Lightning Dust knocked on the doorframe.

Doctor Sparkle didn’t look up, gesturing for Dust to come in. As usual, she was surrounded by papers ranging from scrolls old enough that they’d probably been dug out of tombs to the morning edition of the Canterlot Times.

“Thank you for coming,” Sparkle said. “There’s a touchy situation in the north.”

“Yeah, I know.” Dust leaned on the wall. “I know you don’t get out of this office much but there’s this whole war thing going on. King Sombra, Crystal Empire… ringing any bells?”

Doctor Sparkle threw a paperweight at her.

“Careful! If I get hurt I might not be able to handle your big important mission!”

“Do you want details or not?” Sparkle asked. “I came to you first because Marble can’t get there in time and I don’t trust Sunset not to do something stupid. She’d probably try and set everything on fire and pretend violence was only a last resort.”

“I guess I’m happy that you trust me not to bugger everything up.”

“I’m spoiled for choice,” Sparkle sighed.

“So what’s the plan?”

The town, whose name Dust hadn't bothered learning since she wasn't planning on coming back, wasn’t far from the front lines. It had to be. It was the kind of place that flourished close enough to soldiers to be tempting but far away enough that fighting wasn’t likely to spill into the tent-lined streets.

Merchants yelled in about six different languages, trying to get Dusts' attention, offering everything from drugs to weapons (some of which looked suspiciously like army-issue equipment) to mares and stallions. Dust wasn’t sure if they were for rent or sale.

“It’s the finest spice,” repeated the zebra that had stepped in front of her. He had an amazing lack of self-preservation instincts. “Equestrian rations are so bland, yes? This makes even plain bread and water taste like the greatest meal.”

“I dunno. The new ration packs are pretty good. Especially the cheese omelet,” Dust said absently, looking past the zebra - an easy task since she was almost a full head taller than he was - and across the marketplace.

“I have heard quite a bit about those from the soldiers that have passed through,” the zebra nodded.

Dust suspected, given the weapons the next stall over, that most of the soldiers he’d seen were quartermasters making a few bits on the side by selling off their surplus. Technically it was probably treason but most good quartermasters did a little barter on the side with places like this.

“One thing the stories had in common was the need for hot sauce, something increasingly rare to come by.”

Dust paused and turned to really look at the zebra. He held up a small bottle filled with fiery-red sauce, seeds from the chili peppers floating in the thick paste.

“How much?” She asked.

The zebra named a price that, during peacetime, would have bought a gallon of the stuff.

“Why don’t you let me pick that up for you?”

An acid-green aura dropped a pouch of bits in front of the zebra. When he knelt down, Dust caught sight of the charcoal-grey unicorn that had put it there.

“Oh hey,” Dust said. “I wasn’t expecting you, Kevin. Doc said it was an archaeologist, and you don’t look nearly old enough to get dug out of an ancient tomb.”

“I’m just here to escort you to the site,” Kevin explained. “Our contact is waiting there to keep an eye on things. If they change, she’ll send word or come herself. I assume you brought your luggage?”

“If you mean the suit, yeah. It’s in a crate down by the docks.”

“You just left it?” Kevin groaned. “Come on. If we’re lucky it won’t have been stolen yet.”

Dust sat on her suitcase, looking at the map spread out on the table between her and Kevin. The corners were weighed down with a collection of glasses and bottles that was slowly accumulating as Dust demonstrated her ability to drink enough to give a donkey liver failure. The bar was little more than a bunch of random folding tables in a dirty tent with awful lighting, but it was out of the sun and gave them at least the illusion of privacy.

“The place where we need to go is here,” Kevin tapped on the map. “It’s in the Barrier Peaks between the Empire and Yakyakistan. According to my contact, the site is on the north face of a volcano known to the local Yaks by some appropriately floral name and by our rather unimaginative cartographers as V12.”

