"Alright, everypony try again!" Said the flight instructor as he walked back and forth on the tower from where he was overseeing the scout training. Rainbowdash, being one of the new recruits followed through with their routine. She performed the aerial maneuvers perfectly as the others in her groups struggled to maintain formation along with her.

"You there! Shape up, don't let the rookie outshine you!" The instructor screamed out to one of the pegasi whom was clearly lacking in his flying skills. After a bad run the group landed at the tower where the others were as they waited for their turn. All but the Rainbow seemed to be out of breath when they landed. The instructor gave the signal for the next group to go out as he walked close to the one that had just landed.

"You're pretty good newbie." He said as Rainbowdash looked over at him, not expecting to talk to anypony during training.

"Yeah, I am pretty good. After all, I'm gonna join the Wonderbolts one day." Rainbowdash said boastful, but that pride slightly deflated as she noticed all the other pegasi around her just stare, their eyes lingering with both jealousy and slight hatred. It was bad enough that she was making them look bad, but clearly stating that she had no intent in staying just rubbed them the wrong way.

"That's quite a goal." The instructor began. "But you do realize that if the dragons escape the Wonderbolts will have bigger problems than competitions right?" The instructor said as he circled the Rainbow maned Pegasus. "You might want to think about staying longer." Rainbowdash looked down at the wooden flooring of the tower before letting out her voice.

"I…uh, I'll get back to you on that!" She said before just blasting out of the tower and heading to the ground where she softly landed before letting out a sigh of relaxation. She took a quick glance back at the tower before sitting down and looking around. It was true she knew how important this army was, but she wasn't exactly willing to give up her own dreams and goals for it. As she looked around she noticed a worker pony whose cutiemark was the one that had been branded on to all others, seeing as how some actually did make that sacrifice only made guilt start to take her. Her moment of weakness, however, was cut short by a familiar voice.

"You alright there sugarcube?" A mare called out from behind her, her saddle full of construction supplies to help rebuild.

"Oh, hi Applejack." Rainbowdash responded as she stood, her voice trying to hide her inner conflict. "Yeah, everything's fine, you know, just got bored with practice since I can pull it all off without a cinch...heh"

Applejack tilted her head in response, seeing right through her old friend. Instead of confronting the issue, she just gave her a gentle smile and gesture her to follow her in her errand. Rainbowdash complied and followed her. The pair walked in silence for a while before Applejack decided to speak.

"So what do you think of the scouts?" She began, knowing that outward conversation about what was wrong would just get RD to shut her out, she had dealt with her enough times to know exactly how to get through to her.

"They're alright, but nothing compared to the Wonderbolts." Rainbow said, making a comparison almost out of nowhere. The orange pony couldn't help but smile as she began to understand what was going on.

"Miss training at the academy?"

"Well yeah. It was the best time of my life! Sure the scouts here are good, but you know that the real protectors of Equestria are the Wonderbolts. I mean, I'm not trying to down play the scouts here, it just that the bolts have their own duties too." Rainbow began to trail off on her own tangent as AJ just listened, letting her friend solve the problem on her own.

"I mean, Twilight once told me about how hundreds of years ago the Wonderbolts where a real military academy, but the time of peace made them switch their roles into more of a symbol for Equestria. Isn't that kinda cool? Even when there's no war going on the Wonderbolts are still a symbol of strength."

"But there IS a war going on." Applejack interrupted. "Look around, these dragons aren't exactly very peaceful."

"Well, yea...But everyone here is..." Rainbowdash's voice began to soften as a sudden realization began to hit her.

"You know, I miss my family a whole lot, and there are times when I think about just going back to the farm and be with them, but it would be unfair to the people here to just leave them when they need help the most." Applejack looked over at her blue friend and gave her a smile. "Least we can do for keeping us safe for so long is to keep them safe in their time of need, don't ya think?"

Rainbowdash looked down as she began to process what the orange pony just told her, but before she could give her a response she noticed BloomingStar come their way.

