“Mm is everything prepared?” Elizabeth sighed, her attitude seeming more bored than usual. She gazed slowly around at the many candles and symbols drawn around the damp stone room.

“Of course!” Gregor snorted. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and observed Gregor closely.

“You’re clinging to your sword awful tightly.” Elizabeth mused aloud.

“There a problem with me doin that?” Gregor challenged.

“I don’t know, is there?” Elizabeth grinned.

Gregor stared at Elizabeth. “I didn’t think so. Now sit over there in the corner like a good mut.” She waved with a lack of much caring for the situation as she turned back to the inscriptions.

Gregor grumbled something as he silently glared at Elizabeth, slowly moving back as she had said. Elizabeth’s horn gave of a gentle but dark glow. “Mei perforabit velum oculi.” She began to say, a language that Gregor had never heard before.

“The hell does that mean?” Gregor questioned. A light murmur started to echo through the room.

“Ostendite mihi fenestram absconditis tuis.” She continued. The symbols turned from the white ink they were written in, to a dark, solid black.

“Hm…” Gregor muttered. It was then that all the scriptures started to peel off the ground and hover above the ground. He stared at the scriptures and backed away a little more. The symbols he had copied down grew unfamiliar as they all blended together in a single object. The black orb started to stretch into a thin string, forming a circle that instead of the normal horizontal position on the floor, it stretched vertically up to a three-dimensional one. A perfect ring that stretched almost to the ceiling was now dead still.

“Sit hujus mundi facti perlucidum.” Her voice boomed commandingly, echoing through the chamber. The space in the center of the ring warped into a reflection of Elizabeth and Gregor, along with the room around them. It now looked like a large mirror.

“Huh.” Gregor grunted as he stared at the mirror.

“Daahhph.” Dusk babbled, her and Star seeming entranced by their reflection. The two babies that had been missing were sitting in a rather elegantly made crib at the side of the large chamber.

“What’s next?” Gregor questioned.

“Tell me Gregor, do you believe in ghosts?” Elizabeth cooed in her usual gentle tone.

Gregor snorted, “No.”

“Well that’s very narrow minded of you.” She added. “But I digress. This ‘mirror’, is a window.” She glanced to her reflection.

“A window to what?” Gregor questioned.

“Well, go ahead and look for yourself.” Elizabeth grinned, motioning him to the mirror.

Gregor stared at Elizabeth for a few moments before grumbling and walking up to the mirror. He stared at his reflection for a solid minute. “What am I looking at? I mean besides a handsome bloke.” Gregor chuckled, turning back to Elizabeth. She had a larger smile on her face and did not respond. His eyes narrowed as he turned back to the mirror. His face slowly blanked as he realized something. Gregor’s reflection was no longer mimicking him… And it was smiling. Gregor stepped back from the mirror.

“What’s wrong Gregor, afraid of your own reflection?” Elizabeth snickered, putting a hand to her mouth.

“Of course not!” Gregor retorted.

“I think he enjoyed your compliment.” Elizabeth suggested. Gregor turned back to the mirror and saw his counterpart still smiling.

Gregor grumbled quietly. Elizabeth approached her own reflection and stared at the entity in front of her. “Quite magnificent creatures are they not?” Elizabeth asked. Her reflection along with Gregor’s smiled wider.

“What are they?” Gregor asked.

“Not known by many, only in ancient books are they known. But to most, they are simply called Mimics.” Elizabeth answered. “They are rather neutral creatures, but are easily offended…”

“Hm. And what do you intend to do with them?” Gregor asked.

“Oh, these are not what I am after… But they could be used.” Elizabeth mused, turning around and walking up to the crib.

“Heh, mimics. Guess that means they’re about as handsome as a mule without someone lookin at em.” Gregor chuckled to himself. The two reflections’ faces frowned slowly.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Elizabeth warned.

“Aww ya sad? Did I make you upset?” Gregor laughed at the mimic. The mimics faces grew even more sad. “Aww I think they’re gonna cr-” Gregor nearly choked on his own words as the faces of the mimics changed. Their eyes went a solid, milky white, and their teeth grew longer and razor sharp like an angler fish, several clawed hands violently thrashing against the glass to kill the pony throwing insults. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, sending Gregor back to the ground in utter terror.

“I told you.” Elizabeth sighed.

“Oh god…” Gregor gasped, “Those…” He cut himself off and just went dead silent.

