//------------------------------// // Baby Talk // Story: Wedding Bells and Egg Shells // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// Celestia, for all her finery and titles, was a simple mare. She loved her sister, her son, her student, and her country. Something only those close to her knew was her other love, although it seemed more of an obsession at times. Cake, her one true weakness. She had a fondness of most pastries, but cake was her favorite. She was currently having a lovely dream about cake, she could even smell it. "Mom?" A far off voice called to her. "Spike? Is that you? Do you have cake?" She mumbled semi coherently. "Yes mom, there's cake. Come wake up and get some." Spike said trying to stifle a laugh. Celestia opened her eyes to see a large group of ponies looking down at her, and Spike who appeared to be using her dream's cake as smelling salts. This was fairly new to her, she was always so much taller than other ponies. It seemed the ponies not especially close to Spike and herself had left during her improvised nap, likely believing it a more personal affair. She was helped up by her son, even with her abnormal size Spike was more than strong enough to lift her to her hooves. As soon as she was on her hooves she remembered why she had been on the floor in the first place. "Oh dear, I fainted didn't I? That hasn't happened since you were a baby and I found you eating my tiara. I had no idea you could eat things like that back then." She chuckled to herself. "And do you happen to remember why you fainted?" Spike asked with no small amount of worry. "Yes, you and Macintosh announced you had already adopted a foal. I'm sorry I reacted poorly, but that's a big leap in such a short amount of time." Celestia answered with regret for her actions and worry for Spike's. "I said child, not foal." Spike corrected. "So it's not a pony?" Rainbow Dash asked from the side. "SHE is a dragon, she hasn't hatched just yet though." Spike replied. "You found another abandoned dragon egg? Such a thing has only ever happened once, with you in fact." Luna replied in disbelief. "I didn't find her, she was given to me." Spike said sadly. Spike went on to tell the group of his experience with the dying dragon. A mixture of emotions could be seen on the faces of the ponies listening in, ranging from disgust to sadneess. Even the phoenix's faces took on a look of surprise at the tale. Dragons were their only natural predator, but the story painted them in a new light. If the golden dragon was so willing to save her child it meant there was still hope for dragons to be better people. When he finished everypony was silent for a moment, letting the full impact sink in. His mother was the first to speak up. "So where's the egg now? Surely you remember that I told you your egg was almost completely cold after a week. If the mother taught you how to hatch it you need to do it now." Celestia asked, fearing for the unborn dragon. Spike sighed deeply, he had left that part of the story out to save himself some embarrassment, but his mother had always been a sharp one. Trixie and Twilight were close to cracking under the intense pressure of their building laughs. Might as well get this over with. Spike thought to himself. He opened his mouth to speak but Mac had decided to take charge. "He's pregnant with it." Mac said bluntly. Trixie was the first to break, and Twilight soon followed suit. Spike hung his head in defeat. "What he said." Spike added. "The egg... is inside of you?" His mother asked skeptically. "Yes, dragons apparently hatch their young in their own flame chambers. It's like sea horses I guess, girls lay the eggs, males hatch the eggs." Spike said trying to steer the comparisons away from pregnancy. "Whoa so you are preggers." Pinkie Pie said in amazement as she poked his stomach through his suit. Spike didn't bother correcting her. "I need time to come up with jokes about this, this is too sudden. I've got nothing." Shining Armor said in disappointment. Cadence promptly smacked him in the back of the head with her armored hoof. "He meant to say congratulations boys." Cadence added with her warmest smile. "It's not like I'm doubting you or anything, but how can you be so certain it's a girl if it's still in the egg?" Rarity asked. "I didn't get it either until the mother filled me with magic, but now I just know." Spike said with a shrug. "How long before the egg is finished incubating?" Luna questioned. She had always been interested in dragons, but had never dealt with anything like this. Spike thought on that for a moment. The new knowledge he possessed seemed to be a little harder to understand than things he learned first hand. Almost like trying to read a language you hadn't spoken in ages. After several minutes of decoding he looked back to the group. Macintosh was especially anxious to hear this, they had been so busy with wedding preparations they hadn't really had time to talk about it. "I'm not entirely sure, without the mother's magic my fire wouldn't have been hot enough for her to develop properly. But my fire is also different than most, it's mixed with pony magic because I was hatched differently. From what I can gather it would have taken her around a hundred and forty-two days, less if the father had done it like he was supposed to. I could either take more or less. On top of that, I'm a different breed than either parent, she's a mixed breed. So this is all sort of uncharted territory." Spike said uncertainly. He was no biologist, and even if he were few ponies had ever studied a living dragon. The only ones who had had only examined him, and he wasn't yet past the adolescent stage of his life. On top of that magic was involved, and despite her best efforts not even Twilight knew everything about it. He felt bad that he couldn't do more to prepare, he had promised the mother he would do all he could, but he only knew what she had told him. Macintosh placed a hoof over Spike's claw, he knew how important this was, but he didn't know what he could do about it either. He had helped raise Apple Bloom, but ponies and dragons weren't even the same type of creature. Everything he knew about them came from Spike who was already stumped. Ther's gotta be somethin we can do to get ready... Mac thought to himself. After a moment inspiration struck. "Ya know, since we dunno when she's gettin here we oughtta get a room ready for her. The guest room should do." Macintosh said hoping to revitalize Spike by making him feel more useful. Spike brightened at this, an unrestrained toothy grin came across his face. There was much to be done! He felt stupid for not thinking about this sooner but he could berate himself later. Things were gonna get crazy, but nothing in life worth having came easily. "Mac, I dunno what I'd do without you!" Spike said picking his husband up as easily if he were Twilight's old doll Mac thought he didn't know about. "Sorry to interrupt your impromptu planning session, but you two just got married. Shouldn't you be going on a honeymoon?" Trixie said stating the obvious. "We'll do it some other time, we've got a baby on the way!" Spike said after giving his stallion a powerful smooch. "Eeyup." Mac said as he turned visibly redder. "First off, we need a crib made of fireproof materials, and it has to be something she won't wanna eat." Spike said as he placed the stallion he loved back on the floor. Celestia stood back as her not so little boy talked with his husband and friends about her soon to be grandchild. She was unbelievably proud of her boy, he had found his special somepony so early in life. She hadn't lived as much in the last four-thousand years as Spike had in eighteen. She felt like such a fool, her own child was passing her up without even trying. She was a tad jealous to be honest, but she would soon have a new baby to spoil whenever she got the chance.