Chapters Sandy Scroll awoke to the sound of rusted bells – not so much a chime as a series of dull, metallic thunks in the distance – and was greeted by the familiar scents of dust and ash and centuries-old paper. She rubbed a beige hoof against her aching temple and shivered at the frigid draft that blew through the window in front of her; the fire on her hearth must have died while she had slept, and it had been ages since Appleoosa had last produced glass with which to ward off the winter winds.
Sand lifted her head from her desk and glanced outside. It was dawn, and it was dusk, just as it had been for every hour of every day for as long as anypony could remember. According to the town's clock-tower, however, it was ten.
AM or PM? The makeshift day-or-night sign that hung just below the clock’s face was not visible from Sand’s house behind the tower. She could not remember falling asleep but the current hour, coupled with the throbbing pain in her skull, suggested that she had worked all through the previous “night” and possibly through a good part of the following “day”.
Sitting up, Sand looked over the items strewn before her: a component from a locomotive boiler, caked with rust on one side and soot on the other; a number of faded pamphlets printed with timetables, lists of stops, and maps of the former Equestrian train system; sketches and written descriptions cataloging these and other artifacts that Sand had acquired on her latest scavenging trip along the rail lines leading out of Appleoosa.
The boiler part was unlikely to be of much interest to Sand's fellow townsponies, but would be a welcome addition to her personal collection. Most of the other trinkets, she figured, would fetch a decent price at the market. The pamphlets, on the other hoof, were more valuable than any number of bits -- as were all written works from Old Equestria, however minor. Indeed, if Sand had had her way, none of these items would be for sale; the idea of trading irreplaceable relics for mere coin had never sat well with her. Yet, every mare needs to eat, and so compromises had been made.
Grumble Rumble Grumble
Speaking of food, though, Sand couldn't recall when she had last eaten. Certainly not within the previous day. Sand staggered to her hooves and made her way to the pantry. Empty. She turned to her fireplace. All out of fuel, too. Just great.
She’d have no choice but to make another trip to the town market; without a fire, the light that Sand received through her window was insufficient for any serious reading or writing.
Sand stepped out into the snow-carpeted alleyway, saddlebags at her sides and cloak on her back, and basked for a moment in the reds and yellows and purples and other twilight colors that painted the naked woodwork around her. If you believed in certain pony-tales, there had been a time some centuries or millennia back when the sun and moon moved through the heavens -- one cycle every twenty-four hours, hence the modern clock cycle. The sky had been blue, and presumably so had been everything else. If true, that must have been a downright, well, blue world to live in.
Sand, for her part, was skeptical. While written works from that time period were plentiful, she knew of none that explicitly described the sun and moon, or the princesses who were said to control them. Although, given that Sand's collection consisted only of what she had been able to scrounge up in her trips around the immediate Appleoosa area (the town didn't have, and had never had, a public library), that wasn't saying much.
Trotting along the frozen dirt path that lead to the market, Sand could first make out the low buzz of scattered conversation, and then the clamor of vendors packing up for the night. PM it was, then.
Eventually, a ring of crude wooden stalls came into view, tattered canvas canopies fluttering in a light breeze. In a different time, those fabrics might have been adorned with brightly colored stripes and checkers; now, faded dyes blended into indistinct patterns, all in one shade of grey or another. As she entered the market, Sand saw a few salesponies who were only just starting to close up for the night.
"Hi Hayseed. I'm really sorry about this, but I lost track of time last night and now I'm all out of --"
Hayseed pointed a hoof at the clock face above.
"Yes, I know the store closes at ten, but you still have everything out. Couldn't we --"
"Closing time's ten, and that's that. If ya wanna buy something, come back tomorrow."
"But --"
"Ten. O'clock."
Ignoring Sand's further attempts at communication, Hayseed returned to her packing. The conversations with the other vendors proceeded in much the same way.
