BlackWarGreymon: Warrior of Harmony

by I-C-U-P

First published

After fate saved his life, BlackWarGreymon starts a new heroic life in Equestria. Making great friends along the way.

BlackWarGreymon, created from 100 Control Spires to do evil, died being a hero.

But as death start to grip him, fate has other ideas. Now in Equestria, his life can start again. Making unforgettable friends, facing deadly foes and experience feelings and emotions he never thought would ever happen to him.

(note: this story takes place after the events in Digimon Adventure 2 episode BlackWarGreymon's Destiny and some time after MLP FIM season 4)

Chapter 1: Departure

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Earth, Japan

This was the home of the DigiDestined, a group of young teens who travelled to a world that ran alongside theirs, the Digital World. In that world, the young heroes made friends with creatures that were destined to become their partners. They were called Digimon, short for Digital Monsters. Together they fought evil and saved the Digital World many times.

But now they’re back home on Earth, and it’s in danger.

An evil Digimon named MaloMyotismon had possessed a human named Oikawa and was currently causing havoc, and the DigiDestined were there to stop him and his minions. As Oikawa fired his dark blast at one of them, a dark Digimon stood in its way. He was one of the most feared and most powerful Mega level Digimon, for he was responsible for destroying nearly all of the Destiny Stones and he was known for not having mercy or even pity. He was over ten feet tall, with demon-like horns on his head. His skin and his chrome Digizoid armour was as black as night, with bits of yellow here and there. He also has yellow hair, a chrome helmet that was a mix of silver and grey, and a black Brave Shield on his back. Finally, he has yellow soulless eyes that can strike fear to any who see them.

Because of his resemblance, some say he was a mockery of one of the Digital Worlds’ great defenders. Born from one hundred Control Spires, he was created for evil, but he broke free to find his true destiny. Up to his current moment he tried all means to find his purpose in life, even if it meant trying to fight one of the four Digimon guardians, Azulongmon.

He was the ultimate anti-hero.

His name was BlackWarGreymon.

He stood there, taking the full blast of dark energy in the chest. When the attack ceased, he fell to one knee, shocked to realise that more damage had been done to him than he realised. Far more.

Seeing that his work was done, Oikawa and his minions turned and fled.

Seeing the stricken BlackWarGreymon made the heroes feel concerned for his condition, to the point where his golden counterpart, WarGreymon, ran up to him to keep him on his feet. Despite the big battle the two had the other day, he wanted to help him in any way he can, but BlackWarGreymon knew it was too late.

His wound was fatal…but he knew what to do.

Despite the reluctance from the defenders, especially WarGreymon, BlackWarGreymon walked away. Feeling his strength and energy fading rapidly, he said his farewells to his new friends, and took to the skies.

As he flew, he began to think back to his whole short life. From the day he was created to the day he protected a flower…later only to squish it himself. From his conversation with Agumon to his fights with the DigiDestined. From seeking to destroy the Destiny Stones to his battle with WarGreymon. And everything in between.

He then began to think to that moment just mere seconds ago, where he saved a life at the expense of his own. It was an act of bravery, an act of good will, an act...of heroism.

Realising that was what he wanted, he will not die as a monster, he will die as a hero. With those thoughts crossing his mind, he closed his eyes, screaming from the pain he’s feeling as he felt his entire body being hollowed out.

From the ground, the young teens and their friends start to see dark misty trails seeping out of BlackWarGreymons’ open wound. Afterwards, his body began to fall apart, scattering into tiny pieces of data, and then nothing.
BlackWarGreymon was gone. Forever in this world.

But his plan worked. The energy from his body closed off the link between both their worlds in the area, preventing his executioner, MaloMyotismon from going to the Digital World. Giving the DigiDestined more time to find him and stop him.

BlackWarGreymon may have done terrible things, but in his last act he will be missed.

What the DigiDestined already know was that when a Digimon dies, its data gets reconfigured and comes back as a Digi Egg. When a Control Spire Digimon dies, its data just poofs. Disappears into nothing.

But what the young heroes don’t know was that what happened to BlackWarGreymon was none of the above, for fate has other plans for him. For his future, his new life and his true purpose was in a completely different world.
……………………………………………………………………………………..........

Unknown realm, unknown time

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

BlackWarGreymons’ eyes shot wide open, as if he just had the world’s most painful headache or the world’s most frightening nightmare. He tried taking slow deep breaths to calm himself down.

That’s when he just realised something.

“Wait. I’m…breathing? But I wa…”

He was too shocked to finish his sentence when he looked down at his wound. Only to discover that the wound on his chest completely gone, as if it never happened.

“I’m fine? But how? And where am I?”

He looked around to see that he was floating in what looked like space. If the shining stars, the black void and swirling galaxies were anything to judge by.

'What happened to me? Is this where Digimon go when they die? Then why am I the only one here? Is this a dream?'

He continued to think over what’s happened to him. He was so caught up in trying to find answers that he didn’t realise a white portal just opened behind him.

“No, it feels too real to be a dream, I am alive.”

It was at that moment he began to feel a strange force pulling him backwards. He turned to see the source of the pull.

“A PORTAL!! This can’t be good!”

He tried to fly away from the white light, but the pull keeps getting stronger by the second, pulling him back.

"No!! NOOO!!!"

But BlackWarGreymon knew shouting was getting him nowhere, but backwards. As his words died down, he was sucked into the portal and the entire world around him turned to pure white.

But not before seeing a blurry image of a mysterious horned being.

What happened to him next was something that even HE never comprehended. He was given a second chance, to live his strong and powerful life in another world…and its inhabitants would never expect his arrival. Nor their lives would ever be the same again.

Chapter 2 : Arrival (part 1)

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Equestria, Ponyville

In the magical world known as Equestria, lived a race of creatures that’s similar to humans in speech and society. But what makes them different was that they were not humans at all, they were ponies. Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi make up the different kinds of ponies. And they were all ruled by the most powerful type of pony of all, they were able to use advanced magic and some were capable of even moving the moon and the very sun itself. The Alicorns.

Deep inside the chambers of a giant crystal palace in Ponyville, a young dragon and hero of the Crystal Empire named Spike, was ticking off the checklist.

“Picnic basket, umbrella, quill and ink. Check, check and check. Is that everything Twilight?” Spike asked, looking across the room to the same pony who hatched and raised him.

Twilight Sparkle, once a Unicorn now turned into the fourth and newest Alicorn princess, was searching in her saddle bags to see if something was missing. Her lavender coloured fur and her purple mane and tail were instantly recognisable to anyone or anypony who knew her. As an Alicorn she has both wings and a horn. But what’s more important was that she was also the Princess of Friendship and the Element of Magic, which was one of the Elements of Harmony. Finally her cutiemark was that of a sparkle of magic that resembled a purple star.

She turned to her number one assistant and gave him a smile.

“Yep, guess that’s everything,” She said while using her magic to put on the saddle bags.

“You sure you can look after the place while I’m gone?” She asked Spike with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Spike gave her a reassuring thumbs up.

“Don’t worry Twi, I got this. Go and have fun.”

“I will Spike, see you later," Twilight said as she turned left down a corridor. The young dragon looked at her in confusion.

“Twilight, the exit is the other way!” Spike called out, correcting her mistake.

Twilight only blushed and smiled in embarrassment as she turned to the opposite direction towards the exit.

'Great, been living here for three months now and still don’t know my way around. Must have spent too much time in the library.' She thought to herself while walking towards the huge doors to her castle, only to be burst open buy a speeding pink blur that came to a halt only an inch from her face.

The blur turned out to be the sugar-fuelled hyperactive Earth Pony named Pinkie Pie. She had pink fur, pink poofy mane and tail, a cutiemark of three balloons, two blue and one yellow and she was the Element of Laughter.

Her sudden entry surprised Twilight, nearly giving the Alicorn a heart attack.

“AAHH! Pinkie, you surprised me!” Twilight shouted while trying to calm down.

“Oh really? Well surprise! Anyway, I’m just so excited about our picnic. I should turn it into a picnic party! With cake, balloons, confetti, ribbons, my cannon and…”

Pinkie Pie stopped rambling on when she realised she forgot something.

“Oh no, I forgot my party cannon!! I need to go and get it!!” She shouted with urgency in her voice. Just before she could bolt out the door, Twilight spoke to her.

“Don’t forget to meet us in the new clearing.”

“Okie dokie,” Pinkie Pie said before running back to her home, leaving a dust trail behind her.

After clearing her way through the dust, she closed the palace doors and begun her long walk towards her destination.

'Pinkie’s right about one thing, this is going to be exciting.' Twilight thought to herself.
………………………………………………………………………………………......

Sweet Apple Acres

Inside the barn of an apple farm, a white Unicorn named Rarity was waiting impatiently. She had purple mane and tail which ended in coiled curls, three blue diamonds as her cutiemark and she was the Element of Generosity.

“Oh, come on Applejack darling, we haven’t got all day,” She said while getting annoyed that she had to wait too long.

Across the barn, Applejack looked at Rarity with a confused look. She was an orange Earth Pony with blonde mane and tail that were both scruffy, a cowgirl hat, three red apples as her cutiemark and she was the Element of Honesty.

“Rarity, why’re you in that getup? We ain’t goin’ somewhere fancy,” She said while pointing her hoof at Rarity’s dress.

“Well nopony has ever been in the new clearing. Never know what you might find,” She replied.

“Huh, if we did find somthin’, you don’t want to frighten it with that,” Applejack joked, making the Unicorn glare at her.

“Well I think not. If we do find something, they would be blown away by my finest creation. I’ve certainly outdone myself,” She said while showing off her dress.

“Huh, more like overdone it,” Applejack said while snickering.

Rarity was about to resort back at her, but she began to think that Applejack was right.

“Well…perhaps the dress is too much. I should just go with a hat.”

“That’s more like it,” Applejack said while packing her saddle bag with apples and anything else she needed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Fluttershy’s cottage

Inside the cottage that’s mostly inhabited by animals. A cyan blue Pegasus with rainbow coloured mane and tail was flying around impatiently, trying to pass the time. Her cutiemark was a cloud with a red, yellow and blur striped lightning bolt and she was the Element of Loyalty. Her name was Rainbow Dash. Apart from being famous for being awesome, she was also the fastest airborne pony in Equestria and can fly so fast, she can pull off a trick very few could do.

The Sonic Rainboom.

In fact, it was pulling off her very first Sonic Rainboom that she got her cutiemark and unintentionally led her five friends getting their cutiemarks too.

But now she’s bored out of her skull.

“Uh come on Fluttershy, what’s taking so long?” She complained.

Soon enough Fluttershy, a yellow Pegasus with long rosy pink mane and tail came out of her kitchen. She has three pink butterflies for her cutiemark and she was the Element of Kindness.

She currently has some animal feed stuck to her hooves, meaning she was feeding one of her animals.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting Rainbow Dash. It’s alright now, I finished feeding the birds,” She said in her usual soft voice.

“Good,” Rainbow Dash said while landing in front of Fluttershy. “Are we ready to go now?”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy said as she turned her head to the dining room. “I’m going out now Angel, have fun,” She said to the little white rabbit who was stuffing his face with carrots. He quickly raised his head and waved his paw, saying goodbye.

Fluttershy smiled as she walked out of the front door with Rainbow Dash.

As the two Pegasi walked along the path they noticed other animals saying their goodbyes to Fluttershy as numerous birds flew over their heads. Most ponies knew that Fluttershy had her talent at understanding what animals say and she uses her gift to help them if they are in need. Because of her talent and the fact she has one of the most heavenly and most beautiful singing voices ever, that some of the animals choose to either live with her in the cottage or outside in homes that were ready made or they made themselves.

After the animals said their farewells, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash continued on their way. But the blue Pegasus was confused about one thing.

“Fluttershy, aren’t you afraid about this?” She asked her usually timid friend.

“Um…no. Why do you ask?” Fluttershy asked while looking at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.

“Because the new clearing is deep in the Everfree Forest,” Rainbow Dash answered as clearly as she can.

For a moment, Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, for she was scared of the forest for a number of reasons. But she calmed down when she remembered the reason why she wanted to go in the first place.

“Well…I am a little nervous, but as nopony has ever been there before, we might find something new. Maybe new species of animals,” She said with excitement in her voice.

“Oh I can’t wait!”
………………………………………………………………………………………......

Everfree Forest

There was only one reason why nopony goes to the Everfree Forest, it’s a very dangerous place. Trees can grow so big and so dense that sunlight hardly reaches the forest floor, so even with clear skies it’s always dark. The animals who live there rely on no one but themselves and some would kill anything that gets in their way, either out of hunger, anger or just because they can. If wildlife wasn’t enough, even the weather was different then what the ponies were used to. The Pegasi can control weather by moving clouds and summon rain, but in the Everfree the weather and seasons act all on their own. Very similar to the weather in the human world but to pony kind it’s unnatural.

It was only recently that a massive clearing was discovered by the Wonderbolts, deep in the forest. Afterword’s news of its existence had spread all over Equestria. Because of its whereabouts it was nicknamed the ‘Everfree Clearing’.

Nopony on record has ever been there, that’s why Twilight and her friends agreed to go there and be the first ponies to set hoof in the clearing. And what better way to celebrate it than a picnic.

Soon all six ponies met up and went in the presumed direction.

“So Twi, ya got everythin?”

“Yep, I got everything Applejack. You name it and I got it,” She said with a confident smile.

“Note pads?” Rainbow Dash asked with a smug grin on her face, knowing it might be the only thing Twilight had forgotten.

She was right.

Twilight gasped when she realised the note pads were not on the checklist.

“Great, of all the things I forget to bring it had to be the note pads,” Twilight said in a rather annoyed tone.

“Don’t worry darling, I’m sure you can remember the scenery when we get home,” Rarity said, trying to cheer her up.

Twilight was about to say something when Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Is it me or there doesn’t seem to be as many trees as before?”

The rest of the group looked around and saw that Rainbow Dash was right. Twilight knew what it meant.

“Good, we must be getting close to the clearing.”

The others took note of what she said and continued on their way.

After some time they reached the end of the tree line, and couldn’t believe what they saw.

The clearing was more like a valley…a massive valley. Apart from a number of hedges and rocks it was mostly grassland, with all kinds of flowers growing, which were visited by lots and lots of butterflies.

“Wow,” Twilight said, wishing she had her note pad with her.

“Oh my gosh, this is so cool!” Rainbow Dash said while also looking up to the sky, knowing that this was the perfect place for flying.

“Sweet Celestia,” Rarity mentioned while taking in what she was seeing, might give her inspiration for future dress designs.

Fluttershy gasped when she saw a large blue butterfly in the distance.

“I’ve never seen that kind of butterfly before,” She said to herself.

“Well I’ll be. This place is beautiful,” Applejack said while looking at the vast open space of land.

Then Pinkie Pie gave them all a brief scare by jumping out of nowhere and shouting.

