//------------------------------//
// Sunny Side Up 
// Story: Egg Scramble 
// by SilverNotes 
//------------------------------//

"And this one is a Ruby Frost."

Ember suddenly had a whole new understanding of what it was like to be a herbivore.

Sometimes rulers of other lands liked to show off their gardens, when she came to visit. They had heard tale, or seen images, or even experienced the rocky, volcanic land of the dragons, and tended to universally come to the conclusion that she would be impressed by greenery. 

Over the course of her still-young rule, she'd been shown all manner of flowers, shrubs, trees, vines, ferns, and other oddities of the floral world, in the hope that she'd been impressed. There were two problems with that. 

One, she'd seen greenery on her many visits to Ponyville to visit Spike. Sure, feeling grass under feet had been a novel sensation the first time, and so had the first time climbing a tree--Spike had insisted on it being a climb instead of flying up for an authentic experience--but by now the novelty of green surroundings had already worn off. 

And two, when you were used to being surrounded by and eating gemstones, plants were bland in multiple meanings of the word. Dragons could digest plant matter, sure, but didn't tend to really need it and few developed any kind of taste for it. Unlike a good percentage of other sapient species on the planet, she wasn't looking at a rare type of grass and immediately contemplating how it would taste.

Things, however, were different in the Crystal Empire. Whether it was adaptation to the northern climate or a side-effect of proximity to the Crystal Heart, a lot more than just the local ponies were partly crystalline. The animals that made their home beneath the Heart's barrier had their own shimmer, and so did the plants.

Ember stared at the flowering plant in front of her, taking in the petals made of ruby, each one tipped by ice crystals that showed no sign of melting even in the warmth of the palace courtyard. Ice was the very definition of an empty food, but some dragons had begun to see value in it as a subtle seasoning, and a visit to Yakyakistan had resulted in her gaining some fondness to it.

She looked at the plant, and had to make an effort not to drool. "It's... very pretty."

Princess Cadance looked at her with mischief in her eyes, and leaned over to speak in a whisper, despite no other creatures being around. "It is edible. I won't tell anypony if you want to try one."

Ember immediately ducked her head in embarrassment, but she didn't offer up any denial. She just plucked one of the blooms and nibbled at it, enjoying the blend of flavours. Satisfied, Cadance led her further through the garden, pointing out various other flora that piqued Ember's interest and appetite both.

Until the moment that she looked at Ember with a studying eye, and paused in the walk. "As much as I've been enjoying this... Maybe it's time to tell me why you're actually here?"

It took all of Ember's diplomatic experience not to freeze like a disobeying hatching and instead look casual. "What do you mean?"

She raised an eyebrow in response, clearly not buying it for a second. "Because this isn't an official visit, it isn't a holiday, and you've been unusually anxious during this walk even though we're well past the point of you needing to wonder if we accept you." Cadance shrugged. "I'd normally assume you were looking for relationship advice, but I can't sense any signs of trouble of that kind in either of you. So, what is it?"

Ember blinked once, and then her claws went skyward in frustration. "...What is it about you ponies and seeing right through me no matter what I do?"

Cadance giggled at that. "Well, in my case, I'm cheating. Alicorn of Love." She flicked her tail toward the heart on her butt, then offered a warm smile. "But seriously, Ember, if you have something to say, I'd rather know how I can help instead of dancing around it."

She heaved a deep sigh. Well, she'd been caught, so may as get it over with. "It's about kids."

A change instantly overcame Cadance. Her body went rigid, her eyes went wide, and she simultaneously gave the widest smile and loudest gasp that Ember had ever observed a pony do short of Spike's other pink pony friend. "Ember, did you--?" 

Her horn lit, and she practically bounced a circle around the increasingly bewildered dragon. Ember felt that strange falling-asleep sensation across her whole body this time. "Oh of course! With a mammal I'd be able to tell, because there'd be a second magical aura, but for an egg layer there'd be such a shorter window when you'd be able to see--"

"I haven't laid eggs!" Ember burst out the moment she realized what was happening. "We're just talking about the possibility of starting a family."

The prancing pony princess instantly stopped in her tracks, and drooped. "Oh."

Ember snorted, rolling her eyes. "Sorry to disappoint with the fact that I haven't been keeping some kind of secret clutch from you."

"No no, just..." Cadance smiled weakly. "Sorry, it's probably a pony thing."

Ember tilted her head to one side in confusion. "...What is?"

"Well, whenever one of my friends is expecting a foal, we all get excited on their behalf and helping out however we can." Cadance seemed to perk up again as she spoke. "Shopping trips, giving advice, that kind of thing."

Ember pictured a bunch of ponies gathered around a pregnant one, moving from shop to shop. Then she made an effort to try to picture a bunch of dragons doing anything similar, and her brain nearly broke. "Yeah that's... definitely a pony thing."

Cadance's ears drooped even more. "Right. Well." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, what about children did you want to know about?"

Ember tried to gather herself. "Well, it's just... you and Shimmering Amore--"

"Shining Armour."

