Dragon Kin

Not much is known about dragons. Rumored to be brutish, pony-eating monsters roosting atop hoards of treasure, they were little more than bedtime stories parents told to naughty foals for the greater part of Equestria. Few sightings were ever documented, and fewer ponies that tried to engage with them lived to tell the tale. Their poor reputation did keep ponies outside their borders though. That suited the dragons just fine.

Hatching season was always a busy time of year. Mother's typically tended their own nests, but it was truly a community effort. It wasn't uncommon for nests to go temporarily unattended while parents helped elsewhere. So Smokey Haze thought nothing of leaving her nest for just a moment while she helped her sister hatch her clutch. Upon returning, though, something felt... off. A pit formed in her stomach. There was a foul, foreign scent tainting the air in her nest. Fire and smoke gurgled in her throat, fangs bared, claws extended, prepared to defend her eggs. The dragoness examined the cave around her clutch. Nothing seemed amiss elsewhere...

A soft "peep!" from her nest tore her from her thoughts. In delighted wonderment, she leapt back to her nest in a single bound. 

"Chaora!" she bellowed, "my clutch is hatching!"

The thunderous pounding of wings beat the air as a royal purple dragoness joined Smokey Haze at the mouth of her cave. 

"I'm an Aunt, an Aunt!" the purple one gleefully roared. Grinning from ear to ear, Smokey Haze nudged her eggs, trying to see which one had cracked. Her chocolate muzzle touched something fuzzy and tender, and she reeled back. Odd, she thought; she hadn't packed her nest with any soft material. Such plush fillings were hard to come by in the dragon lands. She lightly circled the nest to see what she might have touched.

A small body was definitely moving. It wriggled further into the straw padding, seeking warmth she assumed. Smokey Haze's heart melted. Watching her sister's clutch hatch was nothing like witnessing her own. Her sister moved in closer to see as well, proudly beaming and ready to meet her neices and nephews. 

One of Smokey Haze's talons poked through the nest padding, excavating her first hatchling. She finally found a solid grip on the child, and was confused to find that this hatchling was the soft thing she'd touched! Eastern dragons we're known for their furry coats, but here in the west it was highly unusual! She didn't think much of it besides questioning her own family lineage, and opened her claws to see the baby she held. Her sister's nostrils flared and she reeled back, smoke streaming out. 

"Sister! Mind the baby!" Smokey Haze scolded. She brought her bundle closer to her chest.

"That... THING... Is not your baby, Smokes! Can't you smell it? That's a PONY!"

The bundle in the new mother's claws complained loudly and started wriggling again. Smokey Haze examined it more closely. True, the baby was covered in fur, unusual for these parts. And it was exceptionally small, she noticed, with a slight pang in her heart. Runts didn't always last in the harsh conditions of the dragon lands. 

"Be kind, Chaora," Smokey scoffed. "How in the high heavens could a pony, a baby at that, have gotten into my nest, this far into the dragon lands?"

"Smokes?" An incredulous look of disgust engraved itself into her purple brow. At that moment she seemed to realize Smokey Haze didn't register that the infant was not a dragon. "You can't be serious!"

"Serious about what, sister? I thought you'd be excited to meet your first..." she paused to check, "neice! A girl!"

"That filly is covered in fur!" She snapped.

"Now, sister. I know you've never liked Hork, but he's a good dragon. He probably has Eastern blood on his side of the family. He's a forgetful sort, probably just forgot to mention it."

"This has nothing to do with your mate! The thing reeks!"

"She must have gotten into something foul in the nest."

"It's far too small to be a dragon!"

"She's a runt maybe, yes. But need I remind you, so were you. You turned out alright, now didn't you?"

"It doesn't have claws!" 

Smokey flipped her over, pressing gently on the base of her tiny legs. "She has two!" She squealed, enamored by her tiny cleft feet.

"It has wings! Dragon hatchlings molt before they grow their wings."

"But look! She has four! Ponies only have two, don't they? Being born with wings can't be unheard of..."

"Fine, fine," her sister glowered. "Assume you do have the world's most unusual hatchling. Then where is her eggshell?"

Even Smokey had to admit, that was a good point. A soft CRACK brought their attention back to the remaining eggs. All three of them burst at once, releasing whining hatchlings into the open. Smokey Haze emitted a high pitch trill, scampering to coddle the rest of her babies. Picking them up, she noticed one of their semi-intact eggshells with an unusual exit hole. Two holes, to be exact. Talons full, she picked it up with her tail.

"Look at this egg!" She beamed, nuzzling her babies. "It has a hole on either side. We must not have noticed it before. Maybe two of them came from this same egg. Twins!"

"Twins look alike," Chaora irritably reasoned.

"Identical twins do, yes. They must be fraternal twins." She warmly examined her clutch. The rest of her babies seemed like standard hatchlings, and she loved them just the same. She separated the other hatchling she thought had come out of the twin egg- another girl,- and moved her beside the furry one. Both had brown coloration like her own. Smokey Haze beamed. It was good enough for her. 

"Now would you like to hold your neices, or will you insist on being difficult?"

Chaora looked at the tiny forms in her sister's claws. The rest of her clutch did resemble her sister and her mate. Admittedly, her heart melted at the sight of them. She dearly loved her sister and didn't want this matter to distance them. As the runt of their own clutch, Chaora had to grow up quickly and fight to survive. Smokey Haze, on the other claw, had life easy, and was always a tender heart- and a bit of an airhead. If her sister wanted to adopt a filly, fine... but she knew a pony could never survive here in the dragon lands. She couldn't bear to think of the pain her sister would go through when she lost her "adoptive daughter" to the harsh conditions.

She was startled out of her thoughts when the plush bundle and her scaly "twin" were shoved into her arms. 

"Gentle, sister," Smokey Haze beamed. "I hear Eastern dragons are very sensitive as hatchlings." 

Chaora exhaled hot air and smoke with a loud huff. A slight defeated smile creased her face, and she cradled her two neices.

"Of course, sister."