//------------------------------//
// Part II: Chapter 12 
// Story: Emerald Chronicles 
// by Dandereshy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 12: Surprise

Twilight and Emerald flew quickly to the Castle of the Two Sisters, deep in the Everfree forest. By the time they’d gotten there, it was already late afternoon, approaching evening hours.
Twilight led Emerald through the hallways to the library, which itself seemed to take forever. He’d never been to the castle before, so all this was new to him. He was expecting the castle to be big, but not this. Is was deceptively large, as the outside did not do it justice. It seemed like some halls and staircases would go on forever.
Finally, they entered a very large room with a high ceiling. It had shelf-after-shelf along its walls filled with books.
“Well,” Twilight said with a cough. “This is it. The library of the Two Sisters.”
Emerald gawked at the huge number of books. “Um…not trying to sound negative, but I’m almost sure that we won’t be able to find anything in one visit here. I mean, there must be over a million books here, and any one of them could contain knowledge of these stones.”
“That’s not a good attitude, Emerald. You said earlier that you’d walk a thousand miles for Fluttershy, so can’t you go through a million books for her?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
Emerald sighed and lowered his head. “Yeah, I did say that.” He looked back up at all the books. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Emerald started on one side of the library, while Twilight started on the opposite side, across from him.
“What exactly should I be looking for?” Emerald asked, pulling each and every book off the shelf and flipping through the pages.
Twilight was going through books about twice the rate he was, only because she was using her horn to assist herself getting books down and going through the pages, although, unlike Emerald, she was being selective. “Anything about history of the Everfree forest, history of magical artifacts, and anything to do with stones.”
“Seems easy enough. Still, there are tons of books under those subjects, how are we ever to find something before nightfall?” Emerald’s diffidence was beginning to pester Twilight.
Twilight sighed heavily, with a bit of attitude mingled within. “Emerald, have some patience. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to be in here searching through many of these books to find something we needed. Just keep looking. Do it for Fluttershy.”
“I know,” he said with humility. “But what if I’m doing all this in vain? What if…what if…” His voice trailed off as the horrible thought took him hostage.
“What if…?” Twilight asked, encouraging him to continue.
Emerald turned around with a book open in his hooves, a look of concern on his face. “What if she doesn’t want me anymore?” he asked poignantly.
Twilight closed a book she was going through and stuck it back on the shelf, turning to him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Emerald. You’re all she ever talks about anymore, even recently. She loves you more than you know. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do what it takes to fix this, okay? I’m here to help you.”
Emerald sniffled. “Okay, yeah…thanks Twilight.”
“No problem,” she replied, returning to the books.
Emerald went back to his shelf as well. “So, you guys aren’t mad at me for yesterday?” he asked. “I mean, you didn’t look too happy when Rainbow Dash said what she said…”
Twilight moved down to the next shelf, taking the ladder with her. “Obviously we aren’t happy about any of this. But I think I might believe you more than Rainbow Dash right now. She did admit to me one time that she liked you.”
Emerald stopped cold. “Wait – you knew that she liked me this whole time? And never bothered to say anything? What about yesterday, when Rainbow pulled that crap at the party? Did you know about it then?”
Twilight sighed. “I’ve known about it since shortly after you and Fluttershy started dating,” she admitted. “But at the moment, I actually believed you made a move on her. Now I realize that she may just be very jealous.”
“This is nuts,” Emerald said with disbelief. “This whole time, the princess of friendship knew that Rainbow Dash was secretly jealous of me and Fluttershy and had no intention of telling me. Why?”
Twilight scratched the back of her head nervously. “Well, at the time, I didn’t think it was relevant. She didn’t act anything like yesterday, so I figured you and Fluttershy were better off not knowing about it.”
“And that turned out so well, didn’t it?” Emerald said in an accusatory tone, putting his hooves on his hips.
“Okay, I get it, I should have told you, but honestly, I didn’t for the best of reasons. It would have caused problems in a time that had plenty already,” she said, making a valid point.
Emerald gave up, nodding and turning back to the bookshelf. “Sorry I just lashed out at you like that. I’m just so stressed out right now.”
Twilight hummed her understanding. “It’s okay. We should really get going on these books, though. It’s getting darker out, and once the sun goes down, we have to leave.”
Emerald nodded, even though she wasn’t facing him to see it. “I know.” He went back to the task at hoof. After a few moments of silence, only the sounds of books being reshelved and flipped through, Emerald came across an article in a book named, “Everfree Myths and Legends”.
“Hey Twi, I found something,” he called her over. Within seconds, she was at his side, looking at the book over his shoulder.
“Let’s see,” she said.
