//------------------------------// // A Cold Reception in Bahaggara, Part 1 // Story: Sunset Rekindled // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// It was midnight when Sunset Shimmer and the others prepared for the journey to Bahaggara. Sunset Shimmer, Radiant Dawn, Scarlet Blaze, Golden Sun, Crimson Blade, Trixie Lulamoon, Lightning Dust, Felix Summerset, Teddy, and Pressure Point reached the boundaries of New Mustangia. They had provisions from both the Summerstar and the port-town with them for the journey across the desert. Radiant, Crimson, and Felix all wore armor salvaged from Fort Echidna underneath the clothing they wore, with Felix keeping his blowgun strapped to his saddle-bag. Hotrod Sterling and two of the town's guards were also there to see them off. "I wish ya--I say!--I wish y'all good luck on your special mission!" said Sterling, shaking Sunset's front-left hoof. "Oh, and don't let the scorpions getcha! They're bigger and meaner than a boarhound with rabies!" "Thanks, Minister." said Sunset. "And if you need anything else, you're welcome to come--I say!--you're welcome to come back now, ya hear?." "All right." smiled Sunset. Sterling and the guards waved after Sunset and the others as they turned away from New Mustangia and disappeared into the night. Sunset Shimmer and the others trekked through the desert, which was dark and cooled since it was the middle of the night, and there was hardly any wind. There wasn't a single cloud anywhere in the sky, so there was nothing preventing them from seeing all the stars in the sky as they went on. Lightning Dust hovered beside Radiant Dawn, while Pressure Point and Trixie were shivering from the cold winds. "How are you all able to deal with this cold?" Pressure inquired when he noticed that nopony apart from his cousin seemed to mind the temperature. "Well, my family lives in Vanhoover, where it's usually very cold or cloudy." said Sunset. "So does Teddy..." "I have lived in Saddle Arabia all my life, so I'm used to how cold the nights in the desert are here." said Felix. "I'm a pegasus, so cold weather's something I gotta deal with all the time." said Lightning Dust. "And the Royal Guard trains its--" Crimson began. "Okay, okay." said Pressure. "I get the point." Suddenly, a dark winged shape glided over them, across the half-moon. Sunset and Teddy looked up, frightened. "Is that...the Roc?" said Teddy. Felix looked up quickly, and scanned the night sky, but didn't see anything but the celestial bodies that shone down on the world. "I don't there's anything up there that we haven't already seen." said Felix. "It was probably just a cloud." said Trixie. "There aren't any clouds up there." said Scarlet. "It was probably nothing, anyway--" Suddenly, there was a loud bird-call to their right. Teddy fell sideways into Pressure Point, knocking both stallions over. "You...clumsy moron!" growled Pressure as he got back up. Sunset and the others huddled together, bracing themselves for an attack as they turned towards the source of the noise. But to their relief, it was just an ordinary vulture, with a piece of horn from a long-dead ox's skull clamped in its beak. The carrion-bird saw the group of ponies facing it, and it promptly flew off with the horn fragment. Sunset illuminated her horn, and looked at the ground. There were bits and pieces of broken ox bones throughout the sand where the vulture originally stood. "Well, I think any hope I had of getting through this desert without repercussion just went down the drain." sighed Pressure. "Hang on, Pressure." said Sunset. "I think you might want to look at the bones. Look at them closely." Pressure groaned and approached the broken skeleton, and noticed that there were bite-marks all over the remains of the ribcage. The presence of saliva indicated that this was done recently. "I recognize those teeth marks anywhere." said Pressure Point. "There must be wolves nearby. As if I don't have enough reasons to not follow you guys anymore. But since I doubt any of you know how to treat any disease you could get from being bitten by those beasts, I guess I'll stick around to help your sorry flanks." Sunset and the others heeded Pressure's words, and they all continued on through the desert, watching for any hostile wildlife, but saw none. They went on a few more miles before they caught sight of a glint of firelight in the distance. They approached it, and saw even more, among a series of tall shadowy shapes, all surrounding an even golden glint. They came closer and saw that it was a shrine of some kind. There were robed Saddle Arabians holding torches in their hooves and standing a multi-layed circle around some kind of golden statue of an ox; no doubt that this was an idol of some sort worshipped by a Saddle Arabian cult. Felix realized what it was, and starting muttering something in Arabic. "What's wrong, Felix?" Radiant asked. "I know what this place is." he said. "This is the shrine of Jarukia, the God of Agriculture." "Saddle Arabia believes in gods?" asked Radiant. "Yes." said Felix. "Many, actually. But Jarukia is probably the...least popular, to say the least." "Why?" asked Sunset. "I mean, if he's the God of Agriculture..." "And the god that requires the most