Spyro was a popular young dragon.
It was unavoidable, considering all the things he'd accomplished over the span of a couple of decades, and without the aid of any parents. Moreover, Spyro himself didn't really want to avoid the attention. He'd saved his entire species from a spell cast by Gnasty Gnorc and specifically tailored to transform all dragons into useless statues, in part because the spell could only hone in on and track adult dragons with their great mana signatures, but that would have meant nothing if the young hero hadn't displayed the skill and cunning to annihilate entire armies and recover treasure while doing so, as well as avoid Gnasty's spells at close range. That had earned him several televised interviews, skyrocketing him to the most popular and widely known dragon within their own realm, since none of them had ever done so much with only the help of a lightly enchanted dragonfly and a few fairies. Even this was just the first of what would be many noteworthy deeds, and Spyro soaked up the attention with the practiced ease of a born celebrity.
He went on to end wars and save children in the distant realm of Avalar, successfully facing off against yet another mage determined to control an entire realm. His quest was to defeat Ripto and his minions, but at every turn he found other problems to solve, and so he simply solved them all without slowing his pace. Traveling throughout a realm and fixing everything whilst nabbing treasure for his hoard had already become second-nature to Spyro, and he finished the whole affair without much trouble. Even though it was a massive undertaking and a year-long campaign, Spyro and his allies never suffered a major setback. When the inhabitants of the Dragon Realms finally learned where Spyro had disappeared off to and what he'd been doing they were all too eager to report on that story as well. Suddenly exotic peoples from disparate worlds were all speaking of Spyro's heroism, and he became a household name in several realms beyond his own.
When a Sorceress from yet another realm decided she needed baby dragon pieces for alchemical reasons it was no surprise that the Dragon Elders simply pointed Spyro at the problem and considered it resolved. Younger adults had a great deal of investment in their lost children, and other dragons at Spyro's age were worried that he might not be able to save the eggs in time, but the journey to the Forgotten Realms was considerably difficult for large creatures and too dangerous for youngsters. Except, of course, the unstoppable youngster who seemed destined to slay armies and defeat advanced spellcasters. Legions of Rhynocs were incinerated, skewered, or slashed to meaty ribbons, and Spyro even had a few new grateful friends to show for it. All of the eggs were returned intact, and long forgotten treasure was retrieved. After a third successful campaign against tyranny, Spyro was no longer treated like a miraculously capable or lucky young dragon. Instead he was respected and feared as a legendary warrior and tactician, destined to do great things.
Fame wasn't the only thing Spyro was gaining an abundance of in these years. The treasure he'd taken from Gnasty had generously been returned to its prior owners, but since they all owed Spyro their lives and he'd recovered it for them he was allowed to keep a portion of each hoard, as determined on a case-by-case basis. Of course, when a fire-breathing dragon treads through lands yet unclaimed by other dragons he keeps the treasure he takes, and he'd done so through two entire realms. When he was just starting to hit puberty, he was already absurdly rich and purchased his own lavish home in the central world of the Dragon Realms. He had just enough room for his most valuable treasures in the basement and dumped the rest into a bank account.
Many of the Elders came to know Spyro during this downtime, as Spyro had become unwillingly involved in politics due to his deeds. The Council of the Fae had sworn their undying loyalty and service to Spyro, claiming that he fit into some Fae prophecy and that it was their destiny to guard and guide him throughout the realms. Spyro had already been helped greatly by fairies, and they'd done a lot more to help him than other dragons as they had a much easier time avoiding spells and traveling the realms. Thus, in spite of his species, Spyro always had the fairies' needs firmly in mind while representing them. When the Dragon Elders desperately needed something from the Fae they would try to convene a meeting they knew no actual fairies on the Council could attend, thinking Spyro would be easy to persuade to their side: he wasn't. While a few of the Elders thought poorly of such trickery and in turn gained more respect for Spyro, some others were agitated by the stonewalling. A few of them spoke openly of his rudeness during meetings and his lack of proper respect for his Elders, but no matter the truth of the claims they did actually improve Spyro's reputation amongst those of his own age.
