She laughed and pranced through the hall, the sound of laughter fluttering in her ears. The mare smiled at her gown, it was long and white; etched with small white petunias. Her mane was perfectly done. It had flowed along with her dress too. Her surroundings were pure trees and flowers scattered everywhere. It was a beautiful place, ultimately full of joy. Just as her heart was as the birds chirped a tune. But as she continued frolicking she saw him in the distance.
"Soarin'!" she squealed and darted towards his figure. He was so handsome, to die for. He wore a tux and his mane was smooth along with his looks. His glowing white teeth blinded the singing birds around him for a moment. As she darted closer and closer to him, she was so close. She pounced and was ready to hug him tightly until a loud noise rang. It was like screeching, but in pain. Which had made the vision around her fade into the darkness. And she was reawakened by a screech in her ear. She shook her head and looked down to see the shattered glass all over the floor. She was so confused. How had she just gone from a beautiful field to a dark eerie hall? She went to raise her hoof to rub her eyes but stopped, seeing the shards right in front of her. The pain stung her once again, forcing her to lean back on a mirrored wall that hadn't shattered. She took a breath in, shuddering from the pain. Looking down, the tips of her bathrobe were doused in red. She shuttered again and resisted a scream at the top of her lungs. She wanted to, but forced herself to go against it.
The feeling was so immense; she had never felt it before. Spitfire tried to somehow move the shards away to make room for sitting, but didn't care any longer. She had to remove any sort of shard left immediately. Removing bits slowly she felt somewhat relief little by little. Making sure the rest of the shards were removed she looked down at her bathrobe. Taking a quick cough, she took off the bathrobe and began to rip off some of the material. She wrapped the material around and around her hooves and flank taking one last deep breath. She looked ridiculous but it felt way better than the pain before. She backed away from the mess on the floor and turned to get a good look of her surroundings.
She didn't seem to have a good memory of what happened before. How she even got here was a misunderstanding. She was quite weak and tired, and moving around the hall was at a crippled-like stage. Her entire surroundings were mirrors, mirrors, and more mirrors. There was nothing else but them. She looked at herself and had a weakened smile.
"Wow. I really do look like I got into a bloody fight," she said gazing at her reflection for a moment. "The worst fight... against myself." she muttered and turned away from her reflection beginning to trudge again. Trying her best to continue on, the hallucinations kicked back in. Spitfire squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Taking rougher breaths she tried to fight it.
"No! No! Get out of my head!" she shouted, and began to panic. But then she realized something. When her eyes were closed, it seemed to be soothe her. Spitfire halted from her panic and tried to calm her breathing pace. She had to think of happier times, something to calm her. She didn't want the hallucinations to come back. But she didn't want the pain either. She had to focus on something just right. And she smiled. Not from the hallucinations, but from a fond memory. A childhood, dear memory. As she stood there she began to mutter it, just as her parents had done for her all those years ago.
"Sleepy Spitfire,
you must be tired.
Tomorrow shall be grand,
you'll understand.
How great you'll be,
Full of glee.
We love you so grand,
we hope you understand.
How great you'll become.
Our little one."
Her parents had sung this to her every night before she slept and it stuck to her memories perfectly. She could remember sleeping in her warm wool bed. She continued to keep her eyes shut and hum the tune to herself. As she had hummed it a few times, she seemed to have bumped into something. But it wasn't a wall... it had physical features. She feared to open her eyes, but it had to be a real pony; hallucinations weren't touchable. Or perhaps the visions were now more realistic. She wished so hard that the Doctor was in front of her.
"Doctor! Doctor is that you?" Spitfire asked, her voice poor and not the same as it had been.
"Open your eyes, the madness is lowered. Fool." the voice bellowed, it wasn't cheery like the Doctor's. It was grim. She slowly opened her eyes, she really wanted to know who it was and she couldn't help herself.
Standing in front of her was a Unicorn stallion. He was about three feet taller than her. He had a sly grin and a red jacket like the Doctor but it seemed more villainous with black threads at the edges. He had a large black top hat which had a red ribbon around it that covered his horn and a black flowing mane that contrasted from his snow white coat. His eyes were narrowed and black staring directly at her. This was definitely not the Doctor. Spitfire now wished it was a hallucination. She wanted to back away, but felt trapped in his gaze. He had something strange about him, as if he could take control of anything he wanted. Her thoughts were ruptured once a maniacal laugh came from his crooked smile. He extended his hoof towards her as if to shake.
