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As the dragons were escorted back through the castle, Embryo could feel the tension in every talon beat upon the castle floor. The Queen walked ahead of them silent, her face revealing no expression but the determination to follow through with what she was about to do.

As they walked, Summit fell in besides Em, he saw the clawmarks on her face and winced. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to... I'm sorry I made you..." He stopped, how could he ever dare to hope anything Em had ever been through had ever been okay after he'd seen her as he had when she laid her egg. At least Em seemed to be carrying this much better, so at the very least, this scratch wasn't as bad as her laying had been, he'd hate to think of her going through that experience all over again.

Ravine looked over at her, "I'm sorry Em, I didn't mean for that to happen."

Em shrugged, trying not to wince at her own wounds, the sound of Ravine's screams still ringing in her ears, "It's nothing compared to what you had to go through."

Summit rolled his head, neck and shoulders still aching from the pounding Queen Omelet had given him.

"It seems we've all had our share of beatings for the night," Ravine said.

"Believe it or not, that is not the most painful thing I've experienced tonight," Summit admitted, hoping to alleviate at least some of the pain the girls had been through in their time.

It took Em a moment before she caught on what he was referring to, stopping her in her tracks, "Ohh...." A guard nudged her to keep going, "uh yeah..." she trailed off shifting her legs as she remembered the experiment her and Summit had pulled off earlier that night for their wedding.

Through all the pains and beating they'd had tonight, she hated to remind herself that she too had had the worst of it just a few days ago. She looked back to Ravine, fortunately, she seemed to be doing mostly fine now, this hadn't been her first egg after all, she knew how to recover, Em supposed, even if she didn't know how to tolerate it while it was happening. She supposed, she realized with a sinking feeling, someday she too would have learned how to recover from her experiences as well.

Em gently felt her stomach, she could already feel the beginnings of a new egg of her own growing inside of her. But somehow, in that moment, she realized maybe it wasn't all bad, at least not partially. She exchanged a shy glance with Summit; to remember that he, a boy, knew more about her girly weirdness than any other girl ever would... she couldn't help but blush bashfully. There was a feeling of sadness in her knowing what this all meant for her future self, a twist of nausea knowing she was soon to go through the experiences of her first laying all over again, but buried under it there was a sliver of love, this egg would have a dragonet, and she knew someday, even if not now, she would pour all her love onto that dragonet. Her baby.

As they made their way out of the gates of the Castle, the Sun was just beginning to light the edges horizon with a faint bluish light, just peaking over the mountains beyond the castle behind them. In the crisp Twilight air, Em could see OmeletWings escorting escaping dragons back from the mountains with their loadages of eggs, many of them lacking the necessary speed to get away bogged down as they had been with the weight of the eggs they had meant to reclaim. As they reached the pavilion, they were forced to dump their eggs out on the terrace. Ravine could only watch and hope that as each bag was emptied that none of the eggs reclaimed would be the one she had come here to rescue, that her child had been able to get away. She had been so wrapped up in the laying of her new egg, she had failed to be there to make sure her first egg had gotten away, and now there was nothing she could do, as more and more OmeletWings flew in with their captives, she knew she had failed her baby.

The air was still, only a slight touch of wind blowing in that sent a shiver down Em's spine. Other dragons from the village meanwhile, were beginning to trickle into the pavilion, either for their daily breakfast routine, or having been alerted by the noise. Em caught sight of Caviar and Vitellus and many other dragons from the village, dragons she'd known all her life, but suddenly realized she felt like she didn't relate to anymore.

Albumen and Yoke, who had been awoken by the whole ruckus, spotted Em on the terrace and rushed out to her.

"Em?" Albumen asked, "What's going on?"

They took in the guards surrounding them, the seriousness on Queen Omelet's face.

"Em, what did you do?"

Em could only look at her parents, not sure how to respond, she had done what she believed was right, but in doing so she had betrayed her tribe, her family. Em could only shrug helplessly.

When Queen Omelet saw her special eggs being unloaded into the pavilion, she stopped what she was doing and rushed over to them, eyes shining with relief.

"Oh, my babies, thank goodness you're safe."

She took a deep breath...

And then she turned to face the crowds that surrounded her.

"Good morning all. I see our Royal Feast has ran into a slight complication. But not to worry, we will have things back on track momentarily."

As the last of the escaping dragons were escorted back to the pavilion with their eggs, it was clear that it was over; defeat shown in their eyes, after all they had done, it all come back to this, their eggs, their children, all about to be destroyed for the OmeletWing's breakfast. Perhaps a few of them had managed to get away, but for these eggs here, they had failed. Seeing them look so deflated, Em felt a pang in her heart, with her new egg now inside her, she realized now she could feel the tension and pure hopelessness the other mothers must be feeling right now; somehow it was a mothers instinct and it hit her naturally. It was strange to realize she was already feeling affection for something she had only just realized was there, but now that she had, she knew what Ravine and the other dragons had been so desperate about. She didn't know if it was alive yet or not, but the thought of Queen Omelet taking it and cooking it and serving it up for breakfast... It was a thought too painful to bear, almost more painful than the knowledge that she'd eventually have to lay this egg as she had done with the last one. Looking at these mothers, Em realized, maybe whether she believed the egg was alive or not wasn't what mattered, what mattered was the love inside that a mother felt for her child. But now, Queen Omelet was going to destroy that all because that kind of love was a love she had never sought to know.

