In the Land of the Desert Sun

by canonkiller

A City in the Sand

"Welcome to Hisan-Bass!" Sandwing shouted over to Twilight, dipping her wings and gliding towards the city.

Twilight began the steady drop to the ground, seeing various tans and browns of a stone city sprawled between the dunes in front of her. In the center of the vaguely-circular hub, what appeared to be a natural oasis was surrounded by sand and Sphinx of many colors, relaxing in the sun or standing in the shallow waters. Around the central lake, small huts and larger houses speckled the sand, many cast in the shadow of the large statues surrounding the city.

Twilight skidded to an uneasy stop on the sand, getting her balance moments before her guide landed beside her with a much more graceful slide.

"You'll get used to the landings soon enough, four-hooves!" Sandwing shook out her tail, prancing ahead to the top of a tall dune. "Hurry up, Bloodfeather is waiting for you!"

"I only sent the letter a few minutes ago!" Twilight protested, scrambling to catch up. "How could she even know I arrived?!"

The Sphinx stopped, flicking the tip of her brown tail. "Good point, four-hooves. Uh... I guess I can take you on a tour, then. Uh... what do you want to know?"

Twilight's eyes brightened with the prospect of new knowledge. Drawing out a quill and scroll from her saddlebags - and pausing a moment to help Spike to the ground - she stared at her Sphinx companion. "Tell. Me. Everything."

Sandwing stared at the scroll for a moment before gesturing to the nearest part of the city; small, colorful tents and wide streets filled with Sphinx and non-Sphinx alike. "This is the marketplace. Sphinx - and other Folk - sell their goods here. You can find foods, books, jewelry; anything worth selling is being sold here."

The Alicorn looked around, seeing a pale yellow Sphinx set down a single gold hoop in exchange for a bag of something from the Griffon across the counter. Sandwing followed her gaze.

"Our currency is in hoops instead of coins; we can weave them around our wings and over our tails to keep from carrying heavy saddlebags in the hot sun." She lifted a paw, brushing the fur up to reveal a few golden bands looped around her wrist. "The hoops come in different metals and sizes, for each value. The most common are copper or sandstone, but the Sphinx here in Hisan-Bass are normally better off than the wanderers or some cities. It's the oasis the city was built around, you know. A stranded Folk will pay anything for a drink."

"You keep referring to the not-Sphinxes as 'Folk'," Twilight pointed out.

"Well, not-Sphinxes seems rather rude, does it not? Folk are any other species, and the Folk are always welcome here." Sandwing nodded briskly. "Oh, do watch your step. The sands are rather unstable this close to the cities."

As if on cue Twilight's hooves slipped, sending her off-balance and skidding forward. She was aware of a dark shape stepping out of a nearby tent before her grip failed her completely and she slid down the side of the dune.

She hit the shape she had seen with a whumpf and a cloud of sand. As the dust settled, she found herself muzzle-to-muzzle with a dark gray Sphinx, his red eyes narrowed angrily. His jet-black mane stuck up awkwardly from the tumble, and the hair of his tail seemed to mimic the shape of a scorpion’s stinger. His left ear was missing from the middle up, and his right eye seemed somewhat paler than the other.

“What’s one of your kind doing in Hisan-Bass?” The Sphinx growled.

“M-my kind?” Twilight stammered, struggling to her hooves, “what do you mean?”

“Your kind,” the Sphinx hissed, “the plain-walkers, the magic-bearers, the four-hooves; the Scarab Desert has stayed out of your bounds for so long you can’t wait to have it back. What, here to take a little bit more of the desert for yourselves? I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Sandwing soared down from the dune she had been standing on, growling and bristling as she stared down the other Sphinx. “Onyxclaw, she’s here on royal business, something you would know nothing about.”

“Oh, Sandwing, you wound me,” he pressed a paw to his chest in mock agony, bowing slightly. “What, did the real Desert Folk not let you play with them again?”

Sandwing huffed, tapping Twilight’s shoulder with her wing. “Let him be. He’s not worth his pelt.”

“My name is Onyxclaw,” the other Sphinx interrupted, taking one of Twilight’s hooves in his claws. “Next in line for the throne. Please, call me Mord.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle. Call me Twilight.”

Twilight awkwardly shook his paw while Sandwing rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the throne of the Moonlight District.”

“Moonlight District?” Twilight asked, glancing between the two Sphinx.

“Some Sphinxes are nocturnal, while some are diurnal. The Districts of Hisan-Bass are divided so that each time frame works independently. The Daylight District is this one,” Sandwing waved a paw at the general surroundings, “while the Moonlight District opens at sundown and is full of the Wingless.”

“Wingless?” Twilight questioned, prepping her quill against the scroll she had been scribbling hastily upon.

Mord rolled his eyes, turning sideways to display a row of feathers from his shoulders to his flank where his wings should be settled. “Wingless,” he clarified, “are Sphinx who develop in bad conditions; drought, extreme heat or malnurishment. The development of our wings is stunted, or does not occur at all. The Wingless are no less honorable than the winged, but we are treated like mud when outside of the Night District.

“Now, Sandwing and... grass-eater, I must be going. I have people to meet and places to be.” With a somewhat hesitant nod towards Twilight, he turned and vanished into the crowd.

"That was rude," Spike huffed.

"Rude is something Onyxclaw does very well," Sandwing agreed.

Twilight frowned. "He didn't seem that bad."

