly asked.
"I'll ask you on our way to Ghastly Gorge. You ready to go, Dark?"
"I suppose so," Dark answered.
"Don't forget about us," Rainbow said.
"You're coming with?" Twilight questioned.
"Well why not? After watching Pyre's memoires of their fight with Dark kicking his flank, I'm more eager to watch them train now more than ever!"
"He caught me by surprise, that's all! And you're not coming," Pyre told her.
"Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do to stop me? Because I'll just outfly you if you do try something."
Muttering something incohesive under his breath, Pyre glanced back to a smirking Rainbow.
"Let me make it clear that I'm in no way responsible if anything should happen to you. Got it?"
"Sure, what ever. Now let's go already!"
After watching Rainbow down the last of her pancakes and zipping out of the kitchen, the others finished their food and followed after her.
Twilight, Dark, and Rainbow were flying towards Ghastly Gorge with Spike riding on top of Twilight as they talked to each other and occasionally glanced back behind them to see Pyre talking to Nocturne in his claw.
"What do you think they've been talking about?" Spike wondered.
"I don't know, Spike," Twilight answered. "They're too far back for me to hear. Although, I could if I casted a spell to increase my hearing."
"Probably a bad idea, Twi," Rainbow said. "If you did that, then nothing would change since the volume of the wind would also increase, right?"
"... I suppose you're right."
"Don't worry about them, Twilight," Dark told her. "Pyre wanted to talk to Nocturne in private, so why not let them? Besides, we don't know when the last time they talked in private even was."
"Sorry. I'm just curious as to what they're talking about is all."
"I know."
Dropping the subject, they continued to fly towards Ghastly Gorge. As they continued flying, Rainbow began asking Dark questions about their fight while bringing up some moments that she'd commented on when they watched. They kept it up for the rest of the flight until they finally arrived at their destination. Landing down at the bottom of the gorge, they waited for Pyre to catch up to them. Once he landed, he returned Dark's Death Reaver to him.
"All done talking?" Dark asked.
"We're finished," Pyre replied. "I got what I wanted to know from him."
"Nothing bad I hope."
"Just a comparison of your magic from the day you woke up in that hospital, to yesterday when you fought me. And if what Nocturne's told me isn't exaggerated, then his training you has improved your overall magic quite a bit."
"I didn't exaggerate it," Nocturne said defensively. "His power has increased a lot thanks to me training him."
"How much exactly? Could you give us a percentage?" Twilight asked.
"Are you talking about from when he went from a unicorn to a kirin, or from when he first awoke in the hospital to now?"
"Umm... both?"
"One hundred percent magical increase when he changed, and another hundred from then until now."
"What?! But how?!"
"Along with my training him, his body is becoming more like that of a Scaleless Dragon, which will naturally give him more of my death magic. After all, didn't that skin sample you took from him last September tell you the same thing?"
"Yes, but then wouldn't this mean that his magic will become stronger even without any training?"
"Yes, it would," Nocturne admitted. "However, he'll need to continue to practice with it, otherwise he'll lose control and become overwhelmed by it."
"Sounds pretty cool to me," Rainbow chimed before turning to Dark.
"Hey, it's not like I asked or wanted for this," he said. "And besides, it's dangerous."
"It is," Nocturne agreed. "Now, if you don't mind, I've done what you brought me out here to do and want to go back."
"You gonna say goodbye first?"
"No."
Not very surprised by Nocturne's bluntness, Dark shrugged and absorbed Death Reaver back into his body.
"Okay. So what are we doing first?"
"When I was talking with Nocturne, he told me about that little ability of yours," Pyre began. "Mainly that you seem to rely on it a little too much, so I'm going to try and wean you off of it."
"I don't rely on it," Dark protested.
"Oh really? Because if I remember correctly, you didn't hesitate to use it yesterday."
"Because your flames were there and I had the chance to use it."
"Exactly. And from what Nocturne told me, you've also been using it every chance that you'd get."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Look, kid, I'm not telling you not to use it, just that you shouldn't resort to it as soon as you can."
"So you're going to train Dark so that he won't feel like he'll need to use it?" Twilight summarized.
"In short, yes."
"Okay," Dark sighed. "So then, what are you wanting to do first?"
"And is it going to be like yesterday where we'll have to keep our distance?" Rainbow asked.
"No, it won't be anywhere near that," Pyre answered her. "But you should stay back a little bit, just incase."
