Twilight Sparkle stood in the middle of a vast desert.
All around her, sand and more sand, far as the eye can see, rising and falling in great dunes. Far above her, in a milky white sky, a bright yellow sun blazed down upon the empty, lifeless world. Beyond that, nothing could be seen – not a cactus, not a creature. Only a single unicorn, staring blankly off into the distance.
Twilight frowned, trotting forward. Where is everypony? she thought to herself. I don't remember ever being out in a desert before. The plains surrounding Appaloosa were as close as it got to an actual desert. What on earth is going on? she continued trotting straight along, yet after a short time received the impression that she was going nowhere. Sand dunes far behind her vanished into nothingness; sand dunes far ahead of her materialized into existence. Wherever she was, she was not likely to find an exit quickly.
It’s certainly peaceful out here, she thought to herself as she continued straight up the side of a large sand dune. I remember reading that deserts aren't typically teeming with life, but I should find something out in the middle of this wasteland... right? She reached the top of the dune, and stopped. I don't get it. One friend or another needed my help all day today – Rarity needed me to try on a dress, Fluttershy needed my magic to help splint a fox’s broken leg, Rainbow Dash wanted me to create a wind tunnel for flying practice… I'd been so tired by the time I finished. I didn't overexert myself, did I? I've heard tales of unicorns sometimes losing brief control of their magic after lengthy periods of mental or physical exertion... but I don't think I worked myself that hard...
At the moment, Twilight's hoof slipped on shifting sand, sending her sprawling forward, tumbling down the side of the dune end over end in a series of pained grunts and flying sand. She finally landed in a heap at the base of the great dune, spitting coarse grains of sand out of her mouth.
"Blech! I wasn't even moving! I guess I should've--"
She turned around, facing the dune behind her.
Her mouth dropped in surprise. "Been more... careful?"
The entire sand dune now was sliding, shifting, spilling downward into the surrounding rifts. Twilight backed up, wondering for a moment if she'd somehow triggered some kind of sandy avalanche. But no... no, that wasn't right. Instead of stopping at the bottom of the slope, the sand continued moving, gathering together into blocks of what looked like hooves. Several hooves, in fact. From her point of view, Twilight could see four large hooves of sand all stretching out towards her. Instead of forming some sort of sand pony, however, grains of sand coalesced into one shorter, fatter hoof stretching away to her right. All five hooves attached themselves to what appeared to be a great arm, leading upwards and upwards and...
Twilight's horn immediately glowed a bright purple. Twilight herself vanished in a flash of light, reappearing in an eyeblink several dunes away. Having put herself out of immediate danger, she turned to further analyze whatever was happening... yet instead of seeing the monstrous, sandy form in its entirety, Twilight found herself facing a a vast cloud of sand, smashed upwards into the sky by the pummeling of a gigantic fist. A second colossal arm moved back, then careened forward into the next immediate sand dune, smashing the entire hill to pieces. Thousands of pounds of sand flew towards Twilight's location. Twilight gasped. Levitating large, solid objects, but millions of miniature grains of sand was a far more difficult task.
Without weighing the consequences of her next magic trick, she called forth a strong breeze, whipping ahead of her to stop the flying mounds of sand. The breeze succeeded in slowing down the mounds of flying sand, sending them crashing to the earth well short of her position... but it also picked up chunks of sand behind Twilight, pelting her roughly from behind, throwing her forward over the edge of the dune, sprawling in the rift below, buried by the windswept sand.
Twilight dug frantically at the shifting sands, trying to figure out how to escape the mound, hardly certain which way would lead her to the surface and fresh air. All she registered was the fact that sand one way was easier to force aside. She wriggled her body onward, fighting towards the surface, not certain what would await her when she escaped...
The next thing she knew, Twilight popped out of the makeshift burial mound, gasping for breath. Now, however, the world had turned pitch black around her. Tentatively, she set a hoof forward... wherever all the sand had gone, it wasn't here anymore. Strangely, somehow, she had emerged onto a hard, stony floor.
"Where am I...?"
Darkness was hardly a problem to a pony’s eyesight, much less a unicorn’s. Twilight’s horn exuded a violet aura for a second before a beam of light shot outward like a flashlight, piercing the darkness. Twilight appeared to be standing in a dark cave, its floor littered with sparkling sand. The cave appeared dry, the air musty, as though no living thing had been here for years… perhaps centuries. Much to Twilight’s surprise, the ceiling was solid stone – no trace remained of the desert, or of the unseen colossus. The only thing remarkable about this cavern was the lone tunnel opening forward, leading further into deep darkness.
