• Published 28th Mar 2013
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Digital Harmony - Zennistrad



When Princess Twilight Sparkle creates ENEIGHAC, the world's first computer, she inadvertantly opens a gateway to the Digital World...

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Survival

A feeling of extreme dizziness overcame Applejack as the teleport spell completed, her vision momentarily blinded from the extremely bright light. The sensation of disappearing from reality and appearing somewhere else was not a pleasant one, akin to something being forcibly yanked through a body of water. Unlike her friend Twilight, she hadn’t grown accustomed to the sensation, and had to take a moment to recollect her senses.

The first thing that she noticed was that it was very cold, her body shivering as a harsh wind blew past her. The next thing she noticed, as her eyes adjusted to the flash of light, was that she was alone.

Taking a look at her surroundings, she found herself to be standing on the side of a rocky mountain, the steep slopes covered in fresh snow and dotted with various evergreen trees. She looked upwards to see the mountain face continue upwards into a series of cliff faces, with multiple rocky outcroppings jutting out from the mountainside as it reached up into the low-hanging clouds. Looking outwards, she saw herself observing a range of similar mountains, which receded as they gave way to a series of smaller grassy hills in the distance.

“Hello? Is anypony out there?” Applejack’s words echoed throughout the mountains as she tried to call out to her friends.

“Rarity? Twilight? Pinkie? Rainbow?” Her breath quickened as she carefully trotted across the mountainside, scanning the scenery for any sign of the others. “Rarity? Anypony?”

Easy Applejack, they couldn’t have gone far, she reassured herself, Ah’m sure they’ll turn up eventually.

Applejack shivered as a cold breeze suddenly blew past her, forcing her to readjust her hat. Trotting across the mountainside at a steady pace, she scanned the countryside for any sign of the others.

“Hello? Y’all okay out there?” Applejack stomped her hoof in frustration as her calls were once again met with silence. “Come on, this ain’t funny!”

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Applejack once again looked out to survey her surroundings. Looking out to the countryside, she could see nothing but wilderness as far as the horizon; there were no signs of civilization to be seen anywhere.

Looking up towards the top of the mountain, she surveyed the cliffside, hoping to find something, anything, that could give her an idea of where the others were. She squinted briefly as the clouds shifted, and a ray of sunlight shone down on her from above. It didn’t take long for Applejack to realize that something was wrong.

D-did that cloud just move on its own? An expression of worry crept onto her face as the gravity of her situation dawn on her. This must be one of them wild places, like the Everfree. Her expression hardened into one of resolution as she set off across the mountainside a steady pace, determined to find the others. Ah have to find them. There ain’t no telling what sort of danger’s lurking out here. Like timberwolves... or worse.

For several minutes she wandered the mountainside, but despite her best efforts, no sign of the other ponies were to be found. After a while her pace slowed, and she stopped momentarily to catch her breath, having exhausted herself on thinner air due to the high altitude.

This is ridiculous... Where could they have gotten do? A thought suddenly occurred to her, one that was far from pleasant. Could Twilight’s spell have backfired? What if they’re not here? What if everypony’s been sent somewhere else far away?

Sitting on her haunches, Applejack nervously scratched at her collar, a look of deepest worry adorning her face. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that something was missing.

The Element of Honesty! Where’d it go!?

Reaching back, she removed her saddlebags, searching frantically for the necklace that had so far helped defend all of Equestria from the forces of evil. She rifled through the various supplies she’d brought: some lengths of rope, a toothbrush, soap, various apple-related foodstuffs, matches, a small switchblade knife, and other supplies that would help her survive out in the wilderness. There was no sign of her Element, however, and since she’d packed only the necessities there was little chance she’d missed it. Nevertheless, she looked through the bags a second time, with much the same result.

It’s gone! Did Ah leave it back on the other part of the mountain? Dear Celestia, what am Ah gonna do without it?

No sooner than she’d asked the question to herself, her entire body began to glow. She slowly floated into the air, a warm, tingling sensation filling her, the same kind she felt whenever she’d used her Element before. The glow soon faded, and she floated gently back to the ground where she stood before.

What the hay just happened? Wait, what’s this?

Lifting her foreleg, she closely examined the strange device that she was now wearing around her front ankle. It was a strange rectangular device, made from plastic, with rounded rubber edges, colored a slightly darker orange than her coat. In the center was a small screen, which glowed faintly as she stared into it curiously. Her eyes lit up with recognition as the strangely familiar light washed over her.

It’s the Element of Honesty! But what in the hay happened to it? She soon dropped the question when she realized that she had more important things to be worrying about. Well, at least Ah don’t have to worry about it now.

