Night 5 Celestia's House of Mirrors

[SunsetSombra]

Celestia's House of Mirrors

You suspect the only reason Celestia volunteered to run the House of Mirrors was so that she could admire her own wings—but you'd never say it aloud. Still, it's a rather fun attraction, even if—oof—you find it difficult not to run into somepony. Or, was that just your reflection you bumped into?

At any rate, it's fun for awhile, but you seem to be lost...

Some of the mirrors are a little dusted over in places, and it's hard to see your reflections truly clearly...sometimes a trick of the light makes you feel like they're watching you - that it was merely only seconds away from a reflection leaping out and doing...Celestia-knows-what. Sure, it's a crazy thought on a night like this, but sometimes nights like this were where the impossible became real - which makes it all the more reason why you and the others keep your wits about you

[Mojo]

"Now that I'm a little filly agin', I can fit into this here House of Mirrors!" Haywire neighed as the white sheet covered filly galloped inside. "I'ma gonna look at some of them thar mirrors I ain't seen before. And besides, what's the changes of that Discord feller show'm up here agin.?"

Haywire began to pose in front of more mirrors, but when she posed in front of a mirror that made her look much taller, she screamed and ran off deeper into the House of Mirrors.

"Ain't no way I ever wanna be THAT big, no, never ever!" she shouted, trying to come to a stop but the slippery floor beneath her hooves caused the filly to slide and then crash into a mirror hard. Lucky for her, the mirror didn't shatter.

[Inkwell]

"What happened?" Rose asked Haywire, curious about the filly's talk of being big. "Did I miss something?"

Rose figured that the odds of her missing something were rather high, since she decided to take a quick break after visiting the statue of Nightmare Moon. She'd only meant to sit down and have a drink for about five minutes, but somehow she ended up nodding off for a whole hour!

Thankfully nopony took advantage of her vulnerable state like she remembered them doing last year, so she was spared the embarrassment of having to clean off marker from her face or something like that. All she was left with was the determination to make up for lost time, so she quickly headed for the only attraction she hadn't yet visited, the house of mirrors.

It was probably her favorite of them all by far. Even the time-honored technique of following the left wall barely helped her navigate this maze, since she had a hard time telling where the walls were to begin with. But soon she ran into little Haywire again.

"Besides, I thought you didn't like being a squirt, squirt!" Rose smiled and stuck her tongue out at her.

[Mojo]

"Oh hi Rose!" the white sheet covered filly neighed. "You'll never believe what happened to me! When I was here last time, Discord appeared and made poison joke appear everywhere! I got infected with it while runnin' away and before I knew it, I was fifty feet tall! Thought it would be fun to be a giant at first, but it's really really borin'. I am SO happy that the Poison Joke wore off! I'd rather be a little squirt than be bigger than Twilight's library anytime!"

Haywire, now fully recovered from her collision, began to look at the mirrors again.

"So Rose, where the hay have YOU been? Ain't seen ya around fer a while."

[Willow Whisper]

Willow Whisper had finally finished her spooky trek along Discord's lamp-lit path, and decided to go check out one of the other attractions set up for Nightmare Night that she heard ponies gossiping about. Something that didn't require hiking, preferably. The green unicorn mare costumed as a grinning crocodile entered the mirror maze with a smile. She'd never been inside a fun-house before. The podgy unicorn stopped in a corridor filled with tall skinny mirrors that made her look as thin as a saplings branches. She laughed, and struck a playful and not so graceful pose in front of the mirror. "Lookin' fine and feelin' fine." She chuckled under her breath, before moving on further into the maze.

The unicorn caught sight of the many multiplied reflections of two ponies she had met briefly on the Everfree path earlier tonight, Haywire and another pony she hadn't caught the name of. "Hey, Haywire! Glad to see you got away from Nightmare Moon. Gettin' a decent haul toni-" She was cut off as she walked right into a mirror with a grunt, causing the wall of mirrors to rock slightly where they stood. Willow Whisper backed off a bit, and shook her head to regain her senses. She glanced around with yellow eyes, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. "Uh... Where are you, exactly?"

[Mojo]

Haywire heard Willow Whisper and turned to see if she could see her in any of the mirrors.

'I can't see ya, but I kin hear ya! Can ya foller my voice? Maybe I kin guide ya to where I am!" the white sheet wearing filly shouted as she began to sing, hoping her friend would hear her.

