• Published 15th Mar 2016
  • 11,512 Views, 582 Comments

The Black Digi-Knight - jsk244



When you're the wrong man in the wrong place, what can the consequences be? When you hold all the cards but play the wrong game, what will the outcome be? When a world can be torn asunder by your very presence, will it mean war, or peace?

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The Amalgamated Monster

The Royal Gardens of Canterlot were far more than a field of flowers and trees. Numerous artistic displays and specialized habitats filled the area, with recreational fields for polo, tennis and other sports scattered between them. Animals from across the world had been moved into the area as well, and special animal caretakers and gardeners worked around the clock to ensure the health and well-being of their charges. While some of the places were closed to the public, or limited to special events, there remained numerous locales that were populated throughout the day by ponies. One especially popular landmark was the giant hedge maze that took up the center of the sprawling complex, and the statue garden tucked off to one side. Tours would pass through the maze via marked paths, revealing the hidden wonders inside to awed tourists. As for the statues; while having declined in visits over the years, schools would often come to see it for important history lessons about famous ponies. That and it was always an easy way to get little fillies and foals interested by turning a lesson into a field trip.

Today, the lucky group of children to visit had come from Ponyville, yet what was not so lucky was their impact in the hours to come. Three wild little fillies, their personalities diverse and clashing loudly before a certain statue, had unknowingly ignited a spark that had long been simmering for well over a millenia. Even as they left, guided by their exasperated teacher, the tiny hairline crack upon the face of the statue began to crinkle and stretch. Spreading, crackling like fireworks, it snaked its way down a likewise body until every inch of its surface was more akin to a jigsaw puzzle than a marble bust. What’s worse was that this comparison, on an already mismatched body, did indeed further excite the magic clawing its way out, until finally with a burst the mad creature inside was free.

To the trumpeting call of kazoos and slide whistles Discord broke free. The draconequus yawned and stretched, wiggling like a noodle as he worked out the strain of a thousand years. “Oooh, my back~” He groans. “I’ll certainly never laugh before I snap if this is what I get. Good grief…” Taking off his arm, he gave it a good shake with the other before repeating it with the first. With a casual curl of his tail he began to float above the pedestal, and nabbed both of his legs and inspected them for blemishes. “Hm, did I always have a cloven hoof? I swore I changed it out for a newer model.” He muses, getting a kick in the face from the offended limb. “Sorry, sorry, you’re beautiful just like any other hoof.” He hastily appeases.

After finishing his checkup, he then swirled up further into the air and posed dramatically. “And now…Chaos!” He cries, before pausing. Suddenly he’s bent over with his paw and claw scratching furiously at his face, a deep whimper escaping his lips. “Ooh, ooh, ooh! Oh by Me it’s so itchy! My nose is sooo itchy!”

Once that was finished, the now muzzle-less amalgamation sighs through his free floating lips in bliss. “Ahh, that’s the ticket. Now then...where was I really this time?” Slapping his lips back onto the nub of his face, he pulls on them and a new muzzle stretches out with an elastic groan. He snaps a talon, creating a massive scroll, and as he unrolls it the thing flows down the path and begins navigating the maze in its free time. “Break free, check. Inspect self for any lingering, ugh, ‘Harmony’, check. Scratch my itchy, itchy nose, trrriple check!” He trills. “Oh this is simply going perfect for me so far! What’s next...take over Equestria? Why, that sounds like a capital idea Discord my boy! But I’ll have to deal with those pesky Elements too before I do. Wouldn’t want Celestia and Luna being an even bigger party pooper...but what’s this?”

Tilting his head, the wavy blue horn on his head began to quiver and hum. “The Element’s aren’t with her anymore, how interesting.” He sniffs the air, peeling a bit of it off to lick on his tongue before the gap in reality seals itself. “Very interesting in fact. Did Celestia find some little ponies of her to actually use them in her stead? You’re slipping in your old age my dear. I’ll have to plan something especially fun for them then.”

