Spike closed his eyes as the cool wind brushed against his face. His wings were spread in a smooth glide as he took in the night. He now knew why Rainbowdash rarely touched the ground; this feeling of freedom was like no other he had ever experienced. Before he realized, his glide had gotten him near the ground and was now heading straight into a dense forest. Spike opened his eyes just in time to see and quickly freaked out. He fluttered up and down, dodging the branches as best he could, but his foot got stuck on a tree, knocking him out of balance and stumbling into another large branch before falling to the ground in a loud thud. The purple dragon grabbed his head as he stood up.

"Ouch….Rainbowdash makes it look so easy…" As he stood he had a strange sensation crawl up his spine. As he moved his hand from his face, his pupils thinned more cat-like than normal again. He turned and saw a very tall mountain close by, with thick black clouds covering the tip. He quickly forgot about the pain he was feeling and took flight coming higher up towards the black smoke. He could feel the chills running across his scales get stronger as he got closer. As time went on, he slowly got control of himself again and stopped in midair to shake his head.

"Wha-what came over me?..." He said as tried to recompose himself. By this time however, he was already deep into the black clouds. He didn't actually have any idea of where he was but didn't want to just fly down in fear he would hit something again. As he moved slowly across the black veil he felt those chills again, it was almost like a radar, guiding him further and further into the black abyss of smoke. But a sudden feeling of déjà vu spread as he soon felt a warm wave of heat pass over him. The smoke began to clear as he saw flowing lava run down the pit that sat on the top of the mountain he now knew to be a volcano. Spike slowly flew down to stone flooring to gaze into the lava flowing like a stream.

"That's odd…lava shouldn't flow like this, it's almost like….a river." The dragon took to the air and began to follow the stream down a tunnel. The strange sense that he had been here before would not leave his mind as he flew over the lava, but while he was busy thinking to himself, he did not notice a large figure creep up behind him. The tunnel shook as a loud roar echoed through, Spike quickly turned to see a very large dragon flying towards him. Acting out of fright, he just places his hands over his head as he expected the worst, but to his surprise the dragon simply flew over him. Spike took a minute to think and hesitantly followed the same path as the dragon that past him. He was soon greeted by a sight to behold, a large towering structure that seemed to work as both a pillar to hold the cave ceiling up and as homes for the thousands of dragons that were now flying around. The lava stream seemed to come to an end into a pond of sorts as dragons and their young played on the solid surface that served as flooring. Spike couldn't help but me astonished by the scene, it was almost like dragon heaven. The heat clearly not bothering anyone here, but rather played in the molten magma like if it was water. He was no stranger to this, as it was something he remembered doing back in the herd he was part of for half a day.

Another loud roar echoed across the sanctuary which startled Spike once more. He fell into the lava and was slowly pulled up stream to the playing infants. Spike poked his head out of the lava to gather his bearings, but was quickly pulled out of the lava by a large claw.

"Aren't you a little old to be playing in the lava with children?" A large dragon said as it carried Spike out of the lava, he quickly looked at the large dragon that had 'rescued' him. It had a long neck, with green and orange scales, not the most blending of colors; it gently put spike down and waited for a response.

"Oh…uh thank. I just fell into the lava after I-"Another roar was heard and Spike covered his ears until it passed. The green dragon laughed.

"Not from around here are you? Names Ralik and you are?"

"Uh, Spike." The Purple dragon said hesitantly, to which Ralik busted into laughter.

"With a name like that there's no way you're from here." Ralik said covering his face and looking away. Spike was flustered as he watched his new acquaintance try to compose himself.

"Where are you from mate?"

"Ponyville, well, I was hatched in Canterlot, but I've been living in Ponyville for like ever now."

"You LIVE with the Equines?" Ralik asked, almost shocked. "But they usually attack dragon kind on sight, how did you manage to survive for so long?" Spike held in a laugh as he imagined such a large dragon afraid of his pony friends.

"You say it like if they hunt dragons." Spike said while slightly snickering.

"But they do! Rumors go around about how dragons that get too close to them will be suddenly bombarded by arrows, and that once they are down, they wake up back in our territory." Ralik come close to whisper in Spike's ear. "If you ask me, they probe them before bringing them back. They might even….place weird magic stuff into their brains!" Ralik finished in a loud shout. All the surrounding young dragons looked at them for a moment before one of the little youngling come close to them.

"Ral, are you talking about the Equines?..."To which Ralik responded with a nod. At once all the young dragons screamed and ran away, no doubt to their parents.

"Spike my friend let me introduce my younger brother here, Vince." Ralik said as the dragon just a little smaller than Spike grabbed onto his brother's leg. He wore them same color scheme as Ralik and slowly looked at him as his fright left him.

"It's nice to meet you." Vince said as he extended a claw to greet Spike, who took into his own to shake hands. As if on cue, Spike's stomach growled loudly. A little embarrassed, he blushed slightly as his new friends looked at him then smiled. It wasn't long before the brothers took him into their home to share a meal, and Celestia knows he needs one, it had been a few days since arriving at the dragon territory and he had not eaten anything. He sat at a stone tabled while Ralik cooked on what he presumed to be a stove powered by the other dragon's flames breaths. The godly scent of meat clogged his nostrils and Spike fell into complete bliss. It only took a few minutes before the meal was served and the brother's sat along with him. They commenced to eat, Spike chowing down like never before. Vince laughed at how Spike was eating before mimicking and doing the same. Ralik didn't notice them eating so rapidly, so when he reached for seconds, there was nothing left for him. Spike and Vince sat at the table with filled stomachs, leaving Ralik with a rather annoyed look. He was about to say something but was suddenly cut off by yet another loud roar. Only Spike reacted to it again, hiding under the table until it passed.