Emerald cleared his throat and began reading the paragraph that was the article. “The story of the Elements of Disharmony has been passed down for generations, remaining little more than a sentence or two about stones that can ‘alter the world’. The truth behind these stones is that they are not Elements of Disharmony, but rather tools for powerful unicorns to use to their advantage. The stones were fabricated from opaque smoky quartz, since quartz is known for being very useful in magic. The first recorded use of the stones was over two thousand years ago, in early Equestria. The stones were left alone, buried in the Everfree forest for centuries, until a young unicorn mage found them, using them to control the most powerful and influential ponies in the society. He was too young, however, to be successful, and was soon apprehended. The townsfolk buried the stones in a chest in the Everfree forest, content that they would never be found again. The stones are used to control the host, and tend to cause the host to become emotionally attached to them. They can change shape to resemble important objects in the host’s life. Once the stones are on the host(s), only the wearer can remove them. Only the pony in control of the stones can manipulate the host(s) with his or her magic. Once the host(s) have been ultimately controlled, having no conscious control of their bodies, they are completely at the mercy of the controller…” Emerald gasped and clutched his stone. He stared down at it, watching it glow its eerie green color. After a few moments hesitation, he tore the necklace off and tossed it on the floor with a grunt.
Twilight backed away, looking down at the stone on the floor. “You shouldn’t have taken that off,” she said mysteriously.
“What?” Emerald asked fearfully. “You need to take that off, Twilight. You need to take that off now.”
Twilight smirked devilishly. “It’s too bad you found that book Emerald. Otherwise, we could have kept you around.”
Emerald’s heart sank. “Oh…oh, no…you’re…you’re under control, aren’t you? You're being controlled!”
Twilight’s eyes were glowing the same green color as the stone on the floor and the one she was wearing. “Good job, you’re smarter than you look. But now you know too much, so I can’t let you leave this castle. At least, not alive.”
Emerald spun around and flew towards the doorway, but he was caught by Twilight in a magic bond. She pulled him back over in front of her, keeping him contained in a bubble of energy. “Let me go, Twilight!” he yelled.
Twilight laughed vilely. “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. I need my plan to go on without interruption, and that is all you will be, now that you have removed your stone.” She pulled a book out of a shelf nearby, causing the bookcase to slide over, revealing a room with iron bars for a door, much like a dungeon cell. She tossed him inside and slammed the door before he could get out. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“What are you planning on? Who are you?” Emerald demanded, gripping the bars with his hooves.
“Ha!” she gave a mocking laugh. “If only you knew. Haven’t you learned anything since you encountered Black Flame? It’s no coincidence that you found that chest, fool. Nothing happens by chance. Black Flame knew you were moving to Ponyville, but you didn’t know until he was already here. This time, you didn’t know these stones are simply amulets to control the hosts. And now, once again, it’s too late.”
“What in Equestria are you talking about? Twilight, the real you is in there! Fight it! Fight the controller!” Emerald tried to get ahold of Twilight, but it was useless.
“She cannot even hear you, she is unconscious within my control, you fool. All your friends are under my control, and I’ve been turning them against you little by little. And once I get the others together, I will use the power of the Elements of Harmony to destroy all of the princesses, and use your power to control Equestria!” Twilight threw back her head and laughed maniacally.
“It’ll never work! They will defeat you, whoever you are! You have no idea who you’re messing with! They’ll – “
“Oh, save it!” Twilight, or more appropriately, the controller, snapped. “They’ve been playing you the whole time! The moment they put the stones on, they were under my control. They just didn’t know it.”
Emerald shook the bars, trying to be intimidating, although he was sure it wasn’t working. “Let me out of here! You’ll be sorry for this!” But then a thought came to mind. “How did you know when everypony had their stones on? And why didn’t I get controlled?”
Twilight turned away, looking up at the windows. “I’ve had a few of my minions around, watching you. Believe me, they were right in your face the whole time,” she said. “As for you, the plan was to control you, but I was having trouble, for some odd reason. But it is irrelevant now, you are out of the way, and that is all I need! My plan can be carried out without any interruption!” She spun around and flew out of the library and down the hall to leave.
"Hey! Come back here and let me out! Twilight!” Emerald hollered after her, but it was no use. She was gone. He collapsed on the floor, sobbing. “I can’t believe this is happening…”



It wasn’t long before he’d gotten tired of sitting there. It’d grown dark, with only the light of the gibbous moon filtering through the skylights in the library. Alone, scared, and now hungry and thirsty, he started shaking and kicking the bars, trying to get out. The inside of the cell was devoid of any relief – it was just a large, empty cube. The only way he was getting out was through the bars, but they were much too thick for him to break, and with each kick he delivered, he grew ever weaker.
“I need a way out!” he screamed, listening to it echo a few times before plopping down on the concrete floor, giving up. He thought about his friends, being controlled like puppets by this malevolent being, whoever they were. Then he thought of Fluttershy…
That was enough to get him on his hooves again. His friends, his future wife, his children were out there, in danger. And he was in here, using this as excuse to give up.
He walked around the cell once again, looking for anything that might help him out. Near the far right corner of the cell, the bars were loose where the concrete was cracked. It was possible that if he kicked it enough, it would give out and he could bend the bars out to escape.
But his hooves were sore from all the bucking earlier. This didn’t stop him, though. He clenched his teeth and kicked repeatedly, ignoring the searing pain from kicking the metal bars. Suddenly, he heard a loud crack, and a chunk of concrete fell off, revealing much of the bars alone the corner, and making them easy to push out. He made just enough space and slipped through.
“Alright, time to stop this before it goes too far.”