//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19 
// Story: A Fear that Came to Pass 
// by ChingKittyCat 
//------------------------------//

Twilight and Sunset were smart unicorns, there was no doubt about that. They had worked on going through every single interesting book they could find. Even the ones with a single hint of resourcefulness were looked through. Though, reading books took time. Not that time was currently stressed, but it was better to get things done with sooner rather than later. 

It had taken them hours upon hours to just find the good books inside this library. They worked through at least four or so large bookshelves per day. The things were big and had an extremely large variety. Though, the place was littered with them. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of bookshelves in here. It was the third biggest library in Equestria; it should be this large.

The two needed to work constantly. The research was not going to get done by itself. Luckily enough, nopony seemed to notice. Nopony paid them any half of their minds. It was understandable and it was most likely better off that way. The two didn't need any distractions. Speaking of distractions, the two needed food. That was obvious; it was a necessary part of any living thing. 

Twilight, being the mare with the bits, went out to buy all the food. She didn't buy a lot of food. She really just bought enough that would last them through that day. She was had to be conservative, even if it did leave her with a roaring stomach. For the other things they required, there was a bathroom. Really, that about covered it. They had all the required supplies.

Food, Water and a bathroom. Sunlight was minimal, at the most. Though, it didn't seem too important. Really, it just made them a bit pale. 

No, scratch that, it made them really pale. Why? How? There's just one reason. The two unicorn mares stayed inside that library for a good four months researching and going through books. Yeah, four months. Even when Sunset insisted that they were done researching about two months in, Twilight refused. They still needed to make a thorough plan. Which meant they had to read through all the important books once more.

They had collected about two hundred books that seemed useful, so reading through all of those books once more would definitely take a while. They were all decently over a hundred pages long.

So, you could probably imagine Sunset's nagging and complaining about rereading every single book they had already read. Yeah, Twilight was pretty tired of it. Though the two did get a bit closer as acquaintances. They had shared a couple conversations about interests and family. One of the conversations that they had was a bit strange.

"So, Sparkler."
Sunset had started off. Sunset had this weird nickname for Twilight, Sparkler. Twilight didn't complain about it, though. It was a decent nickname, in her opinion.

"What's your story?"
Sunset continued. Twilight looked up from the book she was currently reading (The Art of Equestrian War). Twilight had a pretty short life story. It could really just be summed up with 'Went to a place to get friends, lost all my friends a couple months ago'. Though that would be a tag bit vague and uninformative.

"Got sent to Ponyville, acquired the Elements of Harmony, beat a bunch of baddies. Then, I lost to one and lost all my friends."
Twilight summed up her entire life story rather easily. Granted she did have to leave a couple things out to keep the story short and sweet.

"What about you?"
Twilight quizzed. Sunset was quiet for a while as she processed the question.

"Got sent to another dimension for a couple years, came back looking for the Elements of Magic. You."
Sunset replied. Twilight thought about this. Though it did bring up some questions, Twilight couldn't help but feel there was something a bit strange about it. If Sunset was sent away for a couple years, then how did she know about Twilight's existence? It was strange indeed, considering how Twilight had never seen Sunset before in her life.

"Well, I guess you kind of did find me."
Twilight stated with a slightly joking tone as she looked back down at the book. She still had a long way to go on this thing.

"I guess, but let's just say I didn't expect to be reading books by your side."
Sunset stated plainly. Twilight decided she didn't want to continue this conversation much longer, as the two did need to get this research done. Even though there was plenty of time to waste (they didn't know if time was of the essence; since there were no televisions to broadcast the news in the library). 

The two had small, brief conversations all through the four months they spent together. It was a decently enjoyable four months for Twilight, as she enjoyed reading books. Books were awesome. The same couldn't really be said for Sunset, it seemed. Though, it didn't matter. The two had made a plan.

Twilight looked over the plans once more. They had created a sort of simple, basic plan on a piece of lined paper they had found a while back. There were pencils all over the library, so it was rather easy to get ahold of one of them. Twilight was currently thinking of the things that could go wrong with their plan. The changelings refusing to help them had already been covered with the Cloak of Invisibility from that artifact book. She had already noted that.