“That’s the middle of nowhere,” Dust mumbled, narrowing her eyes. Kevin was impressed she could even focus on the map enough to tell the volcano wasn’t in Trottingham.

“We believe the reason the site hasn’t been discovered before is because it’s so remote. The only people out there are sherpas and a few yeti.”

“So why was your contact there?” Dust asked, settling back on her trunk and downing another shot of what was surprisingly good tequila. “Let me guess, he was spying on the sherpas to learn the secret of how to go up and down mountains real good.”

“She’s not interested in the war, to be honest,” Kevin said. “She’s an archaeologist. Certainly no friend of Sombra’s, but she doesn’t want to be involved at all. According to the letter she sent me, she was originally there to ensure Sombra’s invasion of Yakyakistan didn’t result in the destruction of some important historical artifacts.”

“When you say archaeologist, do you mean the grave-robbing kind that sells their grandma’s bones, or the other kind?”

“The other kind. I know about her because she has funding problems due to her reluctance to be involved with private collectors. It’s occasionally been useful to have her in our back pocket, and she does find the most interesting tidbits in the most obscure places, like she did today.”

“I just don’t get why Doc Sparkle is interested in some pottery and bones. I didn’t think she gave a damn about it.”

Kevin smiled. “Actually, Doctor Sparkle has a great interest in many subjects. She and I have spent a considerable amount of time in Canterlot’s museums just enjoying the sights. That said, you’re absolutely right that she wouldn’t dispatch either of us to this kind of danger if there wasn’t something important at the end.”

Dust sighed. “Just get to the punchline, dude.”

“The Barrier Peaks are, according to myth, also the site of the legendary city of Shangri’llama. My contact thinks that she might have found the front door.”

“You’re joking.”

“I often do, but not in this case. If half the stories about Shangri’llama are true, Sombra cannot be allowed to get his hooves anywhere near it. Doctor Sparkle wants us to investigate and learn as much as we can. We might even learn a way to--”

Kevin stopped and looked to the tent flap.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think trouble is on the way,” he muttered.

A zebra mercenary ran inside, speaking breathlessly. “Imperial troops. The camp will be overrun. Get out while you can!"

Ponies, griffons, and people of assorted other shapes and sizes started pouring out of the bar, the bartender yelling for them to pay their tabs at the same time he was throwing a few choice bottles in a bag before fleeing himself.

“What’s the plan?” Dust asked. “You can’t fly.”

Kevin hesitated. “Follow me. Bring your armor.” A spark of green magic set the map on fire, the alcohol soaked into the corners helping it burn. He ran to where a number of carts were parked, looking them over.

Dust looked around. “Which one is yours?”

“None of them. We’re going to borrow one.” He pointed. “That one can be pulled by one pegasus and has the right enchantments for air travel. Get strapped in.”

“Did I ever tell you how much I hate snow?” Dust yelled, trying to be heard over the wind.

“Why are you complaining?” Kevin was shivering despite the layers of clothing they’d bought from the sherpas, the mountain goats easily carrying their luggage and apparently immune to the cold. “You’re a pegasus! You should love weather!”

“I didn’t go to school for weather duty, and this is a bucking blizzard! We should have waited for the weather to clear up!”

“It doesn’t!” Kevin laughed. “It’s been snowing for as long as anyone’s kept records! My contact thinks it’s one reason the city stayed lost! Look at it this way, Dust -- the Empire isn’t going to be able to track us all the way out here!”

Dust almost walked right into the goat in front of her when he stopped dead in its tracks.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

The goat looked back at her, his expression unreadable. He pointed, and Dust could just make out something moving through the snow, just a shadow.

“Yeti,” the goat said, with a thick accent.

“Is that good or bad?” Dust asked.

“It is an omen,” the goat said. “It means interesting times ahead.”

“That seems good.”

The goat didn’t look so sure about that. They climbed past, the yeti vanishing along the snowdrifts.

