Spike wiggled around as he sat at a table with Xancus, the dragon he just defeated in a dual. The dragon had an annoyed look on his face as his leaned on his elbow. The difference in size was more than apparent. Xancus continued to look away as they sat in silence for what seemed like a decade.

"So sorry to keep you waiting, I had something to discuss with another...creature." Casalisk said as he walked back into the library he had brought Spike to. The sage was quite different than the other dragons, for one he was dressed in a sort of robe; none of the other dragons wore any clothing. Like his son, he was red, with black spikes all around him. Definitely had the appearance of someone that could tear you apart in an instant, yet his voice was much too gentle.

"It's no problem…" Spike said softly.

"Speak louder!" Xancus said pounding his fist on the table, startling Spike. "I will not have the dragon that bested me act so weak."

"Yes S-sir!" Spike said sitting up straight. To which Casalisk laughed.

"Ohoho, both of you calm down. I brought you here just for a quick chat, that's all." The sage said as he sat down at the table.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?..."

"Well for one I want to congratulate you on your victory." To this Xancus scuffed and looked away. "And I wanted to ask you about your flame."

"My fire breathing?"

"Yes." Casalisk snapped his claws and at once another dragon come. "Fetch me the old book of flames please." The dragon, who Spike recognized as a female now, did as she was instructed, looking in a nearby bookshelf for the book. It didn't take long before she found it and brought it over, quickly glancing at Spike, sending him a soft smile as she set down the book close to the sage.

"A dragon's flame is elemental, while they all hold the ability to 'burn', they do so in different ways." Casalisk began to say. "A crimson flame like my son's, is an intense fire that will scorch over everything."

"But doesn't all fire do that?" Spike asked, to which Xancus responded by standing and slamming his hands on the table.

"No! A crimson flame doesn't just burn, it its equivalent as the molting fire of the sun."

"Right, my son's flame is a rare one, the fire is so strong it will not just consume what it touches, but will continue to burn even if there is nothing to feed the flame. Likewise, there is a blue flame. It also 'burns' but it does so by freezing what it touches. The nerves perceive the frost that eats away at the touch as a burn since it gives an instant frostbite." Casalisk said as he put the book down.

"However, a green flame is that of the wind element, one that we have not had here in Dracopia in a very long time. That is why I brought you here, I would like to examine your flame and how it works so we may see develop our young to be born with it."

"You can make a dragon be born with a certain flame?" Spike asked reluctant to comprehend how that would work.

"Why yes, it all depends on the how egg is hatched, a dragon egg in constant cold, will either kill it or give it a blue flame for example." Spike cringed at the thought of taking a gamble like that just to get a baby with a blue flame.

"So what would you have me do?...fight Xancus?" Spike asked as he glanced over at his 'friend'.

"As much as I would enjoy a rematch and crushing your bones, we aren't allowed to fight for a week." Xancus said as he sat back down.

"A week?"

"Are you not familiar with the dragon code? I suppose there's no need for it in a land of Equines. One of the many rules we follow is that when two dragons duel, they must wait a week before having a rematch, allowing for rest and recovery." Casalisk said as Spike looked down at his claws. He then spat out a flame and took out his hand made dragon code card. To which both of the dragons were amazed.

"What? How did you do that?!" Xancus asked quite loudly. Spike looked down at his card and said.

"Well, I got a note card from out of one of Twilight's drawer and-"

"No you idiot, how did you make it appear out of…" Xancus began to trail off as his father finished for him.

"Thin air?" Casalisk chuckled. "This is the power of the flame of wind." The sage stood up and began to make his way out. "Xancus, I would like you to help teach our guest here how to use flames."

"…Yes father." Xancus responded before taking hold of Spike by the head and dragged him away. The large red dragon walked rather in silence as Spike was still being dragged. They took some rather complex turns around the structure they were in, all made out of stone. Very similar to the temple back where Silver was at. Spike began to think about his old friend and how he might be doing all alone, sure Silver can take care of himself, but what's to say he doesn't go out searching for his dragon friend only to get attack by a dragon, then again, dragons think Ponies as some sort of boogiemen, so the most probable thing that would happen is they just run away.

"Say Xancus…" Spike began.

"What is it?"

"Why did you attack Dragon's Bane?"