If you believed those same pony-tales, there had been a time when ponies lived in "harmony." Ponies would go out of their way to help even complete strangers when there was naught to be gained -- to say nothing of decades-long acquaintances when there was profit to be had. Sand could think of only one pony who might be called "harmonious." Though, Appleoosa was a small town and the only one Sand had ever lived in, so that probably said little of the current state of Equestria at large.
“Heya Sands!” A bright yellow pegasus mare with an orange mane flew over from across the market.
“Oh, hi Sunburst.”
“Lemme guess. 'Nother all-night all-day scribblin' session?”
“Um. Hehe. Yeah.”
“And you haven't bothered to eat, haven't checked your pantry in days. Found it empty, then came over here after closing time and couldn't buy anything again.”
“Well, ye -- wait, what do you mean 'again'?”
Sunburst stared at Sand for a moment, one eyebrow raised. “Again. Like that one time two months ago. Or that time last winter. Or three weeks ago. Really, Sand, this happens all the time.”
“I guess I do get carried away, on occasion. But when you've got your hooves on a Fillydelphian-made arcano-combustive locomotive engine, or a preclassical Pegasopolian manuscript, well, who could possibly resist? You know, just earlier this week I found a --”
“Yes, it's all very interesting, but you really need to take better care of yourself. At least one meal a day. Please. Now, c'mon. My place.” Sunburst gestured with a foreleg.
For dinner was piping hot hay stew, garnished with fresh hay; with sides of crispy hay fries; tender hay-loaf; and various other hay-based dishes. Despite its rather suggestive name, Appleoosa did not produce many apples these days – or much of any other food crop, for that matter: too much effort for too little result. A pony could subsist her entire life on nothing but hay, and so hay it was for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“So, what did you find on your last outing?” Sunburst shoveled a final load of hay into the roaring fireplace behind her before sitting down across from Sand.
“Oh, you've got to see this, Sunny!” Sand levitated one of the pamphlets from her saddlebag and spread it across the table. “It's a map of all of Equestria! From here in Appleoosa, to Ponyville, Canterlot, Baltimare, even somewhere called the 'Crystal Empire'. Hundreds of years old, and in pristine condition too! I was quite surprised to find these out in the open, but I guess since the train was a little further out than my normal sites …”
“Wow, this is amaz ...” Sunburst grew silent as she examined the map, a pensive look on her face. A few seconds later, though, she shot into the air, effusive as ever. “Oh my gosh, I just had the greatest idea ever! There've gotta still be ponies living in these places, right? And now we know exactly where all those tracks lead. Let's go somewhere – we'll just follow the tracks and there's no way we can get lost!”
"Hmm. There was supposed to be a grand library in Ponyville. The greatest ever built, from what I've heard. And the Canterlot archives in, well Canterlot." Who knew what other buried secrets and hidden truths awaited her out there?
Sandy Scroll thought for a moment. Appleoosa was the only home she had ever known. She'd never wandered more than a few hours' walk from town, and the journey to the next closest settlement would take a full week; Ponyville, at least two. But then she looked to her side. A tattered coil of yellowed paper, peeking above the desert ground -- an indelible mark on her body and on her soul. Was this not what she lived for -- her very reason for being?
Appleoosa and its surroundings had already yielded what secrets they would -- there was little left for her here, no real decision to be made.
Sandy Scroll thought for only a moment.
"I'm in."
Tap Tap Bzzz Wrrr Knock Tap Tap Tap ...
Just outside her thatched cottage, Sunburst flitted through the air -- hammering here, sawing there, and making a general ruckus as she worked her repair.
"Hey Sands!" Sunburst waved, hammer in hoof and grin on face, as her friend trudged into view through the snow. "Beautiful aurora today, huh?"
Sand glanced up at the shimmering cyan streak that cleaved the sky into its dusky and dawnlike halves. "Looks ... the same way it always does."
"And it's always as beautiful as ever!" said Sunburst as she returned to her manic work.
Creak Tap Wffff Crak Whump Knock ...
