“Anahita?” Apple Bloom repeated. “Are you some kind of Digimon?”
“Not quite,” Anahita replied from the Digivices.
“How are you talkin’ to us through the Digivices? What do ya mean you’ve been waitin’ for us? What in tarnation is going—”
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions Apple Bloom. However, I have something urgent to tell you, and I don’t have a lot of time.”
Apple Bloom leaned back. “Wait...how do you my—”
“You all have seen Mephistomon,” Anahita interrupted. “You’ve all seen his Black Shadow Virus, and what it is capable of.”
“It allows him to control Digimon, right?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“But, we blew up his lab,” Scootaloo said. “So...he can’t make anymore of that stuff.”
“While the destruction of his lab on File Island did deal a critical blow to his operations there, Mephistomon is a resourceful Digimon. As we speak, he is moving his cult to the Server continent, where he will continue to perfect and produce his Black Shadow Virus.”
“Told you!” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“Not now Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo hissed.
“What’s he planning to do with that stuff?” Silver Spoon asked. “I heard him talking with someone about using it to build an army.”
“That is a strong possibility,” Anahita acknowledged. “However, I fear that Mephistomon’s pet project is only a single piece in a much larger puzzle.”
“How big of a puzzle are we talking here?” Guilmon asked seriously. “Is it one of those one thousand piece puzzles? I never liked those things.”
“Mephistomon seems to be working with an accomplice, NeoDevimon, on a much more elaborate project. I’m not sure what their end goal is, but I do know that they have succeeded in weakening the defenses of the Digital World.”
“What!” Hawkmon squawked. “How is that possible?”
“They’ve only managed to whittle away a miniscule portion of the defenses, but the fact that they have accomplished even this bodes poorly. Which brings me to you fillies.”
“Ahem!” Rumble coughed.
“And colt,” Anahita added. “You must go to the Server continent. Find out what Mephistomon and NeoDevimon are up to, and put a stop to it!”
“But we’re not strong enough to face someone like Mephistomon!” Palmon protested.
“Not yet you’re not…” Everypony’s Digivice emitted a series of chirps before Anahita continued. “I am updating the Digivices with a couple of new functions which will aid you in your quest. You must first seek out a village on the southeastern coast of the continent. The elder of the village has something that will help you. When you meet him, tell him ‘The extinguished torch burns brightly once more.’ That will let him know that he can trust you.”
“Wait a minute, timeout!” Diamond Tiara protested. “Are you asking us to do this, or just telling us? Because we never asked for any of this!”
“Yeah,” Silver Spoon nodded. “I’m sorry, but we just want to go home.”
“We rarely ask for most of the things we get in life, whether they be good or bad,” Anahita said. “But we can choose what we make of those things, and what we do with them. The Digivices chose you for a reason, you are all DigiDestined. And right now, the Digital World needs you! You can choose to do nothing about it; hide and hope someone else comes along to take up the mantle. Or even run home if you found a way. But ask yourself this: do you believe you’ll be able to *bzzzzttt*…”
“Huh?” Rumble tapped the screen of his Digivice. “What was that? I didn’t understand that last bit.”
“*Bzzzt* Hello?” Anahita said, her voice fading in and out as the symbol on the Digivices began to grow fuzzy. “Can you *bzzzt* me? I’m *bzzzzzt…* connection!”
“Wait!” Apple Bloom cried. “How do you know who we are? How are you messin’ with our Digivices? Can you get us home?!”
“I’m *bzzzzzt* hearing you! *Bzzzt* the Server continent! Find the *bzzzzzzzzzzt*! Good luck!”
With a hissing of static and chirps, the screen lights dimmed, and the eye in the diamond symbol vanished. “Hello?” Apple Bloom shook her Digivice. “Hello? Anahita, are you there? Hey, answer me!” With a frustrated cry, Apple Bloom slammed her forehoofs into the table, sending cards and poker chips flying.
Everyone stared at her as she buried her face in a foreleg. “The first time we hear from someone who might know what’s going on, and she doesn’t even answer any questions we’ve got!” she muttered.
“Cuz?” Babs Seed got up out of her seat, slowly walking over to Apple Bloom. “You uh...you okay?”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. I’m just sick of not knowin’ what we’re supposed to do.”
Armadillomon waddled to the other side of Apple Bloom. “Well, didn’t Anahita say that we should be gettin’ to the Server continent?”
“And why should we trust her?” Diamond Tiara asked. “She just shows up out of the blue and tells us to go there to find something that’s supposed to help us, what...save the Digital World? And she mentioned Apple Bloom by name. How does she know us?”
Sweetie Belle looked down at her Digivice. “Didn’t she say she did something to the Digivices?” She pressed the upper right button, scrolling through the functions until she came across an image of a simple treasure map. Curious, she pressed the large button on the left side of the screen, and a large holographic panel was emitted from the Digivice’s screen.
Everyone watched as Sweetie Belle scanned the hologram for a few moments before looking up. “Whoa, I think this is a map!”
Apple Bloom rushed over to Sweetie Belle to look at what she found. On the screen, was a map of what Apple Bloom assumed was a bit of Mt. Panorama, and the forest outside, with contour lines swirling all over the map. A single blinking dot sat in the center of the map, marking Sweetie Belle’s location. Apple Bloom placed her hoof on the screen, surprised that it felt solid and smooth, like a window pane. She was able to move the map around, and Sweetie Belle found a slider on the side of the screen that allowed her to zoom out to see the entire island.
“What’s with all the lines?” Apple Bloom looked over to see a confused Scootaloo looking at the map from her Digivice.
“It’s a topographic map,” Apple Bloom said. “All those contours represent changes in terrain. You see how the some of the lines go around in a big circle near us? That’s probably Mt. Panorama.”
Scootaloo stared at the map, looking lost.
“Did you not learn anythin’ in the Filly Guides?”
Silver Spoon looked back to the Digivice, scrolling past the map function to find an icon that looked like an open knapsack. Clicking it brought up a blank screen, with a large square to the right. Underneath the square were two buttons; one button showed a curved arrow pointing into a box, and another had an arrow pointing out of a box.
“Whatcha find there Silver Spoon?” said Terriermon, who was eating a rice ball.
