This Chapter Contains Lots of Sand
The sun stood proudly in the sky as its rays of light bleached the grainy earth underneath. Quips of wind tore apart each grain of sand from the other. The air was so thick with sand that breathing without protection will easily scratch the lungs of anypony breathing it. Within the low visibility of the sandstorm, a short, bipedal being walked the sandscape. Its emerald-green eyes were veiled with a set of black-tinted goggles. A dark green gas mask was worn just underneath its goggles. From the bottom towards the top, the being was wrapped in brown-green ribbons of linen to the point where no notable features sans the eyes were revealed. The being had brown, fuzzy gloves and boots equipped onto its hands and feet. The gloves had five triangular sheathes that supported claws. Even with the protection given by the sand-proof gear, the sandstorm pelted hard against the clothing.
As the being walked through the sandstorm, a strong, cylindrical wall of winds appeared within its line of sight. This wind cyclone kicked up massive amounts of sand that poured into the air. The being’s movement was hindered by the intense winds whipping towards it. It stretched out one of its arms and pointed its palm towards the furious wind. It strained and audibly grunted as the wind seemingly increased in power. However, the gloved claws managed to cut through the wind. This created a large, notable gap in the wind that allowed the being to walk into the eye of the storm. As the being walked through the wall, the tight, powerful winds closed immediately.
Within the eye, everything was very peaceful; the sand within the eye was not being blown away at all. The air was void of sand, and looking upwards revealed a cerulean blue sky with the sun hovering overboard. At the center of the eye, a wood brown rod with gold stripes and a golden green, trapezoid-shaped metallic head that had two arched horns with flat ends on top of it diagonally stuck out from the sand. The being had squinted its eyes as the shine from the rod and began to approach it. Holding out both of its claws, it grasped the stalk of the rod and pulled it out of the sand. As the rod was pulled out, the furious winds quelled down. The air became liberated from the viscous amounts of sand within it. The being looked around before it used its claws and slowly peeled away at the layers of linen around its head. The unwrapping revealed a purple, scaly head with green spines jetting out from the back of it. The ears were like dragonfly wings; long and a shade of clear lavender. It was the head of a young, male dragon. The dragon lifted the gas mask away from his face, revealing a large grin.
“Twilight is going to have a cow when she sees what I found out here in Saddle Arabia’s desert!”
In a library halfway across the planet from where the dragon was, a purple alicorn mare with a straight curved, dark purple mane and tail with a neon pink stripe running down the center sat down on a wooden stool on her haunches. On the table before her lay several dark greenish brown scrolls that had very faded spots and had sides that were beaten badly through time’s passage. Each scroll smelled of the musk of ancients. She wearily examined the strange characters on one of the scroll with a beaten line-drawing of an image of a rod. The whites of her purple eyes were cracked with red and the skin under them drooped down in exhaustion. Once more, she slowly moved her hoof across the two words underneath the image, each containing four characters.
“Sand Wand.” She orated loudly. “Now that I finally deciphered what that word meant, it’s time to decipher the text that the other scrolls have.” Despite exhaustion dripping down from her voice, her face brimmed with the smile of progress. Just as she gently shoved away the scroll to a side of the brown table, a white, incandescent flash blasted behind her with an explosive sound. The mare screamed before the stool that she sat upon tilted over to the right, which caused both the stool and the mare to fall over. As the flash subsided, the purple dragon with ribbons of brown linens wrapped around his body took its place. A rod that matched the image of the rod on the scroll was grasped in the dragon’s left claws. The mare stood up with a facial expression mixed with joy, annoyance and exhaustion. “Spike, you came back from that trip from Saddle Arabia." She announced surprised.
"Well, I wasn't sure why you wanted me to go into the Saddle Arabian desert, but I'm glad that you gave me that desert equipment. It allowed me to survive in the harsher parts of Saddle Arabia" Spike replied. Twilight Sparkle visibly winced at the choice of words that Spike used.
"I know that it was not an easy task to do, so I apologize for sending you there in the first place. However, I do have to thank you for going into Saddle Arabia in my place. After all, A.K. Yearling did write to me about there being something important in Saddle Arabia, but she wanted me to analyze these scrolls deeply more than anything else." She gratefully stated. "So, since you are back, it means that you have found something of importance that required using the one-time dimensional transport spell I gave you beforehoof?" She asked.
