Junicorn 2021

Bringing his son to the beach had been one of the first things Nox wanted to do on their adventures. Not just any beach, though.

Sure, there were plenty in the Icy region where they were from, but, with the biting gusts of wind and the semi-permanently frozen waters, it wasn't much of a recommended experience. The stallion could personally testify of this.

The fairies were kind enough to drop the two quirlicorns off in the Plains region, a more temperate and colourful place than their home. With spring coming to a close, flowers bloomed in crowds of definite colours, as if their colour was to bleed through should they touch petals different from their own kind.

Baroque pranced amongst the puddles of blooms -from red, to blue, to yellow and then to another patch of yellow- all the way to their destination. The father watched with a gentle smile across his face. His foal with the coat of dawn, so frail and so small, was already galloping across the wilderness as if he were at home, with magic coursing through his blood. It was like he was watching himself make those first steps all over again. Their resemblance was striking.

Interior ressemblance, of course. Nox himself was not blessed with a coat as striking as his son. He couldn't help but to consider himself handsome and elegant, though, with his black coat and blue moonlight stripes.

Vegetation became more tropical and lush as they closed in to the southern border of the Plains region. Wisps of their manes gently waved by their necks’ side from the incessant wind. The foal's ears perked when he heard the first notes of the ocean.

Baroque spotted the turquoise water through the vegetation first. Nox knew from how his son's eyes widened and from how his jaw dropped. The foal gave him a questioning look, and the father nodded his blessing.

Baroque dashed through the bushes and plants towards the water and Nox broke into a canter to follow him. The foal slowed down in the sand, palpating the strange texture. It wasn't like mud or loose dirt. It was a new sensation all together.

Gulls greeted them with their high-pitched screams. Baroque raised his head to respond with a dazed: "Hello!" He yelled to be heard over the sound of the waves and excited seagull cries.

It was so much to take in; the warmth, the dust-like sand, the sounds, the several quirlicorns that neighed and laughed farther down the beach, and of course, the unending ocean, the vast, vast plain of green-tinted water that extended as far as the eye can see.

Nox brushed his muzzle against Baroque's shoulder, beckoning him to follow. He stepped into the clear water, letting the waves lick his ankles.

Baroque followed suit. He stopped when he felt the water touch his ankles.

"It's warm," he commented.

"Yes," the father agreed. "Isn't it nice?"

The foal nodded energetically. He ran deeper into the water, until his belly was submerged. He reared when he saw a couple of big blue-stripped fish and ran back to his father's side.

"They're harmless," Nox said, galloping in their direction and scaring them away. He looked back and noticed that his son was soaked from ears to hooves from the splashes.

He laughed. So did Baroque.

The foal followed him deeper, striking the water to send some splashes in his father's direction. Nox bucked as well, strategically striking the water at a certain angle to produce fair attacks relatively to his son's small hooves.

A beach ball flew their way. It's owners called them over to retrieve their toy. It was a small family of white quirlicorns; a father, a mother and twin foals about a few months older than Baroque. They invited the pink foal to play with them.

Baroque lingered at his sire's side for a short while, looking at the friendly quirlicorns from behind Nox's tail, but soon he was charging after the older foals as they tried to keep the ball away from him in a teasing manner, yelling out new challenges as they thought of them. Nox stayed back to joke about how troublesome twins could be with the parents. Of course, these foals had no magic like himself and his twins, Sonnet and Minuet, so the comparaison wasn’t fair. Nox wondered what it was like to not have magic, to live a simpler life.

After an hour or so of having frolicked on the warm sand, the quirlicorn foals piled up under a beach umbrella to cool off. It was then that the sound of a little bell appeared to get closer and closer to where the two families were congregating.

Baroque raised his nose and sniffed the air. A breeze carried a soft but mouth-watering smell.

His twin friends got up excitingly and ran in the bell's direction, quickly followed by their parents.

Nox himself was excited. He had just discovered what he wanted to show Baroque next…