Her companions gave her confused looks, but Sandwing quickly turned away and gestured towards the oasis. "It looks like the kits are out again today. Wanna go see them?"

Twilight nodded, lifting Spike onto her back as the two set off. "Why wouldn't they be out?"

"Oh, it's not some conspiracy or anything. Sometimes the sun is just too hot for them, since they aren't fully grown. Come on, I'd sure they'd love to play with a Folk instead of a Sphinx!"

Sandwing flapped her wings and suddenly shot into the air, leaving Twilight gaping up at her from the sand.

"It's a thermal, four-hooves! I'll teach you how to ride them later!" The Sphinx flicked up the corners of her wings and dove towards the center of the city.

"Wait up!" Twilight broke into a gallop, sliding around the shopping ponies - though not always on purpose - after her guide.

The brown Sphinx dipped towards the ground, landing with practiced ease where the sand gave way to a narrow circle of stone, dividing the city and the oasis with gray rock. Twilight stopped on the stone band, taking a moment to relax where her hooves could grip. Sandwing grinned, the forelock of her mane shading her eyes.

"Looks like they've just got here. They haven't passed out yet," Sandwing laughed.

Twilight looked through the crowd, seeing - and hearing - many smaller, thinner Sphinxes playing among the older ones. There seemed to be about five of them, each a different color.

"The blue one is Airy Tailwind, a Priestess in training. The dark blue is Thunderpaw, who wants to be a racer when he grows up," Sandwing pointed out the two, and continued on, "the orange one is Sunbeam, and is the younger sister of the yellow one, Dustfur."

Dustfur appeared to be nearly an adult, but still darted around with the others. As the three children closed in on her, she backed up and took off to the air with a single stroke of her wings, only staying airborne to pass cleanly over Twilight and Sandwing's heads before landing back on the sand. Twilight watched as the three others pumped their wings furiously, half-floating on thermals as they drifted awkwardly after.

"Wasn't there another one?" Twilight asked, looking back at Sandwing.

"Uh, yes, but Ashcoat-"

"Oof!"

Twilight stumbled, tipping Spike off her back, as a small gray child ran into her legs, his own legs giving out at the impact and dropping him to the ground. He appeared to be much smaller than the others, and his tiny wings draped awkwardly over the sand that they had failed to lift him from. He slowly got back to his feet, shaking sand out of his dark gray mane and rubbing it out of one of his eyes. The other, she noticed, was covered by a red bandana.

"Ashcoat sometimes has a little trouble keeping up," Sandwing finished, her voice taking on a startlingly pitiful tone.

Onyxclaw's dark shape shouldered free of the crowd, running towards the three ponies with his eyes narrowed. Twilight quickly lit her horn and prepared to fire off a simple blinding spell, but Sandwing opened a wing in front of her face and blocked the light.

Mord Onyxclaw's bright red eyes stared daggers into Twilight's own as Sandwing lowered her wing. He stretched out a paw and swept Ashcoat towards himself, pressing the boy up against his other leg.

"You hurt him," he rumbled. "First you walk into our city, and then you harm our young?"

"I didn't do anything!" Twilight protested, "he ran into me!"

"And you don't even take any of the blame for your inability to get out of places you shouldn't be in? Oh, I should have guessed. Ashcoat, we're leaving."

"Yes, big brother," the little one replied, digging his claws into his brother's pelt and hauling himself up to his back. Ashcoat settled quite comfortably between Onyxclaw's shoulders, lying down and draping a paw through the line of gray feathers.

"Now, grass-eater, you should get to meeting the Pharaoh," he glanced up at the sun, "before I voice my grievances instead."

He glared at her for a second longer before turning and shouldering his way back into the crowd. Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Don't mind him," Sandwing muttered, "he doesn't have a nice bone in his body."

"What a jerk," Spike muttered, climbing up Twilight's foreleg. "Who died and made him Sombra?"

"Don't talk like that, Spike. I'm sure he's nice sometimes."

Spike rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because you're the Princess and you have to be nice."

"It wouldn't kill you to do the same," Twilight replied.

"Uh, guys?" Sandwing interrupted, wincing slightly as the two cast her irritated looks, "he did have a point. Bloodfeather will be expecting you by now."

Twilight snorted, looking back over her shoulder where Mord has disappeared into the crowd. "Lead the way."

Comments

[The Accursed One]

This was a good chapter. Also, let it be known that I am predicting that Sandwing teaches Twilight about flying, and that they adventure through trap-filled pyramids. If I am wrong, I apologize for my failed predictions, people who read this comment.
Edit: I also can't say the city's name without sounding like a snake. Maybe sentient snakes lived there before the Sphinxes got to the city! xD

[Siiver7]

Kinda a bit "in your face" introducing so many characters a once for me, but not bad!

Just personal thing, listened to this while reading. At the rate I was reading, it was paced PERFECTLY with the story.

[Christovski]

"Who died and made him Sombra?" classic. xD

Definitely digging the story so far, looking forward to more of this one

[Sylentmana]

I'm curious as to how the city's name is pronounced. I can't help but feel I'm pronouncing it wrong.

[canonkiller]

2964008
You say that like I know how to pronounce it!

[Sylentmana]

2980683
You wrote it, man

[canonkiller]

2982236
Technicalities. It's phonetic Arabic for cat-horse. Or horse-cat, I can't remember the order.

[Sphinx_Herald]

Needless to say, I might be a bit late, but I just found this and figured I might as well comment every so often. I like the story as of yet (wonder why.), keep up the good work.