“Dust, take a look at this,” Kevin yelled. Dust trotted ahead, the sherpas moving past them as Kevin swept the snow aside with his magic. “These are steps carved into the rock. We must be getting close.”

“Couldn’t the goats have done it?” Dust asked.

“No, they don’t come up here. I had to bribe them quite a bit to get them this far. This is old. Thousands of years old.”

“If you wanna bring a staircase home you’re carrying it,” Dust said.

“Unfortunately I don’t have that much room in my luggage!” Kevin laughed, patting her on the back. “I think I see our destination up ahead!”

Dust couldn’t make out anything, following Kevin and the goats through the endless white. They went nearly a mile along the edge of a drop down a few thousand feet right to rocks before the path curved, sweeping through a cleft in the dark rock walls to a sheltered cove, the sky barely visible through a gap above.

“Warmer in here,” Dust said.

“It’s the geothermal heat,” somepony called out.

Dust’s wings snapped out, static dancing along the feathers as she searched for the unexpected intruder.

“Calm down,” Kevin said. “It’s my contact.”

Dust frowned, relaxing. An earth-tone pegasus with a monochrome mane stepped out of the shadows, wearing a parka and pith helmet.

“Daring Do, at your service,” she held out a hoof to shake.

Kevin shook her hoof, then motioned for Dust to do the same. “Daring, this is Lightning Dust. She’s one of Doctor Sparkle’s troubleshooters.”

“Nice grip,” Daring Do said. “I’m surprised the Doctor didn’t come herself.”

“She’s occupied with the war.” Kevin shrugged. “She’s taking this very seriously. Miss Lightning Dust is one of her most trusted agents.”

Daring Do leaned in to give Dust a hard look. “Are you sure she’s not just dumb muscle?”

“I’m pretty sure I am dumb muscle,” Dust said.

“Good!” Daring smiled. “Between me and Kevin here, we already have enough brains. I need somepony who can move rocks around.”

“Thank buck for that,” Dust laughed. “I’m your mare.”

“Awesome. You two wanna see something cool?”

Daring led them further into the cave.

“This was a lava channel,” she explained. “Sort of like a river bed for molten rock. The volcano is still live, but the active parts have shifted around so this has been dry for a few hundred years.”

She stripped off her parka as they passed a few tools and bedrolls.

“I’ve been camping out here because I know I won’t accidentally damage something of historical importance,” Daring explained. “It’s gonna get warm in there, so take off your coats here.”

Dust and Kevin followed her advice, and were glad for it. Less than a hundred feet away, they crossed a ledge looking over a boiling stream of water edged in yellow crystals. The whole area was filled with foul-smelling steam.

“Don’t fall in,” Daring warned. “You’re gonna love what’s up ahead.”

“How did you even find this place?” Dust asked.

“I didn’t. The sherpas did. They use places like this to rest away from the snow and wind. This mountain is sort of off-limits because of the curse, but they’ve been going further in just keeping away from Imperial entanglements.”

“Wait, what curse?” Dust asked. “Kevin, you didn’t mention a curse.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Curses aren’t real.”

“Curses are totally real,” Daring Do countered. She hopped up some stairs, half-hidden under long-cooled magma. “I got turned into a frog once.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I got better! Anyway, here we are!” Dust waved her wing dramatically. At the top of the stairs, set deeply into a sheer wall of rock, was a set of doors so big they put the front gate of Canterlot Palace to shame.

“What is this?” Kevin asked. “Obsidian?”

“Good eye.” Daring nodded. “I haven’t been able to get it open. It’s not locked, just stuck. I’ve been working at it, but what I really need is an extra pair of hooves and the locals refuse to get this close.”

“Let me get my suit on and I’ll get it open,” Dust said.

“You know,” Kevin said, as Dust heaved and put her back into it. “There are some interesting carvings around the door.”