Sunburst often claimed that her special talent was "everything under the sun." And that was not necessarily a lie: given that the sun -- both in the sky and on Sunburst's flank -- rested at the horizon, her statement could be interpreted in a number of ways. It was thus with some trepidation that Sand eyed the object of Sunburst's current ministrations -- at least until the stream of wooden shrapnel thrown about by the carpentry frenzy forced her to turn away.
Crunch Thwack Wrrrr Whap Bzzzz ...
"I don't think woodwork is supposed to produce so much sawdust. You might want to slow down a little." Sand shouted over the din, a foreleg shielding her face.
"Nonsense! Can't fix a cart without chippin' a few planks!"
Sunburst giggled at her own quip, and the two friends lapsed into a companionable silence -- bar, of course, the ear-splitting racket that continued to fill the air around them.
Tap Tap Thud Tap Ding Ding Ding
"All Done!" Sunburst landed, wiping the sweat off her brow.
Sand lowered her foreleg and approached the cart. It was rugged and utilitarian -- a wooden box on a pair of wheels, with harnesses for two ponies side by side.
She ran a hoof along the yoke. "Wow Sunburst, this will be perfect for --"
Ouch! Splinters! Lots and lots of splinters.
"Um, I mean, I can see you've put a lot of effort into this, Sunburst. Where did you get it, anyway?" Sand turned to hide her bleeding hoof.
"Oh, well, after you came by last night and we had that awesome idea, I remembered that ol' Hayseed Senior's cart broke down a couple months back when I was helpin' him with the harvest. So, figured he might still have it around somewhere. Offered to buy it off him, and here we are!"
"It'll be invaluable on our trip, that's for sure! Just, do you think you could file it down a little?"
"Huh?"
"It's just that the edges look a little rough. Somepony might get a splinter."
Sunburst often accompanied Sand on her scavenging trips outside Appleloosa, which on occasion lasted for several days. Thus, as was her custom, Sunburst made her rounds around town, saying her goodbyes to her family and "friends."
"Hi Mom. Sand and I are going hunting again. Be a few weeks this time."
"Mhmm."
"Seeya later, Mom!"
And, as Sunburst was accustomed to, her family and "friends" would, without turning from their work, respond with a grunt of acknowledgement, if they deigned to respond at all.
"I don't see why you even bother. Everypony in town does that, every time." Sand trotted up to Sunburst, garbed in her winter gear and already strapped into one of the cart's now splinter-free harnesses.
"Oh, they're all just busy ponies. 'Sides, it's what I'd want 'em to do if they were leaving for a while. Anyway, all packed?"
Sand stared at her friend for a moment."Yep. I picked up the hay you ordered, and lots of water -- more than enough to get us to Ponyville and back. Plenty of quills, ink, and paper to document anything we can't bring back with us. Saddlebags, in the event that we have to leave the cart for a bit. Some clothes, too. I've also brought your toolbox, just, um, in case the cart requires further repair on the road. Can you think of anything else?"
"Nope! You've covered everything we could possibly need!"
"So, ready to go, then?"
Sunburst strapped herself into the harness beside Sand, before throwing a foreleg over her friend's shoulder.
"Ready!"
Sunburst and Sand walked through the fallow fields that surrounded Appleoosa, flanked by purples to the east and oranges to the west, shimmering aurora above their heads and rusted rails by their sides and naught in their ears but the crunch of hooves on snow and the creak of wood against wood.
"Sunburst?"
"Yep?"
"Why did you suggest this?
"What do ya mean?"
"Yesterday, when you suggested that we go traveling. I mean, I don't think I need to explain to you why I decided to come. But what is is that you are looking for out here?"
A few seconds of silence. Then, "You're a smart pony, Sand. You'd've come up with the same idea, sooner or later."
A few more steps forward, before the cart ground to a halt. Sunburst turned to Sand, a quizzical look on her face.
"You didn't actually answer my question," said Sand.