The basic details of the plan were such.


1. Go to Canterlot.
2. Sneak into castle.
3. Find if they have any records on Changelings.
4. If they do, use records to find out where a hive is. (If not, skip to step 7.)
5. Find the Hive.
6. Request help, promise that the Changelings will have full acess to all the love the Crystal Heart can reflect if they help. (They must be peaceful to the Crystal Ponies as well)
7. If they refuse, find or buy Cloak of Invisibility.
8. Find a Crystal Dealer. (Search any sort of slums of any city.)
9. Either sneak or convince them to let us join them on their next trip to the Crystal Empire.
10. Hide inside the cart/whatever they use to transport goods to the Crystal Empire.
11. Put on cloak or changeling disguise.
12. Get through the defenses when they are opened to retrieve goods.
13. Sneak through the city (change into guard if changeling magic is available).
14. Get into the castle.
15. Wait around (act like a guard if changeling magic is active) until night time.
16. Find the Royal Bedchambers (If there are maids, ask where the chambers are. They aren't going to refuse help to get rid of him).
17. If it has a barrier spell on it, break through with brute force.
18. Kill him while he's asleep or while he's recovering from the blast on his barrier.
19. Fight through the guards that will probably rush to his aid (or jump out the window and use teleportation to land safety).
20. If possible, free the slaves.
21. Leave them to deal with the anarchy.  


This plan was a tad bit flawed, though Twilight did plan to ask for Celestia's aid on this task. She would inform the Princess of this plan, and have her armies wait outside the Crystal Empire, if possible. Once that shield lowers, then they would be able to charge in and get rid of the guards. Plus, chances were that Celestia would also bring the Elements of Harmony with her. So, Twilight would be getting her friends back together and just blasting the entire place with rainbows all over the place.

Twilight also had another plan in mind. Though, it wouldn't be as satisfying as this one was. Her other plan was once she got into the Empire, she would already have the Elements of Harmony with her. She would find her friends, then she would activate the Elements. Bam. Every problem would be solved with a single Rainbow shooting into that big ol' crystal tower castle thing. It would destroy him.

Still, she would kind of like to see his demise for herself, as sickening as it sounded. Nevertheless, one of them was going to be removed from existence in the end. Twilight was not going to allow herself to be that one. 

Sunset's role in the plan seemed to be rather minimal. The two of them would usually be sticking side by side and defeating anypony that was needed. Nevertheless, the company of another pony on this mission was comforting. Plus, the extra help would always be helpful. If Twilight ever found herself surrounded or outnumbered, it would be helpful to have another powerful unicorn by her side.

Twilight folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it into her saddlebag. Her saddlebag and cloak had gone somewhat unused for the past couple of months. They had only been used when Twilight had to go out to buy food or sell things. Well, she didn't sell things, she sold a thing. More specifically, she sold that amulet. It had taken her a while, but she had finally managed to get rid of the thing a month back.

It had fetched a surprisingly good price, more than she had anticipated. Around twelve thousand bits, to be precise. Twilight still had her stash of bits from before, but it had been dwindled down to around seven thousand. 

Twilight had a decent amount of money, it was probably going to last for a decently long time. It had paid for the two for the past four months, it would probably pay for their next trip. Plus, having all this money would allow them to get onto a train rather than walk all the way there, how pleasant. It would be nice to get on a train again. The thought of getting to a place in less than a day was a rather nice thought.

"Sunset, are you ready to go?"
Twilight called out as she equipped her saddlebag and cloak. 

"Yeah. Are we just going to leave all these books here?"
Sunset asked. She was on top of a pile of the books they had read through. Twilight thought about it and then retrieved a book from the pile. It was that artifact book. She put the book into her saddlebag before Twilight started to head for the stairs down to the first floor. Sunset followed after.





"You look a bit nervous."
Twilight commented on Sunset's rather distressed looking face as Twilight bought some train tickets. The pony behind the counter brought out a pair of little blue slips of paper known as train tickets. Twilight retrieved the tickets with her magic, hovering one over to Sunset who grabbed it in her own aura.