In the cold chill of the pre-morning air, Em shivered; there was a stillness in the air, Em could feel it, a collective heartbeat of fear, anger, and apprehension as the crowd waited to see what would happen next, knowing at any moment, for these eggs, this would be it.

Queen Omelet took a deep breath, "As you can see, some of our guests are satisfied with the Feast we have to offer, they have taken it upon themselves to insult our greatest of traditions. You see before you a dragon who poised as a dragon after our own yokes, but was really no more than a traitor who seeks to pay INSULT to our Omelet!"

Villagers gasped in horror, looking at the recaptured dragons in stunned disbelief!

Queen Omelet turned to look directly at Ravine. She stepped up to her and looked her straight in the eyes.

"How dare you do this to us, how dare you come into our Kingdom and lie to us, how dare you come into our Kingdom and insult our way of life, HOW DARE YOU COME INTO OUR KINGDOM AND STEAL OUR LOVE FOR THE OMELET!"

The King Chef averted his eyes, knowing he too was partially responsible for trusting Ravine in their Kingdom.

But Ravine just stood there facing Queen Omelet head on, deathly calm, "The only thing we stole from you was what you first stole from us when you came into our homes and stole our eggs."

Queen Omelet huffed in exasperation at the ignorance of these dragons, "You were lost, confused, you didn't understand the wonders you were missing out on, you didn't understand the beauty of the Omelet."

"And you don't understand the value of life."

Queen Omelet spun on her talons, she was eye to eye with the one who had spoken. Summit flinched, the Queen glaring him down, but he didn't break eye contact.

"When I met Embryo," he continued, trying to remain strong in the Queen's gaze, "she believed her only purpose in life was to lay eggs, but you were wrong, she's much more than that, she's always been much more than that, behind that egg laying body there is a Soul more beautiful than anything you can imagine, behind every shell of every egg there is something beautiful and precious just like her, I know this because she came from one of those eggs. You keep talking about the beauty of the omelet, but you fail to see the most beautiful thing of all, the beauty of each and every individual life."

Queen Omelet looked at Embryo, standing close to Summit, her eyes filling with betrayal "You brainwashed our Embryo into your ways!" She shouted at Summit, "Our own Embryo who we entrusted to you in marriage! How _dare_you!"

Summit took a step back, shocked. That was not what he meant.

But now a new dread began to fill him. He'd never do that to Em, he'd never brainwash her, right?

But then Em stepped forward. She felt the weight of the eyes of her villagers upon her, the feeling that to them, she just been too weak to hold true to her culture's values when faced with the real world. Well she was weak, and she laid an egg, something not even the strongest dragons could take; she knew what it was to fail at being what she needed to be; she knew that whatever all this meant, it wasn't Summit's fault. "Maybe I am brainwashed," she said, "I don't know about eggs- I don't know what to believe anymore, but I know Summit has never meant my any wrong, he only wanted me to see the best of myself, so don't blame him for what I've become. You may be right, these eggs may be nothing but Omelets, but they were never our eggs to take."

Queen Omelet felt defeated, Embryo was gone, she was beyond all hope, "I see you are no longer one with the Omelet, it is a shame to see what you've become."

"What shame?"

Eyes turned to see where the voice came from.

Quietly, Yoke stepped forward from the crowd Albumen standing next to him, "Maybe our daughter is worth more than any omelet." Yoke looked at Summit gratefully, and Albumen grabbed her husband's talon in support.

Em looked at her parents, feeling a sense of lightness from their support. After everything, they still loved her; despite all the eggs and everything, she was their daughter.

But Queen Omelet just stood there, mouth open. The shock of betrayal, not just from one young misguided dragon who was led astray, but by her parents as well, dragons who had lived as OmeletWings their whole life, under this Kingdom, under these traditions, under this TRUTH...

Fire ignited in the Queen's Soul, a feeling stronger than the blaze of laying a hundred eggs. Her society, which she had dedicated her life to from the moment she hatched, unravelling before her very eyes. The community, the fellowship, all united under the love of the Omelet, it was all being destroyed by the actions of these blasphemous outsiders.

"How could you do this!? How could you all fall victims to these lies!? Don't you all know how wonderful the Omelet tastes? How could such a perfect vision all have come to this?"

Ravine stepped forward, looking the Queen straight in the eyes, "Your 'perfect' vision - all this you did to steal our eggs - you failed to consider one thing, the one thing you don't want to mess with is a mother who's been separated from her child."

"You think that scares me!?" Queen Omelet yelled, "Your motherly instincts mean nothing compared to you messing with me when I'm HANGRY!"

Queen Omelet spread her wings, flew over to her spot at the center of the pavilion, eyes blazing with conviction, fury. Taking from her servant her royalist of forks, she held it in her talons like a scepter, she looked out before her, dragons of every tribe watching her with dread; eggs from every corner of the continent surrounded her, overflowing the pavilion; she was Queen Omelet of the OmeletWings, and nobody would take this kingdom away from her.

