Spike lay on his belly off to the side as he wrote his letter to Princess Celestia, telling her all that happened and assuring her he was okay (and asking if Twilight was to).
Lava Frost was busy shepherding the other whelps and wasn't really paying attention to him at the moment. There were over a hundred kids he had to watch so he couldn't spend all his time on one.
"Did you REALLY hatch from Pony magic?"
Spike blinked, looking up from his letter to find a... girl standing over him. He thought Garble said Dragons only had one gender? He was probably messing with him. Still Spike had never seen a girl dragon before.
She was kinda pretty though, with dark green scales and a bright pink underbelly. She had long wings that hooked together and draped over her like a cloak. The wings were draped in such a way, that made it hard to spot the utter she had attached to her stomach but there it was. Spike was doing his best not to stare at it. He knew girls didn't like when you stare at their milk producers. Still it was weird seeing that on a reptile. She also had the cutest long whiskers on her brow and snout, that moved around like feelers. She even had an elegantly curved horn in the middle of that long snout. Unlike many of the other whelps she was walking down on all fours.
"Errrrr, y-yeah," Spike fidgeted. He'd never talked to another dragon his age before. Although the girl was more then a head taller, even on all fours. Maybe that was how tall he was supposed to be if he actually ate meat like he was supposed to... didn't seem worth it though.
The girl shifted herself, equally shy, "T-that's pretty wicked. I never met a real life pony, just read about them in books. I mean there is a group of them that come by once a moon, but they only come to the edge of the island with their goods to trade. They aren't allowed to come near the nest and Lava Frost won't let us Whelps leave it, even just to see the ponies,"
"... Island?" Spike focused on that.
"Yeah we're on an island. I mean it's pretty big but still an island," She grinned, getting more comfortable but still a bit rambly, "I'm Horrorcow, the Grimler,"
"I'm Spike the dragon,"
The girl snickered, "I know you're a dragon but what kind of dragon?"
"I... I don't know," Spike shrugged, "I don't think there has ever been a dragon to hatch from pony magic before,"
"He's a Mare Drake," A water dragon splashed out of the lava. He looked kinda like the Loch Ness Monster. He waddled on land with his fins as he came over to them. Passing glances to Lava Frost, to make sure his attention was still elsewhere.
Horrorcow blinked, "A what?"
"Well since he's part pony it only makes sense, Mare Drake," the new whelp teased with the name he just made up. The other whelps around giggled. They were all clearly making fun of him.
"I'm not a girl!" Spike snapped.
"Yeah it be pretty gross to be a girl, wouldn't it," the mean whelp snickered.
Horrorcow suddenly looked like she might cry. She turned and ran.
Spike didn't have a clue what was going on, but he ran after her anyway. Leaving the mean whelps behind as they laughed. The two ran into a cave filled with stone toys before she stopped.
"I thought you'd be different!" Horrorcow bared her fangs in warning at Spike's approach, as tears filled up her eyes, "You should know what it's like to be different, Earthy!"
"I don't even know what's going on!" Spike declared, at least 6 different kinds of confused.
"You think I'm a freak to!" she insisted, looking ready to pounce.
Spike tried to calm her but not just for his own sake. He generally wanted to know why she was so upset, "Why would I think that?"
"BECAUSE I'M A GIRL!"
"... So?" Spike stared blankly, not understanding.
"SO!?" The dragon exclaimed.
"I was raised by ponies remember," Spike shrugged, "Most of them are girls,"
Horrorcow blinked. She stared at Spike suspiciously a moment, "Well dragons are an omni sexual species. We're supposed to be just boys who can lay eggs. Girls are considered birth defects!"
Spike stared at her a moment, understanding a bit better now, but still, "That's... kinda stupid,"
"WHAT!?"
"Lots of species have girls. Maybe dragons are just like reverse ponies. Instead of mares outnumbering the Stallions you have lots of boys,"
She relaxed, a lot, but still looked suspicious, "You... you really think so? Only one in a hundred eggs turn out to be girls,"
Spike shrugged, "There are like 6 girls to 1 boy in Equestria,"
"You really don't care I'm a girl?" Horrorcow nibbled the inside of her cheek.
"Of course not,"
"Then why did you fuss about being called a girl?"
