The grey coated stallion opened his eye, as he sat up. He let out a soft yawn before getting up and stretching. His charcoal mane hung loosely over his missing right eye and he couldn't help but feel relaxed. Having been stranded in dragon territory was actually more of a vacation than anything else. He didn't have to get up early for morning lecture and training sessions, no need to keep his cool and calm attitude that he had to show to keep others up in spirits. He couldn't even remember the last time he was allowed to sleep in. As Silver looked around, he began to admire his finished work, the temple he and Spike had discovered was back to how its former glory...or least as far back as it possibly go with the raw materials Silver had at his disposal. It was strange, once Spike had placed up those pillars he instantly recognized the place from a sketch he had seen in one of Bloom's book.

Silver stood up straight and began to make his way out through the crack he and Spike had gone in through. It wasn't his first time out since Spike left on his little adventure to who knows where, but he was still being cautious. As Silver peeked out he began to think about that purple dragon.

"Where could he have gone to?" He asked himself before stepping out into the light. The sun was up high, so it was some time in the afternoon, that much he was certain of. He sprint from under one tree to another, his mind was set on staying out of sky view, since dragons would probably be flying over head at any time. He hadn't encountered any, but it was better to be safe than sorry. It didn't take long before he reached where he had been gathering his food since day one back when Spike was still unconscious and on his back. It was just a pear tree, not his favorite fruit, but beggers can't be choosers. Instead of kicking at the trunk like most would do, he began to climb it, that way he could pick the fruit directly without attracting attention with the sound and without leaving a giant hoof print on the tree letting others know that a pony hand been there. Strangely enough, Silver had made a plan for almost any situation imaginable. He never really expected to be stranded in dragon territory, but those sleepless nights thinking about all the 'what ifs' sure paid off it seems.

Silver scoffed to the side, spitting out some seeds he accidentally bit into when he took a bit of the pear. "And Miss Bloom said it was useless to worry about stuff like that, well good thing I did." He said to himself. As he became full with his breakfast, or rather, lunch, be was about to jump down and retreat back into the temple where he would be safe, but his ears began to twitch. He sat still on the tree branch as he listened. Voices...he was sure he was hearing voices from somewhere.

"I'm telling you Ralik, Spike is dead, you heard what they said, he just exploded!" Vince said as he laid on top of his big brother's head. The Siblings Spike had met were out looking for him.

"That's impossible! I'm telling ya, Spike is one tough little dragon." The older brother responded as he walked rather sluggishly. They must have spent all night searching out for Spike. Silver only focused on one thing from their conversation. Spike had exploded

Without hesitating, Silver looked around and began to devise a plan.

"Come ooooon Ralik, we've been searching all night."

"We can't just give up little bro, we just can't." Ralik responded as he suddenly came to a halt. "But maybe we can take a little break..." He said before finally falling down.

"Ralik, I'm hungry." Vince said as he gazed down at his brother as he stood over his forehead.

"Ya, me too bro, maybe we should head back for lun-" But Ralik's sentence was suddenly interrupted when he felt something tug as his legs. Despite his large size, he was being dragged by a rather sturdy vine that had somehow wrapped around his arm. As he reached for it with his other claw it was suddenly lassoed by another vine that had come from a nearby tree. The dragon began to shout in terror but his moth was suddenly lassoed as well. Vince was no exception, being smaller it only took a few vine to immobilize him. Some time in, both Ralik and Vince well strapped to a large boulder near a very tall tree that even Ralik would fit under. The brothers tried to cry out but they were completely vulnerable. After a few seconds Silver began to descend down on a vine slowly getting to eye level with Ralik.

"Hello Dragon. I'd like to know more about this Spike you were talking about." Silver said as his old persona began to bleed out, his voice back at a rough tone and his yellow eye staring into Ralik's soul. The large dragon gulped as he stared into his oppressors face.

"So is everything ready?" Rainbowdash asked as Twilight re-read the spell Bloom had given her for the 15th time.

"Yes, just let me make sure I've got it all correct." The purple unicorn said as continued to pace around with the book she was holding up with magic. Applejack gave a smile at her nervous friend as she placed the saddle with some provisions on her back.

"Now are you sure you are going to be alright?" The drill instructor asked Bloom as he came to see them off. He eyed Spike who had been tied up so he could pass as a prisoner.

