Shazam took a deep breath of hopelessly dry air and grinned. Her nostrils were still trembling from the swim over and now stung of sand and fire. Her eyes shot back to Kasabian, drawing in her second breath, finding it exhilarating and uncomfortable all at the same time. She had only known the sand of the seashore. This was completely different. It towered in dunes, it rolled in hills, it rose and fell like its own ocean. It was everywhere and touched everything; it carried in every gust of wind. For a couple of minutes Shazam just stood there, staring at it, absorbing it all. It was magnificent. Her hooves ached to feel the sands shift under her weight.

She pranced in place with undeniable excitement and looked over at Kasabian.

Then she leapt forward into a steady gallop, occasionally moving awkwardly atop the shifty sands. She ran for only a short time before realizing it was too hot to be running. Slowing to a nice jog, she looked to Kasabian, ” Do you think that when the ocean dries up it turns into something like this? “ Now squinting eyes looked out over the seamless horizon. ” Like what if this is what it looks like without water. What if there are dead fish here! Just all over the place! “ She began searching the sand for bones as they moved along, but so far had found nothing. How disappointing.

Had she mentioned how hot it was?