The outpost, Ranger's Fort, unlike the rest of the Equestrian colony of the southeastern Blacklands, was mostly intact, save for the watchtowers of the northern walls– the ones facing New Canterlot. New Canterlot was quite a mess to the far north of the city from Constantine's lightning-fast offensives, but the outpost was mostly safe from the attack, as it only lasted for so long; it was an attack meant to instill fear rather than actually cripple the Equestrians.

Ranger's Fort was more like a castle than an actual fort, a rallying point for New Canterlot guards and arriving marines who were deployed to the front on Wantthai. It's stone walls were strong and sturdy, and the taller watchtower to the south remained intact. Within the walls were barracks, an armory, a large, wide open training ground, and a dockyard. And the castle in the center housed Equestrian ambassadors and important nobles; this is where Draven and his crew stayed. They had so far only been there for three days, and they spent most of their time outside enjoying the beauty of the coastal city. Spike, however, spent most of his time in the training grounds with Draven. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Nick usually stayed to watched him train with their captain on a table nearby.

"Alright, Spike– just like we practiced!" Draven said to his student as his hands began to surge with thunderous power, and he bent down into a combative stance to prepare for Spike's oncoming assault. "Use your increased speed when using Dragon Fury! Get past my guard, lad!"

Over the course of their five-week journey to the east, Spike had learned quite a lot from Draven. He taught him the basics of The Dragon Disciplines; Dragon Shatter, Dragon Sense, and Dragon Wave. Although, Draven was not too knowledgeable when it came to teaching another art of dragon magic, Dragon Skin. In his own words, 'I'm not much of a teacher, lad! I'm a brawler!'. Draven taught him more about Dragon Fury over those five weeks, but not nearly enough to master it. Regardless, Spike had learned as much as he could from the thunder dragon, and he had many opportunities to hone his new abilities on the many pirates who tried to attack their ship during their voyage. His power had grown a fair bit to be sure. Spike's attire had changed as well. He ditched his old orange, buttoned jacket, and replaced it with a far sturdier, brown and buttoned, hooded-vest. He also switched out his usual jean shorts for a more flexible cotton knee-breeches held up by a long red sash that hung down low. Spike also adopted more rugged, open-toed , brown leather sandals, replacing his old and worn out flip-flops.

"Alright, Draven!" Spike shouted on the other side of the training area as his back fins ignited in an emerald blaze with a deep breath; he had been practicing the activation time of this form, as it often was difficult to use before due to the strain it put on his body. "Dragon Fury!"

"Wow, Spikey's getting good!" Nick clapped excitedly as he watched the young dragon blast off towards Draven.

"He certainly is, isn't he...?" Twilight smiled at Nick she adjusted the mechanical prosthetic hand Evelyn gave her before she left.

Nick didn't stay in Ausrüstung like Marie had. He actually snuck onboard when the Hydra was about to set sail east. Nick was later discovered after a member of the crew found that a portion of their rations was missing, and while he was met with many doubts at first once Draven accepted him into the crew, he soon proved to be a very valuable asset to them. Nick had a knack for fixing things, and his extra chain-appendages simplified most of the work and heavy-lifting on the ship. Eventually, the crew adored him, much to his discomfort, as he still was very shy unless accompanied by Fluttershy. And Nick, being the bright young colt that he was, learned more and more words from Fluttershy, who educated him daily when he had free time.

"That's it, Spike! Now, use quick thrusts to evade whatever I throw at ya, lad!" Draven launched blasts of lightning from his hands to knock Spike out of the air, but they missed Spike, who used small blasts of fire that escaped his palms to redirect himself in mid-air; his speed was quite blinding. "Don't be airborne for too long! You'll guzzle all of your energy if you keep using your fire like that! Use your elemental power sparingly! Try out some of those new attacks you've been working on to complement Dragon Fury!"

"Alright!" Spike shouted with a grin as the flames around his feet faded away, and he finally reached Draven. He cocked back his fist, then he released a quick burst of flame like a jet engine as he slammed his open hand into Draven's lighting barrier. "Furious Dragon King's Thruster Punch!"