“Woohoo, best place to have a picnic EVER!!”

With her excitement reaching ever higher, she ran into the clearing with the other five following her.

Sometime had past and they had finally found a spot to have their picnic. While Twilight was setting up the umbrella, Rarity was laying out the picnic blanket, Applejack was preparing the food, Rainbow Dash was flying to stretch her wings, Pinkie Pie was just hopping all over the place and Fluttershy was being greeted by a large blue butterfly.

“Why hello there.”

After hearing her voice, the butterfly flew in close and landed on the tip of her nose. The tiny insect legs tickling her nose was making her giggle.

However she stopped giggling when she noticed the butterfly flying off in the distance, and rather in a hurry. Fluttershy was trying to figure out why her new friend left in such a hurry.

'Why did he leave so soon? Is it because he had to go somewhere? Because of my giggling?'

That’s when she and the others noticed the shy was darkening as black clouds circled above them.

'Because he can sense trouble and had to get away from it?!'

Twilight had a nervous look on her face, something was off about these clouds. But before she could think of a plan, Rainbow Dash flew straight for the swirling clouds.

“Don’t worry I got this!” She said with confidence on her face, thinking that the new weather pattern could be a start of a tornado.

Her plan was to fly into it while it’s forming and move the clouds somewhere else or just swat them away with her hooves. But her plan backfired, when a powerful gust of wind blew downwards from the clouds. So powerful in fact it literally pushed Rainbow Dash to the ground with a thud.

“Ooww, that hurt!” She said, thinking she may have landed on a stone.

“This isn’t normal, even for the Everfree!” Twilight shouted while she and her friends were taking cover from the winds.

Suddenly there was a massive flash and all six ponies looked up to see a swirling white light in the middle of the stormy clouds, lightning bolts escaping from them.

“Twilight, is that what I think it is?” Applejack asked her Alicorn friend.

“A PORTAL!! This can’t be good.”

Chapter 2 : Arrival (part 2)

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Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were enjoying a nice picnic in the newly discovered Everfree Clearing. Until their nice day was ruined by stormy winds, black thundering clouds and a white portal swirling in the heart of it all. All six ponies were holding their heads down, trying their best to stay on the ground and not be blown away.

During this ordeal, Twilight couldn’t tear gaze away from the bright portal.

‘What is this? Why is this happening?’ Her eyes went wide as her heart stopped for a second when another question popped up in her mind.

‘What’s on the other side?’

Almost as if on que, the portal flashed brightly just as an object came shooting out of it. From a distance it looked like a black meteor, but upon closer inspection one could tell it’s a different story. The Mane Six couldn’t believe their eyes when the black object flew high over their heads and into the Everfree Forest. After it disappeared over the tree line, all the six ponies could hear was a loud impact not too far away. But the tremor from the impact shook the ground violently, forcing the girls to stay low.

After the shockwaves subsided, the Mane Six looked up at the sky, only to see that the portal was gone, the black clouds dissipating and the winds dying down.

However, the six ponies weren’t the only ones who witnessed what transpired. In the opposite direction to where the object landed, hiding in the dense trees, a familiar prisoner escapee was watching.

“Most interesting. I definitely felt great power from that thing, hmmm…I have to check it out later, for I have to pay six pesky ponies a little visit,” He said, turning his sights on the Mane Six with an evil grin.

The girls eventually got back up on their hooves and shook the dust off their fur while discussing about the fallen black object.

“What in the name of Celestia was that thing!?” Applejack said with panic in her voice while Fluttershy picked up the orange mare’s hat and gave it back to her.

Pinkie pie was first to answer the question.

“I don’t know what it is. But all I know is that it looked real spooky. Did anypony else found that spooky black thing spooky? Because I found it spooky!”

“I for one have to agree with Pinkie on this. I don’t know why but, that thing almost looked...alive!” Rarity stated, while worrying that she might actually be right about the whole ‘alive’ part.

“Yeah well, whatever it is, I think we can take care of it. And if it is alive, we can always kick butt and take names,” Rainbow Dash said while flying and throwing punches in the air.

Twilight didn’t take notice of the others and kept looking to where the object crashed.

“It couldn’t have landed too far away. Come on girls, lets go check it out,” she said while walking in the direction of the crash site.

But just as the others were about to follow, a wave of magical energy flew up in front of Twilight and over the entire clearing. Concealing everything within. The Mane Six were trapped in a giant transparent red dome.

“What…what the hay is going on!?” Rainbow Dash asked while flying full speed at the barrier in hopes to penetrate it. But she only bounced away the moment she hit it.

“We can’t get out, Twilight what are we gonna do!?” Applejack asked in panic, but she got no response.

“Twi?” She then looked over to Twilight, only to see the princess with disbelief on her face.

“I…I recognize this magic…” Before she could finish what she was saying, a voice was her name from behind.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!!!”

The Mane Six suddenly got a cold chill running through their spines. They recognized that voice. Soon they slowly turned around to see the one who was responsible for the barrier.

Inside the magic dome with the six ponies, was a red and black evil centaur. Standing at twenty feet tall, he towers over his captives. The most distinguishing thing about him was his massive horns. Filled with magic, just waiting to cause harm.

Then the six ponies uttered his name. A name that even the princess if the sun herself fears.

“TIREK!!!”
…………………………………………………………………………..........................

Everfree Forest, half a mile away from the clearing

With the black clouds gone, the sun can shine its light through the tree canopy and into the forest below. Soon the sunlight fell upon a huge crater, trying to pierce through the dust and dirt in the air surrounding it. The animals, who all got out of the way before the object crashed to the ground, were cautiously gathering around it, curious of what it was.

Soon most of the dust cleared, and the animals found themselves unable to move. For they were looking at something very familiar, but drastically different.

One race of creatures these animals feared were dragons, but they never seen this kind of dragon before. He looked like a black dragon with no wings and tail, but he was wearing black armour and had yellow hair.

A moment later, he started to open his eyes. The second he showed his yellow soulless eyes to the world, the animals quickly ran or flew away as fast as they could.

Yes he looked like a dragon, but what made him different was that he wasn’t a dragon at all. He was BlackWarGreymon, one of the most powerful Digimon ever.

After his vision cleared from all the blurring, he looked at the big hole in the canopy he made upon arrival.

“Urh…Wha-what happened?” He began to look around. “Where am I?”

After more questions flew around in his mind, he got up and stood tall on his three toed feet.

“This doesn’t feel like the Digital world…but it can’t be the human world…it feels different."

What he didn’t know was that Equestria, the world he found himself in, was filled with magic. Though it cannot be seen, it was there. It’s the magic that gives power to the Unicorns and Alicorns, to which they use by learning magical spells. It’s the magic that BlackWarGreymon was feeling. But to his confusion, he could feel it seeping into him. As seconds ticked by, he almost felt... rejuvenated. Enhanced even.

He began to test something. After raising his palm up to his side, he formed a small red ball of negative energy. BlackWarGreymon looked at it in confusion. Despite the energy it was made of, the sphere was brimming with power. More so than usual. He condensed the sphere into nothing as he looked down at is raised arm. It wasn't just his powers. Even his own body felt different.

“Strange…I feel…stronger than before. Could this weird feeling be the cause of it?”

While he continued to wonder, not too far away, fear was in the air.
……………………………………………………………………………………..........

The clearing, inside the dome

Tirek was walking towards the trembling ponies, terrifying them with every hoof step, Twilight was first to snap out of it.

“How…how did you escape Tartarus?” She asked, determined to get answers from the evil lord.

“The same way I escaped the last time,” He answered. “But I don’t have time to explain, for I am here for just one thing…”

With that an orange orb began to form in between his glowing horns, and then fired a destructive orange beam of magical energy at the girls, narrowly missing them and impacted the ground behind them.

“…revenge.”

Twilight’s horn began to glow and fired a purple magical orb at Tirek, to which he only sidestepped out of the way. He then reached down to grab a rock and threw it at Twilight. Before if could hit her, she teleported a safe distance away.

“I may not be at full strength yet, but I still have the power to crush you all!” He shouted.

He then noticed Rainbow Dash flying towards him, intending to smash her hoof in his face. But before she could do that, Tirek used a telekinesis spell to catch the Pegasus mid-flight. After feeling a tiny twinge of pain in his front left leg, Tirek looked down and spotted Applejack kicking him. Using his magic Tirek threw Rainbow Dash into the orange Earth Pony sending them skidding across the ground.

“Try to cause as much harm as you want ponies, for I doubt it would cause me any more trouble than creating this land,” He said in a mocking tone, while Twilight was trying to figure out what he meant by that last part.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, but was shocked when she found the answer. “You created this clearing!?”

“Yes. It was by means to lure you and your friends here, seemed to have worked,” He answered with pride in his tone.

Rarity was next to speak.

“Oh and I bet you were the cause of that storm and that black meteor. Just to try and scare us.”

Tirek looked at her in confusion.

“What? You think I did that?” He asked.

"Well it can’t be Discord, he’s gone away on holiday. Who else could have created that storm apart from you?” Fluttershy said in anger.

Tirek has had enough of the accusations, he’s going to make it clear to the Mane Six.

“That storm was not my doing!”

All the girls froze on the spot, not believing what they were hearing. Twilight broke the silence.

“What?”

Tirek explained himself.

“While all of you were distracted by the beauty of the clearing, I was about to spring my trap. But I felt a great disturbance, which was that portal. The energy given off by it created the storm and sent that meteor here,” While he was explaining, Twilights eyes kept growing wider. “If Discord’s away, than that portals’ origin is unknown.”

Inevitably, Twilight asked the question.

“Then…then what was that meteor?”

Before Tirek could answer, he was interrupted by a harsh strike to his head. Turns out while he was talking to Twilight, Pinkie Pie loaded her party cannon with some rocks and fired them at the back of his head.

“AAAARRHHHH!!” He cried.

“Take that you big meanie!” Pinkie Pie shouted before loading more rocks in her cannon.

While holding the back of his head with one hand, Tirek turned to face the pink mare, giving her a death glare.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!”

“Uh-oh,” Pinkie Pie said with a frightened face.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Everfree Forest, half a mile away from the clearing

BlackWarGreymon only took a few steps out of the crater before he started to wobble. The fatigue from his resent experience was briefly taking its toll. He quickly grasped on a tree to stop himself from falling on his face. All the while he kept asking questions to himself.

“Why… why am I still alive? I was made from Control Spires. I’m an artificial Digimon. I should have died. And why am I here?”

After bombarding himself with more questions, he tried to calm down and clear his mind. Taking in deep breaths to focus.

Slowly but surely, he came up with one possibility.

“Wait…could my act of heroism be the reason?” The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. “The whole time of me being the bad guy was getting me nowhere, almost like a dead end. But being the good guy for that one moment felt like it was going somewhere. As if…it was…meant to be.”

He slowly raised his head, looking at the sky.

“Did fate brought me to this world, so I can have a second chance…of doing just that?”

His eyes went wide when the next question popped in his head.

“Could this be my purpose… my destiny?”

His questions suddenly went to a halt when he heard a loud explosion to the east, which was then quickly followed by equally loud screaming.

Without even thinking, he started to run full speed towards the source of the new sounds.

“I’m going to get my answers,” As he got closer, he could hear evil laughing in the distance. His yellow eyes glared in determination.

“One way or another.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The clearing, inside the dome

All six ponies were on the edge of the magic dome, huddling together and trembling in fear. Twilight and Rarity’s energy have been drained from using too much magic. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were exhausted to the point of collapse and Pinkie Pie was crying over the loss of her party cannon. Because Fluttershy was avoiding most of the fight, she received little punishment from Tirek, but it wasn’t enough to stop her from being frozen in fear with her friends.

While the Mane Six were trapped in the state of terror, Tirek was getting closer, but walking slowly to add more fear into the girls. And his smiling, satisfied grin wasn’t helping one bit.

“Oh I’ve been waiting three long months for this, and now it’s finally here.”

He was only ten feet away and the girls had never been so terrified in their whole lives. Tears were flooding out of their eyes, thinking that this was the end.

“Please…no…” Twilight pleaded while holding her friends together, not wanting to leave them.

Tirek’s response was as cold as stone.

“I show no mercy Princess Twilight,” His arms began to charge up with magic.

“After I destroy you and your friends, my revenge would be fulfilled and nothing can stand in my way from taking over Equestria!” He raised his arms over his head which were now fully charged.

“NOTHING!!”

Before he could smash his fists onto the fearful ponies, all of them heard what sounded like breaking glass. Tirek then felt the energy in his magical dome fading away…very quickly.

He may be right about one thing, that nothing in Equestria can stop him. But something NOT from Equestria can.

Tirek and the Mane Six quickly looked up to see not only the magical dome being shattered like glass, but also a black blur landing in between them, throwing up dust from the ground in the process.

“What the heck was that!?” Applejack asked while trying to hold back her tears. But soon she got her answer.

When the dust cleared, the six mares looked up with all their fear instantly replaced by utter shock as they looked upon their new visitor, standing with his back to them and facing the evil lord.

When the two dark beings made eye contact, Tirek had only one thought crossing his mind. With BlackWarGreymon thinking of the same thing.

'Well…this is going to be interesting.'

Chapter 3: Rumble in the Everfree

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The Mane Six felt a wave of fear as they looked upon the bizarre being that stood in-between them and Tirek. Just moments ago they were about to get killed, before the strange creature got in the way of that.

With the magic dome that was trapping them destroyed, the six girls slowly backed away from the evil lord and the armoured warrior.

As they got a safe distance away, they got a chance to look over their visitor in detail. They had never seen anything like him. At first glance he looked like a wingless black dragon. Although he had no tail, he wore armour that was black as night, he also had a chrome grey three-horned helmet, yellow hair and his eyes… his yellow soulless eyes looked like they were alive, but strangely a part of them didn’t.

Despite being only half the size of Tirek, he looked powerful. And Twilight could only think of one question.

‘This creature, could it have been that meteor?’

While Tirek and BlackWarGreymon continued to stare at each other, the larger of the two started to speak. Despite still being a little startled by the fact someone smaller then him broke through his magical dome.

“Huh, that’s quite an entrance back there, none were ever able to break through my force field like that.”

‘Seriously? I wasn’t even trying.’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself before answering back.

“I needed to do something to get your attention,” His response only got Tirek confused, while surprised that the smaller creature was able to talk without moving his mouth.

“What do you mean by that?” He asked while raising one eyebrow.

“I sense that you’re the most powerful being in this area… is it true?”

‘Hmm, he can sense my powers as well.’ Tirek thought.

“Yes, you could say I’m the most powerful being in the world,” He boldly said with a confident smile. But the BlackWarGreymon said something that made his smile vanish.

“Yet, you waste your power and strength by attacking the innocent.”

After hearing every word the Digimon said, the Mane Six payed their attention even closer to him. Wondering what were his motives and intentions. But one thing they weren’t sure about was if he’s evil or not.