“I have no idea,” Silver Spoon shook her head. She tapped the button with the arrow pointing into a box. The large square became transparent, a targeting reticule appearing inside of it and focusing on Terriermon; or rather, the rice ball in his paws. A small ray of blue light was projected from the back of the screen and onto the rice ball. Everyone watched in amazement, or horror in Terriermon’s case, as the rice ball was quickly broken down into little pieces of blue data, and sucked into the Digivice. Not a moment after the process was complete, an image of a rice ball appeared at the top of Silver Spoon’s screen, next to it were the words: Rice Ball.
“Hey!” Terriermon cried. “That was mine!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Silver Spoon panicked. “I didn’t know that would happen!” She tapped on the image of the small rice ball, and the large square was filled with a larger, more detailed image of the half-eaten snack. “Wait, is it actually inside the Digivice? Is this some kind of storage system?”
“That is so cool!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. She pulled up the new function and began to add random objects to her Digivice’s inventory. One by one, the items appeared on the screen, forming a small list.
“Yeah, that’s pretty neat,” Terriermon said with a smile, which turned flat as he extended a paw. “Now could you please give that back? I wasn’t finished with it.”
Silver Spoon turned back to the screen, noting the second button, the one with the arrow pointing out of the box. Shrugging, she tapped the button, and the holographic screen winked out of existence. A shimmering ghost of a half-eaten rice ball hovered in front of her, just above the Digivice. Two thin blue lasers were emitted from the Digivice’s small screen, dancing all over the outline. As the lasers quickly moved up, the rice ball began to materialize, almost as if it was an image from a coloring book being shaded in. The whole process took no more than three seconds, and soon Terriermon’s unfinished morsel fell into Silver Spoon’s hooves.
“Uh...here you go,” Silver Spoon hoofed the rice ball back to Terriermon, who eagerly snatched it and took a big bite from it. Silver Spoon tilted her foreleg back up, noting that the previous holographic screen had reappeared. “That’s a pretty neat feature,” Silver Spoon nodded before hitting the main button on the Digivice, dismissing the screen.
As Sweetie Belle turned off her Digivice’s map, something occurred to her. “Do you think Anahita helped make these? Is that how she was able to upgrade them?”
Apple Bloom perked up for a moment. “Do you think she knows why they were sittin’ in that weird lab under the shack in the first place? Is she somepony who worked there?”
“If she is, maybe she CAN help us get home!” Scootaloo jumped up, her wings buzzing.
“I don’t know…” Babs Seed rubbed the back her head. “Does ‘Anahita’ sound like a pony name to you?”
“Maybe she was one of those humans that Elecmon talked about,” Rumble suggested.
“She didn’t exactly give us much to go off of,” Diamond Tiara said. “All we know is her name, and who’s to say it’s even her real name?”
As everyone mulled over the puzzle that was dropped in their laps, Palmon let out a yawn that began to spread to the rest of the room. “How about we sleep on it, and talk about it tomorrow?”
“Maybe Elecmon knows something about all this,” Veemon yawned before collapsing into a cot next to Babs Seed.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom nodded. “How about we all get some shut-eye, and ask him when we get back?” A quiet chorus of murmured agreements, yawns, and the occasional snore answered back. Apple Bloom got as comfortable as she could on the stiff cot before drifting off into the realm of dreams.
The following morning, no one had any qualms about putting Mt. Panorama behind them once and for all. After a quick breakfast and a swift climb down the mountain, the group soon found themselves approaching the front gates to Primary Village. A Gotsumon on the watchtower snapped to attention, addressing the approaching group. “Who goes there! Friend or f—” his eyes widened. “Oh! You’re back! One sec.” He vanished down the watchtower. A few moments later, heavy groaning announced the gates opening.
“Welcome back!” the Gotsumon greeted.
“Thank you, it’s good to be back,” Hawkmon smiled. “Do you know where Elecmon is right now?”
“Hmm…” Gotsumon looked down for a moment. “Last time I checked, he was in the north eastern egg fields. Apparently some of the Gazimon Digi-Eggs from the last attack hatched already. He’s probably asking why they would attack the village in the first place.”
“I see…” Hawkmon shared a knowing glance with the rest of the group. “Thank you Gotsumon.”
As they made their way past the various plush buildings and toys scattered around the village, Diamond Tiara trotted up to Hawkmon. “It’s only been a day, the Digi-Eggs hatched already?”
Hawkmon shrugged. “Such a thing is rare, but not impossible. If a Digimon retains enough data when they revert to a Digi-Egg, it is possible to hatch sooner. However, since most of their data is often absorbed by whoever defeated them in battle, it usually takes time for the egg to accumulate the necessary data to create a Fresh Digimon.”
Veemon thought back to the battle at Primary Village. When he first defeated one of the Gazimon, he hesitated to absorb his data because of the Black Shadow Virus that ensnared his Digi-Core. He didn’t have much time to reflect on this however, as his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a joyful cheer coming at him fast. He quickly turned right, only to be robbed of his sense of sight.
Babs Seed jumped back as something small and pink leaped out from behind one of the buildings and latched onto Veemon’s face. Veemon stumbled back with a muffled shriek as the pink mass clutched onto his face with two ribbon like appendages, sounding like it was giving him a massive kiss.
Eventually, the pink mass unlatched itself from Veemon before it began jumping around him and Babs. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!” it cheered as it danced around a very confused Babs Seed.
“Uh…” Babs Seed stared at the Digimon. Judging from its size and lack of legs, she assumed it was an In-Training Digimon. It had a very large mouth with a few teeth evenly spaced throughout, and two red eyes. “Your welcome, uh...who are you?”
The Digimon stopped bouncing around for a moment, looking hurt. “You...don’t remember me?” he asked. “But you—” he stopped, realization dawning on his face before he laughed. “Oh yeah, that’s right. My name’s Koromon, but I didn’t look like this when you saved me.”
“Huh?” Babs looked over to Veemon for a hint, but it seemed like he was still recovering from Koromon’s ambush.
“Don’t you remember? You found me in an alley when a Gazimon cornered us. He would’ve got me if you and Veemon weren’t there!”
Babs Seed starred at Koromon for a moment. His story did sound familiar. “Wait...were you the Botamon we found hiding in the pile of stuffed animals?”
