The sun is rising above the desert, shedding light on sand, mesas, and even the despicable cacti. Bored straight into one of those mesas is a cave and it is in the mouth of the cave that a young draconequus sits watching with the wide, innocent eyes most children have. He enjoys coming out here every morning and watching the sun warm everything, chasing away the cold night brings in his sandy home and watching as the clouds change colors, going from early dawn purple to sandy yellow and then to smooth silvery white. Discord isn't sure why the sun does that, but he doesn't care so as long as the world remains colorful. After all, the more colorful the better. His parents might know why the sun does that but they aren't here right now so he can't ask them.
It was never quiet when his parents are around. They were always talking very loudly, laughing, or telling him that it's too early for him to be up. They tell him many times that he can see the sun later because it isn't like it will grow wings and fly away. They always had followed it up with an urging for him to go back to sleep. But now that they aren't here, Discord can wake up and go to sleep whenever he wants to. He can also eat whatever he wants. Yet, Discord has learned that maybe that is not the best idea. When he tried to eat a cactus just to see if they were as yucky as his mother told him they would be, he got a mouth full of prickles which had taken forever to pull out. He was relieved that no one was here to scold him for that.
Discord's parents were always telling other things that didn't involve not eating cacti too. Like how to climb rocks or something about why ponies and horses were annoying or never had any fun. Discord didn't know what a 'ponies' or a 'horses' was. He had never seen one, but they sounded a bit like the Alicorns that his kind didn't like much either. Discord had never seen these Alicorns either so he had no idea if they were fun, but he greatly doubted it. Anything that wasn't in the cave or something he could see probably wasn't too important. Maybe when he was older.
That is what his parents had kept telling him, older-this and older-that, all without really explaining what was old enough for the mystic ability of when to be obtained. He'd go beyond the horizon when he was older. He'd use magic when he was older. Those mountains to the down-and-east, where something his parents called minotaur country lies? He'd see that when he was older too.
Being older always sounded fun. Mom and Dad said that he had to learn a lot when he was small. Then he could do whatever he wanted when he was older, like find a cave of his own and however many mates of whichever gender he pleased. His parents encouraged no particular direction for that choice, or at least they were even more indirect than normal. Did too many mates get annoying? Why weren't boys like him as pretty as the girls in father's stories? The stories of boy-cubs as objects of affection in his mother's bedtime stories were all from the point of view of girl-cubs. Despite this, it did nothing to make the boy-cubs sound any more appealing.
Having his own cave sounded fun, though. Would it be like the cave here, large and dry? This cave was pretty nice except when there was a sandstorm.
Discord gets up from his the spot where was sitting now that the clouds are starting to turn white. It was so slow and quiet now that they left lots of days ago.
They said they'd be back soon, which meant quick and not a long time. Discord wasn't sure what a long time was but he knew a short time meant not a lot of sun-and-moon flips. He also wasn't sure what the funny word his parents had for each 'flip' was either since there was no way to keep track of days, except that they were the sunny-side up. Mom and Dad said that there was some sort of curse used by the ponies — but mostly the dreadful Alicorns — meaning they spent lots of time sitting around counting days and doing something awful called making Sense.
He knew a bit about what the dreaded Sense was. It was evil; Mom and Dad hated it. To make Sense was not fun and he was not allowed to say that horrible name in front of them. It was one of the few rules he had to follow. Too many rules were like Sense though, so there were only a few of those since no draconequus needed something as silly as the-many-rules-called-laws. His kind were creatures of minimalism, his parents had said, governing with what little could be deemed needed.
The sky is still warm and the sun is new, which means the food is waking up now. Animals, which there are many of if you know where to look, and plants which there are some of. All of these things can be eaten if you knew how, and Discord aimed to learn. When his parents were still here Discord could watch as they taught him to steal food, or he would get to see them conjure food with magic. He would watch in awe as all sorts of things would appear from nowhere and vowed that when he could use magic he would conjure all sorts of food as well.
He would make it rain food!
Somehow.
Outside of the sun, colors, noise, and food Discord liked the rain. He never knew when the drops would fall from the sky and sometimes when it rained a lot the sky would light up and scream. These were called thunder and lightning. It didn't happen often, but Discord would sit up in the cave when it did. He could see so much from up here after all! Desert rain was never quiet, so he always knew when it was going to happen.
Lately, it's been very quiet now that Discord was on his own in the cave. At least for now, that is. Discord likes talking. He wouldn't want to talk all the time but it couldn't hurt to. Discord believed that talking only worked in you had someone to talk to, so he had remained quiet since Mom and Dad were gone.
It helped to keep quiet when he was looking for food, like he was now. Discord made his way up the rocks above is the cave, moving quietly and keeping low.
When Mom and Dad left, they said they were going to find all the draconequui and go somewhere important, or something like that. Discord couldn't remember exactly what they had said since it had been days ago.
Right now all he cared about was food. He had found what he was looking for: the nest of some kind of bird. Mom and Dad loved to tell him about all sorts of things, like how when he was older his wings would work right and he could fly like another kind of animal called a bird. There were lots of different kinds of birds but they never told Discord the names of all the kinds of birds since they didn't tell him. He wished they had since it would be nice to have something to recall since there was no one to talk to.
Discord reaches into the bird's cave, which is called a nest according to Mom and Dad. They told him everything since they were the only two creatures Discord knew outside of the other desert creatures who didn't like him very much. He draws out an egg that is so big he has to hold it with both his paw and his claw. Discord looks around quickly, a nervous look in his eyes before he retreats to a lower part of the mesa to eat his food.
Thank goodness, the bird hadn't caught him this time. That had happened once and it was then that Discord knew that you should never fight a bird, no matter how hungry you are.
He found a nice ledge far down from the cave of both his family and the bird where he decides to eat and look out at everything below. He remembered watching as his parents flew into the distance and how far away they had looked up in the sky. Discord watched them vanish over the horizon in silence, their words about their return echoing in his head.
Discord found the weakest part of the shell with his claw, and after steadying the egg with his paw he broke through and heard a crunch. He licked his lips and began to scoop out the center.
How many days had it been since he'd seen them? Discord felt as though he needed to ask himself that question at some point so why not do it now?
He frowned and ate the rest of the egg in silence. When he finished he crawled down the rest of the mesa, hearing the remains of the eggshell crunch as he went along.
The more he thought about it, Discord realized that his parents really had been gone for many days. He hoped that no one would mind that he fixated on this like a ponies did when obsessing over time but it was true.
They had been gone too long.
His mother and father weren't coming back were they? When they flew away that day they really did disappear once they crossed the horizon.
Discord's gaze met with the area there, right between the ground and the sky. He jumped down the last bit of rock and felt the sand below him. He did not stop to look back up at the cave, which up till now was the only place he had ever known. There were other caves after all, and that must mean that there's food in other places as well.
He started walking because he could go beyond the horizon too and maybe, just maybe, he would find them there.
Author's Note
[Revised for print on 11/13/2020]