Heeding his warning, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike walked off to the side, placing thirty feet between them and Dark and Pyre before Twilight erected a barrier around them.
"That'll do," Pyre said to them, nodding before turning back to Dark. "Now, since you're already comfortable with your fire magic, we'll start with your shadow breath."
"Why?" Dark questioned. "It's not like I'll have to use it, or even want to use it."
"Because you don't know how to use it yet. If you don't familiarize yourself with your shadow breath, then you might use it on accident," he explained, sending a small shiver through Dark as he thought about it. "Now then, I want you to focus on the warmth in your chest."
"You mean my fire-sac?"
"Yes."
Closing his eyes, Dark did as he was told and focused on it. "Alright, now what?"
"Now I want to see your fire breath."
Nodding, Dark took in a deep breath before breathing a long trail of fire from his maw. As he continued to breath his fire, he saw Pyre nodding as he appeared to be observing and judging the fire he'd been breathing. Running out of air after half a minute of continuous fire breathing, Dark ceased and began to refresh his lungs of air.
"Not bad," Pyre commented. "Did Nocturne help you with your fire-breathing?"
"No," Dark answered. "It was self-taught."
"Explains a few of the flaws that I saw with it. Suppose that's another thing that I'll need to help teach you."
"Okay, but what did that have to do with my shadow breath?"
"I wanted to have an idea of how long you can breath fire before you start breathing shadows."
"Alright. So, what now?"
"Nocturne ran me though what it felt like for him to help me with you. First, focus on the other area in your chest."
"You mean the cold one?"
"Yes," he said, rolling his eyes, "the cold one."
Closing his eyes to better focus again, Dark felt the cold chill in his left chest. "Okay, now what?"
"Now, I want you to do the same as you did with your fire breath, but instead of focusing on your fire-sac, focus on your shadow-sac. Also, try to aim it away from us because that stuff is lethal to even us Scaleless Dragons."
Nodding, Dark turned around until his back was towards Pyre and the others before focusing again. Having focused on the shadow-sac residing in his chest, Dark opened his eyes and began taking in a deep breath to prepare himself. However, before he could finish, memories of Stonewall covered in shadows filled his mind, causing him to lose his focus and instead breath out hot air from his maw.
"What going on?" Pyre asked, slightly irritated. "I saw you. You had it, and then you lost it."
"Sorry," Dark apologized. "I could feel it, but before I could use it, I had a flashback of when my old village was covered in it when Nocturne attacked."
"I understand, but you should try to ignore them. That's all in the past now and thinking back on them won't do you any good. Now try it again."
Grumbling under his breath, Dark went through the motions again. Once he felt somewhat alright with it, he took in another deep breath and, while focusing on his shadow-sac, opened his maw and began breathing shadows instead of fire. However, after a few seconds of shadow-breathing, several dozen shrieks pierced his mind, causing Dark to recoil and grab his pounding head with his claws. As he continued to lay there, he began to see forgotten memories.
He remembered walking through a sandy desert, having left Stonewall Village caked in dragon blood and corpses the day before. His coat wasn't fairing much either as the intense heat from the desert had dried the dragon blood that covered most of him. He'd gotten turned around a few times during the day, but thanks to the stars in the night sky and the rising and setting sun, Dark was able to point himself somewhat in the right direction as he continued east.
Later on in that day, just before the sun set over the horizon, Dark walked over yet another of the desert's sand dunes to see a cave nearby. Remembering the desert manticores, sand hellion, twenty foot bluetongue lizards, and a vulture that had tried to attack him, and figuring that the cave would be better than sleeping out in the open, Dark decided to take refuge in the cave for the night.
Walking into the mouth of the cave, Dark stood silent as he listened for anything that could be inside it. After a minute of silence had passed, he walked in a little deeper into the cave before curling up beside a rock to sleep against. However, when the supposed rock began moving, Dark leaped back onto his claws and hooves and began moving away from it.
Getting enough distance between him and it, Dark lit his horn to see a giant desert scorpion crouched down before him. Firing a fireball at its face, Dark turned around and ran out of the cave with the angry scorpion chasing after him. Once he got outside of the cave, he fired off another three at the entrance to try and block it off. However, the giant scorpion, instead of stopping like Dark had thought it would, it ran through the fires, putting them out with the sand it kicked over it.