Tirek however wasn’t happy about what he said.

“If you must know, these six little pests imprisoned me,” He said while turning his gaze to the girls, who were giving him glares.

“You must be joking.”

When those words reached Tirek’s ears, his anger started to build up as he turned his head back to BlackWarGreymon.

As the two were arguing, the Mane Six were talking amongst themselves, mainly about the black armoured being.

“Ok, forget everythin’ I said before, what in the world is THAT thing!?” Applejack asked as she turned her head to her friends to see if any of them had answers, Fluttershy was first to answer.

“Maybe he’s…he’s some kind of d-dr-dragon!” She said with fright, her friends knew full well that she had a big fear of dragons. Except Spike of course.

Rarity tried to reassure the frightened Pegasus by placing her hoof on her shoulder.

“Well, he isn’t any kind of dragon I’ve ever seen. I mean look at his armour… it’s hideous,” She said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

“Hideous isn’t the word I would use… more like, awesome,” Rainbow Dash said while marvelling at the sight of the black armour.

“I knew that meteor looked spooky, it’s because it’s actually some kind of dragon from another planet… an alien dragon!” Pinkie Pie shouted while thinking that the armoured creature might mind probe her… or worse.

Twilight however could only stare in awe at the being who apparently saved their lives.

“I don’t know what he is, but I hope he’s on our side,” She said, hoping that she was right with her voice barely above a whisper.

Tirek responded back to BlackWarGreymon in an angered tone.

“What do you mean by ‘joking’?”

The black Digimon answered back in a serious tone.

“That underneath your great power and intimidating appearance, hides a pathetic weakling.”

While Tirek’s anger was slowly starting to reach boiling point, the Mane Six in the background were quietly snickering at that last comment.

“You dare call me a weakling!?” He then tried to resort back. “I’m not taking that from a creature who wears crude looking armour.”

“I don’t have a concept of elegance. You could say I was born like this,” BlackWarGreymon blankly responded. Giving a small hint about himself that the onlooking group found suspicious.

Tirek knew that arguing was getting nowhere, but he had an idea.

“Whatever. But hear me out, both our powers are similar, perhaps even compatible.”

Before the black Digimon spoke back, Twilight’s face was starting to be filled with dread.

“What are you implying?”

“If we team up, with your powers and my own, together we can not only take over this world, but many worlds beyond it.”

When the evil Centaur finished explaining, the Digimon took a moment to think about it. All the while Twilight’s face fell in despair as her ears flopped down behind her head.

“It can’t be. I-it can’t end like this. No.”

Almost as if he read Twilight’s mind, BlackWarGreymon stared back at Tirek and gave his answer.

“No.”

As Twilight’s face was instantly lifted into surprised awe from hearing the Digimon’s answer, Tirek had a look of disbelief.

“What!?”

“I take orders from no one,” BlackWarGreymon responded with an angry glare in his eyes.

Tirek couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Explain yourself!” He demanded.

“Yes, I’ve done bad things in the past…” He said while thinking back to the moment he destroyed the first Destiny Stone. “… terrible things. But that was before I understood the true value of heroism, kindness… and friendship.”

While BlackWarGreymon explained, the Mane Six’s ears and spirits perked up to new heights when he said the word ‘friendship’. Although Twilight wanted to know what were the bad things he’d done, she couldn’t help but feel overjoyed by the fact that a creature who looked like he could fight a war, can understand that having friends was more important than just having power.

A smile was spreading across her face, but the armoured being wasn’t finished.

“Besides, even if I was still evil, I would never take orders or make an alliance with weak beings such as yourself.”

“I AM NOT WEAK!!” Tirek shouted, clearly not a big fan of that word.

“You must be. For if you’re willing to make an alliance with me, than it must mean you can’t possibly be strong enough to take over a single world, let alone many.”

Upon hearing that, Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop herself from saying what needs to be said in this situation.

“Ooohhhh no he did-nt!” She said with a hint of laughter.

Tirek however was now pissed off. His rage reaching boiling point.

“How dare you! NO ONE TALKS TO TIREK THAT WAY!!!” He shouted in rage, but BlackWarGreymon stood his ground.

“If you’re so eager to prove me wrong, than why not fight me,” He said, almost as if he was asking for it to happen.

Although Tirek wanted nothing more than to punch his tormentor in the face, he still had revenge on the ponies in his mind. After all, he did went through the trouble of luring the Mane Six to him. He didn’t want to lose this opportunity, for if he tried again it may not work as easily.

“As much as I want to pummel you to oblivion, I can’t,” He said while giving the Mane Six an evil grin. “I still got something to take care of first.”

BlackWarGreymon only took a quick glance at the six mares before glaring back at Tirek.

“Really? You would rather attack smaller creatures than fight an opponent such as myself? You’re not just weak… you’re a pathetic wimp!”

Tirek was now beyond pissed, but he had to control his anger.

‘He’s trying to provoke me into a fight.’

“I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work,” He continued while crossing his arms. “I will not strike the first blow.”

BlackWarGreymon just stood there with a blank expression in his eyes when he responded.

“Oh…” His eyes quickly shifted from calm to anger. “…then allow me!”

Moving in speeds of a thunderbolt, BlackWarGreymon gave Tirek a backhand to the face. The sheer force from the blow actually forced the evil Centaur back a couple of steps, he was even stumbling around to keep himself from falling over.

The Mane Six saw the whole thing and couldn’t believe that a being half the size of Tirek possessed such strength.

After Tirek stopped stumbling around and stood still, he removed the hand he held on his face at the spot where he had been hit. As he looked at his hand, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

His own blood.

Apparently as he got back handed, one of BlackWarGreymon’s claws left a gash on his cheek.

The Mane Six decided it’s time to hide from what they’re guessing was going to happen.

“I got a feeling they’re about to fight!” Pinkie Pie said while she found a bush to hide in with the rest of her friends.

“We don’t need a pinkie sense to know that’s going to happen,” Rarity replied to her pink Earth Pony friend while Rainbow Dash kept looking at the gash on Tirek’s cheek.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but my money is on that guy,” She said while pointing her hoof at the armoured warrior.

Tirek continued to look at the blood on his hand. With his rage becoming out of control, he then looked at the black Digimon with fire in his eyes.

“…uuuuuuuuUUUHHHH, YOU WILL DIE FOR THAT!!!” He shouted at the top of his voice while charging at BlackWarGreymon.

-Background music, Digimon Opening Theme Song by Digimon-

As Tirek charged forward, BlackWarGreymon stood motionless, completely calm and waiting for the right moment. As he got closer, the horned Centaur raised his fists over his head and swung them down hard, intending to break his tormentor’s bones. But it was the moment BlackWarGreymon was waiting for. At the right time, he raised his hands to catch Tirek’s fists and stopping his attack completely.

The dark lord was surprised by the amount of strength the black Digimon possessed.

‘He’s stronger than I thought!’

BlackWarGreymon was not impressed from Tirek’s efforts to cause harm to him.

“My turn.”

That was all he said before pushing Tirek’s arms up, leaving the Centaur open to attack. Seeing his chance, BlackWarGreymon quickly kicked Tirek square in the chest, sending him high in the air. Not wasting another moment, the Digimon took to the sky and flew straight for Tirek. As he got in range he gave Tirek a hard punch right in the face. Tirek then fell straight to the ground while BlackWarGreymon was showing no signs of falling down, he was hovering in the air. The girls who were watching were surprised at what they’re seeing.

“He… can fly!?” Twilight asked while in shock, but was joined by Rainbow Dash who apparently was more in shock.

“And without wings!? But… how!?”

As Tirek got back up, he noticed it too.

“Well, you’re full of surprises… but so am I!”

His horns began to charge up with energy and a large orange orb formed in-between them. A second later, he fired a large magic beam from the orb and straight at BlackWarGreymon. Being in the air, the Digimon only flew to the side to easily dodge the beam and then swooped down towards Tirek. Before Tirek could react or counter attack, BlackWarGreymon collided into his chest and, to the Centaur’s surprise, was being pushed backwards at incredible speeds. Tirek even tried digging his hooves into the ground to slow down, but it wasn’t working, BlackWarGreymon kept on pushing at increasing speeds.

Soon enough, Tirek’s hooves got caught on a large rock that was sticking out of the ground, and with BlackWarGreymon’s forward momentum, he toppled backwards. Just before he hit the ground, BlackWarGreymon flew up to his face, grabbed his neck and slammed him to the ground. Keeping a firm grip on Tirek, he continued flying low. As he kept going he dragged the dark lord along while pushing his head down to the ground, leaving a big grove in the earth as he passed by.

Twilight and her friends were still hiding in the bush, but couldn’t comprehend at what’s happening in front of them.

“Are you girls seeing what I’m seeing?” Rarity asked, seeing if her friends were watching the same thing.

“Yes we are Rarity, this ain’t no dream,” Applejack answered, knowing full well that this was reality.

“Defiantly not a dream, a creature from another world is kicking Tirek’s butt! I mean how strong is this guy!?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of both excitement and disbelief in her voice as she watched the fight.

Fluttershy was still shivering in fear, but mostly about Tirek. Although she was still a little scared of their new visitor, but from hearing his words she knew he wasn’t evil, and the thought of him helping her friends was slowly making her happy.

Pinkie Pie was simply taking pictures of the fight with her camera that she brought out from who knows where.

Twilight was just staring at the two fighters, mainly at BlackWarGreymon. Her mind was building up with questions she wanted to ask him. If he wins this fight.

After a solid minute of dragging him all over the place, BlackWarGreymon threw Tirek in to some trees that were behind him. The Control Spire Digimon then landed a great distance away from where he threw Tirek, looking back to see if his opponent was getting back up.

“It seems I was right about two things. This strange world is making me stronger and faster, and this Tirek is weaker then the looks,” He said to himself while keeping an eye on the spot where Tirek landed.

Beneath a large tree and covered in dirt and leaves, Lord Tirek got up onto his hooves, still shaken from what he went through. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him.

Bursting out of the debris, Tirek then fired two large magical orbs from his horns straight to the Digimon. Like before, BlackWarGreymon didn’t move a muscle. After timing it right, he shifted his body left, allowing the first orange orb to fly pass him. While shifting his body back, he swung his right arm out and sliced the second orb with one swift motion from his razor sharp claws.

The Mane Six were impressed by the Digimon’s reflexes and the fact that he just deflected an energy blast with just his strength.

After dispelling Tirek’s attack, BlackWarGreymon started to charge at him, running full speed. As he did, Tirek’s arms began to charge up with dark magic and then slammed them into the ground. Dark magic began to flow through the ground and giant rock pillars burst out of the ground. Many of these rock pillars were in the Digimon’s way, but instead of running around them, BlackWarGreymon used his strength and his claws to smash and slice through them. He even went as far as to smash his armoured head straight through solid rock, but this clearly didn’t bother him let alone slowed him down.

‘Is there anything stopping him!?’ Tirek thought to himself.

As BlackWarGreymon got closer, he noticed dark energy on the ground just in front of him. Deciding to use it to his advantage, the Digimon jumped just above the dark energy and when a rock pillar formed out of it, he landed his foot on the top of it and then leapt high in the air.

With Tirek in his sights, BlackWarGreymon then fell towards him with his right armoured fist ready to give the Centaur a solid punch. Before he did, Tirek crossed his arms in an x fashion and a magical force field appeared around him.

When BlackWarGreymon landed his punch on the magic barrier, a blinding orange light engulfed the two to a point where the Mane Six had to shield their eyes.

After opening his eyes, Tirek saw that his force field held back the attack. But that was not the only thing he saw. BlackWarGreymon’s three metal claws had managed to impale through the barrier, with the pointed ends of the blades just inches from Tirek’s face.

After realising how close he was from sheer harm, Tirek expanded his force field to form a magical pulse, forcing BlackWarGreymon back fifty feet.

With his anger ever increasing, Tirek came charging at BlackWarGreymon with his pointed horns bearing down, intending to impale him. But as he tried to, the Digimon caught the Centaur’s horns with his hands and held him back. As Tirek tried to push harder, BlackWarGreymon had an idea to use Tirek’s own strength against him.

After turning the angle of Tirek’s horns downwards to the right, the Digimon immediately let go, making the dark lord send his horns into the ground. With Tirek temporarily wide open to attack, BlackWarGreymon rushed to the side of the Centaur and, in a karate fashion, slammed his right arm into Tirek’s back. After grunting in pain, Tirek freed himself from the ground, turned to the side and used his hind legs to kick BlackWarGreymon in the chest. But as the Digimon fell on his back he did a backwards roll and landed back on his feet.

‘Let’s see how you fight without your strength.’ Tirek thought to himself as he came up with a sinister plan.

As BlackWarGreymon rose back up, Tirek immediately span around, opened his large gaping mouth and took a deep breath. The Mane Six couldn’t believe it, Tirek was attempting to steal the Digimon’s energy and becoming more stronger. But to everyone’s surprise, excluding BlackWarGreymon, Tirek’s magic stealing ability did absolutely nothing!

“It didn’t work!” Tirek stated before trying to do it again, but like before it did nothing.

‘Why is it doing nothing!?’

After it became apparent that the Digimon doesn’t possess magic, BlackWarGreymon spoke to Tirek something that made Pinkie Pie laugh.

“You need a breath mint.”

BlackWarGreymon then flew towards Tirek and after hovering up to the Centaur’s eye level, he gave him a hard metallic punch in the face. Followed by another, and another. Soon BlackWarGreymon kept punching Tirek repeatedly in the face. Every time Digizoid claws made an impact on the evil lord, he takes a step back from the pain as his face receives more deep cuts.

The Mane Six were both shocked and awestricken at how determined and ferocious the armoured being was. As well as being more combat skilled than Tirek was, even before the fight BlackWarGreymon showed no fear whatsoever. Not one bit of it. Even for Rainbow dash, that took guts.

After punching Tirek about twenty times, BlackWarGreymon swung his right foot straight into the side of the Centaur’s face. This action sent Tirek flying across fifty feet of grassland before skidding to a halt.

After landing back on the ground, BlackWarGreymon looked to where Tirek had landed. While Rainbow Dash was mentally marvelling at the kicking move the Digimon just performed.

“Is he a black belt in karate or something?” She asked, but before she could get an answer, BlackWarGreymon spoke out to Tirek.

“Your efforts at trying to fight me are appalling, Tirek. In fact, you’re probably the worst opponent I’ve ever faced!”

Knowing that he only said that to mock him, Tirek got back up and started to charge at the Digimon. His right fist surging with magic to give BlackWarGreymon an energised punch.

“I’ll show you who’s appalling!!” He shouted in rage as he threw his energised fist out to punch his tormentor.

