I run my claw along Gallus' head. His eyes are still closed, but he looks healthier than before. I haven't left his side for a while. I move my claw to his shoulder, then along his side. He feels warmer than earlier. I move my claw to his stomach...

"And here I thought you wanted to touch my butt."

"Gallus!"

He opens his eye. "How long have I been out?"

*DING DING DING*

I look up. "A bit over an hour."

He takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "It feels good to not die."

I chuckle. "You're back in top form."

I hear the others enter the room.

Ocellus is the first one to speak. "He's awake!"

Gallus sits up. "Yeah, I am." He looks at what's left of his leg. "Although I'm not all right since my right leg is missing."

Smolder facepalms. "We couldn't let him die?"

Cozy buzzes over to us holding what looks like a peg leg. "Here. It's better than nothing."

Gallus watches us attach the fake leg over his missing one. "Oh, no. I'm Hector."

... HAH! Oh, I almost forgot about that nutjob. "Nah, you're more of a pirate than he'll ever be."

If the others weren't laughing before, they are now. "He would kill you if he heard that!"

Rain clears her throat. "Well, it's good that we're laughing together again, but we really need to keep going. I'm sure Gallus needs to get real help now more than ever."

The griffon is glaring at the kirin. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"To keep Smolder from causing more trouble, I'll be going with her and Yona through door 1. It would probably be best if Gallus has someone to help support him, so that would mean..."

Gallus sighs. "Silver and Sandbar."

Sandbar rubs the back of his head. "Does that work?"

"It's either that or I go with the kids. If Rain is going to stay with that combination for door 1, then it's me through door 5, Ocellus through door 3, the smallest ones together, and you two together."

Why do I have a bad feeling about this? "So Sandbar and I have to go with Gallus to make sure his leg doesn't cause him trouble?"

Cozy looks annoyed. "I can handle it."

Rain chuckles. "I feel better about having larger creatures handle it."

Bramble stomps his tiny hoof. "I'm plenty strong!"

Smolder has her hand on her head. "Are we going to argue at every junction?"

Yona has her hoof to her mouth. "At least it's not like last time."

Rain sighs. "Look, the three of us are going to get going. I suggest the combination I recommended for Gallus' sake." With that, she leads Yona and Smolder to door 1. They scan their bracelets into the RED, open the door, head through, and close the door.

"Don't worry about me." Gallus? "If something happens to me, whoever's with me can finish the puzzle and fetch some help."

Cozy looks at the doors. "I want to go through door 5."

Our other pony looks at our changeling. "And I want to go through door 3."

I look at Ocellus and Bramble. "Is that alright with you two?"

They nod, and I nod at the others.

"Alright." Gallus starts walking towards door 5. "The kiddies are coming with me, and the others are going with Ocellus."

"We have names." Pfft. Sandbar, that flat expression doesn't help your case.

Gallus, Bramble, and Cozy all scan into the door 5 RED. I guess we're locked in, huh? I head over to door 3 as door 5 closes.

*Beep Beep Beep*

I watch the door open.

"Don't do anything stupid, you two."

Sandbar and I share a look before we head through. The DEAD is at the other end of the room. We all run to it and scan in.

Woah. This place rocks. Literally. There are rocks everywhere. It looks kind of like-

*CLANG!*

Huh?

"Guys! Help!"

Sandbar's hoof connects with his face. "What was that about us not doing anything stupid?"

Ocellus is blushing from inside of a large metal capsule. "Just get me out of here!"

I tap on the window. "How did you get in there?"

"I was just looking! I thought it looked suspicious, so I stepped inside to look!"

Sandbar and I look at each other, then lower our heads and shake them. "Let's solve the puzzle. That'll probably get her out of there."

TIME TO SEARCH!

Let's see here. Five slots in the front of the capsule, so we need five stones. There are little panels that flip up over each of them. Let's see what the first one is. "A silver stone of the sea."

Sandbar puts his hoof to the panel. "The only "stone of the sea" that I know of is Ruhgomite, but that's more green than silver."

"It's probably Neptite. A silver stone that can produce water, if you know how to use it." I look around. "Although, if you think about it, you just need to find a stone that's silver. Maybe grab a few and then check which one is which."

"Well, this looks really helpful."

Eh? It looks like some kind of book. I look over his shoulder. There's all sorts of stones listed in there, including various ways to tell what does what. "Did they just give us an answer guide?"

He chuckles. "I think so."

Well, I don't need it to recognize Neptite. I head over to the stone I see and knock it. A few drops of water fall out. I take it over to the capsule and drop it in the first slot. A small door closes over it.

Sandbar lifts the second panel. "A green mineral of oil and water."

... Uh... "What does that even mean?"

"EEP!"

We both press against the glass. "Ocellus?"

"I'm fine. My hooves got a bit wet. That's all."

Sandbar lets out a sigh. I think he's upset that she's not really helpful right now. "The "mineral of oil and water" is probably Mixitol. It can be added to any liquid to fully mix it with anything, hence the "oil and water" part."

"Oil and water don't mix. Unless you ad Mixitol." I look at a green mineral. It glows as soon as I touch it. "Uh, this is Lytherium."

"You know what that does, right?"

I nod. "It's naturally created by every creature so they can use their natural magic. The exact details vary from creature to creature, but any Lytherium in our bodies automatically adapts to our bodies needs."

"And you know which creatures generate the most Lytherium, right?"

"None of them. It may seem like creatures that use some sort of magic would produce more, but they're just using it in a different way, creating magic outside of their bodies, or the magic most creatures think of when they hear about it."

He picks up a clear bag of green crystals. "Speaking of most creatures, not many know that much about Lytherium, especially how there aren't any creatures that create more. I read that about 79 percent of ponies don't know everything about Lytherium. How do you know so much?"

