The scene before him could only be described as carnage.
Frost and snow buried bloody bodies beneath pillars of ice, fire and flame danced between the screams of anguish and pain.
To his left, he could see a cloud of destruction move through a group of Unicorns, their horns blasting magical spells of all kinds in an attempt to stop the destruction they were seeing.
To his right, silence reigned as little more than ashes and blood littered the floor. Unicorns of all shapes and sizes littered the ground like macabre lawn decorations.
He wanted to throw up, but his body refused to listen. He wanted to scream, but his mouth refused to move. He wanted to run, to get out of here, to escape this carnage, this massacre, but he could not.
Because he wasn't really here, was he?
Prince Bramble turned away from the carnage to look behind him, watching a doe stand on trembling legs, the familiar heart-shaped gemstone on her chest shone with magical power, as a small plant grew out of the ground in front of her.
Bramble watched the plant lift up a small bundle of cloth, a bright orange flower growing out of the plant like a soft bed for the bundle to lie upon. He stared silently as the Doe collapsed onto the ground, her legs giving out from beneath her, as the petals of the flower began to shine with a bright orange light.
Bramble closed his eyes, the blinding light washing over him, before he opened his eyes once more to see the flower turn into an orb of amber, the small bundle of cloth floating within the crystallized sap.
"Mommy is sorry, Bramble," The doe whispered to the amber flower, her voice hoarse and dry, "She made some mistakes-" She was interrupted as a painful cough racked her body, her chest heaving painfully as she coughed, small splotches of blood landing on the amber flower.
"You'll be fine..." The deer coughed, "Mommy is protecting you..." her breath shuddered as she lay down on the burnt and bloody ground, her head resting against the amber, "Just know this... Don't trust Styg-" Her eyes widened as her chest froze, her teeth clenched as a leg moved to grab at her heart, her wide eyes staring at the bundle of cloth floating in the amber, and at the Shadowy pony that stood in the reflection.
Silence followed the Doe's death. Bramble turned around to see that the fighting had concluded. Only one side could claim to be the victor.
In the middle of a field of corpses, there he stood.
The Pony of Shadows.
Bramble was terrified, his body refused to move as he watched The Pony of Shadows make his way closer to the Amber Flower, a shadowy black hoof moving closer to grab the flower.
Only for a blast of light to emerge from the Flower, driving away the Pony of Shadow, and protecting the bundle of cloth inside.
Bramble watched with wide eyes as the Pony's shadowy hoof peeled back to reveal a leg of grey fur, before once more crawling over the hoof, hiding the leg underneath the veil of living darkness.
"Damn it..." Bramble's eyes widened as he watched the Pony of Shadow growl, "You just had to drag me here on this day, didn't you, Huh?" The Pony of Shadow kicked the Doe that lied dead next to the Amber Flower, "You couldn't have just let me get rid of you quietly, Nooo~ Of course not you, never you~" He spat on the deer, "You horrid bitch!" His horn glowed with a black aura as he picked up the Deer, his glowing white eyes focusing on the Heart of the Everfree around her lower neck.
Bramble didn't see what happened next as the world around him shifted and twisted, like he was suddenly thrown into a river and could only see the world through the water above.
It was dim, it was quiet, and it was blurry.
But most notably, it was orange.
Prince Bramble Everfree was trapped inside a ball of Amber.
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Tantabus stared blankly at the shadowy figure that stood before her.
"Yeah, I found her crying next to the frozen foods section, she says she isn't lost, but she can't tell me where her parents are, and there aren't a lot of people here right now," The tall blonde man said, a gentle smile on his face as he tried to reassure Tantabus that the nice lady in front of them will help her find her parents.
"She's not real," Tantabus said as she stared at the shadowy figure, a stand-in for a Clerk who worked in the convenience store. Tantabus understood that through Blueblood's eyes, this figure, this woman, looked like a normal human, but Tantabus could see the truth.
An apologetic smile crossed Blueblood's face as he continued talking with the Clerk, and Tantabus decided to use that time to scan the dream for the exit.
"Of course we'll help you, sir." The clerk said, her voice sounding like a broken and scratchy imitation of what speech should sound like.
"Miss, would you mind telling us your parents' names?" The clerk leaned down to be eye level with Tantabus, or at least it would be if the clerk had a face.