But BlackWarGreymon’s skills in combat continued to prevail. As Tirek got closer, the Digimon wrapped his arms around the glowing fist and, using both his strength and Tirek’s momentum, swung Tirek a full one hundred and eighty decrees to the right and flung him into a group of rocks.

-Background music end-

As BlackWarGreymon watched on and the Mane Six being stuck in a state of awe, Tirek slowly rose to his hooves as he began to go over what’s happening.

“This can’t be. No creature smaller than me has such immense physical strength. It’s just not possible!” He then began to think carefully. “He clearly isn’t from this world, and if someone brought him here using that portal, then whoever did it must have powerful…” His eyes were then filled with even greater rage as he looked over to the purple Alicorn.

“…magic!”

Tirek’s horns began to glow with magic, now fuelled by his sudden anger. By the time the Mane Six noticed this, they began to feel very worried for their safety.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!! You and your friends brought him here didn’t you!?” He shouted as he began to charge up a magic beam.

“What! No we didn’t!” Twilight shouted back, but it didn’t stop Tirek from firing a beam of destructive magic towards them.

The Mane Six ducked just in time for the beam to fly over their heads. But the beam exploded on the ground just behind them, creating a shockwave that blew the girls off their hooves and sent them flying in random directions.

BlackWarGreymon couldn’t believe what he just saw, someone powerful attacking defenceless creatures.

“He sure knows how to give evil a bad name,” He said but couldn’t help but feel that this was a reflection of BlackWarGreymon’s own dark past.

Before he or Tirek could continue with their fight, Fluttershy came skidding across the ground and came to a halt, right in-between them. BlackWarGreymon was first to notice the unconscious yellow Pegasus.

“Huh?”

Tirek too noticed Fluttershy lying on the ground. With his anger for the ponies building up, he scraped his hooves against the ground, a sign that he’s going to charge.

As the black Digimon kept staring at the fallen mare, an image of a certain pink flower appeared in his mind. This sudden turn of events made him flinch for a moment.

‘Why? Why does this creature remind me of that flower?’ His eyes narrowed I confusion.

‘I don’t understand!’

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard what sounded like a stampede. His eyes went wide as he looked ahead of him to see the speeding Centaur.

‘She’s directly in Tirek’s path!’

Just then, Fluttershy slowly woke up, opening her eyes only to see Tirek storming towards her and getting ever closer.

“You will be first to die!” He shouted as he reared back on his hind legs, ready to slam his fore legs onto the helpless pony.

Fluttershy could only shut her eyes tight and place her hooves on top of her head.

Fearing the worse, she screamed.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

But her voice was joined by another.

“NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Moving in speeds that could rival Rainbow Dash, BlackWarGreymon leapt on top of Fluttershy, protecting her from Tirek and took the blow to his back.

Tirek was surprised by this, but then had an evil grin on his face.

“You will pay for getting in my way!” He said as he slammed his hooves on the Digimon’s back, again and again.

While Tirek was pressing his assault, one thought crossed BlackWarGreymon’s mind.

‘Why have I got a feeling I’ve been in this situation before?’

He began to think back to when he protected that same pink flower from an artificial Mammothmon.

‘Oh… right.’

After Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity recovered from Tirek’s last attack, they all ran to where they heard Fluttershy screamed. Although they were relieved to see that Fluttershy was still alive, they were shocked to see that she was being shielded by a being from another world.

“He’s... protecting her,” Twilight said while the others were simply speechless.

As BlackWarGreymon looked at Fluttershy to see if she’s unharmed, the Pegasus began to open her eyes as to wonder why she’s still alive, and why she’s hearing grunting noises. When she looked up, shock and realisation began to hit her like a ton of bricks and her voice was barely above a whisper.

“You…You saved me.”

As BlackWarGreymon’s fierce yellow eyes met Fluttershy’s innocent blue ones, one of the Digimon’s questions had been answered.

That pink flower represents life, as it was small and innocent. And because the small pony reminded him of that flower, than it must mean that she’s innocent. And by protecting that flower and the yellow pony, then it must mean that he’s… protecting the innocent! Protecting life!

His eyes slowly narrowed with determination.

“Now I understand.”

BlackWarGreymon slowly raised his head and upper body despite continuously being pounded down.

“If my purpose in life is to protect the innocent…then so be it.”

When Tirek felt the front half of his body being lifted, he tried pressing his front legs down with all his might, hoping to squish the Digimon into the dirt. But he was still being lifted as BlackWarGreymon slowly got to his knees.

“If fate brought me here so I could protect the innocent beings of this world, then I’ll do just that.”

He then quickly shifted his legs so his feet were pressing against the ground.

“I’ll defend this world until my last breath!”

As BlackWarGreymon suddenly stood up straight, Tirek lost balance of his rear legs and started to topple backwards. But before he could hit the ground, BlackWarGreymon quickly went behind him, raised his arms up and caught the Centaur.

What happened next was something that the Mane Six never expected. The black Digimon was lifting Tirek, who was two times bigger and even heavier, clean off his hooves!

“NO WAY!!” Rainbow Dash shouted in disbelief.

“He’s stronger than Tirek!” Applejack said while marvelling the sight that’s in front of her.

Tirek himself couldn’t believe this while being lifted overhead. He began to wave his arms around and swinging his legs violently in the air, trying to loosen the Digimon’s grip, but it wasn’t working.

BlackWarGreymon looked to his side to where Fluttershy was.

“Get out of here, NOW!” He demanded, wanting the Pegasus to get to safety.

Fluttershy did what he said and ran towards her friends. When she reached them, Pinkie Pie gave her a big hug while tears of joy rain from her eyes.

“Oh Fluttershy, thank goodness you’re safe. For a moment there we thought we lost you!” She said while squeezing the yellow Pegasus.

“It’s ok Pinkie, I’m fine,” Fluttershy said before she and her friends turned to look back at the battle. The yellow Pegasus still couldn't believe what had happened.

-Background music, I’m Going Digital by Digimon-

Tirek was thrashing and twisting his body like mad, but he can’t escape BlackWarGreymon’s grip no matter what he did.

“Unhand me!” He demanded, but was not expecting BlackWarGreymon’s response.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

With all his might, the black Digimon threw Tirek overhead and into some trees, throwing up some dust from the impact. BlackWarGreymon then threw himself forward and flew towards the dust cloud.

Tirek knew he would do this and at the right time, he used a telekinesis spell to catch the Digimon mid-flight. BlackWarGreymon was caught by surprise by this and before he could try to fight back, Tirek sent him flying towards the centre of the grassland.

BlackWarGreymon was soon skidding across the ground until he came to a complete stop.

“Ok…didn’t see that one coming.”

As he got to his knees, he saw Tirek hurtling towards him at high speeds, with his horns bearing down on him.

“You’re going down!” He shouted while speeding towards the Digimon almost as if he was flying.

BlackWarGreymon thought of a plan of action and decided to go with it. As Tirek got closer, the black Digimon jumped and did a forward flip over the Centaur’s horns. As he just finished his three hundred and sixty degree flip, he slammed his right foot on the back of Tirek’s head, sending the dark lord straight into the ground headfirst.

Tirek tried to get back up, but his horns were impaled to the ground and wouldn’t budge.

“Hah! He’s stuck!” Rainbow Dash said while laughing at Tirek’s misfortune.

While in the air, BlackWarGreymon noticed this too and decided that this was the right moment to use one of his powers. As he flew down towards Tirek, he raised his arms in front of his head and started to spin.

“BLACK TORNADO!”

The moment he uttered those words, dark energy started to form around his spinning body. Like a missile hitting its target he collided into Tirek’s back and kept on spinning like a drill, hoping to do as much harm to Tirek as he could.

All Tirek could feel was a sharp, agonising pain in his back, as if his skin and fur was being ripped away. As he screamed in pain, he pulled with all his strength to finally free his horns from the ground.

As Tirek threw his head up high to clear his horns from the grass and mud, BlackWarGreymon ceased his attack and flew back fifty feet away, just in front of some trees that were surrounding the clearing.

As Tirek roared out in pain and anger, he fired a continues beam of magic at BlackWarGreymon. But the Digimon not only leaped to the right to dodge it, he started to run along the side of the trees themselves. Tirek tried to follow him with his destructive beam of energy, but BlackWarGreymon was one step ahead of him.

The Mane Six couldn’t believe it, he literally looked like he was running sideways as if the trees were a wall.

After a few more seconds of running, BlackWarGreymon pushed himself off a tree. As he was heading for Tirek, he was tilting his body around the beam. His shield was only an inch away from touching it. By the time Tirek realised he completely missed his target, it was too late. The speeding Digimon came in close and gave the Centaur a punch so hard, it sent him skidding across the ground.

As BlackWarGreymon flew back into the sky, Tirek stood back up, faced the airborne Digimon and charged up for another magic attack. As he did, BlackWarGreymon started to spin on the spot with his arms raised and his body being consumed in spiralling black winds. Tirek then fired another beam of dark magic and as it did, the Digimon dived directly towards the beam itself.

“This is insane! He’s not dodging! He’s heading straight towards it!” Rainbow Dash said while squeezing Applejack in anticipation like a teddy bear. As if she’s watching a super hero movie.

Then it happened. BlackWarGreymon’s Black Tornado attack not only collided into Tirek’s magic beam, he was ploughing straight through the river of magic, completely unharmed, and homing in on its source.

Nopony could have ever anticipated this, to the residents in Equestria what’s happening shouldn’t even be possible. Twilight had read every book in the library about battles and Equestria’s past wars, but even she had never seen anything like this before.

After making his way through the beam, when BlackWarGreymon struck the magic orb in-between Tirek’s horns, it created a loud explosion that eclipsed everything else. As the bright light faded, Tirek was stumbling around while experiencing what could be the biggest headache he’s ever had. After BlackWarGreymon flew around, completely unharmed or unfazed, he landed on Tirek’s back while grabbing onto the dark lord’s horns.

“Gotcha!”

Feeling that this tormentor was on his back, Tirek tried running around, jumping around and tried to throw him off buckaroo style. But BlackWarGreymon was still holding on tight. Tirek then tried to grab him with his hands, but he was just out of reach.

If the Mane Six would have guessed, they would say that the Digimon was enjoying himself.

“GET…OFF…ME!!!” Tirek shouted in a rage, clearly getting tired of this little game.

“As you wish,” BlackWarGreymon said before using his strength to tilt Tirek’s head sideways. After jumping off, the Digimon wrestled the Centaur to the ground. As Tirek slowly got back up, BlackWarGreymon could tell that the end of the fight was near.

If he’s going to end this fight, then he would even have to do it memorable style.

Before Tirek could fully stand up, BlackWarGreymon kicked him hard, sending the dark lord flying across the sky. Thanks to the magic in the atmosphere enhancing his speed as well as his strength, BlackWarGreymon can fly at speeds to a point that he becomes a streaking black blur.

With his newfound speed, BlackWarGreymon was able to fly straight past the hurtling Tirek and stop just in front of him. As he got in range, BlackWarGreymon spun around and slammed the heel of his left foot into Tirek’s head, sending the Centaur even higher in to the sky. Again the Digimon flew past Tirek and then, slammed his right elbow right into Tirek’s face. A snap was heard, meaning that the Digimon broke the Centaur’s nose. Not only that, the force of the hit sent Tirek falling straight down back to earth. As he crashed back down the impact threw a mountain of dirt and dust in the air. As the dust cloud faded, BlackWarGreymon landed fifty feet away from the battered lord.

-Background music end-

As BlackWarGreymon watched as his opponent slowly got back up, Tirek turned to face him with all his magic and all this fury, fuelling the orange orb in-between his glowing horns. His face was filled with rage as blood dripped from the countless beatings to his head.

As the orange orb grew bigger, he reared back onto his hind legs to quite literally, throw his magic attack at the black Digimon who caused him the pain of a kind he had never experienced.

“uuuuuUUUUUUHHHH, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!!!”

With his power reaching critical, Tirek threw his head down and fired the biggest destructive beam of magic he'd ever unleashed. As the beam got closer, BlackWarGreymon just stood there, just waiting for the beam to hit.

What followed next was a large explosion as blinding light consumed the Digimon. The power of the impact sent a shockwave that blew the dirt and dust everywhere around it and clouding the air. As the Mane Six grew sad expressions on their faces, thinking that their saviour didn’t survive the attack, the exhausted Tirek had a look of satisfaction.

“There…I guess he couldn’t handle my true power.”

What followed next was something Tirek or the Mane Six never expected, from the dust cloud, they all heard a sinister chuckle.

“Hmhmhmhmhmhm.”

Tirek felt a cold chill in his spine when he and the Mane Six saw the Digimon’s silhouette through the dust. When the dust cleared, BlackWarGreymon just stood there, surrounded by uprooted vegetation and smoke seeping from his armour.

“That…that must have been Tirek’s strongest attack,” Twilight said while comparing this to the previous times Tirek used magic.

“And there's not one scratch on him!” Rarity said while looking over the Digimon’s armour with her attention to detail eyes.

Tirek was more surprised and more afraid than the girls were.

“Bu-but how! How are you still standing!? That was my true power!” He shouted in disbelief. Tirek couldn’t believe that a creature smaller than him not only took the full force of that blast, but was still standing in the exact same spot as if it was nothing.

BlackWarGreymon’s response was as honest as it was intimidating.

“Was it really? I hardly felt it.”

Tirek’s face was stricken with fear as he took two steps back. Afraid of what his seemly invincible opponent would do next.

“If you wanted to see what true power really is, then let me show you MY TRUE POWER!!”

With his words spoken, BlackWarGreymon jumped in the air and gaining altitude. Tirek knew that the Digimon was about to attack and he had to move out of the way, but his fear was preventing his from even moving.

‘I can’t move!’

The Mane Six too can only look on as they want to see what’s going to happen next.

As BlackWarGreymon got to a good height, he put his Digizoid claws close together, and a small red orb began to form in-between them.

That was when he said the two words that in the history of Equestria were never spoken before.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

As he raised his arms above his head, the little red ball of negative energy in-between his hands went from the size of a pony, to twice the size of Tirek himself, in less then a second!

The moment it stopped expanding, BlackWarGreymon threw the colossal sphere directly towards the wide-eyed Tirek. Because of the fear preventing him from thinking straight, all what Lord Tirek could do…was scream.

As the sphere collided into the Centaur, his scream was both silenced by the blinding red light, and replaced by a loud explosion. Any plant life that’s outside the blast radius were uprooted, and any that were inside were vaporised into dust. The sheer heat from it alone turned a nearby tree into brittle stone, and the shockwave literally shook the ground all around them.

By the time BlackWarGreymon landed, the tremors stopped and the fiery light faded away, revealing a scorched landscape and Tirek lying unconscious in the middle of it.

He had won the battle. But he immediately began to have doubts.

‘It’s done. Those six creatures are now safe, but they have now seen what I’m capable of, and will fear me. I bet any moment now, they will be running and screaming.’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself as if he failed.