Koromon leaped into Babs Seed’s forelegs with a cheer. “You do remember me!”
Babs Seed chuckled. “Well...glad to see you’re doin’ alright.”
“Mmhmm,” Koromon nodded. “I digivolved just last night. I never would’ve gotten the chance to if you hadn’t saved me. So thank you. Thank you, thank you so much!”
Before she could say anything, Koromon latched himself onto Babs’ face, giving her a big kiss like he did to Veemon. Babs stumbled back as Koromon released her, a blush on her face. “Hehe...well uh, you’re welcome lil’ guy.”
Koromon squealed, bouncing up and down a couple more times before heading off to play with a passing group of Digimon.
“Aw, ain’t that sweet Babs?” Apple Bloom giggled. “You got yourself your own fan.”
“Yeah...a very enthusiastic fan,” Veemon steadily picked himself up.
“He certainly has an interestin’ way of showin’ his gratitude,” Babs Seed chuckled.
Making their way to the northeastern end of the village, they found Elecmon talking to a Digimon in a crib. Peering over his shoulders a few of them could see the little yellow slime ball with red eyes trembling in the crib. “Now calm down Zurumon,” Elecmon said gently. “Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”
“Y-you’re lying!” Zurumon stuttered, it seemed like he was on the verge of tears. “I would never try to destroy this place. No Digimon in their right mind would!”
“There there now, just take a deep breath. We don’t have to talk about that right now. I just want to know if you remember anything from your past life.”
Zurumon closed his eyes, struggling to think of something. Eventually he just jiggled as he produced a frustrated growl. “No, I can’t remember anything. It’s just one big blur!” He stared up at Elecmon, tears forming in his eyes. “Why...why can’t I remember anything?”
Elecmon reached into the crib and gently caressed the crying Zurumon. “Shhh…” he whispered with a smile. “There now, it’s okay. Maybe your memories will come back on their own.”
Zulumon sniffled. “Y-you think so?”
“It’s possible, yes. But even if they don’t, there's nothing wrong with making new ones,” Elecmon smiled. “How about you take a nap, and maybe we can get you something to eat later?”
Zurumon stared down for a moment before nodding. Elecmon watched as he curled up into his crib and fell asleep. Turning away with a sigh, he motioned for the ponies to follow him out of the egg field. “There have been three Zurumon that hatched today. They all had similar stories,” Elecmon turned to face everyone. “None of them can remember anything from their past life.”
“You mean, nothing about why they attacked Primary Village?” Bearmon asked.
“No, I mean nothing at all.”
“But, the odds of that happening to one Digimon are slim,” Hawkmon said. “How could that happen to three Digimon on the same day?”
“Do you think it might have something to do with the Black Shadow Virus?” Bearmon asked.
“Black Shadow Virus?” Elecmon asked. “Oh right, did you find anything on your trip back to Mt. Panorama?”
Everyone looked at each other before Apple Bloom spoke up. “Yeah, we found quite a bit.”
“Hmm, why don’t you follow me to the kitchen and you can tell me all about it,” Elecmon said. “It’s almost time for the babies to have lunch.”
Elecmon led the DigiDestined back to the cabin. While making jello for the baby Digimon, the ponies filled him in on the events that transpired at the Grey Lord’s Mansion.
Elecmon poured the last of some orange jello into a mold tray as he mulled over their story. “Wow, that is quite the tale. For a Digimon to actually manage to twist the Black Gears in such a way...it’s frightening.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Silver Spoon said as she picked up a tray with green jello jiggling in small molds, carefully balancing it on her back. Nearby, Babs Seed, Scootaloo, and Veemon emerged from a walk-in fridge.
“That...is one big refrigerator!” Babs Seed pointed into the chilled chamber.
“Yeah, you’d think it was meant to feed an entire village or something,” Veemon commented with a smirk. Babs Seed gave him a playful jab in the arm while Scootaloo shook her head.
Elecmon carried the jello to the fridge, but stopped when he saw only two ponies and one Digimon had emerged from there. “Where’s Guilmon?”
Scootaloo looked behind her. “He was with me just a second a—” she stopped herself and glared into the fridge. “Guilmon, come on! You heard Elecmon the first time. It needs to sit in here for a couple of hours.”
“Aww…” a pouting Guilmon walked out of the fridge, only to freeze again under Elecmon’s glare.
“Guilmon, who is the jello for?”
“Um...the baby Digimon?”
“The baby Digimon,” Elecmon nodded. “I told you that you could have a taste when they were finished. Are they finished?”
“No…”
“Right, so don’t make me catch you in there again. Else you won’t get any, and you’ll be on dishwashing duty for dinner tonight.”
Guilmon gulped. “Uh, o-okie dokie.”
As Guilmon skulked away, Silver Spoon followed Elecmon into the fridge, trying to ignore the various meats that were also stored here. “So...about what happened last night. Do you know anything about Mephistomon or NeoDevimon?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about this Mephistomon. Or this ‘Anahita’ you told me about,” Elecmon shook his head as he slid his tray of jello onto a shelf. “But NeoDevimon...if memory serves correct, I do believe he is an Ultimate level Digimon who digivolves from a Devimon.”
A shiver went down Silver Spoon’s spine. “Wait, you mean...he’s the Digimon you told us about? The one who tried to take over File Island all those years ago!”
Elecmon laughed as he took the tray off of Silver Spoon’s back. “No no no, that would be impossible.”
“But, you said—”
“That he digivolved from a Devimon? Yes. But it couldn’t be the same Devimon from all those years ago.” Elecmon gently placed the tray amongst the rainbow of jello on the shelves.
“But, don’t Digimon reincarnate as a Digi-Egg after they die?” Silver Spoon asked as they left the fridge. “Why can’t it be the same Devimon?”
Elecmon stepped outside the fridge. Looking around the kitchen, he noticed that Silver Spoon’s inquiry had gotten the attention of everyone. “Because he didn’t reincarnate as a Digi-Egg,” he said, his voice shifting to a more somber tone.
