Have you ever wondered why Spike was so different from the wild dragons? The reason is, he was never supposed to be one.
Spike was the descendant of "Civilized Dragons", called the "Paperwings" by the ponies, because when they got wayyy too big for scrolls of paper, they used to write on their wings, all of their discoveries, poems, histories, even recipes would stay with them and shown with pride, and had magic infused fire breath, allowing them to send their discoveries to one another without it burning. These dragons lived many years ago in Canterlot, even before the two princesses where born. They never fitted with the other dragons, they used their brains instead of brute force, and gained the trust and friendship of the Canterlot ponies. Still, there isn't a lot of research on wild dragons, mostly because the Paperwings never liked talking about their wild peers.
On the top we have Spike's biological mother, Skylark. She came to Canterlot around the same time the princesses were born, and she befriended Princess Celestia. She was a story writer, author of "Tails of the Dragons", a series of stories made so the foals wouldn't be so afraid of dragons. She published under a pony name, since the dragons weren't so accepted in other places of Equestria,
She lived for many, many years, and saw her dragons friends die of old age. She wanted to preserve her people legacy, so one mating season she had to return to the dragon lands, and came back with a purple egg. She died before it hatched, so Princess Celestia took it and tried to make it hatch…but only one purple unicorn could make it.
On the bottom we have my new HC of a grown up Spike, sporting some cute (and fireproof) glassesrainbow heart 2