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Saluki fell silent for a moment, allowing the other to calm down reasonably enough to feel they were safe again then flopped back down to wrap his form about the basket he had been caring for.

Numerous thoughts and emotions rushed through him. It was obvious that this Stallion had suffered some heartbreak, and after having received a basket to care for... he could see why the other was so distraught. He frowned at the thought of any Stallion having to endure such a thing. He snorted softly to himself. 'Mares... Glad I'm in no hurry to find one for myself...' he then thought.

His head tilted upward to see the Stallion racked with shame at his actions and sighed softly, shaking his head. "Don't beat yourself up. Your foals will need a strong father figure." he nodded as if to also ensure himself this fact.

He looked to "his" basket and flicked an ear back wearily. The one basket alone was a handful to care for. How it could have been still baffled him, but he had realized over the past few days or so he had been caring for it that he had lost sleep, taken longer routes to get to a particular place, or even refused to go beyond a canter when his human decided she needed a ride just to keep the basket safe.

It was at this realization that sparked a small faint glimmer of hope in his heart. Maybe he could help raise this one? Two foals were undoubtedly going to be a handful enough for one Stallion. At the very least, be considered an 'Uncle' to it. A better sounding name than 'Daddy', in Saluki's opinion.

"Forgive me if I step on the wrong hoof in asking this, but..." he swiveled his ears to fully focus on the Stallion. "... would you like some help in raising them? I mean... I know a basket is hard enough to care for... but, you'll have a couple of bounding and galloping foals soon... That's bound to be a mane-full to handle."

'Pretty pretty pleeeeaaaaassseee?!' he then added in his own head, hoping he didn't sound too eager in his method of asking. He'd grown far too attached to this basket to just let it go... Not to mention the rambling ravings and finger waving he would be bound to get from his human when he returned to her teepee without the basket in his possession. It was bad enough that he couldn't understand her half the time. Last thing he wanted to add to a broken heart was an annoying human that would refuse to keep quiet over the obvious matter.

Saluki gave a soft nicker of delight at Maom's decision. He'd still be able to care for the basket he had temperarilly claimed and gotten attached to. He then gave the basket a little nuzzle.

"Did yah hear that, little guy...?" he half whispered. "You have a wonderful father. And he's gonna let me stick around to help raise yah!" He chuckled faintly then blinked, clearing his throat in slight embarassment.

"Er, I mean... Thank you, Moam. I won't let you down or disappoint you. You have my word..." he bowed his head a bit then smiled softly. He then tilted his head slightly in soft ponderment. "No idea, huh?" he chuckled nervously. "Well, since we're being honest.... Um... Neither do I."

He stood and stretched a bit. "But, my human has been helping a bit. She's a bit annoying... but she showed me how to do a few things. Like... How to keep the basket warm by wrapping the basket in my blanket and how to carry it. Mainly because I refused to allow her to strap it around my middle." he scoffed a bit, seeming to show his complete disapproval of the idea. "But she's a gentle human, none the less. She's never laid a harsh hand upon me. And she doesn't like the idea of tethering me to any trees. I've seen it done many times where we were from ... and..." he was rambling again and he managed to catch himself. His ears flickered a bit, unsure of how Moam was with the idea of a human around his child... or children, as the situation was now. "Of course... That's only if you're comfortable with that idea...?"

Saluki blinked, waking up from a small nap himself to the startled cries of his companion... friend... .... brother?! Whatever Moam was to him now.

"Huh- Wha-? ... the Basket...?" he asked groggily then stretched himself to a stand so that he might peek around the tree from the other side. "What about it, Moam?" he asked before gathering the corners of his blanket around the other basket to bring it around and sit beside its sibling. He saw the uncovered basket twitch and quake and his entire body froze.

"M-Moam?" The blanketed basket gave a soft tremble of its own, "AH! MOAM!!" he shouted in his own surprise, wide ecstatic grin upon his muzzle. "Your baskets, it's...! They-!!" He jumped a bit in his own excitement. He'd been helping care for the baskets for so long now he practically felt like a father himself.

This was an exciting moment. A very exciting moment.

"Wait..." he blinked, finally allowing realization to settle in. "What, uh... what do we do?" he asked, putting ~most~ of his attention upon the older of the current bunch.

Saluki shuffled frantically on his hooves. The other stallion going about in a state of panic didn't help his own excited worry.

The blanket finally flopped off of the one basket and the top to it cracked slightly, a single feather exposing itself from it. It was purple and tipped with gold.

"MOAM!" he nickered out. He stuck a hoof out as if to demandingly point to the basket, his face told a different story. It was a mixture of panic and pure outright bliss.

The basket shuffled more and the feather disappeared out of sight.

"It's too late, they're cracking!"

Saluki pranced lightly in place in his anticipation.

"Indeed they do!" he nickered happily to the umph comment. Watching the pair of foals would definitely prove to be a maneful, but at the moment that didn't matter. This was a joyous day! And Saluki clearly could not contain his excitement.

The feather in the crack was soon replaced by a sideways muzzle, her eyes still hidden within the basket. Her nares twitched and flared as she took in her first true scent of her surroundings. It seemed to linger for a few short moments this way before it jumped back into the hiding of the basket. However, her retreat back in the basket was quickly followed by her own wild flails at the basket's exterior. That brief whiff of the new world gave her her own burst of vigor - though it didn't quite match that of her sibling in the moment.

At this rate, it was highly possible that the baskets wouldn't last much longer.

"C'mon, little guys! C'mon! Almost there!" Saluki softly whispered his cheers, shuffling eagerly upon his hooves. "Almost there!"

Saluki shrugged, befuddled. They could help...? But back from where he used to live, he remembered some mares talking of how you should always let nature take its course and never interfere. This made him pause in his shuffling, his gaze falling completely to the over-turned basket in his silent worry. "I don't kn--"

The other basket jumped and turned to its side, the small filly tumbling out and rolling a bit to bump against the over-turned basket. A small squeak like neigh emitted from the surprised foal and she blinked as she looked at her new world...



Her white-striped, pink and purple back was turned to the baffled stallions and her wings splayed out completely in odd positions, clearly she was oblivious to their existence. But that didn't stop her from looking around a bit, frantically by appearance, but her eyes were clearly filled with wonder. She let out a small high-pitched neigh once more as she turned her head to look behind her. She saw the two large Stallions and blinked, almost wide-eyed at their height. In her attempt to look at them better though, her head tilted back slowly, further and further until

"Ah!" FWUMP!

She landed on her back, blinking in surprise at the sensation of falling before she giggled and kicked her hooves into the air a bit. She could move! She could stretch and wriggle and flail all she wanted and didn't have to worry about keeping herself to a little ball anymore! This world was so wonderful!