“These represent spirits of some kind,” Daring said, hovering at one of the exposed carvings and tapping. “The lines coming out of them are supposed to be light or magic. Do you see how the figures are never fully depicted, just kind of trailing off? In the traditional art forms of the area, that means they’re either metaphorical or otherwise not really of this world.”

“And this part?” Kevin nodded.

“It shows them staying here in secret, apart from the world. None of the carvings actually show what’s beyond the gate, but the implications in the symbolism indicate that it’s not part of the world at large, sort of like Elysium.”

“It’s moving!” Dust yelled. There was a sound like the biggest knife in the world scraping against a plate the size of a country as the obsidian door was forced open.

“There’s another place that comes to mind,” Kevin said quietly. “Tartarus.”

“Nah, gates to Tartarus are way different,” Daring Do assured him.

“I’m somewhat worried that you’re familiar with them.”

“It comes with the job. Nice job, Lightning Dust!” Daring Do patted the armored pegasus on the shoulder and stepped up to the entrance and the darkness beyond was suddenly pierced by a ghostly blue light, crystals set into the walls flickering to life and revealing a wide corridor carved out of the same black stone. “Let’s see what we found.”

“Interesting…” Kevin muttered, not moving any closer and proving that he was the smartest pony in the group.

“Looks like the magma didn’t get inside,” Daring said. “Come on. It seems safe.”

Dust followed her inside, looking at the walls. “What language is that?”

“I’m not sure,” Kevin said. “Daring?”

“It’s Early Alpacan,” Daring said, stopping to squint at the walls. “I only know a little, but look here. Horse Viking runes, and I think it’s the same message. And below that is Classical Neighgyptian.”

“Cool,” Dust said, standing next to her with Kevin. “And it says…?”

“Like I said, I only know a little,” Daring said. “So I can’t give you a full translation. These parts are something about great power or wisdom. There’s a warning, but I can’t make out exactly what it’s saying, just the general sense of a warning.”

“It’s warning the unworthy not to proceed further because of the great power within,” whispered a soft voice from behind the three.

They turned slowly to see a tall unicorn. She was so tall her hooves didn’t even quite reach the ground, floating like gravity was just a suggestion.

Some ponies would have screamed. Dust lunged at her, throwing her weight into a headbutt that would have been hard enough to give a minotaur a concussion if she’d connected. Instead, she went right through the unicorn and out the other side, running head-first into the far wall and collapsing in a heap.

“Ow,” Dust mumbled.

“Are you okay?” the unicorn asked. “I’m sorry. My body isn’t here. This is just a projection of my spirit.”

“A projection of your spirit?” Daring Do asked. “Of course! Astral projection is one of the legendary abilities of the monks of Shangri’llama!”

“It’s something like that,” the unicorn agreed. She smiled. “I’m Shine. I sensed that we finally had visitors after so many years, and I just had to get a look!”

“I’m Daring Do. I came here to learn about your culture. These are, um, my assistants.” She waved to Lightning Dust and Kevin.

“I’m so happy to meet all of you.” Shine bowed, her image flickering slightly. “We haven’t hosted guests in a very long time. As you can imagine, we’re just as eager to learn from you as you are from us. I can’t even remember the last time we knew what was going on in the outside world.”

“The same thing as always,” Dust said. “Some guy named Sombra is trying to take over the world and we’re looking to stop him. Some of us, anyway. Daring Do just likes playing in the dirt. I don’t suppose you have some old pots you can lend her to make her happy?”

“Sombra, huh?” Shine rubbed her chin. “Oh! I know! Come with me!”

The ghostly form flitted down the corridor.

"This looks safe," Dust said. Her voice echoed around the huge room. A rumble from below shook the mountain like a reply from the earth itself.

The passage opened up into the caldera of the volcano, to a stone platform hanging over the center of the magma pit. A narrow stone bridge connected the passage to the platform, suspended in place by crystal spires like toothpicks holding a cracker from falling into a fondue pot.

"To open the gate you have to pass a trial," Shine explained. "I'm not supposed to explain it to you, but..." She pointed. "It's over there."

