• 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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The Cave and the Serpent

Applejack squinted slightly as she looked down at the mountains from atop Pegasusmon’s back, carefully surveying the landscape as it flew by below her. From what she’d heard, the control spire wouldn’t be hard to miss, though she was starting to have her doubts about the claim.

Still, she wasn’t about to give up just yet. In the eyes of her friends, she’d always been a remarkably stubborn pony, and she wasn’t intending on leaving without destroying the control spire first. It was the least she could do to repay T.K. for saving her life.

The silence was suddenly broken when T.K. spoke up.

“See anything yet, guys?”

“Nothing so far, I’m afraid,” replied Pegasusmon.

“Same here.” replied Applejack “Ah’m beginning to think there ain’t no control spire here at all.”

“Well, keep looking.” replied T.K. “We know there’s one out here somewhere.”

The three continued their search for some time, looking among the mountains for something. Just as Applejack was about to give up, however, she caught something in the corner of her eye.

“Hey T.K. Ah think I see something over there!”

T.K. looked back to see Applejack pointing at one of the nearby mountains, where a small black shape stuck out the mountainside.

“That does look suspicious,” T.K admitted., “let’s check it out, Pegasusmon.”

At his partner’s request, Pegasusmon turned around in midair and flew towards the mountainside, lowering his altitude to get a closer look. They hovered above the strange black object, which they could now see to be small black pyramid sticking out of the mountain. The rocky ground surrounding it looked as though it had been disturbed, with large chunks of loose soil and rock surrounding the object.

Applejack shuddered briefly as she examined the obsidian-colored pyramid.

“Ah don’t like the looks of that thing, T.K. Something about that pyramid just ain’t right.”

“You’re on to something there, Applejack.” replied T.K. “I don’t think that’s a pyramid at all. In fact, it looks kind of like the tip of a control spire.”

“So where’s the rest of it, then?” puzzled Applejack. “Ya’ll are saying it’s buried in the mountain?”

“Looks like it,” replied T.K., “that’s probably why we had such trouble finding it.”

“I’ll see if I can take it out from here,” said Pegasusmon, “Star Shower!

With a mighty flap of his wings, Pegasusmon launched a rain of shooting stars onto the control spire below. A large chunk of the spire’s tip was knocked out by the blast, kicking up a small cloud of dust, but the structure itself remain mostly intact from all appearances. T.K. frowned as he surveyed the damage from atop Pegasusmon’s back.

Applejack stared wide-eyed at the damage caused by Pegasusmon’s attack. “Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday.”

“Something’s not right here,” said T.K. “It looks like the spire hasn’t been completely destroyed yet.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to destroy it from here,” said Pegasusmon, “it’s embedded too deeply in the mountain. We’ll have to find a way to destroy it closer to the base.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And how do you reckon we’ll do that? The whole consarned thing’s underground!”

A frown appeared across T.K.’s face as he briefly considered the thought. If they couldn’t reach the base, destroying the control spire outright would be impossible.

“Maybe there’s a cave somewhere on this mountain,” he said, “it’s a stretch, but hopefully it’ll lead us to the base.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Applejack.

Pegasusmon gave a small nod, and in a single fluid motion, turned to search the mountainside for a path to the control spire’s base.

————————

“Hey, T.K., I think I see a cave down there!” Applejack called out to her friend as they circled the mountain. Sure enough, where she pointed there was a large cave entrance in the side of the mountain.

“Good eye, Applejack. Let’s check it out.” T.K. motioned to his partner, who landed on the rocky mountainside by the cave’s entrance, and trotted into the cavern’s entrance.

Upon entering, the three were immediately greeted with the unpleasant scent of cave-dwelling fungi. The cavern itself was a narrow, twisty passage, dimly lit from the presence of blue-green glowing fungi dotting the walls. The three made their way through the cave with caution, taking care not to let their guard down in case of an attack.

