//------------------------------// // Powers of Nature // Story: Homeworld Conflict // by Lily Lain //------------------------------// The radio set by the engineers cracked joyfully. “It’s ready. We’ve sent the Mothership a signal, should be in touch in a minute.” Another crack sounded from the speakers. “All right, it should be on, sir. You can speak now.”   The speaker cleared his throat awkwardly. “This is, um, this is the Ambassador’s speaker. The report here is as follows: some of the King’s personal guard had rebelled, they had to be taken down. We’re unsure of whether the rest is loyal or not, but most of them have been fighting against the rebellion, so we can presumably assume they’re loyal. The advisor has a piercing wound in his leg but is otherwise fine.”   A familiar, feminine voice poured into the chamber, wafting through the air but never overbearing. “Thank you, speaker. Your highness, I will require your direct answers to the questions I’m going to ask. Can you hear me?”   “I’m here,” a faint voice of the Griffin King answered.   “The Equines have mentioned a magical phenomenon called the Elements. They have pointed to the Griffins as the possessors of one of them. What do you know about them?”   “The Equines?” The King sounded lost for a moment. “Oh, the Ponies! Well, yes, there are things named the Elements, or, as some call them, the ‘Powers of Nature.’ The nature of the whole planet is controlled by magic. The Ponies control the celestial bodies around us, we control the winds. I’ve no idea about other Elements.” “The Equines have pointed to the Element of Wisdom owned by the Dragons. Do you have any knowledge of it?”   The King laughed. “That’s an old Dragon joke. There is no Element of Wisdom. They made it up around the time they got to rule the Council.” The speaker looked to the advisor, sitting nearby and shaking his head with a frown on his lips,.   “There’s also the question of the Elements of Harmony. What do you know about them?” “Ah, the necklaces and the diadem. Used to vanquish the evils of our times, at least in Equestria. Defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord. Worn by six young girls, named the embodiments of the Elements. Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, and, of course, Magic.”    “Nightmare Moon?” echoed the speaker as if he’d heard only the first sentence.   Conversation is being interpreted in accordance to the gathered data. “Nightmare Moon had been banished to the moon for a thousand years, and returned recently. As we all know, it was Celestia’s corrupted sister who, after being shunned by the ponies living in daylight, turned to the dark side to give way to the emotions bottling within her.” “Princess Luna? The dark blue Equine?”    “Yes, the dark blue one. She was Nightmare Moon.”   Through deliberate psychological stimuli on the Princess, it’d be possible to bring that creature back, and force it to cooperate with us. “What made her affiliated with the ‘chaos’ as you name it?”   “Quite a crazy idea. She figured out that if Ponies didn’t get to see her night, she’d make the night last forever. I think you know where it’d go.”   That idea would require to be rooted out. The speaker chuckled slightly. “Any more bad guys with ‘bright’ ideas?”   “I’ve mentioned Discord, right?” asked the King.   The speaker nodded.   “Well, Discord was, and essentially is, a quite, well, shady individual. The Princesses? He could easily overpower them. Easily. And what did he do? Imagine roads made out of soap, clouds out of cotton candy and raining chocolate milk, physics turned inside out so much that laws I didn’t know existed were screwed around.”   Description of Discord based on current data: – Divinely powerful – Insane. “You’ve mentioned his reformation.”   “Reformation, yes. He’s still quite unpredictable, but restrains himself. Apparently he’s friends with the Elements now. And an ally to Celestia, if you ask me.” Current objectives: – Learn the whereabouts of Discord. – Judge his danger level. – Discern plan of operations concerning him, should the threat of a war with the Equines arise. “Where is Discord now?” Fleet Command asked.   “As far as my espionage got, he should apparently be staying with the Element of Kindness in Ponyville.”   The Ponyville recon unit hasn’t recorded anything of the sorts. Connecting. “Ponyville recon reporting.”   “An individual will be described to you. Tell us if you’ve seen him.” Only the recon team could hear the words of Fleet Command this time. “Tell us what he looks like,” heard the King.   “Made of different creature body parts.  Grey, horse-like head, with a deer antler on the right, a goat horn of the left...” the King went on. “Oh, this guy! I thought they kept him as a pet.” Then, after a pause, “What did you expect of me? I gave up when I’ve seen cows talk.” Another pause. “Yes, um, Fleet Command, we’ve seen him. Stays with Element of Kindness, though hard to spot most of the time. Freaky individual.”   “Thank you.” Then the radio crackled slightly as the connection went back to the castle. “While the ‘Powers of Nature’ of Sun and Moon are governed by the Equine royals named Luna and Celestia, who controls the winds in your kingdom?”   “There’s a temple, the location of which no one knows. Some old priests there are trained their whole lives to become psychologically and physically conditioned to wield the Element of Winds. And the whole thing can’t be wielded by one, it needs consensus of a group, but no liberum veto type of uprising will ever come to pass. It’s all legend now, though. We can only see the winds moving back and forth, the temple’s location has been lost to time.”   There was a momentary pause. “Thank you, your highness. I’m sure the information you’ve provided to us will be put to good use in assuring your country’s safety. We shall speak to you if it’s needed.”   The King nodded and moved to the more comfortable armchair to seat himself heavily upon it. The gravity of the situation was almost visible, weighing him down, pinning him to the luxurious pillows.