"It's on the ominous platform hanging over lava," Dust said. "The one that's probably ready to fall in at any moment."

"That's the one!" Shine smiled.

"I've seen this kinda thing before," Daring said. "I think I can manage. Come on, guys. Might need an extra set of hooves."

Daring and Shine flew off to the platform, leaving Dust and Kevin behind.

"She's lying about something," Kevin muttered.

"You think?" Dust rolled her eyes and followed Daring Do up.

The surface of the stone platform was covered in ash. Daring Do was brushing some of it away, revealing a mosaic of brightly-colored tiles. "Hmmm... okay, I know what to do. See, there's basically four types of puzzles in old ruins. You got stacking rings, moving cubes, mazes, and this one here. Sliding tiles."

"Sliding tiles."

"Right. You reveal a hidden picture and then it opens up a locked door," Daring said.

Dust frowned. "You can't be serious."

"Once in a while you'll get a puzzle where you have to copy a series of lights or musical notes," Daring continued, as she shifted tiles around. "Sorta like Simon says."

Dust looked back at Kevin. The charcoal-black unicorn shrugged.

"Are you sure you're an archaeologist?" Dust asked. "I thought old stuff was just, like, buried. And you dig really slowly and carefully."

"Nope, it's mostly solving basic puzzles," Daring Do said. There was a click as she finished the tile puzzle. "See?"

She stepped back to let them see the completed image.

“Does that look like evil spirits of darkness to you?” Dust asked.

Daring Do flew up a little higher to get a look. “Huh.”

“That’s what it looks like to me,” Kevin said.

Shine giggled. “That’s silly! We’re not evil spirits of darkness!”

“Good,” Daring Do said. “See? You guys were worried about nothing.”

“We’re Umbra Ponies! Sombra was supposed to release us but apparently, the stupid little runt decided to take power for himself,” Shine continued, her grin twisting. There was a deep rumble from below, and the platform started to split in half, opening like a giant gateway into an abyss that couldn’t be seen from the side, a hole in the very air itself.

Kevin, being the smartest pony for miles, was already running.

“What’s the plan?” Dust yelled, taking to the air.

“You have armor, so, uh…” Daring Do looked around. “Do you see any other puzzles?”

“No!”

“Okay, then you fight and if you see stacking rings or something, give me a yell!” Daring winked and flew after Kevin.

“You guys are worse than Sparkle!” Dust hovered in front of the gate. “I don’t even know how to fight Umbra Ponies!”

A dozen streams of shadow poured from the gateway like smoke. One swirled around itself, gaining some amount of substance.

“It feels so good to be in my own body again,” Shine sighed, stretching. “You can’t imagine how awful it is to be imprisoned in Limbo for a few thousand years.”

“I bet it’s pretty bad,” Dust agreed.

“Since you were so kind to let us out, we’ll take care of Sombra for you before we destroy the world. Isn’t that nice of us?”

“Yeah. I was okay with this up until the Sombra part.”

“We managed to get that little shade free and he didn’t even try to get us out!” Shine sighed. “Can you imagine? And we went to so much trouble squeezing him through that tiny crack! We could have plunged the world into eternal darkness a thousand years ago!”

“Hey, you wanna see something cool?” Dust asked. “Doctor Sparkle showed me a pretty awesome trick.”

Shine laughed. “Sure. I’ll indulge you.”

“Now I haven’t done this myself, but I saw it done from pretty close by, and she explained it well.” Lightning cracked along Dust’s wings.

Shine’s body collapsed into smoke as twin bolts of magical lightning smashed through her.

“Ow! Buck! She was right, the feedback stings!” Dust floundered left and right, barely staying in the air.

"Dust!" Daring Do yelled. "We found something!"

"I'm sort of dealing with a lot right now!" Dust called back. "Is this something important? Because if it's some old vases I'm gonna kick your bucking flank all the way down to the magma!"