"Is that the city where the Equines live? Fitting name. I attacked because they are the strongest opponents around, and no dragon has beaten them yet. I want to be the one to defeat them and be crowned with the title of the strongest dragon. Nothing more to it." Spike wasn't sure how to feel about having such powerful dragons think that ponies all the great and powerful being of the universe, but he couldn't deny it was somewhat true, with the Princesses and all.

"Not to mention I have some unfinished business with the dark Equine with the missing eye."

"Silver?"

"That his name?" Xancus said coming to a halt and bringing Spike up to eye level.

"Yeah, his full name is Silver Charger, he's the leader of the 'Equines' at Dragon's Bane." Spike said.

"Amazing, he is truly worthy of being my rival in battle." Xancus said as he threw Spike into the air in his excitement.

"Anyway, we're here. Now come out and so we can get this over with." Spike slowly tried to get to his feet, as he looked up the dragoness from earlier held a claw out for him. He blushed slightly and took hold of it. She helped him up and gave him something.

"Here." She said as she returned the hand-made dragon code card he had pulled from earlier.

"Uh, thanks." Spike said before taking the card and blowing some flame onto it, making it vanish into thin air. The dragoness looked with astonished eyes and then giggled before jogging away. Spike started into space as his mind drifted far away, but he was quickly brought back to reality when a stone hit his head.

"Hey! I said come here, we don't have all day." Xancus said as began throwing another stone up and down, warning Spike to hurry. The purple dragon did as he was told and ran out into the field where his 'instructor' was waiting.

Twilight stretched her hooves out as the morning began to rise. As she sat up on her bed she noticed Rainbowdash and Applejack weren't in the room like always. They have morning practice and duties as new soldiers of Dragon's Bane. Bloom who was also starting to wake up yawned cutely nearby.

"Oh good morning Twilight." She said with her mane in a complete mess.

"Tough night lastnight?"

"Yeah." Bloom said as she stretched and got out of bed. "I don't think I went to sleep until around 3 in the morning." Twilight did the same, soon the two unicorns were up and about. They went on with their usual activities: managing the repairs, making visits to the wounded, and continue their study on Dragon's Bane, though it was mostly for Twilight since Bloom knew most of it by heart.

As they finished their morning routine they passed by the courtyard on their way back to the library, they could hear the soldiers hard at work trying to balance helping with repairs and their own training.

"Steady now…that's it…" Twilight heard her dear friend say in the distance. Applejack was helping restore some of the buildings that had been damaged in the attack, her experience in repairs were unmatched back in Ponyville, mostly on Rainbowdash's account. Twilight couldn't help but smile seeing how natural it all felt, it was almost like she was back home.

"You're friend sure is good at repairs." Bloom said, knocking Twilight back into reality.

"Oh yeah, she does a lot of farm raising back in Ponyville with just her family. Something like this is nothing more than normal routine."

"And why is that? Does she have a very large farm and puts up new buildings all the time?"

"Well…it's usually building up farms that have been knocked down…" Bloom giggled and continued to walk back to the library that had become almost like their own little hidden away spot. As soon as they opened the door they were greeted by stacks and stacks of books they had taken down from the shelves. It was almost like passing through a maze until they reached their 'sanctuary'. It was the table where they had sat to read, but with so many candles it looked like a sort of altar. It was almost comical to see them as they were now, just sitting and readying in complete and total silence as the light the candles illuminated would flicker as a soft wind would pass every so often. Twilight would change position as she continued to reach and at one point even read upside down, her head the ground as her legs dangled on the chair she had been sitting on, the book being lifted by magic so she could keep readying. This could easily be one of the most enjoyable assignments for her Celestia had ever given her, except that the fate of the whole city still hung on their shoulders, but what else is new?

"Finding everything ok?" Bloom asked as she took a small break from readying and looked down at Twilight who was hanging from her seat.

"Yeah, for the most part. I'm just really wondering why some of the recorded dragon attacks seem to be with the same dragon." Twilight says as she started to sit back up on her chair. "I mean there are like 3 or 4 that just seem to stumble upon Dragon's Bane, all the others seem to be the same red dragon attack on purpose. It's almost like it has a grudge against you guys."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it does, we've had to repel them thousands of times over the last century, I'm sure they don't like that."

"What about the other dragon heard that migrates over Equestria, how did they get past you guys?"

"That heard didn't originate from here, they came from the further South, over the wild west part of Equestria. It's odd though, those dragons don't seem to care much about pony kind, so Silver said it was best to just stay here. He said that if there was trouble, Celestia would contact us."

