The sparkling pink portal opened up at the edge of the Changeling Hive and the two ponies and the dragon lord stepped out of it.
"Here we are, the magical stone and ore inside the hive repel any kind of magic that is not changeling magic. That's why I couldn't bring us any closer, but all of us have wings and we can just fly over there."
Soon they landed in front of the hive and of course, all of the insect-like changelings surrounded them to greet them properly.
As soon as Thorax heard of the surprise visit he ran from his throne to the entrance of the hive.
The tall male changeling was excited to see his friends again.
"Princess Twilight, Fluttershy, it's nice to see you here," Thorax said with a wide smile.
"It's a pleasure to be here Thorax," Twilight said, "We have a very special visitor for you today."
And as Thorax heard that a familiar female voice called him, "Hello, Thorax."
"Ember?" His heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard her voice.
She stood before him, the blue female dragon looked more beautiful than ever before. She had her egg between her claws and was looking down at it, but not with a proud smile, but with a worried expression.
Thorax was speechless.
"Well, you see... there is something to talk about." She said as she stroke over the black egg.
Thorax was not sure if he should say something, he didn't even know what he should say.
"Oh, you should go to your private room." Suggested Fluttershy, her face had a deep blush on it, "This is a very private matter."
"She is right." Said Twilight.
All the Changelings were looking at that egg, and they were looking like they never had seen an egg before. Ember could hear some whispering, she was confused but understood that she and Thorax would need some time alone.
Ember was still blushing when she and Thorax entered his room, and another changeling, his brother Pharynx, changeling closed the door.
"Ember, this is unexpected." Thorax said, he was also a little bit nervous. "Is this really what it looks like?"
Ember nodded.
"Oh, wow, that's incredible."
"You don't need to be so nice about it," Ember said. "We both know this is neither what a dragon or changeling egg should look like."
"Could we please take a step back? This is- I mean" he had to gulp and concentrate again "we made this egg, right?"
"Yes, in a cave last year." Ember was all red again when she remembered that night.
"That's... um... oh boy. We are parents!"
Ember laughed "That's kinda obvious, but we both know it's a special case. A hybrid."
"So, I am the dad? I mean, that's the only option, right?"
Ember blushed again and nodded, Thorax was still the only male she had been with.
Thorax couldn't resist anymore, he walked over to her and hugged Ember and the egg.
"I am so happy!" He whispered.
"Really? I thought you would freak out." Ember whispered.
"Why? This is great! In more than just one sight. There is a hybrid changeling queen inside this egg, our daughter! And by the amount of love I feel in that egg, I can tell you have been a very good mother. You have to understand that a dragon egg may need heat but a changeling egg needs love and you have given so much to her."
Ember blushed again "I indeed treat this egg special, heating it every day with my very own fire, turning it carefully with my claws" The blush got even stronger "and when I couldn't sleep at night, I pulled it close in my nest, stroking it and" She hesitated to tell that detail, but if not Thorax, who else would understand? "and singing."
"I didn't know dragons are singing for their eggs?"
"Usual we don't but how it turned out music has a real good effect on our eggs and the hatching youngling" She remembered how Garbl played these stupid little drums for the eggs, mainly to make the dragons around laugh and turn on the flames on max heat, but also it turned out the music made the younglings inside grow better. "also Spike showed me some songs from the ponies. It seems like ponies have a tradition called lullaby."
"Wait! Dragons don't know lullabies?"
"Our Family dynamics are different, okay?"
Ember remembered her youth, she was raised by the dragon lord and her childhood was a prime example of how a dragon should be raised, she was mostly on her own, she had to learn how to get stronger to survive and how to feed herself. Her father put some tests on her, but he never really spent time with her. She was taught that the most important thing is to be tough and strong, a dragon has to be superior and the best dragon is supposed to be strongest and of course, the best dragon doesn't need anyone.
But Spike proved that there was another way. Maybe the first reason why Ember kept her egg a secret was, because she didn't want her daughter to be raised like a dragon, she wanted her to be raised in a real family, with lulabys and the other things Spike told her about.
Ember did not realize that her memories made her space out for a moment and Thorax was worried when she stood there like a cute dragon queen statue.
"Ember? Is everything alright?"