"Technically it's lava!"

"Okay, I'm coming over there just to smack you," Dust said, flying to them, keeping an eye on the open portal. Kevin was working on something next to the passage.

"There's a hidden door here," Kevin said. "I think the method of opening it involves-"

Dust bucked the wall hard enough to shatter the stone.

"Well that's an alternate method, certainly," Kevin admitted. "I was going to suggest that we solve the puzzle but it involved a tiny amount of math and I suppose that's not your forte quite as much as breaking things."

"We did the puzzle last time," Dust mumbled, shoving broken stone out of the way.

"Now it looks like, possibly, I was wrong about this being Shangri'llama," Daring Do admitted. "I'll come up with a cool name for it later. Maybe The Umbral Fortress? The Umbral Prison? I'll workshop it with my editor if she isn't still in mourning over her son."

"Your editor?" Dust asked.

"Archaeology doesn't pay the bills. Writing is way harder but I get enough from the advances to cover expeditions like this."

"Ladies," Kevin coughed politely. "There's a world-ending threat currently escaping from prison. If I might suggest..." He leaned in to brush dust away, revealing a steel lever.

"These runes indicate--"

"That it closes the gate, right?" Dust asked, grabbing it and yanking.

The volcano rumbled.

"It closes the gate in a certain sense," Daring Do said, her voice tense. "It prevents the Umbra Ponies from escaping by, uh, making the volcano erupt."

"...The volcano we're in?" Dust asked.

Daring sighed. The floor cracked as the volcano rumbled again, steam hissing into the air. "What do you think?"

"Why the buck would somepony build a lever that makes a volcano erupt?!" Dust demanded. "That's so dumb!"

"To be fair about half my adventures end like this," Daring said. "We, um. We should really be running. Kevin left a minute ago."

"You know that was a really neat trick," Shine said, leaning down between them. "Can I show you one of my own?"

Dust shoved Daring Do to the side.

A blade of pure darkness flit through the space she'd been, slicing right through the steel lever.

Shine made a sad sound. "You need to stand still for the trick to work!"

Dust lunged at her, passing right through Shine's body.

"Once the others wake up, we're going to have fun with you," the umbra pony promised. "I was the only one still waiting for somepony like you to come along and get us out. You know how grumpy ponies are first thing in the morning, so try not to be offended when they torture you for a century or two."

A blast of lightning cut her in two, the shadows pooling around Dust's fetlocks like particularly unpleasant mud.

Dust helped Daring Do up. "Follow Kevin out of here. I'm gonna hold her off."

"I think you broke my wing when you shoved me into the wall," Daring groaned. "I swear this happens every time I go out of the house."

"Drink more milk and run!" Dust yelled, the whole tunnel shaking continuously now.

Daring Do ran past Dust, skirting the pool of shadows.

Dust jumped back as sharp-edged tendrils lanced out of the darkness like razor ribbons, Shine pulling herself back together.

"That was rude," Shine growled, her face reforming, her mouth filled with jagged fangs. "Haven't I been polite this whole time?"

"Sorry, you're just not my type," Dust said. "You wanna try explaining your evil plan to me in detail?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Well honestly at this point I'm just stalling for time so the--" Before Dust could explain her own evil plan, a wave of steam and pressure rushed down the tunnel, hot enough to scorch her even through the armor.

Shine looked back to see fire and molten rock coming, and Dust blasted her with lightning again, hitting her in the back and fleeing before the deadly tide.

The heat nipped at her hooves as she flew, dodging falling rocks. The sides of the tunnel cracked, rubble falling into the passage.

Dust looked back and saw Shine reaching for her, the umbra pony partly submerged in the lava, molten rock covering her like a second skin as she screamed in fury and pain.

Dust got through the narrow doorway just before the lava.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Shine roared. She struggled, pulling herself through the gateway, a river of magma surging around her as she crawled into the open.