In spite of all of this, many dragons considered their species to simply be superior to all others, and so considered Spyro's success to be a given. It came as no surprise to these supremacists that even a young dragon whelp would overcome anything short of another dragon. When a former Dragon Elder gone bad freed Gnasty from prison and sought to conquer several realms at once with the corruptive power of dark gems there was a considerable degree of panic amongst the general populace, but Spyro didn't share their fear. Spyro and his unofficial, ragtag group of liberators tore down the plans of this newest, fiendish spellcaster. The odds were massively stacked against them. Red, as he had taken to calling himself, had many powerful agents, pressed the remaining population of gnorcs into his service, had dark and elemental magic at his disposal, and had a keen sense for the future, employing robotic enforcers as soon as possible. He was bigger, stronger, and more experienced than Spyro as well, but his dragon-kata did him no good. Spyro had the confidence, reflexes, determination, and natural talent necessary to overcome everything Red threw at him, and after soundly defeating an Elder Dragon, Spyro's reputation grew more impressive still.
It was said that dragons become sexually mature long before reaching their full size, and this rumor was mostly true as it related to a dragon's mind. A dragon's youth before puberty strikes lasted for nearly three decades, and around the same time they would finally be able to consistently fly. At that stage of development, the act of mating could be quite pleasurable with other dragons of the same size, while not producing any eggs. After so much time dragons could begin to yearn for mates, but traditionally they didn't pair off for life as other races often did. Dragons had a sense of pride and an eye for worth in all things, and so judged relationships by these standards. The more powerful and influential a dragon, and the larger his or her hoard became, the more eyes would turn to that dragon with amorous intent. Of course, a lack of disputes and the modernization of dragon society had changed how they approached romance. For one, dragons sought mates for more personal reasons more often than not, and for another the side effect of powerful dragons drawing the eyes of rivals in addition to mates had mostly become null and void. Dragons in Spyro's time weren't prone to in-fighting, as they had been just a couple of cycles ago, and maintained laws against theft to keep the peace, their cultural focus having shifted to magical and artistic pursuits. The adoption of the pair-bonding of other races continued at a gradual and casual pace, as some dragons grew to desire secure, lifelong relationships with single partners.
It was no surprise when Spyro was approached by Ember, a young female with pretty pink scales who was completely enamored with him, just before Red's ill-fated return, and at the same time other male dragons his age were actively encouraging him and stroking his ego. They were all inspired by his actions and cocky attitude, declaring him to be the dragon out of time, carrying the fierce and noble spirits of their long dead ancestors into battle. It helped his image with his peers immensely that he made plenty of time between political meetings and heroics for skateboarding competitions and snowboard racing. He'd spent much of his youth prior to Gnasty's attack acting as an impartial middle-dragon for youth gangs trading liquors and drugs, and threw out gang signs before competitions in recognition of the older kids who had taught him a few tricks he would be using. The camera dragons didn't know what it meant and didn't really care, and foreign broadcasters were even less suspicious. He was someone his younger peers looked up to and whom his older peers respected above both the law and tradition.
Combining this with his defeat of Red made him the ultimate symbol of constructively directed youthful rebellion. Prior to and after Red's defeat he'd gone on even more adventures, won countless competitions, and practically reshaped the economy with the influence of his hard-earned wealth. A business bear named Moneybags who used to mainly dabble in conning others built a mostly legitimate business selling niche, expensive items to dragons. The most advanced and powerful items in his shifting stock were also the most expensive and were almost exclusively purchased by Spyro, either for himself or for one of his friends. A mole professor from Avalar had been helping Spyro since they'd met, and found that his research had all the funding it needed, thanks to Spyro.
