Twilight awoke the following morning to find Sombra standing by the dining hall. "Twily, I have had my chefs prepare a meal for you and your changelings before your assault on Fillydelphia." said Sombra
The queen walked into the dining hall with General Green Haze and said, "Thank you Sombra, we are going to need it if we are going to have a successful raid."
Sombra told Twilight that he thinks she will need to gather around 2,000 ponies to build her tower along with the new housing they will need.
"What kind of material would be good for their dwellings?" asked Twilight
Sombra looked around for a minute and said, "Wood. You have the Everfree Forest right there at your doorstep. Is that part of your realm?"
Twilight grinned and said, "Yes, my realm covers Ponyville, the Everfree Forest and the surrounding areas, some of which do have iron deposits, so I am thinking we should be fine."
Sombra said, "Twilight, iron rusts. I think you will need something stronger for your tower. Wait a minute, you are an Alicorn. You could put a spell on the iron to get it to where it won't rust. Also, you can meld the iron together to where your tower will not leak."
"You are a genius." said Twilight. "I can have the Fillydelphia ponies haul the iron in but then I can use my magic to turn all that iron into a tower. Perhaps I won't need 2,000 Fillydelphia residents, but I will still round up that many for the fun of it. Besides, with that many, their own dwellings will be built much faster."
Sombra agreed with Twilight and said, "I think you and your changelings should be on your way. You want to get this raid done by nightfall."
"Agreed," said Twilight "Green Haze, we need to head to Fillydelphia, now!"
"Shouldn't you put that invisibility spell on us before we head out?" replied Greed Haze
Twilight looked at her general and agreed. She had him gather all the changelings together and then recited the invisibility spell, "Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."
Twilight's changelings became invisible and her along with her army sped off to the southeast. Very quickly they exited the empire and all that could be seen was Twilight flying through the arctic.
It started out as another normal day in Fillydelphia. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the market was open for business. It was a busier than normal day in the market as this was the first sunny day in a week. The nearby park was also full of ponies and their foals playing and laughing. Their mayor was also present and said, "I know this is two weeks away but we will soon be having Princess Celestia visiting us. I want us to work on cleaning up any loose branches and I want us to have the lawns of every park and every house nice and cut. Everything has to be perfect for her visit."
Within a couple hours Twilight and her army could see Fillydelphia off in the distance. She said, to drive the ponies out into the open, they will have to see you. With that Twilight cast the counter spell to the invisibility spell, "The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared, shall now appear." With Twilight's changelings now visible, they speed into Fillydelphia.
A sudden dark cloud spreads over the city and the ponies began to run around in terror. Twilight's changelings began to swoop down to gather as many ponies together as they could in one place. Those they could not simply herd into the same area had bolts of energy fired at them to the changelings to force them into the same area that the other ponies were located. Finally a little over 2,000 ponies were crammed into the town square when Twilight descended into the city and cast a spell putting a forcefield around the ponies. This led to them leading the citizens of Fillydelphia out of the city southwestwards towards Ponyville.
Twilight landed down by her general and said, "We have the sufficient labor force we need, now to get them to Ponyville. This however is going to take a couple of days, which will make it far too easy to spot us all". She ordered her changeling army to gather around her captives and she cast the invisibility spell upon them and began their march towards Ponyville.
Back in Canterlot Celestia was getting very worried. She was wondering why Twilight had yet to arrive. Celestia said, "I really hope she did not fall in her quest to vanquish Chrysalis, if that was her plan."
Luna replied, "I have this bad feeling that she did not head south to try to defeat Chrysalis. I am worried that she went down there to join forces with her, to stab all of Equestria in the back."
"Oh Luna, you are such a worry wart." laughed Celestia "With you it is always the worst case scenario! I am sure that everything is just fine."
This angered Luna and caused her to storm out of the throne room. "What was all that about?" asked a worried Accurate Aim
"Oh Luna just gets frustrated when I brush her off like that. I know she sometimes is right in her worrying but the very idea of Princess Twilight stabbing us in the back is ridiculous." laughed Celestia
Applejack interrupted and said, "No disrespect your Majesty, but she was right about the fall of the Crystal Empire. What if she is right about this as well?"
Celestia gave Applejack a strange look and said, "Has Luna been teaching you things? Has she been putting all these worse case scenarios in your head? You're such a silly filly!"
Deep down this irritated Applejack greatly but she did not wish to show any disrespect towards Princess Celestia, so she just kept quiet. Fluttershy then said, "Your Majesty, I don't want to sound awful or anything, but what would happen if Twilight fell to Chrysalis?"
"Fluttershy, I don't think you want to know. The Elements of Harmony would no longer work and we would have adversaries on two sides that we may not be able to stop. We would not only have Sombra and his dark army in the north but we would have Chrysalis and her changeling forces in the south. It could be a true disaster for every living thing in Equestria." said Celestia
Fluttershy got really scared and hid behind Applejack and said, "Oh no, Princess. I hope this doesn't happen. I hope Twilight is ok." Fluttershy then grabbed a hold of Applejack and began to cry.
"It is ok Fluttershy. We will figure something out. What it will be I am not sure of right now, but we will figure out something." replied Celestia
A couple days later Twilight, her army and her captives arrived back in Ponyville. Twilight knew she had to do something to keep her activities minimally visible and needed to put a barrier around Ponyville and the surrounding areas. She first cast the counter spell to the invisibility spell to make sure all her captives and her army were all there. Then Twilight began to focus very deeply, her horn began to have a black and purple glow to it and she recited, "The realm must be guarded, for we must not fall, this is vital for all, we need a protective dome to call our home." With that a huge purple force field covered not only Ponyville, but the Everfree forest and the nearby iron rich soils.
Celestia and Twilight's friends then head out to the balcony facing the east in the direction of Ponyville. They could see a huge purple dome covering everything that was within Twilight's realm. Celestia said, "Well I guess we know that Twilight did not fall if she did indeed go south to battle Chrysalis. She probably didn't defeat Chrysalis but is putting up a force field to protect her realm from the massive changeling army that Chrysalis has."
Applejack replied, "Well it is good to know that she is ok, but I am still wondering why the hay she hasn't come to visit and I am really wondering about that force field she put up. I know she can get paranoid but I don't think she is so paranoid that she would shut off her whole realm like this."
Rainbow Dash, being skeptical said, "Perhaps she has decided to keep everypony that she does not trust out? You don't think that maybe she has decided to try to make her realm like the Crystal Empire do you? To make it a closed off domed empire?"
Celestia replied, "The reason the Crystal Empire is under a dome is because it is located in the arctic north. If it weren't for the dome, it would be a frozen wasteland and most likely wouldn't exist. I don't think Twilight has any bad intentions. She is as paranoid as Luna is, she probably just wants to protect her realm."
Applejack told Celestia that she was probably right, that Twilight isn't the type of pony to shut herself in like that. Spike said, "We should get back to Ponyville and see what is up with her. Then we can get her to come back here with us and she can tell us what happened in her confrontation with Chrysalis."
"That is an excellent idea Spike. Alright my ponies, have a safe trip back and I will see all of you with Twilight very soon." said Celestia
Spike and Twilight's friends headed to the train station and headed back home, not knowing that a not so pleasant surprise would keep them from getting back to Ponyville.