Apple Bloom gently put down the dish she was washing. “What do you mean? I’m with Silver Spoon here, I thought that—”
“Then allow me to clarify,” Elecmon interrupted. “When a Digimon dies, whether its defeated in battle or reaches the end of its life span, it is reduced to data and a Digi-Core.”
“Which returns to Primary Village and reforms as a Digi-Egg,” Rumble finished. “Bearmon told us all about it.”
“No, he told you only half of the process.” Elecmon looked around the kitchen, which was so quiet even the faucet wouldn’t dare leak a drop, and risk breaking the silence. “When a Digimon dies, its Digi-Core does not immediately return to Primary Village. Although it does begin to make its way here, it first passes through the realm of Anubismon, where he measures the nature of the data. If the data of the Digimon is good, he allows the Digi-Core to resume its journey to Primary Village, where it will reset as a Digi-Egg.”
Elecmon’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “If the Digi-Core is tainted by darkness, if the Digimon led a life full of malice, hatred, and evil, it is not granted this privilege. Instead, Anubismon banishes the Digimon to a prison of eternal darkness...the Dark Area.”
Diamond Tiara gulped. “W-what happens to them there?”
Elecmon closed his eyes. “Some say the Digimon who are sent there are condemned to an eternity in a dark, twisted landscape, never to see the sun again. Others say that these Digimon become prey to Plutomon, the Digimon who governs that realm. They say that he hunts these Digimon for sport, finding joy in terrorizing and devouring the wicked.”
When Elecmon mentioned the name “Plutomon”, all of the Digimon seemed to shiver, a fact that did not go unnoticed by anypony, nor bring them comfort.
“And there are some who believe that these Digimon actually become part of the Dark Area. That their data is absorbed by the darkness,” Elecmon continued. “Could be any number of these things, or none of them. But regardless, when a Digimon like Devimon is condemned to the Dark Area...” Elecmon closed the fridge door, latching it shut. “There is no hope for them to escape!”
Everyone stared at Elecmon as they processed the story he just told them. The way he described it reminded the ponies of the stories they heard of Tartarus, the prison deep beneath the badlands of Equestria, where some of the most heinous criminals and creatures were imprisoned. Everyone was so lost in their own thoughts and fears that they didn’t notice when a Gotsumon came in with a crate of food.
“Hey Elecmon,” the Gotsumon greeted cheerfully, making everyone but Elecmon jump. “Uh...sorry about that.”
Elecmon chuckled before turning to Gotsumon. “Ah, excellent! Bring it here.”
“So, not to sound like a broken record or anything,” Sweetie Belle started. “But are you sure you don’t know anything about Anahita? We think she’s linked to the Digivices somehow. You seem to know the most about the DigiDestined, so we thought...”
As Elecmon put aside some of the contents of the crate, he sighed. “As I've said before, I’ve never heard of this Anahita. And my knowledge of the DigiDestined is limited to what I’ve seen and heard.” He picked up some of the items from the crate and walked to the fridge. “Truth be told, all I know for sure is—” he paused as he opened the door, glaring at something inside. He gently placed the food on a nearby shelf, his gaze never faltering, and his fur starting to bristle. “Is that someone is busted! LIGHTNING KNIFE!” He flicked his peacock tail forward, launching a small bolt of lightning.
A flash and a scream came from within the fridge as the bolt hit its target. Everyone watched Elecmon march into the fridge, dragging a stunned Guilmon out by his tail. Scootaloo starred at Guilmon, slack-jawed. Her gaze shifted from the fridge, to Guilmon, to the rest of her friends. “How...did we miss a big red dinosaur sneaking into the fridge? We were all right here, how did we miss him!”
Guilmon groaned as he lay on the ground, motionless save for the occasional twitch in his leg. Meanwhile, Elecmon continued to move food to the fridge and pantry, clearly not in the mood to talk.
“So...where can we find more information on past DigiDestined?” Sweetie Belle thought aloud. “Is there a library or something?”
Gotsumon turned to the ponies. “There are monuments and temples scattered around File Island dedicated to past DigiDestined. Elecmon doesn’t really have a lot of time to leave the village unattended for long, so he can’t visit them often.” Gotsumon smiled. “But I’ve seen a lot of them myself.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit up. “Really? What’s in these temples?”
“Oh, they tell the stories about the DigiDestined who saved the Digital World in the past. Who they were, the Digimon they fought alongside with, the threats they faced. That sort of thing. Sometimes, Digimon leave offerings at these sites to honor their memory.”
Silver Spoon trotted up to Gotsumon. “Do any of these monuments say how they got home? Or do you think there’s a gate in one of the temples here that they used?”
“Hmm…” Gotsumon put a rocky finger to his chin. “Most of the stories say that the DigiDestined would vanish once their mission was complete. And oftentimes they had help from someone here in the Digital World.”
“Anything about someone named Anahita?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Honestly, that’s often pretty vague. Some monuments say that they are aided by the Harmonious Ones, or by Yggdrasil, the God of the Digital World. There are some stories that say they were aided by a mysterious drifter, doesn’t mention a name though. And...I think I found one depiction that said a group of DigiDestined was aided by a swarm of glowing butterflies.”
Gotsumon turned back to Silver Spoon. “I’ve been all over File Island, but I’ve never found anything resembling mysterious gates to other worlds.”
“Oh...okay,” Silver Spoon’s ears drooped.
Gotsumon looked up to see everypony bearing a similar expression as their hearts sank. “I’m sorry…” he said. “But if it’s any consolation, you all are the first DigiDestined I’ve heard of that aren’t human. So, that’ll be an interesting story to tell one day.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Silver Spoon muttered, forcing a smile.
That night, everypony sat on the beds that Elecmon had lent them, their partners sitting beside them. No one said a word, their minds occupied as they stared off into space, pawed at the blankets, or in Guilmon’s case, massage his pruny claws. There were some moments when somepony would open their mouth to say something, but quickly close it and go back to looking down at their hooves. Finally, Babs Seed plopped down on her bed, landing on her side. “We’re stuck here, aren’t we?” she muttered sadly. “There’s no way for us to get home.”
Sweetie Belle looked around the room. “Now wait a minute. We only know that there’s nothing on File Island that can get us home. Maybe we should try to get in touch with Anahita again, see if she knows something.”
Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Yeah, let me get right on that.” Diamond Tiara raised her Digivice and began tapping random buttons. “Hello? Cryptic Eye Lady? Are you there? We’re looking for a first class ticket back to Equestria please.” Diamond Tiara waited a few moments before letting her foreleg drop back to the bed. “Hmm, no answer. Go figure.”
Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed sigh. “Well, maybe we should try looking around at this ‘Server’ place. If there’s nothing here that could help us, why not try someplace else?”
“Because we have no idea what we’d be getting into,” Silver Spoon offered. “And we’d have to deal with not one, but TWO giant scary Digimon who clearly don’t want us around.”
“So what, you wanna just give up?”
Apple Bloom hopped off the bed, walking over to a large window that overlooked the village, hoping to at least distract herself from the coming argument. Standing on her hind legs with her forelegs on the window sill, she stared out into the village, where several Digimon slept without care. She turned her gaze skyward, hoping the stars would reveal some sort of answer, or at least a hint as to what they should do. When no answer presented itself, she sighed, instead turning her gaze inward. Applejack, what would you do? she thought.
After a brief period of reflection, she turned back to everyone else. “Alright everypony, listen up!” she said, getting everyone’s attention. “The way I see things, we’ve got two options. Option one: we stay here on File Island and hope that somepony finds the lab that brought us here, and finds a way to get us home.”
“And how well do you think that will work out?” Rumble inquired.
“Well, whenever we would go hikin’, Applejack always told me that if I ever got lost, I should hug a tree until somepony finds me.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at that. “Um, you do realize that we’d be hugging that tree for a while. Assuming we don’t get eaten by any of the Digimon that live out there.”
Diamond Tiara sat up. “Well, there are some of those weird trees that are all hollow. Me and Apple Bloom used one to hide from Snimon. Maybe we can find one of those to camp out in.”
“I dunno,” Armadillomon said. “Those can be pretty hard to find, and they’re pretty small. I reckon that they could only hold tree of us at a time, the rest would have to leaf.” Armadillomon chuckled to himself. Looking around though, he was only met with various empty stares.
“Wow, the fabled double pun,” Veemon deadpanned.
Armadillomon, wilting under the icy stares, quietly sought refuge under the covers of the bed. Becoming nothing more than a giant lump under the sheets, all that he said was a muffled, “Sorry…”
“Anyway…” Apple Bloom went on. “When I say ‘hug a tree’, I’m sayin’ that maybe this place could be our tree, if you know what I mean.” When no one answered her, she elaborated. “A small village made of buildin’ blocks is kinda hard to miss. Odds are, they’re lookin’ for us back at Camp Friendship. Maybe somepony will find the big machine under the shack, and maybe figure out how it works. They send a search party here, find Primary Village, and take us home!”
Sweetie Belle bit her lip. “That’s...a lot of ‘maybes’.”
“Yeah, I know. That brings me to option number two,” Apple Bloom continued. “We go to Server, find out what Anahita knows, what she wants, and see if she can get us home.” Apple Bloom rubbed the back of her head with a small smile. “And, well...maybe help a few Digimon along the way?”
Everyone looked at each other as they mulled over their options. “Well, like I said, option two involves going to a place we know little about. In a world we know even less about, might I add,” Silver Spoon commented. “Not to mention we’d be going off the word of a stranger…”
As everyone offered their opinions on what to do, Scootaloo found herself staring at her Digivice. My Digivice… she thought to herself. Over the past three days, she had gotten used to having the strange little gadget, sometimes forgetting it was there. Looking at it now, it felt like a toy that she had lost a long time ago, forgetting that she had it but deep down, knew that it belonged to her.
She looked up at the debate happening around her, not really hearing what was being said. She looked at the Digimon that sat next to each and every one of them. Ever since they met their respective partners, they never left their side, and always managed to step in when things got hairy.
Scootaloo looked up at Guilmon, who she already considered to be one of her best friends, especially after the way he saved her yesterday. Guilmon looked back to her, looking her in the eye. For a few moments, his expression was unreadable. But then he smiled to her, nodding once. Scootaloo instantly understood, and returned the smile. No matter what she chose, he would have her back. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the debate.
“I vote for option two!” Scootaloo declared.
The room fell silent as the arguing instantly evaporated. “W-what?” Apple Bloom stuttered.
“You heard me, I’m going to the Server continent,” Scootaloo said. “Look, after everything that’s happened, it’s pretty clear that we’re a part of something big. You know it, I know it, and apparently Anahita knows it!”
Everyone considered Scootaloo’s words for a moment before Silver Spoon spoke up. “Alright, fine. I vote two,” she sighed.
Diamond Tiara whipped her head to the bed next to her. “What?!”
“Hey, it’s like they said: Anahita seems to know what’s going on,” Silver Spoon shrugged. “I say we go there and get it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“Well, then if you’re going, I’m going!” Diamond Tiara sat up with a smile.
Babs Seed picked herself up and raised her hoof. “I’m going too,” she said with a smile before blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes. “I gotta admit, I kinda like the idea of bein’ a hero. So, who else wants to go save the Digital World?”
Apple Bloom grinned. “I’ll pony up for that!”
“Ditto!” Sweetie Belle smiled.
Everypony looked to Rumble, who shrugged with an indifferent smirk. “Meh, I guess I’ll come along too. After all, somepony’s gotta look out for you girls.”
“Oh how selfless of you,” Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“Typical boy…” Apple Bloom shook her head with a chuckle.
Rumble blew her a raspberry as the door creaked open, revealing a tired Elecmon. “Everything okay in here?” he yawned.
“Oh, sorry Elecmon,” Bearmon said. “We didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Yeah, we just had a lot on our minds,” Armadillomon said, poking his head out from under the covers.
“I could tell,” he chuckled. “Hey Guilmon, how’re your claws?”
Guilmon groaned. “Still pruny. There were a lot of dishes.”
“Well, you gotta hand it to the Gotsumon. They know how to make a mean lasagna.” Elecmon turned his gaze back to the ponies. “So, you’re heading to the Server continent, eh?”
“Yeah, I guess we were a little loud about that, weren’t we?” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head. “Why, is something wrong?”
