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// (Noir Newsletter) The Nature of Our Enemy Made Clear 
// Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic 
// by Shadestyle 
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You all may be aware, even now, precisely how Sombra has been able to maintain a death-grip on the Crystal Empire.  The primary tool in his arsenal which has given him the dark power he uses even now to keep control over a land that does not want his presence or his rule.  Sombra's Corrupt Crystal Creation.

While I have done very little research into the utilization of it's primary function as a means of wrenching control away from a pony, I and our scientists have begun researching how we might negate it.

The spell functions on an extremely simple premise.  Grow a black crystal, which can be infused with the creator's will and dominance.  This crystal, when attached to a pony, or implanted in their body, grants the user limited control over the pony's actions.  In most cases, this influence is not vast, but Sombra has used power to substitute skill or artistry. 

Rather than influence a mind, his magic reduces a target to a thrall, incapable of more than simple commands, such as to attack or mine.  The consequences of this abuse of the spell are obvious.  Rather than culling specific thoughts, or encouraging specific others, the spell is used to dampen all free thought, and inject commands directly.  Unfortunately, Sombra is a child, who cannot tolerate free thought in exchange for skilled labor.

Previously, he had used chips implanted under a pony's skin, or armor equipped with black crystal gems.  Usually both, with a larger gem serving as a pseudo-golem-core with more complex actions, feeding commands to a much simpler black crystal sub-dermal chip.

The situation now, however, has changed.  By some method, he has instead advanced the complexity of his black crystal implants, larger, more dangerous ones, used to replace vital parts of a pony's anatomy.

What this means is twofold.  Firstly, our science must advance, to defeat this measure in the ponies we soon will rescue, and secondly, our science has yet to advance, such that it can defeat it at this present day.

This newsletter has one purpose, and one alone.  Dampen your expectations.  Even after quarantine, many ponies will be sedated, kept unconscious so that counter-crystals can be implanted, in order to suppress the commands from Sombra's own crystals.  Unfortunately, this has a cost.  

The crystals we will be using to keep a pony from suffering under Sombra's curse will render them comatose, as suppressing Sombra's commands will not inherently deactivate the thought dampening of the crystal.   It may be possible for the Arcana Nox to connect to these ponies, but at present, it is unknown.

Thankfully, The Equestrians have seen fit to act charitably, our current food situation will not be affected by the influx of comatose patients, giving us the fullness of time to discover a cure, to discover an answer to this problem.

To do this, we must first save them.  To this end, there can be only one recourse.  To attack, with all of our might.  To obtain every living pony in the Crystal Empire, and safely transport them to the Shadow Realm, where they are out of Sombra's grasp.  Where they can no longer be harmed by him.

The attack will occur tomorrow, at dawn.  The Shadow Realm's forces mobilized in an instant, and sent with one sole purpose.  Leave no soul remaining in the Crystal Empire.

By the time this message has been sent to you all, the attack will have already commenced.  What you are reading now is the echo of that attack.  A pre-emptive report, informing you all what is to come.

Areas will be designated as either "Safe" or "Unsafe", due to various factors that may emerge during the attack.  This is because there exist weapons we can use, which will either cause minor earthquakes, or drain electricity from the Shadow Realm's power grid.   While all areas of the Shadow Realm are suitably reinforced against cave-ins, and our wiring is as insulated and redundant as can be done, there still exist potential hazards that may become a factor during our attack.

If you are in an unsafe area, and a quake begins, please find a safe area, free of debris and any loose objects, which may be knocked down during an event.  Likewise, if a power outage occurs, make your way to an area where you are not at risk, taking slow, measured steps, and flaring your hairfire if you have that capability.

Another point of note is, during the attack, many advanced features of the Arcana Nox will be disabled.  This is due to the golems used in the attack feeding on the Arcana Nox's information Processing in order to better combat whatever they may encounter, and perform at far higher tolerances.  Full-simulation gaming, twenty-plus digit higher order mathematics calculators, and obviously remote golem biofeedback will be disabled, to free up computing resources that will be used by the aforementioned golems.

This outage will be a factor only until the attack is complete, and the resources scrubbed for sensitive data, at which point normal functionality will resume.

Lastly, medical services will be impacted during the attack.  While we understand the need for ponies to have rapid access to healing pods, and will continue to provide access to those, actual doctors will be limited to emergency services for an unknown period of time, until such point that all Crystal Ponies have completed quarantine procedures, and have been processed accordingly.

Another newsletter will be sent out upon the assault's conclusion, and will contain information such as properties destroyed and assigning procedures for visitation and interaction with recovered ponies.

No matter what comes next, there is one certainty which I feel must be conveyed.  If there exist living ponies in the Crystal Empire, they will be in the Shadow Realm by the end of tomorrow.  No matter the cost.  Today will be a vicious and tough battle, and one that will mark a transition of this era.

Ponies will remember in history books the brief flash between Sombra's reign over the ponies of the Crystal Empire, and it's end.

And sooner or later, his complete defeat.