MLP:YL - Ancient Dragon Spike

I wanted to go and design how Spike would look like an ‘ancient dragon’.

Ancient Dragon in this case doesn’t mean lived in ancient times. I’m gonna make a whole dragon headcanon drawing (something similar I did for changelings) later, but let me go into it a little bit:

Dragons until a certain age grow old at the same pace as most other creatures, then start having times where they go into hibernation. The first ones can last a few days, then a few years, then a few years. And then at one point the hibernation lasts a hundred years. During the first hundred years long one they go through their last molting phase where they grew giant size and and they take on their final look. When dragons reach this point is when they can be labeled as an ‘ancient dragon’. Because of the hibernation their aging slows down, hence why they have a longer lifespan than other creatures. Some later hybernations may even last longer than a hundred years.

That’s what Spike is on this drawing.

However, this is more like a what if drawing. Dragons can actually choose if they go into hibernation or not (though they may have to fight the urges). If they do that their aging doesn’t slow down and they continue getting old similarly to other creatures. Spike is one of these dragons. While he did reconnect with his dragon heritage he still felt more at home with other creatures, so he rather live a life similar to them. He may or may not also want to live out his life with his griffin partner.

By the way, Torch would actually go into a longer hibernation period soon, that’s why a new ruler needed to be chosen. Dragons can’t go on too long without a lord.

This headcanon is kinda an answer to things like, why some dragons are giant unlike others (like Sludge to Torch), the size difference between Torch and his daughter Ember, to name a few.