"Umm, sorry to interrupt, but I think there's something you should see." Bloom said a little shyly. The duo just looked at eachother before following her back to the castle.

"...and then I popped up here." Spike said, finishing his story about how he wound up back in the castle after being gone for so long.

"So you just combusted into flames and popped up here?"

"Yup."

Twilight just couldn't wrap her head about what her friend told her. A civilization of dragons was hard enough to believe, but one that has a working hierarchy was even more outlandish considering their...brutish reputation. Spike was currently bandaged up, having burnt himself in the process of teleporting here, which he was still a little uncertain of how it even worked.

"Careful now, you don't want to hurt yourself." The worried unicorn said as Spike began to sit up from his laying position. Even though he had made it out alright, the burns he got were likely because he still didn't fully grasp how the technique was suppose to be used. The purple dragon gestured with his hand that he was alright before speaking again.

"I'm fine Twilight. I'm not a baby anymore." He said as he tried to stand up. As he did so, Twilight couldn't help but feel sad. It was true, even though Spike's growth spurt was sudden, he wasn't the baby she had to take care of all the time, if anything, perhaps he took care of her some times. Just as he managed to find his balance, the door to the library where they were at swung open.

"Spike!" A pair of voices rang loudly as both Applejack and Rainbowdash ran in and glomped him. The purple unicorn next to him flinched as a the three of them hit the ground in a loud thud followed by a shriek of pain from the dragon.

"Where have you been little fella'? We've been worried sick!" AJ asked before being pushed aside by the blue pegasus next to her.

"Yeah! where did you disappear to?!" Neither of them got their answer because Twilight used her teleportation spell to transport them a few feet in the air not too far away from them. Another thud sounded as the purple unicorn began to speak.

"Girls! let him be, he's been through a lot." The pair that just got transported laid on top of each other rather uncomfortably as they tried to stand but failed to do so, hitting one another as they struggled.

"He and Silver were in the dragon's territory. We told you remember?" Bloom said from the doorway, where she had stood as she witnessed the rather humorous scene.

"Yeah, but where?" Rainbowdash asked as she finally got untagled and stood up, brushing herself off. "I went on a few scouting trips and we never saw any sign of them.

"That's cause the spell teleported us somewhere much deeper then anypony had ever ventured, at least that's what Silver said." Spike said as he got up with Twilight's help. "We ran for a couple of days before stumbling on some sort of pony ruins." The whole room said 'huh' in unison. "Yeah, Silver and I were pretty confused too."

The group took a little time to catch up as Spike shared his experiences with them. The entire time Bloom became notably more worried for Silver.

"So you guy's got separated 2 days ago?" The yellow unicorn asked.

"Yeah, I didn't want to keep growing, so I took a night flight and never made it back."

"Awww, don't you worry sugarcube." Applejack began. "Silver is one tough stallion, I'm sure he doesn't have a scratch on 'em." Her reassurance seemed to help slightly.

"Still, we can't just leave him in dragon territory, especially not so close to...uh, what was it called again?" Rainbow asked Spike.

"Dracopia, the city of dragons."

"Yeah, that, we can't leave him there, especially with that Xancus guy trying to pick a fight with him."

"But how ARE we suppose to rescue him? We can't exactly go there, we aren't even sure where Dracopia is anyway." Twilight expressed her concerns which were second by the entire group. They all looked down as they tried to think of a solution, but nothing really came to mind.

"I...I think I might have an idea." Bloom spoke softly, almost like she didn't want to share her thought with the group.

Bloom had began to lead the group down a series of stairs after saying she might have a way to get to where Silver was, but had remained silent since then. The quiet atmostphere was starting to get to everypony, but none really wanted to speak up. The passage way was dark and almost hidden, but Bloom had come across here so many times in her filly years she didn't even need to keep her eyes open.

"So..." Spike began, finally breaking the silence. "Where are we going?"

"...Before my parents died, they had an advisor. I knew him since I was born but after the incident I haven't gone to visit him." Bloom said hesitantly.

"So somepony has been living down here on his own?"

