Celestia looked solemnly over the Elements of Harmony, most of whom were covered in casts, or other medical instruments. All of them, expect Rainbow Dash, were there. Sadly, Rainbow had taken a pretty big hit from whatever the Corrupted used to spread their vile Corruption to other ponies and they were currently doing everything in their power to keep her un-Corrupted. Celestia licked her lips in nervousness, this was the most serious threat Equestria has ever faced since Nightmare Moon first showed up a thousand years ago, possibly even worse. She turned around and faced the four ponies gathered in front of her, doubts about their ability to succeed in the mission she was about to assign them on clouding her thoughts. "Hello my little ponies, I wish to thank you for meeting with me on such short notice in these desperate times." she told them, "I know that the assignment you are about to undertake seems suicidal, especially since even the Harmony Bearers could not defeat it, but you have a chance. Unlike the Bearers, you are not reliant on one another for strength, each one of you is strong individually, but together, you could be capable of much more." She said in a reassuring tone, even though she couldn't even convince herself, "Your job is to find the source of the Corruption, and stamp it out. And from there, destroy any remaining traces of this threat from Equestria. Any questions?"
Morrow sat in silence as she listened to the princess. She had always been born for this. Literally. She had been genetically inhanced to be a deadly machine. She was ready.
Ecliptic looked around the room at the other ponies gathered there. He didn't recognise any of them. The princess had finished speaking, and no one spoke for a while. Finally Ecliptic asked, "What exactly is this "corruption"? Do you have any leads about how it started or where it came from?"
Celestial shook her head in sadness, "No, as far as we know, it just came out of nowhere. All we know about it is that it transforms ponies into shadows of themselves, and that it makes them totally obedient to some one entity."
Celestial shook her head again, "No, shadows as in they are literally transformed to look like shadows. Their coats turn black, mane dark purple, red, or navy blue, an their eyes always turn red. Personality wise, there are a few that have a form of it, but most have no personality at all, they are just empty shells waiting to carry out their next order from whomever commanding them."
"One last thing," Ecliptic said, "How should we defend ourselves? Just avoid exposure? Or should we...uh...take them out? It's likely that destroying the source will cure everyone, but this Corruption could be permanent."