Suddenly, his other horn began to vibrate as well, picking up a third interesting magical signature. “Whaaat? Oh you can’t be serious!” He chuckles. With a swirl of his body it shifts into a bearded, red and yellow eyed bloodhound, sniffing its way down the path. The scroll he’d unrolled earlier seemed to guide him along the way, up and under numerous statues of ancient ponies, all of whom began to animate or turn into colorful works of his likeness. It wasn’t until he reached the very end of the statue garden, well onto the edge of the entire complex, that he found the end of the scroll. It had wrapped itself several times around the base of another pedestal like his own. Turning back into his draconequus form, he hums and rubs a paw under his chin. “Well, and just who might you be my dear fellow?”

The pedestal itself was only two feet tall but thrice that around, sporting a giant statue that would tower over even Celestia if the figure was standing. It was kneeled as if before royalty, but the tilt of its head had it looking up, not down. Furthermore, while blurred by the quality of the stone, there was no mistaking the hateful countenance it bore to whatever it was viewing. It’s draconic build made it seem demonic, but what really derived that emotion, was the aura of negative emotions that lingered in the air here.

For Discord, that aura was not an illusion, but a very real thing. “So I’m not the only one you’ve been sicking the pigeons on, eh ‘tia? Nasty little winged rodents. I think the first thing I’ll do is turn them all into Dodo’s and make them extinct.” He growls, before lightening up again. The glowing amalgamation circled in the air around the statue. “But what to do about you? I certainly don’t want any competition, oh no, but then again it would be mean to leave a fellow stoner out here by your lonesome.” Discord taps and tugs at his beard, weighing the pros and cons. A clock begins to tick beside him, the little face depicting a tiny Discord with his arms moving backwards. Then, from a tiny door above the clock face, a dumpy little Celestia plushie springs out and begins to go ‘coocoo’! “Ahah! I could have a minion! How delightful - I could even saddle him with daily bouts of fear and terror once I establish my kingdom of Chaos here and go about toying with the rest of the world. I’m sure this fellow would be more than up for the task.”

Transforming the cuckoo clock into a hammer and chisel, Discord dons a painter outfit and begins humming a pleasant tune. Hovering closer to the statue, he slithers and curls around it, inspecting the surface for any flaw he can exploit. To his surprise, there appears to be plenty, and he tsk’s derisively. “Oh dear, dear, dear what terrible craftsmanship. Non non, this simply will not stand!” He snootily declares in a faux french accent. “Zut! It must be destroyed! Hon hon baguette!”

And with that terrible line, the hammer strikes down atop BlackWarGreymon’s head.


Being imprisoned in stone sucked. While I had no memory of my time stuck inside my own armor and skin, there had always been a part of me that could feel the passing. Days becoming weeks, months turning into years, decades rolling into centuries. I later compared it to having a computer in sleep mode; the system was ready to go from where it last left off, but was dormant until you pressed a key. It would have been maddening if again I had memories of this state. Instead, I went from raging at the royal sisters, to a very loud clink that rattled through my empty brain.

As my mind awoke from the jolt, I could feel my body becoming free as stone crumbled away around my form. There was a lot of it to get rid of though, and I could feel that something was wrong even before it really came to me why. It felt like something crucial had been taken from me; more than just the chance to return before it was too late, it felt like a chunk of me was gone. As the stone crumbled further, that feeling only grew, until finally with it all gone I was laying there half blind and too weak to even talk.

A towering shadow blotted out the sunlight and was speaking gibberish. The voice was familiar to me; a distant memory struggling to come back up through my addled mind. A too-big finger came down and poked my face, the voice growing snide as they kept up their prodding. Weakly, I growled and tried to bite at him, but my voice was far too high-pitched, and my mouth barely moved enough for even my vocal protest. Something was indeed wrong with me, and I had to figure out what.

Suddenly there was a snapping sound, and my brain felt like it’d been kicked. I physically reeled, and the giant figure-

“Can you hear me now?”

...wait, I do know that voice!

Like a switch, my brain and body finally began to stop dilly dallying and set to right all of my senses. My vision cleared, showing Discord floating before me, at a size far beyond what he should be. I was not a little Digimon; a BlackWarGreymon ranged between eight to nine feet in height, and I was certain I’m around the latter. Looking down however I couldn’t see anything of my body, just a black blob that I could feel was actually my jaw...and my stomach? The latter dropped out from under me as I linked this fact with data in my memories. Somehow, I had reverted back all the way to my lowest form, a Fresh level Digimon named Botamon. I was little more than a fist-sized head, with great big solid yellow eyes, and two wiggly tips that acted as my ears. I now understood what it was that I was missing; all of my power was gone, taking with it the body I had just started getting used to.

