Dawn began to come, the sun slowly rose over the cold black night and the Bloom's window began to peer light into her room. Spike, who had spent all night sparring with Silver slowly and wearily flew into the window. He gently made his way to the bed he and Twilight were sharing. The dragon barely had time to get under the covers when a loud bell rung through our Dragon's Bane. The ringing abruptly awoke Twilight and her friends, who all proceeded to fall out of their beds.

"In Celestia's name...What was that?" Rainbowdash asked slowly as she stood up and saw everyone do the same. Bloom, on the other hoof, had managed to stay in bed. She sat up and stretched her arms out giving off a cute yawn.

"Oh, good morning everypony, I see the bell woke you all." Everyone sweated at how Bloom reacted to the same situation they had gone through, it was obvious this was a normal day for her. Everyone, wide awake now, proceed to make their beds and get on with their day. Silver had come by to get Applejack and Rainbowdash, who wanted to take part of his "training routine." As they all left to the mess hall, Twilight noticed Spike's weary eyes.

"Are you alright Spike? You seem really tired."

"Oh...it's nothing Twilight, just couldn't sleep last night is all." Under his breath he muttered to himself. "Yeah, Silver made sure to slap me awake if I so much as dozed off a little lastnight..." Spike followed the group through the corridors, as Silver had instructed the day before, Spike would be free to roam through the secret passages of the castle to his leisure, it would give him something to do while everyone carried on their business.

"So where is this library?" Twilight asked from behind Bloom who was leading them to the mess hall.

"It's on the 3rd floor, if you want to hurry ahead, you can take this corridor here, take it two floors down, take a left, go straight, another staircase up and then a right. After you hit a dead end you-"

"I think I'm good..." The purple unicorn interrupted. Bloom gave her a smile and they carried on. They left the castle and entered a long building, as Twilight had guessed, it was where they get some breakfast. They got in line for the food and instantly the soldiers took notice of the duo.

"Oh Miss Bloom, you can go on ahead of me if you'd like."

"Me too, I can wait awhile longer." Another one said. Instantly Bloom began to retreat as they all began to pull her and Twilight towards the front. They proceeded to gather their breakfast and quickly made their way back out. It was very lucky that both of them were unicorns, had it been different they would have had no choice but to stay in the mess hall to eat since carrying the strays would be a nightmare, worse even if one of them happened to drop it.

"I'm sorry Twilight, this happens every day."

"Don't like when they do you favors?"

"I found it nice the first few times, but now I feel a little awkward when they do. I do not like to have ponies drench me with special treatment, especially when I cannot do the only thing I should be good for." Twilight looked at how Bloom's expression quickly changed. It was strange to see just how quick Bloom's mode changed from happy to sad and vice versa. She shrugged it off and they walked together to the library where they would eat and study up.

Silver walked back and forth in front of ponies who were lined up. He was giving his morning lecture. Rainbowdash, who was in the rows, yawned from how much Silver was talking.

"Ranbowdash, it seems I am boring you. How about we put your hooves to work then?" Silver said as he walked by the blue pegasus, who immediately was about to retort but had a hoof stop her from talking.

"Silver, she didn't mean nun' by it." Applejack spoke up trying to get her friend out of the deep trouble she herself had dug into just the day before.

"Ah Applejack, it seems you wish to join your friend. Now the both of you shall start with a simple warm up. How about you go to the field and run 20 laps around Dragon's Bane."

"Now hold up!" Began Rainbowdash. "You're always barking out orders to the rest of us but you don't seem to any work around here yourself, why don't you show us just how much of a big shot your really are?" Everypony gasped as they all heard her speak in disbelief. No pony had ever spoken back to Silver with such arrogance before, they wall sweated as they stood at attention, not wanting to make a peep lest they too be sent into the punishment group.

"Make that 35." Silver said as he began to walk away. "Now everyone, do the usual routine, I am sure you know it by heart. Don't let me catch you slacking off. The rest of the soldiers walked off to do their usual warm up and then their practice. Rainbowdash whipped her tail as she saw how obediently the others did as Silver had asked. It annoyed her even more when she saw Applejack follow Silver out of the walls of Dragon's Bane.

"Wait what?" The pegasus looked confused as Silver walked next to Applejack.

"Hurry along Rainbowdash, as part of your punishment, I'll continue the lecture as I run along side you those 35 laps." Rainbowdash couldn't help but smirk as Silver actually began to live up the all the hype made about him.

From a crack in the castle wall, Spike looked over at the city. He had explored out the secret corridors, but that had soon lost the excitement. He saw how much everyone was at work, and it only made him even more tired. He looked around at the old corridors he was allowed to stretch his legs in while everyone did their thing. He sure wasn't used to this much free time, Twilight certainly made sure of that, working his claw and quill tirelessly every day with her lists and letters. However, it seemed the opposite extreme was no better.

Spike yawned as he walked. He knew that Silver told him to keep from sleeping if he could, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up, it was just the first day and he could already feel his eyelids shut on their own. Just how much more would he grow if he did sleep? As large as the teen dragon since he was technically at that age, or as large as when he did on his birthday a few years back. It was hard to tell. His train of thought was interrupted by a small squeak. The purple dragon turned to see a rat sniffing the ground further down the corridor. Spike paused, he got down on all fours and prepared to pounce. His cat like pupil thinned as he jumped forward.

