Sunny looked at Sky, then at her belly, full with eggs.
Only a few days now, and I'll be a mother, Sunny thought excitedly, affection for her future kids filling her Soul.
"We're going to put the nest here, a shelf for bedtime scrolls here, and a cage for their possible pet snails here," said Sky, enthusiastically flittering through the room that was to be their nursery. Wren had come over the other day to give some advice, and Sky had eaten it all up. Sunny chuckled to herself, Sky was almost as excited for their dragonets as she was.
Now, it wasn't all perfect, Sunny couldn't help but feel a little anxiety over the idea of laying eggs. She had heard somewhere that it was supposed to hurt, and Sunny didn't think she could stand the thought of that.
It can't hurt too bad, can it? Just a little?
Sunny thought back to the night that Clay had saved them all from that Dragonbite Viper, and how Peril had to burn the venom out to save his life. She remembered how Clay had howled with pain her heart twisting with agony for him. I can't imagine being so blind with pain that I lose who I am. But that was all behind them now, right? Me and Sky are going be parents, and we are going to have the most perfect children.
Still… thought Sunny, glancing back at her hind legs, she couldn't help but feel indignant on how the eggs would enter the world. It's so not modest. I'm glad only Sky will be here to see it.
Oh, and Tsunami. Sunny didn't know why she let Tsunami talk herself into being her midwife, but as she had had an egg or two in the past, she must know something about what's going on.
It can't be too bad can it? Dragons lay eggs all the time. If it was too much, nobody would do it, right? And then we'd all go extinct.
Unfortunately, for poor gentle Sunny, she was wrong.
"Ouch! Ouch! OWWWWW!" Sunny screamed, throwing her head into the air.
"It's okay, everybody goes through this," Tsunami said, trying to calm her little friend down.
"No no," said Sunny, the contractions going down, "If everybody went through this, there would be no more dragonets.
"Oh trust me, when I laid my eggs, I was screaming my head off." Tsunami replied.
"What!" Cried Sunny, "The strong warrior Tsunami screamed her head off, and you expect the same thing to happen to poor gentle Sunny?!"
"You must not be very far along," Tsunami informed. "You're still acting fairly calm."
"Fairly calm!" Sunny cried, "You mean it gets worse."
"Much worse."
"What! I can't take any wo-!" But the next second she just did.
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Sunny screamed, crumpling to the ground, writhing in agony. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" She cried. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Meanwhile, Sky was beside himself, elated by the fact of him being a father.
"We can name the first one snail, and the second- And I can teach them all to play games, and-"
"Just be quiet, you stupid son of Kestrel!" Sunny shouted. It was the only insult she could think of.
Sky took a step back. The Sunny he knew never spoke like that. For the first time he truly realized the situation and how much pain she was in. Sunny couldn't take anymore. But take it she did anyway.
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Sunny wailed again and again. "MAKE IT STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"
Tsunami knew what that was like, the desperate need to escape your own body, but the inability to do anything about it no matter how much you writhed and screamed. Sunny was the last of the Dragonets of Destiny to have her own dragonets, and fate had held out on the gentlest of the Dragonets for long enough, but pain holds back from no one, and Sunny was finally joining Tsunami and Glory on the other side. Clay and Starflight had no idea.
Sky didn't know what to do.
"Here let me help you." He said, about to rest his talons on Sunny's shoulder.
But then her eye's flashed dark.
"NO!" She shouted, kicking out full force, her talons connecting with… let's just say a very sensitive place. "I HATE YOU!"
Sky meanwhile had collapsed to his knees, grabbing at his injury, groaning in agony. Sunny's eyes filled with guilt, but as the next wave of pain overtook her, she burst out instead.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME YOU STUPID EXCUSE OF A DRAGON! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!" Tears streamed down her face, and Sky could see she didn't mean a single word she said. She was just acting out, almost as if by saying these things, she could express the pain she was in by countering it with guilt. "I hate myself. I'm the stupid dragon who has to do this." Sunny said, beginning to whimper.
Sky struggled to pull himself back to his talons, because although he was in agony, he knew that Sunny was in worse.
"What do we do?" Sky asked, limping up to Tsunami, who was watching the whole thing in stunned silence. He felt slightly unconscious of the show he had just gave.
"Nothing we can do. All we can do is wait."
"Oh it's coming! It's coming from my-" Sunny couldn't let herself finish, or maybe she did, she would have no idea what she shouted as the pain from the final push overtook her rational being. (Sky and Tsunami both reassured her that she didn't cuss any, apparently Sunny didn't have it in her (although her ability to invent new insults wasn't out of the question)).
Sunny got a little break after the first egg came, highly self-conscious as they went to retrieve it. But then there were still two eggs left.
And as much as Sunny couldn't stand the idea of going through that all again, she did, and each egg was just as bad as the last, each time, Sunny lost herself, screaming insults and hate that the Sunny she thought she was never would.
Tsunami on the other talon, couldn't bite back a slight amusement that this little demon in front of her was the sweet innocent Sunny they all loved, but at the same time she was filled with pity that she should be going through this.
But finally, it was all over, the tears rolled freely down her face as she let her trembling, exhausted body recover. Tsunami, knowing everything was good now, returned home.
"I'm sorry Sky," she said finally, "for everything I said."
"It's alright," replied Sky, laying down beside her and the eggs. "I knew you didn't mean it."
"But that dragon, it wasn't me," Sunny burst out, "If that was me, then I don't know who I am."
"You're my Sunny," Sky replied, "And I love you."
With that, Sky gave her a nuzzle, and they both rested together.
As Tsunami flew home, she thought of what had happened with Sunny. For whatever reason, Sunny had trusted her with this personal aspect of her life (perhaps she could have chosen Glory, but being busy being Queen, it would seem likely Sunny didn't want to bother her). Whatever the reason, whatever she had witnessed was between her, Sunny, and Sky, and she knew she was going to keep it that way. Just her and her little sister.
ONE YEAR LATER
The eggs were ready to hatch. Sunny and Sky couldn't wait. The first egg popped open and out came an adorable baby dragonet. The second and third quickly followed, and Sky and Sunny were soon surrounded by sweet tumbling babies.
Scooping them up, Sunny held them tight, the sweet things snuggling next to her. Sunny's heart filled with warmth.
"I love you." She said to them.
"WUV!" One shouted in return.
Oh... Sunny was glad to be a mother.
