//------------------------------//
// Skydance 
// Story: In the Land of the Desert Sun 
// by canonkiller 
//------------------------------//

"You've got to - no, no, like this - you make this so difficult!" Sandwing laughed, darting forward and grabbing Twilight around her belly. "Match your wingbeats to mine. There's no thermals at night, remember? You've got to work harder to stay airborne, especially in the desert."

"I know how to fly!" Twilight protested, beating her wings harder against the cool air. "You're not helping by holding me up!"

Sandwing grinned, releasing Twilight. "You may know how to fly, but you aren't great at skydancing. We've got to get way higher than this."

"I'm trying! I just can't get any lift!"

"Let me carry you," Sandwing offered, "and then you can hover once we're higher."

Twilight looked down at the dunes, still close enough for her to safely drop down to them, and sighed. "I suppose that would be best. You'll still teach me how to night-fly properly, right?"

"Sure! Once everything else is sorted out." She dipped down under Twilight, lifting sharply so she ended up lying on Sandwing's back. "Now close your eyes and hold on. I want the view to be a surprise."

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, her breath catching in her throat as Sandwing's body surged with the beating of her wings. She desperately looped her hooves around the Sphinx's neck, feeling nothing but the steady pounding of her own heart against Sandwing's. Almost as suddenly as she had climbed, she leveled out, her wings beating occasionally as she circled. 

"You can open your eyes now," she muttered. "And do try to look down."

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, peering over Sandwing's shoulder. Above them, the pitch-black sky glittered with stars like it was studded with diamonds. The moon, a perfect circle or pure white light, traced patterns on the top of the clouds, not quite illuminating the sands but still lifting the shadows from the sides facing it. Within the patchwork shadows of the sands, the orange lights of cities and travelers danced like fireflies. Huge networks of light spread from the cities, connecting them on threads as thin as spider's silk, marking paths usually shown by the soft indents of hooves on the windblown earth.

"It's beautiful." Twilight breathed.

"We build our cities to match the shape of the stars. It helps the little ones find their way home if they get separated; if they look at the sky, they can find a constellation that matches the one their city is built in and use the nearest city to give them direction."

"I had no idea the Sphinx relied so much on the stars."

Sandwing smiled, her shoulders lurching as she climbed a bit higher. "Every one is an edge of one of Jaru's scales, the legends say. And there's more than we can see; each pit of darkness holds a thousand more points of light."

"I never though about it that way."

"Some Princess of the Stars you are," Sandwing teased. She rolled, sliding Twilight off of her back and catching her in her paws until the Alicorn got hr balance.

Twilight flapped her wings frantically, trying to tilt her wings to way Sandwing had shown her. "Maybe it's best if you carry me."

"Really? Relenting already?" Sandwing laughed, hooking her hind hooves around Twilight's back for a better grip and pressing their bellies together. "Comfy?"

"Your belly fur is really soft," Twilight commented. "Is that because of your feline ancestors, or is it a grooming choice?"

"Never change, Twilight." Sandwing burrowed her muzzle into her companion's mane. "So, are you ready to skydance?"

"Is it okay if I can't fly up here?"

Sandwing grinned, pulling Twilight tighter, and stopped flapping. There was a single weightless moment before Sandwing pulled her wings in and the two of them dropped. The wind roared around them, sudden flashes of cold and hot rippling over their coats as they punched through the clouds. Sandwing was as streamlined as an arrow, every part of her lined up to drop directly at the ground. Twilight clung to the Sphinx, unable to scream from her panic.

"Sandwing! The ground!" She yelled, the wind rushing into her mouth along with the bitter grit of blowing sand. 

Sandwing's eyes narrowed, and a smug grin appeared on her muzzle. Slowly, as they plummeted towards the ground, she extended her wings. The wind whistled through her feathers until, suddenly, she snapped them open in full. The drop seemed to slow to a stop, Twilight's tail brushing the sand, and then Sandwing pumped her wings in a single, solid flap and the momentum released in an upward surge. 

Sandwing opened one of her wings, pressing her chin against's Twilight's head as she spun to relieve the speed, slowing until they were simply circling in midair.

Twilight struggled free of Sandwing's grip, her wings beating unsteadily as she glared at he Sphinx. "What was that?! What in Equestria were you thinki-eep!"

Twilight felt her wings falter as Sandwing pressed her muzzle to hers, her mouth tender and soft despite the sharp teeth Twilight knew lay beneath.

Sandwing drew back, smiling softly, taking Twilight's forehooves in her paws and holding her up as she started up her hover again. "Thank you."

"For what?!" Twilight demanded. "Letting you fly with me and not fighting when you nearly killed the both of us?! Not protesting when you kissed me?!"

"Y-you mean," Sandwing's smiled dropped, "oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?!"

Sandwing looked down at her paws, slowly releasing Twilight's hooves. "Nobody's told you what a skydance is, have they?"

"No, but what does that have to do with this?!"

"Twilight, asking to skydance with somebody is like asking somebody to marry you." Sandwing sighed, backing away from Twilight. "It's important that I skydanced before becoming a Pharaoh because..."

"Because you have to have had a mate." Twilight finished.

"Well, in somewhat crude terms," Sandwing replied, frowning. "It's to keep any urges under control. Supposedly. I'm sorry, Twilight, I had no idea you didn't know, and I should have asked you sooner, I just... I just didn't want you to say no."

"You didn't... oh." Twilight looked down at the lights below, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in her chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Sandwing turned, ready to glide back down to the sand.

Twilight placed her hoof on Sandwing's shoulder. "I didn't say I was against it."

She could feel all of Sandwing's muscles tense under her hoof, and she lifted it. "Do you mean that?"

Twilight blushed, giggling to ease the awkwardness. "Well, maybe not the..." she tapped her hooves together for emphasis.

Sandwing laughed, turning around. "You do mean it, though? We can be... together?"

"I-I guess," Twilight nodded. "We'll save the... yeah, for later."

Sandwing darted forward, gripping Twilight in a tight hug and burrowing her muzzle into the pony's neck. "Thank you, Twilight. Thank you so much."

"Don't worry, Sandwing. Whatever happens on this quest, we'll face it together."