tribute." said Felix, shifting uneasily in place. "What kind of tribute are we talking about?" asked Lightning. "I've heard about Jarukia, actually." said Golden Sun. "Read about him when I was still at the University of Baltimare/ Apparently, whenever the required sacrifice is made, a new oasis springs up somewhere in the desert. Where it appears is never clear, and some doubt it happens at all, or if the oasis was already there to begin with, and the sacrifice was for nothing." "What sacrifice would that be?" asked Sunset. "The sacrifice involves the slaying of two equines of any species or breed, and of two of every species of livestock there is to be found in Saddle Arabia: Two pigs, two oxen, two sheep, two cattle, and two chickens. I won't go into the details of what else is involved in the ritual, but I can say it isn't pretty...at all." "That's horrible!" exclaimed Teddy. "I mean, I don't even like chickens that much, but still..." "How are your people able to tolerate something like that?" asked Sunset. "A lot of us don't, actually." said Felix. "In fact, worship of Jarukia is prohibited in most of our cities, It would also be banned altogether from our nation, but Jarukia apparently has a strong following both in and beyond Saddle Arabia. So banning it would lead to a power struggle in our government. So we have no choice but to tolerate it, as long as it is only conducted at shrines like this one, and with the worshippers' own livestock, and the equines sacrificed are condemned prisoners from the cities." "It's still a heinous thing to do." said Sunset. "That it is, Miss Sunset." said Felix. "That it is. But please, let's not come any closer to these zealots." "Good idea." said Scarlet. So they bypassed the shrine and its worshippers, and moved on to the north-east, until they were within sight of the city of Bahaggara. There was a tall marble wall stretched around the city, with the tiny silhouettes of guards traversing the battlements. They were also two watchtowers flanking the gate, with torches lit at the top. Sunset and the others approached the gateway, which was sealed by a portcullis. Sunset noticed that there were no guards outside, only inside. She approached the portcullis, when two guards approached her from the other side to challenge her. "Who are you?" said one of the guards. "Sunset Shimmer." said Sunset. "What business do you have in our city?" asked the second guard. "We're travelers that need a place to spend the night." said Sunset. "Then come back tomorrow." said the first guard. "The lord of the city has ordered that the gates be sealed after dusk." "Tomorrow?" repeated Sunset. "Are you kidding me?! It's supposed to be very hot tomorrow, and we've come a long way as it is! All the way from Equestria." "We don't care who you are or where you came from." said the first guard. "Now get out of our sight, filly, or we shall throw you to the scorpions!" Felix Summerset marched up to them. "I should have known that something of this sort would happen." he said, sourly. "Open the gates now. This mare and the others are here on important business. As a paladin, I demand your open this gate immediately!" "A paladin?" said the first guard. "Shouldn't you be at Mareusalem getting yourself killed like the others?" "Excuse me?!" exclaimed Felix. "Okay, we'll open the gate." said the second guard, activating the lever that raised the portcullis but not letting go of it. "But you have only ten seconds to go in back before we close it again until morning--by you now have five seconds." Sunset and the others panicked and rushed through the gateway, the metal bars grazing Pressure Point's backside as he went through last. He howled in pain and started uttering curse words under his breath. Sunset and the others were actually shocked by this and all glared at the two guards. "We have nurses at the palace." said the second guard, who didn't at all seem disturbed by the fact that he inadvertantly injured somepony. "Now move along. We in Bahaggara have little tolerance for outsiders, so go there immediately or the next injury one of you gets will be deliberate." "Your lord will hear about this!" said Felix, spitefully. "Bahaggara is supposed to be hospitable to everypony, including outsiders!" "Times change, paladin." said the first guard. "Consider yourself lucky we're listening to you at all. Now go!" Sunset and the others went on down the cobblestone streets of the city and went ahead to the palace in the center. "What in the hoof was that all about?" asked Sunset. "I have no idea, Miss Sunset." said Felix. "But I have a bad feeling about this. I can only hope we can find out what is going on here." "I, for one--ow!--don't care what what's going on here." said Pressure. "I can't believe they just dropped the gate on me!" Teddy looked at Pressure, and saw several welts, bruises, and scrape marks on lower back and hindquarters. There were even a few torn or split hairs on his tail. "Man, you should really have somepony check on that!" said Teddy. "Of course I should!" said Pressure. "And I'd do it myself if it was in the area that's as far away from my horn as possible!" He sighed uneasily. "Though it if was somewhere closer to my horn, chances are It would probably be lethal."