“They say Changelings are a descendent of these primal beasts… They feed off of positive energy... And anything that threatens their food or takes it away is not going to live very long.” Elizabeth explained. “And negativity is a threat.”

“I… I’ll make sure… not to ever… do that again…” Gregor said.

“Good, now apologise.” Elizabeth suggested calmly. When Gregor looked back at the mirror, the figures he had seen as mimics had changed vastly. Their skin was a thick, dark black that was barely discernable from the blackening background from which the creatures stood. The only visible parts of them were the white teeth and eyes that practically glowed with a burning rage, a flame that was filled with anger and hatred. And all that hate was directed at Gregor.

“I… I’m sorry I made fun of you… I… I was wrong.... y… you’re all b… beautiful…” Gregor choked out. The two creatures started to slow their violent urges and stared at the cowering giant. “Y… you’re also… so… k… kind and merciful…” He added. The tension from the monsters body relaxed. Elizabeth approached the portal and put her hand up to the ‘glass’. The two mimics turned to Elizabeth.

“Now isn’t that better? There’s no need to get upset. My friend here is just grumpy… He was hurt pretty badly today and is in a lot of pain.” Elizabeth added with a smile.

“No… I wa… yeah… Yes I was.” Gregor nodded quickly. The mimics’ teeth slowly started to retract and their mouths closed, leaving their solid white eyes left with their solid black appearance. Gregor could only see two pairs of eyes, no bodies. The four eyes pierced his very soul with their blank stare. He held his breath and tried not to stare back. He saw more white appearing, and it was their teeth again. This time, they were smiling once more. Gregor let out a sigh of relief, his body relaxing a little bit.

“Now, I have a suggestion.” Elizabeth started. The two mimics’ smile slipped to a more curious expression. “You need attention to survive, do you not?”

“Whatcha gettin at?” Gregor asked.

“I’ll need you two to do something for me. You will be fed plenty…” Elizabeth smiled. The two mimics smiled as well at the suggestion. Elizabeth put her hand on the portal and her horn started to glow. “Aperi!” She stated loudly. The glass seemed to ripple for a moment as it disappeared. The two creatures stepped through slowly onto the hard ground of our world, observing the area curiously. “Prope!” She stated. The glass rippled back in place, sealing the black void once more.

“If… they understand us… why don’t they talk?” Gregor asked. The leftmost mimic turned to Gregor and stared with its’ blank eyes once more, it’s smile disappearing entirely as its’ mouth closed. “N… never mind.” He said quickly. It slowly started to approach Gregor. Gregor remained absolutely motionless. The mimic kneeled down to Gregor’s prone level.

“Because your language… Tastes… Terrible.” The mimic’s deep gravely voice uttered. “It makes me sick.”

Gregor just remained silent, a sick feeling rising in his stomach. It stood up at the sound of the two babies caught their attention. The two mimics smiled widely and continued to stare. “Now lets begin shall we?” Elizabeth said.

-------------------------------------

“So what are we going to do?” Scootaloo asked uncertainly.

“I don’t know…” Torrent mumbled. “This is all just…”

“We need to just calm down and think of someway to get out of this.” Rose said.

“Yeah uh…” Axel nodded slowly. He approached the door and his claws extended, slowly proceeding to tear the front door apart.

“It’ll just lead to the same place… Like it did the last fifteen times we opened it.” Torrent sighed.

“Maybe if we break it…” Axel continued, kicking the door and watching it fall to bits and pieces. Through the doorway was a… maze? “Well that’s new.”

“But… new doesn’t always mean good… especially not wherever we are.” Rose said.

“Well is it better than just sitting here forever?” Axel asked.

“I’ll go fiiiirst!” Pinkie waved her hand frantically.

“We need to go together. Splitting up is NOT a good option here.” Torrent said. Pinkie pouted and crossed her arms.

“Well then what are we waiting for?” Axel questioned.

“Let’s go then.” Rose said. The five of them walked through the doorway, which promptly vanished behind them. The maze was about fifteen feet high, with a mirror reflecting themselves as the ceiling.

“This place is weird.” Pinkie stated the obvious.

“Yeah… I really don’t like it.” Torrent said. There was something, however, that caught their eye. At where the door used to be, there was a ladder. At the top of the ladder was a hatch with the words ‘Easy way out’ written on it. “That’s… too convenient…” Torrent muttered.

“Hell, we gotta try.” Axel stated, grabbing the ladder and starting to climb.

“Don’t! What if it’s a trap… I mean usually there is no ‘easy way out’ of something like this!” Torrent said.

