"Come on, Smoulder! You'll love baking, it's my favorite hobby!"

i find the "student six" to mostly be pretty boring (and p much the reason i kinda tuned out of season 8), but Smoulder is interesting in that one scene where she somehow passes some friendship test by wearing a dress (??). It's implied that Smoulder is afraid of being "cute and adorable", and even more afraid of admitting she likes to be so. I'm gonna guess that'd be because dragons value strength and toughness, and probably hold serious disdain for cutesy frivolities like make-up, pretty dresses, and tea parties. Those things are equine foolishness, and real dragons have no use for it.

poor smolder just wants to be pretty and girly, good thing friendo Spike is there to encourage her



some random headcanons about dragons cuz why not



-Dragons are hexapodal omnivorous reptiles. They are an inherently magical species, and their thick scales make them highly resistant to all but the most powerful unicorn spells. Dragons are capable of living for millennia, and grow continuously throughout their long lives. As larger dragons may encounter the problem of hunting enough food to power their gargantuan bodies, they may opt to hibernate for several centuries as a means of saving energy. As cold-blooded creatures, dragons go dormant whenever temperatures dip too low, and are thus able to survive conditions that would freeze lesser creatures. Dragon eggs are not nearly as sturdy, and cold temperatures will kill unborn hatchlings. In ancient times, when dragons still fed on ponies, unicorns would cast frost spells to cull dragon offspring. Princess Celestia herself outlawed this practice, after forging a truce with Dragon Lord Torch, many centuries ago.



-Dragons molt out of their skins every few years, and are quite itchy and cranky until they finally wiggle out of their old skins. These shed skins, scales, and teeth are extraordinarily powerful ingredients for potions, and thus quite valuable on the equine black market. Dragon pelts make for fireproof armor, and their eggs are rumored to have magical properties as well- though trading these materials is very, very illegal.



-There are many different breeds of dragons. Spike is a hybrid, as his deceased mother was an aquatic dragon. This explains his strong swimming ability shown in Gauntlet of Fire, when he saves Ember from drowning. Smoulder is a species native to deserts, and her kind breathes an exceptionally hot flame (enough to melt rock). Dragons are territorial and chase off unknown dragons to prevent competition for food and gems, which is why "friendship" is a concept unknown to most. Though this is changing under the influence of Dragon lord Ember....



-Dragons hoard jewels both as a food source and as a means of attracting mates. Most dragons mate for life, and are unflinchingly loyal to their partner.



-Young dragons are typically bipedal, but as they grow older, the significant gain in mass forces them to adopt a quadrupedal gait.



-I imagine Spike is about 10 years old. It's kinda tricky determining his age, cuz he's written inconsistently in the show....sometimes he acts like a dumb little kid, sometimes like a snarky teenager....but for the most part, I figure him to be a precocious child. His growth has been stunted a bit by his pony-like diet (too many grains and carbs, no meat), and he's also a bit chubby for the same reason. Spike is under the legal guardianship of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and although he is her number 1 assistant, he's also her family in all but blood. Twilight is very proud of her little dragon.



Smoulder, comparatively, is the dragon equivalent of 15 years old. She is studying to be an ambassador under the employ of Dragon Lord Ember.



-In one episode, Smoulder mentions having an older brother that got kicked out when his wings grew in. That'd be one red dragon by the name of Garble. Although Smolder and Garble greet each other with flying tackles and are twice as likely to bite each other than to hug, they do have a very close sibling bond. Garble is (secretly) very protective of his little sister and likes poking his toothy muzzle into her official dragon ambassador business, to Smolder's annoyance.



EDIT: Bonus doodle-



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More from my MLP character headcanon series:





