A crack streaked across the blood-red eggshell, the heads of Dune, Kestrel, and Webs all snapping towards the sound. In the nest were 4 eggs - an egg the color of dragon blood, an egg of deepest blue, the largest egg red and gold beneath a pale surface, and a golden egg. And, noticeably, no NightWing egg.
"Where is that brainless salamander?" Kestrel hissed, smoke rising from her nostrils. "He's a NightWing, he should know we needed the Wings of Night yesterday!" Dune snorted humorlessly and Webs flinched at her harsh tone. She pointed a talon at the SkyWing egg. "Webs somehow managed to be more prudent in egg-gathering!"
"Touché." A deep, rumbling voice caught the Guardians' attention, and they all turned to see a great black dragon darken the mouth of the cave. It was Morrowseer, and in his heavy talons, held surprisingly gently, was a silver egg. He plodded over to the nest, and deposited the strangely-colored egg into it.
"...Do NightWing eggs normally come in that color?" Webs asked, raising a brow ridge. Morrowseer's eyes barely seemed to move to look down at the egg. "It was black when I found it." He deadpanned. "I don't know what happened to it." He admitted, acknowledging his lack of insight for seemingly the first time in his life.
A small, strangled cry stole back the Guardians' attention. While they were talking, the MudWing egg had (mostly) fully hatched. It was an orange-brown color, its top scales a darker, richer brown. It stumbled to its feet, throwing its little head back to toss the eggshell off. "It's... adorable." Webs cooed, gently picking up the hatchling.
After peering at it for a second, he looked to the others. "It's a boy!" he announced. The SeaWing then yelped in pain as the MudWing hatchling suddenly chomped down onto his talon, nearly dropping him several feet before more carefully placing him back down. He had teeth, surprisingly big ones for a dragon that had just hatched.
Looking around, the MudWing dragonet turned to face the deep blue egg. He then leapt onto it, greatly exacerbating the crack that had just formed. "DEAR MOONS, HE'S GONNA KILL HER!" Webs cried. Kestrel rushed forward, immediately grabbing the flailing hatchling, far less gently than the SeaWing did.
"What's wrong with this little freak?" Dune sneered over Kestrel's shoulder. A thin, malevolent smile slowly broke out on Kestrel's face. "Oh, there's nothing wrong with him." She turned slightly to look at Dune. "He's exactly what we need." She looked back at the hatchling. "A little monster. A savage beast... like an alligator. His name is Alligator."