Considering all of this, one would think that any other dark sorcerers would be reluctant to attack the residence of Spyro, the Mage-Slayer. Apparently one evil dragon sorcerer didn't get the memo and enacted a plan to drain the magic from all the residents of several entire realms all at once, and the Shadow Realm was the key to his plot. A recently escaped Red had sworn his service to this new evil, but Spyro was not content with simply defeating his old enemy this time. After learning dragon-kata, mastering every Elemental breath attack, learning to cast draconic spells, and cutting and smashing his way through shadow minions, the heroic young dragon convinced Red to abandon his dominating ambitions. With an old enemy now his ally, Spyro freed the realms and soundly defeated the Sorcerer, sending the dark dragon of many forms back into realms unknown. Red was accepted back into the fold of the Elders, and Spyro was showered with praise and gifts from across the realms. His wealth was so beyond absurd that he no longer had any idea what to do with it all, and claimed a massive stretch of land beyond an unexplored portal to build his own castle simply for the storage space it would afford him and the fun of designing his own home. A few of the more superstitious families throughout the realms began to whisper that Spyro was the mortal incarnation of Io, the first dragon of the Heavens and the progenitor of all other Dragon Gods.
It is after these events and under such extraordinary circumstances that the story of Spyro losing his virginity begins…
Shadows billowed up from the ground in a magical display of blackness consuming the light, passing over the ground as it did so. It was an advanced magical technique to hide one's self within the magic of anti-light, simply referred to as shadow magic by most. Even so, the dragoness using the technique was young, and therefore small. As such, the shadows that marked her passage could easily have gone unnoticed, and her theft likewise, but she wasn't so lucky.
Cynder slithered out of the ground in one fluid motion, her sleek, attractive body stretching to remove the aching in her muscles, a smirk growing on her face. "Well well well..." Her face fell into a frown as she looked behind herself, three other dragons her age dropping from the cliff she'd hugged specifically to avoid prying eyes on the ground. While she silently cursed herself the group of Mountain Crackers closed in, surrounding her. They were all male and possessed green scales, the one on her right looking as if he was partially composed of plants and the one on her left small for his age, sporting an odd set of wings that reminded her of an overgrown dragonfly. The mountain of muscle in the middle was by far the most intimidating, but he didn't impress the Knifetail he'd caught. "Looks like we've caught ourselves a shadow dancer, boys."
"Is she gonna put on a show for us, Rock?" Cynder huffed at that, shielding the bag hanging from her shoulder with a wing while trying to look like she wasn't worried. The silver knives that had been magically fused with her wing joints and tail tip promised blood as easily as her naturally silvery horns and claws, and her scale markings, bracelets, and choker seemed to advertise that she was no stranger to violence. All of her fellow Knifetails had similarly infused silver pieces, supposedly for the sake of hunting vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. They would allow no competition for the shadows in the Dragon Realms.
"I'm not sure you'd like the show I'd put on." The Wind Element Cynder was born with would be next to useless against the muscular and thick-scaled Earth dragons, but she'd learned to wield various other breath attacks by 'encouraging' an Electric Fairy for her blessing and studying dark magic, which was one of the many reasons she was determined to get away with the spellbook she'd just taken. It wasn't something the Mountain Crackers were inclined to put to proper use, but it was valuable and that was enough reason for the dragon gang to hoard it with the rest of their treasures. Whether her extra abilities would be enough to even the odds in a one against three fight remained to be seen.
A short distance away, two other young dragons were enjoying the evening sun and the wind passing under their wings, and the dragon in the lead noticed the impending fight below before it could properly start. "Slow down, Spyro!" The dragoness tailing him begged breathlessly, having trouble keeping up with him whenever he forgot to pace himself for her sake.
"Don't pretend you aren't enjoying the view." He teased, shaking his hips and lifting his tail a bit. Ember had to bite her lip to choke down an embarrassing moan before it could pass her lips. His butt was so firm, round, and perfect that she couldn't look away. She was so distracted that she managed to keep her eyes glued to him without really noticing the implications of his expert twist in the air until she had to crane her neck back to look at him. He'd suddenly banked off to the right and she flittered around to follow him to his new destination.