"I haven't been to Canterlot in a really long time. Plus, I don't think Celestia would be very happy to see me again."
Sunset sighed as she looked at the train ticket. Twilight and Sunset started to head for the train that was stationed at, well, the station (shocker, I know). The conductor was waiting by one of the train's opened doors. He was rather patient. 

"Why's that?"
Twilight questioned as she floated the ticket over to the conductor, who punched a hole into the ticket with a hole puncher which he held in his mouth. Sunset did the same, as the two entered the train.

"We didn't really leave off on the best note. I doubt she'll be joyful to see that I'm back."
Sunset explained as the two trotted down the aisle of the train, passing by a couple seats that had ponies sitting on them. The train was decently stuffed with other ponies, so it was kind of hard to find seats. The two did eventually find a seat, though. They would have to sit side by side, but that was fine. The two settled down onto their seat.

"Yeah, I didn't really leave off on the best note with her either. Threw a tantrum once I got home."
Twilight recalled that memory. Man, it had been a while hadn't it? It would be a sort of fresh of breath air to see her again. Twilight did miss her mentor, unsurprisingly. She just hoped the two of them could make up and just work together to solve this problem that they had. It was a sort of major problem, this war. There was no doubt that the Princess would accept their help.

"She threw me into a whole other dimension. I kind of threw a tantrum as well."
Sunset admitted. Yeah, color Twilight curious. She kind of wanted to know why the Princess would throw Sunset into another dimension. Other than just being plainly rude (which had kind of been dulled down due to the amount of time they had spent together), there wasn't really anything wrong with Sunset. Sure, she was a tad bit snarky at times, but that was just her personality. 

"I bet she'll be happy to see you, though. You're her prized pet."
There was the snark. Twilight played it cool.

"I meant pupil."
Sunset quickly fixed her error. 

"Maybe. I'm pretty sure she told me to not get involved with all this war stuff. It's been a long time, though. My memory is a bit foggy."
Twilight replied, ignoring Sunset's 'accidental' snark.

The roar of the train's engine started to fire up. Twilight truly appreciated the fact that she had all this money to spend on train tickets. She didn't know how much abuse the bottoms of her hooves would take on a trip to Canterlot by walking. Just thinking about scaling that mountain by hoof made her cringe. Thank Celestia for technology. The loud squeals of the train's wheels could be heard as it started down it's tracks.

"So, you're still getting involved, even though she told you not to. Nice."
Sunset stated with a hint of sarcasm. 

"Well, sometimes you have to make bad decisions for the greater good."
Okay, that sounded a tad cheesy.

"Anyways, the trip is going to be a couple hours long. I'm going to sleep. Seeya in a couple hours."
Twilight yawned mid-sentance, as she rested her head on the comforting cushions of the seat. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to cast a spell upon her own ears. It was a sound blocking spell. Ah, the silence was rather nice.

Twilight sort of didn't sleep at all last night just so she could sleep on the train ride. She fell asleep almost instantly when she closed her eyes. The two had waited until the two a clock PM train, so Twilight had to wait until then. A rather hard task, surprisingly. Twilight truly felt envy for those who could go for a couple days without sleep. They were strong minded individuals, they were.





Twilight rubbed her eyes groggily. She yawned as she raised her head up. Sunset was still sitting beside her, though Sunset was sort of using Twilight as a pillow for her back. The backs of these train car seats were made out of glass, so they weren't really the softest of materials. Twilight could tell Sunset wasn't paying attention to Twilight's consciousness. 

Twilight didn't really know what to do in this situation, she wasn't really a pillow, nor had she ever been a pillow. Twilight was just thinking of levitating Sunset off. So, that's exactly what she did. Twilight sat up as she held Sunset's shocked figure in place. The two did not exchange a single word, but Twilight could tell what was going through Sunset's head just by looking at Sunset's face.

Sunset was, naturally, shielding her face from eye contact with Twilight. Yeah, it would be rather embarrassing. Anyways, Twilight scooted over to the window. She had sat on the inside of the seat, so she got to look out the window.