The attack let out a booming noise as Spike's hand impacted the wall of energy around Draven, and the flames scattered outwards around the dome of lightning. His Dragon Fury attacks were a lot more physical, more reliant on Spike's draconic strength than his elemental abilities. This allowed Spike to focus more and more and honing his hand to hand combat skills, and he showed great improvement over the past five weeks.

"Follow-up, Spike! Shatter my guard!" Draven hinted to use Dragon Shatter, and Spike picked up on this instantly. "Use what I taught you to find the weak point in my guard! Use Dragon Sense!"

Spike took a deep breath, closing his eyes. The world slowed for a moment as he entered a calm state of mind, an ethereal plane. Blue, arcane energy coated his hand as he loaded another palm strike, and he stepped back to analyze Draven's defense. As he narrowed his eyes, he could see a small blue crack in the middle of Draven's shield, a metaphysical fault line in Draven's elemental energies. However, as he thrust his hand forward, his hand fizzled, and his mind became muddled and blurry. He lost focus, and in an instant, the arcane energies building up in his hand faded away, and he tumbled forward on his face.

"Ow..." Spike grumbled with his head in the dirt.

"Looks like he still hasn't been able to use that perception ability of his properly yet..." Twilight pointed out as she watched Draven help her friend to his feet. "He can't seem to focus."

"He'll get it eventually, Twilight. Spike is a smart dragon," Fluttershy said optimistically as she and Nick got up from their seats. "Where's Gin, by the way?"

"Right here, love!" Gin called over to the table as she and Winslow approached them. "Me and Winny were just grabbing a bite to eat is all! Sadly, all they got is mush and hardtack at the barracks..."

"It was acceptable..." Winslow said as he took a bite of the hardtack in his hand, crumbs around his mouth. "Has Spike's training been successful?"

"More or less..." Twilight said as Spike dusted himself off and approached the table with Draven next to him.

"Well, that was fantastic," Spike muttered to himself sarcastically.

"Oh, don't be so glum, boyo! You almost had it that time!" Draven chuckled in his usual jolly way.

"Um, Spike... hold still for a moment," Twilight requested as she dusted the dirt on Spike's forehead, laughing under her breath as Spike let out an unimpressed grunt. "There we go."

Fluttershy was quiet around Winslow, in fact, she had been quiet around him since her fight with Nick when he was Gar Nichts, and this deeply troubled Winslow. However, Winslow was far too busy to ever ask how she was during their trip. And the way she avoided him made it obvious to Winslow that she was not keen on talking about what had happened to her, especially not around Nick, who she believed was still traumatized because of her actions. Winslow, seeing an opportunity to talk with her in private, took it without hesitation.

"Excuse me, Nick...? May I converse with Fluttershy for a moment?" Winslow asked the small colt as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, Winny!" Nick grinned as he waved at Fluttershy, who walked off with Winslow to a quiet place away from listening ears.

At first, Winslow was unsure how to approach the situation, but soon, once he saw her expression become more and more troubled, he hastily fitted together his questions. "Fluttershy, I want to apologize for not inquiring about your fight with Nick. It was rude of me to ignore you like that-."

"It's not your fault, Winslow..." Fluttershy interrupted him as she looked down at the ground, shaking her head from side to side. "You were just busy is all. You're a big help on the ship, and I didn't want to get in your way. And... I tried to avoid the subject. I just wasn't ready to talk about it yet," Fluttershy murmured softly as she crossed her arms in discomfort. "I still don't think I'm ready yet..."

"Have you been sleeping well, Fluttershy...?" Winslow asked, noticing the dark, wrinkled patches under Fluttershy's eyes.

"No. I've been-... I've been having nightmares..." Fluttershy whimpered as she rubbed her eyes. "I keep seeing that beast-... that thing that I became. What was that?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what exactly it was, but I know that a scârbă is not capable of such feats of strength or speed. You are something far rarer and deadlier. You are no common demon that can appear by accident. You are something powerful and ancient, like nothing I've ever seen before in all my years of travelling-." Winslow stopped, realizing that he had scared Fluttershy– making her believe she was some kind of monster. "Fluttershy, I didn't mean to-."

