Something good had to come out of all of this, surely. The war. Tahi-shei's probable death and his own.

James had stood vigil over the stones, waiting for something, anything to happen. He'd counted the days and he wasn't wrong, they hatched today.

Though as the minutes passed, he found himself doubting.

"... No matter what happens," he said, "Both of you will be beautiful and great."

If Tahi-shei didn't come home, then he'd figure out a way to train their fungal magic himself. Hopefully Comet was up for assisting him-

No, he couldn't think like that. Tahi-shei was just occupied. Very occupied, judging by the whirling thoughts he could feel from the other. It was best not to distract him, so he kept his own thoughts quiet and tried to block any stray ones out.

James slowly approached the chrysali and peered at them for a moment before pressing his nose against the dragon's eye opal, feeling it pulse with a heartbeat. He sighed and held his head there, letting the soothing rhythm wash over him.

"It's gonna be okay," he rasped.

@Varik @Genevive

the chrysalis shook almost pitifully, the tiny rustle of hooves and horn against crystal like tiny bells.

unlike most, there was no flutter of the eyes. there was so sudden awakeness. only a rustle, a crack, then all the sudden, she was alive.

her eyes blinked open, her mind wrapping around the work in fragments, albeit slow. the world was so bright, near blinding to her new eyes, and her hooves were unsteady as she tried to stand. instinct pushed her consciousness to the front and she had her first coherent though.

"Where is my family?"
her head looked around tiredly as the filly seemed to fall back to the floor, too shaky and uncertain to stand upright. her eyes move to James, her parent, her family. if she could speak, it was unbeknownst to her. the pathetic whinney she gave was all she could muster. she wasn't in pain but the wave of confusion and newness in her suddeness was distressing, shaking her head in short spurts as if to send the unpleasant feelings flying from her head. she scrambled quite ungracefully closer to james, if only in quest of comfort of any kind.

her magic seemed to try and reach out, if only by experimentation with really anything her mind could grasp. anything, a glimmer of certainty, would be appreciated in a moment like this.

her magic seemed to click oh so faintly, mushrooms and fungi growing around her hooves in short spurts. little blue ones (Entoloma hochstetteri), little glowing green ones (Panellus stipticus), and all other sorts of tiny fungus. it seemed to calm her nerves, atleast knowing one thing was certain at the moment and that was the mushrooms. and james.

@James

James pulled away, head flying up as he heard the chrysalis crack. His jaw dropped and he smiled widely, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. He moved forward and lowered his head, bumping their noses together ever so gently.

"... Hello," he said softly, immediately moving to place his body next to hers so she could stand close, taking the place of a mare and offering comfort.

He snuffled at her wet hide and felt both feathers and fur. He peered over her, delighted to see that she seemed to be the perfect mesh of him and Tahi-shei, looking like a perfect unicorn, gemstone horn and all.

Ever so gently he licked over her wet fur, cleaning the gross fluids off of her. He could just barely remember his own sticky fur that hadn't truly gotten clean until he dunked himself in a river, so if he could help avoid that for his little ones, that would be perfect.

"Oh," he whispered, watching mushrooms spring up, eyes softening as she used her father's magic right out of the stone, "How lucky am I to have two talented little girls?"

Or rather, one little girl and one brilliant young woman. He was so proud of his children it made his heart hurt sometimes.

"You, my dear, need a name," he said softly.

@Genevive @Varik