Elecmon smiled. “No, I was just thinking about that group of human DigiDestined I told you about the other night. They had to go to the Server continent too, after facing a great evil like you did. History has a funny way of repeating itself like that, I suppose. Just one question: how do you plan on getting there?”
Everyone looked to each other for an answer. “Um...build a raft?” Rumble suggested.
Diamond Tiara looked to Apple Bloom. “So Apple Bloom, I don’t suppose you and your friends have ever tried to do something like that?”
“Why do you assume we would do that?” Apple Bloom threw her hooves up.
Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow at her.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Last Spring Break, we tried buildin’ a raft to sail down the Whitetail Woods river,” she relented.
“And? How did it go?”
“About as well as you’d expect.”
“I stand by what I said,” Scootaloo said. “If we had more duct tape, we would’ve been fine.”
Sweetie Belle face hoofed. “And we keep telling you that there was too much already. Why do you think the rudder was stuck in the first place? Why do you think we weren’t able to avoid the rock? Why do you think the ESS Driftwood sank? Because there was TOO MUCH DUCT TAPE!”
“Okay, alright you two!” Apple Bloom said. “I think we can agree that buildin’ a raft ain’t our strong suit.” She turned to Elecmon, who was too busy snickering into his paws. “Do you have an idea of how we can get there?”
Elecmon stood up, shaking the last of his laughter off. “Sorry about that, yes. I have a friend who can help you cross the Net Ocean. But, it’ll take a few days for him to get here.”
“Alright then, sounds like a plan,” Sweetie Belle nodded. “Goodnight Elecmon.”
Elecmon left the room, and everyone got back into bed. As Sweetie Belle climbed into her bed with Palmon, she glanced over to Babs, who was still looking out the window from her bed. “Hey, it’s okay,” Sweetie Belle whispered.
Babs Seed looked back to her. “Huh?”
“We may be stuck here for now, but we’ll find a way back home,” Sweetie Belle smiled. “And when we do, something tells me that we’re gonna have a doozy of a story to tell.”
“It’ll be a story of how we triumphed over overwhelming odds, and finally put an end to this struggle!” Sweetie Belle declared, looking at the battalion of In-Training Digimon in front of her, all of them sporting blue headbands. “This stalemate has been dragged out for too long. I know we’ve suffered more than a few losses, but we must fight for our captured teammates. Soon, we’ll storm the enemy position, take the objective, and we will be—”
“INCOMING ATTACK!” cried Rumble.
Sweetie Belle turned to see a small squad of In-Training Digimon wearing red headbands rush from behind a plush building, with Scootaloo leading the charge.
“Get them!” Sweetie Belle shouted before making a beeline towards Scootaloo.
“Go, go, go!” Scootaloo commanded, weaving her way past the opposing Digimon. As she galloped deeper into enemy territory, she focused on a small blue flag planted near a large felt block.
“SCOOTALOO!”
Scootaloo’s hair stood on end as she turned to see Sweetie Belle charging towards her. “YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!”
“Uh oh…” Scootaloo made a mad dash for the blue flag. Whether or not she managed to grab it at the moment didn’t matter, as long as she evaded the angry unicorn chasing her. Just when she was within a few feet of her goal however, disaster made its presence known.
“SNEAK ATTACK!” Scootaloo looked to her right in time bump heads with Babs Seed, who charged from behind the nearby block.
Sweetie Belle skidded to a stop, watching as her two friends rolled around, gripping their heads. “Oh my gosh, are you two okay?”
“Ugh...yeah, I’ll live,” Scootaloo groaned.
“Yep, just gimme a sec,” Babs Seed picked herself up. “Too bad I don’t have a head like Veemon,” she chuckled.
“Did you have to go all rhino on me Babs?” Scootaloo laughed.
“Sorry about that,” Babs Seed helped her up. “Oh, you’re out by the way.”
“Yeah, I’m going I’m going,” Scootaloo began trudging the opposite direction.
Sweetie Belle looked around, seeing a few Digimon with red headbands still running around. “Their offensive is broken. We need to launch a counterattack now!”
“Right!” Babs Seed nodded. “V, grab a few of our teammates and go for the flag! We’ll take care of the stragglers here!”
From the other side of the field, Veemon gave a salute. “Roger that B!” He motioned to a large group of Digimon guarding a line of cones dividing the field. “Let’s finish this! CHAAAARGE!”
On the other side of the cone line, Apple Bloom saw Veemon leading a large group of Digimon straight towards them. Off to the side, on the opposite end of the border she could see Rumble with a smaller group of Digimon, ready to backup the main attack group.
“So much for Scootaloo’s blitz attack,” muttered Apple Bloom. She turned to Diamond Tiara, who was fussing over the red headband on her head. “We need to push them back, then we can free Scootaloo and the others!”
On the edge of the field, right on the borderline, was a small squared off “jail” where numerous Digimon from both sides sat. Among them was Guilmon, Palmon, Silver Spoon, and the latest inmate, Scootaloo. Over the last few attacks, the red team’s numbers had dwindled to a small unit. From where Rumble was positioned, he could charge the flag the moment they sent someone to free their teammates from the jail. They had no choice but to have everyone guard the flag until they had an opening.
Apple Bloom turned to Armadillomon. “You ready?”
“You bet I am!” Armadillomon grinned.
Beside him, Terriermon stood ready. “None shall pass!”
The two sides collided. An intricate dance began to play out as some blue team members dodged red team members trying to tag them, and others skirted around the outskirts of the red base, daring the guards to leave their posts. With the red base surrounded, Rumble signalled to his squad to quietly dash up the left flank. The red team found themselves overwhelmed, scattered, and a few moments later, without a flag.
“We’ve got a runner!” Diamond Tiara shouted, pointing to a Koromon hopping towards the border with the red flag.
“I’m on it!” Apple Bloom reared up before charging towards the thief. Leaning her head forward, she put everything she had into a gallop worthy of the Running of the Leaves. But Koromon had a head start, and despite having a lack of feet, was moving very fast. All of the blue team members in jail cheered on the little Digimon as he closed the distance to the border, while the red team inmates did the same for Apple Bloom as she zeroed in on Koromon.
Just as Apple Bloom came within inches of tagging him, Koromon gave one last burst of energy, and leapt over the border.