As he stood there, thinking of moving on to find answers elsewhere, he was waiting patiently to hear the screams that he thought were inevitable.

But he was wrong, there weren’t any.

As more of the dust cleared, all six ponies were staring, with eyes as wide as dinner plates and their mouths wide open. They were like this ever since BlackWarGreymon used his Terra Destroyer attack, clearly mentally blown away by the amount of power he put into that one sphere.

After what felt like an eternity, Rainbow Dash broke the long silence.

“That…was…truly…AWESOME!!!”

Her sudden outburst caught BlackWarGreymon completely by surprise. He was expecting screaming, not a positive comment about his fight.

Curiously, he turned his head to look at the Mane Six, wanting to hear more of what they’re saying.

As Rainbow Dash continued, the other five girls had smiles on their faces.

“Did you all see the way he totally kicked Tirek’s butt! Especially how he ended it with one strike from that awesomely huge red death ball!”

“We all have Rainbow Dash. He definitely showed that brute a thing or two,” Rarity said while dusting off her tail.

“Him showin’ off his strength was my favourite part. He was throwin’ Tirek around as if he was just a ragdoll,” Applejack said while thinking back to the part where the Digimon dragged Tirek all around the clearing.

“And he saved my life,” Fluttershy said while thinking back to the moment BlackWarGreymon shielded her from being crushed by the dark lord. Which caused her fear of the black Digimon faded away. Twilight walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“He didn’t just saved you Fluttershy, he saved all our lives. All of Equestria in fact,” She said but not without the thought of what could have happened if BlackWarGreymon didn’t arrive and got in the way of Tirek.

“This totally calls for a Welcome To Equestria and Thank You For Saving Us and Kicking Tirek’s Butt party!!” Pinkie Pie said while bouncing all around her friends. She was really excited that now she gets to plan a party for someone from a different world.

As Pinkie Pie kept on bouncing, Twilight heard loud footsteps that was slowly fading away. She turned her head to see that their armoured saviour, was walking away and towards the Everfree Forest.

With the urge of getting to know him overwhelming her, Twilight ran after him. The rest of the Mane Six also noticed this and followed her.

As Twilight was getting closer to the Digimon while being cautious not to provoke him, she felt vibrations in the ground that came from every footstep BlackWarGreymon made.

“…umm…excuse me, sir,” Twilight said in a nervous tone as got right behind him, trying to get his attention.

From hearing her voice, BlackWarGreymon stopped walking, making the Mane Six stop as well. Realising that she was a little too close for comfort, Twilight took a few steps back to join her friends.

“Are you all unharmed?” BlackWarGreymon asked as he looked over his shoulder to see the lives that he saved.

After looking at her friends to see if they’re ok, Twilight answered back. Her voice was still a little shaky from talking to someone so powerful.

“Y-yes, were fine. Thanks to you.”

BlackWarGreymon turned his head back facing forward as he responded back.

“Good. Just be more careful next time.”

Just as he was about to walk away, Twilight spoke out again.

“Wait! I-I was hoping that…umm…maybe…we can talk.”

Her words made the Digimon freeze in his tracks.

“Why would you want to waste your time by talking to the likes of me?” He asked.

His question startled Twilight for a second, making her think that he might have had a hard time back in his world. So Twilight tried to make a friendly approach to show good will.

“Because we know you’re not from this world, and you saved our lives. All we want is to get to know you and …become friends,” She answered with all her friends nodding their heads in agreement.

BlackWarGreymon was taken back by these new turn of events. He was expecting something completely different, nothing like the hospitality he was receiving.

“Really? Even after you’ve seen what I can do? What I just did?” He asked again, confused at what was happening.

“We’ve all seen what you did. You risked your live to save ours,” Fluttershy said with a smile on her face.

“She’s right. You used your powers to protect us. That kinda makes you a hero…our hero,” Twilight said to back up Fluttershy’s statement.

BlackWarGreymon just stood there motionless while silently thinking.

‘They trust me. Even after seeing me in battle, they still want to be friends with me. Hmmm…’

After a few more seconds of thinking, he spoke up.

“Alright, I’ll talk to you,” He said while turning around to face the Mane Six.

“You may hold the answers that I seek.”

Hearing this made the Mane Six smile, for they wanted to get to know him better. Especially Twilight, who was giggling with glee.

Chapter 4: Introductions

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Canterlot, Royal Chambers

Standing on her balcony, Celestia, the Princess of the Sun, was feeling uneasy.

It was only recently that she received news that Lord Tirek escaped from his prison in Tartarus. But it wasn’t that what made the white Alicorn feel tense, it was a strange disturbance in the flow of Equestria’s magic she felt just moments ago. She didn’t know what it was but whenever this sort of thing happens, it means something big. But this however, was much different. It was as if something powerful turned up out of nowhere.

As she observed her kingdom, thoughts began to cross her mind.

‘I can feel it, this strange feeling… I’ve ruled for over a thousand years and this is new even for me.’

Her thoughts were interrupted when Luna, Princess of the Moon and Celestia’s younger sister, entered her chamber and walked up to her side.

“Sister, are you alright?” She asked, clearly concerned about the distressed look on the white Alicorn’s face.

Celestia turned to look at the blue Alicorn with a reassuring smile.

“I’ll be fine Luna. I’m just worried,” She said while turning back to look out of the balcony.

“Is this about Tirek?” Luna asked.

“No, at least not anymore,” Celestia responded, while thinking that there might be a threat even greater than Tirek himself. But what Luna said next caught her attention.

“Is it about the disturbance?”

Celestia whipped her head around to look straight at Luna.

“You felt it too?” She asked her younger sibling. Luna responded with a simple nod.

Celestia looked back out of the balcony to see the happy faces of her subjects, going about their everyday lives. After a short while, she broke the silence.

“If someone… or something caused it, I just hope that its intentions are good,”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Everfree Clearing

After using her new powerful teleportation spell to send the beaten and unconscious Tirek back to Tartarus, Twilight Sparkle went back to join her friends, who were now joined by their new friend BlackWarGreymon.

All of them were sitting in a circle, with their black armoured savior sitting with his legs crossed, in-between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

With all six girls staring at him, BlackWarGreymon was starting to feel uncomfortable and wanted to break the awkward silence.

“So… where do we go from here?” He asked Twilight, knowing that she was the smartest of the group.

“Well… since your new to our world, I guess we can start by answering any questions you have,” She replied, clearly excited of introducing him to her friends and her world.

“Fair enough, I’ll start with something simple. Who and what are you all?” He asked the Mane Six. Rainbow Dash was first to answer.

“I’m Rainbow Dash, the most awesome Pegasus around and the fastest pony in Equestria,” She said while doing a pose.

BlackWarGreymon immediately knew that she was the type that likes to brag about herself. He responded back while having a blank expression in his eyes.

“The fastest of what… boasting?”

His response made Rainbow Dash give a look of surprise, which was quickly replaced by a look of annoyance.

“Hey!” She said while the others were snickering quietly, trying not to laugh.

‘So she’s the fast one,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself, describing his new friends by the way they act and say.

“I’m Rarity and I’m a Unicorn, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”

‘The posh one.’

“Howdy, I’m an Earth Pony named Applejack.”

‘The cowgirl one’

“H-Hi, I’m Fluttershy, and I’m a Pegasus.”

‘The timid one.’

Then out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie jumped up right in his face.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, the pink fun filled always smiling bouncy and adorable Earth Pony who likes to plan parties! Can I plan you a party? Oh please, please PLEASE!!”

‘The hyper annoying one.’

As Pinkie Pie sat back down, Twilight finished off their introductions.

“And I’m Princess Twilight sparkle, and I’m an Alicorn.”

‘The smart one… wait what?’

“Sorry, did you say you’re a princess?” BlackWarGreymon asked Twilight.

“That’s right. I’m the Princess of Friendship,” She replied to her confused friend who now understands.

With that all out of the way, BlackWarGreymon asked the next question he wanted to ask.

“Ok, now where exactly am I?”

This was the part that twilight was waiting for, to introduce him to her world. This was evident from her giggling like a filly. After quickly getting her senses back together, she began to speak.

“Well… I would like to say, welcome to our world called Equestria, a land full of magic and friendship.”

‘Apparently also filled with evil,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself, taking Tirek as an example.

‘Wait, magic? That must be the weird feeling I’ve felt since I got here.’

After processing his thoughts, he continued listening to Twilight.

“And the area your in is called the Everfree Forest, a place where plant and animal life fend for themselves. Even the weather acts all on its own.”

BlackWarGreymon sat there silently, thinking over what Twilight said.

“Strange, you speak as though it’s unnatural.”

“Well it isn’t. I mean the clouds move on their own and plants grow wild,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, but didn’t expect to hear what BlackWarGreymon said next.

“Sounds a lot like the weather and plant life on my world.”

Rainbow Dash’s face was filled with shock. She was clearly surprised to think of a whole world where the weather was in control of itself.

Applejack explained to the Digimon why this was the case.

“Don’t worry about her, it’s just around here the Pegasi move the clouds and control the weather.”

“I see.” He said before turning his attention back to Twilight. “As you are a princess, I guess you are the ruler here?” He asked.

“Oh no… well, I’m one of the princesses here. The pony who rules Equestria is Princess Celestia,” Twilight explained.

“Princess Celestia?”

“Oh yes, she’s really important for she brings the day by raising the sun. so she has a big responsibility,” Fluttershy said while looking at BlackWarGreymon, who’s eyes were full of disbelief.

“She… she can move the sun!? She has the power to move a celestial body that’s many times bigger than this planet!?” He asked while looking around for answers. The Mane Six responded by nodding their heads.

‘Impressive,’ He thought to himself, but was interrupted by Rarity.

“You sound surprised. Doesn’t someone from your world do that too?” She asked, but his answer was something the mares truly didn’t expect.

“No. Back where I came from the sun stays in place while the world moves around it. That and the world spins on its own axis, giving it day and night.”

The Mane Six were completely mind blown of what they just heard. Twilight however was least surprised because the human world she visited had days and nights very similar. Back then she didn’t know how it works… until now.

“So… everythin’ moves on its own?” Applejack asked with a rather shaky voice.

“Pretty much,” He answered before asking another question.

“Tell me, how does Celestia move the sun?”

Twilight answered back with a smile.

“She uses magic, all Unicorns and Alicorn ponies can learn and use magic to do many things. For example.”

With that said she saw a nearby rock and used a levitation spell to lift the rock off the ground. BlackWarGreymon noticed that her horn was glowing purple and the levitating rock had an identical glow around it.

‘Interesting.’

It was at that moment that he turned his attention on something that he hadn’t noticed before.

“May I ask, what’s with those symbols?” He asked while pointing at Twilight’s cutiemark.

Twilight looked to where BlackWarGreymon was pointing and realised what he’s asking about.

“Oh this? This is my cutiemark. You see, ponies aren’t born with these, but when they find their special talent, their cutiemark appears in a symbol of their talent.”

“Oh,” The Digimon plainly said despite still being slightly confused.

“Is there anything else you like to ask?” Twilight asked.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think about it, but for now he had nothing on his mind.

“I don’t have any other questions so far,” He answered.

“Ok, so it’s our turn to ask about you,” Twilight said while growing a smile, looking forward to this moment. “What’s your name? What are you? And where do you come from?”

With those questions asked, the Digimon answered them in that order.

“My name is BlackWarGreymon, I am a Digimon, short for Digital Monster and I come from the Digital World.”

After hearing this, Twilight was silently marveling this moment. She still couldn’t believe that she’s actually talking to someone from a completely different world.

As the Mane Six’s minds were being filled with questions about him and the Digital World, Rainbow Dash was first to ask.

“Ok big guy, how is it that you can fly without wings?”

“It’s just an ability I possess.”

Despite it not being a proper answer, Rainbow Dash let it slide for now. Applejack was next.

“Your armour must be really tough to take hits from someone like Tirek, what’s it made of?”

“Chrome Digizoid.”

“Do you like parties?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I’m not sure, I never been to one.”

Hearing this made Pinkie Pie gasp in disbelief.

“You NEVER been to a party!? Well as a party pony in gonna fix that,” She said while mentally making a list of things to do.

Fluttershy was next to ask a question.

“Excuse me, do all Digimon look the same or are they all different?”

“Although some look similar or even identical, most Digimon look completely different from one another as they belong in different types.”

“Really? What kind?” Fluttershy asked again.

“You name it. There’s flower types, fire types, bug types, bird types, dragon types, and I met one that was a Pegasus type.”

Hearing that last part surprised the Mane Six.

“So wait… there’s Pegasi Digi-thingy’s?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s pronounced Digimon, but yes.”

Then Rarity asked a question that twilight wanted to ask.

“So darling, what exactly is a Digimon?”

BlackWarGreymon flinched at first from being called ‘darling’, but nevertheless answered the question.

“Digimon are basically data creatures that exist in a world you wouldn’t believe.”

Out of all the mares in the group, Rainbow Dash was the one who was most confused at the word ‘data’. Thinking it’s one of the technical words the kind that only Twilight can understand.

“Um, what do you mean by data?” Rainbow Dash asked. That was the kind of question that got everyone’s attention.

“Well, put it this way. Your bodies are made of flesh and blood, a Digimon’s body is made from data. I’m made out of data,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

Without warning, Pinkie Pie rested the side of her head on the Digimon’s left leg while looking at him.

“Really? Because it feels like skin.”

“Yes, and can you get your head off my leg?”

Being near innocent creatures was one thing, but having one making physical contact with him was making BlackWarGreymon feel uneasy. He was not used to others being friendly towards him, but if he’s going to pursue his destiny, then he has to get used to it.

As Pinkie Pie kept looking she noticed his yellow hair, and in a blur of pink she bounced up and landed on his shoulders.

“And your hair, it’s…” Her sentence was cut short the moment she placed her hoof in his hair. “…it’s surprisingly smooth, soft and pleasant to the touch,” She finished her sentence while nuzzling her face within his hair, this made BlackWarGreymon feel really uncomfortable and really annoyed.

“Get off me!”

With quick thinking, Twilight instantly used her magic to teleport her pink friend back on the ground. Then she asked a question that she was fascinated in.

“So, what’s the Digital World like?”

“Just like Digimon the whole world is also made from data. And if you don’t include the evil and the constant wars, you could say it’s quite peaceful.”

Hearing his answer made the Mane Six feel more concerned. Although they battled evil before but in had been a very long time since Equestria was involved in a war.

“Evil? You mean evil Digimon!? They must be quite powerful if they can cause a war,” Twilight said in a worried tone.

“They are, that’s why other Digimon have to digivolve to become stronger to fight that evil.”

BlackWarGreymon stated, again he used a word that the girls never heard of.

“Wait hold up, what do ya mean by digivolve?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

BlackWarGreymon sighed due to the amount of questions he’s getting.

“How simple do you want me to explain it?” He asked.

