//------------------------------// // The Swamp of Misery // Story: Digital Harmony // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// Pinkie found herself feeling inexplicably woozy as she found herself teleported to her new location. Her vision obscured by a blinding whiteness, she shook her head violently in an attempt to shake off the light-headed feeling. Giving herself a short moment to let her vision adjust, she took notice of her surroundings. The first word that came to her mind was dark. As far as the eye could see, the sky was covered with a thick layer of clouds, making it far darker than it would otherwise be at mid-afternoon. A moderate fog hung low over the area, making it impossible to see farther than a hundred feet. The second that came to her mind was swamp. Other words, such as marsh, bog, glade, mire, fen, wetland, and for some reason basic land also came to her mind, but for the most part they all accurately described what she was seeing. Large pools of stagnant water dotted the landscape, many of which were covered in algae. Large cat-tail reeds grew near the edges of the ponds, as did the occasional weeping willow. In the distance she could vaguely make out the shape of some kind of tower, but it was mostly obscured by all the fog. Pinkie decided right away that she didn’t like the looks of the clouds overhead. They were so gloomy that just looking at them reminded her of the dreary life she lived before she got her cutie mark. “Gee, this place sure is dull. Hey Rainbow, do you think you could move those clouds?” Pinkie looked behind her, and noticed that Rainbow Dash wasn’t there. Neither were any of her friends, for that matter. Taking a quick look around, she saw that the other ponies were nowhere to be seen. “Huh? Girls, where are you?” No response. Pinkie frowned; It wasn’t like her friends to simply leave her behind like this. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, and she knew right away what was happening. “Girls, this isn’t the time to be playing hide and seek! Fluttershy needs us! Something terrible could have happened to her! Like... Like...” Pinkie let out a loud gasp. “Like what if she exploded four times?! That’s like exploding twice, only twice as bad! It’d be like she exploded double twice!” Still no response. Letting out a sigh, Pinkie resigned herself to her fate. “Okay, fine, have it your way. Ready or not, here I come!” With that, Pinkie began zipping around energetically, Pinkie frantically searched for her friends, stopping briefly to push aside a group of reeds or to stick her head under one of the ponds, leaving small bits of algae dangling in her wet mane, which went back to its normal poofiness the instant she took her head out of the water. “You can’t hide from me forever!” she exclaimed, climbing onto a willow. “I am the Great Ninja Master of Hide and Seek!” Crack. As Pinkie climbed onto a branch, she heard the distinct sound of wood breaking. Looking down, she saw that the branch she was climbing on was no longer there. “Oh. Whoopsie!” Pinkie then immediately fell to the ground, unceremoniously crashing face-first into the muddy soil, causing her saddlebags to fall off her body. Pulling herself out, she rapidly shook her head back and forth, successfully shaking the mud off of herself. “Gross! I’m Pinkie Pie, not a mud pie! Wait...” It was then that Pinkie noticed that something was missing. Eyes widening in sudden realization, she touched her hoof to her collar, feeling for the necklace she had been wearing since before she left. Pinkie gasped loudly. “My Element of Laughter! It’s.. It’s gone!” Turning to her nearby saddlebags, she quickly opened them up and began frantically sifting through their contents. Emergency cupcakes, party supplies, cards for all occasions, and  even some boring things like first aid kits. But no Element of Laughter. “Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!” cried Pinkie, now digging through the mud surrounding her, “I can’t lose my Element, it’s the most important thing I have with me! Where is it? Where is- huh?” Suddenly, Pinkie’s body began to glow, a soft light enveloping her entire body, causing her to rise into the air for a moment. The glow soon faded, causing her to gently float back to the ground. “Hey, what just happened?” she wondered aloud. Looking around, she soon noticed that she was now wearing something around her right foreleg. Strapped to her ankle was a small plastic device shaped like a rounded rectangle. In the center was some kind of translucent screen, and the edges were covered in sky-blue rubber, the same color as her Element’s gemstone. Staring at the device curiously, she noticed a faint glow coming from the screen. As she did, a sudden epiphany came to her, and she could tell right away what the object was. “Hey, it’s the Element of Laughter! It turned into some kind of super-neato hoofwatch! Hey girls, check it out!” Pinkie turned around and held the Element of Laughter up, only to remember that the others weren’t there. Her ears drooped, frowning as she was overcome once again by sadness. “Where could they be?” she wondered aloud, “It’s not like them to be playing hide and seek when there’s something important to do...” It was then that a thought occurred to Pinkie, one that caused her mane to deflate, to the point where it had gone completely straight. “Oh no... What if they left me behind on purpose? What if they went off to save Fluttershy without me?” Pinkie desperately hoped that this wasn’t true. Her friends would never abandon her, she thought. They were always there for her, even when she thought that they had gotten sick of her. But this time was different. This time, her friends weren’t simply trying to avoid her, there was no sign of them to be found anywhere. As much as she tried to deny it, she couldn’t change the fact that her friends were gone. There has to be another explanation, she thought. Her friends wouldn’t leave her, she knew that better than anypony. She’d known them for years, and she knew for a fact that they wouldn’t deliberately leave her behind. It didn’t take long for her to come up with another answer. “Maybe Twilight’s spell didn’t work right? Maybe we were all teleported different places?” Pinkie gasped loudly as another realization suddenly came to her. “Oh no... What if something terrible happened to them? What if... What if I’m the only one still alive?” Tears flowed freely from her eyes as the gravity of her situation hit her. Even on the chance that her friends were still alive, there was no telling where they could be. She remembered hearing from Twilight about the dangers of teleporting, and how a failed teleport spell could send the caster hundreds of feet off their target. A teleport spell as powerful as