“Koromon has captured the red team’s flag, giving blue team their third point,” Hawkmon announced from the sidelines. “Blue team wins!”
Cheers erupted from the blue side of the field, while the blues from the jail rushed out to carry Koromon around.
Armadillomon shot a look to Terriermon. “I thought you said you wouldn’t let them pass!”
“I didn’t see you doing any better!” he shot back.
“Guys, come on,” Bearmon appeared with cups of water. “It’s just a game, can’t we agree that we all had fun here?”
Armadillomon looked to Terriermon for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he smiled. “Sorry Terriermon.”
Terriermon shrugged. “Moumantai.”
Apple Bloom stumbled over to the water cooler with everyone else. She snatched a full cup of water, chugged it, refilled it, then dumped it on her head. “That little guy was fast,” she panted. “He ain’t got no legs, how is he so fast?”
“Aw, is it over?” Elecmon walked up to the cooler.
“Yep, just finished,” Scootaloo nodded before taking a drink of water.
“Aw nuts!” Elecmon slumped. “Oh well, I’m sure there’ll be plenty more of this...uh—”
“Capture the Flag?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Did you want to play a round, or just watch the game?”
“Yes, thank you,” Elecmon nodded. “And to answer your question, no to both. I was actually looking for all of you.”
Everyone looked up, sensing the meaning behind his words. “Wait, you mean…” Apple Bloom started.
Elecmon nodded. “He’ll be here soon. We’re going to meet him at the inlet near here. But before we do, I have something for you all.”
As he led them back to the cabin, everypony took in the sights, knowing that it would probably be the last time they would be here. Over the last four days of waiting, they had helped repair the village, cared for the Digimon, and even make friends with a few of them. Not to mention they had enjoyed the air of safety that surrounded the village.
Elecmon led them to the side of the cabin, where a variety of supplies were laid out on a tarp. “Some of the Gotsumon and I put this together in our spare time,” Elecmon gestured to the supplies. Among them was some rope, blankets, a small box of matches, a first aid kit, water canteens, a few rolls of toilet paper, and a large crate of food. Apple Bloom also spotted a small water filter, and a couple packs of what looked like water purification tablets.
Babs Seed glanced towards a small collection of notebooks and pencils. There was also a couple of small books nearby. “What are these?” Babs picked up a book, but was unable to make sense of its contents. What stood out was how large the writing was. Several pages were dominated by large symbols, with a few simple pictures. They also had several blank spaces, like someone was meant to write in them.
Veemon came over and borrowed the book from Babs. A look of recognition and confusion crossed his face. “Uh, Elecmon? Didn’t we already learn all of this?”
Elecmon laughed. “Yes you did. But don’t worry, these aren’t for you.”
“I’m confused,” Apple Bloom said, looking at one of the books with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “What are these?”
“Those are to help you children learn Digicode.”
Scootaloo looked up at Elecmon. “Excuse me?”
“Well, I’d think it might help to learn the language we use in the Digital World, don’t you?”
Scootaloo looked from Elecmon back to the book, finally understanding why it filled her with an inexplicable sense of dread. It looked like one of the books she got during kindergarten when they started learning how to read and write. The context of this little book was filed in Scootaloo’s brain under two words which should never be together.
“Summer homework,” she groaned. “That’s great...just fantastic.”
Silver Spoon spotted a coin purse towards the front of the pile. Opening it up, she reached in and pulled out a few square coins. Each coin had a small circular hole in the center, but some were bronze, others were silver, and a couple of them were gold. Each coin was decorated with a series of lines that would branch off at seemingly random angles, creating patterns akin to a circuit board.
“Is this money?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Yes, those are bytes,” Elecmon nodded.
“Bites? Like taking a bite of food?”
Elecmon laughed. “No, bytes, with a y.” He walked over and pointed to the pile of coins in Silver Spoon’s hoof. “The bronze ones are kilobytes, which are each worth one byte. The silver ones are megabytes, those are worth ten bytes. And the gold ones are terabytes, which are worth twenty five bytes each. I think there’s about three hundred bytes in there, please don’t spend it all in one place.”
Apple Bloom starred at the collection of supplies. “Elecmon...I don’t know what to say,” she smiled. “Thank you so much, for everything. I know you’re probably tired of hearin’ us say that, but—”
“Hey losers!” a voice called out. Everyone turned to see Pagumon with a small cloth pouch next to him. “Think fast!” he said before picking up the pouch in his teeth and throwing it towards them.
Elecmon leapt into the air and caught it before it could get near everyone else. “Stop right there Pagumon!”
Pagumon, who had started hopping away after throwing the pouch, froze in place.
“I swear if this is another stink bomb…” Elecmon growled as he slowly opened the pouch. He peered into the bag, leaning back in caution. After a moment however, he looked into the bag with surprise, reaching into it to pull out a piece of wrapped candy. “What the...Pagumon is this from that stash of yours that I keep hearing about?”
“No,” Pagumon muttered. “That IS my stash.”
Most of the Digimon stared at him in shock. Bearmon walked over to Elecmon, peering into the bag. Inside he could see a small assortment of chocolates, caramels, and all sorts of sweets. “Pagumon…” Bearmon breathed. “Why are you—”
“DO NOT LOOK TOO DEEPLY INTO THIS, FUZZBALL!” Pagumon shouted. “Let me get one thing straight here: you all suck! I never liked you, I never liked your blue friend back there—” he gestured to Veemon, who clenched his fists with a growl. “And I still don’t like you. I don’t know why a sniveling little fuzz like you would be a partner to a DigiDestined, let alone Digivolve in the first place.” Pagumon sighed. “But...I suppose that if it wasn’t for you and your friends, we’d all be waiting to hatch again, or be part of some twisted Digimon’s experiments. So...thanks.”
Bearmon, who looked conflicted on whether to punch the little loudmouth into next week, simply nodded with a split second smile. “Well, I never thought I’d say this, but...thank you Pagumon.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Pagumon rolled his eyes before hopping away. “Just hurry up and get out of here.”
As he hopped away, Bearmon turned to the small pouch of sweets. “I wonder how it tasted,” he thought aloud.
“Huh?” Rumble cocked his head. “How did what taste?”
