Desert Memories

Cordon woke up late in the morning as he always did every day. He got up and walked to the window, looking out at the other ponies playing in the streets. He headed for the door to go and play hoofball with them. He tried to sneak past the kitchen where his maid was cooking breakfast.

"If sneakier you want to be, you’ll have to try harder to get past me." His maid said from across the kitchen, without turning her back. Cordon cringed as his maid spoke to him; he never had been able to sneak past her before.

"I’ll get you one day, you just wait." Cordon replied.

"Don't forget your Dad has lessons to teach you today, so you do not lead the city astray.

"I'll just be outside with the other ponies."

Cordon walked out the door and made his way in between the other houses. He came across a few of his buddies about to play a game of hoofball. He hurried to stand in line as they chose teams. Cordon was one of the first in his class to get his cutie mark and therefore considered himself the senior of the class. His cutie mark was made of a singular blue circle surrounded by curved lines, making a spiral. He thought it went well with his grey-purple fur and his grey mane. He was one of the first picked, as usual. His special talent was his speed and stamina. He could run fast and farther than others without getting too tired.

The hot desert day wore on as Cordon and the other ponies played. As Cordon had the ball, he weaved through the other teams players and ran towards the goal. Just as he was about to step a hoof in the end zone, he was tackled by a pony from his left. He looked up from the ground to see his Dad leaning over him with a grin on his face.

"Get off me, Dad!"

Cordon's Dad got off of him and helped him up. "Let's go, I have a lot of things to show you."

As they walked through the city, Cordon had every building explained to him in excruciating detail about it's history and purpose. As they neared the end of the tour, they reached the southern edge of the city. Cordon looked out across the barren desert in front of him.

"This is the desert that protects us from anything that might want to harm any pony. The closest we are to any other pony is 11 miles away. Any ponies willing to make the trip here would really want to harm us. When you take my place as chief, you will be in charge of protecting this city."

Cordon looked out across the cast desert before him and noticed a dust cloud rolling in from the east.

"Dad, what's that?" Cordon said as he pointed a hoof to the dust cloud.

"It's just a dust cloud, the dust control team will take care of it."

They stayed for a few more minutes staring into the desert.

"Do you know what's for breakfast?" Cordon’s Dad asked.

"No, but it smelled delicious this morning."

With that, they walked home to eat breakfast and continue their day.

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Cordon woke up to the horrifying sounds of screaming. The screams instantly put him on edge as he sat up and looked out the window that was closest to his bed. Still groggy from sleep, he could barely make out the flickerings of a fire. Most of the screams had subsided as Cordon got out of his bed, slowly walking to the door.

As he got closer to the door, the smell of smoke became stronger. He opened the door, looking around, and saw ponies running and houses burning. Everything clicked in his mind as he recalled the dust cloud from earlier. As he turned to run back into his house, he was grabbed and thrown into a cart with all the other young ponies in the town, the force of impact instantly knocking him out. Half of the young fillies were crying, and the other half unconscious. The cart raced forward, and didn't seem to slow down. As the cart rolled along, one of the wheels hit a large rock and knocked him and a few others out of the cart.

As the cart rolled away, a zebra ran from the cover of a nearby porch, grabbed Cordon and quickly carried him back under the porch. She pulled a powder out of her pouch and mixed it with some water until it became a paste. The zebra fed the small bowl of paste to Cordon as she softly whispered "Do not worry my young friend, for I will protect you from your end. As soon as these invaders are clear, we will get out of here." She laid next to Cordon until the attack was over, and cautiously headed south.