In all her life, Alysanne wouldn’t have expected this to be happening again. She had been utterly surprised and caught off guard the first time it happened - relying on the expertise of a much younger mare to explain what having a companion actually meant and to help her care for the little owl.

But, sure enough, there at the base of a tree, nestled among the red and orange leaves that had been shed, was an egg.

She didn’t know how she knew it was a companion egg, or perhaps her sense of the matter was completely obscured, but it just seemed different. She watched it for some time after having noticed it in the early Orangemoon afternoon to see whether any parents were going to come for it. Hemlock scouted closer, and the trees nearby, but couldn’t discover a nest for the owls that he believed it belonged to.

There was not a single thought in either of their minds that involved leaving it alone, especially with no sight of a home or nest nearby, and so Alysanne had drifted closer. She used her muzzle to pack the leaves in a little closer to keep the little egg warm and Hemlock perched on top of it. Though he was a companion, the instincts to keep an egg warm were within him - even if this particular egg was larger than any that he would help to raise.

Throughout the afternoon they stayed there, watchful and peaceful, and just simply enjoying the afternoon.

Towards dusk, when the brilliant glowing plants around them began to shine, was when the egg began to hatch. Hemlock took off quickly to hunt some of the insects that were out in the nighttime, hoping to bring back a feast for his new baby brother or sister. His excitement was infectious for Alysanne and helped to drown out her worry.

Would it even be an owl? Or would it be something else entirely?

While Hemlock was still hunting, the egg cracked enough that Alysanne got to see him for the first time - a baby owl already almost as big as Hemlock was, with bright yellow eyes and feathers that were damp for now but promised fluffy near-white down.

She smiled softly at it as Hemlock returned, and his excitement diminished somewhat seeing the size of the baby. “Been in egg too long?” He suggested, hopefully, that the current size wasn’t an indicator that this hatchling would be much larger than him before long.