After continuing through the passage for some time, the narrow cavern gave way to another chamber. As they entered, Applejack’s mouth hung agape at the scene before her: rather than the cramped narrow passage from before, the cavern had opened into a truly gargantuan chamber, large enough to fit an entire sports stadium. The walls were covered with luminescent fungi, faintly glowing with of all colors of the visible spectrum. In the center there was a large body of water, with a massive black tower standing in the center, jutting straight out and continuing up through the chamber’s massively high ceiling. Built around the underground lake were small, dilapidated huts built from stone brick, crumbling from what was no doubt many years of neglect. Numerous Bakemon floating around aimlessly, with dark rings placed around their bodies.

Suddenly, the Bakemon all stopped in midair, turning to face T.K., Pegasusmon, and Applejack. Their eyes glowed blood red as they stared at the newcomers, baring their massive fangs.

Applejack swallowed a lump in her throat, “Uh, T.K., Ah don’t mean to be a bother, but Ah think we might be in trouble!”

T.K. simply smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ve got this. Better hold on tight!”

“Whoa!”

Applejack cried out in surprise as Pegasusmon quickly lifted off the ground, shooting into the air like a rocket.

Star Shower!

Rearing backwards in the air, Pegasusmon flapped his wings, unleashing a deluge of shooting stars, shattering the dark rings of the Bakemon hovering below. More Bakemon quickly hovered upwards to approach, but Pegasusmon reacted swiftly, taking a steep dive in midair.

Mane Wind!

A blast of needles shot forth from Pegasusmon’s mane as he dived, sweeping through the Bakemon and destroying the dark rings attached to their bodies. As he approached the ground, he swiftly turned upwards again, hovering high in the air. Another lone Bakemon approached him, but Pegasusmon flew out and delivered a powerful kick with his hind legs, breaking the darks spiral and sending the Bakemon flying.

Still hovering in midair, Pegasusmon took a quick glance around the cavern.

“I think that’s the last of them.”

Applejack released a breath that she wasn’t aware she was holding. “Do you think you could give me a bit more warning next time y’all do that?”

“You’ll have to get used to it, I’m afraid,” replied T.K. “Let’s see if we can take out that control spire, Pegasusmon”

“No problem,” said Pegasusmon.

Flying out towards the center of the cavern, Pegasusmon approached the control spire, keeping low above the surface of the underground lake. As he approached the base, he unleashed his attack at the massive black tower.

Star Shower!

The tower imploded with a loud crash as the shooting stars impacted it, sending large splashes of water spraying outwards as the pieces of the spire fell through the lake before disintegrating. T.K. and Applejack both flinched briefly as they were splashed by the sprays of water.

T.K. removed his wet hat and wrung it out, squeezing out the water that it had absorbed.

“Looks like that takes care of it. Applejack, we should probably head back and meet with the other Digi-Destined. Maybe we’ll be able to figure out what happened to your friends.”

Applejack looked up at T.K. and smiled. “Sounds good to me. Ah can’t thank you enough for helping me with this, T.K.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said T.K., “We’d be more than willing to help you look for your friends.”

Applejack’s ear suddenly swiveled to the the side, and a worried look crossed her face. “Uh... Did either of y’all just hear anything strange right now?”

“Huh?” replied T.K. confused “What do you mea—”

Before T.K. could finish his sentence, a massive body suddenly erupted from the lake, letting out a ferocious roar. Pegasusmon swerved wildly in the air to avoid it, nearly throwing off his riders as all three of them were drenched by the water thrown outwards by the emerging beast.

What in tarnation!?” Applejack’s jaw dropped at the sight of the massive beast, an enormous sea serpent with bright red scales. On its head was a golden helmet with a jagged metal horn, with dark green hair sticking out the back. Its eyes glowed a menacing bright red, and wrapped around its body was the unmistakable coil of a dark spiral.

“I know this guy,” said T.K., “It’s a MegaSeadramon!”

Author's Note:

Finally managed to get this finished, it's been a bit of a pain since the computer I normally use is at the shop. Since Christmas is in a couple days, I had to cut this one off a bit shorter than usual to get it published before the holidays.

But now that I've gotten this out of the way, it shouldn't be long before I can start writing the next chapter. Hope you all have a Happy Holidays!

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