Twilight sighed irritably. This situation was getting rather ridiculous. She'd been mysteriously teleported, attacked, then teleported again without any explanation why. Was this supposed to be some kind of nightmare? If so, she would have appreciated running from a horde of book-eating termites. There, terrifying though her nightmare was, at least Twilight could comprehend what was happening, consider whether to fight or flee, and at the end of the dream waking up believing she was either covered in the blood of her most hated foes or the sweat of her brow from galloping so hard. So far, this series of events made no sense to her whatsoever.
A now frustrated Twilight looked down the only path available to her, and began trotting forward. No sound could be heard throughout the lengthy cavern corridor save the sound of her hooves striking stone and sand. On and on she trotted, soon losing track of how far she had come. Still no sign of change – just a long, barren tunnel.
I wonder... how far am I from home? Did anypony else get caught up in all this, or is it just me? If it's just me, then why is it just me?
She stopped, ears twitching. She thought she heard something... a faint thud off in the distance. Something striking stone.
“Hello?” she asked loudly.
"Hellolololololo?" her echo replied, bouncing endlessly off the walls, shooting off into the blackness. Beyond that, Twilight received no response, save a heavy silence settling in around her. Twilight stopped, feeling slightly unnerved. Was there something else in this cave? Whatever it was, it wasn't talking. Was it friendly? She wasn't sure she really wanted to find out. Nevertheless, she needed to keep moving...
"Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?" The echo rocketed off the stony walls, ambushing Twilight from behind. She jumped in alarm at the sound passing her off into the darkness. It sounded as if two different ponies talked simultaneously - one a mare, the other a stallion. The voices blended together, giving Twilight some difficulty in telling either voice apart. Nevertheless, it gave her a sense of relief - finally, someone to talk to!
"Heyyyyyy!" She replied eagerly back down the cavern, letting the sound echo off the walls. She waited a moment... and then another. And another. Only silence greeted her once again. Twilight began to wonder why the other speaker hadn't responded. Were they alright? Did they disappear just as suddenly as she had appeared here?
Twilight began to walk back to where she had started when she heard something… a rustle. A continuous, faint hiss, as though something was pouring into the cave. Frowning, she paused, listening intently.
Moments later, she could hear the hiss steadily growing louder. Sand. Tons and tons of it.
Instinct kicked in. She turned back around, and bolted in terror. Slowly but steadily, the hiss turned into a roar of sand rapidly flooding the tunnel behind her. On and on Twilight ran, breathing heavily, putting every ounce of strength into her legs. The ground began sloping downwards, leading her down a lengthy incline…
Twilight barely had time to register a rapidly approaching cliff before skidding to a halt, teetering on the precipice for an instant before pulling herself back from a yawning, dark abyss and regaining her balance, heart pounding, eyes wide open. Behind her, the roar of sand was growing steadily louder… now mixed with the sound of an actual roar coming from somewhere within the sand.
Ohhhh! Come on! There’s got to be a way forward! I need more light!
Fortunately, in a real, life-or-death crisis, Twilight Sparkle was the last unicorn to lose her head. Pouring more magic into her horn, her light beam intensified.
“Wait… ah ha!”
Not far in the distance, Twilight could make out an old rope ladder hanging from the ceiling of the cavern. It looked somewhat decayed from countless years of misuse. What a ladder was doing here, Twilight could only guess… but it presented an avenue of escape.
Sand trickled around Twilight’s hooves now, the flow rapidly increasing around her. The roar of a monster was unmistakable now, echoing off the cavern walls, charging ahead of the flooding sands.
Twilight backed up. The ground was a bit slippery, but she remained able to keep her footing. She’d need it for this jump… the ladder was still far away.
Her horn glowed brightly, tugging at the bottom of the ladder, pulling it in her direction, making sure it was pulled forward as far as it would go.
She tensed… then charged forward across the shifting sands, bracing for one great leap. For a split second, her left front hoof slipped on the trickling sand, and Twilight felt her heart leap into her throat... still she kept her cool, and somehow, with a split second to spare, regained balance just in time for a great leap across the chasm, teeth outstretched, snagging the bottom rung and swinging away from the ledge. Reaching up with her hooves, she managed to climb several rungs. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe.
“RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHH!!!”