"Don't you see?" She cried, "This is what happens when you abandon the Way of the Omelet! Don't you all see what they are doing to us here? We invite these dragons here to share our way of life and instead they try to steal it from us! Look at you! Look at you all! Is this acceptable?! Look how they have contaminated our society with their tasteless appetites and LIES! Don't you remember the Egg from which you came? Don't you remember the Great Omelet that shines its light down onto us? Well to all of you who stand by me, I ask of you, REMEMBER!" Queen Omelet held out her fork high and proud; OmeletWings everywhere just stood watching with awe; as she spoke, the Sun began to rise over the peak of the mountains, illuminating the valley in a golden light; from a certain angle, it almost appeared as if a hallow shone behind Queen Omelet and her castle, "REMEMBER the Great Omelet, REMEMBER how it rises each and every morning over our Breakfast, REMEMBER how it lights up our valley with its glorious light each and every day, REMEMBER THE GREAT OMELET which in our time of greatest need will hatch, and rain down Omelets upon this hungry world! Well all you naysayers, I say ENOUGH! THIS IS WHO WE ARE! OMELETWINGS, PROUD, STRONG, UNITED, UNDER THE GREAT OMELET SUN! On this day, the time has come! Today is the Day of the Omelet, and whether you stand with me or not, YOU WILL ENJOY THE OMELET!"

Then, fire blazing in her Soul, Queen Omelet raised her fork in the air...

And she brought her talons down, right upon the egg in front of her.

There was a shriek from the crowd.

A sickening crack.

Fragments of the egg came crumbling down.

And there, within the shattered remains of the shell laid the fetal form of a newly hatched MudWing dragonet.

The world fell silent, Queen Omelet stared down in shock, dragons held their breath in waiting, the dragonet's eyes were closed, had it been injured in the shattering of the egg?

Then a breath, long and deep... in... and out.

Air, fresh, clean, pure; a spotlight of warmth shining down from somewhere above, giving strength to the fragile body.

Then the dragonet opened its eyes, squinting in the bright light of the morning sun, blinked a few times...

Then looked around for the first time in wonder at the world that surrounded it.

Queen Omelet regained her composure, "What you see is not what you think, that egg was a dysfunctional egg, it has rotten and mutated to what you see before you, another mouth like ours just ready to try for the first time a nice juicy Omelet!"

But the MudWing wasn't paying attention to the Queen.

Clink, clink.

From it's tiny young ears, it heard the sound, the call so deep that only a MudWing could understand.

It scanned the eggs surrounding it.

It spotted the source of the call.

The MudWing dragonet stood up, its talons weak, but then it took one step forward, then another, each talonstep moving it toward it, closer and closer, winding its way through the pavilion of eggs until it stood right there before it.

The dragonet inspected the IceWing egg; reached out and touched it; ran its talons along the soft shell; put its ear to it; listened; heard the deep thump-thump radiating from within.

The dragonet looked down at its talons, noticed a fork laying abandoned in the plaza beside the egg; picked it up...

Queen Omelet's face relaxed, the realization of what was happening all starting to make sense, "See all? His first instinct is to go for an egg. Is that not a sign to you all that from even our very first breath we are bound to the Omelet?"

The dragonet stabbed the egg with the fork, but there was no cry from the crowd this time.

Then gently, the dragonet pried away a small section of the shell with the fork, and then reaching in the opening, pulled the rest of the shell away...

And there from inside, curled up, was another new-hatched dragonet, breathing in peacefully as it took in the fresh air of the world for the first time.

The MudWing nudged the IceWing dragonet and the IceWing blinked open its eyes. The MudWing gave it an affectionate nuzzle, and the IceWing chirruped back batting away the MudWing playfully.

Queen Omelet stood there silent; too many words, all beyond her grasp. All the dragons in the village stood watching as the MudWing dragonet greeted the IceWing into the new dawn.

And then, listening once more, the BigWing dragonet turned it's attention to one final egg, the beat of life gently thumping from within.

Queen Omelet's heart skipped a beat.

"Wait, that one- it can't be- my egg wouldn't-"

But the MudWing dragonet was already heading towards it, the special egg she'd been saving for a full year for an occasion such as this, formed straight from the Queen's own body. Queen Omelet opened her mouth, tried to protest, but the words all froze within her throat.

And then the dragonet was there...

He took the fork; started peeling the shell away...

And as the shell crumbled once again, from inside emerged the form of a young OmeletWing dragonet.

The MudWing gave a squeal of delight.

But rather than looking at the MudWing, as the new-hatched OmeletWing's eyes opened the first time - as it's eyes began to focus in the sunlight - its gaze fell directly on Queen Omelet, as if an invisible bond connected her straight to the one who had borne her.

Then, from her mouth she gave tiny little squeak, the smallest of sounds meaning the most simple of things.

"Mama?"

And the fork fell from Queen Omelet's talons, clattering to the ground.

Then without another word, not even another breath, Queen Omelet turned and retreated back into the castle, the gates slamming shut behind her; the Soul of a Queen once so strong, cracked.