The soft warm light of the full moon above was a much appreciated comfort as I stood alone in the shadows of the school yard. Glancing up at the familiar looking statue of the horse, I shivered as its mysterious eyes gazed upward into eternity. Did it know my intent? Was it some emergency guard to prevent humans such as myself from passing through? I did not know.
Why was I hesitating? I had found this place at last. Was I scared? Or did I simply want to take in as much as possible knowing I might not return. I took a good look at the giant school behind me. In the top floor, a single light shone. Maybe a janitor working?
"Oh well," I thought to myself, "no sense waiting around." Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the mirror.
My stomach dropped quickly as I was greeted with the unexpected sensation of falling. The grimoire I had read had given no details as to what the journey would be like. Thus, I was completely unprepared for the dazzling swirl of colors that circled before me. As I tried to regain my composure, the colors grew brighter and brighter, swirling ever faster. The hypnotic effect paralyzed me and I found myself unable to adjust my body, look around, or even throw up. At long last, the colors mixed together in one great blazing whirl of blinding white light. A split second later, I was spat out onto a cold stone floor.
For a moment, I lay there breathing. Soon however, the fear and unease caused by what I had just done moved me to rise and center myself. Upon doing so, I took a step forward and wobbled around a little, dizzy from my journey here. "Where was I?" I began to wonder to myself. The old grimoire I had studied for months had not given any more a precise destination than "Equestria." Where in Equestria, I knew not. For all I knew, over the course of time, the gateway in Equestria could have been destroyed. In other words, I might very well be anyplace in time and space.
I shut the thought out of my mind and looked around. Behind me stood a mirror. "How very unoriginal," I thought to myself, "they always use mirrors to create portals. Even in Equestria. Assuming, of course, this is in fact Equestria." I appeared to be in a fortress or castle of some sort. Judging by the dampness of the air around me, probably one of the lower levels. I was at one end of a large hall. A light shone at the other end, which seemed to culminate in a set of stairs upward. Shrugging my shoulders, I walked toward it.
"Hmmm, maybe I'm in some sort of hotel," I thought to myself as I walked along. On each side of me were doors, though plain and unlabeled. "Well, if it is a hotel, it sure is a rather dreary and depressing one," I continued.
My curiosity was piqued as I saw a door ajar. Stumbling over in the low light, I tried to peek through but the crack was too small. Tentatively, I reached out and pushed the door back a little. The squeaking was a lot louder than I expected. Deciding less noise would be made if I opened it quickly, I did so and walked in, hoping to get a better idea of where I was.
I decided at once that I was most likely in a warehouse of some sort. In a way, it made sense. Perhaps the owner of the mirror, not knowing what it was, had sold it and somehow it had ended up with some company selling antiques. Looking around again, I saw crates stacked upon crates, each labeled with dull citrine letters that spelled out, "Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." I peeked closer at one and found a number of crystal orbs stacked neatly within it. It's neighboring crates contained the same contents.
I jumped as a heard a soft clang behind me. At once, what little light from the hall there had been in the room disappeared and I found myself in darkness. Somehow, the door had closed. I began to panic, but putting my arms out before me, I made my way back to the general location of the door and felt around for the doorknob. It took me nearly three minutes to find. As it turned out, I had been feeling around too high. As I grasped its rough tarnished handle and turned it, it refused to move. The door was locked.