• Published 26th May 2018
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A Little Hatchling's Journey - Night--Mist



What if things had happened differently when Spike arrived at the volcano during his self-discovery quest? Let's find out.

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Little Hatchlings Need to Be Careful

It had been a week since Spike had left Twilight's library in Ponyville. She along with Rainbow Dash and Rarity were worried about what would happen to him once he encountered other dragons. They were not sure what dragons were with their own kind. All they knew about them was dragons being ferocious and that they could breath fire and/or fly. But in the end, they let Spike take on the journey. Spike soon made it to what seemed to be some sort of resting area Dragons used before making their migration from the north Dragon Lands to the south Dragon Lands past the Badlands. A volcano. That made sense to him, since lava was one source of fuel dragons used to breath fire.

As he reached the top, he was amazed, there were dragons of all different kinds. Some with thick limbs, some thin, some with curved bodies, some straight as arrows, some even a had a chubby look to them, but that didn't make them look any less ferocious. A lot of dragons were very large, but Spike did spot a group of dragons that were small in comparison, but teenagers, compared to his size. "Those Dragons look more my type," he told himself, and began to trek down into the crater. His was midway down, when a large figure landed with the noise of thunder beneath their mass, and the ground shook about beneath them. Spike jumped in surprise and hid under the nearest boulder he could find, terrified by the sudden appearance of the figure.

He trembled as the dragon from approached closer to his hiding place. He closed his eyes, expecting something bad to happen. "Don't be frightened little one. Come out, I won't harm you," said a gentle feminine voice.

Spike opened his eyes, and slowly crawled out from under the boulder to see a dragoness. She was the biggest dragoness he had ever seen. She even dwarfed any of the Dragons that were fully grown, even the big one that had curved front horns hanging down facing frontward at the pointy end. Her scales were beige on the underbelly, the ones atop were of a shade of purple darker than his own. Her spikes were in a curved back fashion, of an ocean blue color across her back and tail, and her ears resembled that of Spike's own ears. While her size in any given situation would make any grown stallion hide their tail between their hindlegs and want to run, when she gazed down at Spike with eyes the color of sky blue, or at least slightly lighter than her spikes on her back and tail, he didn't feel he was in danger. Her gaze seemed very, well, motherly, and it made him feel safe. The same look Twilight Velvet gave him very often before he and Twilight Sparkle left for Ponyville.

As she bent her snout closer to Spike, he could tell that she could finish him in one swift chomp and gulp, should she wish to do so, but her body movements suggested otherwise. She then asked kindly, "Where's your mother dragoness dear? She must be worried about you."

Spike wasn't sure how to respond. He had gone without knowing a dragoness mother his whole life. The only figures that came close to fitting the role of mother were Celestia, and Twilight Velvet. Twilight Sparkle was like a sister to him. But how was he going to respond to this dragoness? He didn't want to lie to her and say his mother had abandoned him. But he didn't want to put his friends from Ponyville, nor the rest of Equestria in mortal danger. His mind was so conflicted. In the end, the lessons he had learned from Celestia and Twilight Velvet won out, and he admitted, "I-I don't know where she is. Some ponies found my egg, and I was hatched by a unicorn."

"Ponies? Did they treat you harshly little one?" The Dragoness asked.

"No. They were actually very nice to me. Prnicess Celestia even offered me a title as a lord for when I'm old enough," Spike stated.

"Princess Celestia? I know that mare, though I haven't talked to her in years," the Dragoness claimed.

"Y-You Know the Princess?" Spike gasped.

"Quite, we go very far back little one," the Dragoness said.

"Spike," Spike blurted out.

"Beg pardon dear?" the Dragoness inquired.

"Sorry, my name is Spike miss.... um?.... " Spike Paused.

He realized they hadn't even introduced each other yet, but at least he had started out, but now felt awkward. "Oh, my name is Rhea. And Spike.... that is an adorable name. It suits you," Rhea stated as she nuzzle his cheek gently.

