“So Dragons can actually smell something like a flower from across a forest!?” Spike asked in amazement.
“Yes, we can! As a matter of fact, we can also hear an animal moving from about the same distance. It’s evolutionary, we can hear things hundreds of times better than most other species of animal. We ARE natural born predators, after all. Alright, my turn; is it true that Pegasus’ actually control the weather?” Cobalt asked enthusiastically.
“Yeah they do, that one with the rainbow hair, you know, Dash? She’s the fastest Pony in all of Equestria, she’s the only one to have ever done a sonic Rainboom!” Spike said proudly. Cobalt gave him a slightly confused smile. “Oh, right. A sonic rainboom is when a pony goes fast enough to break the sound barrier, it causes a rainbow behind them.”
“Oh, wow that’s really cool!... Hey, about Rainbow Dash, actually-” Cobalt said, lowering his ears a little bit and getting a little serious. Spike interjected before he could go any further.
“Ahh don’t worry about her, Cobalt, she’s probably just jealous of your wings, that’s all!” that made Cobalt chuckle.
“Her awe is in the wrong place, these things are SOOOOOOO obnoxious.” Cobalt said through his chuckle. Spike was sort of taken aback by the statement.
"You don't like your wings?" He asked with confusion.
"Well... it's a love/hate relationship. I love what I can do with them in the AIR, but on the GROUND, weeeeeeeeellllll not so much." Cobalt started to laugh, Spike joined him in laughter and after they composed themselves, the now 3 hour conversation continued.
Twilight had been doing some study into the book that Celestia gave her, being intrigued by the book’s ability to update itself and of the war between ponies and dragons. Why hadn't Celestia told her about this before? Better yet, why has she never heard about it? She glanced over to Cobalt and Spike who were on their backs laughing at this point. Twilight smiled and sighed.
It had been a long time since they came to Ponyville, Spike was barely able to run at that point, though he learned pretty quickly after all those adventures. She would remember him sleeping in his little bed, letting him curl up with her when he had a nightmare, all the work he did for her, how much she thought about what would happen when he grew up… ‘when he grew up’, she thought. 8 years seemed to have blown by like it was nothing, and Spike, well, he wasn’t a baby anymore that’s for sure. She looked at Cobalt, who was only a couple years older and already a foot taller than Spike. She started to realize after his first little growth spurt that spike was going to grow fast, and her time with him would be limited before he had to move out by force. She shook herself out of the thought for now and went back to reading the book. Meanwhile, Cobalt and Spike went from laughing their scales off to rather serious.
“So… you were talking about something along the lines of me having magic as my element when we were walking here. What do you mean it’s my element? Don’t all dragons just breathe fire?” Cobalt gave him an immediate shake of his head in correction.
“Not by a long shot. Actually, whilst fire is the most common, since most dragons are hatched when the mother breathes fire over them, A dragon can have virtually any element, so long as it’s the most present element to the egg at birth.”
“What? So, you’re saying that the element that’s the most around me when I hatched is the element I’m going to have?” Spike asked, incredibly intrigued by what he just learned.
“Precisely. Actually, your element, Magic, is the second rarest element for dragons. The rarest is mine, electricity. My egg was struck by lightning when it slipped out of the nest during a storm. It was a complete accident, really, but it gave me the power of electricity and storm.” Cobalt said quite proudly, swishing his big tail slowly. Spike was dumbfounded, all this time he just thought that he was a glitch or something, but it was much nicer to know that it was actually his element. “Actually, electricity is the rarest, and the hardest to control since it’s so sporadic. However, the power it has is incredible! I’m still learning and I've got quite a long way to go, but I can summon a couple bolts from the sky when I want, also breathe lighting and flick it with my tail emblem!”
“That’s so cool! Hey… you wouldn't happen to know what I can do? You know, besides sending letters?” Spike asked with a hint of hopefulness, Cobalt beamed a smile, seeming really happy he asked the question.
“Well…” He began, “You have the ability of telekinesis; moving things with your mind. You can read minds. You use your flame to send letters, yes? Well, if you cloak yourself in it you can teleport, which means you also have magic that can affect dragons, which is powerful considering we’re naturally impervious to magic.” Spike was in awe. He could do all THAT and he didn’t even know?
“That reminds me,” Cobalt continued, “your sister must be extremely powerful to have hatched you. I’ve heard of some ponies taking YEARS to hatch dragons from eggs, your sister did it in like, 15 seconds.” Spike looked at Cobalt, then to Twilight, her face seeming buried in the book, but he could tell she was listening.