"Ah!" The lady dragon gasped in surprise "Right, sorry, just a bit tired, this magical sparkly portal thing we used to get here is so annoying. Also, I had a question, about the egg."
"No worries, she is doing fine, you did a really good job with her."
"By accident, yes, maybe if I had treated this egg like any egg she could..." Ember doesn't even want to end that sentence, she doesn't want to think about what could have happened to the little one inside the egg. "Maybe it would have been better not to keep it a secret and speak to you right ahead."
"Don't torture yourself like that, even if I had known about her I would have trusted you with her, besides, I am not sure this place here is good for her either."
"Wait, what!?"
Did Thorax, the softest and most emotional creature she knew, tell her that his hive was dangerous?
"Let me explain, usual we sleep around this time of the year, but right now we use our magic to keep this place warm because we want to celebrate Heart Warming Eve on our own for the first time before we dig into the earth and just freeze before it gets warm again. We have no idea how to take care of an egg, this is all the queen's business and we don't have a queen anymore. In the past, Chrysalis used her magic to spread the love we harvested to feed the eggs, and make them grow and hatch one day. We left that part long ago, and it was good, our mother had become greedy and turned us into greedy little monsters." During Thorax's explanation, Ember had to think, that while Changelings turn into small greedy monsters, some of the dragons turn into big greedy monsters, and given how it turned out for the changeling with Queen Chrysalis, maybe the dragons would have faced a similar destiny? Maybe without Spike Ember would have faced the same doom as Crysalis? "What I want to say is that we have an alternate lifestyle by now, we have found out that it is better to share love instead of taking it, but we have no queen anymore that can take care of the eggs. As it turns out the remaining eggs take up love as we can do it, we just need to share it, but Mother's last eggs have hatched and there will be no new changelings anymore." Thorax's expression changed, he seemed worried all of a sudden "And now you are showing up here, with an egg that contains a changeling queen, my daughter."
"But you told me your people don't need a queen anymore," Ember said confused.
"True, in the past we needed the Queen, Chrysalis, to spread the love we have gathered, and that is not needed anymore. But only a queen, can produce the fertile eggs we need to hatch new changelings, our children. Chrysalis never laid an egg containing a new queen, she never thought of a successor and only produced drones, and drones can't lay eggs. Also, I don't want to bore you with how our biological reproduction works, but let me put it down to that: Without a Changeling Queen there will be no new changelings and our hive will vanish within the next generations."
"That sounds terrible. Wait, what will happen to our daughter if the Changelings find out?"
"I guess she will become the new changeling queen, but that would mean she needs to stay here, forever."
Ember gasped in shock and held her egg closer to herself, she even made a few steps from Thorax on instinct.
"Wait! No! I would never take her from you!" Said Thorax "And I don't think any of us would be so gruesome, at least right now. I can't say what will be in the future. Don't get me wrong, thanks to our friends and the love we share, our life span is way longer than it used to be, Twilight thinks even a simple drone can live around a hundred years, and Queen Chrysalis was several hundred years old. But in the end, regardless of how healthy your life is or how much love you get, time will get all of us. One day the last member of our hive will die, I have to smile when I think that she or he will have lived a life full of love and that there is nothing to regard, but it will be still the last of us and after that day, the hive is gone and I can't and won't blame any changeling who feels fear because of that."
Ember sighed, she had to think of this. Dragons can live very long too, far longer than a hundred years, her dad even told her he was there when Princess Celestia raised the sun for the first time, but these creatures, the lovable cute little bugs, only had such a short life span? Even Thorax himself?
Wait!
What was that strange feeling? Something warm and wet touched her cheek. She was crying!
"W-wait! Ember, please don't cry, I don't want to make you sad."
"N-no, that's not your fault, I mean, you are telling the truth. I have never been good with such deep conversations, or feelings in general." She was sniffing and tears were running down her cheeks. "Before I knew Spike, I didn't know what friends are and when I learned about it, I thought about it as a treasure that keeps on giving and giving and I never faced the truth, that friendship can be forever, but life still ends and how sad it would make me lose a friend. This sudden realization is a bit much for me."
Thorax couldn't just watch, he had to hug her. His magical flames turned him into a big fluffy bear, he knew that Ember liked that form for cuddles. And indeed she cuddled into that hug very tight. Thorax felt Ember's feelings right now and while he was so close to the egg, he could also feel his daughter.