Big Brother Garble

by ColtKit Productions

Daycare: Part 3

There were a bunch of rookie dragons standing next to the food carts they had rolled out and lined up like a buffet. Each cart had a different kind of dish.

Spike scrunched up his nose as he saw most of them looked like different slabs of dead animal, decorated to look like different kinds of food like burgers and such. It made him want to puke. Fortunately one of the carts had a bunch of gems which he promptly shoved on his plate.

"Now now," the teen behind the cart chuckled as he took most of the gems off Spike's plate and put them back, "Don't be greedy, everyone needs some gems to munch on. Here have some tasty fish," he grabbed a bowl of rice with a bunch of chopped up bits of fish in it and a glass of milk.

Spike scrunched up his nose but accepted it. He did promise Garble he'd try the fish after all. He kept reminding himself that even Fluttershy fed fish to her critters. They weren't intelligent like other animals.

He looked around and realized their were no tables, everypony, errr dragon, was just sitting on the floor. They were eating with their hands or shoving their snouts into their bowls.

"Errrrr, can I have a fork?" Spike asked but the teen just raised an eyebrow.

"What's a fork?" blinked the older dragon.

Spike groaned, "never mind," before wandering over to horror cow, who was savagely tearing into a whole fish and picking her teeth with it's bones. Spike shuddered but forced himself to sit with her. She was his only friend so far and he already hurt her feelings enough for one day. Spike would just have to tough it out when it came to her eating habits.

Spike stared at his rise bowl as he built up his courage... but he couldn't... he just couldn't. So he just sat their staring at his food.

Horrorcow took notice, "What's wro-" then it clicked. Spike was raised by ponies, herbivores. It was unlikely they could stomach the idea of feeding animal bits to anything that needed it. Spike probably felt like he would somehow betray the ponies if he ate meat. It was probably too much for him right now, what with all the other changes in his life. Horrorcow forced a casual smile, "Wanna trade your fish for my gems?" she asked.

"Sure!" said Spike, a bit too eagerly, as he handed over the bowl. He gave a mental "Sorry Garble," as he munched on his gems. He'd try again with the fish for dinner.

"Alright every dragon it's story time," Lava Frost smiled, turning back into a giant as he got comfy in his pool of molten rock. All the whelps eagerly found a spot to listen, "Since we have a new addition to the family today I figure I might once again regale you with how I built our home," all the older whelps groaned as the elder dragon chuckled, "Now now, I'm an old dragon. It is my sovereign right to bore the young with tales of my youth.

"When I was a young dragon, a mere 4000 years old, I left my old nest to start my own. I stumbled on this island and found it perfect for my needs due to it's large volcano. In it I carved out thousands of caves into luxurious homes for my future spawn. Then I built the aqueduct and linked it to the volcano. That is what, to this day, purifies the ocean's waters to give us clean drinking water. It's where all your lakes come from... and where our fish tend to wander.

"When I was finished shaping the volcano into a city I did something truly daring... and more then a little foolish if I'm honest. You see I had heard tales of large schools of fish that swam in the lava near the core of the Earth and decided I would look for these fish and tame them.

"I swam as far as I could beneath the crust of Equus, nearly starving to death myself as I looked for food. Then I found it, a school of fish larger then great white sharks, but more importantly laying thousands of eggs at a time that would grow into fish just as big. After helping myself to a much needed meal I tracked down where they kept their eggs. It took me several weeks to swim back and forth between our volcano and the fish's lair but eventually I brought all their eggs here. When they hatched I began farming and breeding them and thankfully, since they hatched here, they stayed in the area.

"Without those fish we would not be the center of trade we are today. Without those fish we would struggle for our every meal like your ancestors had. Remember to respect the fish, and your home. Resources are scarce for dragons due to our size so be thankful for what we have,"

###

Garble did something he hadn't done since he was a fledgling... he skipped school. His sensei was probably, no definitely, going to tan his hide when he got back tomorrow. He was an apprentice now. He was supposed to know better then this. Unfortunately he had something more important to do today. He needed to get the cave ready for Spike.

Spike had been forced to sleep in the basking area last night because the nursery wasn't ready for him. Sure the Basking area was good for naps, thanks to the steam, but he couldn't sleep there every night. His scales were too thin and his bones were still developing. He needed something soft to sleep on and the tiny crib in the nursery just wouldn't work at his age.

So Garble went to the stone cutters and had them shape a boulder into a smooth bed with stone rails on the sides, to make sure he wouldn't roll out of bed.

Since that puny pony had the whelp sleeping in a basket Garble figured he would love a big boy bed. Garble also bought some of the cutters stone carved action figures and some other toys for older whelps. He doubted Spike would be interested in the teething ring and the other hatchling toys in the nursery.

Then he bought a mattress from the tailors. It was stuffed with the softest animal skins. He also got a warm blanket made from stitched together rabbit pelts. It was perfectly soft for the developing scales of a whelp.

These were all considered "luxuries" though and cost a pretty penny, and this was just the stuff for whelps. Things got more expensive for larger dragons so Garble never bothered buying a mattress for himself, just some blankets. He didn't even have a pillow... but Spike needed one.

Garble sighed as he set up the nursery with all the new things he bought. He was really spoiling the damn brat.

What a lot of races don't understand is, despite their wealth, dragons basically lived in a third world country. Because of their size resources were scarce. It wasn't a matter of buying them but there literally weren't enough cotton or animal skins on the planet to make each adult dragon a bed. The mere idea of a factory to mass produce things big enough for dragons was laughable. So they made due with what they had.

Lava Frost's nest was very well off because of the sheer abundance of food here, something horribly scarce in most nest. They owed a lot to the Elder Dragon for his ingenuity and daring.

Lava Frost greatest strength was that he was smart. Since the beginning of the nest he had fledglings learning alchemy so they could make gems and crystals for additional food. Still alchemy could only create something from something else. You needed raw resources for that to work and as food was an obvious priority for all dragons they chose that over everything else.

Garble sighed as he looked at a teddy bear he bought for the whelp. Lava Frost occasionally traded with the ponies for a few small luxuries for the whelps but honestly this might be too much. It cost them resources... food... gems might be pretty to ponies but dragons physically needed them to survive. It seemed a stupid thing to trade for a teddy bear... hopefully Spike liked-liked it...

Comments

[Daniel YZF]

More

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Nice chapter.

[JordanOlson]

I'm so happy to see another chapter from you. I swear, this story is soooo good, at least in my opinion.
I saw a few tiny errors while reading the story but it really wasn't that big of a deal. I'm just happy that I'm able to continue reading this.
if you'd ever like some extra eyes to look over this story and proofread, just let me know!
~Sincerely Jordan Olson

[chronocrosser]

Great chapter, Spike has to eat meat eventually I hope he loves it. And it would be funny to read about Garble getting spanked. I hope Spike does realize how much trouble went too though.

[LifeLight]

8772825
Lol just stating facts! Love ur story

[ColtKit Productions]

8774326
Thanks for the support. This silly story is really fun to write

[LifeLight]

8775544
Can't wait for next chapter!!

[showart]

What a good big brother