"Hehe, Spike is a scaredy dragon." Vince teased.

"How can you guys stand such a loud screech?" The purple dragon asked as he slowly got out from underneath.

"Oh don't pay them no attention; they'll be gone in a few days. It's just the weekly arena fights going on, the Sage's son returned a few hours ago, so they're all going at it."

"Going at it?"

"Ya, you know, fighting? It's all in good fun; you must have lost of experience fighting if you're from the Equine territory."

"The 'territory' is called Equestria." Spike corrected, getting tired of having his home and his friends referred to 'Equines.'

"Ye don't say…well, what say we go doing to the arena? You could prowl with some of them, I mean sure you might be small, but you must be tough." Vince got up and started jumping around at the thought. To this little dragon, like all younglings, love the idea of fights.

"Umm…I'd rather not thanks."

"None sense!" Ralik said, dragging Spike as he began to make way to the arena, Vince not far behind, still jumping and shouting 'arena' over and over.

Against his better judgment, Spike followed his friends to this arena, the roars getting louder and louder as they got close. It wasn't long before they saw a crowd of dragons gathered. The trio squeezed between them and after a while they got to the front where they witnessed a fight between two grown dragons. It was quite the rough play, as one slammed another into the ground. Spike's face lost some color as he saw one of the contestants with a tattered wing. There was no doubt about it; the large red dragon fighting was the very same dragon that had chased Silver and him for days.

"That there is Xancus, the Sage's son. Don't know what happened to his wing though; bet it was some fight he got into." Spike gulped as he witnessed the fight.

"I uh, have to get going, my friend could be worried about me and there's so much I have to do before-"Spike however, was interrupted by a loud roar which came from an amplifier, signaling the end of the fight.

"Another falls to my strength! Is there no one stronger!?" Xancus asked out, his opponent carried away by other dragons. Ralik picked Spike up by the arm and screamed out.

"This dragon here is from the Equine territory, uh, I mean Equestria! Bet he can give you a run for yer money!" As the words left his mouth the loud crowd around them became dead silent. Whispers arouse.

"From the equines?..."

"He MUST be strong…"

Xancus took a good look at Spike and quickly recognized him.

"YOU! We have some unfinished business! You and your little buddies tore up my wing!" After his little outburst, even more whispers.

"He tore Xancus' wing?..."

"He really must be strong then…"

Spike couldn't help but feel like he got into a horrible situation to where there was no turning back. The crowd cheered once more as Spike somehow ended up on the arena, Xancus on the opposing end. Ralik who had walked to the starting spot with him said.

"Eh, don't worry, I'm sure you can put up a good fight." Spike who was sweating bullets stood still, his comment not reassuring in the slightest.

Another roar echoed and Xancus charged at Spike. Scared, the purple dragon took to the sky, injured, Xancus couldn't get to him from there. The red dragon took this as a gesture of ridicule since he could not fly, angry, he took a deep breath and sent out a very large fire ball in a thick crimson flame. Spike did his best to evade it, but he faced with a barrage of fire balls. He innately got hit by one of them, sending him flying down. Again the red dragon charged at him, and tried to strike with his right claw. Spike rolled and evaded the strike. Being so close, he returned fire, his green flames making contact with the dragon's eyes and burning him. The crowd whispers amongst themselves.

"A green flame?..."

"But we haven't seen a green flame in ages…"

Xancus was staggered as he tried to regain sight. The purple dragon took flight once more and struck at Xancus with his claws as he circled around him. The red dragon tried to fight back, but his vision had not returned quite yet. Again and again Spike strikes at his opponent, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"Drat, it's not working." Spike said to himself as he landed a few feet away from Xancus. "It's just light last time, nothing I do does anything to him." By this time Xancus had recovered and he looked over at him.

"Grrr, you'll pay for that!" Spike readied his claws, by wasn't sure what he was going to do with them. Again Xancus striked down at him with his heavy hand only to have Spike fly over his shoulder. But as his flew over the red dragon, Spike was suddenly hit by a long spiked tail, sending him flying back only to be caught by Xancus who proceeded to try to crush him in his hands. Xancus began to laugh.

"Not so tough now are ya punk?!" The red dragon said as he continued to laugh. Spike could feel his bones beginning to crack under the intense pressure. When his slightly opened one eye and saw his opponent laughing. His jaw barely about to move, he opened his mouth and spit out another small flame into Xancus mouth, burning him from the inside again. The red dragon immediately let go and faced away as he held his neck.

He began to cough quite loudly as he hit the floor, trying to catch his breath, Xancus did the same but for a completely different reason. He slowly stood up and held his left arm as he tried to ready himself for what was coming up, but the signal roared and ended the fight. Spike's eyes opened wide as he looked around. He hadn't noticed since he was preoccupied with the fight, but the crowd was roaring in excitement, chanting his name over and over.

"I..I won?" Ralik immediately ran up to him and hugged him.

"You won you won! I can't believe you won!" He said as he held Spike high in the air.

"How did I win?!" Spike asked out loudly.

"The winner is decided by either a forfeit…or by having one dragon downed for 15 seconds…" Spike heard from nearby. He turned to a very large dragon walk up to him and Ralik. "Since you were standing while Xancus here was on the ground trying to recover from your hit for 15 seconds you won."

The dragons around became very silent as he spoke in a rather soothing voice.

"My name is Casalisk, the only sage of Dracopia and Xancus' father."

Next Chapter: Green Flame Estimated time remaining: 54 Minutes