Ember watched as the baby dragons finally started hatching in the warm heat of the fire. A small smile on her face as she realized she made it through her first hatching season as the dragon lord. All dragons around watched as the hatchlings crawled out of their eggs to see the outside world for the first time.
"EEEEEE! Spike look at all the baby dragons!" Fluttershy squealed from behind Ember. The ponys' smile was reaching ear to ear as she flew over to the babies and began hugging them all.
"Huh. Your friend here really likes baby dragons?" Ember asked as she turned her head towards Spike.
"Oh yeah! The whole reason she tagged along with me and Smolder was to see the babies." Spike answered smiling. "She loves any baby animals really."
"Ah. Well, tell her I said thanks. She did try her best to help the eggs."
"will do!"
"Oh! And thank you, Spike, for helping me realize how to save the eggs." Ember said giving Spike a small, awkward, pat on the back.
Spike gave a goofy smile. "No Problem Ember. That's what friends are for!"
Ember laughed "I guess this friend stuff really is neat huh."
Spike nodded turning his view back to Fluttershy. "Uhhh Ember..."
"Hm?" Ember turned to see what spike was looking at. "Oh, my, Celestia..."
In the middle of the nesting ground sat a VERY happy Fluttershy, surrounded by every single one of the baby dragons.
"Awww. you get a kiss." Fluttershy leaned down and kissed a dragon on the head. "And youuuu get a kiss." she Kissed another baby on the nose. "And you" she kissed another. "and-"
"Fluttershy-" Spike interrupted.
The pony in question turned to face her friend. "Yeah Spike?"
"what are you doing with all the baby dragons?"
Fluttershy looked down at the piles of dragons around her "Oh. Um. I didn't realize ALL the dragons were here. I was just smothering these sweet little cuties." She said holding up another dragon while squeezing its face. "Oh, who's a cute baby dragon. You are! You are!"
Ember grimaced as she watched the ponys' strange affections. She'll never get used to how lovey-dovey ponies are.
"You should probably let the babies go back to their mothers." Spike said as he noticed some of the dragons sucking on their tails. A clear sign they were hungry.
"Oh of course!" Fluttershy gently put down the dragons and flew over to spike and Ember. All the babies looked at Fluttershy as she flew off. They all began to frown and crawl after her but the sounds of their grumbling stomachs stopped them. They all grumpily crawled to their mothers.
Fluttershy gently landed next to Spike as she looked up at the sun. "Oh, dear! look at the time. it's getting late."
Spike looked up and nodded. "we should probably look for someplace to sleep."
"Wait you two are staying?" Ember asked.
"Well yeah. Smolder is staying for 3 days, and I promised to stay here so it would count as school credit."
Fluttershy nodded along with spikes words. "and since I volunteered to come, I'm staying as long as him."
Ember nodded in understanding before she began to think. "Well I would ask if you wanna room with me but I don't know if my father would like that." She thought some more before continuing. "There are a few empty caves up by the mountain there." She pointed to the right of her where a few mountains came to view.
"Nice!" Spike pumped a fist in the air in victory. "Smolder was telling me how nice the Caves over there were."
Ember nodded. "Id suggest you'd hurry tho. the caves fill up fast."
Spike and Fluttershy Nodded as they both flew up into the sky. "I guess we'll be seeing ya Ember. Night!" Spike said waving. "Thank you for letting me see the babies too," Fluttershy added.
Ember gave a small wave of her hand. "Don't worry about it Flutterpie-"
"Fluttershy." The pony quietly corrected
"Right! Sorry. Anyways. Don't worry about it. You were a big help today. Hope you two get a good rest. Night." Ember waved them goodnight as they flew off, but as soon as they left the nesting grounds, a high screeching sound filled the air.
"Augh!" Ember quickly covered her ears. "What in Equestria is that noise!?"
"It's the babies lord Ember." Clawdric, an older dragon of the group, spoke up as he pointed to all the worried mothers holding their screaming children.
"why are they screeching?" Ember demanded.
Clawdric shrugged. "They just started and we can't get them to stop."
Ember rolled her eyes. 'well no one said hatching season would be easy...' stretching her wings she walked over.
she carefully checked each baby making sure none were injured. They all seemed physically fine and they had all just been fed so they can't be crying for that. They are with their mothers so it's not early age separation anxiety that some babies get. It's completely warm so they're not cold AND there were no loud noises to scare them so it can't be that either...
"Ugh. What is the matter with you kids?"
All the dragons did was cry louder. Ember pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "How do you usually get babies to stop?" She asked one of the mothers to her left.
Heatly, an experienced mother of 3 spoke up. "They usually stop when we feed them but since that's not working id suggest we just get them to sleep."
"Great! how do we get them to sleep, hm?" Ember asked. Clearly excited to finally stop this horrible noise.
"..." No one said a thing.
"Well?" Ember raised an eyebrow as she waited for an answer. She stared at the mothers, who all looked embarrassed for some reason. "What?"
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finally. After HOURS of singing and rocking and Goochie Goochie Gooing, (Blegh) the babies have finally fallen asleep. for some reason, the dragons refused to fall asleep without the...Goochie Goochie Goo thing so THAT was...just fantastic for Ember to do in front of half of the dragon lands.
So now, Ember needs to hide away in her cave for the next 7 centuries...
Sighing Ember took one last look at the nesting grounds. Most of the mothers were preparing to sleep with their children while others stayed up and chatted quietly. Ember smiled and flew off. Today was an exhausting day. She'll need to keep a reminder to ask Fluttershy why the babies were crying like that tomorrow, but for now, Ember is tired.