"I see. Has Silver always made the decisions?"

"For the most part…" Bloom said looking up at the ceiling. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like he doesn't run them by me first, but he usually knows best. During one of the dragon attacks when I was a filly, a very large portion of the castle was badly damaged. When we were doing repairs we underestimated how sturdy it was and my parents didn't make it."

"I am so sorry to hear about that."

"It's alright, Silver was in the accident too and even though he tried to save them, he wasn't able to. He felt horrible about it and decided to join the soldier ranks to try to make it up to me, but I never blamed him for it. It wasn't long after that that I became the head of Dragon's Bane and began trying to activate it. Since I was so involved in my studies, Silver took over most of the 'head' responsibilities."

"He is really amazing isn't he?" Bloom stretched her arms and leaned back.

"He is, but just between you and me, there were times when I would find him completely freaking out and what action to take, this always happened behind closed doors, but it was cute seeing a different side to him." Twilight giggled along with her friend and soon continued their research.

"Ha, I'm having a hard time imagining him 'freaking out'."

"He paces....a lot. I could almost see him make an indention on the wooden floor from one day to the other!"

Xancus was at the end of his patience as he saw Spike miss the targets with his fire balls.

"I'm ashamed that I lost to a wimpy dragon like you, I don't even know how you aimed the flame at me in the first place!" The red dragon screamed out. Spike was notably irritated and whispered under his breath.

"It's cause you have a big bucking mouth…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Spike said with a pretentious smile. Xancus sighed and stepped close to his 'companion'.

"Maybe fireballs aren't your thing. Maybe there's another technique I can show you."

"I thought that a green flame hadn't been born in Dracopia in a long time, how come you know so many green flame techniques?"

"While there are a few skills here and there exclusive to a particular flame type, they all work in the same way, just have different effects. Here watch." Xancus moved his claws close to his mouth before spiting a bright crimson flame onto them. His claws seemed to soak in the intense fire and without a moment's hesitation; Xancus used his now powered claws to ram a close by target post, the impact crushing it, the pieces then began to burn with the crimson flame, and quickly consumed the pieces. Spike looked in awe as the flame continued to burn even after there was nothing to feed the flame just like the sage had said, something like that would definitely do a number on ponies.

"Alright, now your turn." Spike gulped and looked down at his claws. Hesitantly, he did the same as Xancus, spiting a flame onto his claws and soon they began to burn in his green flame. He turned to look at Xancus who only raised an eyebrow. He got what the red dragon was trying to say, he wanted him to use his claws. Spike looked around and found another target post. Spike took to the air and slashed at it with his claws. His claws ran straight through the target and Spike landed a little bit behind it. He turned around and saw it still in one piece, like nothing had happened at all.

"What was that?! Did you mess up?" But before Spike could say anything, they all heard a small screeching sound, the target slowly fell over in pieces. It was cut in 4 very thin lines, so clean and exact that it wasn't visible to the naked eye, but gravity had finally caught up knocking it down.

"Woah…"

"Impressive, it seems a green flame has a boost to sharpness, you writing this down Anolette?" Xancus asked out to the side of the training field. Where the dragoness from before was sitting with a book and quill.

"Yes Master Xancus." She responded politely.

"Spike, now try this one out." Xancus said as he extended his arms out. The purple dragon looked attentively as Xancus began to growl slightly, small bits of crimson flame escaping the sides of his mouth. Before he knew it his teacher busted into flames, the crimson light almost blinding. Spike placed an arm in front of him trying to shield himself from the light. By the time he came to, Xancus stood inches away, startled, Spike jumped back.

"For a crimson flame it covers the dragon in a blinding light, I could have killed you ten times over just now." Spike gulped at the thought, thank Celestia he was save from him for a week. "Now you give it a go."

Spike did as instructed. He stepped back and extended his arms out and began to excrete a small growl. Grogress was a little slow for this technique however; it took him well over a minute before some small flame began to push out of the sides of his mouth, but before he could actually do anything, he fell to the ground, exhausted. As Spike tried to regain his composure Xancus walked over him. Expecting another scolding, Spike readied himself.

"Wow, most take longer before they can get that far, you might not be so weak after all."

"Wait what? But aren't these the beginning techniques?"

