Asra sat quietly, watching two sphinx cubs attack his daughter. She, smaller than most sphinx cubs, was clearly at a disadvantage but he remained calm as he watched her swipe and pounce on her opponents. One cub cut her leg and she whimpered.

“No whimpering, child!” He scolded, watching her look up at him. “And don’t lose focus.” She jumped to the side just as another cub tried to tackle her. Watching them, he noticed he had company.

“Your daughter looks weak.” A female cooed, her tone mocking. He colors meant that one of the cubs must be hers. “Perhaps because you chose to mate a pony.”

“She isn’t weak.” He replied, not taking his eyes off his daughter. While she was small, she was a tough little thing and he wanted to see her overcome this as he knew she could.

“She’s more injured than the others.” A male pointed out, clearly gloating.

“Yet she still stands.” He retorted, ignoring the glare burning into his back. No, his focus was on his daughter, his Desert Moon. Perhaps after a few more training exercises, she would earn the right to a name.

***

Sphinx’s are fundamentally different creatures to Ponies. They are a race that values strength and cunning, which means their young must show themselves to be strong. Like lions, Sphinx’s often fight to draw blood and build bonds. Rarely does a cub die in combat but one must be wary since cunning can also result in death.

Asra, wanting to keep his daughter safe, treats her like a full sphinx, having her train in fights and other tasks. Her training might seem harsh to ponies but in the Sphinx lands, he’s pretty lenient. He has her hunt for her own food, shows her how to set traps to prevent night raids and makes her eat poisonous animals and plants to develop an immunity. All so she won’t get killed by those less kind than him.

Empress Luna is unaware of all this, trusting Asra to know what is best for their daughter. The fact that Des goes nameless for years until she has earned the right to have a name is also unknown to her. All she does know is that her daughter comes to her with a immunity to most poisons, scars and disturbing knowledge on how to incapacitate a creature with nothing more than a twig and nimble paw.