"Nice to meet you miss. Care to shake my hoof?" he smoothly spoke. When Spitfire looked from his face to his hoof her eyes became drowsy. Instead of seeing a single sleek hoof, there were three. She shook her head and focused on the hoof in the middle causing the two others to disappear.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she snapped questions at him. His sly smirk became an austere look and he withdrew his arm.
"I am the Ringleader. And apparently you don't know how to respond to a friendly shake. No need to be paranoid. You are standing in front of the Ringleader. In my awe inspiring Hall of Mirrors. Well, more like a labyrinth. It all depends on how you're weak mind is dealing with the self created disease, the Madness." he boasted. Spitfire narrowed her eyes at him, and he swatted his hoof into the air. It caused her legs to twitch in pain, and was enforced to kneel on the ground. She stared back up at him, infuriated.
"I want to get out of here! I need to fix my wounds, and I need to find my friend-"
"Friend?" he interrupted her. "You must be on a date, and you decided to stay a bit longer didn't you? So many ponies do so. You two must have gotten curious and fell into my trap didn't you both? That was an undesirably foolish idea." the Ringleader chuckled and his smirk reappeared. He was very intimidating, and he seemed he was going to pull out some more hallucinations from his cruel imagination.
"Listen, you don't understand. I don't know how I got here-"
"Enough of you! Now you're criticizing my intelligence. I completely understand. I am not dumbfounded, but brilliant!" the Ringleader exclaimed. He stamped his hoof proudly causing specks of shadow colored sparks from his hooves. The pain came back, even harder than before. She let out a scream and cried.
"Doctor!! Doctor save me!!" she said at the top of her lungs, but the Ringleader put his hoof in her mouth to pacify her.
"Fools like you cannot comprehend my greatness. Hopefully a fool like you wouldn't be trying to foil my plans and such. This carnival has been ongoing. For up to a decade I've ruled this land. And you, you mortal are not going to ruin it. I will find your dear friend, and exterminate him from the premise. And you'll be the perfect bait..." the Ringleader proposed and chuckled again. From behind him, he pulled out a golden staff with an emerald on top of it; which she hadn't seen before. It shimmered somehow in the darkness. He stomped the bottom of the staff onto the mirrored floor causing a few cracks. Spitfire gritted her teeth and tried her best to stand but failed. It was as if she was locked in place... and there was no way even stand. She struggled to look up at him and gave him an infuriated look.
"Has anyone ever told you, you're the fool here?" she snapped. Outraged, the Ringleader slammed his staff next to her ear causing her to shudder. But she wanted to drive him crazy. She would try anything to make the Ringleader focus on her, and not the Doctor.
"You fool, rise before me now! Rise!!" he commanded, and forced her to stand with his magic. "You can say whatever you want, but you'll regret it not too soon. You're going to be staying here for a long while." he snickered. The Ringleader took his arm and flung it around her, pulling her close to his puffed chest rather tightly. She gave an austere stare at him as he began to trot through the hall, dragging her beside him. Spitfire struggled to be released from his grasp. He picked up her mane in one whole bunch and yanked a single hair out. Spitfire flinched and stared at the ground.
"You'll see. When you find him he'll stop you and your plans. You're mad just like this place. And surely you'll pay for what you've done for the past decade at some point!" Spitfire spat in a mutter. The Ringleader laughed and squeezed Spitfire. He grasped her hoof and threw her as far as he could through the hall.
"Enjoy the Hall of Mirrors. And don't worry about the so called 'Doctor' I'll have him taken care of. He'll be a lovely addition to those who've tried to stop me, and failed. Resulting in the most memorable death any pony could have. Oh, and good luck, try to not let the Madness get to you!" he called and rose his staff, fading into a dark menacing red. Just like the tips of her robe. Spitfire lied on the cold floor, now able to move at her will again. Although it was painful, she struggled to stand up again. Failing, she fell back onto the ground. She shook her head, and felt guilt within her.
It was her fault that she brought up the Doctor and it was selfish of her to yell for him knowing that he could be hurt. She should have known. She felt so dumbfounded. Spitfire turned her head and stared at the mirror to her reflection. Boy, she appeared a mess. Almost unrecognizable she had a blank gaze. As her eyelids began to grow heavy again she heard the bird chirps. Cursing under her breath, she took a deep breath. Her vision became a bit funky as if she was undergoing vertigo. She wished for the pain and the disease within her to vanish... but she wished harder that the Doctor was going to be okay.
After all, was she worth saving over death itself?