"Flame! Flame!" Spyro called out, rushing toward the den where his mate was after hearing a cry of agony coming from the area, "Flame!" The purple dragon skidded into the den and raced to the back where his mate laid, a painful expression on his face but not painful enough to match the cry he had heard. "Flame, are you alright?!" Spyro asked, panting as he sat at Flame's side, his chest heaving, trying to take in as much air as possible for his lungs. Flame opened his eyes to look at his mate and his own breathing started to slow back to a natural pace. He smiled and rested a paw on Spyro's.
"I'm alright...turns out it was nothing...though it really hurt..."
"Flame, you have to be careful, you know that. Nobody knows about this apart from us and the Guardians. And they weren't exactly pleased by it once they got over their shock. If any other dragon finds out about this then-"
"Spyro, of course other dragons will find out sooner or later, we can't hide this forever".
"Not with you yowling like you're dying every now and then, we can't".
Flame chuckled a little and swiped at his mate playfully, "You try going through this then, our brave hero".
Spyro shook his head and curled up beside the red dragon, nuzzling his belly gently and licking his cheek.
Around a week later, Spyro sat with Flame in their den when Ember came strolling in, looking pleased with herself. Flame instinctively took his place behind Spyro, further into the shadows against the wall. Spyro briefly looked at him, understanding what he was doing before padding over to Ember, seeing that Cynder had come with her - probably not of her free will either, knowing Ember. "Ember, Cynder, what brings you two here?"
"Sppppyyyyyrrrrooooo~" Ember murred, "Is it true you're not in a relationship with this female-of-fright?"
Spyro nodded his head, "Yeah, that's true. Cynder's just a really good friend, like you are".
Ember began to beam and nuzzled herself against Spyro, much to his distaste. Cynder huffed in annoyance and looked away, her tail flicking dangerously. Ember continued to nuzzle her crush. "So, does that mean I can be your mate, Spyro?"
Before Spyro could answer, a flash of red bowled her over and a low, dangerous, threatening growl rumbled from Flame as he stood protectively in front of the purple dragon. Cynder turned back to watch, intrigued as to what was happening. Ember let out a small "Eep!" as she was roughly pushed away from her crush. Flame flicked his tail and bared his fangs angrily, claws dug into the ground to try and hold himself in place and not attack the pink dragoness. Ember helped herself off the ground and shook her head of any dizziness, looking back to Spyro and seeing Flame there. "Flame? What's the matter?"
Flame put a paw forward, as if trying to intimidate her and show he would advance. "My mate" He growled, "my mate".
Cynder and Spyro shared a brief look before Ember looked at him in confusion, "What is he on about Spyro? I don't see any other dragoness here apart from the female-of-fright over there, and I highly doubt he'd want her".
Flame prowled forward a little bit, his wings spread out and flattened against the air as his tail continued it's angry flicking. He snarled when Ember tried to move toward Spyro again, his orange eyes watching her every move. Spyro gently ran his tail tip along Flame's back in an attempt to calm the heated dragon. "Flame...it's okay, she's a friend, you know that. You also know how she feels about me". Flame sat back beside his mate but growled when Ember took a step forward again, making her freeze in place. Spyro could see that Cynder was quite amused by it all and he sighed, wrapping a wing around Flame, who continued to fix his gaze on Ember. "Ember...I can't be your mate".
"What? W-Why not Spyro?!" She whined, causing Flame to growl again, to which she decided to ignore.
"Because...Flame is my mate". Both dragonesses looked shocked at the news, Ember more so than Cynder. Spyro was about to speak again when a cry ripped from Flame's throat as he collapsed gently onto his side, his breathing becoming heavy and uneven. He writhed in pain and kicked out fiercely. Spyro sprang up in surprise and panic. "H-Hang on Flame, it's gonna be alright!" He looked to Cynder, who was already on her paws. "Cynder, go get the Guardians, and hurry!" Cynder nodded and scampered off towards the Dragon Temple.
"Spyro, is he okay? What's going on?" Ember asked, stuck in confusion.
Spyro laid down beside Flame and licked his cheek affectionately, whispering sweet nothings to him softly before looking up to explain to the dragoness. "Flame's giving birth".
"What?!" Ember screeched, "But male dragons can't do such a thing!"
"I know it's unheard of but right now it's happening, so I need you to stay as calm as you can, alright? We told the Guardians and Ignitus looked something up for us. He said that giving birth for male dragons is different from females".
"H-How so?" Ember asked, trying to compose herself.
"Male dragons don't give birth to eggs to hatch, the hatchlings are just...born as baby dragons. No eggs, no hatching, no waiting, nothing like that. That's why Flame's in way more pain than a female dragon would be" Spyro looked back to his mate and then to the den entrance as the Guardians arrived.
"Spyro, I need you to carefully bring Flame out here, the grass is softer here than the rock in there, think you can manage it?" Ignitus asked from outside.
"I'm on it!" Spyro gently nudged his way under Flame and carefully lifted him onto his back, with Ember's help, and carried him outside, gently laying him onto the grass and nuzzling his mate's cheek. Spyro looked up at the Guardians with fear in his purple eyes, gently running his tail along Flame's side as the red dragon frantically clawed at the ground. Ignitus looked down at the younger dragons, not quite fully grown, and shook his head in disappointment.
"I warned you about this Spyro..." He sighed. "Volteer, take over from here". Volteer nodded as Spyro was moved away from Flame while the Guardian helped coax Flame through his ordeal. Spyro could only sit and cringe at the vicious snarls echoing from his mate's throat.
Flame, not feeling any more excruciating pain in his body, slowly sat up, with the help of Cyril, and looked down at his side to find two tiny hatchlings nuzzled at his side. His eyes widened in surprise to find they were indeed alive, unlike he had originally thought. He looked to his other side to find Spyro there, a proud look on the purple dragon's face. Flame smiled and looked back at the baby dragons - one was red with a white underbelly and the other was a dark brown with a lighter brown underbelly. Flame then shared the same proud look as Spyro as Terrador brought over some water for the newborns to drink from.
"Not bad, young one" the Earth Guardian murmured. "Thought of names yet? They're both males".
Flame looked at Spyro. "I already decided to name the brown one Arrow" The purple father told his red mate. "I'll let you decide the other".
Flame nodded and looked thoughtfully at the red and white dragon at his belly. Then he looked back at Spyro. "I want to name him Comet".
Comet and Arrow grew up into strong young dragons, always happily playing with their fathers and testing their flying skills in racing one another. Spyro and Flame sat side by side as they watched their sons play around in the grassy fields they called home. The other dragons sometimes often sent the family of males fierce and judgemental glares. But others, like Cynder and Ember, were okay with them and happily kept Arrow and Comet amused whenever they had the time. And naturally, Arrow focused in Earth attacks, while Comet focused in Fire attacks, much like his father.