“So Rainbow can understand,” Applejack said with a smile on her face.

While the other girls were snickering with Applejack, Rainbow Dash was giving them a glare, clearly annoyed. But BlackWarGreymon’s response made them laugh even more.

“Oh dear.”

“Hay!”

As the girls calmed down, they payed close attention to the Digimon.

“Digivolving is like going through life cycles. All Digimon start as a Digi Egg, once it hatches the Digimon goes through Fresh level and then In-Training level. Once a Digimon enters Rookie level, they start getting stronger and with their newfound powers, they are capable of fighting.”

As he continued, Twilight was taking it all in so she can remember every detail of his description. The others were confused at first but were starting to understand.

“As a Rookie Digimon reaches peak fitness and strength, they can digivolve into Champion level. Most Champion Digimon can reach to a size of a building or even bigger. In some cases a Champion can digivolve into an Ultimate level Digimon. With their size either increased or decreased, their power and strength multiplies.”

The Mane Six got surprised looks on their faces.

“You mean even if an Ultimate is smaller than a Champion, they’re even stronger?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, but it doesn’t end there,” He answered. The girls were beyond surprised, thinking that the Ultimate level was already strong enough.

“To most Digimon, the Ultimate level is their limit. But only a few can reach a level that’s considered by many as gods. The Mega level.”

The Mane Six’s eyes went wide as their mouths dropped.

“What’s more surprising is that when a Mega level is unlocked, a Rookie can warp-digivolve to a Mega at will. And if they want to, a Champion, Ultimate and Mega can de-digivolve back into a Rookie.”

After taking it all in, Twilight asked an inevitable question.

“Wow… so, what level are you?”

“I am a Mega.”

The Mane six had a look of astonishment on their faces.

“A Mega!? No wonder you defeated Tirek so easily,” Rarity said while thinking back to the fight.

“So um… when a Digimon digivolves, do their powers change as well?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, their names and appearances can also change,” BlackWarGreymon said while looking at his three clawed gauntlet.

Then Twilight asked another question.

“Since that’s your Mega form, what’s your Rookie form like?”

“I never had one, I was always a Mega,” He said before his eyes went wide with realisation that he didn’t think before he spoke.

He was bombarded with so many questions, he forgot that since he’s staying in Equestria to become a good guy, he has to hide the fact that he was once evil.

“You were born a Mega!? How was that possible?” Twilight asked, eager to know the reason.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think, he had to make something up. He knew if they found out that he was a creation for evil, they would distrust him and treat him as a threat. Although he knew he has to tell them the truth eventually but for now, he has to hide his secret.

“I guess… I was just lucky.”

Despite his simple answer, the girls seemed to believe him. Except Applejack. Being the Element of Honesty she always knows when someone tells a lie, and the Digimon’s answer definitely felt like a lie.

In curiosity, the orange Earth Pony started to test him.

“Are you sure?”

Her response made the rest of the group look at her with confused expressions. BlackWarGreymon however was more surprised.

“What do you mean?” He asked with a hint of alarm in his voice.

“I mean, well from the way you answered Twi’s question, it sounded like it wasn’t true.”

‘She’s onto me!’

“I think there’s somthin’ more to it than you’re letting on. Isn’t there?” She asked with a raised eyebrow in a suspicious way.

“Uhh…

Before BlackWarGreymon could even make a word, Rarity joined in, knowing full well that Applejack was always honest.

“Is Applejack right? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

The armoured Digimon was starting to feel uncomfortable with the tension, but Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were defending him.

“Whow, now hold on AJ. Don’t start saying he’s a liar!”

“Yeah, he just saved us from Tirek, remember?”

Unexpectedly, Twilight answered Pinkie Pie’s question.

“I remember one thing, Pinkie,” She then turned to the Digimon. “BlackWarGreymon, before your fight with Tirek, you mentioned that you were evil. What did you mean by that?” She asked with a worried tone.

BlackWarGreymon froze in place, knowing that she was right. He did say that.

“What are you getting at Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked in a serious tone.

As the five pones started to argue, BlackWarGreymon was starting to get a major headache. He grasped his head with both his hands and closed his eyes tight, hoping to shut out the arguing mares and clearing his mind. But it wasn’t working.

As the argument continued, his headache was starting to hurt him. Fluttershy, who was the only one not involved in the argument, noticed BlackWarGreymon’s distress.

“BlackWarGreymon sir, are you feeling ok?” The concerned Pegasus asked gently, but it fell to deaf ears. The headache was causing him great pain.

Soon the pain got completely unbearable and soon enough, he screamed.

“….nnnnnnnaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH….!!!”

The sheer volume of his war cry was enough to snap the girls out of their argument and brought their attention to BlackWarGreymon as he raised his right arm in the air.

“ENOUGH!!!”

He then smashed his raised gauntlet straight into the ground in the middle of their circle. As dust was thrown in the air and a shockwave traveled through the ground, everything fell silent. When the dust settled, the Mane Six were all staring fearfully at the angered Digimon who was taking in deep breaths, trying to calm down.

After pulling his three-clawed gauntlet out of the ground, he rose to his feet.

“I might as well go. I don’t want to cause anymore arguments among friends,” He stated before turning around to walk away. Shame, because things were going so well.

After taking a few steps he suddenly felt pressure on his left leg, only to discover Pinkie Pie clinging on in an attempt to stop him leaving.

“Please, don’t go!” She said while tightening her grip on his leg.

Before BlackWarGreymon said anything, Twilight caught up with him. She was startled at first when the Digimon looked at her with a fierce glare, but quickly recomposed herself as she talked.

“Look, BlackWarGreymon we’re… we’re all sorry for upsetting you. It’s just… well…” Before Twilight could finish, BlackWarGreymon interrupted.

“No Twilight, you and your friends have every right to be suspicious. I admit I don’t exactly look friendly. And… I apologize for lashing out like that, I’m still new to this whole friendship thing.”

The Mane Six’s faces softened with a hint of sadness as they listened, now feeling sorry for him. But he wasn’t finished.

“And presides…” He paused to take a deep breath. “…Applejack’s right.”

The mares has a look of surprise as they turned to the orange Earth Pony.

“I am?”

“Yes. There is something I’m hiding from you,” He admitted, knowing that he had to tell the truth. Twilight knew that this must be some kind of secret and tried a different approach.

“You know, you don’t have to tell us.”

BlackWarGreymon’s expression saddened a bit as he responded.

“I must. It’s better for you to know now than later.”

“Well… if you’re sure… than ok.”

Twilight sat back down with her friends, followed by Pinkie Pie who let go of the Digimon’s leg. And with him, they all sat back down, completing the circle.

“You see, the reason I never had a Rookie form…Champion form and Ultimate form, is because that I’m no ordinary Digimon,” He explained, making the Mane Six’s eyes widen a bit.

“Why is that?” Rarity asked, earning a sigh from the Digimon.

“In order for you all to understand, I need to tell you the full story,” BlackWarGreymon stated.

“It’s ok, it could help us in our understanding of your world,” Twilight said while the other mares nodded in agreement. Except Pinkie Pie who brought popcorn out of nowhere, knowing this could take a while.

“OK. A while back, the Digital World was at war. Evil Digimon appeared with schemes to take over the world. But with help from some heroes from another world, the good Digimon fought back. Time and time again the good were victorious in battle, and evil were pushed back,” He said before being interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“Sounds to me that the good guys have got it under control.”

“They had.”

“Had?” Twilight asked, letting BlackWarGreymon continue with his story.

“You see, an evil Digimon named Arukenimon, came up with quite an affective plan. She tricked a boy from another world into helping her design and build giant dark towers, which were called Control Spires,” He said while using his claws to draw an accurate design of a Control Spire in the dirt for the girls to see.

The Mane Six didn’t know why, but just the look of it sent shivers straight through them.

“What were they used for?” Fluttershy asked while she and the others turned their attention back to the armoured Digimon.

“They were designed to release energy waves that can prevent Digimon from digivolving,” The Mane Six’s response was a collection of gasps. “With the good Digimon stuck in their weaker forms, evil began to spread and conquer vast areas. That is, until the good Digimon tried something new, armour digivolving.”

The girls listened on with looks of astonishment.

“Because armour digivolving was unaffected by the Control Spires, the heroes destroyed them one by one, and eventually helped the boy who has been taken and made him good.”

“Well that was nice of them,” Applejack said with a smile.

“Yes, but the fight was far from over,” His sentence brought more attention from the Mane Six.

“After that, Arukenimon took a different path. Using her special technique called Spirit Needle, she can use the Control Spires to create Digimon of her own,” The girls were jaw dropped at hearing this.

“You mean like… artificially?” Twilight asked with shock in her voice.

“Yes. That’s why they were known as Artificial Digimon. Although they look identical to their original counterparts, but what makes them different is that they’re mindless, without mercy and completely obedient.”

The Mane Six couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“You mean they only take orders from the one who created them?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yes, but despite this being an advantage on the evil Digimon’s behalf, they were continually being destroyed and Arukenimon kept retreating to fight another day. Due to her losing streak,” BlackWarGreymon said with the last thing he said being a joke, earning some giggles from the Mane Six.

However, BlackWarGreymon’s mood was darkened when he spoke again.

“That is, until one day… it all changed.”

“What do you mean? What happened?” Twilight asked while she and her friends were starting to get worried.

“You see, Arukenimon used one Control Spire to create either a Rookie or Champion level Digimon. And when she wants to create an Ultimate level Digimon, she used ten Control Spires.

“Yes,” The Mane Six said while taking down that he said.

BlackWarGreymon was now finding it difficult to finish, knowing that what he fears was fast approaching. He closed his eyes as he continued.

“Well… she got so fed up of losing, she decided to use one hundred Control Spires to create her first and only Mega level Digimon,” He paused for a second to take a deep breath and when he opened his eyes, he finished his sentence.

“Me.”

The Mane Six suddenly gasped in horror and disbelief of what they just heard.

“Yes, I’m an Artificial Digimon!” His expression saddened further. “Do you fear me now?”

As the Mane Six were slowly backing away from BlackWarGreymon while staring at him in terror, Fluttershy figured out that something wasn’t right.

“Wait a second!” Her sudden outburst gained everyone’s attention. “You said Artificial Digimon were mindless and obedient. But you’re not like that, aren’t you?”

Hearing her made the other girls realise that she’s right. Everything BlackWarGreymon said, and the way he speaks was clearly not from a mindless creature, but from an intelligent one.

“She’s right. How is it that you’re different?” Twilight asked with concern as she and her friends sat back together.

“Well, due to the vast amount of Control Spires used in my creation, it gave me more than just life. It gave me a conscious. A mind of my own. That and my own personality,” The Mane Six were awestricken at what they’re hearing.

“Wow… so in a way you’re just like, a normal Digimon?” Twilight asked.

“I guess so, and at the time I didn’t know what my purpose was or why I was created. So I disobeyed Arukenimon and fled to find my destiny.”

“Wow, that’s deep,” Rainbow Dash said, clearly moved by his words while BlackWarGreymon continued.

“At first I thought my meaning in life, was to find an opponent who’s worthy enough to fight me. Even if it meant fighting other Digimon to do so,” The girls were shocked to hear this.

“Y-You… harmed the innocent?” Fluttershy asked with a hint of sadness and disbelief.

BlackWarGreymon looked at the ground in shame.

“I’ve done more than that. I’m not proud of what I did. I even went to a point where I threatened the Digital World itself,” He admitted.

“What did you do to cause that?” Applejack asked while the other ponies leaned in close.

“The Digital World was kept in balance by objects called Destiny Stones, and I thought my destiny… was to destroy them,” The girls gasped again at hearing this.

“Did…did you actually do that?” Twilight asked while her expression saddened.

“Almost. When there was only one left, one of the four mythical Digimon named Azulongmon appeared,” BlackWarGreymon explained.

“A MYTHICAL DIGIMON!?” The Mane Six asked while being completely in shock.

“Yes, at first I thought that the guardian was the worthy opponent I was looking for. But just when I was about to fight him, he convinced me that there is more to life than fighting and that my life does have a purpose. It was a purpose I had to find for myself, so that’s what I did.”

“So… was that when you changed your ways?” Rainbow Dash asked in curiosity.

“Yes, but it was only when three other Digimon gave me advice at how friendship works,” He said while thinking back to his conversation with Agumon, Veemon and Wormmon. He then turned to Fluttershy. “And in a way, I have you to thank, Fluttershy.

This caught the shy Pegasus by surprise.

“Me?”

“Yes. If I wasn’t there to protect you, than I wouldn’t be able to piece together what my true purpose could be.”

“And that is?” Applejack asked while the others payed close attention even more.

“To protect the innocent,” He began to think back to that same pink flower that stayed in his mind for a long time. “The evidence was there, but I didn’t see it until just moments ago. I know I was created for evil, but being good actually felt right.”

His words warmed the hearts of the Mane Six.

“I think that’s why I’m here, to start a new life of doing just that.”

“Well… I’m proud that you think that way BlackWarGreymon, but there’s still one thing that I think we all would like to know,” Twilight stated while the other girls had looks of confusion.

“What’s that?” The Digimon asked the purple Alicorn.

“How did you get here?”

The other five girls couldn’t believe that they completely forgot about that subject. But listened to what BlackWarGreymon had to say.

The Digimon took a moment to think about it.

“Well… to tell you the truth, I’m not sure myself. But I think it had something to do with my…”

He flinched as his eyes went wide before he could finish his sentence. He then remembered when… it happened. The sharp pain in his chest and the agony he was in when he felt his entire body being hollowed out. He slightly felt the pain itself just by thinking about it.

He looked down at the ground as he placed his hand on his chest where his fatal wound once was. Fluttershy saw his expression and gasped, knowing full well what it meant.

“Something happened to you! Something terrible!”

BlackWarGreymon said nothing. But Fluttershy could tell from the expression in his eyes that he must have went through something truly horrible and equally painful.

In response, she placed her hoof against his leg in an attempt to comfort him.

‘Ohh… you poor thing.’

“Wait, so what did happen to you?” Rainbow Dash asked, but BlackWarGreymon just turned his head slightly away from her as he spoke.

“I…I don’t want to talk about it.”

Twilight could tell that this was something the Digimon truly didn’t want to discuss.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to tell.”

Hearing this made BlackWarGreymon raise his head to look at her.

“Thanks.”

All of them were then quiet for a while, the Mane Six literally had no more questions left to ask him after hearing his life story. Soon BlackWarGreymon broke the silence.

“Well, since I’ll be staying in this world, could be so kind to show me around?”

Hearing this made the girls smile brightly. The idea of him making more friends was making them ever so excited.

“Of course. We’ll be happy to show you around, Ponyville is literally just outside the Everfree Forest and…” Twilight was cut off by Applejack.