:"Oh I can't git a long little dough-gy, I can't even git one that's small, I can't git along little dough-gy, I can't git a dough-gy at all! Oh I can't git along little dough-gy, I can't even git one that's small....."

[Willow Whisper]

Willow Whisper lifted her head and perked her ears, and glanced at a mirror to see her own crocodile costume grinning back at her. The song echoed a little off the mirrors, but if she really concentrated she could follow it. The large unicorn mare made her way slowly and carefully through the maze, following the smaller ponies voice until she finally caught sight of her. The real her, anyway. She trotted over with an and appreciative expression. "Killer song. Thanks for the help too, I probably woulda broke a mirror if I kept stumbling through here."

"This place is kinda creepy... If you kinda unfocus your eyes, and look in the reflection of the mirrors in the mirrors it just goes on forever." She stared deep into one of the mirrors nearby, trying to see as far as she could. The mare felt dizzy after a while, and gave her head a vigorous shake.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Ginger Mint found herself standing at the entrance to Celestia's House of Mirrors once again. She hadn't expected to be back here tonight, or ever for that matter, but after her run in with Luna (or at least a very convincing paid actress, she couldn't be sure) in the Everfree Forest, she had decided not to let her fears get the better of her. Sure, she had gone and participated in every other activity that she could before she came back, but now that she was here, she was determined to see the end of the maze this time.

This time, she was ready!

At least I wont have to worry about finding my way out this time around, not with this roll of twine anyway!

She tied one end of the roll of twine up at the entrance to the maze and trotted inside, filled to the ears with confidence. That confidence was shaken a little bit when she noticed how much different the maze looked since the last time she was here. The mirrors, rather than being perfectly clean, were dusty and hazy; while the lighting that had been more than adequate was now dim and spooky. She quickly lowered her eyes to the ground, watching only the placement of her hooves as she navigated through the maze.

"Amm Noh shhcrred!" she mumbled to herself through the twine in her mouth, "Is aah juss a wunsh ovv shmmpfle tricff amm nonffenff"

The though was reassuring, but even looking at her hooves didn't dispel the illusion entirely. Shadows danced about the ground around her, cast be a flickering light that she could not see. Her innate curiosity was begging and pleading with her to glance up and look to see where the light was coming from, but she willed herself to keep looking down. She was making good progress ahead, or so she thought, and she didn't want to mess up a winning strategy.

This roll of twine should be more than enough to get me through the entire maze two times over again, if I just stick to the plan, I'll have this whole place figured out eventually.

At least, it had been a good plan, up until the point when her twine ran out.

Ginger Mint stopped dead in her tracks. She had measured the outside of the maze before she entered and it seemed impossible that she could run out of twine before reaching the end, but there she was. Her thoughts were frantically trying to figure out what might have gone wrong, and rather than forge ahead, she decided it would be best to head back out and buy some more twine.

That had been a good plan too, up until the point where she reached the other end of her twine, still in the middle of the maze.

No worries, this is just someone playing a trick on you. They must have found the other end of the string and pulled on it to make it run out sooner. Yes, that must be it!

The revelation didn't do much to calm her now jittery nerves, as she realized she was still stuck in the middle of the maze again. The shouts and screams of a mare somewhere else in the maze didn't help either. In fact, she reflexively looked up to try to see where the distressed pony had called from and that was when she saw her own reflection in the mirror.

It wasn't quite her own reflection though. It looked enough like her except for the expression. Her eyes were wild and she had big grin on her face.

Ginger Mint made a startled little squeak and proceeded to perform a pony's rendition of a pinball machine as she frantically tried to get back out of the maze. Even if I get out of this in one piece, my face is going to be one big red mark by tomorrow...

[flutterscotch]

"Ah guess Ah have room for jus' one more attraction", Apple Bloom said aloud. After her last encounter with Princess Celestia she was starting to feel a trifle bit guilty about scaring ponies who might not have wanted to be scared, so she was being careful that she didn't accidentally scare anypony. And to be honest almost nopony was recognizing her...and she hadn't run into the other Cutie Mark Crusaders OR her siblings, so she was feeling a bit lonely, so she wanted to hear the sound of her own voice.

She trotted over to Celestia's house of mirrors, her ghostly costume no longer quite holding its glow, and she was starting to feel a little fatigued. She hoped she wouldn't get too lost in the maze, but she couldn't imagine any attraction hosted by their benevolent princess could be scary... or COULD IT?