Spyro had a very personal reason for his detour, as he'd easily recognized the dragoness who'd taught him how to work the streets. Cynder and he were both orphans, though she was five years his senior. It was an insignificant amount of time for most dragons, even those below a century old, but since he was only a few years out of the egg when they met it had seemed significant to him. Cynder had given Spyro the skills to live his own life away from the orphanage, and he could trace his skateboarding prowess back to her reluctant lessons. Even if she deserved the trouble she'd landed herself in, Spyro wouldn't let her take it when he knew he could help.
His confident stride and serene smile would have been enough to give the other dragons pause, but his mere identity amplified the effect. "Back up, leaf-scales. Leave the lady some breathing room." Spyro made a shooing gesture with his wing and the dragon in question obliged, lowering his head in a sign of submission. Rock was less impressed and his other companion had an unreadable expression. That changed when Spyro made the sign of the Mountain Crackers with his claws, followed by the sign of the Knifetails, and then the sign of the Courier. He finished the display by stretching his wings upward above his head and puffing out his chest, the stance of the Lord. The message to the older dragons was ambiguous in some regards, but clearly not hostile. Ember had missed the gang signs, panting a few feet away and watching the scene uncertainly. "I'm glad you were on time, Cynder."
Cynder did her best to play along with whatever Spyro was doing, keeping her words vague and her tone friendly until she knew his plan. "It's always nice to see you, Spyro." His wing casually brushed hers out of the way so he could reach a clawed hand into her bag and pull out the contents, which happened to be a hefty spellbook. To all the world Spyro seemed to have been expecting this, nodding to himself as he flipped through a few of the pages. Only Cynder noticed just how closely his eyes read through detail after precious detail, his mind quickly forming assumptions about its place with the Mountain Crackers based on the contents. "I did everything just the way you said."
"You wanted to steal from us?" Rock was shocked and confused by the idea, but Spyro just laughed at that.
"Of course not. Who's representing?"
They introduced themselves in turn from his left to his right. "High Five." "Rock." "Camo."
"Alright, good to know. Take a good hard look at Cynder here, Rock. Do you really think she's dumb enough to try and sneak past your look-out cliff?" They all shook their heads slightly. "Exactly. She knows about it, I know about it, everyone knows about it. The reason she came here was to get your attention. Now, I realize you don't want anyone knowing you have something like this," he slapped the spellbook closed, "but I heard the rumors and simply had to know if they were true. There's also the matter of this stuff being really dangerous when the wrong sorts come rolling into town."
"Yeah, but you'll just kick their asses anyway, right?" Spyro gave High Five a rather unimpressed glance. "Okay, I guess an easier fight would be better."
"Bingo. Not that I trust the Elders with something like this after the whole Code Red incident. There is still one safe place for dangerous spellbooks, if you catch my meaning." They took a moment to process his words, Cynder smirking triumphantly as Spyro's quick thinking pulled her out of a rough fight. Perhaps she could still have a productive day afterall.
"So," Camo started, "You're stealing it, but we should let you? Because it's a good cause?"
Spyro sighed and shook his head as if disappointed. "Not my style, Camo. I'm buying it from you, obviously. Well, buying it from your boss. How does a thousand gold pieces worth of yellow sapphires sound? They'll be from my personal hoard to keep bank records out of this so I'll be giving up some of my best gems for this thing."
"I don't know." Rock tilted his head, frowning. "That seems a bit low."
"Low?" Spyro let the spellbook dangle from only two claws and held it up for everyone to get a good look at it. "For this tattered old book filled only with soul-sundering spells that none of you are dumb enough to cast?" There was a short pause, the Mountain Crackers looking between each other uncertainly. "If one of you starts talking about historical significance then you'll give away your cover and everyone will know you're an Elder in disguise." That relieved some of the tension, but the three lookouts were still clearly a bit confused as to what to do next. Spyro decided it was best to end things while he still had their trust and before he made them feel any more awkward. He snapped his fingers in Cynder's direction. "Cynder, the bag." She obliged without complaint, looking as if this turn of events had been her plan all along. "Your boss and I can discuss prices at the Night Lotus Skatepark next week. Same day, same time."
