//------------------------------//
// Threshold 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Sunburst, with his robe, skimmed through the book he was holding, flipping the pages quickly to the end and closed it shut.
Plopped it on the counter.
"And that would be thirty bits?" he asked the librarian who was taking the book and his bits.
"Yes, mister," she said as she inserted the bits into the cash register and hoofed the volume back to him. "Is it for work or for leisure?"
"Work is my leisure!" Sunburst replied, a bit cocky with strands sticking out of his unkempt mane. Coughed, then rubbed his baggy eyes while levitating his glasses. "I say to myself, 'Why relax when you could be doing something productive?' Heh-heh!"
"Heh...heh..." was the librarian's answer.
He levitated the book into his saddle bag. "Have a good day ahead of you!"
"You, too!" she said, waving at him as he left the bookstore and entered a pink sky's dawn.
Cool morning air permeated the shop.
The back door screeched open, revealing a haggard Crystal Hoof with half-open, sleepy eyes and a wide long yawn.
She winced, pinching her nose. "Yuck! Did you skip on your breath mints or what?"
He shoved a hoof into his mouth, giving her an apologetic face of a frown—or, as much of a frown he could make with a hoof between his teeth.
The librarian groaned as she floated a little jar of such mints. "You know, you're like a dragon sometimes. Yeah, you don't really eat crystals, but...an honest question, Crystal Hoof."
He shuddered. "Wh-What could that be?"
"Do you have sulfur inside your stomach?"
Gulped. Shaky legs, shifting eyes. "Not that I know of, ma'am. We didn't have biology textbooks a thousand years ago."
"Oops." She blushed. "How could I forget that?"
"Well, I've been your assistant for a few months now," he replied, that innocent smile creeping back up.
She nodded as she took off the jar's lid and levitated a simple white mint to him. "Just...just eat it."
The Crystal pony ate it, chewed on it, and swallowed it.
The librarian let out a sigh of relief. "Better?"
"Always better," he said, feeling the intense freshness washing over his mouth and even up to his nose.
Then, her eyes went wide open. "Oh! I forgot to tell you something else."
"What is it?" he asked, walking to the counter, getting closer to her.
It was now only that counter that separated the two.
"I think that you've proven yourself wary enough to go to an event today." She paused, giving him time to let it sink in. "There's an exhibition in the Canterlot Castle. Nothing too flashy or gaudy, but...treat yourself to some rest."
"Really...?" he said, blurting it out as he leaned closer to her.
"Really," was her short reply.
"But," he continued, his smile becoming a pensive frown, "what is it about?"
"Some royal paintings, some magical artifacts, things like that. Of course, they'll be cardoned off by the usual security guards—plus, they'll be having some of the actual soldiers there, too." Another sigh, gazing upon him with a tender turn of her eyes. "Try to fit in with the rest. Don't make too much noise about you being a Crystal pony. I have to keep you away from harm, but I don't want to do that by confining you inside this little wayside bookstore."
It was Crystal Hoof's turn to nod. "I understand." He saw the back door once again; it was open. "So, I'll prepare my things, right?"
"Yes, yes," she said, her second "Yes" much quieter.



The grand, spacious hallway in the castle was, like the rest of them, an artistic masterpiece in and of itself. There was the (probably obligatory) red carpet cutting through the middle, the wall-tall windows that had huge and dangling curtains drawn over them, and the polished checkerboard floor that stank of newly-applied and experimental varnish scented like that of roses and violets (for there was a glass bottle standing at the corner with its label proclaiming, "Researched and guaranteed to give you the shiniest of shiny floors that the world of shiny floors have ever shiningly seen!").
On easels, paintings of various kinds teemed the hall. From the realism of a farmpony hard at work to the abstract of undefinable shapes and strokes, an entire gamut of imaginative finesse was on display here for everyone present to admire.
Crystal Hoof stood, with a few others beside him, in front of a particular painting.
This one depicted a white pegasus of the guard, armored and standing on top of a hill overlooking a vast dry field of rocks and barrenness sliced open by the glaring sunrise. His eyes shimmered, his armor gleamed, and that look on his face was as stoic as ever—unfeeling, unchanging.
The Crystal pony walked away from the painting.
He passed by several more, giving them peeks long enough to digest their immediate messages, their first impressions.
Then, he entered the artifact section of the event.
While there were only a scant number of them compared to the numerous paintings present, these artifacts were treated with a care and a defense unrivalled by their canvassed counterparts. Under a thick and airtight glass cover and on a raised platform, each relic also had four guards posted there, emulating the unemotional hero idealized in the painting before. Added to them were short fences that stood between the guards and the relic, short enough that ponies could tilt forward a bit and take a more detailed inspection and examination of these valuable items.
The first one at Crystal Hoof's left was a faithful recreation of the Elements of Harmony themselves—it said so on the elevated nameplate in front of it. "The Elements that you see here are imitations made from readily available diamonds and precious stones," read a part of the description on that plate. These fake Elements of Harmony were different-colored gems, the six of them. Five were generic in form, but the sixth was shaped like a star with six points.
The second one at his right was an ancient, decaying tome, the edges browned with tear and wear. A few scribbles could be discerned from the pages that protruded from the book, but they were not enough to make a whole word. "This cobbled up collection of Starswirl the Bearded's letters to and from one of his students, Clover the Clever, is a priceless glimpse into the life of ancient Equestria. Due to these letters, many of the historical mistakes made about this period have been rectified."
The third one located on the middle of the carpet was a big mirror, full height. Its rim was like a horseshoe and studded with gems. Above it, a symbol of a pony on a window.
"This mirror," read the nameplate, "is a mysterious object. Its magical properties are unknown."
And that was all.
Crystal Hoof faced one of the mirror's four guards. "Do you have any idea what's the mirror for?"
The guard stayed still.
"Alright. That's because...you're here...uh, doing your job..." and gulped again. "I think I should stop talking right now."
The guard made no motion at all.
He laughed nervously to himself as he shuffled away from the mirror.



It was deep night.
Inside a small room with some shelves that contained brooms, toothpaste, and buckets of paint alongside other maintenance tools and equipment, there was the mirror, too, hooked up to a combination of tacked-on components and parts—wires, levers, indicators, and, resting on a little metal table, a book with no name nor picture.
Princess Celestia bowed her head down.
"This war may have taken its toll," she said, alone, with somber timbre, "but it shall not stop me from seeing her once again...whatever trouble she may have gotten herself in."
She put her hoof on the lever.
Pulled.