"It's okay..." Fluttershy shook her head, shaking off the visions of her as that mindless, violent beast. "You only want to help me, I get that... go on."

"You are a half demon, that much I know... but you aren't the offspring of any typical run-of-the-mill demon." Winslow thought back to when he saw Fluttershy in her more vampiric forms during the first stages of their journey. "Perhaps your vampiric qualities are merely transitional phases that lead up to that form of yours? I'm not so sure. Regardless, that form appears to be linked to your more passionate emotions like anger or hunger– primal thoughts and feelings like vengeance."

"So... you're saying if I keep calm, I won't turn into that thing again?" Fluttershy asked.

"I believe so, yes... you only transformed after Nick wounded me." Winslow deduced as he thought back to their fight. "I will try to avoid endangering myself in your presence, Fluttershy."

"Okay..." Fluttershy nodded slowly as she turned around and walked back to the others.

"There's more to her... I just can't put my finger on it. Her power feels so... strange," Winslow thought to himself before he followed her back to the table to join up with the others.

"Captain Draven!" A marine called out to the thunder dragon with his hand held high, a slip of paper in his grasp. He then held out the letter to Draven and placed it in his hand. "I've received this urgent letter from Canterlot! It's for you, and it arrived just a few minutes ago."

"Thanks, lad," Draven gave him a quick salute as the marine ran off to join up with his comrades in the barracks. He opened it carefully, worried that his claws might tear the paper apart, and he unfolded the letter. He read it twice over to make doubly sure he didn't miss any details; the contents of the letter were certainly shocking indeed. "Well, I'll be damned..."

"What is it, Draven?" Spike raised an eyebrow as he tried to take a look at the letter.

"Luna is coming here..." Draven shook his head in astonishment, and the others were wide-eyed with shock. "That's not all, either. Looks like she's being accompanied by the bloody Fleet Admiral and his crew..."

"Celestia sent Admiral Pisces to escort her?!" Twilight had heard tales of the admiral, but she had never met the dragon in the flesh before. "Wow..."

"It also says that they'll be here in less than a day, around the same time as the Miriad Princess..." Draven said, mystified by the letter. "Looks like Equestria is bringing out the big guns for Dracul..."

"Dracul...?" Twilight said to Draven; the name didn't ring a bell to her.

"Ah, my apologies. Us thunder dragons call Alptraum 'Dracul'..." Draven corrected himself as he folded the letter and placed it in the pocket of his purple captain's coat.

When the crew arrived at the outpost days before, word of Ccrondil's fall had spread to New Canterlot quickly, and it wasn't news to them that Princess Ocèara was heading south either. What was so shocking to Draven was the fact that Equestria was throwing down their trump cards so quickly. It wasn't like Celestia to get nervous about situations like this. However, this nervousness probably stemmed from Celestia's caution regarding Luna. Losing Luna would spell doom for Equestria in the coming years if the war continued that is.

"So... what does this mean?" Spike wondered.

"It means that this stage of our journey will be exponentially harder, Spike," Winslow answered him as he crossed his arms. "Haki and Gek were the weakest of the Seven Sorcerers– just the beginning. Alptraum is far more powerful than anypony we've faced so far..."

"Huh..." Spike said as he sat down in a vacant chair, looking over to Gin, who was seemingly oblivious to their conversation; she appeared quite excited rather than concerned like the rest of the crew. "Gin, are you alright?"

"Oh, what...?" Gin shook her head as she broke away from her daydream. "I'm sorry... I just was lost for a moment is all. Yeah, I heard what Draven said. I'm okay..."

"Alright..." Spike shrugged his shoulders doubtfully, still suspicious.

"So, what now, Captain?" Nick asked his dragon captain that scratched his chin, pondering over the situation.

"We wait," Draven replied bluntly as he walked back out into the training area. "Come, Spike... let's work on Dragon Shatter! You want to impress the admiral, don't you?"

"More like embarrass myself..." Spike muttered as he got up from his chair, stomping over to his captain with a pouty expression.