Spyro placed the book back in the bag and slipped the strap over Rock's shoulder, looking deeply into his eyes. "So, you can take it back discreetly." The time for deception was over, because Spyro meant every word of what he said next. "This book is dangerous. I'm trusting you with it for another week. Keep it safe this time."
It was easy for young dragons wrapped up in their own little disputes and confrontations to distance themselves from the bigger picture, to not see beyond the everyday troubles of their personal lives. From their perspective, Spyro was an unstoppable force of nature that would handle every major problem for them, but Rock saw things very differently with the dragon himself right in front of him. Spyro may have been exceptionally capable, but he was a dragon like any other with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Here he was worrying over a spellbook that Rock had only thought of as a piece of his gang's hoard, a mere monetary asset. Spyro saw the world differently, because he couldn't rely on parents he didn't have or Elders who were useless in a fight, and Rock suddenly felt guilty for never having helped him before. "It won't leave my sight until I know you have it."
"Actually," Hive Five started, "we'll watch it in shifts. Like sane people who need sleep."
Camo did a little salute with a wing. "We won't let you down, Master!" Spyro froze mid-nod, processing that. Rock was wincing with embarrassment.
"I'm not your master, kid." Spyro was surprised at himself for managing to keep his composure, and the fact that he'd just called a dragon who was likely at least half a decade older than him 'kid' just made the whole situation feel even weirder. He glanced back at the girls and saw that Ember was silently giggling right along with Cynder, even though the younger dragoness still didn't know exactly what was happening. He turned back and saw that Camo had wilted a little, which made Spyro frown with regret. "I'm flattered, really. I just don't have any idea what you actually mean."
"It's not weird, I swear!" That made Cynder snort while Ember gazed at Camo with sympathy. "It's just one of your official titles! You mastered dragon-kata three years ago at the age of twenty-nine while fighting the Sorcerer, making you the youngest Master in history! The previous record holder had been seventy-seven! If you started teaching then you'd also be the youngest Sensei."
"He's obsessed with you, hero boy." It seemed that High Five and Camo had petty arguments about Camo's 'obsession' quite often, since the latter dragon managed to mostly ignore the jab, taking on an expression of mild agitation. Spyro already felt like he was earning the respect and loyalty of these three, and it felt as good as it always did. There was a crazy idea that he just couldn't get out of his head unless he tried it, and Camo was to blame.
"So, does this mean you want lessons, or what?" Camo gasped at Spyro's words, forgetting about High Five's teasing completely as his eyes opened wide in dumbfounded shock. High Five himself started fidgeting fiercely, trying not to look envious. Rock just kept glancing at the bag, thinking anxious thoughts about the tome within.
"I- I- I'd be honored, Master!"
Spyro winked at him. "Soon as we get this book thing straightened out then we'll get started. You can bring a few friends if you want, too." He pretended not to notice High Five's wings fluttering excitedly when he said that. "Now get outta here. I've got girls waiting on me." After they were far enough away, Spyro quietly sighed in relief and turned around.
Ember was glancing between Cynder and Spyro while the two stared each other down, slowly coming to the realization that their meeting hadn't been planned as they'd pretended. That and Cynder's smoldering gaze as she strutted toward Spyro made Ember's expression sour. "Thanks for bailing me out."
"Damn it, Cynder! Now I've got to buy a book I don't give a flying fuck about just to keep up appearances. It may surprise you to learn this, but I actually like my hoard being huge." She wasn't fooled by his words, but how much he cared about the book didn't matter to her so she ignored it.
"So I'm worth a thousand pieces, huh?" Cynder was clearly flirting with him, and he found it a bit overwhelming. Certainly he'd planned to invite Ember over and conquer the shyness he tried to pretend he didn't have around females, but Sparx's advice hadn't accounted for a situation like this. Cynder had shaped him into the dragon he'd needed to be when Gnasty first showed up to cause problems, and he'd thought of her as something akin to an older sister. When her tail brushed against his face and pulled his gaze down to her hips and then hiked ever so slightly the enticing view shattered that delusion completely.