The outsides of the window were rather uninteresting. It was just a view of Ponyville and beyond. Apparently she didn't sleep for too long, because they were currently climbing up the Canterlot mountainside. They were up decently high, so there was a pretty nice view from here. The sky was beginning to change its hues to fit the setting sun. This train didn't have a clock in it, so Twilight would wager it was around six PM.

It took a couple more minutes before the train's wheels began to screech to a halt. Some sparks had flown up into the window's view as the train halted at their destination. With a stretch, Twilight got off the chair. She felt her joints snap back into place with a satisfying pop as she began to trot down the aisle. Sunset was close behind her.

Other ponies did cause a bit of traffic before they could reach the door to exit the train, but it was decently short wait. After they had exited the train, Twilight just stood there on the train platform. She got a bit of deja vu being here. She took in a big breath of air to hopefully keep her nerve down. She took a quick glance over to Sunset, who was looking pretty enthusiastic about being here. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be sarcastic. Sunset looked pretty worried about being here. 

"Sunset, you look a bit pale."
Twilight commented on Sunset's nervousness. They had already addressed this, but she seemed to be regretting her decision about agreeing to follow Twilight to Canterlot. There wasn't really any sort of reason to worry, they would be in and out within two hours or less. 

"We're both pale, Sparkler. We've been inside a library for months."
Sunset covered up her worry rather nonchalantly. Twilight would give Sunset some credit, though. Her voice lacked any sort of weakness.

"You know, if you don't want to go into the castle, you don't have to."
Twilight offered. Sunset's face distorted into one of slight anger.

"What, do you think I'm scared of meeting Celestia again Sparkler? You're dead wrong. I'm not scared of her."
Sunset pouted like some sort of kid. Twilight rolled her eyes at this as the two walked off the train platform. They had ventured to a nearby street that was only a couple feet away from the train station.

"But,"
Sunset started as they began to walk down the street, passing by multiple rich ponies (with their snouts in the air, of course). They had also passed by a lot of guards within these past couple of seconds. 

"Sparkler, would you happen to know what happens to ponies who have been gone from Equestria for a while?"
This was a strange question. Twilight scrunched up her nose.

"Could you be more exact?"
Twilight replied as some guards began to eye Twilight up. They didn't seem to be eyeing her up in a good way, either. More in a sort of 'we've got our eyes on you' sort of eyeing up. It's like they were expecting her to do something.

"Like, ponies who were banished from Equestria?"
Sunset had hesitated when saying this. Banished, huh. Twilight was getting a sort of sneaking suspicion that Sunset had been banished from Equestria and sent to some sort of other dimension. It fit rather nicely with the other backstory puzzle pieces that Sunset had given to Twilight. They weren't physical items, but Twilight was keeping a part of her mind on Sunset. 

"Well, Nightmare Moon got destroyed by the Elements of Harmony and reverted back to Princess Luna."
Twilight explained the fairly short list of ponies who have come back. Then, one more entry popped into her head. Sunset was looking around nervously. Seems as if her confidence had gotten destroyed. Twilight had no idea why, but it just was.

"Then we have The King, who's going to get assassinated in his sleep."
Twilight added. Yeah, this also didn't seem to help Sunset's confidence out either. In fact, it just seemed to make her more nervous.

"Why do you ask?"
Twilight continued as Sunset now was trotting side by side with Twilight. She was looking off behind them. What, was somepony following them or something? It didn't really matter right now. They were going to Canterlot Castle, they weren't going to cause a lot of trouble. They were probably just going to visit Celestia, ask for some Changeling research papers and leave.

"Oh, no reason really. Also, hey, is it just me, or are those guards following us?"
Sunset asked. Twilight took a quick glance over her shoulder. Yeah, there was about four or so guards that were following them. It didn't really matter, they didn't do anything wrong. The guards were keeping a considerable distance away, so they were probably just doing something else. Hopefully.

"Just ignore them. Anyways, Sunset, I was wondering about something. Did you get banis-"
Twilight was cut off by a hooftap on her shoulder. It was the one of the guards from the group. Holy, they were fast. Twilight didn't even hear them run up to the two. Twilight turned around to face the guard.