Now out of the cave, the giant scorpion stood at its full height and curled its tail up and over its body. Standing at fifteen feet tall without including its tail, the giant scorpion glared down at Dark before it tried to grab him in one if its pincers, which Dark dodged before running under it.
With Dark under the scorpion, thinking that he'd be safer there since the scorpion probably wouldn't be able to get him with its pincers or tail, he fired a steady beam of magic out of his horn into the midsection of the scorpion's body. Noticing the scorpion moving around to try and get him, Dark kept himself under it while focusing on the spot his magic was being drilled into. A few moments later, his magic pierced the scorpion's carapace and began work in its innards.
Hearing it screeching in pain and noticing that it was losing its footing, Dark canceled his magic and ran out from underneath the giant scorpion before it collapsed. Putting some distance between him and it, Dark turned around to see it twitching before hearing something echo from the cave. Walking over to it, Dark fired off a flare into it to light the tunnels. When the cave became illuminated in the flares, though, he saw a line of giant desert scorpions running up the cave towards him at fast speeds. Speeds of which that he wouldn't be able to outrun. And that was when they were cramped in a tunnel.
Figuring that fighting was the only option if he couldn't outrun them, Dark began casting fire spells from his horn into the cave, but it only served to enrage them further. He even fired a few spells off at the ceiling, but whatever these scorpions used to reinforce the cave with prevent it from caving in on them.
Feeling like he wouldn't be able to get away from this one, Dark began feeling strangely cold in his chest. Figuring that it was the metaphorical Hands of Death, Dark stood his ground, figuring that if he'd die, then it wouldn't be by him rolling over quietly. Shouting out at them, Dark began lighting his horn to try and cook at least one of them before dying, but when he shouted at them, a black fog spewed out from his mouth and into the cave.
Moments later, when the black fog entered the cave and blocked Dark's view of the scorpions, he began hearing the shrill screeching of what he figured was several dozen of those giant desert scorpions. As the black fog continued spewing from him, so did the number of screeches coming from the cave. Only when Dark had enough and covered his ears did he clamp his mouth shut, ceasing his shadow-breathing. But, while Dark stopped breathing shadows, the screeches from the scorpions in the cave didn't. And with the sounds being amplified by being funneled into the cave entrance, it wasn't until the sound from their screeching knocked him out that the noise finally stopped.
With the new memory recovered, Dark continued to lay down as he tried to get the horrible sounds to stop ringing in his ears. With his eyes shut, though, he was unaware of Twilight standing beside him until he felt her horn touching his forehead, easing the pain before it was completely gone. No longer feeling his head throbbing in pain, Dark cracked an eye open to see a worried Twilight standing above him.
And that's why I didn't want you learning how to use our shadow breath, Nocturne half-scolded with a sigh. Idiot.
Ignoring Nocturne's comment, Dark shook his head clear and stood back up slightly unsteadily, prompting Twilight to position herself against his side to help brace him.
"Thanks, Twilight," Dark thanked with a nuzzle.
"What happened?" she worriedly asked, though she already had an idea.
"What was that all about?" Pyre questioned.
"Apparently," Dark began, "using my shadow breath caused some of my memories to return."
"Are you alright?" Twilight asked. "Besides the headache, you seem to be. Well, compared to the last few times anyway."
"Yeah. It's not like last time where you started crying and stuff," Rainbow commented, prompting Pyre to raise an eyebrow.
"No, it wasn't," Dark admitted. "This time it was about me using my shadow breath on what must've been a den of giant desert scorpions I accidentally stumbled upon."
"Were they the tan ones or the black ones?" Pyre asked.
"Black. Why do you ask?"
"Ah. Now I understand," he said with an understanding nod. "Fissure talked about them one time. You see, there are two types of giant desert scorpions. Though each are dangerous, the tan ones' poison is highly potent while the black ones have a piercing screech that's suppose to suppress and knock out anything that hears it that's not one of their own. Do you remember how many of them that you heard?"
"I'm not sure," Dark said, rubbing his head. "There was the one that I killed, and it hurt, it was really more annoying than anything. What really did it was when I started breathing my shadows into their cave which caused a chorus of them to shriek out in unison. And I think it was only made worse since they all echoed through the cave and into the mouth of it where I stood."
Pyre winced. "Yeah. I can see how you'd lose your memory after that. You should consider yourself lucky that it didn't do anymore damage than that."
