Twilight bustled back and forth, setting up a replica of the mirror, when Fluttershy walked back into the room. She turned to ask if she had any updates when--

"What is that?"

Fluttershy looked sheepishly at the quiver of arrows hanging on her back. "When we were fighting Ultron, I realized I had nothing I could do. You know I'm no good at fighting. So I figured I'd try something where I didn't have to get too close to whoever I was fighting. Just one thing. Can you put an enchantment on it so I don't run out? That would be terrible, to be in the thick of battle with no weapons."

"Sure, it's actually a pretty simple enchantment. Bring me the quiver." Fluttershy laid it out in front of her, and her horn glowed brilliantly. Her magic headache returned with a vengeance, but she forced herself to keep going until the enchantment was complete. "There you go."

Fluttershy examine the quiver. It had a faint, pearly sheen to it, but otherwise seemed unchanged. She pulled out an arrow to test it, and to her delight, another one appeared in its place. When she replaced the arrow, another one vanished. "How'd you do that?"

"Modified stasis spell. Locks the quiver into one state forever. That state happens to include having a certain number of arrows in it. And the best part? No magic resistance after it's cast! It'll keep itself going for eternity."

"Wow, that's amazing! Thank you, Twilight!"

Twilight smiled. "No problem. Next time Clint comes over, I'll do the same to his."

Applejack trotted in. "Hey, Twi! Woah, Fluttershy, Ah didn't know you did archery! Twi, Steve says they might be able to get the stone out of Vision's head safely, but not with the tech any of them knows about. Same with the portal. So they're goin' to a place where there's loads o' tech none of 'em knows about, called Wah-kan-da."

Pinkie popped up. "Wakanda name is that?"

Twilight ignored her. "Where's Wakanda?"

"Africa."

"Great. Absolutely wonderful. That is completely and utterly out of their way." She popped up the map again, highlighting the same places as before--South Dakota, New York, and Scotland--and then spread a glow over the entire continent of Africa.

"Big place," Pinkie commented.

"Very. Did they say where in Africa Wakanda is? It makes a pretty big difference, at least if it's in the north."

"Didn't mention it. But since it was so out of the way for the other stuff, they changed their mind. They ain't stopping in America at all. No Bruce, no Clint, no Rhodes."

"Rhodes? I thought he got injured in the fight."

"Oh, he did, but he can still fly his suit. Steve was hoping he'd be willing to join them. But they can't take that time now."

Twilight nodded seriously. "Got it. Thanks for the update." She glanced over the mirror. "I think it's finished. We can't know for sure if it'll work until they power up the one on their end, but for now, we should be all right. If they write you with any modifications, you have my permission to make them. Now I need to go talk to Maud. Starlight is in the library, somewhere over there-" She gestured with a hoof. "-so if anything urgent happens, she can teleport to Maud's cave and let me know. Dash's book is over there, catch her up on everything that's happened so far. I'll be back soon." She spread her wings and leapt out a window.

Twilight trotted into Maud's cave. "Maud? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Twilight."

"Gah!" Twilight jumped almost her own height, wings flailing wildly. Maud was barely a foot away. "How'd you get there so fast?"

"I've been standing here for almost half an hour."

"Oh." Twilight felt embarrassment creeping into her cheeks. "I guess I just didn't see you there."

"I think, if I stand really still, I become invisible." Maud froze to demonstrate her point, not moving, not even blinking. Actually, it wasn't very different from how she normally acted.

"Well, it's kind of dark in here, and you're grey, and the wall behind you is grey. It's understandable for me not to see you, though you standing still would probably be a factor. Anyway, remember when you helped Starlight find a rock that could store powerful magic?"

"No."

"No? What'd'ya mean, 'no'?" Twilight demanded.

"Cutie mark magic isn't that powerful, just hard to contain. It would be very different from storing powerful magic that stayed in one place. Since you asked about it, I assume you're looking for something similar."

"Well, maybe not that similar. I want to be able to store really powerful magic in a close configuration that would allow me to harness the magic without getting overwhelmed by it."

Maud blinked slowly. "That sounds like you want a metal. Silver is the best conductor of magic, so you could start there. But if you're worried about getting overwhelmed by the magic, it's probably not the safest choice. It's a superconductor. All the magic will flow into you at once. If you're using powerful enough magic, it might even kill you."

Twilight swallowed hard. "Okay! Let's not do that! What other ideas do you have?"

"Gold is also a good conductor, but it cracks under strong enough magic. So does copper. The only reason silver doesn't also have that problem is that the magic flows through it too fast to break it. It doesn't stay long enough."

"Is there anything that can handle the strain of so much power?"

Maud nodded almost imperceptibly. "I only know of one metal, but it's incredibly rare. It's called uru. Some ponies think it's the strongest material in the galaxy. I don't know about that. I only know about rocks in Equestria. But I do know that it can handle incredibly powerful magic currents. It's a great metal to make magical weapons out of, if you want to imbue the weapons with so much power that nopony but an alicorn could even hold it without both their body and mind falling to pieces."

Twilight blinked. "Um... that's good, I think? Where can I find this stuff?"

"I said it was incredibly rare. In all of Equestria, there would barely be enough to coat your hoof."

"That's actually exactly the right amount."

"In all of Equestria," Maud repeated, and it almost had emphasis. "It would take a very long time or a summoning spell with more power than Princess Celestia to gather it all. It also has a very high melting point."

"How high? A dragon? Lava? I can do that."

"A star."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "Uh... maybe I can't do that. Is there anything else?"

Maud shook her head, very slightly. "All the other metals would shatter. So would most rocks. Gems are too magically conductive. I'm sorry, Twilight."

Twilight could tell that Maud really wished she could do better. Or maybe that was just her imagination. "It's not your fault. That's just the facts, and there's nothing you could do to change them. Thank you for your help."

But as she trotted back out of the cave, her head drooped.

Author's Note

Can you tell I'm having trouble naming my chapters?