Dust grabbed Daring from the ground and got into the air with her to keep her away from the deadly flow.

"Looks like round two is gonna be a doozy," Dust mumbled.

"Don't fight while you're holding me!" Daring demanded. "Put me down somewhere!"

"No!" Shine screamed as lines started glowing around her. A sound like a glass bell rang out, and the doorway started glowing just as the umbra pony crossed the threshold. "I was so close!"

An invisible force pulled her back, dragging her into the tunnel. Shine wailed until the stone gate slammed shut, cutting off the sound and the flowing lava.

"What the buck?" Dust blinked.

"It must have been some kind of warding," Daring said, panting with exhaustion.

"It'd be a poor prison if it just let them escape," Kevin said, stepping out from where he'd been hiding.

"Where the buck were you?" Dust demanded.

Kevin held up a white box. "I was just getting a first-aid kit for Daring."

"She didn't get hurt until after you ran!"

Kevin smiled. "I was pretty sure somepony would need a band-aid before things were over."

"So the lava burned all our coats and supplies, and the sherpas were long gone," Dust said. "Getting back down the mountain was a hassle. We had to--"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure it was exciting," Doctor Sparkle said. "Just as long as everypony is safe."

"Don't you think you should send somepony out to deal with that prison?" Dust asked. "Even if it's sealed off, those things are worse than Sombra!"

"I'll make sure Celestia is alerted to the threat. This is more in her wheelhouse. I don't want to ruin all her fun."

"You don't even sound like you care!" Dust accused.

"Well, to be honest..." Sparkle blushed. "The reason I had you do all this was for my mom."

"Your mom?!"

"She's sort of a big fan of Daring Do. We've been falling out a little, recently, and when she asked me for a favor..." Doctor Sparkle shrugged. "I couldn't say no. I'm sure after Yearling submits her next manuscript my mom will press me for details, so make sure your written report is factual and accurate."

"Are you serious?"

"Mm. Anyway, glad to have you back safely. I'll try to make sure she spells your name correctly in the book."

"What happened in the Empire wasn't your fault," Celestia said.

"Yes it is," Cadance whispered. She winced as silver forceps tugged a shard of black crystal out of her forehead. Celestia pressed a towel against the ache, and it came away stained with a few crimson drops.

"Even I didn't beat him when we fought." Celestia looked at the crystal, holding it in the light and letting the candlelight glint from its faucets. "He decided to end the game in a draw, and trap innocent ponies for a thousand years."

Celestia put the shard of crystal on a tray and forgot about it.

"Despite the appearance, it's more like a metallic glass than a crystal," Sparkle said, holding the test tube up to the light. The shard within vibrated like it was trying to escape.

It had been stolen from one of the EIS deep storage vaults. She suspected her contact was just grabbing anything that looked interesting instead of operating with some sort of plan.

"It can channel magic well enough, though I'm not sure to what end. I suppose it could be used for anti-magic shielding or a thaumatic distortion blanket. If I had a way to make more with a reasonable amount of purity, a decade to study the material, and some way to be sure Sombra couldn't reach right through it, I might try using it."

She tossed it back into the box.

"How's Cadance doing?" Starlight asked.

"What happened at the hospital shook Princess Cadance badly," Celestia said, with particular emphasis on the title. "I find myself in the awkward position of being thankful my former student was there." She was too distracted by her work to see the flicker of annoyance across Starlight's face.

"Yeah, Sunset Shimmer is just so great," Starlight sighed.

Celestia carefully peeled bent metal away from the shattered Engine Heart she was disassembling. The rest of Spitfire was in quarantine, too dangerous even to bury. "You told me you liked her when you two met."

"And you told me she was dangerous, but then you have her spending all this time with Cadance."

"I'm hoping Princess Cadance will be a good influence on her." Celestia tilted her head and maneuvered silver forceps into the exposed cavity, pulling something free, a familiar shard of black crystal, vibrating in the light with malign potential.