A Hall of Mirrors

A bright, yellow sun streamed through the windows, setting a yellowish glow over the entire library. Normally, Spike would have welcomed the warm rays, had a firm hoof not shaken him awake. "Come on, Spike! You have to get up sooner or later!"

He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. A concerned Twilight loomed over his bed, hoof ready to keep shaking if necessary. "Alright, Alright; sheesh, Twilight, it's only-" he looked around for the familiar clock. "-1:30 in the afternoon."

without too much hesitation, Spike climbed out of his small bed and headed downstairs. A pile of books lay in the back corner with his name on it, but before he could start shelving the first 5 volumes of the Equestria Historia, Twilight called out to him; "Spike, that's not why I woke you; I saw something out in town I think you have to see." She trotted down the stairs and over to spike, he quickly clambered on top of her back. Probably more books, Spike thought to himself. Just what I need.

As they made their way into town, Spike saw a large crowd of ponies gathering around the fountain. As they approached the mass, Spike hopped down and worked his way through the jungle of hooves. When he finally got through, he almost jumped straight to the sun. A set of claws and wings sat directly next to a small brown box, filled with gems, bones, and other things that he couldn't recognize. Over the chatter of ponies, he could hear a distinctly animal-like voice saying, "My friends, please allow me to show you my wares. I guarantee I can find you something for a reasonable price." The pair of yellow eyes scanned their audience, looking for somepony in need of anything, before making contact with the small, purple lizard at the front of the pack. The two stared at each other for several seconds, before the eyes moved on. Spike couldn't believe it; a dragon? In Ponyville? Not destroying things? It was unheard of, almost ludicrous. Yet, the other ponies weren't afraid to put down their bits for a gem or two to display back at their houses.

By the time the crowd dispersed, half of the dragon's box was empty, and Spike could clearly see a bright blue label on the inside of the box; Smoke-scale, Traveling Peddler. He looked around for Twilight, and spotted her over by Sugarcube Corner, chatting with Pinkie. He started towards her, before he felt a large claw on his shoulder. "So you are the dragon I keep hearing about." Spike spun around, coming face to face with a dragon about twice his size, with dark blue scales and wings the size of baking trays. " I had heard about you from a friend of yours, and she asked me if I had anything for you as a gift. I assume you wouldn't mind taking home a couple extra pounds, would you?"

The dragon's words rolled off of his tongue like mercury; Spike felt like it would be cruel to say no to such an offer. "S-sure," Spike replied, " I'd be happy to."

The blue dragon stood up to his full height, dwarfing everything around him. He walked back to his small box, muttering as he rifled through what was left in his small shop. "Now where was it... Aha, here we go!" He pulled something dark out of the box, and threw it to the young dragon. Spike almost toppled under it's weight, and after getting a good look at it, he understood why.

"Encyclopedia Draconus- oh no, not another book..." Spikes face dropped, as the large tome dragged his body down towards the earth. The blue dragon must have heard what Spike had said, because he replied near instantly after Spike's words had left his lips.

"Your friend looked like a good student, so I assumed you would be as well, hence the book. Also, she told me that I was, 'something extraordinary'; I take it that meant ponies didn't know much about us, so this book seemed like a good choice. It contains a condensed version of basic draconic knowledge."

Spike still didn't like the idea of lugging this thing back to the library, but he smiled anyways. "Thank you, sir."

"Please," the dragon replied. "Call me Smoke. That's what my friends back home call me. Speaking of which, they are probably expecting me sometime tonight, so I am going to have leave fairly soon. Either way, it was nice talking to you. Enjoy the gift!" He gave a small wave of his claws, and sauntered over to his small case, locked it up, and carefully put it underneath his wing. Somehow, it stayed there, almost completely motionless beneath what looked like leather against a very bright light; thin, yet strong and taut.

Spike walked back towards Twilight, but not before taking a final look back at Smoke. He tested something on the top of his wings with his claws, before shooting off the ground at a speed rivaling even that of Rainbow Dash's. For a few moments, Spike just stared at the hole he left in the clouds, before abruptly bumping into Twilight head on. "Oops... Sorry about that." Twilight just gave a soft smile and finished up her conversation with Pinkie Pie. Spike headed to one of the small benches nearby and took a look at the new gift he had just been given. The cover was completely leather, or what he thought was leather. He opened to the first page, and was taken aback by the amount of writing that the author had decide fit onto a single piece of paper. Spike quickly shut the book with a soft 'thud', afraid he might drown in the sheer amount of words. He looked around and saw Twilight heading back to the library, so he grabbed his book and ran down the path to catch up.

Spike put the book down by his bed and finished up sorting through the stack of history books he had started that morning. By the time he finished, it was almost 5 in the afternoon, so Spike decided to take a well deserved rest.  He headed upstairs, and flopped into his small bed, stretching out on the bedding and staring at the ceiling. For some reason he couldn't quite put his claw on, his thoughts drifted to the gift he had received. A book entirely about dragons; a book that could explain what they- what he was. It was amazing, considering that Twilight's library didn't even possess a book that could explain what dragons even are. As far as ponies were concerned, dragons were all but unknown. He shot up from the bed, grabbed the leather book, and started reading as fast as he could.

'Dragons are large, reptilian animals belonging to the draconus family. They generally possess strong scales, large teeth, leathery wings, and lizard like eyes.' Although Spike had read many scientific books in his apprenticeship to Twilight, this was a bit of struggle, mostly because he had never had to read about himself, or any kind of dragons for that matter. 'There are several stages of growth to a dragon: Hatchlings/Wyrmlings, Young Wyrms, Adult/Great Wyrms, and Elders. Hatchlings or, formally Wyrmlings, are considered to be dragons possessing less than 50 years of age. They appear as smaller versions of their older counterparts, with no or small teeth, proportionate wings, and small scales. These scales will eventually fuse together to form larger, stronger scales.' At this Spike felt a little disheartened. If dragons have wings from birth, then why doesn't- He tried to push the thought out of his mind. I can worry about that later; right now, I want to learn more.

'After 50 or so years, Wyrmlings will undergo a drastic spout of growth, known as the Elaboration. After this, dragons are now considered Young Wyrms, which have several...' Spike tuned out for several pages; it was all stuff about dragons aging, their various forms, what happens biologically. It wasn't until he reached the next section that things got interesting again.

On the first page of the section, there was a picture of a cross cut dragon, with scientific labels and names criss-crossing along the outside. 'There are several organs that are not found within other animals, the most famous one being the Breath Sac. Breath Sacs are small, very durable organic containers within a dragon capable of producing temperatures that can create basic elements; Water, Fire, Earth and Air. The reason behind this marvel of life is often attributed to the Dragonfire.' Spike was extremely confused by this. Dragons could only breathe fire, he thought. And what the hay is a "Dragonfire"? He noticed a small note at the bottom of the page; 'see page 250 for information on Dragonfires'. Spike would have immediately gone to that page, had a large clock not begun to ring. Spike looked around for the source of the noise, his eyes finally fixing on the small clock in the windowsill. 9:30. His eyes began to droop, his limbs falling like stones, dragging him into the soft pillows. He put the large book down behind his small bed, and let sleep overtake him. Throughout the night, he could only think of one thing;

what was on page 250?