The sun was slow to set, however, because of Dragon's Bane's large walls, it became dark much faster than in Ponyville. Everypony began to prepare for their night routine. Guards were posted and began to make their rounds, and every pony else headed to the barracks where they wold rest until early the next morning. As the busy courtyard began to lose it's momentum, Spike became increasingly worried. His last growth spurt left him with large claws and a more quadruped body structure but still able to stand up right. Soon he would look like the dragons in the gang he met during his quest to find himself a while back. They, of course, are still much taller then he is right now, but he would definitely would look threatning.

Now he definitely can't be seen by the others. They'll attack him on the spot. I, for one, do not want to cause a panic.

Silver's words still echoed in IN the Dragon's head. When he saw him earlier he was just about ready to attack him yet again. Bloom's terrified face didn't help Silver back down, if it wasn't for Twilight and the others sticking up for him and coming to a compromise, he would have been a goner for sure.

Spike's train of thought was interrupted by hoof steps he heard coming closer and closer to the wagon he was still hiding in. Ponies had walked by before earlier in the day, but having everything be so quiet made Spike's heart skip a beat at every clank of the hoof hitting the ground. He wished and hoped it was Twilight coming to get him, if he was discovered now Twilight and the others wouldn't be able to fix the Dragon's Bane spell like the Princess wanted them to.

His fears come true when he heard the hoof steps come to a stop and the guard talk to himself.

"Man, why do we have to do these silly little rounds? By now all those Dragon worshippers are probably eaten anyway, there shouldn't be any of them left for us to fear of an attack." Spike felt the wagon move as the guard leaned against it. His heart began to beat faster and faster, he was sure that if the guard didn't find him, the loud beating of his heart would give him away.

"Maybe I should take a quick nap in this wagon, no one would mind right?" The guard pony climb over the wagon and placed his hoof over the sheets covering it. He was but seconds from pulling it to the side and leaving Spike in plain sight.

"I would mind it quite a bit actually." A cold voice said from the other side of the stable the wagon was being kept at.

"C-captain!" The guard pony jumped down and stood at attention. He began to sweat nervously as Silvercharger walked closer to him.

"Tell me something, do you do this every night? Sneak into the stable and take naps on the carts and wagons we have?" Silver said while what appeared to be with glaring eyes.

"No sir! I was simply wondering why the night rounds if the Dragon worshippers are probably all eaten by now, since they stay to close to dragons and such...uh sir."

"So you think we should ease the patrols?" Silver asked, now mere inches away from his troop. The guard's eyes wanted to avert and look away but he couldn't Silver's gaze intimidated him past his own ability to move. Spike peeked through a crack in the sheets and saw the ordeal taking place, and the only thing going through his head was wonder what Silver has done to keep all his army under such deep rooted intimidation, and whether he should be scared of him as well.

"Well I cannot deny that we haven't had an infiltration since last year. Perhaps we should relax our patrols. I'll strike you a deal. We shall relax our patrols to more infrequent and with less guards out, if you take night patrol duty for the next six months. All night, every night." No matter what the guard choose it was a lose-lose situation. However, he decided to take a fall for the team, with him taking the offer, his comrades would be spared long night patrols, and so he nodded and Silver signaled he was free to go on his way. Silver stood there watching as the guard walked out to spread the "good" news. Silver remained stationary and without looking back spoke.

"Alright, it's clear. You can come out now." Spike slowly peeked out and looked over at Silver who did not seem to want to look at him. Things were quiet for a while.

"How long?" The grey stallion asked. His cold voice startled Spike, he slowly got out of the wagon and stood moderately close to Silver.

"How long 'till what?"

"Until you have another growth spurt again."

"Oh." The purple dragon scratched his scaled on of top his head. "I don't know. I only have them over night, I'm asleep during that time, so I have no idea when I grow." Silver finally turned back to look at him.

"Did you take a nap while on the wagon?" The series of questions were strange for Spike, but he answered anyway.

