the borderlands [Lore] Painted Pinto Desert

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The Painted Pinto Desert - The Barren Expanse

 

The massive Painted Pinto Desert covers much of the western region of Greater Equestria. Well known for its severe conditions, it is considered to be one of the least habitable regions on the continent. Exceedingly difficult to traverse, the desert mostly serves as a buffer between Equestria and the Republic of Aquellia. Because of it, until the advent of reliable airship travel, trade and travel between the two nations was difficult to manage. Even now, the desert is not a region one should attempt to cross on hoof lightly.

 

The desert fills the very westernmost parts of Equestria, ending at the Tarpan Mountains which form the border with Aquellia. The Brambe Ranges of the Roughrider Ridge, meanwhile, serve as the eastern border of the Painted Pinto. The Badlands sit to the immediate north of the desert, while it expands to the south into the Saddleveil Plains. Aside from a few scattered oases, the terrain of the Painted Pinto is for the most part uniformly arid wasteland. The land is empty, dry and covered in sand and crushed rocks. Days are unbearably hot in the desert while the nights get freezing cold. Massive sandstorms are commonly seen moving across the land.

 

Little inhabits the Painted Pinto Desert. Plant life is limited to various species of cactuses, and wildlife is likewise quite meager as well. Virtually no ponies choose to call the region home, the closest settlement being the frontier town Appleloosa, which sits at the cusp of the desert where it meets the Saddleveil Plains. The region is, however, home to one major settlement: the city of Gaberott, the capital and largest population center of the diamond dog civilization, which sits against the Brambe Mountains and atop one of the deserts larger oases. Another diamond dog settlement can be found near the north Tarpans adjacent to another oasis and others can be found in the far south. In addition to this, the stampeding grounds of the buffalo tribes cuts through the southern parts of the desert.

 

Unlike other stretches of wilderness such as the Everfree Forest or the Soggalong Swamp, the Painted Pinto Desert offers few resources of use, especially in the open areas away from the mineral and gem rich mountains. As such, these days, most ponies who need to cross the region do so by air. Despite the very clear danger of the region, some ponies seeking thrills have come to make a sport of traversing the entire barren land, moving from oasis to oasis as they attempt to survive the journey north from Appleloosa all the way to the Badlands.

~Canterlot Research Journal