"Yeah, he's a little weird, but his heart is always in the right place."

"So how can this guy help us out?"

"Scholar knows everything about anything. At least, that's what my parents always said. And he's never been wrong...so I suppose they were right."

"Scholar?" Twilight asked. "That's his name?"

"Well, no. That's just what we've always called him, we never could pronounce his real name correctly so we just use 'Scholar' instead." It wasn't long after that the group reached their destination, a large wooden door that had a dim light shine from under it. Without knocking, Bloom pulled the door open and they were quickly greeted by a rather strange room. It was decorated by all sorts of strange things, masks, potions sets, old books, and rune drawings both on the floor and on the walls. It seemed a little disorganized but it had a strange familiar feeling to it.

"My my, it has been a very long time since you've come to visit. How long has it been? A year? Two years maybe?" A voice resonated from the room, but none of them could tell where it was coming from.

"...Hello Scholar, we have a question." In an instant, one of the 'decorations' moved and jumped off the pole it had been balancing on and spoke.

"A yes, that IS usually why anyone ever visits. A pity, since I always enjoy having company." The figure in front of them was clocked and wore a mask. Twilight took another glance at the way he had been balancing on the pole and connected the dots.

"You're a zebra!" This surprised everypony. Scholar laughed rather strangely before taking off the mask and cloak to reveal it's stripped body.

"Why yes I am, how ever did you know?" Scholar asked as he suddenly appeared from behind Twilight to get a better look at her similar to how Discord did way back when.

"We uh, have a zebra friend as well, Zecora."

"Oh my, Zecora is in Equestria? You MUST let us meet, it has been oh so long since I've seen her." Twilight was filled with more questions than answers now that she figured out what Scholar was, how exactly did he know Zecora?

"That's enough Scholar, we have a problem."

"Oh? That's right that's right." Scholar said as he switched his attention to Spike who was grabbing his bandaged arm. "You wish to return to Dracopia to reunite with Silver?"

"Wha? How did you know that?!" Rainbowdash asked out abruptly.

"Oh my silly little pony, I know everything about anything. Isn't that right Bloom dear?" The yellow unicorn looked down and rubbed one of her fore legs, almost afraid to say yes. "Well, never mind that, I can indeed help, but it might be a one way trip." Scholar said, leaning on Twilight who seemed to be uncomfortable with him leaning his elbow on her back as she stoop, he was heavier than he seemed. "All you have to do is use the dragon vanishing spell again, and it will take you all back to Dracopia."

"Are you sure? How do we know we won't just teleport to some other random place in dragon territory?" Applejack objected, trying to make sure things wouldn't go wrong half way through.

"How you ask? Cause Spike here as been to Dracopia due to taging along with the other dragon right? The spell that I taught the unicorns was made to bring dragons back to their home. So tell me Bloom, where is your home?" Everypony seemed bewildered by the question as Bloom suddnely reacted.

"Well here of course. Dragon's Bane has always been my home."

"Is that true?" Scholar said as he began to walk forward to face the group.

"Home is more than just a location. Take Twilight Sparkle here for example." Scholar began. "She was originally born in Canterlot were you not?"

"How did you know tha-"

"Of course you were, but where do you call home now?"

"Umm, Ponyville."

"Yes, Ponyville, but let me ask you something little unicorn, if you didn't have your friends in Ponyville, would you still call it your home?" A sudden realization sparked across Bloom's face.

"Silver is my home..." She said faintly, but it was loud enough for the group to hear. Scholar held a grin across his face as he felt accomplished. Feeling like he work was done, he walked back to his mask and robe to put them on.

"Thank you Scholar!" Bloom shouted as she ran out to make the necessary preparations. She was soon followed by the rest of the group, Spike being the last to begin to step out. Scholar had already gotten back on the pole, balancing on his head but he spoke softly before the dragon could step out.

"You too would try to think about your home my dragon friend." Spike's eyes widened as he heard him say that. It was almost like he could read his thoughts. "Your time to choose your home might be closer than you think."

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