Valentine was drawn out of the muddled thoughts in his own head by the familiar call that rang in his ears all of a sudden. He paused and lifted his head, his dark eyes scanning the horizon for the source of the noise as the little filly bumped against his hind legs.

It was with some surprise that he recognised Meradith, and with even more surprise that he noticed the foals at her side. He had not even known that she was pregnant, never mind that she had given birth to his child. Although he could not forget the little problem that fidgeted in the long grass beside him, his heart swelled with joy once more and a smile crept across his pink-white lips.

Nudging the speckled rump of his daughter, the pair headed towards their visitors. As he drew closer, Valentine cast his gaze over the pretty palomino mare with a smile, before turning his attention to the two foals that nursed beneath her.

One was a beautiful golden colour, like her mother, with the same white legs and spots that littered his own hide. The other was a bright chestnut, the same shade as Foxglove, with white that crept up her legs and dripped down her face like spilt paint. Though she lacked his spots, she looked just as much his daughter as the golden filly.

But there were two of them! It hardly seemed possible that Meradith could have given birth to two foals at once, though Valentine had heard that such a thing could happen. And so it was with a pleasantly dazed expression that he approached Meradith and came to stand before her, reaching out to bump his nose against her cheek.

“Are they both...?” he began, trailing off as his gaze fell to the babes.

Proudmane’s filly, however, suddenly made shy by the company, peeped unsurely from between her father’s legs, ducking her head almost beneath the sea of long grass. She glanced up nervously at the mare, but her attention was soon grabbed by the other foals, who she watched with wide-eyed interest. Curious, she let out a small squeak in their direction.

VALENTINE
you bleed just to know you’re alive