“Yeah, my sister has some wicked magic powers. She’s mastered so much, even has a couple PhD’s now, that’s like a really high appraisal for schooling.” Cobalt nodded in understanding and Spike continued. “She’s taught me so much about things, and I love listening to her.” Twilight couldn't help but smile as she kept her gaze on the book.
“Heh, yeah, it’s like my oldest brother, Nitro. He teaches hatchlings all the way up to teens how to use their element at a local hatchery near my cave. I just love to come in to his lecture classes and listen to him talk, he’s the smartest person I know… actually, I've tried getting as smart as he is recently. I really hope to live up to him one day.” Cobalt said with a glint in his eye. His mood, however, quickly changed as he continued. “He’s so supportive of me, unlike my father. All he ever does is point out what I do wrong. All I ever want to do is make him proud, maybe just once, but he always finds something to criticize me on.”
“Hey, hey, don’t get yourself in a rut now!” Spike said, trying to steer Cobalt from the direction he was headed. “You’re here with us, and you've already impressed me with how much you know, that’s gotta count for something?” Cobalt looked at Spike for a moment and slowly broke a smile.
“Yeah…” Cobalt began, “You’re right, it does. And I think you’re a very smart dragon for your age too, Spike. You may not know it, but you knowing this much about ponies makes you smarter than most of our species.” A look of bewilderment crossed Spike’s face.
“Really? Dragon’s really don’t know that much about ponies?” Cobalt shook his head admittedly.
“Apparently, Ponies don’t know much about dragons either, though, huh?” Cobalt stated, making Spike stop and think. Ponies really DIDN'T know much about dragons did they? No books, no records, just myths and encounters were all that ponies knew about dragons.
“You’re right, Cobalt, we- I mean- ponies, don’t know much at all. Actually, that book with the strange symbol is about all that we have on dragons.” Cobalt’s face went stone serious the moment Spike mentioned the symbol.
“Symbol? What symbol? May I see it, Twilight?” Twilight looked up at him and nodded, picking the book up with her magic and setting it down to Cobalt, who started to get distressed when he turned to the last page of the book and saw the symbol. “Guys, where did you get this book?”
“Princess Celestia gave it to me a couple weeks ago.” Twilight said quickly, not sure of what to make of Cobalt’s sudden mood swing. “Is something wrong?” She asked with a touch of hesitation. Cobalt looked up at her and took a deep breath.
“This book was supposed to have been in our possession. Ponies should have NEVER gotten a hold of it. You guys having this book could get me taken away from here and back with my dad because you’d know all dragon weaknesses.” Spike and Twilight looked at each other in worry and then back to Cobalt.
“Are you serious? Is there anything else this book could do?” Twilight asked with her voice becoming urgent.
“A lot. It’s older than you could imagine. This book is Pre-Alicorn time in your words, to us, it’s back when Sirens used to control the sun and the moon before Atkias, our god of life, bestowed the control of the Sun to two unicorns, named Celestia and Luna. I think you know who they are.” Twilight’s intrigue grew as she laid down on her bed to listen to Cobalt as he continued. “The dragon who created this book had been deceased for over 7000 years, but this seal on the back trapped part of his soul on earth so he could write his book from the afterlife. It’s extremely difficult magic, but thanks to him, everything on the history of dragons is written here from the time he was alive. Every new historical moment adds a page and text that is written down.”
“Wait, this book is ever 7000 years old!? That’s insane!” Spike spat out in disbelief.
“The magic in that book must be extremely powerful to hold the book together through that much time!” Twilight added. Cobalt simply nodded to both of them and continued.
“The fact that this holds all the dragon’s secrets means that whoever has this book knows every dragon secret. If this falls into the wrong hands, we could have another war on our hands with this being the catalyst to the dragon poaching.” Cobalt said with an obvious tone of worry.
“W-well… what can we do to prevent that?” Spike added worryingly, hoping that his new friend didn’t already have to leave.
Cobalt was about to continue, when he stopped and perked his ears. “...I hear someone outside the door.” Cobalt looked at the door as a silhouette darted from the window. Twilight quickly ran to the door and opened it, but it was too dark to see who it was as they ran into the night. Twilight returned inside after running and looking out into the dark for a bit, she’d have to look around in the morning to see what happened.
“There was someone there but I couldn't make out who it was, and it’s too late to do any searching, we need to start fresh tomorrow. That reminds me, it’s getting late, you two should be in bed by now.” Cobalt couldn't hold back a yawn and he nodded in agreement. “It’s also a little chilly still so be sure you’re tucked in good.”
