Meanwhile, at the Queen's castle, it was very quiet. No birds were chirping and not a sign of life to see. But then came the beloved Prince Florian, who returned from his kingdom and tried to visit the girl of his dreams again. He hoped to see her again in the castle courtyard at the well. But this time, something was wrong. He couldn't hear her lovely voice, so he jumped over the wall again. As he suspected, she wasn't here.
"Hmm. I wonder where she could be. Could she be inside?" the Prince asked himself.
He could ask the Queen, but he heard a few tales about her and wasn't sure if he should do that. Before he was going to try that option, he tried to look around in the rest of the courtyard. It was actually a bit bigger and quite lovely, too. It perhaps was the only part of the castle that doesn't reflect the Queen's personality.
"I didn't... Dream any of this, didn't I?" he asked himself.
Then suddenly, the Prince stopped, for he heard a painful sound. Someone was sobbing or crying.
"Hello? Is there anyone out there?" the Prince called, but the sobbing continued.
He listened closely and found out it came from a strange opening. He looked inside and called once again. "Hello?!"
The sobbing stopped, it didn't answer anything. The Prince tried to go inside and found himself in some kind of dungeon-like area. There were small waterfalls and some fountains on the wall. He didn't like the place at all, but his instinct told him to go on.
"What is this?" he asked himself.
As he walked further and further, something made him jump in fear. There were lots of skeletons of people that have been locked up in the castle. There was a skeleton that dangled from its hands in a cramped cell. Further on, a skeleton of some poor unfortunate soul was hanging chained to the wall, arms spread wide apart, while another one laid on the floor, reaching out for a luminous fountain through the bars of his cell. That was all too horrifying for words and no sooner he heard the same sobbing echoing through the halls again. After walking through several cells, he finally found the source of the sobbing. Florian immediately recognized it as a cow just like Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace, which he met yesterday.
The cow was all alone in a cell. She wore a collar around her neck that was attached to a chain. She was sobbing in her arms.
"Pst. Hey," the Prince said silently.
The cow heard it and looked up a little. When she saw the human, she yelled a little and stepped against the wall, looking at him with fear.
"Please... Don't hurt me," the cow said.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Florian said.
The cow still shivered in fear.
"I promise. You're safe now. My name is Florian. Prince Florian. What's your name?" the Prince asked.
The cow didn't expect that at all. She didn't know him. He could be in league with the Queen, but he sounded too nice for that. Without hesitation, she gave him her name. "Becky."
"Aren't you a friend of Maggie?" the Prince asked.
When Becky heard that name, her eyes went wide. "You know Maggie?"
"Yes, she's a friend of mine."
"Do you know where she is?" Becky asked while she came closer to the bars.
"No. In fact, I haven't seen her and her friends for days after we first met. And I also can't find the Princess or hear her beautiful voice. Could it really have been a dream?" the Prince answered.
"Wait. Are you also saying that you know... Snow White?" Becky asked. After she met the Queen herself, she couldn't get that name out of her head.
"Oh, yes, we met once. It was a song that drew us together," the Prince said.
"Of course," Becky smiled while she rolled her eyes.
"But why is a creature like you locked up in here?" Florian asked.
"The wicked Queen did this," Becky said while tears fell from her eyes.
"I've heard tales about her, but why is she doing all this, especially locking up an innocent creature like you?" the Prince asked.
"She was horribly jealous of the beauty of Snow White and my friends. So she used her dark magic to change into an old hag, and then she was gonna try to trick them into eating a poisoned apple," Becky explained.
The Prince gasped at all that.
"I've seen the whole thing, and suddenly, she discovered me and held me captive. She told me all those terrible things, but I believed in my friends. She locked me up in here and she hasn't returned yet."
"If Snow White and the rest are in danger, then we have to rescue them," the Prince said.
"But how? She took the keys with her," Becky said.
"We gotta find a way to get you out of here," Florian said while he pulled at the bars. "We can't let you end up like all the other prisoners here."
Becky began to think quickly, because she didn't want to be a skeleton. Until she came with an idea. "Maybe you can find something in the lab. A spare key or a potion to open these cells."
"How do I get there?"
"Walk up those stairs. At the end, there's a trapdoor that will get you inside the lab," Becky explained.
"Up the stairs. Trapdoor. Got it," Florian said and ran up the stairs.
"Please, hurry," Becky said.
The Prince walked up the stairs and found the trapdoor. He opened it and looked around. He never knew that a castle would have that. The raven was still there. When the trapdoor opened, he immediately jumped inside the skull again, thinking it was the Queen who returned. But once he saw, it was not the Queen, he slowly jumped out of it.
"So this is what she does. Lots of magic potions and spells for everything. I could try to create a potion to free her from that cell in an instant. Too bad I'm not such an expert in this magic stuff. Poor Becky, being locked up by that Witch."
He tried to look through the books and potions to find a way to free Becky. The raven was listening to every word he said.
"If only there was a spare key to..." When the Prince turned around, he was completely surprised with what he saw.
The raven was holding a spare key in its beak, offering it to the Prince.
"Oh, thank you," the Prince said and took the key from the bird.
The raven just stood there. The Prince could finally free his new friend, but then he looked at the raven.
"Hey, are you okay? Why don't you go outside? Enjoy life. You can't stay here with that evil Queen," the Prince advised.
The raven was thinking a little.
"It's okay. Go. The trapdoor is still open. There's an opening that will lead you outside," Florian said.
The raven didn't know if he wanted that, but he didn't want to see the scary face of the Witch ever again. So he flew away through the trapdoor and went on his way to freedom. Now that the Prince had the key, he went back to the cell where Becky was kept.
When he reached the cell, he used the key to open the cell.
"I've got a key," Florian said.
"Great," Becky said.
He walked towards her and tried to find the lock on Becky's collar. "Just stay still."
Becky didn't move while Florian was looking until he finally found it. He used the key to unlock it and Becky was finally free. She was so happy that she hugged the Prince.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," Florian said while he petted her head.
Then he remembered about Snow White. "Um, Becky? Where can we find Snow White?" he asked.
"I have no idea, but the Queen mentioned a cottage with seven dwarfs. It's going to be difficult to find... Since I'm not from here," Becky answered.
"Then I suggest to look everywhere. We can ask people if they've seen her and your friends."
"That could take days, maybe months. Perhaps even years," Becky said with worry.
"We have to try. If Snow White, Maggie, and the rest are in trouble, then we've got to find them," Florian said.
"All right. Let's find them together," Becky said, and they both smiled at each other. "So, where do we start?"
"Let's try the town," Florian said.
"On it," Becky said, and they both left the dungeons, ran away from the castle and began the search for their friends.