Looking back up, I saw that Discord was talking to me, but even if I could somehow understand him now, it had all flown over my head. “...not quite what I was expecting. A shame really - I rather liked the idea of an evil minion.” Wow, fuck you buddy. I think he just spent the past minute insulting my looks or something. “Still - Enjoy your newfound freedom little guy! I hope you like what I do with the place. Things are about to get…plaid.” From behind his back he dons a pair of sunglasses, and then revs the air while sitting as if on a bike. Sure enough, his tail emits a small cloud of grey smoke, and I hear an engine roar before he shoots off into the air toward the south.

“...” As a Botamon, my vocal chords were too simplistic for more than baby noises as communication. Still, I was speechless at my brief introduction to the mad quack. I get the feeling I just avoided something I wanted nothing to do with, but I’ll still thank him if I ever get the chance for freeing me. At least now I could move and plan...although what I should do next was a damn good question.

With Discord free the chaos he was going to cause would blanket my actions for at least a day or so. I could probably slip out of Canterlot and make my way through the wildness, although being so small and weak meant I’d be open to attack from ponies and critters. There was also my new vendetta against Celestia and Luna, but I wasn’t so sure if holding onto my hatred was wise. Thanks to the sudden shift in emotions, I was able to look back on my state during those final moments and better recognize my own slip-ups during that fight. Most important of all, I wasn’t too sure if all the anger and hatred that had engulfed me at the end was my own. One of the biggest dangers that came with my ability to harness negative energy was that, if fallen too far into them myself, I’d be consumed. It’s one reason why I hadn’t used them until near the end, first as an example, and then out of necessity to combat the Elements of Harmony. But there was a definite moment, right before my final attack and outburst, where I fell far enough for that to have happened. Looking around, a thousand years later, stripped of my highest Digivolution, I have to say it did indeed happen.

Not that the royal sisters were off the hook mind you. It was simply a matter of scale; in my earlier rage, the idea of razing Canterlot to the ground sounded like a capitol idea. Now I just wanted payback in some way, even if it was through smaller, spread out things to foil their plans and lives. The best revenge would certainly be reacquiring my power and rubbing it into their muzzles that I’m not a bad guy through actions over words. Maybe egg them on with backhanded compliments and open-ended motives. Since this was the time period of Season Two, perhaps I could slip down to Ponyville and mess with how things were going with Twilight Sparkle and her friends…

No, no that would be a terrible idea. The Mane Six weren’t involved in this and I certainly didn’t want to ruin Twilight’s chance to become a princess. I also doubt I’d come even close to doing the whole two-faced bit right. It’d make them doubt and suspect me even further, which is the opposite of my end goal.

So what to do then? Hopping over to the edge of the pedestal, I peer at the ground far below and ponder how I’m going to get down. Baby steps it would seem; I need to get off of this before I did anything about my future goals. Strangely there appeared to be a very long scroll wrapped up around the base, and the portion leading up to here seemed to be a little sloped. I jump over the side, a little squeak escaping me from the fall, and with a soft ‘pap!’ I hit the paper and slide to a rest a few feet away atop the scroll. Well that wasn’t so hard now was it? Now on the ground, I slowly start to bounce along, heading toward the castle that so clearly rises above the hedges. Even if it was the home of my enemy there wouldn’t be a better spot to figure out my next plan. Perhaps I’d find out if there was some way to recover my powers.


The trek to Canterlot Castle was long and boring. At my size, and forced to bounce if I wanted to move, what could’ve taken a minute or two stretched on until I was sure an hour had passed. Complicating this of course was the occasional pony coming down the path, or flying pegasi in the air above, which made me hide and wait them out. Discord’s handywork surprisingly didn’t show itself much, although when I got close to the castle the sun and moon did begin to chase one another across the sky. I think I even heard one bark and the other hiss like a cat. I wonder if he knows the saying, ‘raining cats and dogs’. Maybe he’s the one who invented it on this world.

At the edge of the maze I hide along the bottom of a hedge and watch the castle intently for an opportunity. Royal guards in gold armor were running to and fro; some barking orders, others watching over civilians being escorted out. It looked like the castle was being put on lockdown during the crisis. I didn’t like how my odds looked for getting inside unseen, but then I got an idea. Waiting until a pony passed close enough, I hopped over to her and began to bounce in time with her hooves. I had to be careful not to get too close, and certainly she was moving much faster than I was comfortable. But this maid was heading into the castle, and best of all, was letting me shadow in a way that blocked the guards from outright seeing me. Once we passed the doors I broke off and got behind the nearest object; a small pedestal holding a decorative vase atop of it, with plenty of room for someone my size to tuck behind. I waited until there was a lull in traffic again, and then began the tedious task of moving from object to object as fast as I could. I doubt I was close to being compared to someone like Solid Snake, but nobody seemed to notice me as I moved down the hall.

At the end of the hallway I found what appeared to be the main foyer into the castle proper. Or maybe just one of them; honestly the architecture outside suggested this place was a virtual maze and full of redundant locations. There were half a dozen guards manning the giant doors at the entrance alone, and castle staff was hustling up and down the large staircase, their quick words suggesting they were trying to secure important ponies in their rooms with as many comforts as possible. So this was the official response in times of crisis? I’m not sure it was exactly the best option; why leave them in the castle when something like a bunker is more secure? Then again, if most of them were nobles and other snobbish ponies like Blueblood…

My musing is cut off when the large doors begin to open. All of the guards and I tense up, until we see that it’s six familiar mares all running in with determined faces. For the royal guards, they relax and snap off salutes. For me, I remain tense, mind awhirl with possibilities. “Princess Celestia is waiting for you at the Vault ma’am.” One guard says, getting a nod from Twilight. “I see - thank you sir. Come on girls, let’s hurry!”

The girls all begin to rush down the hall; my hallway it seems led to this Vault place in the opposite direction. With me safely hidden behind a tapestry they wouldn’t see me, but I had to decide quickly if I should remain here. If I was right this would be the point where they were going to meet Celestia and retrieve the Elements. I didn’t see a reason to interfere with anything, but what did make me wonder was this so-called ‘Vault’ the guard spoke of. In the show the only thing inside of it you could see was the Elements, but was it used for just the Elements? Maybe I could find something valuable and magical within that could help me out. At worst, maybe there was something I could hock later for cash…

In the end it was curiosity that made me jump out as Pinkie Pie passed my hiding spot. Her odd bouncing gait left her at the back of the herd, which I used to sneak up to her tail and do something really bold. Waiting a few seconds for our bouncing to line up, I gave my last a good boost of energy and flew forward, right into the thick puffy mess of her tail. Like I’d hoped I quickly became nestled into the oddly sweet scented hair, and she never once paused in her stride to investigate the new weight. I endured the wobbling and bouncing as best I could until I could hear Twilight’s voice call out again.

“In here girls!”

That was my cue to leave, shaking until I fell free again behind Pinkie’s back legs. While everypony was looking forward, I hurried to the nearest hiding spot, which in this case were several immense pillars running down the sides of the room. Once behind one, I gave a big sigh of relief. So far so good.

“Thank you all for coming so quickly.” I hear Celestia say. At this numerous urges flare up inside; I feel bitter and resentful at the sound of her voice to say the least. She was the cause behind my imprisonment, and the loss of my Mega Digivolution. What makes it worse in my eye is that she caused it all without knowing even half of the true circumstances behind the fight. A part of me wanted to go out there and confront her right away. Needless to say, that side of me was beaten savagely down, as right now I’d be crushed under her hoof. I take several minutes to just try and ignore her voice whenever it picks up, during which I can vaguely make out several key sounds. The grinding of stone, the mocking voice of Discord, Twilight and her friends all shouting. My anger and stupidity both abate once I hear the stampede of hooves leaving the room, so I tentatively peek out to see what might be happening. The Mane Six are all gone, leaving just Celestia who was staring out one of the few non-stained glass windows toward where the hedge maze is. So that means the girls are already heading that way? Shame; I hated how Discord warped their personalities during that episode. But what about Celestia? What was her royal sunbutt gonna do?

Apparently she was just going to...stare. How anticlimactic; I didn’t have a good opinion of her actions during most of the crises in the show, but for her to literally just stand around and leave it to Twilight? Even the Royal Guards were showing more initiative in protecting Canterlot. Or were they just dealing with the nobles? Curious…

Looking away from her enormous rump, I see something surprising. The Vault, after having been opened, appeared to still be open. Why hadn’t she closed it yet? I didn’t question it for long; hopping as quietly as I could, I hurried over to it and dived through the opening to the pillar the Elements box had been on. I shuffle around behind it, well used to the practice thanks to today, and turn back to peer at the main room. Still just staring, no, wait. She’s walking away! She’s actually leaving the Vault open! What the fuck?

My mind boggles at the sight of Princess Celestia just walking away from her open, high-security vault. Slowly, after seeing her close the far door, I turn to better look at everything around me. Like I’d suspected there was much more than the pillar that the box had rested on, although it was all hidden quite well in the shadows of the door, and the pillar itself took up the middle of the small foyer so you had to squeeze past it. There were about a dozen shelves rising up in this small section, full of knick-knacks that were dusty or personal looking. Old pictures and statues, the occasional odd memorabilia of other countries going by their appearances, what I strongly suspect was an old childhood toy carefully preserved, etc. My guess was the front of this room was used more for Celestia’s personal stash of old items, while the main room past this entrance held the real artifacts. I give the main room, past the Vault doorway, another careful look but find nothing amiss. With the coast clear I hop away into the darkness and allow my eyes to adjust. Not quite night vision, but they certainly had less trouble seeing in the dim room via the backlighting from the door.

The true Vault itself was immediately notable in being much larger. Easily matching the width of the other room, its walls were rounded in a way that suggested it was built into a spire, with two staircases leading up and down. Tiny arrow slits allowed thin shafts of light to shine through, past the numerous stacked up pieces of furniture and other brik-a-brak. Everything on this level still seemed of the personal variety; the princess likely used this as a storeroom for her own things as much as for anything of extreme value. Heck, it could be a nice simple deterrent too from thieves. It would explain why she hadn’t appeared so concerned over keeping it open; nothing was in sight worth stealing. But there were more levels, and something was tickling my nose more than the dust in the air. Like the tingle of a wooly sock charged with static, pressed against your face. If I had hair it would’ve surely been sticking up.

Following the fuzzy feeling, I climb up the stairs to the second floor. Here the dust seems lighter and the room less cramped. While there were still large pieces of furniture, the majority were display cases holding items of decidedly magical origins. Glowing carved gems ringed with inscribed gold bands, whirling geometric trinkets that never seemed to stop, whistling statues of birds that fluttered in silver cages, a giant upside-down horseshoe mirror with a swirling mist locked within…

The latter caught my eye, standing proudly in the middle of everything else and slightly out. By my guess it was actually bigger than the opening provided by the stairs, so I had to wonder how it got in here. Teleportation? It probably hummed the most with what I was starting to assume was magic. A fuzzy memory tickled at the sight of it, but aside from looking familiar I had little luck in learning more about it. This was the first time my new, computerized memory had failed; aside from my lack of personal history which continued to be blank. Then again, an upside down horseshoe was hardly the most unique design in a place like Equestria. Knowing my luck I was just recalling it from some kind of fanart or background detail in an episode.

After giving it a few more looks, I decide that this room wouldn’t have anything immediately obvious I could use. The display cases also hummed with magic, so I don’t think I could open them without alerting someone to my presence. Taking the stairs up to the third and final floor, I see this place is much more akin to an attic in layout. Lots of boxes and covered furniture strewn about in a haphazard way, with some decidedly broken items scattered overtop of them. An encrusted sword lay shattered in seven pieces atop a low table close to me, looking to have been more for ceremony than battle with all the gems inlaid on its handle. I wonder what kind of history it might have; surely keeping broken things like what was up here meant they were important or held special meaning. I give up even faster on this floor than the first two, turning back and bouncing down to the main floor again after only a minute.

With no other options left, I turn toward the stairs leading down to a basement, and pause. I hadn’t noticed in my first pass, but there was some serious magic buzz coming from those stairs. And not just the steps; the very air was faintly humming with energy, like power lines on a hot summer day. I couldn’t tell if it was some form of trap, or if whatever lay below simply had that much power to it. What I did know was that there was an awfully familiar feeling somewhere in the fuzz and buzz and humming energy. Perhaps I hadn’t been just blindly groping in the dark after all. Perhaps something had lead me here, wanting to get back to me…

I shuffle as close as I dare to the steps and peer down. Darkness greets me, too black for my vision to pierce. The magic starts to become clear this close; the top stair is certainly trapped or alarmed, but the next one down isn’t. I bounce onto it, pause, and analyze the next few steps. It looks like Celestia went for some kind of staggered trap pattern, since there’s actually a few steps all left without magic soaking them. If I guess, the distance would make it next to impossible for a pony to climb down without hitting at least one of them. Unfortunately, for her that is, I could easily bounce my way down and back up as long as I took care. I hop to the bottom and slide a bit away from the final boobytrapped step, now totally embraced by the darkness around me. Not even the faint light from above reaches this low, leaving me helpless to navigate my way around. Or was I?

The feeling of a familiar energy is pointing in a very specific direction, so I knew where to look. By shuffling and sliding as slow as I can, I make my way carefully into the room while feeling for anything coming close to me. It takes minutes, long and painfully silent, for me to make my way toward the energy guiding me. Along the way I encounter the odd object or two: the shoe of a suit of armor, a box, something made of wood, etc. The familiar presence is above me now however, and pushing forward I feel that a wall must be in front of me. The room must be smaller than the upper floors, or maybe have a weight bearing wall in the middle. I gurgle in frustration, not knowing how to proceed. It’s so close yet so far! How was I going to get up there? If only I wasn’t so damn small…

Then something really weird happened.

The source of energy pulsed above me, the darkness around me visibly curling for a moment around the area. I look up and try to make out what was happening, but then it pulses again and I’m washed over by this overwhelming sense of Despair. Shivering, I try to calm myself and push away the obvious mental intrusion, but it’s like trying to swim in molasses. My mind starts to split; a part of me wants to curl up and cry over how hopeless my life has become, while the other is getting angry and worried over just what is causing the other half to freak out. A powerful headache wracks my poor brain and I close my eyes, trying hard to center myself. The object or whatever it is above me pulses for a third time, and then my brain just sort of fizzles. I feel something slot into place, kind of like a loose connection being put back together with the power still on. My brain crackles and feedbacks until whatever’s pushing its way inside stops, and then I suddenly understand.

My Shield was up there!

The close proximity had finally given it the chance to rejoin with my being and the pulses were its attempts to do so. The emotion drilled into me had simply been a side-effect inherent with regaining a part of my negative energy powers. Now, while not fully reconnected, I could sense it and had a weird, empathetic link that allowed me to ‘see’ the room around me. I guess it somehow had scanned the room while laying dormant here for...nine-hundred years? That’s strange; not only had it not been placed here immediately after my stoning, but apparently it was the only piece of armor stored within the tower vault. Celestia must have not felt safe keeping it all in one place.

Using the odd sonar-like map it had given me, I could ‘see’ that there was a pile of boxes to my left that reached high enough. The Shield itself was secured in a coat-of-arms display as the centerpiece, with two swords crossed under it and humming with magic. Further concentrating on what it was transmitting to me, told me that those swords weren’t just there for completing the look. Apparently Celestia had put them there to come to life and attack anyone who wasn’t her that removed the Shield. So the big pony wanted to play rough eh? I think I had a solution for this. With a few well-placed hops I climb over the boxes and scoot to the edge, the coat-of-arms only a foot away from me now. Then, opening my small little mouth slit, I begin to gurgle and worse, drool from my mouth. But this was for a good reason; every droplet that touched the box hissed with a potent acid, and over time the drool began to bubble up inside of my mouth enough to blow a few me-sized bubbles into the air. While meant to be more of a discourager than an attack, my Bubble Blow was still a lethal attack for conventional materials. Such as stone, metal and wall hooks meant to hold enchanted swords and shields in place. My bubbles lazily float over to just above my Shield and pop, hissing loudly in the silence of the basement level. Every pop causes more acid to splash and trickle down the wall, until the stone directly under the coat-of-arms begins to melt and slosh off. The magic of the swords, meant to be activated when someone removed the Shield physically, fail to trigger from the unnatural damage to the wall itself. In the end it wasn’t the wall that gave first, but rather the weaker wood of the wall mounts. My Shield and the swords clatter to the ground loudly, and in a wash of magic the weapons become inert lumps of steel.

I hop down to the floor and move to sit on my Shield. Once my body contacts the cold, black metal, the connection firmly re-establishes itself and power surges through me. Things slide and lock into a new configuration in my mind, with an important file of some sort opening itself from a corner of my mind that I hadn’t known even existed until just then. Maybe because it really hadn’t; my Shield seemed to have several megabytes of data alone inside of itself just ready and waiting for me to take it all back in. Of course, for a Digimon, taking in so much data could only mean one thing…

“Botamon, Digivolve to…!”

In a flash of light my body becomes pure data, floating and swirling in a tight orb of light that begins to expand and contort to a new configuration. My little body swells to nearly three times its former size, my mouth widening until I could open it as wide as the lid of a trunk. My small beady eyes swell to take up more of my head, becoming sharper and more defined, my emotions and expressions now much easier. My little nub ears begins to stretch up and out, flattening some but gaining far more strength in them to assist with lifting and carrying objects. As the last waves of this Digivolution ends, I know that I have regained at least a portion of my power and was now one step closer to becoming a Mega again. Things will be so much easier now as a-

“Koromon!”

The light of Digivolution fades from me, and with my enhanced eyesight I can just make out the barest silhouettes of the room around me. The swords still rest on the floor in front of me, but my Shield has vanished. I can feel it nestled somewhere inside of my body and data, supporting this form so I could remain as it indefinitely. What was strange about this was that I’m pretty sure I hadn’t needed my armor to stay as anything before. What had the Elements done to me? How did they do this to me? Miracle evil fixers or not, I doubt they understood the complex computer coding that made up most of my being. But to be fair, this was several things that I could tackled later, when not at risk of being discovered. At least I had part of my old life back now, and as a Koromon I could finally speak and defend myself properly from ponies and monsters alike.

“One down…” I mutter out loud, smiling as my voice, while still quite high, was a lot more tolerable than a squeak baby one. Moving back to the stairs, I carefully make my way up the un-trapped steps and carefully slip out of the Vault. Celestia is still nowhere to be seen, and neither are there any guards to be found. As I pass a window I take a gander at what’s been going on outside, and while the hedge maze seems to still be standing I doubt it will for much longer. Discord had worked his magic pretty quickly on all the girls save for Twilight, after all. No guards are in sight anyway outside either, so I take the chance to slip into the hall and out a side door to the garden.

Now outside, free, empowered if only slightly and able to talk again, I feel that my earlier plan of getting away is now plausible. I’ll still have to figure out where the rest of my armor is, since I’m certain it wasn’t destroyed by evidence of my Shield. But I’m also sure it must be in the castle too, which I could plan on infiltrating after getting either an ally or some better intel on its layout. Smiling, I hop down the path and take the first turn-

“Oof!”

...aaand run immediately into a pony. Oh great just my luck! Having been knocked onto my back, I shake the worst of it off and look up, ready to defend myself if it's a guard or someone a little too violent. My fervor dies off quickly though when I realize who it is I bumped into.

Rubbing her front leg and looking down at me in confusion, is none other than Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, third alicorn princess of Equestria.

Fuck.

Author's Note:

A new chapter! And so soon! I love myself right now. :rainbowdetermined2:
We get into the canon timeline with this chapter, and set the soon-to-be life for our dear protaganist. Not much else to say except I hope you all enjoy it!

Edit: Well, I will say this. Writing Discord is so easy/hard. You just gotta think of John DeLancie's voice the entire time and ask yourself "Does this sound right?" Ugh, bless that man for being so good at sounding like a total troll.