Twilight gasped, clinging tightly to the ladder, visibly trembling. What manner of monster could travel so quickly inside a flood of sand? She slowly turned her head back to the ledge, scanning the darkness before her... but all she could see was a river of sand flooding down from the cliff into the black abyss below in a vast, unending torrent. For a brief instant, she thought she could glimpse something sticking out of the sand as it cascaded over the edge... but it was too far away to tell for certain.
Twilight just stared at the flowing sand, mind whirring. From her vantage point, she was safe. What is this? Something was definitely hiding in all that sand. What kind of creature controls it? Whatever it is, it can't seem to reach me here... but how do I get down? She looked around herself, no longer paying attention to the river. Unfortunately, no safe patch of ground could be seen. Save for the ladder and the river, all the remained of the cavern was endless deep darkness...
“Twilight Sparkle! Make haste! Jump onto my back!”
Twilight snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Princess Luna!?"
Suddenly, dramatically enough to make Twilight instinctively cling tightly to the ladder, Princess Luna emerged from the blackness, flapping her large, navy blue wings, now hovering alongside.
"Hurry, Twilight Sparkle! Climb onto my back!"
Twilight stared for an instant, wondering how on earth the Princess managed to find her way out here... but after all that happened to her in the last thirty minutes or so, what was one more question? At least now she'd finally receive some answers. Pausing and tensing herself, Twilight let go of the ladder, falling only a couple feet before landing on Luna's back. Luna dipped for a second before righting herself, turning around and flying deeper into the vast cavern, leaving the river behind.
"What's going on?" Twilight immediately demanded. "Why are you here? How did you find me?" Her mouth struggled as several dozen different questions all fought for her immediate attention. "What was in that--"
"Patience, Twilight, patience," Luna replied. "Tell me what happened."
"Well, first I was in the middle of a desert for no apparent reason. Then I was attacked by some monstrous pile of sand - I couldn't get a good look at its body. Then I wound up in this cavern, and the next thing I know I'm here." She paused. "Come to think of it, where did that ladder come from? What is this place?"
"The desert and the cavern exist only within your mind, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied, flying onward into the unknown.
"Only within my mind?" Twilight asked skeptically. "Are... you saying that this is all some kind of dream?"
"Very astute," Luna replied, nodding. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle. This is all a dream."
Twilight suddenly felt very silly. "Of course!" She said, laughing with relief. "It all makes sense now! Teleporting to the middle of an empty desert, winding up here, that ladder in the middle of nowhere, that weird sand colossus..."
"Those were in the dream," Luna interrupted slowly, "yet... they were not part of your dream."
"What?" Twilight stared at the back of Luna's head. "What do you mean?"
"Twilight Sparkle... I'd desired to delay telling you for a while yet. I believed you were ready, certainly, but it seems I have less time than I thought." Luna pensively tapped a hoof on her chin. "You see, Twilight... monsters don't merely lurk in the dark forests and caverns of our world. They do not simply hide away in snowy mountains, or haunt ancient graveyards. They exist within our dreams, too. They are predators, and we are their prey.
The creature you just barely escaped, the Sandman, is one of those monsters."
"A... sandman? How did it reach my dream? Why did it single me out?"
"A sandman is not like your ordinary dream-world monster. Most dream-monsters are simply boggarts, formless creatures that only take shape upon judging our hearts and determining our current fears. Although they leave the victim restless, and perhaps unnerved, the victim remains physically unharmed. A sandman, on the other hand, can physically harm and even kill its victims... yet the sandman is not at all lacking in physical form. It exists in the physical world, The trouble lies in divining the creature's true identity. It cannot be you or me... but it can be literally anyone else in existence who may know of you."
In my experience, that's quite a few ponies, Twilight thought. "So, how will we find out who was behind this?"
"Come to the palace tomorrow," Luna instructed. "You have learned much in the ways of magic, Twilight Sparkle. My sister tells me you are well-accomplished with anything she throws at you. You are even capable of learning spells she has only shown you but once. She believes you are ready for a different kind of magic... one which will be imparted to you under my tutelage."
Twilight blushed, pleased by her mentor's praise before realizing one crucial detail. "One more thing. How did you appear inside my dream, Princess Luna?"
Luna chuckled. "I'm rather surprised you couldn't guess," she replied slyly. "Ponder your question on your way to Canterlot tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorr--"
Author's Note
Being unable to work on my other current fic, I decided to rewrite this one for the time being. Hopefully it's better than the last iteration.