"Twilight slumped her head on the table she and Bloom occupying. She usually liked to read, but Bloom's books had such a strange vocabulary it only made her head hurt. Then a loud thud made the purple unicorn lift her head.

"And here's the second batch." Said Bloom as she placed even more books on the table. Twilight groaned to which the other unicorn giggled.

"Too many books?"

"I never thought I of all ponies would say that, but yes...too many books." Bloom took a seat next to Twilight and opened one herself.

"I've read all of them myself, they all talk of dragons, some were written here from data we collected, but most of it is interpretation. Funny, how no one bothered to write down how to activate Dragon's Bane." Twilight continued to read from where she left off, it was one of the books Bloom had just talked about, one of the city's observations.

"A dragon's diet is carnivorous, with the exception of its youth where it will eat plant life..." Twilight read out loud. "Thank goodness Spike had been a baby dragon so long, he would have a hard time finding food in Ponyville otherwise." It was then she suddenly stood up.

"Spike!" Twilight's loud voice startled Bloom who looked over at her friend.

"I-Is everything alright?"

"Spike hasn't eaten anything since yesterday!" Twilight said as she grabbed the plate he had gotten from the mess hall earlier. "I had been so busy with this that I forgot to feed him. Oh he's probably starving." Twilight quickly ran out and headed to the secret passages everyone had told Spike to stay in. It didn't take long for her to get to the secret entrance along with a plate of food.

"Spike? Spike are you here?" Twilight said as she walked around the corridors filled with dust and cobwebs.

"Twi-Twilight?" Spike said hesitantly as he poked his head from around a corner. The purple unicorn smiled and walked closer.

"Spike! I'm sorry I forgot you hadn't eaten anything, I brought you some food from the mess hall." She said with a smile. Spike come all the way out of hiding and took the plate that she was handing him. With a forced smile he said.

"Why thank you Twilight." They stood at a pause for a second there before Twilight awkwardly spoke.

"Something wrong? Usually you would chow down when you go without eating for only half a day."

"Oh, right, yeah!" Spike opened his mouth and took a bite of the carefully picked vegetation Twilight had gotten for breakfast. It was then Twilight noticed just how sharp his teeth had gotten since last time. She played it off as something he got from a growth spurt. Spike forced himself to pass down the 'food' he had placed in his mouth. Feeling accomplished Twilight began to turn.

"Well, I got some studying to do, I'll catch up with you later Spike." She turned and trotted off, Spike waving at her. When she was out of sight he spit out what had remained in his mouth and placed the plate down. He walked back to where he was and looked at the rat he had pounced on in shame. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like eating meat was a disgrace to his pony upbringing.

"I don't know what happened." He murmured to himself. When he saw that rat earlier crawl around he suddenly remembered how hungry he was, catching one and taking a bite out of it made him more hungry, before he knew it he was roosting it with his own flame and eating it like it was nothing.

Gasping for air, Rainbowdash slowly walked behind Silver who had slow down enough for her to keep up with him.

"And lastly, I would like to remind you to keep vigilant, for even through there are no immidiate threats, a dragon could begin to wander by at any moment." Silver concluded his morning and turned to see his tired friend who was more than fed up with the sound of his voice, which only urged him to poke at her more. "Any questions?"

"Just...one..." Rainbowdash said as she slumped down to the ground. "How many more laps?..." Silver looks ahead and saw the front gate just a few meters from where they were.

"Once you reach the gates, you'll only need 9 laps around the city." Rainbowdash, already annoyed by the ordeal, just could not stand the tone of indifference he had anymore.

"And why are YOU not tired?"

"Oh please, this is morning routine for me." Silver said as he yawned. He was, however, sleepy from staying up all night with Spike, but the pegasus took the yawn as him looking down on her.

"If you'd just let me use my wings I'd been done by now!" She said as she stood up to face Silver up close. However, he wasn't looking at Rainbowdash, he was more concerned with the orange pony trotting along to where they were.

"Well, it looks like your friend will be done in a few seconds." Applejack jogged passed them and made ti to the gates where she proceeded to fall on the ground catching her breath. "You should take some pointers from her." He said before starting a slow run to where Applejack was. Having had Applejack as her rival for years, this really rubbed her the wrong way.

"Why you, listen here-" However, Rainbowdash was cut by a sudden roar that shook the ground. Everyone remained still as they all gazed up to see a large red dragon fly overhead. Without a moment's hesitation Silver ran in through gates just as the bell rung, setting all the ponies in alarm to the threat lingering over them. Rainbowdash and AJ followed in behind the dark stallion. The sentries around the walls began to load their large crossbows with nets and fired off, trying to catch and center the dragon who had proceeded to set the city ablaze. Through the crack in the wall, Spike watched as the city was terrorized. His hands became sweaty and his pupils thinned. He placed his claws through the crack and pulled it apart, allowing him to fit through. He took flight.

Next Chapter: A Dark Day Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes