Among the Special Intelligence Service (SIS) of the Crystal Empire, a towering figure is Colonel SHINY BUTTONS, OCH, legendary for her role in averting military conflict with Yakyakistan with nothing but a steamed vegetable dumpling, recovering the Imperial crown jewels from gentlecolt gem thief Halfbeard the Mad Vexillologist, and, it is rumoured, bringing back various secrets of advanced crystal magic that the Equestrian hegemons had unfairly held back from their Northern ally.

Early this year (703), terrible four-dimensional monsters called Squamous Horrors plundered the Secret Archives of the Empire, taking numerous and priceless tomes. Among them was the comprehensive treatise on directed scrying of the future written by Crystal Ball, considered so dangerous that no one had been authorized to access it in over three hundred years. After the attack, the Squamous Horrors escaped Imperial security forces effortlessly, taking the books with them. It appears that the Crystal Empire has become the latest victim of a string of extremely sophisticated and violent acts of library theft, joining many other famous libraries and archives who had their special collections plundered in the last few years.

The Empress Penumbra placed the SIS in charge of the investigation after the Magic Police had no success tracking the monsters to their source, suspecting a rogue state and reasoning that the international crime spree would fall more into their area of competence. The suspicion of the SIS, though, fell on one Eldritch Lore, CA, MV, Loremaster of the Arcane Helix, who had been refused access to the plundered library the year before, on account of her growing reputation as a dangerous and unscrupulous figure in the magical community.

The SIS sent its top agent, Shiny Buttons, to Southern Equestria, where the Arcane Helix is located, to investigate the matter. Buttons' last report, five days ago, indicated that she had evidence of Eldritch's involvement, but she is now two days overdue in checking in by dragon-mail, and it is feared that she has been captured. The Empire's agents in the Equestrian foreign ministry have not informed the SIS of Buttons being captured by the Equestrian government, who are only barely aware of the extent of her importance in any event, so it is thought that Buttons is probably trapped in the Arcane Helix.

The party is being sent to retrieve Buttons' crucial evidence, and ideally Shiny Buttons herself, and bring them back to the Crystal Empire, where the evidence can be used to force Equestria to take decisive action to contain the growing threat posed by Eldritch Lore and her deadly campaign of library theft.