Gripping a giant piece of concrete with her claws, Agumon struggled to drag the stone through the scorched landscape as Shining Armor shouted encouragement.
“Come on Agumon, you got this!”
Agumon groaned, her claws aching as she strained with all her might to move the large chunk of rubble.
“That’s…Easy…For…You…To-”
Turning her head, she paused midsentence as she watched in disbelief as Shining Armor with an even larger piece of debris strapped to each of his hindlegs walked steadily beside her. The sweat glistened on his fur as he called out encouragements to her.
“Say. How-”
Smiling proudly, Shining proclaimed.
“I would never ask another to do something I could not do just as well. Now come on, put your back into it, we still have one hundred push-ups and three more circuits with your concrete chunk before lunch.”
Completely exhausted, Agumon flopped onto her back. Next to her Shining Armor lay, a bowl of apples he had conjured between the two. Gratefully, Agumon reached for an apple, cutting it into pieces with her claws before nibbling on them. Turning to look at Shining she spoke.
“You are one strong Pony.”
Laughing, Shining nodded and answered her, his words soft and unlike his usual carefree demeanor.
“In my world, many ponies can’t use magic, but many possess great strength to an almost unnatural degree. As a Captain of the Guard, I have to be prepared for any type of attack, and all my subordinates look to me for strength; I can’t let them down.”
Noticing the sadness in his voice, Agumon asks him what’s wrong.
Shining stayed quiet for a moment, staring up at the sky, taking note of both the sun and moon sharing the same space, causing him to smirk.
“I wonder if going home is even an option now.”
Turning to look at her, he asked.
“What about you, What’s your story?”
Agumon was silent as she placed a claw on her empty eye socket. Taking a deep breath she began explaining, her words slightly choked with emotion.
“I ran afoul of the Princess’s halberd. If it hadn’t been for Lilymon’s sacrifice, I wouldn’t have been able to break free of my dark ring and get away…mostly intact. If she hadn’t taken the time to break my ring, she might still be here. They might still be here.”
“Sounds like she meant a lot to you.”
Nodding, Agumon agreed.
“She was like a sister to me. They were my family. We waited together for our tamers, and even when theirs showed up, they took me with them. They told me you were coming and not to give up. But that was ages ago. But I waited, while they grew stronger, digivolved, and saved the digital world from many threats. I waited for you, unable to help them being far too weak.”
Tears forming in her eyes, she began to wail.
“I was too weak to save them, when they needed me most, when their tamers were captured.”
Shining felt somewhat guilty as he heard her words, he wanted to comfort her, to tell her it would be okay. Yet, all he could do was ask her.
“What happened that day?”
Agumon’s crying stopped and her eyes hooded over.
“She appeared…”
“And so I said, Looks like Piedmon got creamed!”
Biyomon flew in front of the group and spread her pink wings as she delivered the punchline causing laughter to erupt from the group of mares and Digimon below. Laughing at her own joke, the small pink bird flew down to rest on the back of a pink pony with a bubbly mane and tail; her tamer with a runic heart for a cutie mark.
Next to the pink Earthpony walked an orange-furred one with a humanoid plant-like creature on her back. She wore a worn Stetson hat and on her flank was a green runic teardrop. She called out to the plant-like creature.
“Y’all alright there, Palmon?”
Giggling, Palmon replied.
“All good back here, Sugarcube.”
“Darling! Your fur is going to get all muddy again.”
Off to the side, a white Unicorn with an amethyst mane and tail, both perfectly coifed, and sporting a blue runic cross with two points on either side as a cutie mark, chided a furry water-dwelling mammal as it happily splashed in a mud puddle. Cheerfully Gomamon called back in a singsong voice.
“Oh come on Rarity, it’ll wash out, no need for fuss.”
While the two debated the qualities of mud on fur, above Rarity flew two Pegasi mares; one cyan-blue with a rainbow mane and tail, sporting a cutie mark of concentric circles joined by an arch. The other was a buttery-yellow furred pink maned one with a sun emitting a beam of light as hers. Next to them, floated two Digimon, one an insect with large green eyes, the other a large-eared creature. The two conversed happily with their partners; Tentamon showing off for his tamer by generating electricity between its insectoid wings to which she declared,
“Awesome!”
Meanwhile, Patamon gratefully nuzzled her tamer, who grinned happily. And there at the front of the pack, talking to a cat-like Digimon with a sacred ring on its tail, strode a lilac-furred unicorn with a stylized star as a cutie mark. The two were laughing at Biyomon’s joke along with Agumon, who sat with Palmon on the back of her tamer.
The group was in high spirits having finally achieved their hardwon goal of defeating the 13 Demons of the Digital Realm and saving the Digital World. It was nice to have some time to just enjoy life after many months of non-stop fighting. Finally, they could just relax.
And then the birds stopped singing. It was a subtle change, and went unnoticed at first as the friends laughed and joked about. But then the air grew heavier, noticeably heavier; colder even. The laughter died down as a feeling of doom settled in the air. Halting, the group was suddenly on their guard, immediately drawing forth their Digivices, just in case.
Without a sound a Unicorn clad in Chrome Digizoid armor stepped onto the path, blocking their way. The armor was carved and engraved around the Unicorn’s features, and on its back, was a massive halberd. Perhaps most unsettling was the faceless mask the Unicorn wore. And next to it, a large blue and white wolf-like creature, Garurumon.
For a moment the group stared at the figure in silence before Gatomon’s Tamer stepped forward addressing the strange Unicorn.
“Can we help you?”
The figure’s horn glowed light blue as it drew forth the halberd. Its voice was decidedly female, though cold and quiet, yet somehow filled with rage.
“In my mother's name, your journey ends here, Digi-Destined.”
The star on her flank now glowing, and the device on the Tamer’s hoof began to beep and whirl. With her eyes narrowed she shouted.
“Gatomon!”
Leaping into the air, Gatomon shouted back.
“Let’s do it!”
Glowing, Gatomon began to morph and change shape, becoming more angelic in shape. A Norse helm adorned her head while eight wings sprouted from her back, her now-humanoid body encased in ribbon and fabric. Gatomon had digivolved into Angewomon.
The mysterious mare stood still as the Tamer called out to her.
“After everything we’ve been through, you think some Champion-level tamer is going to defeat us?”
Raising her head, the armor-clad Unicorn simply said.
“Solara. My name is Solara, remember it.”
She too, began to glow, as did the Garurumon by her side. But unlike Gatomon, Garurumon simply vanished, as a blue wolf pelt appeared on the Unicorn’s back, her hooves suddenly took on the appearance of furry wolf paws, while her mask suddenly split to reveal rows of fanged teeth.
“Now perish.”
Standing on her new paws, Solara leaped into the air swinging the halberd and snarling like a wolf, as she struck out toward the stunned Archangel Digimon with the deadly blade. Bringing it down in one swift motion, Angewomon gasped in shock as her body was split in two.
Landing back on her hind paws, Solara placed the thunderous ax head of the halberd against the armor on her back with an audible *tink* as a massive explosion rocked the air. Everyone watching was dumbfounded as the falling pieces of Angewomon’s body disintegrated into nothing but bits of data. It was then that Gatomon’s tamer gave a scream before collapsing to the ground. Solara spoke coldly, the mouth of the strange mask moving as she spoke.
“Who’s next?”
“It was a transformation we had never seen before. The others tried to retaliate but were tossed around like leaves in a storm. One by one, she destroyed them as they tried to attack as a group. And then there was just me-”
Agumon’s single eyes welled with tears as she muttered and angrily clawed at the ground.
“And I wasn’t even worth deleting.”
Solara stood amidst the collapsed forms of the tamers, her eyes fixed on Agumon, as the Rookie angrily slashed at her with her claws. Over and over, she shouted at Solara.
“Bring them back!”
The tears burned on her cheek as Agumon lashed out, again and again, slashing at the silent mare. Solara just stared down at her for a moment before hefting her mighty halberd, flipping it over so that the haft pointed at Agumon. With tremendous force she slammed the pole into Agumon’s right eye, causing it to vanish in a stream of data and knocking Agumon down onto her back.
Screaming in agony, Agumon sat up, holding her empty eye socket in one claw and looking frantically around, but Solara was gone and so were Agumon’s tamer friends. However, as she slowly stood up still on guard, she heard that cold, mockingly emotionless voice once more.
“Not yet. I still have use for you, little one.”
Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed angrily. Just listening to the tear-stained words of Agumon reminded him of Twilight and all the times she ran to him for comfort. He’d heard enough. And he had made up his mind. Slowly he rose to his hooves and held out his forehoof to Agumon.
“We’ll make her rue that decision then, won’t we partner?”
“W-what?”
Agumon looked up, the tears in her eye drying up as she stared at Shining’s hoof. He smiled down at her.
“The worst decision she ever made was leaving you around to get stronger. You called us partners before and while I don’t know much about this world, or you Digimon, I do know I would never leave a partner hanging. So let’s work together to get you stronger. Let’s get your revenge.”
Taking his hoof in both her claws, Agumon smiled as she rose to her feet, her resolve renewed.
“Right!”
Shining smiled back as she took his hoof.
“Good. Now let’s see you do one hundred push-ups!”
Agumon’s eye grew wide as she wailed.
“But I can’t even do one!”
“That sounds like quitter talk! Come on, we’ll do it together.”
Slowly she walked through the lush rainforest outside the castle. Solara was silent and lost in thought; not paying attention as she bumped into two imposing figures. One was a large green goblinoid wielding a large femur, while the other was a bipedal lion with an icy glare; Ogremon and Leomon. Pausing, Solara stared down at the ground, her voice cold, indifferent.
“Move aside.”
Ogremon let out a heavy laugh and jabbed the tip of the femur at Solara.
“Not this time, Princess. This time you’ll pay for what you’ve done to us!”
The word Princess was spat at her in disgust as though it pained Ogremon to even speak it. Slowly Solara raised her masked face to peer at the two and immediately took notice of the two sparking dark rings around their midriffs. Solara began to glow as her mask split into a fanged smile and a coat of blue and white fur covered her body. She slowly pulled the halberd from her back.
“If that is your wish.”
With those words, she leaped at the two with a feral snarl.