“Why, yes I did Twilight. On my expedition into the Saddle Arabian deserts on your request, I encountered a large, deadly sandstorm. My curiosity had me check to see if there was anything in there when I found this.” Spike said proudly and nonchalantly as he held out the rod with his left set of claws. Twilight Sparkle walked over to the rod and examined it. Her horn was covered in a pink aura as the scroll on the table that she moved over before became enshrouded in that same aura. The scroll gently flew over to the side of Spike’s left claws. Twilight Sparkle looked at the rod and then back to the image several times. She hummed as her stare upon the rod intensified. As she stared at it for several seconds, a smile of praise was plastered upon her muzzle.
“Spike! Do you have any idea what this is?!” Twilight Sparkle shouted happily.
“The best treasure in the world?” Spike happily replied.
“No Spike! From the scrolls that A.K. Yearling sent me by mail, this is the fabled Sand Wand! From what Yearling wrote to me, this wand has the most complete form of Psammo-Magic that the world has ever witnessed, but she only understood this from the depictions presented within the imagery here. I was just about to read more about the history of the Sand Wand and the civilization it was aligned to before you teleported in here.” Twilight stated with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. Spike looked back towards the Sand Wand in his claws and smiled.
“So what you’re saying is that this rod I have in my claws right now works like a unicorn’s horn but strictly for the best forms of sand magic ever?” Spike hopefully asked.
“That’s right. If the wear and tear of the scrolls is anything to go by, then this device had existed before the documented time of the rise of ponies. Maybe the civilization before us had a use for magic rods such as this before?” Twilight Sparkle replied back. “Well, as much as I would like to try it out, I have to figure out more of the text in these scrolls. I just figured out what each of these ancient characters mean.” Twilight exhaled an exasperated sigh. “I’m going to need some time alone researching these documents Spike. In the meantime, why don’t you try that Sand Wand out?” She asked. Spike’s eyes opened widely. His mouth curved into a large smile. He was a kid that was in an actual candy land. His eyes sparkled as he energetically hopped in place. Twilight Sparkle held up her right front hoof, which caused Spike to stop jumping. “You do have one condition for using it though. I want you to report to me all of the abilities that you have used with the Sand Wand. It will work as valuable research material for scholarly ponies as well as understanding more about its origins.”
“Do I get a raise on my allowance?” Spike asked. Twilight Sparkle placed a hoof on her chin and hummed.
“I don’t see why not. After all, you risked your life in order to find the rod. I’ll give you two times more the bits that you normally get.” She responded happily. Spike ran up to Twilight Sparkle and happily embraced her left foreleg.
“I’ll give you the best field data for you to do research with Twilight!” He shouted loudly as he ran out past the door. Twilight Sparkle looked towards the open door for a moment before she levitated the doorknob towards the direction of the door hedge. She sighed.
“That should keep him busy for a good time while I look through these documents.”
Spike walked towards the outskirts of Ponyville and into the badlands. The cragged, rough landscape is pleasantly far enough from town to not be able to hurt anypony with psammo-magic. Spike held out the Sand Wand towards the horizon.
“So, I guess I have to concentrate on using the wand like it is a horn now…?” He asked himself. His eyes squinted into a stare of anger as he saw nothing happen. “This stinks. How do unicorns even use their horns anyways? I mean, Rarity and Twilight make it look so easy!” As Spike ranted, his claws that gripped the rod moved around. Unbeknownst to him, a green, spherical source of energy shot out from the head of the rod. “I mean, how do unicorns use their magic so handily? I focus on everything that I know about magic, but nothing is happening.” He stopped moving for a moment and pondered. “Well, there really isn’t any sand in the badlands, and I don’t know exactly how well this wand manipulates sand. So, I guess that it just doesn’t work… here…” As Spike explained the situation to himself, he saw the green orb hover in front of him. He looked back towards the Sand Wand and felt a pulse of energy emit from it. He looked back towards the orb. With curiosity, he moved the Sand Wand’s direction to the left. Much to his pleasure, the orb followed in suit with the motion. He looked at the Sand Wand in his claws and smiled. “Looks like I got it working. I better write this down.” As Spike said this, he reached into hammerspace and pulled out a long, vanilla-colored parchment. He set down the rod so that he can grasp a red quill in his pocket. He pulled out a well of ink and dipped the end of the quill into the ink. He then began to write.