"Yes, Armored Plate. Once we use the spell on the dragon, we'll hitch a ride, rescue Silver and use the spell again on me to get back here. We'll be back before you know it." Bloom said as she tried her best at lying, something he had little experience doing.

"Well...alright, but why bring the rookies? We have plenty of good soldiers here that might be better suited for-"

"Those soldiers are better at full out combat, these are Celestia's private group that have done their part at keep Equestria safe. Besides, a small group will attract less attention." Bloom felt a little empowered by interrupting the soldier, but she couldn't help but think perhaps he would see right through her. They stood in silence for a while longer before the drill instructor nodded and left the room. As he did Bloom sighed, finally being able to relax. The group smile at her as she turned to them and said.

"Great, now we just have to teleport in and teleport out just as fast." Rainbowdash said excited to get a glimpse of the dragon city.

"If only things turn out that easy. Sorry to break it to ya sugarcube, but things never go as planned when it comes to us." Applejack interjected. Twilight nodded as she spoke up as well.

"Right. We have to be very cautious, even if the dragon's fear us, it won't mean they won't try to attack."

"Which I still don't understand." The rainbow maned pegasus said.

"Neither do I, I just know you're like their version of the boogeyman." Spike said as he came loose from his restraints. He stretched out his wrists as he stood up, his new stature remarkably larger to his equine companions. Everypony thought the same thing, it wasn't the same Spike that once cleaned up in Ponyville's library.

"Now, is everypony ready?" Bloom said as she got closer to the group. They all nodded and each placed a hoof on her as Twilight prepared to cast the spell. Since the spell could not be cast on one's self, the only other unicorn had to do it so Spike placed a claw on both her and Bloom, making sure they could both hitch a ride along. Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow purple. Sparks began to shot out randomly as she concentrated on getting the spell right. Spike couldn't help but gulp nervously, his last experience with teleporting long distances wasn't exactly pleasant. In a flash, they all vanished from the small room, but obvious to all of them, they had a spectator.

Armor Plate had never really left, he could tell there was something fishy by how Bloom had been acting and now his suspicions were correct.

"So Miss Blooming Star...you're a dragon worshipper now?"

"I'll ask you again, where did Spike go?" Silver said with a rather aggressive voice. Vince was already in tears and Ralik wasn't far from doing the same.

"We don't know! Everyone says it was a training accident, that he just exploded!" Ralik managed to scream out. Silver didn't seem pleased with that answer.

"If you don't start giving me details I'll have to get mor-" He, however, couldn't finished his sentence. Silver was forcibly pushed down by something heavy. Silver quickly thought he was being ambushed and threw whatever was on him off. Silver didn't have much time to see what it was, but he noticed it was rather small. He jumped on it, switching the tables.

"You! What are...you..." Silver began in a loud shout, but quickly lost his momentum. Beneath him laid Bloom who looked slightly hurt by being pushed off but as soon as she saw him looking down she blushed. "Miss Bloom...What are you doing here?" Silver asked not moving an inch. A part of him wanted to think that maybe it was a trap, that it was some sort of changeling, but he knew deep down it was really her.

"I...umm..." Bloom tried to say, but she was too flustered to speak.

"Silver, why don't you get off of her before you start to interrogate the young miss?" Applejack said as she and her friends began to stand from where they had landed. Ralik noticed Spike along in the group and spoke out.

"Spike! You've got to save us!" As the purple dragon turned around he noticed his old friends from Dracopia trapped to the side of a large boulder and he quickly screamed out in shock.

"Silver, what were you doing?!" The charcoal maned stallion was helping Bloom to her feet.

"Oh, I was just interrogating them. Wait a second, you're alive? Those two said you exploded." Silver said as he glared over at the brothers for 'lying' to him.

"But we were telling the truth!" Vince said, though after taking a quick glance at his dragon companion, Silver disagreed.

"Well, I did kinda explode didn't I?" Spike said as he scratched the back of his head, sweating slightly, Twilight and Bloom both nodding as they recalled his 'abrupt' appearance. "Anyway, we came to get you back to Dragon's Bane, the place has been kind of a mess since we've been missing I've heard.

AJ nodded in agreement as she stepped closer along with the blue pegasus. "We really should get back so that we ourselves can go back home." The orange pony said. Silver looked at his friend and could feel how homesick she was, but there was something unfinished here for him.