"You're annoying." Tantabus waved a hand at the clerk, a small cloud of purple magic trailed after her hand like the tail of a small comet, before the Clerk disappeared from sight.
"WHAT THE FUCK-" Blueblood exclaimed as the Clerk disappeared with a wave of a hand, "HOLY SHIT!"
"Calm down, Everything is fine," Tantabus said calmly as she turned to look at Blueblood, her magic still trying to locate the exit from this dream.
"FINE!? She just disappeared! What the- WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Blueblood pointed at the small girl.
Tantabus raised her voice, "Please stop yelling, I can explain everything!" Her newfound emotions began to spin in her mind as what she considered a very simple change to a dream somehow turned into an emotional yelling match.
"Explain? EXPLAIN?! She just disappeared, like- with a wave of your hand!" Blueblood yelled, his eyes wide with shock as he began to panic at the scene.
Tantabus tried to explain to him that the clerk wasn't real, that he was currently inside a dream, that she was trying to help him get back to the waking world.
Instead, her body shook as tears began to flow from her eyes.
"Waaaagh!!!! Stop yelling at me!!!!" Tantabus cried, her legs giving out as she fell to her knees, her arms moving to wipe the tears from her face as they fell, staining her dress in the process.
"I- Wha-" Blueblood took some deep breaths to calm himself down before he turned to look at the crying girl, "Look, kid- I- Please don't cry," He lowered his voice as he kneeled down, "Look I'm really not good with these sorts of things so- How about this? You explain to me everything that just happened, and I'll buy you ice-cream in return, how about that?"
Blueblood hoped his attempt at calming the girl with sweet bribery would work.
"Okay..." Tantabus sniffed, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment at letting her newfound emotions get the best of her, "I'll explain..."
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Bramble watched in silence as the Pony of Shadows dragged the corpses of the Unicorns into a pile, a large magical circle painted on the ground underneath them.
The Pony of Shadows opened his mouth, letting out words that sounded like gibberish to the young Deer, as he watched the Pony's horn glow with black magic, lighting the magical circle up in the process.
The following scene made Bramble thankful that he could only watch and turn his head; if he had control over the other functions of his body, he was sure he would have thrown up.
Small crystal orbs of various sizes, ranging from the size of a hoof to that of a small marble, burst out of the still-warm chests of the Unicorn corpses, and with more whispered words from the Pony of Shadows, thin lines of smoky magic snaked out of the now open holes in the Unicorns' chests, connected each boy to the orb that was pulled out.
And once the tendrils of magic connected, the screaming began.
They were dead, and they were screaming. Wails of pain and anguish, of rage and despair, horrible sounds that no living being should make.
The corpses tried to move, to stand up as if they were still alive, but their legs would barely budge. Some tried to snap their teeth in the Pony of Shadow's direction, as if they could bite him from that distance, others yelled curses, their horns glowing with magic only to fizzle out in a cry of pain as the Pony of Shadows pulled on the magic tendril connected their body to the crystal orbs as if it were a harp.
Bramble didn't know how it was possible, the sight before him, of the dead once again screaming, but he was certain it had something to do with those orbs that the Pony of Shadows pulled out of their chests.
He watched the Pony of Shadows lift up the screaming mound of corpses with his magic, slowly and carefully levitating the corpses towards a nearby well, before he pushed them down, the bodies screaming as they scraped on the stone bricks of the well's inside, their bodies crushing each other under their own collective weight.
Bramble felt ready to collapse, to close his eyes and let this nightmare of a night be over already.
But he couldn't, not because he didn't have the option to, no, his eyes were perhaps the only thing he could control; nothing was stopping him from closing them and looking away.
No, Bramble had to keep looking, because this nightmare he was watching was a recreation of the events that had taken place in Platinum Manor over one thousand years ago, of the night when his mother died.
And so he kept watching, staring at the Pony of Shadows as it dragged the corpse of the Doe that protected the bundle of cloth with her life, the corpse of none other than his mother, Gaia Everfree, and placed it in the now-empty magical circle.
He watched as a similar crystal orb burst out of her body, leaving a small hole in the Heart of the Everfree as it pushed through it, breaking the heart in the process.
He watched in silence as a thin tendril of misty magic extended from the hole in his mother, flow through the Heart of the Everfree, and into the orb.
He watched as his mother's corpse began to wail in anguish, her legs flopping limply at her side as she attempted to strike at the towering figure that stood above her.