Sunburst sighed, head lowered and ears pinned. And was that worry writ upon her face? "Please, Sand, I'd really rather not --"
Sand wrapped her friend in a hug -- the only response she could think of. "Come on, Sunburst. What's gotten into you?"
She pawed at the snow for a few seconds. "You found those maps, and it was only a matter of time before you had the same idea I did. And, no question about it, you'd go, no stopping you. Maybe even alone. I just ... needed to make sure I was there when it happened."
"What? You know I'd have asked you along before I went on a trip like this. And even if I didn't, what's the big deal? I go scavenging on my own all the time!"
"And what if you didn't come back?"
Sand retracted her head, confused. "Why wouldn't I come back? I've never gotten into trouble out here -- I've always come back!"
"I know, Sand. But don't you think there's a reason nopony's ever visited Appleoosa? It's like you said, there was a huge library in Ponyville. They'd have maps too, so why haven't we seen any of them?"
Sand processed this for a moment, then froze, her eyes wide. "I - you - why didn't you bring this up earlier? I hadn't even considered that!"
"Would ... you like to turn back? It's not too late." Sunburst motioned to the town still not far behind.
Sand stomped a hoof, her voice resolute despite its tremor. "Of course not." Then it softened. "Although, I would not blame you if you did choose to return home. I would hate for you to get hurt on my reckless treasure hunt."
"There's your answer, Sand -- I know you, and bringing it up earlier wouldn't have changed a thing." Then Sunburst returned Sand's hug, doubly tight, a grin once again plastered on her face. "And no, ya aren't gonna get rid of me that easily."
In warmer months, these fields would bristle with waves of rustling golden hay, far as the eye could see; now at the edge of Appleoosa's farmland, Sunburst and Sand walked past those few bales, silent and still and grey, that had not yet been rolled in to feed the town. Then, all within a hundred paces, the crunch of hoofsteps became the clack of hoofsteps became the squelch of hoofsteps; as snowy fields gave way to frozen barrens, gave way to grainy muddy soil, and the seasonal magic of Appleoosa's pegasi gave way to the wild magic of the land.
Then finally, back to the crunch of hoofsteps on white as they found themselves on the slow-shifting sands of the San Palomino desert, cool breeze in their manes.
Not long after Appleloosa faded from sight beneath the dunes, Sunburst turned to Sand.
"Hey Sands, that where ya found those maps?" She inclined her head. On its side in a depression by the rails, surrounded by piles of freshly dug sand, a dull-grey train engine lay -- long since flayed of paint by the desert winds, yet untouched by rust or rot.
At Sand's nod, "What do ya think happened to it?"
"Well, the train looked mostly intact, except for a few dents on the side it fell on, so it probably wasn't moving when it fell over. And although you can't see them -- they're still buried under the sand -- the carriages were empty. No, um, ponies in them." Sand gestured at the mound trailing from the depression -- Sunburst had assumed it was just another dune.
"So, my guess is that it just ... broke down on the rails. The ponies inside abandoned it, and it tipped over at some later point -- desert sandstorms, while quite rare in the San Palomino, can be extremely powerful when they do happen. Or maybe the ponies from the next train removed it so they could pass, and just left it there to gather dust. I don't know."
The two friends stood, heads bowed, silent, solemn, paying their respects to the venerable machine.
Then, Sunburst and Sand continued on their way -- joking and reminiscing and laughing as they walked to pass the time.
Hours later, Sunburst leaned against Sand, her eyes heavy and her legs wobbling beneath her.
"Say, d'ya know how long we've been out here for? Might be 'bout time to settle down for the night," she yawned.
Sand screwed her eyes shut in concentration, her horn aglow, "Hold on. Let me do a quick scry."
When she turned back to Sunburst, her ears were flat against her head. "We've never been this far from town before. I can't see the clocktower from here."
As she lay at Sunburst's side, Sand could not help but stare south, to where Appleoosa should have been. And though she had spent many a night on these desert sands, this time Sand did not feel at home.
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.
