Avatar: The Last Alicorn. Book 4: Alicorn

by Jeweled Pen

Avatar shorty 3: Spike the no longer last dragon

Spike groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. The lava against his form was nice and toasty, keeping his scales sparkly and clean. He was one of the few dragons who still had his own lava pit, something he was quite proud of. After all, he was the oldest.

The chamber he was in was filled with dozens of little pools of lava, most housing five or six dragons. Granted, most of them slept on piles of gemstones besides the lava, rather than in them. There were dozens of the dragons now, most barely coming up to his belly. A few dozen eggs were lined up near his pit, under his watchful eye at all times. He slowly crawled out with another groan.

“Great Dragon! You've awoken!” a unicorn said as he trotted over. He was wearing the red, black and gold hoof guards, chest guards and golden tail ring of the fire benders. There were at least a dozen other unicorns in the same getup throughout the chamber.

“Mmmm? Yeah, just woke up,” Spike mumbled as he stretched. “And it's Spike. I've said it a thousand times, I'm not the Great Dragon. He's... gone.”

“Of course, Great Dragon,” the unicorn said, drawing a roll of the eyes from Spike.

“What is it?”

“We're having a bit of trouble with a few of the newborns, we were hoping you could assist?”

Spike felt a icy stab of fear go through him. “Right, where are they?”

“Please, follow me,” the stallion said as he started trotting. The only ponies who dared come down here were fire benders, most ponies wouldn't be able to survive the great heat. The outer edges of the chamber were filled with piles of gemstones, harvested from all over the Fire Tribe lands and brought here to help nurture and feed the dragons. Some of the dragons were nestled up in nests of jewels, others were eating while still others were swimming in the lava. Whenever he passed they would turn to stare at him, watching with awe. He couldn't blame them, though. He was, quite literally, the oldest dragon in the world. Most couldn't even remember the Great Dragon, aside from thinking he was something big. But Spike they saw every day and stood as a beacon to what they would one day be.

Personally, he still had no idea what he was doing. Heck, he had barely any knowledge of what dragons would do as they aged. The fire benders were struggling to find any records of the developmental stages of dragons and, so far, they had have very little luck. There were a few books, but very little that was precise and had survived the Water Nation's war.

But the baby dragons looked to him to be the wisest dragon of all, the leader of their species and the one who had all the answers. So he tried to do his best to keep calm and look as if he knew what he was doing, even if half the time he had no idea what any of this meant.

At least he had an army of fire benders at his beck and call who would, literally, walk through fire for him. They took care of most of the hard stuff.

“It's here,” the stallion muttered, pointing nervously.

He looked at the two baby dragons who were sucking on their tails. “Ummm... so?”

“They won't eat! We've been trying to get them to eat all morning, but they won't touch their gems!”

He stared at them for a few moments, before looking at him. “Wait, you're kidding, right?”

“Of course not. We've tried feeding them crushed gems, but they won't touch them. We've tried normal gems, nothing. We-- Great Dragon! What are you doing?”

Spike walked up to the small pile of gems and picked up a ruby. He breathed fire on it until it was nothing more than a melty red puddle of slag in his claw. He dipped a claw into it, before putting it to the babies lips.

“Isn't... isn't that too hot for them?”

“We're dragons. Dra-gons. Fire immune. We spit fire, it's on the inside, too,” Spike said with mild annoyance. He then sighed and looked around. “It's... not common. I guess. But yeah, we can eat gems in just about any forms. Melted, crushed, charred. Just try different things if they don't work.”

“R-right, of course. Thank you, Great Dragon!” The pony bowed politely.

Spike rolled his eyes and walked off towards the exit. He stepped out from the caverns and took a deep breath of the hot, dry air. The desert stretched out in all directions, blistering white under a sea of clear blue. The only thing within sight was the city of Manehatten. It stood out from the sand, rising up like a great black boil over the white sand.

He stared up at the great dragon statues that were in the city. The one facing them held a great, bone head that made him sigh. “I'm not the Great Dragon,” he muttered.

He was just a dragon, a child like most of them. He wasn't even at the age where he was looking at... well, okay, there might have been one particular glorious, radiant pony he was looking at. But dragons? No. He'd never seen one that even interested him. Not surprising, though. Even by pony ages he was only a child still, yet he was expected to have all the answers and know everything. It was all just guesswork though.

The fire benders were trying to help, of course. But they were just as clueless as him. None of them even knew how long until he'd start having wings. They estimated five to ten years. Fifteen at the most. He was both looking forward to and dreading it.

'I am sooooo going to be called Chickenwings,' he thought to himself.

He smiled softly as he felt the warm breeze wash over him. It was scary, terrifying even. He was the eldest of his kind. But he wasn't the last, not anymore. The Elder Dragon was gone, but they weren't alone. Besides, in a hundred years or so there'd probably be a ton of dragons. Many of the eggs were still aging and there were even a few who were talking now. Not a lot, but they were learning. Everypony now was learning. As hard as it was, as long as they all worked together, how could they fail? Before they knew it, there'd be a whole army of dragons and these wounds the Water Nation made would heal.

Perhaps in a few generations, he'd look to whoever the new Avatar was and tell them about all that had happened. Of all his adventures, his fighting. His friendships. His heartache. When things were at their worst. And how the dragons had risen again, from just a few dozen eggs.

Comments

[eric-emanwu]

Spike for his part was stumbling through being the new great dragon. He may not like being called it, but Great Dragon is a title, not an identity. And as the oldest dragon in the world, thou art the new great dragon. Not to mention, that since you're also making it up as you go, you could technically remold Dragon culture to your desire, not just retaining the ancient traditions. And besides, I'm sure nature will do part of the job in time. With mating, power struggles, etc. You can make them in your own image, and create a new future for dragons as strong and free, but polite. Just like you.

And don't worry about the wings. All things take time.

But oh spike. You're not going to like the next avatar. After all, it's the law of avatar inversion. Where 1 avatar is 1 way, the next one will be the near opposite. from withdrawn to dutiful, to loving, to regretful. From irrisponsibility to strong wills. But where Twilight was humble and self conscious out of fear, Diamond will be self conscious out of pride. And as the great dragon, someone's gonna have to kick some sense into her. And that someone is YOU! You'll need to raise the avatar just as much as You'll be raising the dragons back.

Well, till later dragon man. Hmm, I suppose next is....AJ? Earth Kingdom? Babies?

[GMZ_Casper]

Spike is going to have quite a chore with both the baby dragons and the new Avatar.

C&C:
Perhaps in a few generations he'd look to whoever the new avatar was and tell them about all that had happened.
> Comma after 'generations' and capitalize 'avatar'.