Spyro glanced up into Ember's eyes. She looked to be just agitated enough to either say something they'd all regret or just leave. "Why don't you girls come back to my place?" That changed everything. Ember hadn't been expecting Spyro to make such an offer to her, blushing intensely and running a claw through the dirt. The dual invitation brought thoughts to mind that Ember had never had before, and after a moment she noticed that Cynder was studying her with interest, as if she'd entertained a few ideas about what to do with another dragoness from time to time. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but the fact that Cynder clearly liked what she was seeing just made her blush harder, and if Spyro meant what she thought he meant then she wouldn't dare pass up the opportunity. "Both of you, for the whole night." Well, that just confirmed it.
"Sure! Why not?" Ember said, trying to sound casual.
"She sure is pretty." Cynder was an expert tease. Spyro gave a hearty laugh at how easily he'd redirected her attention.
"Yes, she is. Come on, the portal to my castle is this way. We just finished building it last month."
There was a short pause after they took off, Cynder glancing back toward the Mountain Crackers flying off in the distance. "So, about that book."
"You can't have the evil spellbook, Cynder." That made Ember giggle, Cynder huffing in exaggerated offense. "You can read it in my den, but no casting."
"At least it's not a total loss."
"Just don't get caught next time."
It seemed like such a short time ago that Spyro and Ember had just been kids. Her crush on him back then had been the sort that the younger race's daughters would develop for boy bands, and he'd responded with confusion and disinterest. When she'd switched her focus to a young armadillo named Bandit the news had come as a relief to Spyro. Of course, that was before either of them had any interest in sex, and before Spyro had a chance to feel regret or jealousy he'd learned that Bandit and Ember had parted ways. Since then she seemed reluctant to open up around Spyro, until he hinted that maybe he actually liked having her around. It had been an awkward journey to get back to being friends, and the tension between them could only be eased by one thing. By all the social calculations dragons were prone to make in their subconscious, Spyro had the status to take several mates, and that simple fact was on Ember's mind constantly. Only now that she was flying beside another eager dragoness did she come to the conclusion that she didn't mind. On the contrary, her heart pounded with nervous, excited anticipation.
Cynder could read the younger dragons easily. Both of them were bundles of nerves, but Spyro was much better at hiding it. Ember had had a much more sheltered life than the other two, and was less accustomed to masking her emotions. They'd met in passing once or twice at public events, but most of what Cynder knew about Ember was from gossip. According to the rumors she'd gone up to Cliff Town to bed an armadillo before sulking back to the Elders' Village, disappointed and bitter. Cynder knew she'd had an adorable crush on Spyro a few years back, and perhaps it was selfish of her to insert herself in the middle of that, but self-interest was a draconic virtue. Besides, Spyro had invited them both and she hadn't heard any complaining from Ember. She'd been certain that Spyro had just moved on and forgotten about her once he was plenty rich enough to no longer need the skills of a thief, the skills she'd taught him, but in hindsight she'd mistaken his being busy with disinterest.
It was no secret to those with Cynder's experience that first times were almost always awkward, or even borderline uncomfortable. Doubly so when each dragon involved was losing their virginity together. To repay Spyro for his timely intervention she'd do her best to make his first time better than hers, and that meant taking care of Ember too in this circumstance. As such she formally introduced herself as they flew, striking up a casual conversation. They were unsurprised at their shared passion for jewelry, as every dragoness with any sense would strut about with some manner of jewelry as a sample of their hoards, but their vastly different tastes gave them plenty to discuss. That in turn gave Spyro time to regroup and consider what pushed him to this point.