The Sand Wand shoots out a green orb when a combination of mental thought and movement are achieved. Believe that the Sand Wand is a part of you and it will work.
After he wrote this, he wrapped up the parchment and put the writing set inside of his pockets. He picked up the Sand Wand again. Testing his theory, he waved the Sand Wand around as a magical appendage. To his delight, the green orb shot out from the mouth of the head. He moved the wand forward, back, left and right. The orb replicated the movements. With a risky thought entering his mind, he pulled the wand back very far. The orb dashed straight towards him. His eyes widened in fear as he steeled his nerves and stood erect in hopes of buffering out any damage. Fortunately, the orb harmlessly passed through his body. He looked back onto the wand with a puzzled expression on his face.
“Well, that was weird. I’ll write that down later.” He said to himself. He moved the orb around in circles. Though his mind was entrained with the motion of the orb, his excitement gradually grew to boredom through repeated trials. He sighed. “There’s nothing else to do with this thing. Maybe I should have just selected someplace else with more sand…” Spike said to himself. As he walked forward where the orb was, the terrain underneath his feet changed from hard, craggy earth to a grainy texture. His eyes widened in shock as he looked underneath him; it was grainy, free-flowing sand of a yellow color. He looked forward and saw that there was sand carved out in the random paths that he made with the orb. He moved the Sand Wand back, which allowed the orb to move in that direction. As it hovered over the sand, large, bleached yellow pillars erupted from the ground. Spike was left speechless by the magical feat that occurred before him. He looked down on the Sand Wand and grinned. “So now I know that you can turn land into sand. Not only that, but you really do have complete control over sand.” He said to the rod.
In the skies above, a trio of teenaged dragons flew in the air. The red dragon that flew out in front had a vanilla-colored underbelly and an orange sail fin on the back of his head. His body was long, but had a depth of volume that projected a good amount of muscle mass. The brown dragon was large and looked moderately obese. His horns matched his girth and had a baby blue color. The purple dragon was skinny and lanky and had a chartreuse underbelly. Unlike the red dragon, he had little to no muscle mass to support his frame. His eyes were veiled by his yellow hair. The red dragon scanned the cragged land below until his blue eyes picked up unusual traces of sand and Spike standing around in the sand. He grinned wickedly.
“Hey Clump, Spear, the little baby dragon from before is just below us! It looks like he’s playing in a little sandbox.” He called out. The purple dragon, Spear, gave a deep-throated chuckle.
“You think we should throw sand in his eyes Garble?” He asked. The brown dragon, Clump, looked down and noticed an unusual rod in Spike’s claws.
“Yeah, and let’s take that stick he has as well. It looks valuable enough to trade for a stockpile of rubies!” He suggested.
“Good idea Clump! We push him around a bit and then we take that expensive-looking stick from him. This is going to be easy money and food!” Garble shouted in accordance. The trio of dragons nosedived from the sky and accelerated towards the land.
A wall of sand stood before Spike. Spike admirably looked towards the conjoined pillars before him. He dropped his focus on the Sand Wand, which caused the green orb to rush back into the mouth of it. He kissed the head of the wand as one kisses a pet.
“I love you Sand Wand. At least you repay my affection for you.” He stated affectionately. In the midst of his session, he heard a trio of familiar voices laughing behind him. He turned around to see Garble, Clump and Spear laughing loudly. During his laughter, Spear slapped his knee. Clump placed his claws over his mouth as he laughed hard, and Garble lied on his belly as he pounded the ground. Spike’s spines rose with a chill as his nerves were paralyzed with both fear and embarrassment.
“Wow! You are such a loser! You were about to make out with that stick, weren’t you?!” Garble teased.
“No! I wasn’t going to make out with it. At least not now…” Spike shouted defensively. The laughter only increased in decibels as he made his statement.
“Hey guys, hear that? The baby here is going to make out with the stick later! He couldn’t even get one of those namby pamby ponies to make out with him!” Garble continued through his laughter. Spike clenched the Sand Wand in his claws hard and grumbled under his breath. Then, realization smacked him across his face. He looked down at the Sand Wand while a sinister idea brewed within his head.
“I used this thing just to have some fun, but maybe I can find a bit of a weaponized use for it?” He thought to himself. He looked towards the dragons in front of him. “So Garble, what did you come over here for?” He asked. Garble stood up from the ground and wiped a stray tear away from his eye as he threateningly looked down on Spike.