"I asked my aunt what her orb was made of, and she told me everything about Lytherium. A part of me wants to see if I can change how a body uses Lytherium, so I've been on and off researching it."

"That sounds really useful." Sandbar empties the bag into the second slot. "I think it would be neat if I could-"

"AAH!"

"Ocellus?" I rush back to the capsule.

"It grabbed my legs! I can't move them!"

Sandbar and I share another look, this one more of concern. "Hey, Silver? You don't think we're putting together a... uh..."

"Putting it together or not, we need to get Ocellus out, and there's only one way to do that right now."

He bites his lip. "Try to stay calm, Ocellus! We'll have you out as soon as we can!"

"I can't promise anything. Thinking is the only thing I can do right now."

Sandbar lifts the third panel. "You take the fourth one, and whoever finishes first will get the fifth."

"Right." I lift the fourth panel. A pink mineral of... clotting? Wait, that's Valital. It's mixed with an injection to stop bleeding right away. "Why aren't some of these more popular? They sound really useful."

"One word; price. They're expensive to fabricate accurately enough, and they're aren't that many places that creatures are able to mine them naturally. Believe me, these kinds of things are the kinds of things that deserve to be widespread, but they are too pricey for that."

I pick up a few different bags of pink crystals, and take them to the book for reference. "Magnite?"

"You know so much about Lytherium but haven't heard of Magnite before?" Sandbar is checking the fifth panel. "It's the polar opposite of Lytherium. It absorbs most magic near it. It won't do anything to you if you touch it, but you want to avoid eating any of it."

I figure out which one is Valital then take it back to the capsule. "That's what anti-magic weapons and armor are made of, right?"

"Yeah, but it's a catch-22. Magnite, even when combined with steel, is physically weak. So you either have something tough, or something that blocks magic."

I pour the Valital into the fourth slot, then look at Ocellus. "Hey, do you hear Ocellus right now?"

"No, why?"

"Because it looks like she's talking."

Sandbar steps up next to me. "Huh. I guess she's saying something." He puts the rock he's holding into the fifth slot, and it closes up.

"Is that it?"

Two holes open up, as two trays come out of the machine.

*Ding* "These holes lead to mixing devices. Anything in the mixing devices will be injected into the subject. Lytherium on the left, Magnite on the right. You can only insert three stones before the seals close. Please keep the amounts as balanced as possible."

Uhh... "Sandbar? What happens if you have too much Magnite in your body?"

He gulps. "Your coat and eyes lose color, and you quickly die from a lack of magic."

"How quickly?"

"I don't know. I've only read about it."

I look at the left tray. "And Lytherium?"

"I've only heard of unicorns having excess Lytherium, but if you don't have some way to filter it out, then the excess magic will cause stony growths to appear on your body. Your organs will absorb the magic, causing them to... rapidly fail."

"I'm guessing you don't know how rapidly, either."

He shakes his head.

I let out a sigh. "Let's hope I can get this right."

I look at the stones. Their weights are labeled in grams.

Lytherium
1.0g
2.1g
4.4g
6.8g
15.5g

Magnite
1.7g
3.7g
9.3g
17.3g
23.9g

Oh, geez. Ocellus or Gallus would be able to do this without a second thought. But I have to add three of these up to make the same number? When did Captain Math suddenly decide to hate me?

"Hey, Silver? I think you should know that you have a 500-milligram leniency. Basically, if you're half a gram off, Ocellus will be fine."

I sigh. "That barely helps. How good are you at math?"

He looks over the numbers. "Not good enough for this."

Ocellus looks like she's screaming. Maybe she'll understand this.

"WE CAN'T HEAR YOU! IT'S BEEN SOUNDPROOFED!"

She looks me in the eye, then looks around inside the capsule, apparently not wasting her voice.

"I think I got something!" Already? "If you put the 1 gram and 4.4 gram Lytherium in the left hole, and the 1.7 and 3.7 Magnite-"

"But we need three on each side."

He stares at me for a second, then looks at the minerals. "R-right. I remembered that."

So, uh, 4.4... 1.7... uh... UH... HOW? How do I do this? Oh, geez. Oh geez. This isn't good!

"Silver? Are you sure-"

"LET ME THINK!" I'm sweating bullets! This is so tense!

"T-try lifting them! Judging by weight!"

"Uh... s-sure." I pick up the 2.1, 4.4, and 15.5 gram Lytherium pieces. Then I pick up the 17.3, 3.7, and 1.7 Magnite pieces. This... "I think this works?"

"Are you asking or telling?"

I bite my beak... and put them in. A small door slides over each of the holes, blocking them off.

"Let's hope this works." Sandbar presses the button on the front of the capsule.

Oh please oh please oh please be right! She cringes, probably from the needles jabbing into her legs. Come on... The capsule opens, and she tumbles out.

Sandbar catches her. "She's breathing!"

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." I don't know how I'd live with myself if I got her killed.

"S-Sandbar?" She sounds weak.

He caresses her cheek. "It's alright Ocellus. You're safe. You'll survive."

"If I'm going... to survive..." She opens her eyes. Her... white eyes? "Why do I feel... so weak..."

...! The color is draining from her coat!

"O-Ocellus?"

Her eyes are rolling back!

I rush to her side! "No no! Don't die!"

She breathes out and... and is going to sleep!

"Don't die! Don't-"

*Click* *Tink*

... That... was her bracelet...

She's...

gone...

...

I... I killed her.

...

"It's not your fault."

...

Did someone... say something?

...

*DING DING DING DING*

...

Author's Note

If any of those minerals are real, it's pure coincidence.