A Tale of Voyagers

Queen: The Desert

        The sky was blood red, the border a stark blue, and where the colors clashed, purple smoke tore into the air and licked at Marcellus's hooves. It was almost as if the sky was splitting, the red making way for black storm clouds that were raining something little and green. Something disgusting and slimy and... just filthy. Adresin's spells were pushing the jinxes away, forcing them to flee. I was so focused on urging the alpha unicorn to speed forward that I didn't see Willow was slipping until it was too late. She was out of my reach, spiraling towards the ground. There must've been another jinx, one that was hiding under the wings of the unicorn, one that escaped Adresin's spell. He dove for Willow, pushing her into the ring of fire. She disappeared right in front of me, piece by piece, like she was being torn apart. Adresin had flung off of his own unicorn, and I hoped he'd grabbed Willow's hand before she fell into the fire. If he had, they'd probably jump the border together. No-one should have to be alone in a time like this. All I could think was that it should have been me. I should have gone with her. I shouldn't have let her down. A thundering noise shook the very ground and swept all of us off of our feet, casting me into the purple smoke and across the border. Something was wrong. First came the blinding white light... 

And then came the nightmares and the blackness of night.




        Sand was between my teeth. In my shoes. In my hair. It was infuriating. I slowly opened my eyes, hesitating to move. It seemed like I was alone, at least for now. All I could see was sand. Sand. Sand. Too much sand. The  color of sand is disgusting and boring. 
"Bob," I croaked, pulling myself up. "Bob." I could see a body half-buried in the sand, the figure large and tall. Had to be Bob. "Get up, lazy oaf." I rose onto shaky legs. Lost my balance. Puked into the sand. "Bob, I swear, if you don't get up right now, I'm going to punch you." 
The figure stirred.
        Head pounding, I tried to swallow the insults that came to mind. We've just been through something intense. Give him a break, I thought as I pounded through the sandy hills. Actually, we both are traumatized. He doesn't get an excuse to lay there and ignore me. 
"Bob!" I yelled as I got closer. 
The figure was covered in black and grey... fur?
"Not Bob," I mumbled to myself as I crept closer. What was sticking out of the sand? It looked like a wing. The alpha! He must have stuck with me. I flung to his side and stroked his fur, tried to free him from the sand. "You're gonna be fine," I promised as his face came into view, the brilliant grey eye lighting up like a storm cloud. "You have a name?"
He snorted.
"I don't think I can pronounce that. Hard language to translate. Can I call you Tempest?"
His wing fluttered softly in the breeze.
"Tornado, then."
He was silent and still. 
"You shouldn't be so difficult. I'm trying to help, you know." I shook my head as I scooped up massive armfuls of sand to free his right wing. "Tempest means a storm and a commotion. Double trouble. I think it suits you."
He snorted.
"Why? Because you're kind of a rebel yourself. You left everything to save us. Thank you."
He whinnied and hopped onto his hooves.
"I have to admit, it's nice not being alone," I sighed, picking up a backpack that had fallen into the sand nearby. "What do we do now, Tempest?"
        The poor creature was limping and exhausted, yet there was no water or rest to be found in this forsaken place. I had no idea where we were. We went in search of anything, trudging across the open desert for what felt like hours. Sand. Sand. More sand.

Thunk.

        My head pounded against something hard. Confused, I took a step back.
Tempest whinnied loudly.
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes. "Something's wrong." Stretching out my hand, I felt cool glass on my palm. What the... I slowly approached the glass, feeling up and down for when it ended. Was it a cage? A glass cage around us? I peered down as far as I could see. It was so bright, I could barely focus on what was in the distance. Suddenly, I could see everything clearly. What looked like enormous snow globes were mounted as far as my eyes could see. Crap, crap, crap. This was not okay. What was in each cage? Why was everyone separated? That's when I saw the ground. It was so far below that I could only catch glimpses of it. Everything was black and grey, covered in ash, dust, and what looked like animal bones. Something had come through, destroyed everything, and built the realm back up in these tiny cages. Tempest began to pound on the glass, trying to shatter it. It must've been enchanted. It wouldn't budge. I didn't stop him from throwing his hooves at it, though. If I'd had more energy, I would've thrown myself at it, too. I tore through the backpack for anything that might be useful. Where even were we? Probably captured in one of Tormod's crazy jails. That's probably where we were. There were so many journals in this stupid backpack. Who in the world carries so many journals, I almost laughed aloud at the thought. No one needs all these. Oh, no. Opening the first journal I found, I quickly realized I was holding all the professor's things. All of his journals. All the information that Willow needed to find the pieces to the sword was in the bag that I was holding. 

I could only hope the others were okay.

        Like I said before, though, hope isn't something I count on. I was the only person I could count on. I'd get myself out of this. I needed to. For myself, for Tempest, and for my friends who needed the information that I had. We would get out of this. I started to head back to where we started.

I spun around.

I broke into a sprint. 

And I threw myself against that glass.