Sparx was touched by dragon magic, a unique dragonfly like no other. With his extended lifespan and telepathic abilities came superior intelligence, but he still had desires driven by biology. For a long time, he tried to ignore it, since the other dragonflies wouldn't be emotionally intelligent enough to form a relationship with him. One day he was too pent up and stopped caring, flitting off to Dragonfly Swamp and letting out his frustrations. He'd returned rather pleased with himself, having enjoyed the outing much more than he expected to. He had plenty of sex, and he still had emotional fulfillment with Spyro, Hunter, and his other friends. People often wanted romance, but they needed sex, so what would be the harm in putting sex first? That was the spirit behind Sparx's advice, even if he had to resort to teasing Spyro for still being a virgin to get him to agree. How are you ever going to beat my record if you never get started? Sparx had said. Just do what I do in the swamp. They all want you, so just pick one and go for it.
The dragonfly's boasting had revolved around the quantity of females he managed to "fertilize" in one day, and even though two was far from Sparx's seven the young dragon couldn't get the idea out of his head when he saw Ember and Cynder standing so close to each other. He looked back at them just talking, smiles on their faces, and decided that he was definitely luckier than his little buddy. Cynder had been his role model for a good few years, the ways he sought to emulate her making him into the dragon he needed to be at the time. Even though they'd grown into very different dragons since parting ways they still shared something personal and fundamental. Ember had been something else entirely, her nurturing mother and overcautious father grooming her into a loving and gentle soul. At first her naivety and worrying had bothered Spyro, but he'd grown to like the idea of at least one person being genuinely concerned for his safety. She had started on a little rebellious streak after returning from Cliff Town, and her parents hadn't been happy about her leaving in the first place. When she wanted to get away from them for awhile Spyro would let her follow him around. He'd learned from Cynder how to be hard to find, so he and Ember had spent a lot of quiet time away from everyone else recently.
Spyro didn't have to choose between them. They were both following him, exchanging stories about jewelers and their favorite gemstones. Yes, he was certainly going to enjoy this.
Dragons had a tendency to settle down together, establishing large territories and then sticking to them for millennia at a time. Some twelve thousand years ago they'd carved out an expansive territory that had become known as the Dragon Realms, just as the Forgotten Realms had once been so named for the same reason. As it was, there were worlds with portals beyond the usual clusters, and dragons had yet to run low on more easily accessed space, building their capitals in areas with many portals for convenience. This left an uncounted number of unexplored worlds to whomever bothered to find them first, should such places not prove to already be inhabited. Most dragons preferred the safety and familiarity of lands where other dragons had already roamed, and so considered holding ground in or near a capital to be a form of wealth. Spyro was less impressed by the idea of attributing value to a place because of how many old dragons used to lay around there, and he didn't need or trust other dragons to keep him safe from anything, so he'd built his new home in one of the unclaimed worlds.
Spyro lead them to the portal, standing between two trees near the edge of an unremarkable forest clearing, and the trio flew through. There was nothing particularly special about the world itself, a place with typically fine weather and a mountain range near the portal entrance, but nothing special was exactly what Spyro had wanted. Expansive fields stretching off to the East and the South, a forest beyond a number of hills to the West, and Spyro's new castle built against the Northward mountains, a calm ocean just beyond them. Spyro had of course enlisted the help of the Professor when designing the place, and its placement was one of the Professor's suggestions. The Professor had been excited at the prospect of designing a private mine for someone with the funds to use the best possible equipment, and Spyro had agreed to pay for his newest automated systems. Thanks to advanced robotics the whole operation ran entirely on its own, needing only occasional maintenance from the Professor himself. They'd built it before the rest and Spyro had started to see genuine profits beyond the initial investment only two and a half years after the expense.
Cynder and Ember hadn't even noticed the turrets hidden beneath the dirt on either side of the entrance portal, as their legality was questionable and they'd remain inactive unless Spyro put the whole system on siege defense mode. As they followed Spyro toward the gates they saw only the signs of an entirely traditional castle, all the most advanced equipment hidden from view by the stone walls. They did notice that the drawbridge was made of some sort of flexible metal, but that wasn't particularly surprising. The moat gave them pause as they were crossing, Ember pointing to strange metal rods poking out from the far side. Cynder took note of the circular towers, a dozen by her count, and the odd sheen that could only been seen on the stone up close. She was sure the outer walls had been enchanted somehow, likely to resist spells and heavy projectiles. "Damn, these are some impressive defenses."