Spike fell on his face many times that afternoon. And he continued to do so until the evening when the rest of the crew packed up and went to their respective rooms for the night; they had to get as much sleep as they could if the coming days were to be as hard as Winslow said. Eventually, after much more botched attempts at a Dragon Shatter, Spike gave up, and he went to bed with a disappointed sigh that night.

****

Spike opened his eyes, finding himself in a world, unlike anything he had seen before. The ground and sky were pure white, and there was no visible horizon or even a sun. However, this plane of existence was by no means empty. It was full of rocks, flowers, trees, even a few mountains, and statues. Although, Spike could not make out any fine details, as every object in that realm was merely a silhouette, a three-dimensional mass of shadow that he could barely comprehend. As he walked, the ground appeared to ripple like still water, and a noise sounded with every step similar to that of a wind chime. It was not annoying at all to Spike, which surprised him; he often found the randomness of wind chimes quite irritating. However, this was not the case with these chimes. They had a pattern, and their rhythm was quiet and non-intrusive. Spike walked up a hill covered in black rocks and roses, and willow trees swayed from side to side as a brisk wind gusted in the east (Or, what Spike assumed was in the east based on the harshness of the wind). Spike eventually came to a large boulder at the top of the hill, and on top of that very boulder was a figure, one that felt familiar, yet alien at the same time to the young dragon.

The figure appeared to be a dragon, although, his body had no texture or detailed shape. His body was a mass of pure white, and there was a bold, black outline around his form. The almost shapeless dragon had pure black eyes that stared into Spike's soul, and white horns without texture curled around the head of the barely perceivable being. The figure sat with his legs crossed, and his hands were together as if he were in the midst of a prayer.

With much hesitation, Spike spoke up. "H-hello?"

The dragon's 'eyes' opened, revealing a pair of white irises in the center. "Hello..."

The dragon's calm and collected voice seemed to soothe Spike, and the chime resonated again as he stepped closer to the being. "Where am I?"

"We are within Equilibrium, young one," The dragon answered him, although Spike could see a mouth on him anywhere. The dragon then raised his hand, pointing behind Spike. "This is where all magic in the universe meets its first crossroads."

Spike turned and saw a mass of gray behind him that fanned out into the realm, cascading downwards into light and dark, black and white. Then Spike looked past the being on the rock, noticing a whole spectrum of color, a brilliant rainbow that he swore was not there before. "Who are you?"

"My name is irrelevant, young one. I live in this realm, ever since The First Age..." Said the shapeless dragon. "I am the thought projection of a dragon that passed away long ago, one that sacrificed himself for the good of the world. I apologize in advance for my answers, as being in this realm only allows me to say so much, and I cannot disrupt balance..."

"Why am I here with you?" Spike asked the quiet dragon.

"Alas, that is one question I cannot answer outright, young one..." The dragon answered him as he bowed his head. "But I can say this; I have known you for a long time, Spike Drafir... a very long time indeed."

"Why can't you tell me what you mean by that? Can't you give me anything else?" Spike inquired further, a little annoyed by the dragon's reluctance to tell him the full details. "Why talk to me now if you've known me for so long?"

"I cannot tell you why we are here together, Spike... as it would disrupt your fate, causing you to veer from your path," He said as his eyes met with Spike's once more. "As for my reasoning as to why I can contact you now... it is because you are growing Spike; your power."

Spike looked into his eyes, realizing what was familiar about them. "You... you're the devil dragon Draven told me about! You helped me beat Haki, didn't you?"

"Aye... however, I am no devil dragon. It was your own power that morphed me into that beast; this principle is true for all magic. That was merely a manifestation of your rage and fear– expressed through my spirit." He said as his form began to disintegrate. "It appears this vision is fading away, young one. Hark! You must not tell a soul of what our encounter here, Spike! Not yet! Doing so would be catastrophic! The world is changing, Spike, and you must learn all you can for the road ahead! You cannot veer from the path, do you understand?!"

"But, wait! What path?! What are you talking about?!" Spike shouted to the dragon as his form completely vanished along with the world around him. "Hey!"

"Farewell, young one..."

*

With that, Spike awoke from his slumber, panting furiously.

Author's Notes:

Just a little foreshadowing for this arc and other arcs to come... As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!