It had been a year since Ember and Thorax spent a night in that cave and since she had laid an egg on the toilette of the Friendship Castle.
It was her very first egg, never before she had been close enough with a male to make an egg. She had left the castle early with the egg, just telling her friends there was an emergency in the family. The pony princess Twilight gave her a magical flying cart, that brought her back to the dragon lands without her suffering through the cold weather. The egg had to be in a warm and safe spot before the protective mother slime dried off.
Now a year had passed by. A year in which the egg had rested well in the cave of the Dragon Lord. Ember had kept it warm with her own fire and the underground lava streams. The life inside was growing steady and healthy.
The egg was her little secret, but as the pony celebration, named Hearts Warming Eve, came closer she knew it would soon be time for the egg to hatch.
Usually, as a dragon lady, this was all Ember's business. Male dragons - at least most of them - don't care much for the eggs they produce, they are making eggs during mating time and then move back to their treasure. And it was better that way, at least it worked well enough so that the dragon kind kept on existing. Most dragon babies don't even know who is their father, Ember only knew her father because he had been the dragon lord of his time.
Ember made sure to always have an eye on her egg, it was precious to her and she had noticed that it had changed! Thanks to the purple spots it still looked like a dragon's egg, but the white slowly had turned to black! She was not sure what was going on, but she had a clear idea of who to ask, the smart purple pony. Spike's magical pony friend/sister/mother was an expert on magical supernatural and odd things and a dragon egg changing its color is a magical odd thing for sure. She had a magical crystal to contact the ponies, a gift from Spike, it looked delicious, and as a dragon, she had a hard time not just eating it. She used it as Spike had told her and around half an hour later a magical portal opened, pinkish magic sparkled everywhere and there was this magical "Whoosh Whoosh" sound, this kind of magic was annoying to Ember, really annoying.
Out of the portal stepped the purple pony princess - or was she a queen by now? Ember wasn't sure, but she also didn't care -, Ember had to recognize her name, she was an important pony, on a personal and a political level, Quick Ember! What was her name?
"Twilight, I am glad to see you," Ember said and she hoped it was the right name, she knew at least three ponies with a similar name!
"Ember, I am happy to be here," Twilight said with a smile. "I apologize for the sudden portal, but I am experimenting with new kinds of magic."
Ember was not sure, but it seemed like Twilight had grown a bit.
And another pony stepped through the portal! A surprise! It was the yellow pony with feathers, the quiet type, Ember was sure she knew the name, something with being shy? Timidie? Or Mousy?
"You remember Fluttershy, right?" Asked Twilight
"Of course! Fluttershy!" Ember said with a gasp.
"I asked for her help because she is very good with egg-laying animals and eggs. Of course, I know dragons are no ordinary amphibians or reptiles or so... um, no offense" Twilight had a little blush while speaking.
"None taken." Answered Ember "Wait, I thought you were afraid of dragons?" Ember now asked to Fluttershy.
Shy didn't answer herself, but Twilight did "She feels a little bit uncomfortable around adult dragons, but she loves baby dragons."
Ember decided to accept this behavior and lead them to the egg, she didn't tell them about the parents, just what happened to the egg over this year.
Twilight used her magic on the egg and Fluttershy touched it, just very gently, with her feathers, or her nose, or that soft inner part of her hoof, she didn't know how hard a dragon egg was and Ember thought it was kinda cute how she acted around it.
She even cooed and whispered to the egg! Of course, the egg couldn't answer, but the feather pony acted like it could.
Ember waited with patience, this wasn't her strong side, but her egg was too important, and for the sake of her precious egg, she was willing to wait.
"Good, I think I can assume that the youngling inside is all healthy, also it's female." Explained Twilight when she was done.
Ember was glad, she didn't care for the gender, but she felt happy when Twilight told her it was healthy. She wanted to thank her, but then Twilight would be suspicious about why this egg meant so much to her.
"Also it's a charming little thing" When Fluttershy spoke it was like a whisper, like a gentle breeze, one of these breezes that are so rare in dragon lands, Ember felt like she had to hold her breath and close her eyes to hear her, "I think she will grow into a strong-willed leader, just like her mommy."
"W-what?" Ember tried to play it cool, but she was nervous all of a sudden "You don't know who is the mother."
"Aren't you the mommy?" Asked Shy back.
"Y-yes" Ember tried not to panic.
"Don't worry, we won't tell your friends," Fluttershy said with a soft voice and a warm smile, "It is not our business who is the dad."
"But it is kinda important." Said Twilight "Because that's the thing, it's a hybrid."
"You did know that, right?" Asked Fluttershy blushing hard. Wait! Was she assuming that Ember had multiple males, so many that she didn't know who made the egg with her?
"Of course!" Ember gasped and blushed so hard that even her scales became red, she was not that kind of egg-hoarding female dragon who needs at least five males!
Ember nearly shouted and Shy hid behind her wings, shivering a bit.
Ember sighed, she didn't want to scare the feather pony, even if it was easy and her younger me would surely have liked that, she had matured into a responsible dragon lord.
"Sorry, I was just surprised. Dragon families are not like your pony families, we mostly grow up in a commune, and the younglings are protected by the adult dragons, mostly females. Some of us don't even know who our parents are and don't even care. In all honesty, I always felt kinda envy of Spike that he had real parents and siblings, pony parents and siblings nonetheless, but people he loved and loved him and took care of him as an individual. Smolder and Spike are good examples of pony influence on dragons, but I am afraid I am a bit stubborn when it comes to such changes." Ember said and meant what she said.
"So, it could be important," Twilight said "Who, or at least what, is the father?"
"It is Thorax, right?" Asked Fluttershy, still hiding behind her wings. Twilight and Ember looked at her surprised. "She has such a gentle character, speaking to her feels like speaking to him."
"But she can't speak yet, she is still in the egg." Said Ember, still trying to figure out how Fluttershy could know who the father was.
"Oh deer. She doesn't need the ability to speak to talk with her. "Fluttershy told her with a smile.
Twilight and Ember were both speechless at this point.
"Anyway!" Twilight spoke a word to break the silence like a plate of glass that pressed down on them "You should visit the changeling hive with the egg, we don't know much about Changeling eggs, especially since there have been no new ones since Chrysalis is gone. To make sure everything is okay with the little one you need a Changeling."
Ember gasped, visiting the Hive. Visiting Thorax? "That's impossible, I mean around this time of the year. There is a huge area of snow and ice and storms around the dragon lands around this time, it's very hard for a grown-up dragon to get through this. An egg would never be able to get through!"
"That's okay," said Twilight "I can open a portal and come with you."
The plan was simple enough and around this time of the year there was not much to do in the dragon lands, most of the dragons were sleeping, or lounging in the lava seas, idle on hot rocks, or just lazing about.
"okay, let's do this!" Ember said motivated and very carefully took her egg out of its nest, holding it tight to her chest.