Trotting across the mountain steadily, she resumed her search efforts, which continued to be fruitless. As she did, the coldness of the mountain gradually became more noticeable, her thin coat did little to protect against the freezing climate. She stopped briefly to catch her breath, once again tired out by the thinner atmosphere. A shiver worked its way down her body as a chill breeze blew past, her coat providing little protection from the temperature.

Navigating this mountain sure is tiring, she thought. Mighty cold out, too. Maybe Ah should take a break and try building a fire. Her thoughts soon turned back to her friends, who were presumably still lost in the wilderness. She knew, however, that she wouldn’t last very long in the cold. Ah’ll find the others, she reassured herself, Ah just need to rest a bit.

Carefully climbing the steep mountain slope, she made her way over to one of the smaller pine trees, only slightly larger than the apple trees found in her orchard. She reached into her saddlebags and took out a rope, and carefully managed to tie it around the trunk of the tree. Then, setting her saddlebags to the side, she carefully tied the rope around her waist. With some effort, she knew she’d be able to bring down the tree with no problem; she’d remembered having to do this once, when a disease claimed one of the apple trees at Sweet Apple Acres. Thankfully, they’d managed to stop the disease from spreading too far, and the infected trees swiftly recovered due to her earth pony magic.

Applejack turned her head back to the tree, gazing at it with regretful eyes. “Ah’m sorry,” she whispered. She’d always felt a strong connection to the trees, she’d cared fruit-bearing plants of Sweet Apple Acres as though they were a part of her family. It broke her heart to have to bring down a tree, especially a younger one, but she knew she needed the wood to survive, and the older trees were far too large for her even with her natural strength.

She took a deep breath, and tugged at the rope with all her might, attempting to bring it down in a single motion. The tree stubbornly refused to come down, and Applejack grunted tightening rope snapped back, causing her to trip and fall to the ground, causing her hat to fall off. Quickly picking herself out of the snow, she shook her body rapidly, shaking off the leftover bits of snow that clung to her coat. She reached for her fallen stetson and placed in on her head, and then looked back at the pine tree, bewildered.

What in tarnation? Turning back towards the tree, she carefully examined the rope, searching for any weaknesses or tears. When she found the rope to still be completely intact, she concluded that she simply hadn’t tried hard enough. Redoubling her efforts, she once again pulled on the rope with all her might. The tree, however, remained firmly rooted in the ground. Applejack pulled and pulled, tugging at the rope with all the strength she could muster, but the tree easily endured, not even budging despite her best efforts. Applejack grunted in exertion as she pushed herself to her limit, trying and failing to bring down the stubborn tree as the rope pulled tighter, beginning to fray near the middle.

Finally, the rope snapped in two under the strain, sending Applejack tumbling to the ground. Exerting herself so greatly at such a high altitude had made her feel light-headed, and she had to remember to steady her breathing to keep herself from passing out. After the fatigue passed, she slowly rose to her hooves, and stared back at the tree that had given her so much trouble.

Something ain’t right here, she thought. Bringing down a small pine tree should have been no problem for her at all. The tree would have to be ridiculously strong to put up so much resistance, and it didn’t look to be any more sturdy than the trees in Sweet Apple Acres.

No, this was something else. Applejack had a creeping suspicious as to why the tree had given her so much trouble, and she hoped to the stars that it was wrong. Taking in a deep breath, she cleared her mind, and turned her attention inwards, towards her inner magic. Her eyes snapped open when she suddenly realized that it had all but disappeared. There was something there, but whatever it was, it was far weaker than it used to be. Her connection to the earth had withered, and as a result her strength had been greatly decayed.

In any other situation, she would have panicked at such a discovery. But after everything else that she’d been through, she simply couldn’t find the energy to care. Letting out a sigh of defeat, she fell onto her stomach, letting the sting of the frozen winds wash over her.

As she lay in the snow, shivering from the frigid temperature, her mind was dominated by a single thought: she was alone. She was stranded in the middle of the freezing wilderness, with the others nowhere to be found. She wouldn’t last much longer out in the wild, even with her supplies she wouldn’t make it far without her natural strength. She could die out here, and no one would even know what happened.

Her thoughts turned to her friends, and the family she so closely cherished back home. She’d remembered giving Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith a heartfelt goodbye as she’d left on the mission to rescue Fluttershy. She’d promised them she’d come back safely, but now it was looking more and more like a promise she couldn’t keep.

Mah family...

Her eyes narrowed as a newfound determination welled up inside her. With a renewed sense of strength, she climbed back onto her hooves.

Ah ain’t giving up. Not yet.

