I don't think the hatchling would always be given to the one who hatched it
So are you nitpicking with an assertion that it's
unsual that Twilight kept Spike, and therefore child slavery is a exception rather than standard practice, but that child kidnapping is standard, and that's why they had the egg in the first place?
* Unicorns are using dragon eggs to test students
* On at least one occassion, the baby dragon, once hatched, was kept by the student
* When the mane cast went to go visit a dragon, they did not take Spike with them
1)
Where did they get the egg from, and why was it not returned?2)
If there was some strange, once in a lifetime circumstance that led to unicorns getting a dragon egg through totally innocent means, why did they use it to test Twilight, why was she allowed/ordered/tasked with keeping him, and why was he told to stay at home in the Dragonshy episode, when they had the opportunity to return him to his kind, or the very least establish some sort of communication about it?These questions aren't answered in the episode. But the questions that
are answered are:
1) Do unicorns have at least one dragon egg with no reason given as to why they have it?
Yes.
2) Was that egg kept rather than returned?
Yes.
3) Have we observed a baby dragon being kept by a unicorn and used for menial labor?
Yes.
4) Has there been specific opportunity to establish contact with dragon-kind about Spike, and to possibly return him?
Yes.
5) Did they?
No.
Why?