"Because I'm proud of who I am, and you should be proud of who you are. Don't listen to what those other jerks say. There is nothing wrong with you,"
She gave a slight smile, "You might not like this, but I thought Mare Drake sounded pretty cool,"
Spike groaned and Horror snickered, "Well you were hatched from a Mare right?"
"How do you know that?" Spike blinked.
"Every dragon could hear your talk with the Alpha," Horror giggled, "It's not like it was private or anything. It's probably for the best though. Everyone is really curious about you,"
"They are?"
"An Earth Whelp suddenly pops out of no where and turns out to be a lost egg that disappeared 200 years ago. Why wouldn't we be excited? Then to learn you were not only raised by ponies but hatched by them. That's story book stuff!" Horrorcow cheered, "It's amazing!"
Spike blushed and fidgeted on the spot, "Not really. My life isn't all that exciting-"
"You were raised by the sun god Celestia!"
"Well Celestia isn't really a god," Spike tried to explain, "She told me she's the spirit of the sun. She just Astral projects her soul and layers it with enough energy to make it solid,"
"How is that not a god?" Horrorcow raised an eyebrow.
"Well for one her pony body is pretty weak compared to the real her, it's only a small fraction of her power as it takes a lot of magic to maintain. And Second is she's not really immortal,"
"WHAT!?"
"Well yeah, she just has a really long lifespan,"
"How long?" Horrorcow asked curiously.
"Well... she thinks, based on how long other stars live, that she has a life expectancy of about 10 billion years,"
Horror continued to stare at him, "I think that's longer then dragons live,"
"I thought dragons were immortal?" Spike blinked
A voice called them, from behind, and Spike turned to see a much smaller Lava Frost walking into their cave, "We are in the sense we can't die of old age but we can still die from other things,"
"You're TINY!" Spike yelped looking up at the 6 foot tall dragon, "Well sorts,"
The old dragon raised an eyebrow, "Dragons can change their size little one,"
Spike blinked, remembering when he grew into a giant dragon, "Why don't you just stay tiny?"
Lava Frost gave a gentle smile, "It takes up a lot of energy to maintain," he shrugged, "I only do it when I have to. Now, what are you 2 doing back here," he looked at Horrorcow, "Did someone say something to you again?"
"N-no sir," She lied, "We're good,"
The elder dragon looked suspicious but didn't push, "Come on little ones, lunch time,"
"One sec," Spike held up the letter on his claw and blew on it. It turned into sparkly dust and flew out of the cave and up through the top of the volcano,"
"Wow," Horrorcow awed, "Just like the old Curse Spewers from legend,"
Spike blinked, "Curse Spewer?"
Lava Frost chuckled, "It's an ancient myth, and by 'ancient' I mean old when I was a hatchling. It is a category of dragon gifted with such magics they could manipulate the laws of physics as well as a Draconequus,"
"What happened to them?" Spike asked.
Lava Frost chuckled, "They were never real, hatchling. As far as I know you are the only magical dragon ever officially recorded,"
Horrorcow, on the other claw, gushed, "They used to rule over this world as benevolent gods until the Wendigos invaded and wiped them all out before corrupting the various races against each other! I love that story!"
Spike looked doubtful, "If they were as powerful as Draconequus how did the Wendigos beat them,"
Horrorcow rolled her eyes, "Only Elder Curse Spewers were strong enough to manipulate reality like that. Adults were on par with Alicorns and Rookies were only as good as a Unicorn with a cutie mark in magic. Besides wendigos feed off the despair of other beings. The stronger the being the more power they get. Being a powerful being is actually a bad thing when facing them as they turn it against you.
"A Wendigo is even cleverer then it is evil. First they killed all the children of the Curse Spewers and feed off the despair and rage from their grown-ups. Through that they not only gained enough power to kill even the Elders but they encased the planet in an eternal winter which lasted hundreds of thousands of years until the pony tribes reunited against them. Using the power of their innocent souls to vanquish the monsters and bring summer back to the planet,"
Lava Frost chuckled, "You just shortened a three thousand paged book into a paragraph,"
"It's a gift," Horrorcow grinned.
The elder dragon shook his head, "Come on and get your bellies feed little ones, before the others eat it all,"