"This is just standby mode. If anyone was crazy enough to attack me here then things would get a lot scarier." Rather than leading to a courtyard the portcullis opened to a grand hall with ornate archways, rows of dormant gnorc bots on either side of the dragons with laser-guided plasma blasters in hand. "There is no separate keep. It's all one big superstructure. It'll see a lot more use as a huge mansion than a stronghold anyway." He turned to his guests with a self-assured grin, gesturing to the right at the end of the entrance hall with a wing. "But if you liked the walls I could always show you the rest of the defenses." Cynder hummed with approval and Ember nodded emphatically. "Right this way."
Spyro brought them to the emergency security activation room, which was a much smaller and blander version of the central control room that was only designed to support control of the defenses. After the thick titanium door opened automatically for Spyro's unique mana signature he started pointing things out. "First of all, that door only opens if I'm here. As a secondary defense for the computer it won't turn on for anyone else and needs a password only I know before it lets me in. It's close to the entrance so I can get here fast, but the big control room overrides it so it's useless to anyone else if I'm back there and say so." He booted the system and hid the keyboard under his wing while typing the code, and then he listed individual defenses as the screens lit up. "So the walls are already enchanted, but I've got a deflector shield too to take the brunt of kinetic attacks. Seven hundred total defense robots, all ready to go. Two dozen floating platforms sit dormant behind the walls, waiting to lift up defense bots and fire their lightning turrets, just in case the bots behind the ramparts and lower firing slits can't get a good shot. Automated machine guns on the ramparts to plug holes in the defensive line. I can electrify the moat at the press of a button, and as for its other purpose I have secondary concrete barriers underground just behind the moat to protect against clever tunnelers. These last two buttons are all about big booms. One activates the minefield we just flew over and the other, well, that makes the drawbridge explode."
"Eh, not impressed." Cynder mocked playfully, shrugging her wings. Ember looked at her like she was insane, but Spyro just rolled his chair to the other of the two stations.
"Worried about the skies? Ha! Laser defense network capable of bringing a premature climax to twelve hundred missiles per second from up to ten thousand miles away. Thirty quad barreled anti-air flak guns. Thirteen plasma mortars on the mountain. Laser-guided missile launchers and ones that seek heat because why the Hell not? Heavy turbines on the walls to make flying a pain, and a dome shield projected behind the walls to make it pointless." Spyro relocked the system and the screens immediately went dark, their owner hopping out of his seat and slowly stepping toward the girls. "Fae magic prevents anyone from teleporting inside or bending the structure with spells. I took the machines that Red made the Professor build, so now they're mine. The skies are governed by me from right here and the ground is no different. Digging here is only safe if I say it is. This whole world belongs to me."
Cynder's façade of cool indifference fell apart as he edged closer, his face inches from hers. "Nothing can get here without my permission." She felt his lips press against hers, Spyro holding her gaze throughout the kiss with the same confidence he'd projected when discussing the security systems. Her eyes were wide with shock by the time he pulled back and turned to Ember. "No one is going to bother us." Suddenly Ember was experiencing what she'd just watched, her wings fanned out and her eyes half closed as she surrendered to him. She gave a quiet, muffled moan, and was breathing heavily when he stepped away, strutting back out the door. "Not until I'm done with you two."
Ember was following Spyro very closely after that, Cynder hanging back as he guided them to the den. She knew most virgin dragons were inclined to show off their strength or their wealth before taking potential partners to bed, the drive to do so built into their species on an almost instinctual level. She also found such displays tiresome most of the time, and it was mostly ignored as frivolous by dragons her age once they had some experience. This had been a special circumstance, since she'd been genuinely quite curious about the castle, but then she finally came to understand the appeal of those displays. Spyro had done a much better job of it than she'd ever seen, exerting an air of control over the environment that had her tail swaying with anticipation.
