//------------------------------// // 2: A mysterious egg // Story: A three headed family // by valexto //------------------------------// Fluttershy took her time to reach Ponyville, walking at her own rythme as she got closer to the town. Outside of the Everfree forest stuck in winter, it had nothing to do here. The pegasus weather team had choose a much different weather and here it was a pretty normal day, sunny with a few clouds above and not much more. As she walked she even noticed Rainbow Dash sleeping high in the sky on a cloud, her multicolored tail falling a bit in the air as the only indication of her presence. Fluttershy remained silent, she didn't wanted to deprived her good friend of her certainly well deserved sleep so she entered the town where many ponies were going to their own businesses, all of them with a smile on their faces. "Howdy Fluttershy! Ya here for some apples?" Called a very recognizable voice on her left. "Oh hello Applejack, how are you doing today?" Replied Fluttershy with a small smile, looking at the orange earthpony with a blond mane and tail and it's stetson hat on her head. "Good thank ya. Big Mac helped ma to bucked the apples that morning. So, care for an apple?" She asked. "I don't want to be impolite or anything but, hum, I have a few questions for Twilight if you don't mind" Replied Fluttershy lowering her head and starting to whispering. "Sure sugarcube, ya can come back anytime." "Thank you Applejack." Fluttershy resumed her walk across Ponyville and after a few minutes of trying to avoid everypony else, finally arrived in front of the tree-library of Ponyville where Twilight resided. Very slowly, she opened the door and passed her head between. "Hello Twilight, I hope I'm not interrupting anything" She said so low that nopony could have heard her. She entered and silently closed the door behind her, going inside the library where nopony was in sight. "Twilight? Are you here? I can come back later." She said it with almost the same intonation but there was one little purple and green dragon with an excellent hearing living with Twilight. Spike got down the stairs, thankfully having heard what Fluttershy said otherwise she was already ready to return to her cottage. "Oh hi Fluttershy! Are you looking for Twilight?" He happily asked. "Oh hello Spike. I don't want to disturb but I would, hum, need her help if it's not asking too much" She told him with more confidence. "She's out seeing Rarity right now but she shouldn't be long. Can I help you find a book?" "Why yes. I'm looking for a book about eggs." "Looking for a new recipe?" He tried to guess already going toward some books. "Hum no, it's because I found an egg in the Everfree forest and I was just wondering if Twilight had a book about eggs. Just to know what it is." "In the Everfree Forest? Maybe we should wait for Twilight, she will certainly want to hear it from you" Spike assured leaving the books alone. "If you're sure that- Eep!" "Spike! I need a book about weaving magic" Called Twilight Sparkle entering the library, scarring Fluttershy at the same time. "Sure! And Fluttershy wanted to ask you something" Replied the little dragon going toward the books. "Hi Fluttershy, didn't see you there" Greeted Twilight, passing right next to the yellow mare calming herself. "Sorry about that. I came to ask if you had a book referencing eggs" Whispered Fluttershy. "I'm pretty sure we have one. Anything particular?" "Hum, it's an egg that I found in the Everfree forest and I don't know what it is." "An- Fluttershy! Why didn't you say so earlier!" Exclaimed herself Twilight with stars in her eyes. "I- huh- I didn't know you liked eggs so much." "But what if it's an egg of a new species? Or even if it's one we know, almost nopony was ever able to study an egg from the Everfree forest! I need to see it, do you have it with you?" Asked Twilight already preparing a quill and some parchment. "I left it at my cottage, it was freezing so I left it close to the fire." "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Twilight said gathering all her equipment in her saddlebags along with two books before going toward the door. "Twilight, what do I do with your book?" Asked Spike coming with a big book with a needle and some thread around it. "Can you bring it to Rarity? We have to get going!" She said grabbing Fluttershy and rushing outside. "Sure, I can do it if it's for Rarity" Spike said closing the door behind him. A few minutes later, on the way to Fluttershy's cottage, Twilight was asking all the questions in her mind with Fluttershy trying to answer at the best of her abilities and taking notes with her magic. "So it's strong enough to resist a timberwolf's strength, that's definitely no ordinary egg" Twilight said completely overjoyed. "Yes and after that, when I brought it home, I noticed it was getting colder so I put it in front of the fire" Added Fluttershy. "Come on Fluttershy, we need to get there as soon as possible" Said the purple unicorn. It took another set of minutes before they arrived in front of the cottage. Fluttershy pushed the door and Twilight immediately followed to have her eyes fixed on the big red egg in front of the fire, surrounded by many animals watching over it. "So let's see what you are". From a basic observation, the egg was definitely not normal. The color was a first point but the many scales spread all over it were definitely unusual. And it reminded her of one egg that she saw a few years ago, one that she knew very well but it was very unlikely to be of the same species. "Fluttershy, you're sure it was in the Everfree forest right?" "Why yes." "Mmm, we don't know anything about hydra's eggs so it might be one. I don't know of any other creature that could match the look of this egg in the Everfree forest" She said levitating one book from her saddlebag in front of her. Quickly turning the pages one after the other, she tried to find a similar egg in all those referenced in her book but none were matching the one if front of her. This book was a general reference for all sorts of creatures including some studied in the Everfree forest but no, it reminded her too much of the egg of the little drake living with her since a few years