//------------------------------// // Reconnaissance // Story: The Element of Corruption // by Fyronarion //------------------------------// Far far away from ponydom... The low lying grass valley reflected eerily in the moonlight. There was nothing but an endless stretch of grass, as if it were a sea. The wind was rather low, lazily making the grass blades move occasionally. A pop was heard and five forms appeared. Three of them were out cold, while the other two were surprised by their location. Discord looked around and smile to himself. A perfect place. He walked away from Chrysalis, who looked around, her eyes wide. "Where are we?" asked Chrysalis to Discord, who was busy walking around the area and muttering a few incantations. He glanced at her. "Some random location I thought of. We are very far from the nearest pony town, so rest assured we can recover here" he replied, raising his claws above his head. A moment later, faint orange dust swirled around his hand and shot into the sky before exploding with a small bang. The dust shimmered down, casting a faint orange aura around the location. Chrysalis was impressed. "Wow..what was that?" she asked. Discord chuckled. "A simple force field spell, my dear. Nopony can see us, hear us or detect us. We are practically invisible to them. They will never find us." he said smartly. She thought about it and agreed. "Sounds good. Unfortunately, I have to leave you three for a while. My kingdom requires my presence." she said, her form glowing. Discord nodded. "Very well. Come back when you are finished." he said. She smiled before disappearing with a flash of teal. He shielded his eyes until the lights dimmed and he opened to find himself alone with two unconscious changelings and a pony. He sighed. "Time to wake these three up." he muttered, walking up to them. Meanwhile, to Shining Armor... Shining Armor trekked through the mountain range. He already left the borders of Ponyville and was headed to Appleloosa's direction. The sudden change of scenery from the bustling capital and small cottages to intimidating peaks and sharp cliffs amused him. The wind blew hard around the mountainous regions of Equestria, and since winter was coming, the wind was freezing from the north. Shining Armor shuddered and pulled his light coat around himself. "Curse me. I haven't stocked up on supplies since I left Canterlot..." he mumbled, keeping his head down against the wind. The cold wind blew into his face, making him feel numb. As he battled against the wind, he came upon a rather large cliff face. On the other side was the continued path. Below the cliff face was a fast moving stream, with jagged rocks jutting out of the water. Shining Armor sighed. So much for luck on his journey. Normally, he would've just teleported over the ravine and continued his merry way, but he was exhausted from his journey, so he couldn't cross the chasm by hoof, let alone teleporting over it. "Guess I'll make camp and sleep in." he said, opening his saddlebag and pulling out a small collapsible tent. His horn started to glimmer and the tent quickly started to build itself until it formed a small, stallion sized abode. He unzipped it and went inside, where a comfy sleeping bag lay. He zipped up the entrance and snuggled in the bag before falling into a enjoyable sleep... Back to Discord and his group... Twilight opened her eyes and slowly got up, her breath paced. She looked around quickly for an enemy but realized she was in a safe area. She then stood up and saw Discord, who was looking at her carefully. She yelped and fell back. Discord chuckled and stuck his hand out as a gesture of kindness. "Hey, don't worry. I won't vaporize you." he said calmly. Twilight looked at him thoroughly before taking his hand and getting up. She dusted herself and looked around, puzzled. "Where are we? And where is Nightmare, Chrysalis and Nucleon?" he asked. "Chrysalis had to leave for an important meeting in her kingdom. As for Nucleon and Nightmare, they are over there." he said, pointing at the two sleeping bodies. Twilight rushed forward to check on them. "Are they...you know..?" "No, they are not dead. Honestly Twilight, when will you learn? Nightmare is immortal, and I doubt Nucleon is dead. He took a beating, yes, but he isn't dead." reprimanded Discord, rolling his eyes. Twilight glared at him and he shrugged. "Just saying." he simply said. Twilight looked down at Nucleon and then at his broken hoof. She started to bandage it with a few pieces of adhesive from her saddlebag while Discord started to walk around the location, muttering some ancient words... Back to Shining Armor... It was a beautiful sunny day in downtown Canterlot. The city was bustling with activity, as ponies ran to and fro through the market and stores scattered around. Past the downtown district and the marketplace was a small neighborhood clustered between the city gates and the Royal Castle. At the end of the second street was a small house. The door opened and the teenage Shining Armor stepped out and smiled. It was such a good day. He turned around and shouted back in the house. "Twi! Let's get going. I want to get you something for your birthday!" he yelled. Inside the house was a small squeal and a moment later, a filly Twilight rushed out. She crashed into her brother, who stumbled back on the porch. "Present? What is it? A new book? Is it the one on the planets-" she said breathlessly. Shining Armor quickly put his hoof on her mouth as she continued talking. She frowned and he laughed. "Maybe. C'mon, let's get going. Did you tell mom that we are going to downtown?" he asked. Twilight nodded vigorously and both of them set off towards the loud downtown area... Shining Armor gasped and got up, sweating heavily. He looked around and saw that he was still in the tent, and his alarm clock was ringing. He put it on snooze and fell back, wiping a single tear from his eye. That dream was so vivid. He then got up and exited the tent. After collapsing it and stuffing it in his saddlebag, he faced the ravine and closed his eyes, his horn glowing. A moment later, he appeared on the other side of the cliff. He smiled to himself and trotted down the path... Again to Twilight and friends... "So did Celestia beat me or did I beat her?" asked Nightmare Moon. All of them were sitting around a campfire and were eating breakfast. "Celestia was going to beat you, but then Discord saved all of us by putting everypony under a sleep spell." said Twilight crossly, eating another piece of egg. Nightmare thought about it but then nodded in approval. "Well, that was good timing. I'd hate to see what would've happened if it wasn't for him." she said. Twilight looked up and caught Nucleon's eye before she turned away quickly, blushing. He coughed. "I'm sorry for what I did to your old friend. I was trying to help you out..you know.." he mumbled. Twilight smiled. "It's ok. You pushed off Rainbow Dash for me, which was a relief. But I didn't want to kill them..I almost killed Rarity though...I don't know what takes me over when I face my friends." she said, looking down. Discord froze when she said that. "What do you mean?" he and Nucleon asked unanimously. "Well, everytime I see them, I have this anger inside me that I want to release. It's like I want to hurt every single inch of them when I see my friends. But I would never do that. Hurt, yes for self defense. But kill? Never." she said sadly, staring at her plate. "You will have to get used to it, Twilight." said Discord, shaking his head. "I don't think so. We can spare lives instead of killing." objected Nucleon. "I agree with Nucleon. That way, we will not attract attention by the mass killings." chimed in Nightmare. Discord sighed and crossed his arms. "You guys are no fun." he huffed. Nucleon laughed and Nightmare stood up. "Enough with the talking. We must organize our next attack. First, where is Chrysalis?" she asked Discord. "She left because her kingdom needed help and other stuff." said Discord in a bored voice. Nightmare nodded. "Very well. We will call on her help soon. Now, we must prepare to strike the smaller cities. When we went to Canterlot, our cover was blown. My dear sister now knows that we are going to attack, so she fortified the capital. However, when she increased security in Canterlot, she pulled out guards from the smaller cities. This makes them virtually undefended." she explained. Twilight nodded. "Yes. That means we can attack Appleloosa or Trottingham. Possible Ponyville or Manehattan if we conquer the others." said Twilight, rubbing her chin in thought. "What we really need is a spy. That way, we can get information from the cities and see what's going on." suggested Discord. "Good idea. I think we have a perfect candidate..." said Twilight, looking at Nucleon. He backed up nervously. "Er...why are you staring at me?" he asked. Twilight and Nightmare exchanged looks and smirked at him. "Tell me, do you mind being a mare for a while?" asked Nightmare. Nucleon scratched his head. "Well..um..it's alright-Wait, no I don't! Why are you asking me?" he demanded. Twilight giggled while Nightmare rolled her eyes... 15 minutes later... "Nopony will suspect you of being a changeling now." said Discord cheerfully. "Yes, now you look exactly like a normal Manehattanite pony." said Twilight, suppressing laughter as she applied makeup to Nucleon. He groaned. "Why are you putting makeup on me? I can already generate myself as a random pony..." he muttered. "Because if you randomly became a certain pony, that pony will probably point you out as an imposter. After that, your cover will be blown and our plot will be useless." explained Nightmare. Nucleon sighed. "I better get payed for this." he said as Twilight finished applying the last bit of makeup to him. He changed himself into a mare, and after Twilight was done fixing him up, he looks very fancy, with his mane piled up and his tail curled. "He looks good now." observed Discord. Nucleon glared at him. "Don't get any funny ideas." muttered Nucleon. "Enough boys. Nucleon, I shall teleport you to Manehattan. Also, take this crystal gem with you. We can communicate easily since the gem transmits your voice waves to us. Just rub it when you need to talk to us." ordered Nightmare, handing Nucleon a small blue gem that looks like a sapphire. "Thanks. I won't fail you guys." he vowed, pocketing it. "Get ready." said Nightmare, her horn glowing. Before he was teleported, Twilight surprised everypony by bounding up to him and kissing him on the cheek. "Good luck." she whispered. Nucleon was speechless before he disappeared with a bang. "That will affect our spy's performance. I don't think he's thinking of the mission now." said Discord, smiling. Twilight felt her face go hot. "Never you mind." she said before turning around and looking for the small book that she was reading... Meanwhile, in Manehattan... Nucleon opened his eyes to see himself in a large city. Skyscrapers loomed over him, and carriages roared down the streets. Ponies walked past him and others were shouting their wares. He was still speechless about what Twilight gave him, but he shook his head. Time to get serious. Suddenly, he felt something vibrating against his pocket. He pulled out the gem and found out it was glowing bright blue. He rubbed it and Nightmare's voice came through. "Hello, Nucleon. Can you hear me? How is Manehattan?" she asked. Nucleon looked around and found a small alley. He went in there and talked with her. "Yeah, I can hear you. Manehattan is nice, although it's going to be hard finding anypony that knows about the defense that Canterlot is putting up." he said thoroughly. Suddenly, he heard something behind him and turned quickly to see two stallions staring at him. "Well, hello gorgeous." said one of them, taking a step towards him. Nucleon backed away. "Oh..hey.." he said, trying to keep a distance between them. "Where you tryin' to run off to?" said the other one, licking his lips. Nucleon kept backing away until he found himself against a wall. The two stallions were blocking his way. "Nucleon? Can you hear me? What is going on?" asked Nightmare. "Uh, I think we have a problem. Talk to you later." he said, quickly closing the connection. He raised his hooves, getting ready to fight...