Spike blushed red as an apple at this gesture. "So, may I ask why you were running Spike, cause you could have hurt yourself? Were you being hunted or chased. I know some of the grown dragons here can have quite an attitude, but you needn't worry about that around a dragoness, little hatchling Spike," Rhea continued.

"Um, no. No one was chasing me, or hunting me. And I'm not a hatchling. I hatched 7 years ago," Spike stated, trying to be prideful.

Rhea only chuckled, "In dragon culture, that's still considered a hatchling dear. Dragons age much slower than many other creatures. I myself am roughly...... actually, I lost count nearly thirteen thousand years ago."

"Th-Th-Thirteen Thousand Years?! That's older than Princess Celestia..... I think," Spike pondered. He had never asked how old Princess Celestia was. But he knew it was more than 1000 years, based on the tale of the Mare in the Moon.

Rhea smiled, "Indeed dear. Like I said, we two, and Princess Luna go way back. But back to the subject I was concerned about for you. Why were you running Spike?"

"Well, I was gonna talk with those dragons down there," Spike answered innocently.

Rhea looked and saw the dragons he was referring to. Her eyes' pupils became small at the realization of where Spike was originally heading. "Spike dear. Those are teenage dragons, already in their hundreds," Rhea emphasized.

"I thought they were. But why's that so bad?" Spike asked.

"Spike those teenage dragons are rebel dragons. While we do not harm our own, those dragons do at their age. Not entirely by fault of choice, but it does influence some of what they do. Other teens still stay with their dragon kresh, which is another word for extended family, till they reach proper adulthood. But those dragon boys are loners. Sure they formed a little social group, but they will tend to step on the little guys..... sometimes literally dear. You do best to steer clear of them," Rhea warned.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked.

"I know from experience Spike. Trust me. In fact why don't you come with me dear. I was planning to head to the nesting area when I saw you. There's so much I think I should teach you dear," Rhea stated.

Spike scratched his chin to think for a moment. Obviously Rhea was a dragoness who was concerned with his well being, and she definitely knew more about dragon kind than he did. Perhaps she could help him find the answers he seeked. Spike nodded, and Rhea scooped Spike up gently in her talon, and placed him on her back where he held on tight, even though Rhea knew it wasn't needed. It was then he was able to see how massive her wing span was. It looked like they could nearly touch two of the peaks close by at once. Her wing color was the same as her spikes on her back. With one mighty thrust of her wings, the two were soon airborn. Spike had not even noticed some adolescent dragons and dragonesses had been staring with mouths agape the whole time. Even some grown dragons were stunned.

After Rhea had taken off, right on the ridge there was a dragon that seemed a little out of the ordinary, but the others had seen stranger things and payed the dragon little heed. Little did any suspect, that it was three mares disguising themselves in the costume of a dragon. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had followed Spike to this volcanic mountain. And they had seen the whole event with Spike unfold. "Do you think we should follow?" Rainbow Dash asked quietly.

"Of course. For one, we've already learned so much in little time, and we need to keep an eye on Spike. Rhea may seem nice, but I want to make sure she isn't hiding some sort of information about us. Perhaps she may even help Spike realize his place is back with us," Twilight figure as she wrote notes on a parchment she brought.

"That's a very fine assumption darling. But what if Spike decides to stay with his own kind? You can't just force him to come back with you," Rarity stated.

"Well.... I suppose not. But I've known him all his life. I can't just sit back and not watch out for him. Let's head to that nesting area Rhea was talking about. Remember to flap your disguise wings Rainbow Dash. We don't want them to see a dragon flying about without flapping," Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate all three of them.

"Right," Rainbow said.

She flapped her wings, but made it so the costume looked like it wasn't a discombobulated Dragon somehow flying straight, and soon they made their way to where Rhea had flown to.

Author's Note:

End of Chapter 1.

Hope that wasn't too fast pace. So this is a different take on what might have happened, had Spike run into a female adult dragoness instead of the adolescent boy dragons. And yes, in this story, I will use dragon to classify male dragons, and dragoness to classify female dragons.

Let me know what you think.

More to come in the future. I promise.