Author's Note

Manly to get back on my feet once more, it has been hard for me to do the other stories because ponies are bit hard to do. Dragons have always been my thing and it is easier to right about them because they are Elementals so to speak. In the MLP universe, their mythology or race has yet to be fully explored and I wish to go after it in my own way without interfering with the way the show has it.
It is a clopfic because we all damn know there are little mature fics of dragons (even thought this site is mostly pony based, though that doesn't stop people from talking about humans, crossover and all that crap,) I generally want to go back to my roots.
My stories have always started with dragons and that is why, this is going to be a thing and while I will still work on my other two stories, this one has been on my mind since Spike's dragon quest episode. Please enjoy it if not, tell me what is wrong.

Prologue:

Prologue:

It was soft, drizzling night at Canterlot Hospital. Few nurses were walking the hallways and ever fewer patients occupied the rooms. One room, however, was not so empty, the waiting room.

Eight ponies were sitting in the room, all of them either filled with fear or sadness. Of those eight, one of them was constantly crying, her heart filled with dread and sadness.

The mare cried onto her older brother’s chest and her sister-in-law had been trying to comfort her as much as possible, but it really wasn’t helping. They were all there for one reason and that was for Spike.

The poor dragon had been there most of the day and had little signs of showing recovery. The doctors had been trying to do their best to help the poor little drake but dragon anatomy was limited and magic had little effect on him.

Twilight had been distraught by the fact that her own little baby brother was on the bed and she was helpless to do anything about it. She had practically begged Celestia to use her powers to help him. She didn’t object and quickly went to her castle to find anything she could about dragons.

Her friends also went to seek aid. They enlisted Zecora the Shaman to help them. Princess Cadance and Prince Armor had personally come from the Crystal Empire to help them. The Crystal Empire even sent several train carts worth of crystals and gems to Spike, for he was the Crystal Empire’s Hero.

None of her friends really knew what had happened, but they knew it happened as soon as Spike hit his first growth spurt last summer. The dragon practically grew up in a matter of months. Though unlike his greed transformation, this one was done naturally and with the help of his friends, he was able to control himself and grew to about the height of Big Macintosh. His spines were bigger his snout longer and from muzzle to tip, was as long as two ponies standing one in front of the other. Truly Spike had changed for the better, but this current case had everypony wondering if something had gone wrong.

It was almost a quarter past ten when the doctors came out. Twilight quickly awoke after falling asleep crying on her brother, and quickly shot out to the doctor.

“Is he okay?! Will he be aright?! Please tell me!!” she practically yelled.

The doctor, an cream colored male earth pony, did his best to calm her down.

“Please calm down, Princess Twilight. We did all we could and for now, he is stabilized. Though it is hard to check with the limited info of dragons we have, can you please explain what happened to him?”

Twilight quickly thought back to his growth spurt.

“He just his first growth spurt last summer and we thought he would go through his greed rage again but we managed to keep him out of it. After that, he grew slowly until now and I think that is when it happened.” She paused and a more worried look appeared over her. “He began complaining of starving, going so much about how he was still hungry despite eating a lot of food. He managed to eat a chest full of gems and the entire buffet at a dinner, but he said he still felt hungry… He often gave weird looks to us and even chased one of Fluttershy’s chickens around, almost killing it when he caught it. He kept saying that it was all… missing something to him and we don’t know what it was.”

“Meat is what he is missing.” Everypony turned their heads to the approaching of Princess Celestia. Despite the news, everypony still bowed their heads, all except Twilight, who had a chill running through her spine.

“W-what?” she asked, almost shakily.

Celestia regarded her with soft eyes.

“Meat, my dear Twilight. Spike requires meat in him. That is why he is ill.” Just about everypony in the room, gave a shutter though Fluttershy gave a ‘meep’ at the word.

Twilight was left a bit speechless, so Celestia continued on.

“Spike is a dragon Twilight. No matter how long he lived with ponies or if he would continue to live with them till time ends, he will be a dragon and he will never stop being who he is. Dragons all have needs and since they are mainly carnivores, they need to eat meat, especially when they hit their first growth spurt. Do to his life mostly in pony society, the lack of any kind of meat, is why he hasn’t gone on an eating spree to eat any kind of food that contains meat or otherwise.”

Fluttershy, the most shyest of the group, still a little bit shaky of the news, managed to speak up.

“W-well, I know that it is part of live and all.” Everypony turned to her. “I have to give fish to some of my animals, especially Mr. Bear, and even though I don’t like doing it, I know that he needs to eat meat to survive.” She paused. “Maybe we can give him some of that?” she asked, a bit hopefully.

Celestia gave a small, weary smile.

“That would help some Fluttershy, but the fact that he has eaten nothing but Pony food and gems his whole life; it would take a long while before his body will adjust back to normal. He would have to eat…” she paused, almost having a hard time trying to say it. “A few ponies worth of meat.” Everypony paled and Twilight felt all sense of hope leave her as she said that. “Not to mention that because he has been around ponies his life, he might reject it and that could make it worse.”

It was silent for a moment leaving tension in the room. The doctor left to go check on other patients.