already. Worried if she might be right, she grabbed her other book and went through it before stopping on the only page with a small similarity with the egg in front of her and her doubts started to transforms into confirmations. And it wasn't a really good sign. "Fluttershy, I'm not one hundred percent sure but it looks like that what you found is a dragon's egg" She finally said after putting down her book. "Oh! That's my first time seeing one, is it because it looks like Spike's egg? " She said a bit happier. Twilight got closer to the egg and gently tapped it with her hoof, shaking it a bit before adding a few lines to her notes with her magic. The shell was now warm enough to be felt in a single touch but it wasn't burning nor did it seemed too hot. If it was indeed a dragon egg then it would explain the heat resistance as well as the scales all around it but it could still be another species. "Yes mainly, everything seems to point toward a dragon egg. The size is a bit big but we don't really know about dragon's egg so it might be normal, about my leg in height with an extremely resistant shell. Fluttershy this isn't a really good news" Twilight warned. "Why wouldn't it be?" Wondered the yellow pegasus. "Dragons are extremely protective of their eggs if what my books says is true, I'm worried that if one of it's parents learn that it's here we might have a serious problem on our hoofs." "We can just give it back right? Can we?" Asked Fluttershy a bit uncertain now. "At least we can try. But if a timberwolf managed to get it's teeth on it then maybe it was left unprotected. There's too much variables, keeping it here might be more harmful than anything else. I think I'll have to contact Princess Celestia about it, she took care of Spike's egg before me so she probably knows more than us about it and I don't see anypony else to counter a dragon's anger." "But- It's fine to keep it here for now? I'm sure I can take good care of it." "Well I don't see why not, you're the one who found it and you clearly know what to do already. I'm going back to the library to send a message to Princess Celestia, do you want to keep my book for now?" Offered Twilight. "If it doesn't bother you of course" kindly replied Fluttershy. "It doesn't. Please don't hesitate to come see me if anything change, I want to see it when it hatches. I wasn't able to do any research when Spike hatched but now is a chance that I won't let go" Assured the purple unicorn leaving the book on the small table of the leaving room. "Yes of course. Do you want something to drink before leaving? I have some tea" Suggested Fluttershy. "It's very kind of you but I might have be out schedule now, I still have some things to do with Rarity as well as sending that letter to Princess Celestia" Replied Twilight walking toward the door. "Oh. Well in that case I hope you'll get an answer soon." "Me too. Take care Fluttershy" Said Twilight leaving the cottage. "Goodbye Twilight" Waved Fluttershy before going back inside. She looked at the egg still surrounded by many animals all curious but also many looking very worried. They were all smart enough to understand what Twilight said and it didn't ease their thoughts about this egg, let it be of it's nature or the risk of attracting a fully grown and angry dragon looking for it's egg. "I'm sure there's nothing to be scared about, Twilight said that she will contact Princess Celestia. I'm sure she would have take the egg away if it represented a real danger" She told the animals. "What if it's really dangerous?" Asked Angel who listened everything. "Well right not it's not dangerous and it needs a warm place to stay, you don't mind if it's stays here?" Asked Fluttershy. "Angel is right, it can attract a dragon!" Added a little robin. "It can but who says that it will? You are all staying here because it's safe, I'm sure it's not that dangerous." "And what will you do if a dragon shows up to take back it's egg? You think you can just give it back?!" Continued Angel still angry. "Now mister, there is no need to yell. And yes I think I can give it back, I'm sure his parents will understand that I did my best to protect their egg and I won't change that now" Rectified Fluttershy with a little stricter expression. A little silence followed her words with many animals returning to their beds with only Angel and a few birds and mouses still looking at the egg doubtfully. Fluttershy understood the fears of her little friends, and it would be lying to say that she wasn't scared at the thought of a big scary dragon coming at her house, but she knew that she couldn't accept to see herself in a mirror if she abandoned this poor little egg just because of what could be inside. When the night started to fall thanks to Luna's magic, Fluttershy added a little log in the fire for the night, replaced the blanket on the egg and made sure that it wouldn't move before being satisfied. "Good night everyone, see you tomorrow" Wished them all Fluttershy as she went upstairs. Inside his egg, Sage woke up feeling still as warm as before. It was a really nice feeling but he still wondered what he was doing here or if he was still supposed to do something in the first place. He was still bathing in his warm liquid that seemed to not be able to drown him, still imprisoned in his cell of four walls with many sounds coming from the outside. This time it was quite silent, with only a few voices around him but he still couldn't understand what it was about. "What do you think about it?" Asked Angel. "Well, Fluttershy did say that it should be safe so I think we should trust her" Replied the little robin. "Agreed. Think about this little egg, no matter what's inside it's only a baby that haven't even seen anything yet and we're already so prone to chase him away. I think it should be fair to leave him a chance" Added a little sparrow. They all lowered their head in shame, acknowledging the fact that they were not even ready to give an opportunity to an unborn baby. On that note, they all returned to their beds for the night, Sage just listened to the return of the silence before returning to his sleep, without any idea of what had been said, rocked by the warmth all around him pushing him toward the realm of dreams.