“Now hold on Twilight. Wouldn’t the towns folk be uhhh… freaked out from just lookin’ at him?” She asked while pointing her hoof at BlackWarGreymon. Twilight looked at him and realised Applejack was right.

However Rainbow Dash had an idea.

“Your right A.J, and I got an idea. Ponies trust us, so we can just walk into town alongside him so the others would think…” She was interrupted by BlackWarGreymon.

“That I’m holding you hostage to do my biding.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything, realizing that he had a point. Twilight was next to make a suggestion.

“Well, since I’m a princess, I could give an announcement that he’s friendly.”

“It’s gonna take a lot of convincin’ for that to work Twi,” Applejack said before noticing Pinkie Pie with her hoof raised. “Yes Pinkie?”

“What if, we throw a party, and invite everypony!?”

“I don’t think that’s going to work, darling,” Rarity admitted, knowing that no one or no pony would turn up to a party for a scary looking creature from another world.

While the Mane Six were thinking of other ideas that could work, BlackWarGreymon looked at Fluttershy.

‘Hmm… she’s defiantly the shy type, so I reckon that the other ponies must know she’s shy around strangers. So what if…’ A light bulb lit up in his head as he came up with an idea.

“Girls, what if Fluttershy rides on my shoulder?” He suggested, leaving the Mane Six giving him looks of surprise and confusion.

“Me…why?” The yellow Pegasus asked with uncertainty, giving BlackWarGreymon a chance to explain.

“Although your kind and friendly, Fluttershy, but you are shy among strangers and fierce looking creatures like me, right?”

“Um…yes.”

“Well, if other ponies see you riding on my shoulder, it shows that you’re comfortable around me, and…” His sentence was finished by Twilight.

“Make the citizens realize that you’re friend and you mean no harm. BlackWarGreymon you’re a genius!”

Her excited outburst made the other girls giggle in delight, while the Digimon felt appreciated from her positive comment.

BlackWarGreymon then turned to Fluttershy.

“So, you want to go through with that idea?” He asked her, at first the Pegasus was hesitant but was soon eager to help her new friend.

“Umm…ok.”

As they all stood back up, BlackWarGreymon examined his new friends and estimated that they were all roughly over three feet tall, while he was just over ten feet.

As if on que, Fluttershy flew up towards him and rested herself on his left shoulder.

“Comfortable?” He asked her.

“Oh yes, it’s surprisingly comfy,” She answered while making herself more comfortable.

BlackWarGreymon had to admit it, he was starting to like the idea of being kind and being so close to others who were friendly to him.

His thoughts however were soon interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who was jumping in front of him.

“Oh, oh, oh, can I ride on your other shoulder? Please, please PLEASE!?”

She was so eager to have a go she literally bounced high enough to look at the Digimon eye level. BlackWarGreymon however looked rather annoyed by this.

“No. The last thing I need is your high-pitched voice screaming in my ear,” His answer made the mare’s giggle, Pinkie Pie however was steamed.

“What! I don’t have a high-pitched voice!” She shouted in her high-pitched voice.

To prevent provoking him again, Twilight had to put a stop to this.

“That’s enough Pinkie.”

“Ok. Besides I’ve already been on his shoulder and felt his hair that’s soft and smooth…” Pinkie Pie was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“Ok Pinkie, we get the idea.”

“So, are we all ready to head back home?” Twilight asked while looking back at her friends.

“Lead the way, Twilight,” Rarity responded.

‘Well, here we go. No turning back.’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself, knowing that his new life was about to begin.

Soon they all left the clearing and made their way towards the Everfree Forest. Normally the Mane Six would be nervous or even scared to set hoof in the dense forest. But because BlackWarGreymon was able to defeat Tirek all by himself, they knew he’s more than capable of dealing with anything the Everfree could throw at them. Heck, he’s probably scarier than anything they would find in the forest.

Curious to see if Pinkie Pie was right, Fluttershy gently placed her hoof in BlackWarGreymon’s yellow hair, without him knowing.

‘You’re right Pinkie, it is surprisingly pleasant to the touch.’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tartarus

Tartarus, a place where all the evil in Equestria were contained. Where the twisted creatures and evil warlords were banished and imprisoned. It was by all means to keep Equestria safe from harm and corruption. The gates of Tartarus, which acts as an entrance and an exit of the eternal prison, was guarded by a large three-headed dog named Cerberus. Always on lookout for anything suspicious.

But now, the inmates have a new prisoner.

Lord Tirek, one of the most powerful villains in Equestria, was stripped of his power, reduced to a size of a pony and trapped in a cage like a beast he was. Many ponies, even the princesses, were trying to figure out how Tirek escaped the first time. Many theories were made, but only Tirek himself knows the truth. It was the same as how he escaped the second time.

But know, all the Centaur could do was going over how the plan went disastrously wrong.

“CURSES!! My plan was brilliant! Perfect in fact! I had the ponies right where I want them!” He then began to think back to the warrior who wore black armour. “Then HE came along!”

He suddenly felt a dark presence outside of his cage, darker than any magic he possessed. He turned to its source and saw black mist circling on the nearest wall.

It was a portal. And inside, Tirek saw a silhouette of a bizarre looking being with demon-like horns, incredibly thin but incredibly long arms and a huge pair of hands, ending with five long claws.

YOU FAILED ME, TIREK!!!

Tirek was terrified, its appearance was one thing, but its demonic voice sent chills through his spine and into his soul.

“M-Ma-Master, it-it’s not what you t-think! It’s…” He was interrupted by his visitor.

SILENCE, YOU PERFETIC WORM!!! I don’t want to hear any more excuses!” He pointed his finger at the Centaur. “I freed you with the purpose to eliminate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. But you couldn’t succeed in doing that one simple job!

“It’s not my fault, master! I had those ponies in my grasp, but then a creature from another world turned up and ruined everything!”

Tirek’s words made his master’s eyes shot open, revealing a hellish yellow colour.

Did you say…a creature? From another world?

“Yes. He was unlike any opponent I’ve ever fought.”

Again his choice of words caught his master’s attention.

Tell me more. Describe him.” The dark being demanded.

“Well, he looked like a dragon. But he wore armour. With a shield on his back and a helmet with three horns. Roughly ten foot tall and…” He was interrupted again by his master.

Wait… does he have hair? Did he wore three-clawed gauntlets?” He asked, the second question sounding louder than the first.

“Y-Yes he did. What, do you know him?”

Although ignoring the question, the first thing Tirek said made the dark beings’ eyes widen.

'It can’t be, It-It couldn’t be the golden one. Could it?'

While his master was thinking, Tirek spoke again.

“Master, please set me free. And I promise I’ll not fail you again.”

After his plea went to is masters’ ears, he responded back in a vicious tone.

You already failed me! TWICE IN FACT!! And you have the audacity to ask me to use up my energy to free you the THIRD time, so you can get beaten by weak and fragile ponies again!?” He shouted in rage.

“This time the ponies weren’t the ones who defeated me, it was that creature!” Tirek shouted in anger, but at the same time fearing for his life.

Enough with your excuses Tirek!! I think the idea of you imprisoned in Tartarus for all eternity is a far greater punishment then what I had planned.

“WHAT!?”

You heard me. To put it in a way you would understand Tirek, YOU’RE FIRED!!!” He said while turning around to face away from his now former partner. As the portal was closing, sealing the link between Tartarus and his domain, the dark being could hear Tirek begging and pleading.

“NO! Don’t do this to me! I’ll do whatever you want! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!! NNOOOOO…”

Tirek’s voice was cut off when the portal closed permanently, leaving the dark being alone in his lair.

Huh. Creature from another world. If he told that to someone else, they wouldn’t believe him. Just another fib to hide the fact that he’s weak,” He then clenched his fists tight as let out a demonic chuckle.

But I believe him. If it’s not one of his excuses, then it means I’m not the only Digimon in this world.

Chapter 5: Welcome to Ponyville

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The streets of Ponyville were filled with all kinds of ponies, for today was market day in the town centre. Stalls that stretched a far as the eye could see were full of either delicious food of items of interest, and all with reasonably good prices. Well… all except for that one cherry stall.

Nearby was a mare sitting on a bench, away from the loud noise the market was making. Just as she was about to take a sip of water from her cup, she heard something that sounded like distant footsteps. Then after a second later, she heard it again. Unsure if it was just her imagination, she looked at her cup of water and as soon as she heard it again, ripples moved along the water surface. Her eyes widened after seeing it again, realizing that it could only mean one thing. That a big creature was near, if not, in town. What made it even more unsettling for her was not just the ripples getting bigger, but the noise in the market had died down. Quite dramatically.

When she went in the market to see what’s going on, she noticed that everypony had stopped walking and were all looking in one direction. All with wide eyes and gaping mouths. When she looked in the same direction as the rest, she too saw a sight she never thought to see. Coming up the road was the Mane Six and behind them was BlackWarGreymon, who to them looked like a tall, fierce looking black armoured dragon. Just as they were about to panic and flee to their homes, Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke up to reassure them.

“Remain calm citizens, there’s nothing to fear. He is not a threat, he’s our friend.”

Although some ponies calmed down at hearing Twilight’s announcement, it doesn’t seem to be helping most others. But as they got a closer inspection of their scary visitor, they noticed Fluttershy, who they knew as a Pegasus who’s scared of her own shadow, was resting on his shoulder and smiling.

This was truly a sight they never expected, a usually timid pony socializing with a fierce creature. With this and Twilight’s announcement, the ponies of Ponyville subconsciously believe that he really was friendly and ok to be around with. Despite this, they couldn’t help but stare in awe and now a little bit of fear as he and the Mane Six made their way through the market, with Fluttershy finishing up a story she and her friends were telling him.

“…and that’s how we got our cutiemarks.”

BlackWarGreymon was mind-blown at the story he heard.

“Impressive, so you all found your special talents moments after Rainbow’s first Sonic Rainboom?” He asked, with the girls responding with a simple nod.

“Yep, that’s how awesome I am,” Rainbow Dash gloated while flying over her friends. After rolling his eyes in annoyance, the Digimon spoke again.

“Sounds to me that your friendship with one another was destined to be.”

The Mane Six were heart warmed at hearing that.

“Awe…that’s mighty sweet of ya to say that, sugar cube,” Applejack complemented, with Rarity following.

“I agree, you’re quite a sweet talker, darling.”

BlackWarGreymon again briefly flinched at being called ‘darling’ and now ‘sugar cube’.

Unknown to him, though out the entire conversation, Fluttershy kept placing her hoof in his hair every now and then. She still couldn’t believe how soft and pleasant it was for a being so strong and powerful. She even constantly had to resist the urge to nuzzle her face in his yellow locks.

“Hey I know you can fly and all, but how fast can you fly?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never pushed myself to the limit, but I do remember I can fly very fast,” The Digimon answered back, while Rainbow Dash grew a smirk on her face.

“Ok, how about you put that to the test…by having a race against me?”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think about it. It would be nice to test his true speed. To see how fast he can really go.

“If that’s a challenge, then I accept,” He said with a hint of determination.

Before they could continue with their conversation, BlackWarGreymon heard loud grumbling noises coming from the six mares. The Mane Six all blushed as they knew what it means.

“Maybe we should get a bite to eat first,” Twilight said while seeing all her friends nodding in agreement. That was when they heard a very loud rumble, coming from the armoured Digimon.

For the first time in his life, BlackWarGreymon was hungry.

He was surprised as he put his hand on his stomach to sooth the rumble, never before he had the urge to eat.

“Sounds like the big guy’s hungry. Maybe we should feed him something before he decides to eat us,” Rainbow Dash said in a joking manner, making the other girls laugh. BlackWarGreymon however was not amused.

“Ha, ha, ha,” He said plainly before continuing. “But the thing is I never eaten anything before.”

This surprised the Mane Six.

“Really!? Not ever!?” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“No, I never had the need to eat. I guess being in this world changed that,” BlackWarGreymon stated, thinking that he might be right.

Soon Pinkie Pie saw something in the distance.

“Oh, oh, look! Mr and Mrs Cake have a stall of their own! We can get something to eat there!”

Twilight and her friends looked over to where Pinkie Pie was pointing and realised she’s right. Mr and Mrs Cake had their own stall at the end of the market selling cakes, pies, pastries and all kinds of desserts. Eager to see them, the Mane Six decided to pop over to their stall, with BlackWarGreymon following behind him.

After selling a pie to a customer, Mr and Mrs Cake saw Twilight and her friends next in line.

“Why hello Princess Twilight, it’s so good to see you again,” Mrs Cake said, glad to see her and her friends.

“It’s good to see you as well. I see you’ve got your own stall,” Twilight said while looking at the desserts.

“Oh yes, we think it would make quite a profit for our business at Sugar Cube Corner. So what can we get you?” Mr Cake asked.

“Well…” Before Twilight could finish, Pinkie Pie jumped in front of her.

“Oh, oh, we would like some pancakes, with whip cream, berries, syrup and sprinkles!” She ordered, but got no response. “Un, hello, did you get that?” She asked, but still got no response.

That was when the Mane Six noticed Mr and Mrs Cake staring in fear at something behind them. Twilight turned around and saw BlackWarGreymon, who caught up with them.

“Oh, it’s ok. He’s with us,” Twilight said in reassurance.

“Well…ok. W-what can we g-get for you s-sir?” Mrs Cake asked in a very nervous tone.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think about it. Since this would be the first time he’d ever tried food, he had to make his first choice good. He started to think back to a name of a dessert Agumon mentioned a while back.

“Do you have lemon pie?” He asked, officially making it his first.

After the food options were payed for, the Mane Six and BlackWarGreymon sat around a bench, in the shade under a big tree. Realizing he would crush the small chair just from sitting down, the armoured Digimon decided to sit on the ground.

“Um, BlackWarGreymon? Don’t mind me askin’ but…since you never ate before, why did ya chose lemon pie to be ya first?” Applejack asked, she and the other mares were eager to know the reason for his choice.

“A Digimon named Agumon, mentioned about it before. He seemed to love it a lot,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Who’s Agumon?” Rarity asked with a questionable look.

“One of the three Rookie Digimon who gave me advice about friendship. He was also the first Digimon who wanted to be my friend,” He answered while thinking back to his first meeting with the little yellow Digimon.

The girls were amazed to hear this.

“Well, did you became friends with him?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Well…not at first. But I think we did in the end,” He admitted while looking at his dessert.

He soon looked over and noticed Rarity was eating her pancake with a fork.

“Do you have another fork I could use?” He asked her.

With a smile, Rarity used her magic to pick up another fork and placed it in the Digimon’s pie.

“There you go, but how can you pick it up with those claws?” She asked while pointing at his gauntlets.

“Simple,” BlackWarGreymon said before impaling his right claws in the ground next to him, loosened his grip and slipped his arm out of the gauntlet, revealing his five digit hand.

The Mane Six went wide eyed at seeing this.

“What, have you never seen a hand before?” He asked the six mares.