The apologetic grimace was reflexive by this point. "Right, sorry, still bad with names. But point is, you're a ruler like I am, and your husband's really busy, and your foal didn't grow up to be a supervillain, so you we figured you'd have some good advice."

Cadance looked at her, and snickered. "You've been reading Spike's old comic books, haven't you?"

Ember held up her claws. "It was... research. Knowing other species' pop culture helps with... diplomacy stuff."

The next snicker came paired with a smirk. "Uh-huh. Sure."

"Look, can you help or not?"

"Of course, I'd be happy to help." She gestured with a motion of her head, and the two rulers continued their way through the gardens. The various crystal plants continued to shimmer enticingly, but Ember managed to keep her focus on the conversation as Cadance continued, "Balancing rulership and parenthood is tricky." She giggled slightly. "Though sometimes it feels like it's the same set of skills."

Ember found herself laughing softly along. "Oh, I know exactly what you're getting at." Her mind went back to the struggles of open court. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not a lord and more of a mom trying to get a bunch of drakes to behave."

Cadance nodded. "Right! So there's a lot of overlap. The main difference is that it's easier to explain the reason you're doing something to an adult than a toddler." And then, with the voice of experience of somepony who had her own open courts she added, "Usually anyway. Children are often smarter than you think, and some adults--"

"Are a special kind of willfully stupid. I hear you."

The two shared a smile.

The conversation wandered some as the walk did. Cadance showed her Wooly Sapphires (short plants, easy to miss, but the moment they were pointed to her, the deep blue gem flowers with tufts of colourful wool similar to that of a Crystal Ewe were quite the sight), Emerald Mists (broad gem leaves with a dusting of those same never-melting ice crystals, with the extra trick that the plant could turn incorporeal in response to attempts to eat it) and Diamond Lilies (gem leaves streaked with various colours in fetching patterns) as they talked about their respective experiences with boulderheaded adults.

Stories about so-called innovators were swapped, with Cadance able meet the wheel story with the pony who'd been convinced he'd invented the typewriter. Stories of arbitrations went back and forth, each trying to top the other with the most juvenile thing they'd had to step in about. Tales of suitors needing to be let down and/or chased out were vented to one another as they fumed at the sheer audacity of it.

"You know," Cadance commented thoughtfully as the commerisating wound down. "I think we're both in similar situations."

"In what way?" Ember asked curiously as she nibbled at a leaf she'd managed to snatch off one of the Emerald Mist plants before it shifted into fog.

"Both of our lands are a little... behind the curve, so to speak," Cadance elaborated. "The Dragonlands have been in an effective stasis for centuries, and the Crystal Empire was shot forward in time a thousand years. Meanwhile, you've seen a lot of how other nations do things, and I was outright raised in Equestria. So we've experienced a lot of things our subjects haven't, and it can be frustrating when they don't have a lot of what we consider common knowledge."

"...Huh." Ember gave her emerald leaf another nibble. "You know, that's a good point."

"Though that's a good thing to remember, to bring around to the topic of children." Cadance smiled. "That sometimes they might act out just because they're young and they don't understand yet or haven't developed their impulse control. Because these things are learned. And they aren't going to learn unless you explain, so once they're at an age that you can talk to them, always try to."

"Makes sense." Ember gave a small, nostalgic smile. "I never was a fan of 'because I said so.' Drove me insane when Dad tried it with me and usually just made me do the exact thing he didn't want me to."

Like become the Dragon Lord.

Cadance nodded. "Right, exactly. Being a good ruler and a good parent means understanding them and helping them, as best you can, to understand you. You can't really brute force either."

Ember couldn't help but snort. "Much as Dragon Lords have tried. But that's probably why we didn't have a real government until recently."

Another small nod. "So, in essence... if you don't want kids that grow up to be villains, just treat them with respect and you'll be fine."

"That... makes me feel a lot better about this." She gave a soft, friendly smile. "Thanks."

Cadance smiled back, warm and bright. "Happy to help."

It also had her thinking back to her most recent open court. The stress had been starting to make her lose her patience with her subjects, she realized that now. Shouting at Backdraft and Charcoal had been a bit extreme. They'd made a friend, and that was progress. Learning to share was just the next step, just like it would be with a young hatchling. All of dragonkind were still learning, one step at a time, to be better, and it wasn't that long ago that she was a adolescent insisting that dragons didn't make friends at all.

She resolved to have the two summoned when the visit was over, in order to apologise, and to explain what she'd meant by sharing instead of just yelling at them.

Ember looked at Cadance with new respect as the two of them walked together. Spike was right, the frilly, pink pony princess was smart and had good advice. "Maybe we should do this more often," she said, and when Cadance looked curious, elaborated, "Meet up and talk about being rulers."

"And about being parents too?" Cadance asked.

Ember nodded. "And when it happens, about being parents too." She gave her a nudge in the side with her elbow. "I'll bet you've got a lot more stories than just the ones I heard today."

"Oh you have no idea."

Laughter followed them through the gardens, and Ember hoped that Spike was enjoying the quality time with his brother as much as she was enjoying the chat with Cadance.