"Hello, Miss Twilight Sparkle. We have orders from Princess Celestia that if upon any time that we see you, we must escort you back to Ponyville."
The guard had a sort of no-nonsense air about him. He spoke flatly, in a demanding tone. He was a bright white, much like the other guards (except for that one over to the left that was a bit gray). He had a blue mane, no surprises there. All guards did.

"We've come here on official business, officer. We need to speak to Princess Celestia at once."
Twilight retorted with a demanding tone. The guard didn't even flinch when she had stomped her front hoof. Without even a second's delay, he withdrew his spear from a holster in his armor.

"We will be escorting you to Ponyville, Miss Twilight Sparkle. You are to come quietly and without any issue, or else we will be forced to take unnecessary actions." 
As the stale faced guard commanded Twilight to go back to Ponyville with them, Twilight felt her eye twitch. No. She did not just waste four months of research just to be stopped by guards. No, no she did not. She was not going to be stopped here. This was her first roadblock, but she didn't expect to be coming this early on.

"Officers, please be reasonable. We've been through a lot of research to get to this point. We have valuable information that the Princess herself needs to hear."
Twilight kept her cool. She took deep breaths. She didn't need any dark magic to act up right now. No, no she did not. If she had that magic act up right now, chances were that she might be arrested. She just had a feeling that she would be arrested. She wasn't sure if they would arrest her for the use of dark magic, but everypony seems to hate it so she wouldn't be surprised if they did.

"Even if what you are saying is true, we cannot allow it. The Princess had denied all public visits and will not be seeing anypony any time soon."
The guard replied. His spear still readied, as the other guards seemed just about ready to attack the two unicorns as well. Deep breaths, calm the nerve, keep the dark magic down..

"Do you mind if I ask why?"
Twilight asked anyways, the guard's facial expression did not change as he seemed to process the request.

"Orders are orders, even if we don't know why she orders us to do so."
The guard admitted. Wow, so the Princess wasn't letting ponies talk to her for some unknown reason. Twilight figured it would be because she was worried about spies or something. Yeah, spies were an issue, weren't they?

"So, you're following orders that literally have no logical backing as to why they are decent orders just because they are from Celestia?"
Sunset spoke up. Yeah, it didn't make any sense. If the guards didn't know why the Princess was giving them orders, then chances were that the Princess wasn't having a good time planning out her battles. Though, Twilight was currently daring to think that the Princess wasn't a good battle strategist.

"They are orders from the most important pony in Equestria. We are sworn to follow them without question. Our duty is to protect citizens and carry out whatever the Princess demands."
The guard's stale tone slowly began to waver. He was obviously doubting something now. Twilight thought of a reply, but Sunset beat her to the punch.

"So, if Celestia says to go murder your own family," Sunset began, as the guard's face turned to instant shock. "you're saying that you would do it without question?"

The guard was silent. He put his spear back into it's holster with a sigh. 

"Listen Miss Twilight and company. We don't want any problems. We have enough on our plate with this war going on. We have to search every single caravan that comes into Canterlot. Every single train. Every single citizen. We have to search them for any sign of Crystals. We have to do this everyday and some of us have to go out to fight the war head on. We don't need you refusing to cooperate with us. We really, really don't."
The guard chatted. Twilight didn't think there would be Crystals in Canterlot. Huh. Well, it's better to be paranoid about it then to just let it go without any sort of recognition. From what Twilight remembered, it was a drug.

"Officer, if you don't want any trouble then you should allow us to see the Princess. As an Element of Harmony and one of the most powerful Elements of Harmony, I need to see her. I have words that her ears need to hear."
Twilight was still standing her ground on this. She was going to see Princess Celestia, she was. She didn't care if this guard wouldn't let her-.

"Fine. Once you have talked to her about whatever you need to talk about, you will be coming with us. No questions. You will be going back to Ponyville as she has demanded."
The guard sighed as Twilight smiled in response. Seems like she was going to see the Princess after all. Whoo.