He watched as the Pony of Shadows plucked the tendril of magic like a harp string, each pluck causing his mother to scream louder and louder.
He watched as his mother was lifted up roughly, being shown not even a tenth of the care given to the Unicorn corpses as she was dragged towards the well.
He watched as the Pony of Shadows pushed her into the well, pushing his legs in to drive her deeper inside, the ground beneath the well shaking as his mother joined the collection of corpses.
Prince Bramble wanted to scream, he wanted to throw up, but he also wanted- no. He needed to see more.
He was getting answers to what happened, perhaps in the most direct way any creature could, but some things were still missing for him.
He needed the scene to change again, to show a different perspective, a different point of view, something, anything.
He needed to know more.
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Tantabus sat in the back seat of a 2008 Cadillac DTS, her legs dangling out of the open door as he watched the tall blonde man walk in circles in the parking lot, eating from a Ben and Jerry's cup, dry tears staining her face.
"So let me get this straight," Blueblood said, repeating his question to himself for what felt like the fifth or sixth time at this point, "This is a dream, I'm actually lying unconscious inside an abandoned manor, I was placed here by an evil wizard, and you're like my guardian angel trying to guide me out of here so I can wake up from this magical slumber."
"As I've said the last five times you asked, yes, pretty much," Tantabus said, shoveling another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, allowing herself to enjoy the blessing of having taste buds for the first time in her existence.
"Fine," Blueblood raised his arms in surrender, "You already proved you can magic away people, little miss Guardian Angel. Now, how do we get out of here?"
"We need to reach the exit the caster of the spell placed for himself," Tantabus said, her lips stained with ice cream, "With spells like these, the caster creates an entrance for himself to use whenever he wants to go in or out of the victim's dream, this allows him to switch between the dreaming world and the physical world simply." Tantabus shoved another spoonful of Ice cream into her mouth before she continued, "Usually, the spell caster will be around to try and stop us, but he's... Dead."
"...So the wizard is dead?" Blueblood asked.
"Yeah...." Tantabus averted her gaze.
"So why aren't I waking up?" Blueblood asked.
"That's not how the spell works. You don't kill the wizard in the waking world, and suddenly all of his spells stop working." Tantabus explained, "His magic is still in your system; it could take days, perhaps even weeks, before you naturally wake up from this. If he was alive, he would be able to refuel the spell, keep you here for longer, but he's not able to do that. He's also unable to stop you from trying to escape on your own."
"Okay... So we find this Wizard's magical doorway or whatever, and I go through it and wake up," Blueblood repeated the words in the way he understood them.
"Pretty much." Tantabus nodded.
"Okay. So, where is the magical door?" Blueblood asked, only to see the little girl who claimed to be his magical Guardian Angel look away.
"It's..." Her voice quieted down as she whispered the location.
"I can't hear you, you need to speak up," Blueblood told her, a gentle smile on his face as he tried not to cause her to accidentally start crying again.
"...Look, you know how time moves differently between dreams and reality?" Tantabus tried to ask.
"It's far away, isn't it?" Blueblood asked blankly.
"It's in the southernmost point of the country," Tantabus replied quickly before biting onto a spoonful of Ice cream in an attempt to delay her need to explain further, only to squint her eyes in discomfort and let out quick breaths from her mouth as she got a brain freeze.
Blueblood stared blankly at the small girl before he let out a tired sigh, "Guess we're going on a field trip, kiddo." He said as he stepped into the driver's seat of the car, "I'll buy something to eat later, right now we have a seven-hour drive ahead of us."
"Just a sec!" Tantabus yelled as she waved her hands in the air, a small pile of snacks appearing beside her in a puff of magic, "And also!" Another puff of magic followed, and several bottles of water and different juices appeared as well.
"And finally!" With a final wave of her hands, all the cars and pedestrians disappeared, leaving just the two of them and their old Cadillac as the only things on the road.
"You didn't need to show off..." Blueblood grumbled as he turned on the car, "Fasten your seat belt, kid, we're going to be in here a while."
Tantabus hummed an acknowledgement as he fastened herself into the back seat of the car, leaning forward to look ahead through the gap between the driver and front passenger seats.
"Off to Key West we go..." Blueblood mumbled as he drove the car out of the parking lot and onto the empty street, preparing himself for the next seven hours of his life.