//-------------------------------------------------------// Catoptrophobia -by Chloe The Great- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter I //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter I     I felt something cold underneath my body. It was also very hard, and not very comfortable. My head slowly lifted and I saw around me a very lifeless environment. I noticed a small cloud of steam leave my mouth, which wasn't very surprising due to the chilliness that I felt. My body started to tremble and I started to try heating up my blood by walking around a bit.     This was so odd. A vast and far land that had just a metal floor and endless skies that looked like nothing but a depressing gray. I only hoped this was not all real.     "Hello?" I called out, and heard a small echo. "Is anypony there?" Of course, nopony answered--but it's not like I was expecting to hear one. I tried a couple of times more, and still...nothing. I sighed and my eyes kept switching from place to place so I could find some sort of a way out.     Then, I heard it. I heard it before, but I didn't take note or really thought of it that much. It was just a light sound, something like scraping that only agitated my ears once or twice. It became more close though, and I suddenly found myself in bit of a panic. Something wasn't right...     I saw it from a mile away, and I panicked. It came closer and closer and closer. My ears dropped and I tried running, but every direction I looked it was there. Before I knew it, they were only 10 feet away from me. I cried out, sobbed. I knew I was going to die...and it was going to happen. It now made a box around me, and I felt it above my head landing along with the others.     Everywhere I looked...it stared at me. I almost died from just the look of it, the way it haunted and gave me bewildered looks. I didn't look at it though, I just felt it. When I finally was forced to look, I saw it. She was staring at me with red eyes and a scared look...one almost like a foal's.     She looked at me, straight at...me. I turned away and saw another one--very different from the other. Her eyes were ripped out of her socket, she was crying endless rivers of crimson blood. Her jaw was also cut off, and I was repulsed by it. I looked above me, and saw something. I blinked and now it was hanging upside down, in my face. I screamed and kicked out of her grasp.     "LET ME GO!" I heard four voices scream out, and saw the thing grabbing me do it too.     I shot up in bed and heard myself bring out a blood-curdling scream. I scared myself and screamed again. Scared to death I ran off my bed and turned on the lights. No mirrors. No purple maned creatures with white rotting flesh tearing at mine. I cried a small, pathetic sob.     Something in the hallway tumbled closer to my door and I screamed again, sobbing more. The door flung open and I shrunk to the ground.     "Rarity! It's okay, it's me, Sweetie Belle!" I heard my sister's soft voice coo. I looked at her and felt the draft in my room rub against my eyes and cause me more pain. I practically tackled my little sister and hugged her with safety almost washing over me as I felt her warm fur against mine. She softly rubbed her head against my shoulder and I sobbed.     "It's getting worse, sis...you need to see somepony," I heard her choked voice. I nodded rapidly and hugged her tighter. Nopony should no about this, never. I spent the hour, sobbing, crying, hugging, and trembling. It wasn't the best night of my life, considering my little sister was her--caring for me when I should be caring for her.     "Sweetie Belle, you promise me you won't tell your friends about this? Not even my friends, they musn't worry about this," I whispered. She stroked my mane and nodded softly and I sighed with relief.     "Come on, let's wash your face," Sweetie told me and helped me up. We went to the bathroom, but I waited outside the bathroom...looking away. Sweetie stared at me and I looked at her with pained emotion.     "Sweetie, I have catoptrophobia," I blurted. I guess I expected to feel a little weight life off my chest, but nothing actually went away. It was still there...now getting heavier as I saw in the corner of my eye the little bit of purple from my mane. It was ragged and had a pale color that didn't look right. I backed into the wall and fell to my flank.     "What's that?" My sister asked, a little worried of my expression.     "It's the fear...of mirrors," I swallowed. My breath became shallow as I felt something chill, and I spine went down my spine.     "Is that what your dreams were about?" Sweetie asked in a hushed tone. I nodded slowly and felt myself flush and I couldn't move. Just one glance at it...and I couldn't breath. I heard the sink run and Sweetie came out a minute later with a soaked cloth.     She applied it gently to my face and around my eyes. she got another cloth and wiped my face dry. I tried not crying, knowing that it only make Sweetie have to wipe my face more. I don't know where I would be without my sister, but I would still be afraid...afraid of the mirrors that surrounded my boutique.     "Sweetie, I'm sorry you had to see me like that," I apologized. She hugged my again, and I leaned into her.     "Don't apologize, Rarity. without you...I don't know what it would be like," I felt her smile against my fur.