Why does Spike eat gems in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic?

Question

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Spike is a Dragon that eat gemstones. Here's some proof for the distrustful:

Spike eating gemstones

Maybe it's me that don't know a lot about the Dragons lore, but it's the first time I've heard of a dragon that does that. While I'm sure there's a lot of minerals in gemstones, but I doubt their caloric values. It's just counter-intuitive to make dragons eat gems, and since everybody seems to accept that without frowning, I wonder from what lore this dietary habit was inspired.

I have scanned the Wikipedia article about Dragon and found nothing in it.

So, what is the inspiration of Dragons eating gemstones in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?

Update

While I'm still hoping someone with more knowledge of the dragon Lore will answer this, I will share with you some information I found:

According to Wikipedia, Dungeons & Dragons had some gem dragons dating back to 1980, and several of them are said to eat gems, but I have no idea if their dietary preferences were described back then.

There is also this article about The Flight of Dragons (1982) that says:

According to the movie, dragons eat gem to crush limestone. limestone being rich in calcium creates hydrogen when in contact with stomach acid. Hydrogen being lighters than air makes the dragon "float" and is also flammable.

Obviously, they needed an unambiguously deflationary force in the Ponies universe. This is what happens when you hire writers who have econ degrees. — John O, Feb 08 '14 at 22:58
Dungeons & Dragons Gold Dragons eat gems, back to the 70s. — Lexible, May 03 '15 at 19:30
Dragons and Wyrms in the Ultima series were said to eat gold, and in the Ultima Online mmorpg tamers could even feed gold coins to their dragons in place of regular food like meat and raw fish. — SPArcheon, Apr 18 '16 at 17:54

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '12 at 04:47

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The dragon of the Beowulf tale hoarded gems, gold, helmets, and other treasures. Perhaps the eating of gemstones is My Little Pony's answer to why dragons hoard gems in the first place.

answered Nov 12 '12 at 04:47

Rocker

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One could say... they have expensive taste. – Cees Timmerman Jan 14 '14 at 17:19
@CeesTimmerman cow.org/csi/ – Andreas Sep 29 '14 at 09:52

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 13 '14 at 23:07

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In the age of fire book series the author portrayed dragons as eating gold(as well as other metals) and gemstones to harden their scales, after a certain point though their scales no longer continue to harden and instead the dragons hoard the gemstones until such time as their scales fall off and are replaced naturally by new scales that require hardening or are damaged in a fight

edited Jan 13 '14 at 23:07

Valorum

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answered Jan 13 '14 at 22:13

SoulStrider

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What does "the age of fire" have to do with MLP:FiM? – jwodder Jan 13 '14 at 22:42
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Agreed. You seem to be answering a question about "My Little Pony" by referring to "Age of Fire" without indicating what the connection between them is. – Valorum Jan 13 '14 at 23:08
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I disagree, I asked for references about the "Dragons lore" in general, not specifically about "My Little Pony". SoulStrider's answer is on topic. – DavRob60 Jan 15 '14 at 01:08

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 29 '15 at 06:53

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There was a head cannon floating around about gemstones being crystallized/condensed pieces of magic. From there I figured that because dragons don't have magic that they are addicted to the magic in the stones.

answered Mar 29 '15 at 06:53

Chakwaina

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Why does Spike eat gems in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic?

3 Answers3

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