Game of Ponies

                   Spike awoke to a dark silence, still on the seat of a carriage, which had been pulled in to the lot with the others, "Twilight?" he called out into the darkness. He shook his head, realizing what had happened, he fell asleep on the train, again, but this time Twilight didn't wake him, he teared up at that. Spike made his way through the darkness, following the light emanating from the door at the end of the enormous room. He opened the door, the sun burned into his eyes, intensified by all of the crystals, he clenched his eyes shut, shielding them with an arm.

                  A few minutes later, the dragon found himself walking about the streets of the crystal empire, he knew the layout of the city fairly well, considering that he had been here before, and the fact that Twilight had made him memorize the map. Spike was headed down the main road to get to the coliseum, where he assumed that Twilight and the others had gone. Along the way there were vendors, a lot of vendors, most of them selling useless junk, Spike kept walking.

                  To say that Spike was out of his element, was an understatement, not that he was the one who felt out of place, but the ponies of the empire all seemed to be watching him intently, he was still walking down the road all eyes on him, the ponies seemed to be whispering and gossiping about the dragon, Spike felt uneasy. Further still down the road vendors started giving him nods of approval, it came back to him that he was the one who had saved this place back when it had first re-appeared.

                  "Hey kid!" Spike heard one of the sales ponies call out, "Catch!"

Spike turned to face the sound, catching the glint of a crystal that had been tossed toward him, he jumped up to catch it, "Thanks mister!"

"Thank you, Spike!" The clerk called back.

                   Spike began to chew on the crystal as he continued down the road, he began walking faster assuming that he was expected, he felt something off in the air, like someone had changed something about the city, and had dared him to find out what. Every pony seemed to be going about their business as usual, though it was a bit odd seeing so many different kinds of ponies in one place, crystal ponies, unicorns, pegasus ponies, the horses from Saddle-Arabia, even zebras!

                    By the time that Spike got to the coliseum the entrance was blocked by an enormous line of equines, he did not want to be in, well.... that, situation. He decided to go around the coliseum in hopes that he would find some, 'V.I.P.' entrance, he did not see anything until he was nearly at the other side, and there were no ponies there, not even guards, "It's an entrance I guess." Spike thought,

                   When Spike arrived at the door he realized that this might be a maintenance room of some kind, and if only out of curiosity, he opened the door. Inside, it was near black in darkness, the light shining through the door revealed unlit torches on either side of the corridor Spike hopped up and snatched one, he lit it with a puff of green flame, and closed the door behind him.

                      As he walked further down the corridor he lit the mounted torches as he passed, leaving an orange path of light behind him, he found that the path went further down as it progressed, eventually leading to a short flight of stairs, light emanated from the small window in the door, Spike raced down the steps, stopping half way down to try and get a glimpse of what was inside. failing to see anything but a white tile floor he decided to dash down and open the door.

                     Entering the room, he felt chills, like hate incarnate, the draft blew out his torch, and he was yet compelled to keep his advance into the room. The chamber was filled with and ambient light. Seeming not to come from a particular source.

                      Spike was startled to find that in the center of the room, there was an enormous cage, formed from blackened crystals, and there, in the cage, lay a gargantuan Crystal Dragon! With white scales and blue eyes, and radiance that filled the room. The dragon rose to meet Spikes gaze.

"Quid hoc? Unum modicum draconem? Appropinquentur, parvo." The Dragon said.

"What's this? A little dragon? Come closer, small one."

                       Spike stared wide eyed and jaw gaping at the Dragon, unable to formulate a sentence.

"Do you speak Equine then?" The Dragon snorted,

Spike nodded, "Yeah, yeah I-"

"Good, then you may be of some use to me." The dragon rose to its feet. "Can you find a way to release me from this cage?"

Spike nodded and began searching, though the room was filled with... Nothing, he searched aimlessly hoping to find a lever, or a key or, something,

Spike looked back at the Dragon, "I-"

"Maledictiones!!" The Dragon spat, letting out a loud huff.

"Cursess!!"

Spike began to question why the Dragon was in the cage, surely he was put in here for a reason.

"Who put you in here?" Spike asked.

"Hah, my owner of course, the pony lord, King Sombra, curse his name. Curse his people!" The Dragon lay back down with a huff.

"You  you belonged to Sombra?" Spike questioned with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yes, and- Belonged? Past-tense?" The Dragons eyes widened.

Spike smiled, "Yeah, we killed him some time ago."

The Dragons brow furrowed, "Who are we? You are responsible for his death?"

Spike crossed his arms with confidence, "Yup, me and my pony friends, and w-"

"HAHAHAHAHA, heh, raised among ponies were you?" The Dragon continued to laugh.

\

"So!?" Spike replied firmly.

The Dragon sobered,"Heha, what?"

"What is wrong with having been raised by a pony?"

The Dragon gave Spike a dead stare, "Nothing, the Dragon you see before you was raised by King Sombra. But you, you are more pony than dragon, you don't even know our language."

"Non iudices specie, stulte!" Spike spoke clearly, silencing the white dragon.

"You should not judge appearances, you fool!"