“His pride,” Bearmon said with a smug grin. “It must have been pretty bitter. It looked like he had trouble swallowing it.”
After dividing up the supplies between them, everypony followed Elecmon out of Primary Village. Along the way, Elecmon was giving them a few pointers on managing their supplies.
“Make sure you conserve your food and water on the way to Server. And no matter what, do not drink the sea water! Don’t even try to purify it!”
“Got it,” Apple Bloom nodded as she scrolled over her Digivice’s inventory. “Wow, I’m lovin’ these things! It’s so much easier than luggin’ everything around on your haunches in a saddlebag.”
“Definitely easier than carrying Rarity’s luggage up the trail to Winsome Falls,” Sweetie Belle agreed. All of the Crusaders laughed at the memory.
Soon they arrived at an inlet that separated the plains from the jungle. Nearby was a large dock, with no visible ships or boats in sight.
“So…” Diamond Tiara began. “Where’s your friend? And his boat for that matter?”
“He doesn’t have one,” Elecmon answered.
“Wait, what?” Diamond Tiara looked bewildered. “Then how the hay is he gonna get us across the ocean?”
Elecmon smiled. “You’ll see…”
A few moments later, a massive creature emerged from the surf, gliding through the water towards the dock. At first glance, it appeared to be a whale, with its deep blue color and massive size. Atop its head however, was a large shell of thick, bronze colored blubber, which ran down its back towards the base of its dorsal fin. While the shell on its head appeared to be solid, the part that covered its back seemed to resemble a large spinal column and set of ribs. It had no visible eyes, and had metal cables where they would be, which ran along the side of its body.
“Whamon, it’s good to see you again!” Elecmon greeted.
“Likewise,” Whamon said, his voice booming yet gentle. “Are these the passengers that you told me about?”
“Yes they are. These are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Babs Seed, Rumble, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and their partner Digimon.”
“Partner Digimon? So, they really are DigiDestined?” Whamon chuckled. “When a Gomamon came to me saying that you needed to get a group of DigiDestined from File Island to Server, I was sure that this was another one of your pranks. I’m sorry I doubted you old friend.”
“So...this is your friend?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Hello...Whamon, was it?”
“Hello there, little one,” Whamon replied. “Are you and your friends ready to go?”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked to each other for a moment before nodding. Turning back to Whamon, Sweetie Belle smiled and said, “Yeah, I think we are.”
“Well then, hop aboard,” Whamon lowered himself so that everyone could get on his back.
Rumble stood on the dock as everyone began to climb onto Whamon’s back. He looked out toward the ocean, uncertainty and doubt racing through his mind. Are we really doing this? Is this actually happening? He knew by now that this whole thing wasn’t some crazy dream, despite how bizarre the situation was. The reality of the situation was finally beginning to set in, as well as the possible dangers it presented. The thought made his heart race, and breathing short.
“You okay?” Bearmon asked, snapping Rumble out of his thoughts.
“Y-yeah, I’m good,” Rumble smiled. He turned back to Whamon, and with a deep breath, climbed aboard.
As the last of the group got on Whamon’s back, Elecmon called to them. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. You all take care of yourselves now.”
“We will,” Apple Bloom said. “Thanks again.”
“Alright then, off we go!” Whamon turned around and began to swim out towards the Net Ocean. As they left, everyone looked to see a large group of In-Training and Fresh level Digimon dashing towards the dock, with a few Gotsumon desperately trying to catch up to them. When they reached the dock, they joined Elecmon in bidding them goodbye, jumping up and down, and emitting cute squeaks.
“Goodbye everyone!” Guilmon waved.
Everyone smiled as they waved back to the impromptu farewell party. As the shouting faded into the distance, they continued to stare at the steadily retreating island.
“Huh,” Veemon muttered. “It’s a lot smaller than I thought it was.”
“Yeah,” Armadillomon nodded. “Weird…”
Diamond Tiara sighed as she stared at File Island. “Well...this is it. No turning back now, is there?”
“Nope,” Babs Seed shook her head. “We’re really doin’ this.”
Sweetie Belle looked out over the water for a moment before speaking her mind. “We are in way over our heads here.” The water seemed to grow silent. Turning back, she saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo staring at her like her mane had suddenly switched colors without her knowledge. “What? We are.”
“Yeah, but…” Scootaloo started. “You say that like you’re not used to it. I mean, you hang out with us!”
The three fillies stared at each other for a moment before bursting out in a fit of laughter. “Okay, you got me there!” Sweetie Belle giggled.
“Hey, I’m a bit nervous too,” Scootaloo admitted. “But I’m also kinda excited. I mean, think about it. As far as we know, we’re the first ponies to ever set hoof in this world!”
Apple Bloom’s eyes sparkled at the thought. “Yeah, you’re right!” She turned to everypony else. “Ya hear that everypony? We’re officially pioneers of the Digital World!”
A smile slowly made its way onto the faces of everypony. The idea of being the first ponies to explore a new world filled them with a sense of pride. Fantasies of epic adventures worthy of Daring Do herself began to fill their heads, and they soon found themselves just as excited as Scootaloo.
Apple Bloom trotted up to Sweetie Belle, putting a hoof on her back. “You’re right though, we are in over our heads. Way more than usual,” she chuckled. “But Scootaloo’s right too, it ain’t the first time. And we’re gonna face this together, just like we always have.”
Apple Bloom put her left hoof forward, where it was soon joined by Sweetie Belle’s and Scootaloo’s. She looked up to everypony else, gesturing to the gathering. Babs Seed was the first to step forward, a smile on her face as she put her left hoof on top. One by one, the remaining DigiDestined put their left hooves forward, adding to the hoof stack.
Apple Bloom looked up to the circle of friends, both old and new, and felt stronger than ever. Glancing back down into the circle, she watched as the sunlight gleamed off of each of their Digivices. “We can do this everypony. No matter how rough the road ahead will get, we’ll get through this together!”
Everypony threw their hooves into the air in a cheer, tossing all of their doubts overboard. With a feeling of purpose and pride filling their hearts, everypony joined their Digimon partners, gazing towards the horizon. None of them knew what mysteries, what dangers, would await them beyond the endless expanse of blue. But they knew that when it would come, they would be ready for it!