The Shattered Heart

Some Days Later

Sand awoke from yet another fitful night's sleep, cotton-headed and lead-hooved. Rubbing her eyes, she saw Sunburst striking a rock against the rails. Then the rock shattered, and Sunburst shrieked, and Sand jumped.

“Oh, you're awake! G'mornin', Sands! A little help, please?” She motioned to a pile of hay by the rails.

Sand plodded over, lowered her horn, and ignited the hay with a spark.

Soon after, Sand and Sunburst sat around a crackling fire. As they had walked over the past few days, the scene around them had changed. From gently undulating waves of familiar white sand, the two travelers now found themselves amidst an endless, whispering crowd of tall red sandstone outcroppings, given voice by the desert wind that poured between them and over the chalky, rocky hills that they stood on.

Sand sat, sketching the features around her in her thick bound journal.

“Hay meal?” Sunburst offered, a steaming bowl in her hooves. Sand accepted, mechanically, with a nod of thanks. “So, how far've we still got?”

Without turning from her work, “By my estimate, we are a still a couple of days south of Applewood-Los-Pegasus. We'll stop there for a bit, and then it will be another week's walk to Ponyville.”

After the two had finished eating, they strapped themselves back into their harnesses and continued in their meandering path through the rock field. Sand watched idly as motes of powdery clay swirled in a sedate dance low above the ground. Then, a few grains of sand joined the dance. Soon, whispers became murmurs and a few pebbles joined in as well.

Sand looked about with growing unease as small rocks clacked off of her hooves. Then even larger stones joined the dance, rolling or skittering in arcs across the ground. A murmur became a wail, and then the dance was not so sedate anymore.

“Sandstorm!” Sand shouted.

"W-what do we do?"

"I ... don't ... know ! " It was hard to breathe and impossible to see, as searing sand rushed into eyes and lungs.

"Let's ... just keep going. The storm has to end somewhere!"

Heads down and eyes squeezed shut, the two forced their way forward, their pace slowed to a crawl.

"Scrying spell!" Sunburst screamed.

"Scr -- of course!" Sand's horn glowed and she knew which way to go.

But then a wail became a shriek. The storm tore rough chunks from the sandstone outcroppings, such was its intensity. Some thudded or skipped on the ground, missing heads and hooves by inches. Others smashed into yet more outcroppings and shattered, adding to the barrage. Peals of thunder became audible through the howling gale and the scent of ozone filled the air.

The storm no longer merely chafed. It scythed, shearing off patches of coat and nicking the skin beneath. Forced to raise a hoof to shield their faces, Sunburst and Sand were pushed to and fro, no longer able to maintain their footing or their advance.

A wheel gave. The cart lurched to one side before it dragged the two ponies along in its spinning tumble down a hill. Sunburst spread her wings on instinct as her hooves left the ground. A mistake. She was thrown back as they caught the wind; the yoke splintered, harness bindings snapped, and Sunburst and Sand were flung apart.

Then all went silent.

Everything burned. Sunburst sputtered, gasped, coughed up sand, as air rushed back into her lungs. Though her eyes still stung, her vision started to return. All around her, the detritus of the storm, the sky as clear as it had ever been. Deposits of lightning-fused glass, fragments and chunks of rough red rock, scattered splinters of wood. Sand and the rest of the cart, nowhere to be seen.

"Sand?" After a few failed attempts, Sunburst got shakily to her hooves. "SAND?" She looked around, then spread her win-- collapsed again in agony. Broken.

What felt like hours passed before Sunburst manage to stand again. She needed to find Sand. So, calling her friend's name, she searched and searched and searched and searched, until at length she came across what remained of the cart, but still no sign of Sand, and exhaustion overcame her and she collapsed once more.

Two options. One: go back home, organize a rescue. She had a few bits in her saddlebags and stored away at home. But that would take too long. Besides, as she searched the wreckage, she found that the jugs of water that they had brought had shattered. The trip back would be impossible.

Sand couldn't be ... Sand must have continued on to Applewood. Or someone from Applewood had found Sand. Either way, her choice was clear. They'd meet up there, Sand would be fine, and they'd decide on what to do next. If she ever wanted to fly again, she'd probably need to find a healer there too, and soon.