“Tucked in? What does that mean?” Cobalt asked whilst cocking his head to one side. Twilight blinked for a moment, taken off guard momentarily at Cobalt’s comment.
“You mean, you've never had a blanket before?” Twilight asked in total confusion. Cobalt shook his head as a blush of embarrassment started to creep over his face.
“I-I don’t even know what a blanket is.”
“You've never heard of a blanket? Oh man it’s like the best thing ever!” Spike said with a glowing smile on his face. “It’s all soft and warm and it covers your body and you can snuggle it up and everything!” Cobalt became truly confused at this point with what Spike was saying.
“Is… is a blanket a living thing? How can you snuggle it? I mean, what does it even look like?” Cobalt said in his spout of confusion, seeming embarrassed to even ask the question. Spike and Twilight couldn't help but laugh as Twilight took her blanket off her bed and showed it to Cobalt, who took it and delicately looked it over, seeming almost afraid to touch it at first, but quickly realized how soft it was. “Oh… wow this IS really soft!”
“So, what do dragons do to keep warm, Cobalt?” Asked Spike as he stood up from his spot, stretching his legs and shaking.
“When I was younger, I used to huddle up to my dad, mom or oldest brother and let them incubate me. Incubating is usually done for eggs, but also for young dragons who can’t keep themselves warm yet. Whilst not as comfy, it definitely feels really nice and safe.” Cobalt explained with a warm feeling growing inside. “My brother is the best at it, even if I can incubate myself now I still let him do it every so often.” Spike listened to Cobalt with a slight envy, he got to do all this stuff as a dragon and meanwhile, Spike had been stuck doing pony things and couldn't figure out what it was like to be a true dragon. Cobalt noticed Spike looking slowly down to the ground and smiled warmly. “...Hey, Spike.”
Spike looked up at Cobalt and spoke softly. “Yeah… Cobalt?”
“How would you like to be incubated by me tonight? See what it feels like?” Spikes ears perked up fast and his tail swished quickly, his face beaming a toothy smile.
“Y-you mean it?” Cobalt nodded his head in approval. “Great! thanks so much, Cobalt!” Spike said as he threw himself around Cobalt in a hug. The notion caught Cobalt off guard momentarily, but he quickly settled and returned the hug happily. “I’ll show you to your bed.” Cobalt’s eyes opened wide.
“A-a bed? You guys made me a bed?” Cobalt said in calm elation.
“Yeah, it’s not much, just a little hay from the Apple’s farm, but it’ll at least keep you off the cold ground.” Spike said, noticing Cobalt’s strange happiness as it started to show on his face.
“Thank you so much, guys. I know you probably didn’t mean it like this, but making a bed for a guest in dragon culture is like accepting them into your family for that time being, it’s a complete honor and I can’t thank you guys enough.”
“It’s okay Cobalt, we’re more than happy to take you in.” Twilight said with a hint of fatigue in her voice as she got into bed. “Now you guys should get some sleep, we’re going to give Cobalt the grand tour of the city tomorrow.” They both agreed and walked over to Cobalt’s make-shift bed. He stepped into it, settled in and laid his head on the pillow given.
“Is it good?” Spiked asked him once he settled in. Cobalt shifted and sighed happily, nodding slowly as his wing lifted up.
“Alright, buddy, cozy on in and I’ll keep ya nice n’ warm.” Cobalt said quietly, already starting to doze off. Spike had to contain his joy as he happily crawled in next to Cobalt and settled in. Once Spike was comfortable, Cobalt lowered his wing over Spike and slowly began to raise his inner temperature. At first, Spike didn’t notice anything, but as Cobalt got warmer, so did Spike. Things also seemed to… slow down a bit and brighten. Spike looked at Cobalt who was looking at the door with a stern gaze.
“Cobalt?” Spike whispered, making Cobalt break his gaze and give Spike a warm, tender smile as he nuzzled Spike’s neck softly like he would to a hatchling.
“Yeah? What’s on your mind buddy?”
“This is amazing.” Spike mumbled as he curled up and started to fall asleep.
“Hmhmmhm, I know, buddy, I know; Sleep well.” Cobalt said in the softest voice he could. Once he was sure that Spike was asleep, and looking up to Twilight to make sure she was sleeping as well, his gaze fixed back on the window, his mind in a buzz of who was there and what they wanted.
Spike honestly couldn't really care about the suspicious figure in the window, he was too tired to think about it. What he could think about, was how much he had learned about Dragons in just one conversation with Cobalt. And this… this incubation thing Cobalt was doing to him, it felt near magical, and super safe. Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad after all? As Cobalt finally dozed off himself, the house went quiet and the first night went off without a hitch.