Carefully untying the broken rope from her body, she turned back and grabbed her saddlebags, slinging them up and over her shoulder. She was still lost in the middle of frozen mountain, with no sign of life as far as the eye could see, but that wasn’t going to stop her from looking. She tried to avoid thinking about how unlikely it was that she’d find anything out in the wilderness.

Applejack chuckled weakly. “Look on the bright side”, she said to herself, “If things can’t get any worse, that means they can only get better, right?”

Turning around, she double-checked her saddlebags to make sure they were properly fastened. She took a tentative step forward to continue on her search, only to stop dead in her tracks when she noticed a shadow suddenly pass over her. She shivered, but this time not from the cold, as she reluctantly looked up to see what had cast the shadow over her.

The creature looked vaguely like the bedsheet ghost that Apple Bloom had dressed as one year for Nightmare Night. Unlike Apple Bloom, however, it looked as if there were nothing beneath the sheet. A pair of beady, blood-red eyes appeared on the sheet just above a fanged maw, dripping with saliva, and wrapped around its body was what appeared to be a ring of black metal, inscribed with mysterious symbols.

Applejack gulped nervously. Applejack, you idiot, what’d Ah tell you about tempting fate?

————————

T.K. surveyed the mountain range from atop Pegasusmon’s back, keeping a careful eye out for any sign of the control spire. Wrapping his arms around himself, he shivered as he felt the cold air blow past him.

“Is everything alright, T.K.?”

T.K. looked down at his partner. “Yeah, just a bit cold is all. Do you see anything yet? The control spire should be somewhere nearby.”

“Nothing yet,” replied Pegasusmon, “but I’ll be keeping an eye out.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. The control spire should be easily visible from here but, there’s no sign of it anywhere.”

“Hmm... It does seem rather suspicious, now that you mention it,” said Pegasusmon.

“Just keep an eye out for anything strange,” replied T.K. Of course, in the Digital World that could be almost anything.

T.K. let out a sigh, his breath clearly visible in the cold temperatures. He tried to take his mind off the cold that was nipping away at his skin, but it was ultimately useless as the cold was too great to ignore. We should've sent Davis here, he has a jacket.

His thoughts were cut short when a beeping noise suddenly sounded out from his pants pocket.

“Sounds like you’ve got an email.” said Pegasusmon.

T.K. reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Terminal, and read throught the message that was displayed on-screen:

==========
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
==========

T.K. paused to rub his eyes, making sure that he’d read the e-mail correctly. “Uh... Either Davis is yanking my chain, or he’s started doing drugs.”

“What’d he say?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not important.” replied T.K. He suppressed another shiver as a chill breeze blew past him. “Maybe we should take a break. It’s really cold with all this air rushing past us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” With that, Pegasusmon descended onto the mountainside, spreading his wings as he touched down atop a rocky slope. T.K. climbed off his partner’s back, holding out his digivice to receive the digi-egg as Pegasusmon reverted to Patamon.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Patamon, flying up towards T.K.



“Here, I’ll help you stay warm!” Patamon flew over To T.K. and hugged him, wrapping his legs around his partner’s torso. T.K. happily returned the gesture, holding Patamon closely in his arms.

“Hey, thanks, buddy.”

“No problem!” One of Patamon’s ear-wings suddenly folded outwards. “Hey, did you hear that?”

“Huh? Hear what?”

Patamon pointed off to the distance, around the mountainside. “Something’s headed this way!”

————————

Applejack’s legs carried her as fast as they could as she rapidly ran across the mountain. She couldn’t climb the mountain fast enough to escape, and going down the mountain would likely leave her falling to her death. She dared not look back as the monstrous bedsheet ghost pursued her, no doubt with intent to kill.

Exhaustion quickly found its way into her body, her every muscle begging for her to stop. The difficulty she had breathing properly didn’t help matters. Her head began to spin as she continued to run, a feeling of light-headedness clouding her senses. But she kept running, kept trying to escape the monster that tirelessly pursued her. Her body unable to withstand the strain, she finally collapsed to her knees, unable to continue. The seemed to spin around her as she barely held on to consciousness, stubbornly refusing to pass out.

Is this really it? Am Ah going to die here?

As the world around her began to fade, Applejack’s thoughts turned to the family she’d left behind, the ones she’d be leaving behind forever.

Ah’m sorry, everypony... Ah love you all...

Unable to hold on any longer, Applejack’s consciousness finally left her. Just before going, she could almost swear she heard someone shouting nearby.

Boom Bubble!

Author's Note:

New chapter is up! Applejack finds herself in a strange new place where nature takes care of itself, and to make matters worth, her earth pony strength is gone! Fortunately, it seems she's found some help just in the nick of time.

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