Smolder, The Dragon Tutor
Spike... was confused. Yesterday Smolder seemed like she wanted nothing more than to get away from him, but now here she was acting as pretty much his Dragon Tutor for his new powers. She was teaching him different spells dragons knew. Dragons didn't have the reality bending magic of unicorns but they could do lots of different things with their flame, not just sending letters apparently. They could even use touch based spells with their claws.
Spike concentrated, breathing in his flame and focusing it into a beam. He launched the fire at an apple and did everything he could to manipulate it like Smolder told him. He choked it out until the flame died and he fell on the floor, panting, "Did I do it?" he gasped for air.
Smolder picked up the apple, that now had gem shards growing out of it but was still very much an apple, "Not bad for a first attempt,"
Spike groaned seeing the abomination he created.
"Hey now," Smolder smiled, "Is all good. Alchemy is a really hard spell to master. This really is a great first attempt, better then what I did my first try?"
Spike perked, "Really?"
"Yeah, I just lit my apple on fire," Smolder laughed at the memory, "Only thing I managed to turn it into was ash,"
Spike smiled, suddenly all proud of himself. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't budge. That spell really took it out of him.
Smolder smiled and seemed to take notice, "How about we take a break?" She tossed the apple at Spike, "It's safe to eat if you're interested,"
Spike blinked, not sure why she wanted him to eat. Oddly enough he was starving after manipulating his fire like that. The truly bizarre thing was he just ate lunch before coming out here.
As he took a bite of the tasty apple gem, Smolder explained, "Until your magic reserves get built up you'll be using up calories when you cast spells. That means you need lots of food on claw,"
Spike nodded, "How do I build up my magic reserves?"
Smolder looked at him like he was stupid, "By practicing your spells,"
"Hey don't look at me like that!" Spike glared, "Where would I have learned any of this stuff!"
Smolder sighed, "Right right,"
After a few awkward moments of silence passed them by, Spike dared to ask, "I don't get it... You said dragons kick their kids out when they go through the molt. Hay, you pretty much ran away from me but now..." he lost his nerve to finish his question. Thankfully Smolder seemed to understand it.
Smolder rolled her eyes, "The molt only last a day or two. Then the whelp comes back to the cave. It's not a permanent thing,"
Spike gaped, "But you made it seem like I'd be gone FOREVER!"
Smolder stared at Spike, "You've met Princess Ember, right?"
Spike hesitately nodded, getting the feeling she was calling him stupid for not noticing something.
Smolder just groaned at spike's blank expression, "And her dad, the former Dragon Lord?"
"Yeah?" Spike still wasn't getting it.
Smolder face palmed before spelling it out, "Ember still lives with her dad despite the fact she obviously went through the Molt and he's famous for how over protective he is. Dragons have turned the molt into a type of right of passage ritual. When it starts they are sent to fend for themselves until their wings sprout. Most just hide in caves or pony cities to avoid predators, like I told you to do. Very few idiots actually die. When they return their loved ones throw a big party, like a pony's cute ceanera Sandbar told me about. The next day the Newly turned Rookie dragon starts learning magic. They're deemed mature enough to handle the responsibility. Since you were raised by ponies, I figured you don't actually have anyone to teach you this stuff,"
Spike looked down at the ground, "I really don't understand anything about Dragon Culture,"
Smolder shrugged, "We dragons like to keep to ourselves. We don't really interact with the other races unless we're eating them, but Ember made it illegal to eat any sentient creature and is trying to get us to form actual bonds with them... I didn't get it at first... Most races live for about 500 years, plus a clawful of decades, but Dragons? We are apex predators that live for 10s of thousands of years. We are the physical manifestation of magic. It's not arrogance. We legitimately are better then everything else,"
Spike just stared at her, "Dragons live in dank caves and don't have a single factory in their communities,"
"We don't need that stuff,"
"Then dragons need to stop whining about not having pillows and get a job," Spike deadpanned.
Smolder glared, "You want my help or not?"
"Yes please," Spike nodded adamantly.
Smolder sighed, "Anyway, after I got to know the creatures at this school... I kinda get it. They might not be as high on the evolutionary scale as dragons... but they do have stuff to offer the world. They are... impressive... in their own ways. Besides Ember is hoping to start trading with them soon. She's funding the construction of a factory town in Changeling territory so they can build us dragon sized stuff. We dragons might be above manual labor but there is no shame in paying lesser races to do it,"
"Why changelings?" Spike tilted his head.