"Would it have anything to do with the fact that I was a kirin at the time and not a pony?"
"That would be my best bet."
"Alright." Dark paused and looked around, noticing something missing. "What happened to the shadows that I breathed out before?"
"They evaporated after a few minutes of exposure to the sunlight," Twilight told him. "Until then, though, we couldn't get to you since you were too close to it."
"Sorry to have worried you all."
"Don't sweat it. I wasn't worried," Spike said, though they could see that he was just trying to be brave about it and hide his worries.
"Anyway," Pyre began, trying to steer things back on track, "how are you feeling now? Think that you can continue?"
"Sure," Dark answered, now standing steadily on his own. "I can go for some more."
"Good. In that case." Pyre paused as a smirk began taking hold. "I was told by Nocturne of a little experimental spell of yours that you've been having trouble with. It sounds like it'll be fun, and I want to help with it."
Dark's eyes widened as Pyre finished that last sentence. "Are you talking about the-"
"Flare. Yes, I am. A fire-type spell meant to pierce fireproof dragon scales? If nothing else, I'm a little pissed that I didn't think of it first."
Dark's eyes widened and began to sparkle while his grin began to match that of Pinkie's.
"Isn't that one of the spells listed in your experimental magic book, Dark?" Twilight asked.
"It's at the top of my list," he answered. "Right above Meteor Storm and Rain of Fire."
"Why would you want to create spells like that?" Spike questioned.
Dark deadpanned. "It's fire and explosions, Spike. What kind of guy doesn't love fire and explosions?"
Pyre walked up to Dark and slapped him on the back with a laugh.
"HAHAHA! Perhaps you're more of a brother than I originally thought. As for those other two spells of yours," Pyre smirked, "although I don't know Rain of Fire, I actually do already know Meteor Storm, so I can help teach you that."
Dark's smile widened to the size of Pinkie on a caffeinated sugar rush.
"Is it really necessary to learn how to create a meteor storm?" Twilight asked skeptically. "Seems like a spell like that would be very dangerous."
"It wouldn't hurt for him to at learn it just incase. And besides, other than for some sort of emergency, I hardly ever use the spell."
"Okay, but my question still stands."
"Hey, I'm the Lord of Fire, so it should be of no surprise that I would know of a spell as ridiculous as that," Pyre said, giving her a toothy grin before turning to Dark. "Now, back to what we were doing. I'm curious about this Flare of yours, so I want for you to try it."
"But it'll just blow up in my face again," he protested.
"So what? You're fireproof, so you'll be fine."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I like it."
"Maybe not, but I'll need to see it anyway to know what I'm dealing with."
"And I'll be able to help by gauging the spell," Twilight added.
Although Dark still felt reluctant to do so, he was feeling a little better with Twilight wanting to help with it, so he nodded and went along with it.
"Alright, but you might wanna get back. You don't want to be near when this thing goes off. Also, you'll probably want to create a barrier too."
Heeding Dark's warning, Pyre, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike all backed away from him, but kept to his side to get a view of what would happened. Right as they thought that they were fine, though, Dark motioned for them to move farther back. Once they were far enough that Dark approved, Twilight threw up a barrier around them.
Figuring that they would be fine there, Dark planted his claws into the ground, lowered his body closer to the ground, and unfurled his wings to help him brace himself against the recoil. Lighting his horn, Dark then began to take in a long, deep breath. As he did, magical energies began gathering in a spiral inside his mouth as a ball of magic began to grow. Continuing this motion, the ball grew bigger before it began hovering in front of his gaping maw, its size still growing.
Feeling as though he'd put enough power into it, Dark breathed out the air he'd gathered with is fire breath. Unfortunately, just like every other attempt before now, the spell blew up in his face, causing an explosion that sent Dark tumbling head over hooves across the ground for several dozen feet away from the crater it created.
While Dark was busy re-enacting a tumbleweed, Rainbow was hovering within the barrier while the others were trying to keep their footing. It was made more difficult for Twilight, though, as she also had try focusing on maintaining the barrier to keep them from being pummeled by the explosion, and the debris it caused. Once the trembles stopped and the last of the rocks bounced off of the barrier, Twilight dispelled it before she teleported them over to see Dark laying on his back, his coat now covered in a heavy layer of dirt and smoke.
"Told you," Dark groaned.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked. "That looked like it hurt."