“It’s a hatch, what’s the worst that could happen?” Axel chuckled, moving his hand up and grabbing the handle to the hatch.

“It could take you right to your death.” Torrent said.

“I think you’re exaggerating.” Axel said as the handle clicked and the hatch opened towards him, gravity doing the rest of the work. The other side was nothing but darkness, an empty void. “Ah… well maybe you’re right.”

“Get down here before anything else happens.” Torrent said quickly. Axel seemed frozen in place, staring without a word into the darkness. “AXEL.” Torrent said loudly. Axel shook, almost as if snapped out of a trance. “Get back down here now!” Torrent ordered.

“Yeah… S… sorry.” Axel nodded slowly, closing the hatch once more and climbing down. An uneasy feeling swept everyone as they noticed something strange. Axel’s reflection had disappeared.

“Axel… what did you see up there?” Rose asked.

“Up… where?” Axel asked slowly and curiously.

Rose stared uncertainly at Axel. “When you opened the hatch…” She said.

“Did I?” Axel asked hazily, looking up at the closed hatch. “Oh… did we get out?”

“What the hell…” Torrent muttered.

“Axy? You okay?” Pinkie asked in a nervous tone that no one had really heard from the always cheerful pink pony.

“I’m kinda hungry... “ Axel shrugged.

“Let’s… just keep moving.” Torrent suggested.

“Once we’re out of here we’ll get something to eat.” Rose said.

“Lets’ just stick together, alright?” Scootaloo suggested.

“Yeah. That’s an excellent idea.” Torrent nodded. The group continued on, hitting one dead end after another. Axel still seemed… off. Pinkie had been clinging to him the whole time, but he almost didn’t even acknowledge her existence.

“Axel, is everything alright?” Rose asked. Axel didn’t respond.

“Hey, Axel.” Torrent said, in a slightly louder tone. The large pony shook for a second, as if snapping out of a trance. He looked at Torrent, his face was pale, looking like he was deathly sick.

“Yeah… sorry. Guess I spaced off for a minute.” Axel chuckled.

“It was more than a minute…” Rose said.

“You feeling alright there?” Torrent asked.

“I feel okay.” Axel shrugged. “Like I said, just hungry.”

Torrent immediately felt uneasy as he saw something, something he wished he hadn’t. Looking into Axel’s eyes, he swore he saw something… move. “W… what exactly did you see outside of the hatch Axel?” He asked.

Axel’s face seemed to scrunch up at the question. “What hatch?” He asked curiously.

Torrent bit his lip and glanced between the other three. Rose seemed just as nervous as Torrent was. Pinkie was no longer clinging to Axel, actually standing a bit away from him due to the same unsettling answer.

“Just… everyone else stick as close together as we can manage…” Torrent said.

----------------------------------------

“So, you said they were asleep?” Twilight pondered aloud, kneeling down beside Scootaloo.

“Yeah.” Alex nodded.

“We tried waking them up, but we received no response.” R’yotta said. Something nagged at Alex, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Twilight’s horn lit up, all the sleeping ponies lighting up with her purple aura. “I don’t know what Elizabeth did, but this is some pretty strong magic.” She added.

“Is there any way you could break it?” Alex asked nervously.

“Sam, go to the library and get me everything about enchantments and sleeping spells.” Twilight asked. Sam nodded. One green flash later, he was gone. Alex examined his friends, that nagging feeling only growing worse by the minute.

“I… I really… don’t like this…” Alex muttered quietly.

“What do you mean?” Twilight only seemed half paying attention as she continued to scan the room. Alex’s heart skipped a beat once the feeling surfaced into reason. There were only four bodies in front of him, Axel was gone.

“Where’s Axel?” Alex asked quickly, looking around the living room. Everyone’s heads snapped up to the sound of metal clanking in the kitchen.

“Everyone else is supposed to be in here.” R’yotta said as he slowly moved towards the doorway to the kitchen. Alex and Twilight were directly behind him, combat ready as well. The fridge was wide open, but there was someone there, his identity blocked by the door as whoever it was dug around inside. R’yotta slowly and quietly attempted to move to the other side of the doorway to get a better view. When the assailant moved, everyone saw that it was Axel. He had several bags and bottles in his hands and teeth, looking as if all the ingredients required in a turkey sandwich.

“Mmhph.” Axel waved awkwardly before making his way to the counter to set everything down. “Hope you don’t mind me mooching your food, I’m starving.”