"Our rulers are friends," Smolder shrugged, "and Changelings can turn into creatures actually big enough to work in a dragon sized factory. Besides Changelings are predators too. They might not need to kill their prey anymore but they understand us better then most other races... and they still eat bugs smaller then themselves for fun so they aren't disgusted by the Dragon diet the way ponies are,"
Smolder suddenly looked concerned as she looked Spike up and down, "You are awful small for your age, and the molt hit you really hard..." implying malnutrition, "what do ponies even feed you,"
Spike blushed, "You know, normal stuff,"
Smolder eyed, "Normal for dragons? Or for ponies?"
Spike got the feeling that his answer could get Twilight in a lot of trouble, "I eat a lot of gems," knowing that was part of a healthy dragon diet, and not even a lie. Since Twilight became a princess he got all the gems he could ever want instead of having them as an occasional treat.
Unfortunately Smolder looked appalled, "You need more then gems to survive! We are predators. You need meat for a well rounded diet,"
"Why do dragons hoard gold?" Spike suddenly asked, to distract her. Smolder just glared, so he pressed on, "Ember told me dragons don't actually have an economy. You don't actually buy anything as you make everything yourself, even food apparently," looking at the almost gem apple in his claw, "So why do Dragons need gold?"
"Fine," Smolder scuffed, "But I'm telling Ember about this. I bet she'll have some less then happy words with your pony guardians," poor Twilight. Smolder stewed on it a little but moved on to Spike's question, "Most dragons don't actually bother with gold. Our Alchemy Breath makes it pretty easy to make so it's worthless to us. Some dragons do hoard it cuz it symbolizes wealth to lesser creatures and is a good way to lore meat to you,"
Spike paled.
"But most Dragons will not bother with that and just eat a Roc or something, much more filling,"
"YOU EAT THOSE THINGS!?" Spike yelped as his mind flashed to the giant bird that tried to eat him.
"We eat ALL big creatures," Smolder grinned, "They might pray on us when we're young but once we grow up we are at the top of the food chain. I can't wait til I'm big enough to wrestle a Hydra!"
"Why a Hydra?" Spike asked but Smolder rolled her eyes.
"I had an encounter with one during my Molt," Smolder waved off, "I managed to hide in the bog water so it couldn't find me but I had to breath through a straw for hours until it left,"
"S-sorry," Spike stuttered.
"Why the Tartarus are you sorry?" Smolder blinked, "I out smarted a Hydra. My parents were so proud of me when I came back and even Garble was impressed,"
"GARBLE!?!" Spike exclaimed.
"My older brother," Smolder grinned, "I take it you've met,"
"He's the biggest ass I EVER met!" Spike insisted.
Smolder snickered, "Oh yeah, you've definitely met him,"
Spike began unwillingly pouting.
Smolder grinned and tried to distract him, "Wanna hear how we hoard so many gems?"
Spike grumbled, "I guess,"
"We gather a bunch of rocks, fruits, and stuff and flame thrower it about once a week. We use up our excess magic to turn it into food, AKA gems. It takes practice not to burn your own calories well doing it but eventually you will be able to have a never ending supply of food with no true cost, as Magic Reserves just replenish themselves over time. You just got to make sure you do it when you're somewhere safe, cuz you'll be out of your fire breath for about an hour afterwards. Other creatures might try to use the opportunity to steal some of your gems. It's only food to us but it's incredibly valuable to lesser creatures,"
Spike huffed, still upset by the Garble revelation, "I don't really got to worry about that,"
Smolder raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?" not reserving the judgment in her voice.
Spike shrugged, "Well when you are a pampered prince of a Pony City State, your older sister is the Alicorn Princess of that state, and your adoptive mother is the physical embodiment of the sun, not many creatures stupid enough to rob you,"
Smolder blinked, just staring at Spike before exclaiming, "You got connections to TWO PONY PRINCESSES!?"
"Actually, all of them. Princess Cadence is my sister in law, making Flurry Heart my niece, and Princess Luna is my aunt / foal sitter when Big Mac isn't available," Spike smiled, "I thought you knew that, though. I do hang out with Twilight all the time during school hours,"
"I figured you just worked here!" Smolder gaped, "Why didn't Ember tell me!?"
Spike shrugged, "Why didn't she warn me about the molt? Seriously I thought my lack of wings was a birth defect. Some Dragon actually TALKING to me about it would have been nice!"
Smolder stared at him a moment before sighing, "You really got the short end of the stick being raised by ponies, even if they are royalty,"
Spike shook his head, "I love my family and wouldn't trade them for anything. Besides, with as big a sissy as I am I doubt I could have made it growing up in the Dragon Lands,"
"Weird," Smolder commented, "Neither would I," if she meant trading her family or making it in the Dragon Lands Spike didn't dare ask.
Author's Note
Many editing suggestions taken from son_of_heaven176
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/212764/son_of_heaven176
