One small step, and many more

Getting off the beach was a harder quest than it seemed at first. It would have only taken a few seconds for a human-sized pair, but for the pair of doll ladies, it was a more significant journey to get off the sand. The sand particles were larger under their feet, so the ground felt sharper and harder to traverse. Of course, the sand being in other places was more uncomfortable, but they couldn't exactly fix that at the moment.

"How much ow further ow do we have ow to go?" Tina whined as she ascended the beach, the large grains of sand sticking to the bottoms of her feet.

"Just ouch a bit ouch more," Hilda grunted as she stuck her needle into the ground as a support, trying to ignore the pain in her feet as she climbed. She'd kill to know where that fairy got her boots; being small made the very act of walking a burden. "We'll be on oof solid ground ow soon."

As the two naked ladies hiked up the sandy hill, their feet sinking below the sand, their bodies became covered with sweat. Their wet skin shimmered in the sunlight as their Sisyphean task continued. With each step, their poor bare feet took more damage and grew redder with the pain. Looking behind her, Tina could still see the deflated remnants of Mr. Tootsie on the sand, far enough away from the surf that the high tide wouldn't carry him away any time soon. "Momma, we're not making any progress, and my feet hurt!"

"My feet hurt, too, dear," Hilda said through gritted teeth, "but we've got to get off the beach before the sun goes down. Once we're on solid ground, we ca-WHOA!" Hilda couldn't finish her thought before she stepped on a piece of a seashell and slipped, falling onto her face.

Tina rushed over to her mother and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the sand before it could swallow her tiny body. Hilda spit the sand out of her mouth and tried to brush the grains out of her eyes. Tina, **** not to sink into the sand herself, started dragging her mother over to a stone that was rising out of the sand. Even as small as they were, it was a tight fit to get both of them out of the sand and onto solid ground, but after some maneuvering, they were able to curl up together.

Hilda brushed the last of the sand out of her eyes and looked around, Tina still clutching her waist. As tears started to well up in her eyes, Tina blubbered, "What are we going to do? We can't even make it off the beach, so how are we going to traverse the forest like this?"

Hilda looked down at her grief-stricken daughter, no idea what to say. She looked out at the vast (to them at least) expanse of sand and found her heart sink in much the same way. They were so small and powerless that even getting themselves off of the beach was too tall of a task, so what were they going to do to get all the way to her magical benefactor in the middle of the enchanted woods?

Almost immediately, Hilda puffed out her bare chest with pride. She stood up, pulling her daughter up with her, and said, "We're knights, Tina. If we let a setback like this get the better of us, we can't call us the protectors of the realm, now can we."

Tina sniffled and wiped the grossness from her nose. "B-but, how do we get out of here when we're so small."

Hilda scanned the horizon again, looking for something, anything that would help them get off the desert of a beach. Finally, she spotted something and got an idea. It was a risk, but everything was at this size, and this one might just pay off big time.