Stone Mane and Applebloom’s trip up to the Old Oak on the Hill had been a very emotional, but necessary moment for them. However elsewhere other ponies were having much less enjoyable encounters in my Equestria dreamscape.
Professor Basalt carefully examined a large sample of quartz crystal as he cataloged it along with the other samples that had been found and brought in that day. Today had been particularly successful with the team find this large collection of fragments. Along with noting the fragments exact location where they were found the lead geologist also noted weight, color, clarity, hardness, any visible flaws. As he had made sketches of each sample as he conducted a series of routine magic tests and note those results as well on the card that would be stored with each sample.
Levitating the sample the unicorn carefully rotated it examining it from all angles. It was after 10pm and the rest of his team had turned in for the evening. The only company he had was the millions of mosquitoes desperately tried to breach the wards and mosquito netting on the windows of the research laboratory. Well calling it a laboratory might’ve been a bit generous. What passed for a laboratory was a hastily erected wooden cabin. Still it was better than the tent they had initially used at the start of this operation.
For a couple of years Princess Celestia had sent teams up to the former site of the Crystal Empire in a effort to determine if and when the glistening city-state might return from its isolation bubble. As result of these expeditions it had been determined that the spell holding the city and it occupants would indeed expire. Nopony knew what condition its occupants would be in or what the exact time its return would be, but the Royal Sisters were developing contingencies for it. When it returned they wanted to know and were planning to move forces in immediately to aid the survivors.
Over the last few months the team had noticed a dramatic increase in piezoelectric activity in local quartz deposits. Also there had a rise in activity in the local magnetic field. This combined with fluctuations in locally erected wards hinted at an imminent collapse of the spell that had banished the city more than a thousand year ago.
Basalt raised a jeweler loupe to his eye and stared intently at the current sample. All of the samples discovered today had the most amazing inclusions in them. Vibrant streaks of violet, green and red twisted their way through the clear quartz. The exact nature of the inclusions was unknown at the time, but they appeared to have been the result intense magical activity. Maybe due to the titanic battle that occurred here. This would make sense. The samples had been located at what they believed had once been the heart of the city. That had been the epicenter of magical activity.
The middle aged stallion set the sample down and then rose from the table to retrieve a bottle of sarsaparilla from the ice box. It was starting to get rather muggy during the days and nights were equally stuffy. Returning to the table he sat back down and reached out with a front hoof to push the sample aside to make room for the next one. Much to his surprise he noticed that the crystal to be very cold to the touch. Actually colder than the bottle of soda he’d just removed from the ice box. Up to this point he’d been using his levitation to move the samples. Consulting the excavation team notes he noticed that they had commented that the samples had been very cold when found. Much colder than the ground around them. Hastily jotted notes speculated whether it was still somehow connected to the melting permafrost that made up this tundra-like terrain.
The unicorn levitated a small thermometer over measured the temperature of his newly open soda. Then the crystal sample. His sarsaparilla was 43F the crystal was 37F. A quick check of the wall thermometer put the current room temperature at 64F, and the daytime high temperature had been 78F. The samples had been sitting out on the table for at least 6 hours. Yes these were large chunks of crystal. The largest being roughly12lbs but something didn’t add up.
Rising from his seat the stallion slowly started orbiting the table and looking at the samples from all sides. The excavation team had noted that the pieces looked like they might’ve been part of some larger single piece of crystal at some point. Probably blasted to smithereens in the battle. The dark gray unicorn started trying to piece together in his mind how the pieces might’ve looked as a single piece. Obviously lots of the original material had been lost, but the professor could see the inclusions seemed to form a distinctive pattern. Carefully he began to move the pieces around on the table. He loved jig saw puzzles and would spend days assembling massive ones on a table in his personal study back home in Canterlot.
40 minutes later and the professor felt like something was taking shape. It was well past when he should be in bed, but he felt he was close to knowing what this pattern must’ve looked like when intact. It was a glyph. Not any glyph he recognized, nor could he find any similar example in any the general reference library that the team had brought. Consulting reports made by the princesses after the action also didn’t produce any clues. But he could see it. The twisting green, violet and crimson inclusions were very deliberate in how they twisted and swirled around each other.
With what he thought had to have been their positions relatively to each other the Basalt carefully nudging the piece together. He’d never be able to completely reconstruct the entire artifact but he wanted to take some measurements and jot down some notes before calling it a night. In the morning he’d have the team photographer take some pictures of it. Finally he felt that he’d moved together the existing pieces as good as he was going to get. With that accomplished he pushed the pieces together with his levitation. He held them there and stared intently.
Initially he didn’t notice the temperature beginning to drop in the cabin. The professor’s mind was intently fixed on the pattern embedded in the crystal. However after a couple of minutes became acutely aware that the interior of the wooden building had become noticeably colder. A quick glance at the wall thermometer confirmed it. It was now reading 40F; significantly colder than it had been just an hour ago, and far colder than what the weather team had predicted. The stallion was about to check outside to see if any wild weather had suddenly blown in when he noticed that the crystals on the table were glowing by themselves.
Before Basalt could react there arose from the crystals a large spectral form. A large spectral unicorn stallion with a massive flowing mane and billowing cape now floated above the professor. He seemed to be looking around the room searching for something. Then it turned and looked the professor. Cold, piercing eyes seemed to bore their way into his mind. Then he heard a voice in his head. It was harsh and cruel.
“Who are you?”
In an act of sheer terror and desperation Basalt used his levitation to violently scatter the crystal fragments off the table and away from each other. The ghostly form convulsed and screamed; then its form faded away. The room immediately began to warm again but the lead geologist found himself now trembling uncontrollably. Quickly he secured the samples in individual locked and warded containers. Then he went to find the Watch Officer.

To be continued.