“Where's the birdie?... Here I am!”
The Pegasus foal giggled again, before gasping as Silverstream covered her face again, seemingly disappearing completely.
“Where's the birdie?”
Hearing her voice still, the foal tried their best to sleuth out where Silverstream was hiding now. She had just been here a moment ago, where could she have--
“Here I am!” Silverstream declared, revealing her face as the foal subsequently gasped at her miraculous reappearance before erupting into a fit of giggles once more. These giggles only intensified when Silverstream tickled the foal's exposed belly, making her laugh along with the amused foal.
After a few more rounds of Peek-a-boo, the foal became distracted by another nearby toy, allowing Silverstream to step away for a moment as the foal's attention became focused elsewhere. Looking around at the daycare of foals, Silverstream smiled at just how carefree and happy they all were. She had always enjoyed taking care of the foals before, but her time spent with Velvet Song in Canterlot had done wonders to give her a brand new understanding and insight into the mind of a young child.
Memories of her time spent in “Nana's” nursery filled her mind, the feelings of carefree joy and comfort filling her heart in turn. Once she graduated, she would definitely have to see about booking another appointment with Velvet Song for herself again.
The sound of crying from across the room made her ears perk up slightly. Strolling over to the source of the noise lead her to one of the hired caregivers, who was clearly having some difficulty attempting to feed the rather fussy Earth Pony foal a bottle of warm milk.
“What's wrong? Aren't you hungry?” The mare said as she tried her best to comfort the young foal, unable to hide the hint of desperation in her voice as all her attempts seemed to fail. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to see Silverstream standing nearby with a look of concern on her face. “Oh, Silverstream! I thought you were still playing with the foals?”
“I was, but you seem to be having a little trouble. Poor guy not want any milk?”
The mare sighed. “I don't know. He seemed happy when I showed him the bottle before, but the moment I picked him up he just started fussing and crying out of nowhere. Nothing I've tried seems to be working...”
“Here, let me try,” Silverstream offered, stepping up and gently taking the foal from the mare's arms before she could argue. Immediately the foal started crying again, even as Silverstream began to slowly rock him in her arms.
“There, there, little guy, it's all right,” Silverstream said in a soothing voice, completely unfazed by the foal's wailing. Humming a little tune that she used to use on Terramor whenever he got grumpy during feeding time, she continued to slowly rock the foal back and forth in her arms. As if by magic, the foal's cries began to gradually subside, slowly dwindling from a loud wailing to a light grumbling.
The caregiver's mouth hung open in disbelief as the once unruly foal began to calm down, so shocked in fact that she didn't even notice as Silverstream took the bottle of milk from her and popped the nipple into the foal's mouth, silencing any further cries as the foal began to suckle from the bottle.
“That's it, you'll feel all better again once your belly's nice and full of warm milk.” Silverstream cooed, gently running her beak along the foal's cheek like she had seen her mother do growing up. No further complaints arose from the foal as he fed, soon drinking the bottle dry. Once he was all done, Silverstream set the bottle aside on a nearby counter before lifting up the foal and placing his head against her shoulder and beginning to burp him with light taps against his back. A loud belch was quickly followed up by laughter as she cradled the now happy foal in her arms, any signs that he had ever been upset having completely vanished.
“That... was amazing...” The caregiver said, still in absolute awe. “How did you do that?”
Silverstream just smiled as she shifted the foal slightly so he was comfortably cradled in one arm before raising her hand and holding out one of her talons towards the foal. His eyes widened in wonder as he grasped the extended talon with both front hooves, his mirthful giggles growing even louder.
“I guess I just have an easier time thinking like a foal, that's all...”
The night sky was calm and peaceful, which was more than could be said for one sleeping Hippogriff. Back and forth, Silverstream tossed and turned in her sleep, her face scrunched up in an expression mixed with discomfort and fear as the occasional whine came out from her lips. This only grew worse as the night wore on, finally culminating in her eyes snapping open suddenly in the middle of the night as she shot up in bed, her breathing coming in quick, gasping breaths as fresh adrenaline and terror still coursed through her body.
As her brain slowly registered that she was awake now and that any dangers had passed, her breathing slowly began to steady and her heart rate returned to a normal rhythm once more. Though the memory of her recent nightmare was already fading from her mind's eye, she recalled enough that she could tell that it had been yet another nightmare involving the Storm King and his army invading Mount Aris, an often recurring nightmare at this point.
Letting out a deep sigh, Silverstream reached out in the direction of her nightstand and flipped the lamp atop it on, wincing slightly as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light. Pulling open the drawer of her nightstand, Silverstream fumbled around inside for a few moments before her hand closed around a familiar object near the back and she withdrew a small object wrapped in a bundle of cloth. Unwrapping the cloth bundle, the object contained within was soon revealed to be a large pacifier with a lime green mouth guard.
A gift from “Nana” Velvet Song, one that the mindful mare had given to Silverstream just before her and Rarity had departed that day for the train-station. Brand new and still in its packaging at the time, Velvet had suggested to her that this might serve as a better alternative whenever she had the urge to suck her thumb, especially at night or during times of stress. That advice had proven to be the right call, as this was not the first time since that encounter that Silverstream had been rudely awoken from a less than restful sleep.
Popping the pacifier into her mouth, all it took was a few starting suckles for a relaxing and calming feeling to pass over Silverstream, quickly drowning out any lingering afterimages of her nightmares. Turning her lamp back off, she rested her head back onto her pillow as she continued to suck on her pacifier, quickly getting into a steady rhythm.
Within moments, she was once again fast asleep, and this time her head would be filled with nothing but pleasant dreams for the rest of the night.