The sand burns and sizzles under the bare frogs of my hooves.

My armor glows, radiating the heat of the harsh sun.

Heat waves dance around me like vultures waiting to claim their prey.

But through it all, the heat, the sand, the burning sun, i smile.

You know why? Because not a single one of these ailments are affecting me right now.

“Dang Ender. You were right. If i didn't have this Hieratic armor on right now i'd probably being baking in these dunes.”

I chuckle a bit at my own fortune.

These searing dunes aren't going to be claiming THIS pony anytime soon.

“Yeah, it's also a good thing that one of the guards gave me this weathering charm before I left. I really should have thought about the climate before I chose this armor.” Ender says from beside me.

We’ve been travelling these dunes for the past five hours now, and haven't seen a single living thing since.

Unless you count the occasional cactus or [bouncing bush].

“Hey Ender.”

“Yes Vida?”

“Why do you think one of luna’s old proteges would just magically resurrect from the dead and start terrorizing a city? I mean, seriously, if that were the case wouldn't this place be shrouded in darkness?”

Ender turn to me and gives me, “The look”.

“Now Vida, that's some pretty biased thinking don't you think?”

I furrow my brows in confusion.

“Biased my ass, what about Luna?”

“What about Luna?” Ender asks. A little sternness in his voice.
I don't know, how about the fact that she tried plunging Equestria into eternal darkness?
Or that every other dark villain happens to have a fetish for bringing total darkness?

“Nothing…” I finally settle on saying.

Why is it so hard to win an argument with that stallion?
With any other pony I could just threaten them with a horrible painful death and be over with it.

But with Ender...why is he different?

I look over at the stallion in question, as he calmly trots along the sandy dunes. An objective clear in his eyes.

I look back straight ahead as we continue our trek.

We continue that way for a few more hours, talking all the way about what saddle Arabia's current “Predicament” will look like and how we plan to epically pone this new Villain.

I was just starting to piece together a good game plan when, suddenly, I feel a shift in the sand.

Immediately, sharp as a well honed blade, I stop talking and scan my surroundings.

“Vida? What is it-” Ender starts to say.

I quickly shush him.

I feel the sand shift again, my hooves sinking about an inch in the displaced sand.

I back up a few steps, Ender getting the message that something was wrong.

And then I finally catch it.

A large, rolling dune of sand moving in circles around us like a shark stalking it's prey.

With deadly intention, I crouch down and charge my horn.

An augmented magenta blaze engulfing it and sending shadows dancing around me.

The vibrations continue to grow until they congregate on one point.

Suddenly a huge Sand Worm bursts from the sand, heading straight for me.

In the blink of an eye I release my volatile payload right into the open maw of the giant monster.

It explodes with a concussive force, a cloud of sand being blown away in a powerful shockwave.

I lower my hoof from my face, where I had been shielding my face from sand, to see the monster gone.

...where the hell did it go!?

I look around frantically, searching for any sign of my would-be monster trophy.

Even if i don't get to hang it's head on my wall (In my underground trophy room) I could still use it's alchemical ingredients!

“Vida, Are you okay?” I hear Ender say.

“Yeah!” I shout out, now trying to find Ender in this haze of sediments.

I extend my magic and give a small pulse, quickly finding Ender...and the worm

The thing was quickly inching it's way over to the oblivious stallion.

“Ender! Shield up!” I shout out, quickly charging my horn.

“What, why??” he shouts back.

“Just do it!”

Ender doesn't question it a second time, instead he brings his shield bubble up.

And not a moment too late as a magenta bolt flies right by him, exploding a mere hoofs distance away.

Out of the explosion the worm bursts to the surface again, a large burn mark on it's side.

“SSSCCRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

It's powerful roar blows away the sand cloud that had gathered, and gives us a clear view of the gigantic monster.

It stands at least six stories, and is covered in row after row of thick plates.

It's maw is absolutely filled with sharp, pointy teeth. And an acidic looking soliva flows from it's mouth in a thick, gooey stream.

I take in it's appearance for a few more seconds, than smile.

“Thank you Faust!” I shout to the heavens above.

Than leap into the air Firing off a volley of magenta lasers.

This is exactly what i've been wanting, a giant deadly monster to hone my skills!

The worm screeches as it's shell is impacted with a stream of magic lasers.

As I land back on my hooves the worm takes a chance and whips its tail out.

The sand beneath me gives, and I am once again airborne as it tosses me into the sky with its tail.

I twist and turn in the air, then finally right myself in mid air.

Only to look down at an open and waiting maw.