"I wish I could just go back, but there's something I want to figure out first, and now that Miss Bloom is here, perhaps I can." Silver said as he shifted his glance at the unicorn. If you would please follow me, there's something you should see. The entire group held a rather serious along with Silver's own expression. They all nodded and began to follow suit. As they walked however, a sound came from behind them.

"Umm...what 'bout us?" Ralik said rather uncomfortably, still restraint by the vines. Spike snickered slightly before speaking.

"Opps, hold on a sec, I'll get you down in a giffy." Without a second though, the purple dragon began to run as he held his claws to his mouth. He gently spat flames onto them as he was taught and flew up to cut the vines. His green flame made it rather easy for him to cut through and the dragon brothers fell flat on their flanks. The entire group of ponies looked astonished to see Spike perform such actions.

It didn't take long before the group and pair of dragons to reach Silver's hideout, it was rather close in case he ever needed to sprint to safety. As they all entered Bloom's eyes light up, the temple sparking a certain interest that she had not felt in a very long time. Ralik and Vince had a tough time getting inside, but after some forceful pushing, they too went in, staying close to Spike.

"So...these yer equine friends?" Ralik asked in almost a whisper as the dragon's maintained a distance from the ponies.

"Yeah, Silver might be a bit intimidating, but he's a good guy."

Bloom ran from one side of the room to the other as she gasped in amazement.

"How in all of Equestria did you find such a well preserved temple?" She asked as she continued to peek around, Twilight joined it, but not quite as enthusiastically. She took recognized things from her readings here and there, but she wasn't as familiar with them as Bloom was.

"It wasn't. It took me a good while to put things back together. Spike was a big help. Once he set up those pillars over there I could make out the picture. If I remember correctly it was part of an illustration in one of your books." Silver said as he saw his unicorn friends 'geek out'.

"What's so special about this old place? It hasn't been used since the last sage's initiation." Ralik said out loud. Bloom caught ear of that and looked over.

"A sage's initiation?" She asked as she carefully got closer to the dragon. Ralik, feeling slightly more at ease came up from behind Spike, not that Spike was big enough to hide his large body, but still felt safe with him as cover.

"Ya, it's useless now that we don't have a sage anymore."

"What?" Spike exclaimed "But I met a sage back in Dracopia."

"He is old enough to be a sage, but he ain't one. A sage would get a new flame when he reached his twilight years by a previous sage, but our last authentic was killed before he could pass on an ember of his flame." Ralik said as he thought back to the stories he was told from growing up.

"Killed?" Silver asked as the story suddenly got more interesting for him.

"By who?" Rainbow joined in. Ralik began to peck at his head with his claw as he tried to recall the story.

"A few thousand years ago a Dragon reached the twilight years and was to become a sage. They both came here with a small group of guards to pass on the ember." Ralik began. "When they go here a hooded equine who would make the process happen was already at the altar, which was strange since they always arrived late"

"Wait what?!" Applejack jumped in. "You mean to tell me a pony came here make dragons sages?"

"No, not a pony like any of ya'll, these equines were always black and white and spoke in strange riddles." Everypony in the room thought the same thing, 'zebras'. "Anywho, like I was saying, it was weird cause we had only sent the messenger a few days ago and these guys would take weeks to get here. No one really cared since they weren't looking forward to spending so much time in this here temple, so they went on and both dragons stepped on their spot as the equine got on top of the altar. As the flame was being passed on, the equine revealed himself to be a unicorn like you." Ralik said as he pointed to Bloom. "And proceeded to absorb the flame for himself, draining the sage of his power. After that, the other dragons tried to fight him, but with the sage's flame, the equine was too strong for them." Ralik said as he finished his tale.

"Well now we know why dragons are afraid of ponies..." Rainbowdash whispered to her earthpony friend.

"Wow, that's horrible. Do you know who did it?"

"Our current sage was one of the guards who survived, he said the equine called himself...umm, what was it? Somber? Sombrero?... Oh Right! Sombra!"

Everpony except Silver and Bloom gasped as they heard King Sombra's name. They all recalled what horrible things he did to the crystal ponies and how traumatized they were, that even just mentionaing his name would trigger horrible flashbacks.

"Is that why he had those purple flame thingies coming outta his eyes?" Applejack asked out. Ralik nodded as he further explained.

"Ya, the sage's flame is purple." All the ponies looked at one another before realizing things suddenly got more complicated, after all, Dragon's were liable to holding grudges...for a very long time. Next Chapter: Hidden Motives Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes