The past month had been quite eventful for Duskfall. As much as she had discovered a love for fighting, she preferred to keep it to the level of bar brawls. There was a nagging sense of guilt that came over her whenever she came down off the battle high and realized someone had died while she was having fun.

With the boon of morale along with the help of Duskfall and Lightning the tide of the war was turning in favor of Equestria. Just the ability to drop Rainbooms in two separate theaters of battle was such an overwhelming tactical advantage that Sombra’s mind controlled troops were being pushed back. Celestia and her military advisers were planning the first stages of the siege of the Crystal Empire due to the pressure being generated.

Thus, for the past week, Duskfall had been keeping herself almost exclusively in the lab with the rest of the R&D team. It was always nice to go back to her roots. That particular morning found Duskfall entering the lab to once more check up on the filly she had rescued.

“Good morning, Snowfall,” Yes, Duskfall had named the Jane Doe filly after herself. Sue her, it was a cute name.

“You know she almost certainly can’t hear you,” This world’s Moon Dancer and fellow researcher commented from her seat. At the moment Moon Dancer was running some calculations to see if it was feasible to crack the helmet and see if damaging or destroying it would free the trapped pony.

“But on the off chance she can hear me, I gotta talk to her,” Duskfall replied resolutely.

“Are we ready to try experiment #465?” Deep Thinker, a stallion with a lime green coat, sky blue mane, and a beaker as a Cutie Mark asked.

“I dunno Deep, if any of our experiments thus far are gonna end up in catastrophic failure, it’s that one,” Moon Dancer said hesitantly.

“As much as I hate to say it, science isn’t always safe. If we don’t figure this out somehow, then there’s a real chance all these ponies are going to be doomed to a non-life unless we get lucky and they’re released on Sombra’s death. Does Sombra seem like the type of evil overlord to not take as many people down with him when he’s beaten?” Duskfall asked pointedly.

“I know you’re right. I guess I’m just a bit squeamish about hurting someone in a way we can’t fix,” Moon Dancer admitted.

“Caution isn’t a bad thing. There has to be someone asking if we should do something rather than if we can. I just think in this circumstance we definitely should do everything in our power to find a way to free these Ponies. If it does come down to someone dying or worse, then all we can do is ensuring their sacrifice isn’t forgotten,” Deep Thinker remarked.

“And this may be a bit egotistical and presumptuous, but if we could ask these people what they want, I think they’d say they want to help free their friends and family in any way they can,” Duskfall added.

“I understand. Ultimately we can go round and round with justifications or reasons why we shouldn’t do this but at the end of the day there is a whole empire’s worth of ponies who need help and we can do something about it,” Moon Dancer agreed.

Test Subject 68 was brought into the testing area. Fortunately Sombra’s troops were docile when not receiving direct orders. Still, there was no sense in needlessly endangering everyone, so the captured troops were kept in reasonably comfortable cells.

“Experiment #465, Duskfall infusing the subject with Healing Darkness in an attempt to override the Dark Magic’s corruption. Start at 25% saturation and begin when ready, Duskfall,” Deep Thinker stated. Duskfall complied and soon Duskfall’s Healing Darkness came in contact with the Dark Magic.

It was an interesting feeling. Before coming to this World, Duskfall hadn’t experienced her Darkness interacting with the Darkness of another. Even if this was merely Dark Magic and thus diluted, it still gave her an odd echo-y feeling. At 25% saturation, her Healing Darkness was lapping at the Dark Magic like waves on a beach. It would dissolve it in time, but at this speed that timeframe might be years, even decades.

“No good guys. It’s working, but the Windigos will return and bury us all in snow before we finish freeing Sombra’s troops,” Duskfall reported.

“Try upping saturation to 50%,” Moon Dancer suggested.

“Roger,” Duskfall responded and complied. With more Healing Darkness in the subject’s system, it began to rally and was now trying to engulf the Dark Magic entirely. Was the Healing Darkness trying to devour the Dark Magic or merely contain it? Despite using Darkness passively for hundreds of years, given that she had only recognized it recently, there was so much Duskfall didn’t know. It was quite frustrating to Duskfall to be recognized as the Alicorn of Darkness when she was ignorant of so much.

“Status?” Deep Thinker asked.

“The Healing Darkness is trying to wrap itself around the Dark Magic. To what end I’m not certain, but it doesn’t have enough juice to do so,” Duskfall replied.

“What’s the subject’s status?” Moon Dancer inquired.

“Seems stable, but I’m not sure pushing it is a good idea. I can only sense his Heart. I don’t know what the sudden influx of Darkness is doing to his Mind or Soul,” Duskfall warned.

“Like we agreed earlier, this is something that needs to be done for the good of everyone,” Moon Dancer said resolutely.

“So long as we’re all on the same page,” Duskfall pumped more Healing Darkness into the subject. Saturation reached 75% and it became clear to Duskfall that her Darkness was trying to devour the Dark Magic in its entirety. However, as if sensing a true threat to its existence, the Dark Magic began to lash out. The subject began to thrash about wildly.

“What’s happening?!” Deep Thinker demanded to know.

“The Dark Magic is reacting violently! If this keeps up his Heart will definitely shatter! I’m crushing the Dark Magic here and now!” Duskfall declared and pumped as much of her Healing Darkness as she dared into the subject’s body. The flood of Darkness worked to quickly extinguish the Dark Magic. The subject collapsed and the helmet split cleanly down the middle, letting the researchers see his face for the first time.

“How is he?” Moon Dancer asked.

“I think I got to him just in time. His Heart is really weak right now. If I had used anything other than Healing Darkness he would’ve been done for. I’ll leave him as is for a minute or two just to be sure my Darkness has cleansed the Dark Magic from his system. Then I’ll leave a few traces of Healing Darkness in him to hopefully speed along his recovery. I wouldn’t expect him to wake up for some time, if not fall into a coma completely,” Duskfall said ruefully.

“Even so, I’m cautiously optimistic. We won’t know exactly what kinds of side effects there are until this poor sap wakes up, but at least we’ve proven it is possible to break the Dark Magic in a controlled environment. It might even go better if next time you flood them immediately and crush the Dark Magic before it has a chance to hurt the subject,” Moon Dancer observed.

“That’s certainly a possibility, but ideally we’ll figure out how much Darkness I need to use to exactly defeat the Dark Magic without the subject suffering any damage from it. I’m worried flooding it all at once will cause some serious damage,” Duskfall fretted.

“It’s also possible that the long term exposure to Dark Magic has inoculated them somewhat to what you’re worried about,” Deep Thinker pointed out.

“We won’t know until we try,” Duskfall sighed. Still, today they had taken a major step forward in defeating Sombra. Soon the Evil King’s reign would be over.

Author's Notes:

Next chapter is probably going to be a longer one as I hope to finish up in this World. Be prepared for thrills, chills, and all that good stuff!