Part 2- Moving Hills

The sand just keeps on going and going and going and going and going and going and…

“Hey nephew, just what kind of journal entry is that?” a voice behind him said. The pony shook his head back into reality and saw his uncle.

“Oh, this, I um…”

Looking at this journal entry for the day, he just realized what he was writing.

“Sorry uncle, it’s just that this trip has just been so boring! We’ve been in the desert crossing for such a long time!” the pony said, dropping his quill pen.

His uncle gave off a hearty laugh. He scratched his stubble and patted his nephew’s mane rather messily.

“You know we’re not Pegasus ponies, we can’t just fly across this desert. We’re not Unicorns either: we can’t just teleport everywhere. No sir, Marco, we’re rough and tough Earth ponies. We’re gonna have a great adventure!”

Marco Poni, a rather impatient filly, gave his uncle a weak smile and walked out of his makeshift tent and into the blistering heat. The golden skies lit up by the majestic sun were so bright; Marco Poni shielded his eyes with one hoof as he gazed off into the distance.

The heat made everything wavy in the distance; the dunes seemed to move every second. No clouds were in sight as the day slowly crept to an end. The massive dunes were just as his uncle had said they would be: large, ever-present, and somehow, sagacious. Marco couldn’t exactly describe. For some odd reason, the dunes seemed to simply look over everything within its domain, quietly studying everything. Studying, looking, and waiting.

~

“You know Twilight, this story isn’t exactly what I expected,” Rainbow Dash said, roasting her marshmallow over the camp fire.

“Oh for Pete’s sake, Rainbow, I’ll get to it when I get to it!” Twilight said with a groan.

“Who’s Pete?” Pinkie Pie said, swallowing a mouthful of brightly colored candies that she had brought.

Rainbow Dashed hovered gently over to Twilight’s side of the campfire.

“Hey Twilight, you mind if I try at this story telling business? No offense or anything…” Rainbow Dash said.

Trotting on over to her sleeping bag next to her other friends, Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a warm smile.

Twilight gave rainbow Dash a warm smile and trotted on over to her sleeping bag next to her other friends. “Of course not, Rainbow! I’d love to hear where you take this story,” Twilight said, settling in next to Applejack and Fluttershy.

“Alright, so Marco Poni slowly watched the sun set and all that… yadda yadda yadda…”

~

Sleeping in the center of the caravan camp, Marco Poni stirred from his sleep. The sun was just rising above the dunes. The disc created a silhouette while the great hills of sand and the skies began to light up.

Did the dunes just move?

Marco rose slowly, rubbing his eyes. The desert dunes were like waves in a sluggish sea. While the caravan moved the land appeared motionless, but in camp the hills moved.

Trotting over to the water skins, Marco yanked opened his and took a small sip. Shaking the sand out of his mane, he heard a thundering of a thousand hooves.

~

“A thousand hooves, really Dash?” Applejack said from across the bon fire, looking at Rainbow Dash.

“Alright fine, it was more like several dozen. There, happy?” Rainbow Dash replied.

~

Checking his ears, Marco Poni listened again.

No, it’s definitely several dozen…

Entering his uncle’s tent, he nudged him until he had woken up.

“Huh, wh- what’s going on Marco? We can sleep in a little bit more, you know…” his uncle said groggily.

The sounds were closer now as the rest of the caravan stirred awake. Shouts could be heard outside as Marco explained what he saw to his uncle.

“Oh no…”

He quickly grabbed his hat and jacket and looked out to see just exactly what he had expected: Sand Bogies. Sand Bogies were known to attack caravans travelling across deserts, taking whatever they can, and fleeing into the desert dunes. They weren’t exactly ponies: rather kind of like golems. Animated when the sunlight hits the sand just right, they spring out of the ground forming packs.

In the center of the makeshift camp, Marcos stood by his uncle as they watched the Sand Bogies circle the caravan. Other members of the caravan brandished shovels and pickaxes, ready to take the Sand Bogies hoof to hoof.

“Don’t let them get in! It’s going to be a lot tougher of a fight once they break in! Stand your ground everypony!” Marco’s uncle shouted.

The Sand Bogies did not make a single sound. Each of the Sand Bogies fixed their red beady eyes onto a pony in the caravan camp. The Sand Bogies continued to circle around with the ponies racked their nerves, expecting anything to happen.

And then it began.

One Sand Bogie shot up, launching itself into the air. Overshadowing one of the ponies, it landed on the pony, trying to disable him. The pony struggled to get free; he waved his shovel to and fro, trying anything to get the Sand Bogie off.

“Watch out, here they come!”

Marco’s uncle lashed out with a walking stick he had picked up. Soon, the scene was utter chaos. Marco looked around, desperately trying to find a safe place. The Sand Bogies continued, relentlessly clawing and pounding whatever they could. The dust and crumbs of broken Sand Bogies lie in pieces as the sun began to shine down on the predicament.

All of a sudden, Marco was surrounded by a whirl of colors. He was caught off guard as three Sand Bogies flanked him. The constructs of sand closed in, and Marcos jumped right into action! He jumped on one of them, riding it like a wily beast. Grabbing the mane of sand, he directed the Sand Bogie to collide with the others and… and…

Next Chapter: Part 3- A Pony Named Trilby Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes