by neorenamon
Nightmaretron gazed at the five gray stones she now held in her hands, and yet she somehow know by their symbols that they were the inert Elements of Harmony she was so concerned about falling into the hands of her enemies. She knew that there was originally six, but she wasn't quite sure which of the Elements was no longer with the others. But in their current state, they posed no threat to her.
"But perhaps these could be used as bait to lure in the wannabe heroes," she said under her breath.
"Should they be like this?" asked Princess Megatron.
"They were not like this the last I saw them," she replied, "perhaps over time, their power has faded."
"So I take it they can neither threaten you nor Discord?"
"No," she replied.
"Then we should focus our efforts on destroying the Autobots, recovering the AllSpark and getting you installed as the ruler of Equestria."
"But just destroying your enemies takes all the fun out of it," replied Discord as he appeared in a flash of light.
"Destroying our enemies is the fun of it!" retorted Blitzwing.
"For one of us..."
"As long as there shall be Eternal Night, I shall be pleased..."
"Speaking of which..."
"What about it?!"
"I'm just saying," he said as he popped above them and an unseen shaft of light shone down on him, "it would be really BORING if the whole world was dark all of the time!"
"FINE! You can manage your own part of the world as you see fit, but mine shall be properly dark all the time!"
"So what are you going to do now?" he asked as he leaned in and winked.
"I shall torment my sister with these useless baubles before I take over all she held dear!" snapped Nightmaretron.
"Ooo, I certainly want to be there to hear that!"
"Whatever amuses you!"
"Oh, it amuses me alright," replied the draconequus as he clicked his paw and talon together, "I love to see what happens next."
...
"Once we get out of this cotton candy," asked Rainbow Bolt, "What'll we do then?"
"We need to get into the Castle of the Twin Sisters and get the Elements of Harmony back," replied Twilight Prime, "It's the only effective weapon there is against both Nightmaretron and Discord."
"But are they strong enough to beat them both at once?"
"I... I can't answer that," she replied slowly.
"Then we have to make do with what we already have and already know," replied Optimus, "We have strength in our numbers and strength in our resolve."
"That's surely true," she answered as she nodded, "but I'm not sure that sticking together is the best use of that strength."
"I don't understand."
"Discord has vast powers," she replied, "but I don't think he can split his attention without limit. If we split up into pairs, we should be able to have at least one group of us get into the Castle and locate the Elements of Harmony undetected."
"How do you know they don't have it already?" asked Bumblebee.
"I have a feeling if they had them already, they would be gloating about it at the very least."
"That does make sense," replied Optimus, "We should assign the teams now."
"I had a feeling you were going to suggest that," she answered, "I think we should have Pinkie Maximus team up with Bumblebee."
"Ratchet should go with Flutterstorm," suggested Optimus.
"Apple Buster should go with Jazz," she replied.
"Then Bulkhead should team up with Rare Seeker."
She nodded as she added, "Rainbow Bolt should team up with Sari."
"Then that leaves you and me for the last team," observed Optimus.
"And I'll get to team up with you all!" called Discord as he appeared among them.
They all just looked at him and groaned.
"What?!"