Twilight watched as Spike circled around the library, checking every nook and cranny. Spike stuck his snout under the sofa, before snorting. He pulled back and sneezed, a cloud of smoke and dust filtered away. Twilight giggled into her hoof. Nopony else was in the library, so the unicorn let her curious nature take over.
"Spike, what are you doing?"
Spike glanced over at her and shrugged.
"I don't know, checking out the library?"
Spike looked slightly confused, but he turned back to his scouting. Twilight thought for a moment.
"Hey, Spike? Can I see that book the Princess sent you?"
"Sure thing, Twi."
Spike trotted up the stairs and returned with a brown book. He handed it to her and she looked it over. It was worn down, but in good condition. The title was written in gold cursive letters.
Dragon Breeding: An In-depth Look at Rituals and Habits
Twilight scanned through the table of contents before flipping to the chapter she wanted.
Male vs Female: The Mating, The Eggs, and The Young
Mating: A female dragon is well known for their violent behavior and anger. It is no different in the process of finding and mating with a male. A female chooses the male on his body size and shine of his scales. If she finds the male appealing, she will approach the male and lift her chin. If the scales under her chin are white, she is ready to mate. If the male is willing, he will make a whooping noise in his crop, to show he is not incubating any eggs. If the male is unwilling or already has a clutch of eggs, the female will attack. She will either force the male to breed or try to destroy the eggs.
Twilight looked down at the book in horror. Female dragons would go that far? Dragons breeding didn't sound like a very romantic, loving event. She hesitantly continued to read.
After two days, the female will lay a clutch of fertilized eggs. There can be between 3-12 eggs. The male will give a roar, to help clear and open up the crop. He will then swallow the eggs and keep them incubated in his crop. The female's role is now done. She will leave to go find another male. The male is on his own in raising the hatchlings.
Eggs: The male will incubate the eggs in his crop, regularly turning the eggs. He keeps them warm by having them sit next to his fire pouch, which he will stir to keep the heat flowing. A male can occasionally be seen making a gurgling sound. This is how the male filter air in and out. Filtering the air is only needed in the week before the hatching
Hatching: The eggs will stay in the crop until it is time to hatch. Each egg will hatch around two hours apart from each other. When an egg starts to crack, the male will remove it from the crop. He will not let the egg out into open air. He will keep the egg in his mouth until the baby dragon is completely hatched. Once hatched, he will place the newly born dragon down, and blow a small stream of fire on it. Once all the eggs are hatched, the male will re-eat the egg shells. The shells will be half digested and fed to the baby dragons. It is from this point on that the work really begins.
Young: A male dragon will only leave the young for a little time in order to eat and expel waste. He will almost always be with the baby dragons, keeping them warm and feeding them. Dragons are omnivores, but the babies need high protein. The father will half digest food before feeding the young. It is quite often that during this time, a male dragon could loose up to a third of their body weight. Some have been known to starve to death, trying to feed their young. A male dragon will not mate again until the young are four years old. Even once the young dragons are four years of age, they will stay with their father until they are eight. Female will leave to go breed, but males will stay together in a family group. A male will only leave once he has his first clutch of eggs.
Adoption: It has been observed that male dragons will adopt eggs and newborns as their own. It is unknown why male dragons are so willing to raise children that are not their own.
Twilight looked over at Spike, who was lounging on the sofa. He was happily munching away at a fire ruby. If that's how dragon eggs hatched. . . then how did she hatch Spike? She needed to write a letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends and I found a dead dragon. It has all of us saddened. The male had been incubating some eggs. Most of the eggs were crushed, but one was saved by Spike. I guess you could call it the silver lining of a dark cloud. However, it has now come to my attention as to how dragon eggs hatch. This has me wondering; how was I able to hatch Spike? Where was Spike's father? Were there other eggs from his clutch? It would be most wonderful if you could provide me with this information, along with anything to help Spike raise the hatchling.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Princess Celestia read and reread the letter, sighing. She knew this day would come, but not this early, or with these conditions. She stood up and headed towards the Canterlot Library. She needed to grab a couple things before she headed off. It was about time Twilight and Spike learned the truth.