Twilight looked up at her mentor with teary eyes.

“Is there nothing we can do?” she whimpered.

Celestia looked down at her. Her broke her heart seeing her former student like this. Pulling her into her chest with her wing, she nuzzled Twilight.

“I will do everything in my power to help Spike. I promise you.”

Twilight pulled away to look at her. Celestia gave a reassuring smile. Twilight gave one back, before hugging her former mentor tightly again.

A few minutes later the doctor came back.

“He is weak but he is awake. You may seem him now.”

Everypony nearly jumped out of their seats and quickly ran to the room. Twilight was held back by Celestia.

“When he gets out, I am bringing him to the castle. There, I will help him get what he needs.” Twilight’s eyes went a bit wide.

“How…”

“Shhh…” she quickly silenced her. Giving her a steady look, she lowered her voice. “You may come if you wish but know this, it is not the best smell in the world and seeing it might make you change your views on him. Might.”

Twilight stared unblinking at her. Celestia continued her steady gaze.

“I ask that you remember that he is a dragon. He needs this and no matter what, he is still the Spike we all know and love.”

Twilight sighed and nodded.

“Thank you.”

Celestia smiled.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.” With that she gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Now go along and meet him.”

Nodding Twilight turned around to go before she stopped at turned back to Celestia.

“Have you ever… you know… been around it?”

Celestia gave a nod and a smile.

“I have. Whenever the gryphon ambassadors or the dragon elders come for a visit, they expect certain… pleasantries to go with their visits in Canterlot. Most of the time, the chefs have to prepare, marinate and cook it for a number of hours before its ready… or serve it fresh.”

Twilight blanches and almost felt like she was going to lose her lunch. A quick ‘thank you’ she gave before quickly entering the room. Celestia gave a smile before she let it go and sighed heavily. As much as she wanted to join them, she knew she had important matters. Lighting up her horn, she disappeared.

She arrived in her studies where her she had several candles lit around her desk. She approached her work desk and set out a scroll with ink.

“Please…” she whispered. “Don’t make me beg.” She said and she dipped her feather quill in ink before writing.

To the King of the Dracus Empire

I, Princess Celestia, have a dilemma with one of your young dragons that was left in my care. He has hit his first growth spurt but had become ill do to the lack of certain… nutrients your kind need to grow and survive. I know it has been a near year since we last spoke but I beg that you aid me with this young one.
I fear that he may grow up confused or scarred at not knowing about his own kind or fear of hurting the ones he loves. I know that when we made our agreement to take care of your own to show that we were capable of trust, that we would make sure that he would live a healthy life, but it was my own mistake that I had not established proper information to him about his anatomy and what is to come. Currently, he is ill because I forgot…was fearful that the one who took him in would fear him if he took in his draconic needs.
I humbly beg that you come and give what aid and knowledge you can to him and help him learn about his race so he can know what to expect when he matures more. Any rapid changes or any food that he can eat to help him, would also be a benefactor for us all.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Signed,
Princess Solis Celestia of the Equestrian Nation

Celestia sighed once more before she rolled the scroll up and tied it with her signature bow. With that she levitated the scroll a bit over the candle light, burning the edge before using her magic to send it to her contact.
With a weariness that has been with her all day, she retired to her bed, knowing that in a few hours, she would have to rise the sun and begin the day anew.

The next morning, Celestia had already risen the sun and was already greeted by her morning assistant. As her assistant began naming off things for her schedule, Celestia’s horn came to life in an almost redish aura before a scroll appeared, steam coming off if.
Her contact had finally answered as she prayed for good news. Opening up, she saw that he had indeed responded though the lettering had her worried.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I have received your letter and I am indeed a bit upset you have let something like this happen. However, I can see why you wished to hold it off as long you could, fearing that they may reject him if they knew what he did naturally. I expected you to establish to your kind that we are not all mindless beasts, but you and I know that your kind can be frightful, hard headed or idiotic. Though the few tabloids and letters you sent me of him being a hero, I can say that you and the wonderful student of yours have pleased most of us.’

Don’t I know it, mentally thought Celestia.

This brings me to my next point. While I enjoy hearing of young Spike’s heroics, I am troubled by the fact that he has been without meat or without general information of his kind which you could of asked for during the years, along with I knowing that you could have provided him with some with your personal hidden area where you have meat when us carnivores visit, and neglected to mention it to his caretaker. I will personally come to Canterlot and speak to the young drake about his draconic heritage… including how he is of kin to me and the dragon empire.

What! No! NO! He can’t! She read on, fearfully reading it word for word.
I will show him of his inheritance and that after all these years, he must return to his home. His mother and I miss him so much and it being nearly 20 years since we have given you our egg in your care, now we seek to take him back.
We will come by week’s end to return our son to home and I will bring back your pony as part of our agreement. She is alive and well and I believe that now she is older, she should return to her own kin, just as the young drake should to his. My son is now our responsibility and we will take care of him properly.
This is not negotiable and I expect that he be made aware of this soon.

Signed
Lord Talonus EmberWing of the Dragon Empire