//------------------------------//
// Devilled 
// Story: Egg Scramble 
// by SilverNotes 
//------------------------------//

What had started as spontaneous character creation had turned into a oneshot, and before anyone knew it, chaos had ensued as Shining Armour took on the task of herding along a newcomer to the game, a newcomer to games of this sort in general, and his wife along an introduction to the dark and terrible fictional world of Ponies of Shadows.

Who would be the hardest to keep in line was obvious, in hindsight.

"The cart splinters on contact with the werefruitbat," Shining narrated, with an air of resignation to the chaos. "Sending bits of wood and heads of cabbage flying in every direction as its slender body is sent sprawling with a series of distressed squeaks. Somewhere off to your right, you hear the dismayed cry of 'my cabbages!' uttered by an earth pony with a cabbage head cutie mark."

Spike's claws settled over his heart sympathetically. "That poor salespony."

Ember, meanwhile, smirked at Cadance. "Nice shot."

Cadance grinned like a cat who'd devoured her weight in the highest quality cream. "Vampony super strength, dexterity for days, and thrown objects count as weapons for using my skills. I'm unstoppable."

"You're also fighting on purely empty streets from now on," Shining snarked as he rolled the dice.

Cadance waved a wing. "Nah, you like describing the set pieces too much to do that to yourself."

"Not as much as you like destroying the set pieces."

The banter between the married couple went on for a while, and Spike glanced over at Ember, who was smiling and laughing along, eyeing the dice in eagerness for her own turn, and he couldn't help but grin, the tension he'd been feeling easing somewhat. It'd been a rocky start with his family--her tendency to mix up ponies or forget names had been mistaken for malice initially, and he'd needed to coach her through the first round or so of apologies--but she when she relaxed and let go, she fit in more than she would ever give herself credit for.

Then reality invaded the situation once again, as Cadance gave the two a small smile. "So, I'm curious, what got you two talking about kids in the first place?"

Spike felt his insides tie up in knots again, but Ember answered the question with a casual air. "Well, things have been getting pretty serious, and it sort of seemed like an inevitable topic." She snorted, a hint of smoke curling from her nostrils. "Especially since my subjects keep bringing up the idea of me settling down eventually."

"And you two both want kids?" Cadance said, and Spike saw the way that she was looking between the two of them. Empath. Of course she was trying to get a read on both of them. "It might be an inevitable topic, but it's not an inevitability. You shouldn't feel forced."

He watched Ember seem to sit with her answer, thinking it over and how to phrase it. "I do," she said with firm certainty. "I still have some things to work on before I do. Things that will make me a better ruler, and hopefully parent. But eventually, when I'm ready? Yeah, I like the thought of raising up some drakes of my own."

Cadance looked at him, and Spike fidgeted.

It was hard to lie to Cadance. Not just because successfully lying to somepony who could sense emotions was the kind of thing professional spies went through long bouts of training for, but there was something about her that just made someone balk at the idea of trying to deceive her. When a creature spoke to Cadance, they wanted to tell her how they really thought, and felt, and it took an active effort to not.

He supposed if anypony would be spurred to cultivate that kind of presence, it'd be her.

"...Still a little hesitant?" Spike admitted finally, tapping his claws with pent up nerves. "But I don't think that it's that I don't want to, exactly. I like kids, I really do, and when I think about it on its own, I like the thought of having some. But I'm still not sure if I should. All the good intentions in the world don't matter if I'm not qualified. I just feel like I have no idea what I'm doing."

Shining Armour and Cadance looked at each other. Then there was a snicker from him, a snort from her, and both ponies started to laugh. The kind of laugh that was so warm and genuine that it was hard to be angry at it, even when he felt like the mirth was at his expense.

Cadance was the first to speak. "Spike... no parent has any idea what they're doing."

"Especially not first time ones," Shining added.

"Parenting is a skill," Cadance went on. "Even ponies with cutie marks for it still need to learn. And it's a pretty rare mark in the first place. Just like leadership is. There might be creatures that have a bit more intuition for either job, be it a mark or otherwise... but at the end of the day, you've just got to commit to learning."

"Besides," Shining said as he looked to Cadance with an adoring smile, "You two are supposed to be a team."

"Right!" Ember playfully planted a fist against his shoulder. "I keep saying, you'll have me right there with you, so quit being so freaked out. We'll work together, just like we did in the Gauntlet of Fire back in the day. Neither of us would've gotten to the scepter on our own, but everything worked out in the end. Just like it will with any drakes."

"And not just each other." Cadance gestured between herself and Shining with a wing. "You'll have us, the rest of the family, all of your friends... This kind of thing is a team effort."

Until it isn't. Spike saw Cadance's eyes narrow, and he tried to shove the feeling of dread aside. "Yeah, but isn't that..." He searched for a right word, his claws moving like he were conducting an imaginary orchestra as he tried to sort his words out. "I dunno, cheating? I'm not qualified, so I just... claw the job off to everyone else? Wouldn't everyone resent that, including the kids?"

"It's not a competition," Shining said with a shake of his head. "You remember what I said about trying to be Superdad? Nopony and no one should expect to do everything themselves."

"Foalsitters exist for a reason," Cadance chimed. "Speaking as somepony who made good bits that way all through high school."

"...That's something I always wondered about," Ember cut in. "How did a princess end up doing something that... normal? My parents would barely let me out of their sight, let alone something like that."

Cadance shrugged. "Auntie Celestia wanted to make sure I stayed in touch with other ponies. I think she wanted to make sure I was humble and adaptable enough to help steer the Crystal Empire when it returned."

Ember gave a small laugh. "Right, she must've seen that heart on your butt and known it meant you'd be sitting on the Empire's throne eventually. It'd be convenient if dragons had those. Then maybe I'd have had a butt-stamp of the scepter I could point to when someone said I was too small to be Dragon Lord."

Cadance shrugged. "Well, like I said, leadership is a rare mark. My special talent isn't even for that. It's for things relating to love. It's just that the Crystal Empire being protected by an artefact that utilizes love magic makes me pretty good with it."

"Yeah fair." Ember gave another soft laugh. "With my luck I'd have a butt-stamp that had nothing to do with the scepter and that would've just made the pushback harder."

Shining looked at Spike. He made an effort to stop wringing his claws. "Hey, I have an idea. Maybe instead of talking to us, you should have a talk with Flurry Heart? It sounds like you'd benefit from her perspective."

Spike considered that, and smiled a little. "You know what? Good idea."

"But first..." He nosed over the dice. "Go on and take your turn."

"Oh, I know exactly what I want to do." He tapped a section of his character sheet. "Time to make those points in charisma work for me and defuse the situation."

"Bo-ring," Ember teased. "You've gotta go and be an ambassador, even in a game." She then grinned at Shining. "I'm gonna grab the nearest cart and heft it up, in case the werefruitbat doesn't listen."

Amused laughter broke out around the table, and Spike managed to smile a little as he got into character and delivered a proper Friendship Speech befitting his role. It helped his confidence some to feel like he was in his element, instead of the uncertain flailing about the parenthood topic.

Maybe the upcoming chat with Flurry Heart really would help.