“Oh fuc-”

The monster swallows me whole, a satisfied hum filling the air.

While Ender just stands there, wide eyed.

He drops his shield and aims his horn at the worm.

But he isn't thinking of just shooting it. No. Ender fires a single long ray at the worm.

In less than a second the worm is trapped in a huge seven story bubble.

It rages as it slams into the bubbles surface, but pauses when a single, steadily growing light appears in its body.

The next moment the worm is frantically beating against the dome, trying and failing to free itself before it-

BOOOOOOOMMMMMM

The entire dome lights up with a bright, blinding pink.

A silent quake shaking the sands beneath his hooves as his bubble absorbs the shockwave.
As soon as the light dies down, he drops the shield and gallops over to where it once was.

“Vida?” Ender calls out.

A loud puff catches his attention, and he turns to see me dragging myself out of a large hole in the ground.

“WOOO! Let's do that again!” I Shout. Just a tad drunk off of the nuclear amount of energy i just absorbed in a few split seconds.

I collapse on the smoldering sand, laughing my ass off.

“Damn that was awesome…*Huff*...You should totally try it some time.”

Ender trots up to me and helps me back to my hooves.

“Yeah...maybe when we're not trying to save the world. But right now we gotta get going again.
It's going to get dark soon and we're gonna have to continue on all night.”

Still giggling, I shakily make my way onto my hooves and look over at him with a goofy, unfocused grin.

“Oh come on buddy! Like the cold is gonna hurt us with these weather talismans.”

Ender just laughs at my antics and turns around to continue our journey, briefly pulling out a compass to right our path.

I don't really pay much attention to that, and just follow him out of the crater.

Wow. getting hit with this much energy at one time gets me more drunk then that party Vanilla Wafer threw a few weeks ago.

I shake the thought, and just continue to follow my awesome companion.

______________________________________________________________________________

Over the course of two more hours, and a seismic discharge into the sky, I feel a lot better.

At least as much as one can in a desert.

The sun is STILL blazing in the sky.

And were still walking.

“Ender i'm tired...can't we stop walking for five minutes?”

Ender looks back over at me, an amused grin on his face.

“I suppose so. We've been at it for...what? Nine hours? Yeah let's stop and get a drink.”

We both sit down and Ender searches through our bags for the canteens.

As soon as its in my hooves, I greedily gulp it down.

Reveling in the feeling of cool water trailing down my throat.

Sweet Faust, water has never tasted so good!

As I finish drinking I hoof the canteen back to Ender, and he puts it back in our bags.

Then gets back up, pulling out his compass.

“Whelp.Time to get going again!” Ender says cheerily.

I look over at him in disbelief. Mouth agape.

“You have got to be shitting me. That didn't even last five minutes.”

Ender looks back over at me. That amused grin still on his face.

“Well the quicker we get there, the quicker we can get back.
And i was thinking there was a little extra something I wanted to give you when we got back.”

The way he said that last bit sent pleasant shivers down my back.

“Oh really?” I saw, shooting my own grin back at him.

“Well Why didn't you say that before hoof you silly pony. In that case let's get going!”

We both chuckle a bit then continue on.

But before we can even take five steps I hear another sound, coming from far away.

A loud howl, like a raging wind.

Another one?

I turn to look in the distance, but what I see is something far worse than a giant worm.

No. In the distance I could see something I knew better than to underestimate.

A huge column of sand swirls in a raging vortex. Spanning at least a mile wide.

“Vida we've got to move. Now.”

I don't argue and, instead, turn and gallop off in the opposite direction as fast as my hooves could carry me.

Though the loud howling of the sandstorm only gets louder and louder.

I risk a glance behind me, and immediately regret it.

A giant rock, at least twenty by twenty wide, flies out of the vortex, heading straight for Ender.

Acting out of pure instinct I rush over and ram into Ender, sending us both sprawling out into the sand as the giant rock impacts just where Ender just was.

“Ender are you okay!?” I shout, the wind having picked up in those few short seconds.

“Yeah! Let's get out of here. Quick!”

Ender makes to get up but finds his hooves slipping from beneath him.

I try to help him back up, but I too slip off my hooves.

We both quickly look behind us, at the sand being sucked towards the huge wall of wind now mere yards away from use like a vacuum

Thinking quickly, and running on seconds of time, Ender makes one last ditch effort to avoid being swallowed by the storm.

His horn glows a bright green, surrounding both of us as we gaze into the wall of destruction.

Just before the vortex hits us I see a green dome start to form around me then…

Author's Note

R.I.P. giant sand wurm, your death shall totally be in vein.