"Well, no. I snore so I did my best not to fall asleep or else I might have given myself away. But uh, why?"

"From what I hear, you were a baby dragon for about 9 years. As we have observed here, dragons tend to grow rapidly between the time they are born to about the teenage phase, where they grow at an extremely slower rate. They spend about 100 to 500 years in this phase before taking an initiation into adult hood, which will last for any time around 6000 years before entering the "sage" stage. The great dragon Turin, being the only recorded dragon to reach said stage."

"Umm, alright, so what does any of this have to do with sleeping?" Spike asked still a little lost.

"The teenage stage starts at age of 10 years. The growth experienced by dragons during their childhood happens mostly in their sleep. I am thinking that you are going through an exaggerated version of it, to make up for all the time that had passed while you remained the same."

"But Zacora said dragon's only grow with greed. When they gather and horde things they want."

"Yes, that is how dragon's are suppose to grow. Which is probably the reason you stood at a standstill. However, there has been no record of dragons staying as babies since they all get greedy at some point in their childhood. Your body must be reacting differently since it hasn't gotten its dose of greed."

"So what does this all mean?"

"It means, that your body is going to react to normal dragon stimuli at an exaggerated level. When you sleep, for example, you will grow rapidly. Celestia forbid you start getting greedy right now."

"Been there...done that..."

Silver began to walk to the back of the stable. Spike noticed and followed him. They sneaked out a window and the stallion signaled a stop. They waited for a few seconds before a guard passed by. They allowed for him to pass before continuing on their route. They followed narrow passages, spots that usually Spike would have no trouble getting through, but his new body was being rather hard to adjust to. Plenty of times did Silver have to help pull him out of tight squeezes. Finally, they reached the side of tower the rest of the group was staying at. Silver pulled out two large bricks which gave way for a secret entrance. Spike awed in astonishment at how closely Silver knew about Dragon's Bane. That pony probably knew every nook and cranny of the city, and he could probably spot if a stone was an inch too far gone. Spike and Silver walked through the newly made entrance the stallion sealed it back up behind them.

As they continue to walked through the cob web infested hall, Spike felt a little awkward next to Silver. Before long, he tried to break the ice.

"So...you're captain of the guard here? Twilight's brother is captain of the guard back in Canterlot."

"Really now? I'd like to meet him. He could use some pointers." Spike sweated a little and gave out a faint nervous chuckle.

"I do not wish to come off as rude...Spike. But perhaps you shouldn't sleep tonight." Spike expression changed as he saw Silver's face. "If you only get growth spurts while you sleep, than you shouldn't grow at all until you do."

Spike looked down at his hands suddenly the image of Bloomingstar's scared face came to mind, he definitely didn't want to scare anyone else. So he nodded and agreed. Spike had his mind set on finding who he truly was while here, and getting bigger and bigger wouldn't make things easier for anypony.

Finally, they came to their destination. The hall ended at a wall, Spike looked confused as he saw the dead end, but Silver continued to walk until was face to face wall. He stared at it for a few minutes and the purple dragon observed. He was sure he was about to do something awesome, like open another secret passage way.

"We're lost. I think we took a wrong turn." Silver said with his indifferent expression. Spike's mouth gapped open and screamed out.

"WHAT!? But you seemed so confident about the way you were navigating the maze back there!"

Silver turned 180 degrees and started to walk back. "Yes, but I have only taken this route once, and it was with a map. Not to mention I was engaged in conversation with you. Now, let's head back and see where we took a wrong turn." Spike wasn't sure how to react. The fact that Silver considered their few exchange of lines plus the long while in silence as they walked 'an engaging conversation' kind of made him want to laugh, but he held back, lest he offended the one pony most capable of killing him. Spike just sighed and continued walk along side Silver, who's facial expression was still as indifferent as ever.

Next Chapter: A Quiet Night Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 49 Minutes