“Well, the three of us were going to fly to a wild party that is being hosted by a lovely dragoness and we just happened to catch you playing with sand on the way there. We were just going to shove you in the sand, but then we saw that expensive-looking stick in your claws.” Garble replied as he pointed down on the Sand Wand. “I decided that the three of us are just going to mug you for that stick and sell it for some quick cash.” Spike hummed to himself before he spoke.
“Well… as much as I want to keep this stick, I know that I am not a match for you guys. After all, you are all bigger than me.” He stated.
“Yeah, that’s right. We big guys need to be paid with respect in any way, shape or form. That stick there will be the perfect way to pay us with the respect we deserve.” Spear stated.
“Can I ask you for one small favor from such big, powerful dragons that make a namby pamby dragon such as me look pathetic?” Spike humbly asked with a bit of inflation in his voice.
“And what would that be?” Garble asked with an inflated ego in his voice.
“I want the three of you to stand in that sand over there. I’m frightened by dragons in sand because it makes me think that I am going to have my tail kicked upside down by a group of tenacious bullies.” Spike replied. Inside of his thoughts, Spike sweated profusely. While on the outside, he remained calm outside of his played attitude, he desperately hoped that the dragons will take him on his bluff.
“So you say that it reminds you of being pushed around by bullies eh?” Garble quizzically asked. He laughed loudly as the information was processed through his mind. “Sure, we’ll do what you say. After all, you’re still going to end up being kicked into the sand. Only difference is that we’ll make you cry harder by making you think of actual bullies kicking you into the sand.” He stated threateningly.
“Jackpot!” Spike shouted in his mind. Garble, Clump and Spear walked over into the patch of sand near them. Garble clenched his claws into a fist and pounded it into his left set of open claws.
“Alright Spike, it’s time to be kicked into the sand!” Just as he shouted this, Clump and Spear’s eyes widened as Spike held out the Sand Wand, where a green orb of energy fired out from its mouth. The orb fired directly towards the three dragons before a wave of sand struck them and knocked them back.
“That stick is magical!” Clump shouted loudly. Spear looked over to the green orb in front of him and the sand around them before he realized just how deep in trouble the three of them were in.
“Umm, guys, I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to think that we should get out of this patch of sand as quickly as possible.” He hesitantly stated. Garble slapped the back of Spear’s head, who quickly rubbed the sore spot of the stinging area.
“You don’t need to tell us the obvious Spear. It’s quite obvious that we fell into a trap.” Garble stated with an annoyed voice. The green orb hovered over the three of them while long tendrils of sand floated up to the orb like a magnet and grasped the dragons in its voracious maw. Garble, Clump and Spear were trapped in a wall of sand. Their heads stuck out from the top of the sand while their limbs stuck out in various places near the top of the pillars.
“Get us down from here! I mean it!” Clump shouted ferociously. He tried to move his limbs, but the loose movement he had suddenly became even more restricted as the wall of sand hardened on him.
“As much as I would love to stay here and play with the three of you, I have some information to report back to Twilight. Don’t worry, I’ll come back and free you guys one day. In the meantime, you’ll just have to settle for missing that wild party.” Spike teasingly stated as he walked away. The orb retreated back into the wand. The three dragons were left alone as their bodies stewed within the thickened sand pillars. All three of them gave angry expressions, but Spear appeared to be much more vocal about his frustrations.
“‘It’s going to be easy food and money’ huh Garble? If we didn’t listen to you, then we’d be going to that hot party. Instead, we’re probably going to be spending the rest of our lives in these sands.” He stated mockingly out of frustration.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you to shut up Spear?!” Garble snapped back.
“No, you told me to not state the obvious.” Spear replied.
“And that’s what you are doing. Now shut up before I make you shut up!” Garble shouted.
“You can’t make me shut up if you can’t touch me nimrod.” Spear stated. Garble looked down onto his free limbs and realized that the limb closest to Spear was out of range. He sighed in frustration.
“You are so lucky that I’m trapped in this sand…” He said in defeat.
“Guys, I’m hungry.” Clump stated.
Nightfall fell onto Ponyville as Spike walked into the Golden Oaks Library with a swagger in his step. There he saw Twilight Sparkle, whose composure over the stool and table looked as if she can fall asleep at any time.
“Hey Twilight. I got the research data from working with the Sand Wand!” Spike shouted. Twilight jumped up from her daze with a scream and fell down onto the ground.