Twilight’s could have sent her friends anywhere in the entire world. She could spend an entire lifetime searching for them and still never find them all. Quietly sobbing, she collapsed by the side of the willow, wishing she could simply disappear. ———————— Kari held her hand over her forehead as she tried to make out the landscape from atop Nefertimon’s back. The two had been flying over the swamp for some time now, the thick cloud cover had forced them to remain at a low altitude to better keep track of the ground below. Unlike her partner, Kari had major difficulty seeing through the constant mists, and had very little idea of where the two were headed. I really hate fog, she thought. Soon Kari’s attention was grabbed by a sudden beeping sound, indicating that she’d received a message on her D-Terminal. Taking it out of her pocket, she squinted as she tried her best to read the message: ========== Hey guys! You wouldn’t believe what I just found! While on the way to the control spire I met this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, and she’s actually an alien from another world! Pretty awesome, huh? Anyway, it turns out she and her friends came to the Digital World to rescue another pony named Fluttershy, but they ended up getting separated. If any of you guys see another strange pony, let me know, okay? - Davis ========== Kari stared at the message for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Really, Davis?” “Oh no,” said Nefertimon, “he’s not hitting on you again, is he?” “No, he stopped doing that when Tai yelled at him. This is just another one of his pranks. Ugh, I can’t see a thing in this fog.” “Maybe we should take a break?” asked Nefertimon, “I’ve been flying for a while now, I’m starting to get tired.” “Yeah,” replied Kari, “that sounds good.” Nefertimon then descended, landing allowing Kari to climb off as she landed on the ground. Holding out her digivice, Kari allowed Nefertimon to de-digivolve into Gatomon. Kari’s nose curled at the pungent odor coming from the swamp around her. “Ugh, this place smells awful.” “Just be glad you don’t have the nose of a cat.” replied Gatomon, “I could smell this place even in the air.” “I suppose. Here, take this.” Kari reached for a canteen that she had holstered around her waist and handed it to her partner. “Thanks!” Gatomon grabbed the canteen and popped off the lid, and began drinking the water from it. She then tossed it back to Kari, who then attached it back on her waist. “You’re welcome. Is there anything else you want? I have a snack bar if you’re interested.” “No thanks,” replied Gatomon, “I just need to rest for a bit... Wait, did you hear that?” “Um, hear what?” “It sounded like an explosion!” replied Gatomon. “Someone’s in trouble!” Kari called after her partner as she took off, sprinting in the direction that she heard the sound from. “Gatomon, wait!” ———————— Pinkie didn’t know how long she’d been sitting by the willow. In her depression, the passage of time had become nothing more than a vague blur. All she knew was that her friends weren’t there for her anymore, if they were they would have come to try and cheer her up. Thinking back to her friends, she recalled all of the joyful memories she’d shared with them. Seeing them happy made her happier than anything in the world, and now it all meant nothing. Sniffling slightly, she buried her head underneath her hooves, trying to hide herself from the world. Crack. Pinkie lifted her head slightly at the sound of the breaking wood coming from above her. She swiftly jumped out of the way as a large branch fell to the ground where she once stood. On top of the branch was a large mammal, sleeping soundly. “M-my Pinkie Sense! I didn’t feel that coming at all! Wait, what’s that?” Pinkie’s shock at the loss of her Pinkie Sense was overridden with curiosity as she examined the creature sleeping atop the branch. It vaguely resembled some kind of bipedal opossum, wearing a large pink hat, boots, and gloves. Around its neck was a black collar, inscribed with symbols that Pinkie didn’t recognize. The creature yawned loudly and sat upright, stretching itself out. ========== Digimon Analyzer: Opposummon Type: Beast Attribute: Vaccine Level: Champion Special Attacks: Mad Balloon Bomb ========== Pinkie flinched as the creature turned around to look at her, its eyes glowing a deep crimson red. The opossum stared at the pony menacingly, its blood-red eyes staring straight into Pinkie’s. It reached into the air with its right hand, and in a puff of smoke, several multicolored balloons with grinning faces. “Balloons?” said Pinkie, “For.. For me?” The opposum’s expression suddenly turned into a cruel smile. Grinning wickedly, it reached back and threw the balloons in its hand. “Mad Balloon Bomb!” Seemingly defying the laws of physics, one of the balloons flew through the air in an arc, heading straight towards Pinkie. Moving quickly, she jumped out of the way at the last possible second, causing the balloon to explode violently in the place where she once stood. Several more balloon bombs followed, which Pinkie frantically dodged, leaving her mane slightly singed. “That’s it! I’ve had enough!” she screamed, giving the opossum a death glare. “I’m not going to let this stupid world take everything away from me! Take this, you miserable rodent!” Leaping over to her saddlebags in a single bound, she reached into them, and tried to pull something out. Her hoof was met with nothing other than empty air. “My cannon! Where’s my party cannon?! Why can’t I make it appear!?” Pinkie turned back towards the opossum, her face frozen in an expression of fear. Without her cannon, she was defenseless against the mad creature. This is it, she thought, I’m going to die. Closing her eyes tightly, she braced herself for the inevitable. “Lightning Paw!” Pinkie’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the new voice, which has come from nowhere. She saw a large cat with a long tail jumped at the opossum, and in a single swipe, shattered its collar, causing it to disintegrate. The opossum fell to the ground, unconscious from the attack. Standing some distance away was a larger bipedal creature with brown hair, wearing a pink and white shirt and yellow pants. Around her neck was a cord that carried a small box, and she wore pink gloves on her arms and pink boots on her feet. The creature slouched and panted heavily as it observed the scene from a distance, as though it had exhausted itself trying to get there. Pinkie stared blankly at the two creatures, as the two approached her, unsure what to think of them. Had they been trying to save her? Could she trust them? Pinkie flinched instinctively as the larger of the two approached, looking down at her sympathetically. "Are you alright?" she asked.