Getting up from the table, Twilight turned to walk away, only to be stopped by someone calling her name.
"Princess Twilight?"
Turning around, she replied crossly, "What?"
"Your mother mentioned how interested you are about learning new things, so I decided to bring something for you. A gift for your upcoming birthday, shall we say?" Sombra smiled as he watched Twilight go from anger to curiosity.
"A gift? Um, okay, I guess. What is it?" Twilight didn't trust Sombra at all, but her scholarly instincts took over, ignoring any distrust she had.
Chuckling, he replied, "Can't tell you that. All I can tell you is that it is in a cave near the castle. Happy hunting!" With that, Sombra turned away and walked off towards the guest hall. After a few steps, he paused and turned back towards Twilight. "Oh, and it's alive. Be careful."
"What?" Twilight froze her mental calculations for a second. Whatever the thing was, it was alive? And she should be careful? Was it a changeling? No, Queen Chrysalis would have killed Sombra. A manticore? No, she could have the guards capture one for her. Same went for sea serpents, hydras, cragadiles, giant spiders, and a plethora of other Everfree-native creatures. Maybe a chimera? It would make sense, seeing as chimeras were to be avoided at all costs. As for caves near the castle, there were a few. There was one big one down in the gorge, and it was close to the castle, so Twilight decided that she would check there first.
Not bothering to grab a guard, she trotted out of the dining hall, through the great hall, and out the main doors. Spreading her wings, she leapt into the gorge, carefully controlling her decent. The pegasi and thestral guards liked to race in the canyon, a dangerous pastime, but Twilight had seen what happened when just one wingbeat went wrong, so she always flew with the utmost caution. Landing in front of the cave, she noticed the huge bars of shadow crystal that covered its entrance. Sombra could be overdramatic. Calling on her dark magic, Twilight lowered a few of the bars into the ground, stepped over them, and pulled them back up once she was inside.
The cavern glowed with a soft blue light, courtesy of a crystal tree which had resisted all attempts of destruction. However, there was another glow, one that Twilight had never seen before. Stepping further into the cave, she found the source of the glow. There, right in front of her, was a dragon! Its belly glowed faintly green as it turned one eye to look at the purple alicorn who felt like shadow and light at the same time. For a moment, Twilight could've sworn she saw a pony by the dragon, but when she looked again, nothing was there.
Stepping forward a bit more, Twilight noticed the heavy restraints that the dragon bore. A ring was clamped over its jaw, and heavy cuffs bound its front and back legs together. But worst of all, in Twilight's opinion, were the chains that were strung through the dragon's wings, rubbing raw, bleeding holes every time it moved. Gasping slightly, she stretched a hoof out to touch the ring. She agreed with Sombra on the fact that dragons were dangerous, but no creature should ever be treated like that!
The dragon looked at her as she trotted over to its wing. What was with this pony? It had wings, but it also had a horn. It felt like light, but it also felt like shadow. Judging by the color, adornments, and body shape, it was a female. She was perhaps a head or two shorter than him, and acted nothing like any other pony he had ever seen. Most ponies ran around shrieking "The horror, the horror!" or threw projectiles at him. This one didn't. Weird.
Walking over to the dragon's wing, Twilight touched her horn to the chain. Gathering all of her knowledge on teleportation and disintegration, she slowly disintegrated the chain and teleported the ashes away. She then began to cleanse and patch the holes in the wings, deciding that the shadow bars would prevent it flying away.
As the magic patched the holes in his wings, the dragon sat up, eliciting an "EEP!" from the purple pony. Although he was only about a head and a half taller than her, his wingspan was much wider. How did the ponies fly with their dinky wings anyway? Noticing the armor on her, he had to laugh, a rumble that made purple "EEP!" again. Ponies were pathetic, really. They had no natural armor, no clawed hands - no hands or claws at all, for that matter! They also had no spiked tails. All in all, Spike couldn't understand how ponies were still alive. Sure, their single horn could control magic, but only certain types of spells did things to dragons.
Twilight stepped back, looking at its wings. Although the skin of the dragon's wings was raw, they looked better. Taking a deep breath, she put up a magic shield and removed the lock on the dragon's noseband. The dragon crossed its eyes, shaking its head and attempting to open its mouth. When the noseband failed to fall off, Twilight carefully levitated it off, lowering it to the floor with a clunk.
"Um, hello? My name is Twilight Sparkle." Twilight talked slowly, enunciating each word.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle. My name is Spike," Spike replied in a voice that rumbled slightly. "I thank you for your help."
"You can talk?!" Twilight yelped, looking up at him with shock. "Uh, that is, I mean..."
She was cut off by a frustrated growl from Spike. "Pony fools. Not you, though. You willingly approach me, and remove some of my restraints, even though it could mean death for you. Why is that? Why are you so different?"
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but failed to come up with an answer.
"You look like a fish," Spike chuckled. "Do you not know why you helped me?"
"I guess not," Twilight finally replied.
"Hmm, light." Spike looked at her appraisingly. "You are a mystery, little pony."
"Light? What? How old are you?" Twilight remembered that dragons could be hundreds of years old, but this one wasn't a whole bunch larger than her.
"How old are you?" Spike countered, grinning.
"Twenty, in a few days," Twilight replied swiftly, eager for his answer.
"Twenty-five, as of three days past," came the reply.
Twilight paused. He talked like he was from an older time, with slightly different wordings, and calling her 'little pony'. In all fairness, he was taller than her, so that could affect it. "Were you time-frozen, by any chance?"
"No. Why?"
"It's just that you talk slightly differently, like you're older."
"That's probably my teacher's fault," Spike relented. "Dragons are taught to convey an image of knowledge and superiority. We're also taught to refer to all creatures as little, mainly because most creatures are smaller than us. My friends and I are all annoyed with the lessons, but apparently I have actually been listening."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense. So you normally talk-"
"Like any normal pony. Dragons are also taught a whole bunch of different languages, so I also know Griffon, Zebra, Minotaur, and a few words of Changeish."
"Interesting. So, as you age, will you get bigger?" By now, Twilight had materialized a notebook and was frantically scribbling down everything Spike said.
"Uh...yes and no. I was hatched by magic, so this is probably as big as I'll ever get. Apparently, the magic unintentionally restricted my growth..."
Twilight paused. "I'm sorry. Maybe we could see if there's a way to remove the spell later. Right now, I have to go. Sorry..."
"Eh, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Sure!" With that, Twilight left the cave, making sure to close the shadow crystal bars behind her, and made her way up to her bedchambers. Removing her armor, she promptly fell on her bed and was enveloped in sleep.