“Spike! Please don’t scream like that again when I am busy working with sensitive material.” Twilight Sparkle exasperatedly stated.
“Sorry, but I have that research data you wanted.” Spike apologized. He pulled out a vanilla scroll and gave it to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle unraveled the scroll with her magic and looked through its contents. She looked over them a bit before she smiled.
“I’m actually surprised with what this wand is capable of doing. It works when it is synced with the movements of the caster’s body and mind, it can whittle down land into sand with repeated exposure, the orb can raise pillars of sand or strike waves of sand and the caster can harden sand when desired. It’s surprisingly detailed for on-field material.” She mused out.
“I was bored and had spare time, so I made sure to put in as much detail as possible. So how did research on those scrolls go?” Spike said. Twilight Sparkle walked towards the table and set the stool back up with her magic. She sat on the stool and looked down on the scrolls.
“The contents of these scrolls are amazing. Some parts are faded out, but the scrolls themselves depict a history detailing the ancient civilization’s arrival to this land. It spoke of mystical tracks created by the gratitude of the ancient civilization that were linked together by four ancient temples and someplace known as the ‘Tower of Spirits.’ It also said that the location of this particular wand was located in a fifth temple that was related to the Tower of Spirits but doesn't directly affect it. There was some information on a great war waged against a fearsome demon, but there really isn’t much more legible information on it after that.” She excitedly orated.
“But, when I found this wand, it was outside in the outskirts of the Saddle Arabian desert. How did this wand come out of a temple and situate itself on some random patch of sand?” Spike asked.
“That part I don’t know. However, these scrolls do provide information that Equestria was once inhabited by a civilization of lifeforms that were not sentient beings we see nowadays. It was said that some of the technology we have was inspired by some of the technology that was uncovered long ago. If we find out just what happened to these beings, then we would be able to deduce the hidden origins of the start of Ponykind! It’s so exciting!” Twilight Sparkle replied with Pinkie Pie-levels of energy. Spike looked towards Twilight Sparkle with fazed eyes. “Heh, sorry. I got carried away again. But, I’m glad that you gave me this information about the Sand Wand. It is further proof that the inhabitants of pre-pre-pre-Preequestria were very intelligent beings if they can create magical instruments that non-magical users can utilize. If we can’t find what doomed them in the first place, then at the very least we are able to replicate this sort of technology with Equestria’s modern-day technology and create rods of various kinds that would assist non-unicorns in everyday living.”
“You do that Twilight. In the meantime, I’m starting to feel very tired. I’m going to bed.” Spike stated. As he turned his back around, Twilight Sparkle interrupted his motion with her voice.
“Before I let you go to sleep Spike, there’s something you wrote that has been bugging me.” She stated. Spike’s upper body muscles froze in place before he turned around nervously.
“Y-yes Twilight?” He asked.
“Your notes state that you used a sand wave and created a sand trap with a group of pillars. The way how you wrote these details kind of imply that violence was used. Is there anything you wish to tell me Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked with a very unamused expression. Spike twiddled his claws nervously.
“Errr… those three dragons back from the dragon migration kind of picked on me today. So, I happened to, ummm, trap them in a wall of sand.” He stated sheepishly before he grinned. Twilight Sparkle facehoofed.
“As much of a bunch of jerks they have been to you, they really don’t deserve to be trapped in sand forever, do they?” She asked.
“They won’t be in that sand forever. I promise. But, I’m going to leave them in there long enough so that they will miss their party and learn to stop being such big jerks.” Spike replied. Twilight Sparkle yawned before exhaustion grasped her with its warm tendrils.
“As much as I would like to free those dragons, I feel way too tired to do anything. It’s been four days before I had last slept. In the morning however, the first thing we will do before anything is to free those dragons from that wall of sand.” She stated.
“Can I still play with the Sand Wand though?” Spike asked hopefully.
“You can only play with it on my supervision next time. You showed me that this kind of magic is not to be trifled with.” Twilight Sparkle finished as she levitated the Sand Wand over into a gap on a bookshelf. Spike frowned before he yawned.
“Well, I guess I’m exhausted for the day as well.” He finished. Both Twilight Sparkle and Spike walked up the staircase where they waited for the realm of sleep to come before them. The lights of the library turned off and the door was locked. In the midst of the dark library, the eyes of the Sand Wand began to glow ominously in a green color.