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// Chapter Nine: Across The Sands. 
// Story: Gone Mustang 
// by BurningBright 
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So very thirsty, Dawn's tongue felt dryer than the sand under her hooves as she followed the hardshells through the burning desert. The going was incredibly tough on her given her short little legs, every step she took was accompanied by slipping half a step back and sinking up to her knees in the sand. Her hooves felt heavier by the minute, and the minutes seemed to drag out endlessly.

The hardshells on the other hoof seemed entirely unconcerned with the terrain. The holes in their legs seemed to allow the sand to pass through them effortlessly as they walked, they hardly even left a trail. 
Once during the journey one chose its hoof placement poorly and started to sink. None of it's companions tried to help it as it slipped beneath the sand, they just continued as if nothing had happened. Most didn't even register emotion , though Dawn could have sworn she saw a look of sympathy on one of their faces, but they were hard to read and if the emotion was there it buried it quickly.

The journey went on for days, the hardshells barely even stopping to rest. More than once one fell, if they could manage it they got back to their hooves, sometimes one just couldn't. When that happened their companions turned back to them. The victims didn't even struggle they just closed their eyes and accepted their fate as the green light was slowly drawn from their body. Then the group moved on as if nothing had happened, leaving the husk that had once been their companion to be swallowed up by the sand.

Talking about sand that stuff got everywhere, in her eyes, mouth, frogs, she probably had sand in places she didn't even know she had. It dried her out, and her hunger was getting worse by the day. She watched the hardshells to see what they ate, but found to her dismay the answer seemed to be nothing. It was like they didn't even need food in order to survive. They did need water however, and she was relieved when they stopped at an oasis. She took one look at the pool of water and dove in with a squeal of glee, drinking like a mad beast until she couldn't drink any more. She tried hunting too, finding out the hard way the only prey round here, those creepy looking insect things with the tail  stung, it took twenty minutes for her tongue to stop feeling completely numb. 

When she found the next prey she was far more cautious, she managed to pin it with one hoof, and suddenly found herself only holding a tail. The rest of it had broken away and dug into the sand, vanishing quickly. Still at least the tail tasted okay and was better than nothing. Before long the hardshells lay down to rest, their movements were eerily coordinated in everything they did. It unsettled Dawn a little, but there was no time to worry about that, she quickly found herself some shade  and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning the group set out again. It seemed they didn't need much sleep to recuperate, groggily Dawn got up and followed them. She was still completely bone weary but this was the only chance she had. She couldn't hunt in this place, and water or not she couldn't last forever in this stifling heat. The skin on her nose had been crimson by the end of her first day in this place, and only the thick layer of dried on caked mud, now wet once more had saved the rest of her from suffering the same fate.

The hardshells seemed to be picking up the pace now, they managed to get a few miles further this time  before another fell. The others looked like they were going to continue walking on just like last time. Then one broke ranks and ran back to their companion, reaching out and suddenly their leg changed shape a little bit the holes in his leg gripping into the holes in the leg of the sinking one. It seemed that wasn't enough though as he started to get dragged downwards too.

Dawn trotted over and carefully grabbed the other leg , between them they gradually managed to pull the trapped hardshell free. Oddly the one she had helped to save from the sands didn't even seem to care particularly that they had been saved. They just mindlessly plodded back to the rest of the group and kept on walking, the other though turned and looked at her gratefully before scuttling back to the rest of the procession. 

Dawn stopped to think about that for a moment , then it dawned on her if she didn't get moving again soon she'd be left behind herself, so she put all the energy she had spare into her legs and she ran.

Back in Canterlot Princess Luna was growing concerned. It had been days since she had seen even a trace of the little one she had decided to christen Enigma within the dream scape. Ponies did not just disappear from the dreaming realms, that was impossible. She had felt a small twinge of their presence at one point yesterday, but it had vanished too quickly for her to investigate it further.

She hated not knowing what was going on. Always had, sometimes in life she became almost Twilight Sparkle-like in her need for answers. (OK Maybe not, no pony can be quite that bad, but it felt like it was a close run thing) and this was niggling at her badly. She had ordered the guard to be on the lookout for anything unusual, but to be frank she didn't have the slightest clue what she was looking for, not really, and she could keep guessing at it but she knew that wouldn't achieve anything, with a frustrated sigh she buried her head beneath her pillows to block out the sunlight streaming in through her window so she could get some rest. Being nocturnal really wasn't so good when you had a budding migraine.

The sand was starting to clear away at last, and the procession was slowing. Dawn felt her legs tremble and her jaw drop in absolute awe. This was where the hardshells lived? Her eyes struggled to process what she saw, a massive dome of a strange materiel in green and black poking out of the sand of the valley, pockmarked with hundreds of tiny holes, and in every single one of them a single hardshell slept or worked.