"Nah, the first few were, but this one is one of the advanced ones, thought you could use the challenge to help you improve." Xancus said as he turned around and began to walk off. "Let's take a break, I've become hungry."

Spike held a very angry and annoyed look on his face. He was about to shout out to him when a hand suddenly popped in front of his face. As he looked up he saw the dragoness giving him a helping hand once more.

"Thanks, Anolette…was it?" Spike said as he used her hand to get back on his feet.

"Yes, and you're Spike right?" Despite her best attempt, she couldn't contain the giggle as she said his name. A little embarrassed, Spike scratched the back on his head.

"Yeah, dragons here have very different names."

"We sure do, but I suppose it's only natural for a foreigner to have a strange name. Is it true you lived with the Equines?" Anolette asked as both she and Spike walked over to where she was sitting earlier.

"Yes…the land is called Equestria." Spike said trying his best not to seem annoyed by how she too referred to them as equines.

"Really? That's so neat." The dragon said as she took her book and began to scribble down something. It was now that Spike was able to get a good look at her. She shared his color scheme, purple with green spikes; however, unlike his form now, she was wingless.

"So…you're a librarian?" Anolette but her book down and nodded.

"Weird isn't it? All the dragons here would rather fight, but I prefer the quiet library than the rough housing…no offence."

"Oh none taken." Spike said waving his hand in a soft gesture. "Back in Ponyville I worked as an assistant for a librarian, so I know the ropes to your type of work."

"You? You're a librarian?" Anolette's eyes opened wide as the news shocked her, she did not expect another dragon to share her interest, especially no one that was such a good fighter.

"Well, an assistant, but yeah. My friends back in Ponyville made fun of me for not being as outright 'dragon' as other dragons."

"You're friends with Equines?!" By this time Anolette was inches away from Spike's face, a certain glow in her eyes. The type of glow he had seen in Twilight's eyes when something had sparked her interest and he suddenly felt like he had gotten himself into something he shouldn't have.

"Y-Yeah…"

"That's amazing!" The dragoness said as she jumped up and spun around with her book pressed against her chest in a hug. The two dragons began to talk and the more they spoke the more excited Anolette would become with how much Spike had experienced with ponies.

"Ahem!" Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by Xancus who was leaning against a wall close by. "You know, I was gonna just let you guys finish your conversation, but I've been standing here for like...10 minutes."

"Oh…sorry Xancus, I suppose I got a little carried away." Spike said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well I hope you enjoyed your break, now back to work." Spike jumped to his feet and ran out to the middle of the field.

"Let's take it from the top; the self-combustion technique goes like this." Xancus said as he stretched his arms out and began to growl. Even though Spike had already seen it, it was no less amazing this time around, be knew what was coming and quickly tried to shield his eyes. It somehow still managed to blind Spike and he was stuck without sight for a few seconds. Again, by the time he recovered Xancus stood inches away from him.

"It's useless trying to shield your eyes. The light will reflect off every surface and hit the eye anyway, and even if you managed avoid being blinded, don't forget I'm still covered in crimson flames." Spike blinked a few times and nodded. Now it was his turn. He stepped back and extended his arms outward as he began to growl again. Xancus stood with his arms crossed as he watched Spike attempt the technique again. Another minute passed before the flames began to slowly spout. But he ended up exterting himself too much and collapsing again.

"Good, try again." Xancus said.

Spike took a little while to recover but he did as he was told. Over time, he began to comprehend how the technique was supposed to work. He was well into his fifth attempt before he could feel his energy leave him. Spike slowly looked up and saw Anolette looking at him.

"You can do it!" She shouted. That somehow seemed to give a little more confidence. As he looked at her he remembered the conversation he had earlier and about his friends. Like if a door had suddenly been opened in his mind, Spike felt like he had a revelation and his body combusted into green flames. Xancus and Anolette looked in surprise as Spike's radiant green glow began to shine over the field. And just like that, it was gone. The green flames disappeared and Xancus scoffed.

"Good try, you almost had it, now let's…" However, he was suddenly thrown off when he noticed that something was off…the flames had faded and left a scorched floor, but no Spike…

"What the…"

Spike slowly began to open his eyes, though had had been warm and cozy, he suddenly felt cold. He looked around and saw a dark dusty ceiling. He slowly sat up as he held onto his head and noticed books…lots of them.

"S-Spike?!" The purple dragon looked to his right and saw Twilight with a very shocked expression.

"What the buck?..."

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