“Begins with the first hoof-step”, grumbled Iron, struggling to wade through the endless sands. Lightning and Hardy were unequivocal about it, choosing to save their strength by not talking to their charges. Hardy was taking it particularly hard. Ha ha.
I never asked to escort ponies half way across Equestria, if I ever get my hooves on the pony that is responsible for this… he thought darkly.
Solid Evidence bowed her head, not wanting to speak either. The sun was too bright. The sand was infuriatingly resistant to her hooves and her mane stuck to her back like soggy toilet paper. It was an unbearable sensation to say the least and to moderately describe it would be torture. Her tongue started lolling out the corner of her mouth. She stumbled over a rock, feeling the pain as a dull, distant throb.
Iron noticed Solid’s behaviour first.
“Lightning, Hardy, quick give me a hoof”, he commanded, dashing to Solid’s side as she collapsed in the sand.
“Iron, I-“, she began blearily, her eyes out of focus. Iron put a hoof on her mouth to stop any further words.
“Shh, shh, shh”, he said, quieting Solid. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she slumped against Lightning and Hardy supporting her.
“What’s wrong?” Lightning asked, anxiously assessing Solid.
Hardy expertly checked Solid’s vitals.
“She fine, for now but we need some shade and water, she’s suffering from heat exhaustion”, he growled, heaving Solid and gesturing Lightning to cooperate.
Lightning flicked his tail in annoyance.
“Why doesn’t that mare say anything?” he grumbled, shifting Solid on his shoulder.
Iron stamped a hoof in frustration.
“That mare is one of the most stubborn ones I have met, she’s not likely to ask for help. She thinks she’ll become a burden on the group. Oh Celestia, the irony is that she had become a burden by simply not asking for help”, Iron muttered, bringing up the rear.
He pulled up a map.
“The nearest watering hole and shelter is about three to four miles in that direction”, he said pointing roughly southwest. Lightning and Hardy acknowledged his directions with a nod and set off in that direction.
This was going to be a long trip.
-----
There was not much to say about the journey between the watering hole and from the point at which Solid had collapsed. It was a boring series of trudging along in the unforgiving sun on pitiless sand. The bright sun reflected off the dunes and at times they had to constantly shield their eyes from the glare of some of the dunes.
“If I knew for a fact that this wasn’t Tartarus, I’d be gosh darn hard pressed to tell the difference”, Iron croaked. It was the first sentence he had said for a long period of time.
The others were too tired in dragging the mare to even respond. They had taken turns with Solid, habitually rotating at regular intervals. Even though they had brought their own water supplies, their saddlebags did not have the capacity for the long distance of the desert. They were relying on the watering hole, not far from this position.
Six kilometres on flat ground doesn’t seem far for the average human or pony, however the pegasi were grounded and the shifting sands had sapped most of their strength. Solid also weighing them down, they finally considered the thought that they may make it.
“We cannot wait for night to fall without making a fire”, Lightning hoarsely spoke, Hardy nodded weakly.
“Night is freezing in the desert and without a fire we are a target for medium-sized predators”, he recounted, his hoof sank about ten centimetres into the sand, and he pulled it out quickly. Hardy sighed and berated himself, there wouldn’t be quicksand out here. His eyes widened and he jerked Lightning forward while calling back at Iron.
“We have to leave, now”, he cried huskily, trying to shift his hooves faster.
Iron snapped out of a small daze he had sunken in when the sand suddenly shifted around him.
“Sand Sifter!” Lightning growled, whipping Solid onto his back as he tried to beat his wings for a take-off. He stumbled forward instead.
Iron, in an adrenaline fuelled surge, leaped in front of Lightning, Hardy and Solid and reared on his hind hooves. The motion distracted the Sifter and it eyed Iron first.
The Sand Sifter was a monstrously large affair. It reared its ugly head back, revealing rows upon rows of teeth in its gaping maw. The Sifter resembled a cross between a snake and a centipede, its head resembling a snake, apart from its innumerable teeth and the body coiling with many legs as a centipede would.
Iron could only stand there gaping for a moment as it stared into Iron’s eyes and roared.
The piercing roar echoed through the wasteland, decrying the bestial intent of the ravenous monster.
Lightning and Hardy started shuffling away, they knew they were not going to make it, but they tried their best anyway.
Iron took one long look at Solid, giving an oddly tranquil smile. Lightning recognised it immediately.
“No!” he yelled desperately, beckoning with a frenzied hoof. He felt Hardy’s hoof drag him back and away.
“No, Iron! Run with us!” Lightning shouted again, tears leaking. He struggled futilely in Hardy's grasp.
Iron just stood there, with perhaps a shadow of regret in his eyes.
“Say goodbye to Solid for me”, he said across the widening distance as the Sifter opened its maw.
Lightning opened his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. It was happening again. All again and there was nothing he could do about it.
With a sickening crunch, Iron was gone.
The Sifter eyed the other prey, as if considering them for a further meal. Then it simply turned and disappeared into the corpulent sands.
Lightning sank down to the ground, beating his hooves rhythmically into the sands. He screamed and yelled incoherently until his voice gave out and yet he still beat at the sands.
“Horse apples”, Hardy muttered, pulling at the unconscious Solid.
It was several minutes more before Lightning could pull himself together and join Hardy.
He said not a word as they dragged Solid to the watering hole.
Finding shade at an overhanging rock near the water, Solid had gradually recovered.
She grinned uneasily at the expressions of Hardy and Lightning.
Casting her weak head about, she processed the two exhausted stallions but she couldn’t spot her ever-present companion.
She gave the two guards a look that teetered between playful and apprehensive.
“Lightning”, she croaked out, trying to inject a cheerful tone. Lightning’s eyes turned to her as if pulled by an indomitable force. His gaze was filled with unshed tears.
“Where’s Iron?” she asked, her question travelling the short distance to the stallion’s ears. It felt like a plea in a gale.
“Solid…” Lightning replied with a shuddering breath. “Iron didn’t make it…”