"A bit, but I'll be fine," he replied. "That's actually the first time that it's had that big of an impact. Hopefully that means that I'm close to getting it right."
"Without knowing what to look for, it's hard to tell."
"I've been trying to figure out the fire to magic ratio, but I'm not so sure if that's the problem now."
"How so?"
"Because I've tried it with only magic, with only fire, which, by the way, is just fire breath, a quarter to three quarters, half-and-half, three quarters to a third, and so on."
After helping Dark back up, Twilight brought a hoof up to her chin to think about what went wrong. As she continued to think about it, she started to absentmindedly began to flap her wings and pace around in thought before landing in front of Dark.
"How much was the ratio that you put into that one?" she asked him.
"About half-and-half," he answered.
Nodding, Twilight turned to Pyre. "Your thoughts?"
"One viewing isn't enough," Pyre told them. "If I'm to better understand it better, then I'll have to see it a few more times."
"Are you being serious, or are you just saying that so you can see it blow up in my face again?" Dark asked accusingly.
"A little of both to be honest. It was rather amusing to see it explode and send you tumbling like that."
"But only if you want to, Dark," Twilight quickly said. "If you don't, then you don't have to."
"It's fine," he sighed. "I'm already feeling better from my regeneration, so I'll do it again. Before I do, though, just how many more times did you want me to do it?"
"Three more should be good enough," Pyre answered, causing Dark to groan and mutter under his breath something about Pyre being a sadist.
Taking their spots again, they watched as Dark tried casting Flare again, each one blowing up in his face with the same result. Another fifteen minutes later of observing Dark's spell and giving him a break to recover from being blasted in the face, they gathered around again.
"Okay, so what now? Did you figure anything out to help?" Dark asked, his coat now mostly colored black and brown.
"I can't say for sure," Twilight sighed. "It would be much easier if I had some of my equipment from the lab here."
"I might have an idea," Pyre said, earning the attention of everyone present. "You might simply need better training."
"But I have been training," Dark protested.
"With fire magic?"
"... no. It's been with death and some dark magic."
"What?!" Rainbow shouted. "You've been using dark magic?!"
"It's alright, Rainbow," Twilight said to her. "Princess Celestia has already given Dark permission to practice it."
"Yeah. Remember during Nightmare Night when my eyes were glowing?" Dark reminded.
"Yeah. What about it?" Rainbow questioned.
"That was dark magic."
"... oh... cool."
"So, anyway," Pyre began, trying once again to redirect everyone back to the main topic, "from now on, we'll be focusing on your fire magic. We'll save working on your Flare for later when you've gotten better at fire-type spells."
"Alright, but can we get something to eat first?" Dark asked. "Blowing myself up in the face has made me a bit hungry."
Pyre nodded. "Sounds good. Just give me a few minutes and I'll find us something to eat. There's got to be a manticore or dear or something in these woods for us to eat."
Hearing what Pyre was suggesting, Twilight quickly made her way in front to block him.
"Perhaps we can all return to the castle and eat something there?" she suggested before pointing to Dark. "Besides, I'm sure that Dark will be wanting to clean himself off after all of that."
Looking down at his coat, Dark just now noticed that he was almost completely covered in black smoke stains and dirt.
"If it's alright, I'd rather go with Twilight's idea," Dark said, patting down his coat to remove the stains.
"Alright, fine," Pyre relented.
Going with it, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back before they flew off back to the castle.
"By the way, Dark," Pyre began, "from now on, I'll be training you here during the afternoon hours along with Nocturne's lessons. It'll start after we eat lunch and end before the sun sets."
"Alight. It'll give me time to work the forge in the mornings at least," he said before looking over to Twilight. "Is that alright with you, Twilight?"
"Sure, but why are you asking me?" she wondered.
"Because it'll cut into our time together."
Twilight smiled with a small blush. "That's very thoughtful and sweet of you to think of me and our time together, But I'm alright with it."
"Are you sure?"
"I am. And besides, I'm both curious about your training, and worried that you two might accidentally take it a little too far."
Dark sighed. "After what we did yesterday, I suppose that's understandable."
"So we're in agreement then?" Pyre asked.
"Yes, we are," Dark answered before he remembered something important. "However..."
"Yes? What is it?"
Dark blushed and looked away. "Would it be alright to have next Wednesday off?"
"Why?"
As Dark looked back over to face them, they could see the blush showing through his darkened fur.
"Because it's Hearts and Hooves Day."