“But, I thought those were your hands,” Twilight stated while looking at his gauntlets, clearly surprised.

“So did everyone else, those gauntlets are known as Dramon killers,” BlackWarGreymon said while lifting his left arm. “I rarely take them off.”

After that had been cleared, BlackWarGreymon proceeded to pick up the fork with a piece of lemon pie on it. That was when Rainbow Dash noticed something.

“Wait a minute. You don’t have a mouth! So how is it you’re able to speak, let alone eat!?” She stated, making the others mentally kicking themselves for not realizing it earlier.

“Beats me,” BlackWarGreymon admitted before continuing. “But I have to at least try this out.”

He then raised the end of the fork between the lower part of his helmet and above his chin, the area he thinks where the mouth should be. He then brought it closer. Then the moment it made contact, the end of the fork with the piece of lemon pie, passed through his skin as if he’s a ghost. His eyes briefly went wide as he experienced the taste of lemon, if not the taste of anything, for the very first time.

The Mane Six were jaw-dropped at seeing this, never before had they seen anything like it. After a few seconds, he pulled the fork out to reveal the piece of lemon pie…gone!

“That was surprisingly nice,” He commented. Before he could have a second bite, Applejack spoke up.

“What the hay just happened there!?”

BlackWarGreymon looked at the orange Earth Pony with a questionable look. Then Rainbow Dash spoke.

“As creepy as that looked, that was awesome!”

“How…did you…do that?” Twilight asked him, definitely eager to know what just happened and how it was possible.

“I don’t know how it passed through, but I think when it did the food molecules turned into data,” He said before picking up a second bigger piece. “And it tastes good.”

With that said he ate the piece of pie in the same way again. The girls still had looks of confusion on their faces, but then decided to go with it and continued enjoying their food.

After they had their lunch, the Mane Six and their Digimon friend all went to town. The six element bearers decided that a tour would help BlackWarGreymon familiarize himself around Ponyville.

During their trip, BlackWarGreymon mentally noted down the key places in town. Twilight had shown him; Sugar Cube Corner, the local school, the flower shop, the spa, the bowling alley (surprisingly), a building where Rainbow Dash learns karate and Rarity’s home that has a name that the Digimon himself cannot pronounce. Although Twilight mentioned about Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s cottage, they haven’t been to those places yet.

As the tour reached its climax, they were all by the town centre.

“And here’s the Town Hall, where important announcements take place,” Twilight said while pointing at a large building in front of them.

Before Twilight could carry on, she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie’s gasping. She just realised that there was something she must attend to.

“Hay guys, this has been fun but I have to get back to Sugar Cube Corner.”

“Already,” Applejack asked her pink friend.

“Yep, I have to get everything ready for BlackWarGreymon’s welcome party!” She explained while throwing confetti in the air.

“There’s really no need for that,” The Digimon said in a slightly serious tone.

“Oh but there is. Everypony here seemed to have gotten used to you and a party would totally help out!”

She made a good point. Although ponies were still looking at him strangely, whey weren’t running or screaming. In fact, some weren’t all that afraid at all.

“Besides, you never had a party before. So you might even have fun!” Pinkie Pie continued.

Before BlackWarGreymon could protest, the pink mare quickly ran past him.

“See you all tomorrow!”

That was all she said before disappearing towards Sugar Cube Corner.

“Is she always like this?” BlackWarGreymon asked the other five mares.

“Ever since we first met her,” Fluttershy answered before continuing. “But I have to get going, the animals are going to miss me if I’m gone too long, and they would probably get hungry.”

“I better head off too, gotta save my strength for the race tomorrow,” Rainbow Dash said before hoof-bumping BlackWarGreymon on the shoulder.

“Ok, see you two tomorrow,” Twilight said before the two Pegasi took flight and headed off in different directions.

Not a moment too soon, the remaining group heard screaming. Up above was a small red hang glider and it was on a collision cause to the group, more specifically, BlackWarGreymon.

Before he could react, the hang glider harmlessly crashed onto the top of his head and three fillies came flying out. Two landed on the ground and one landed in the Digimon’s hair.

One was an Earth pony with yellow fur, red mane and a bow on her head. Her name was Applebloom. Next to her was a Pegasus with orange fur and a purple mane. Her name was Scootaloo. And the one who landed in BlackWarGreymon’s hair was a Unicorn with white fur and a striped mane with two different shades of pink. Her name was Sweetie Belle. All three of them didn’t have cutiemarks.

As the two fillies on the ground rubbed their heads to ease the pain, Applejack ran up to her little sister.

“Are you ok Applebloom!? Nothin’ broken?”

“Nothin’ broken I’m fine Applejack,” She then looked at Scootaloo. “Better scratch the hang glidin’ idea off the list.”

Scootaloo responded to Applebloom’s suggestion with a simple nod. Rarity was next to approach them.

“Girls, where’s Sweetie Belle!?” She asked in a bit of panic, but soon received an answer from a voice that sounds muffled, as if something’s blocking it.

“I’m up here!”

Hearing this made all the girls look towards BlackWarGreymon. Seeing the large Digimon for the first time made Applebloom and Scootaloo froze in place. They then saw something moving around in his yellow hair, then Sweetie Belle’s head and fore legs popped out. She also had a big smile on her face.

“Rarity, Scootaloo, Applebloom! You got to come up here! Whatever this yellow stuff is, it feels so soft and lovely!” She said while nuzzling her face in BlackWarGreymon’s’ hair, completely oblivious that she’s right next to the Digimon’s head.

When she looked down to see her friends, she noticed Applebloom’s and Scootaloo’s fear stricken faces as they appear to be staring at something next to her. When she followed their gazes she found herself looking into fierce yellow eyes.

Surprised by this, she screamed and fell to the ground, and with the other two fillies she ran and hid behind the older mares.

“W-what in tarnation is that thing!?” Applebloom asked while hiding under Applejack’s tail with Scootaloo.

“Applebloom, calm down,” Applejack said, trying to comfort her younger sibling.

“Now Sweetie Belle, is that anyway to treat our guest?” Rarity asked, earning confused looks from the three fillies.

“G-guest?” Sweetie Belle asked while popping her head around Rarity’s tail.

Twilight spoke up as she walked towards the Digimon.

“Girls, this is BlackWarGreymon, our new friend from another world.”

She then used her magic to pick up the fillies and place them next to her one at a time.

“And this is Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.”

“Hi,” That was all BlackWarGreymon said.

Although the three fillies felt a bit awkward, Scootaloo was first to snap out of it.

“Wow. You…look cool. And the fact you’re from a different world makes it even cooler,” She said as she approached him, now knowing he’s friendly. Applebloom soon joined in.

“Yeah, and you look like you can kick anypony’s butt,” She said, seeing that he was unharmed from the hand glider crashing onto his head she can clearly tell that he’s really tough.

“Uhh… thank you?” The Digimon said, still not used to receive good complements. Sweetie Belle was next to speak.

“Umm, sorry for screaming at you earlier, Mr.”

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it,” BlackWarGreymon said.

“Exactly, I’m sure that in time nopony will scream at you,” Rarity said in support. Then Applejack remembered something.

“Wait a minute. Applebloom, what did ya mean by ‘scratch the hang glidin’ idea of the list’?”

Applebloom began to feel awkward as she spoke.

"Well, Applejack y-you see, um…” Before she could go on, Applejack already found the answer.

“Ya were trying to get Cutiemarks from hang glidin’, weren’t ya?”

“Yeah, we were, but obviously it didn’t work,” Scootaloo said while rubbing her head from the impact. BlackWarGreymon took the time to notice that the fillies didn’t have cutiemarks.

“Well, next time try to get ya cutiemark from something safer. I don’t my lil’ sister gettin’ hurt, ok?” Applejack asked while rubbing Applebloom’s head.

“Ok,” Applebloom said, keeping her promise. Not sure how long she’s going to hold it though.

BlackWarGreymon however was puzzled.

“lil’ sister?” He asked, Applejack looking back at him.

“Yep, Applebloom here is my sister,” She said while Applebloom waved her hoof at the Digimon, getting more comfortable around him. He then turned to Rarity, who was standing next to Sweetie Belle.

“And Sweetie Belle is my little sister,” She said while placing her hoof on her sister’s back. BlackWarGreymon then turned to Scootaloo.

“I take it that you’re a sister to Rainbow Dash?” He asked, earning a small giggle from the Pegasus filly.

“Well…no, but I’m like a sister to her,” She replied while mentally wishing that she was her sister.

“Fair enough,” He said, understanding what she meant by ‘like a sister’.

“So, what are you anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked him, but Twilight answered the question with great enthusiasm.

“He’s a species called a Digital Monster and he’s from a world known as the Digital World.”

Although the word ‘digital’ was unknown to them, but the three fillies felt slightly worried when Twilight said the word ‘monster’.

“Digital…Monster?” Applebloom asked in a confused tone.

“Or you can just call me Digimon for short,” BlackWarGreymon suggested, saying the word ‘Digimon’ a bit more clearer for the young ponies to understand.

“A Digimon. Now that’s a cool name,” Scootaloo complemented while walking towards BlackWarGreymon, with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom following.

“Yep, but almost as cool as you,” Applebloom said in honest truth to the Digimon.

“Hey, I bet we can get our cutiemarks for helping him,” Sweetie Belle said to the other two. “After all, we are…” The next set of words were said by all three of them.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

Although slightly startled by their sudden outburst, BlackWarGreymon was touched. Never before he received this much kindness and love from anyone. The inhabitants of the Digital World hardly gave him any similar emotion a tall but here, they only just knew him for a few hours and now a few minutes, and they fully trust him.

One thing’s for sure, he’s definitely going to love his new life in this world.

Then he noticed that the crusaders were yarning, exhausted from their presumably long day. That’s when they all noticed that the sun was setting, a signal that the day was ending. The older mares took note of this as well.

“Well, I guess it’s time to head on home,” Applejack said with Applebloom approaching her.

“Big sis, is it ok if Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo can come over for a sleep over?” She asked, hoping that Applejack would say yes.

“Well, I don’t have any problem with that. So yeah, I’m not stopping ya,” She replied, making the three crusaders smile in delight. Then Rarity went over and hugged Sweetie Belle.

“Hope you enjoy yourself, and have fun,” She said to her little sister.

“I will,” Sweetie Belle replied before joining Applejack, Applebloom and Scootaloo.

“See ya all later,” Applejack said while walking back to Sweet Apple Acres. The crusaders also joined her after waving their goodbyes to Twilight, Rarity and BlackWarGreymon.

“Well, I best be heading home too. A girls’ going to need her beauty sleep.” Rarity said while inspecting her mane.

“Ok, goodnight Rarity,” Twilight said as the white Unicorn turned to leave.

“Goodnight you two,” She replied back, leaving just Twilight and BlackWarGreymon. That’s when the Digimon finally realised something.

“Twilight, is it ok if I stay at your home? I don’t exactly have a place to live in.”

Twilight was surprised at first, but then realised that he’s right about not having a place to stay.

“Sure. You can stay as long as you like. And my castle is big so you don’t have to worry about space,” She said, and actually glad that he wanted to stay in her home.

BlackWarGreymon had a look of confusion.

“Castle?”

“Yes, it’s just over there,” Twilight said while pointing her hoof at a very large crystal palace.

BlackWarGreymon mentally cursed himself, this castle was big enough to be seen for miles, and he just noticed it now!

Twilight saw his expression and giggled.

“You mean to tell me that you haven’t noticed it before now?”

Jokes aside, BlackWarGreymon took a moment to process his thoughts.

“Does Princess Celestia live here as well?” He asked her.

“Oh no, she and Luna live in Canterlot castle up there,” She replied while pointing at the city that could be seen from Ponyville.

When the Digimon looked at Equestria’s capital, he took note that the city was definitely big and it rests on the side of a mountain, as well as a train track that connects Ponyville to Canterlot.

But then, a name that Twilight uttered crossed his mind as he turned to the purple Alicorn.

“Luna?”

“Oh, she’s Celestia’s younger sister, her duties is to raise the moon and bring night,” When Twilight finished explaining, BlackWarGreymon turned back to the view of Canterlot.

‘Princess of the night.’

Chapter 6: First Night In

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Twilight and BlackWarGreymon were both quiet for a while as they walked to the purple Alicorns’ castle, they were both deep in their thoughts.

Ever since Twilight informed the Digimon about the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, BlackWarGreymon felt a tad worried about if they meet for the first time. What if the princesses feared him? What if they like him? What would they think of him? What if they reject and banish him, or worse, try to fight him? All these questions and many more were coursing through his mind like speeding traffic on a motor way. All he could do was hope for the best when that day comes.

Although Twilight had similar thoughts at first, now her mind was on a different subject. Especially how Spike’s going to react to the Digimon, she wouldn’t hear the end of it. But most of her thought patterns revolve around the one thing that BlackWarGreymon was not telling her, and that’s the events of how he arrived in Equestria in the first place. She really wanted to know, but from his previous reactions on the subject and how Fluttershy got very concerned meant that whatever happened to him, it was something that he wanted to forever forget. So she decided against bringing it up again.

When they arrived at the castle, the pair noticed that the front door was large enough for BlackWarGreymon to pass through. Opening the doors, the two entered the main hall. The Digimon had a look of astonishment on his face.

“Wow…this is one big hall.”

“Yeah, but I think every room here is too big,” Twilight admitted, remembering the days when she used to live in the Golden Oak Library, before it was destroyed by a certain horned centaur.

Then the pair heard a voice, echoing in the distance.

“Hey Twilight, is that you I hear?”

BlackWarGreymon looked surprised at hearing the new voice, but Twilight smiled, knowing full well who it was.

“Yes Spike it’s me,” She called out. Then little footsteps were heard approaching them. As it got a little louder, BlackWarGreymon turned to Twilight.

“Spike?”

“Oh, he’s my assistant. A long while ago it was me who hatched him from an egg.”

“Oh,” He said, before his eyes widened when he realised that to him, what Twilight said made no sense.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘hatched him’?”

To prevent any more confusion, Twilight just went out with it.

“Well you see, Spike’s a dragon.”

“Oh, that explains it.” He said, knowing that dragons were reptiles, and they were all known to hatch from eggs.

Not a moment too soon, Spike appeared around the corner. With a rather worried look on his face.

“Oh Twilight, you ok? I’ve heard some strong rumbling in the Everfree. Are you and the others hurt? Did something bad happen? And if not, how was the clearing and…”

His rambling of questions was cut off when the image of a tall scary looking stranger standing next to Twilight caught his vision. His eyes went wide with fear.

“...what is that thing!?”

BlackWarGreymon was starting to get annoyed at being called ‘thing’ all the time.

“It’s ok Spike, he’s a friend. His name is BlackWarGreymon and he’s from another world,” Twilight explained, but since this didn’t help the young dragons’ nerves, he fainted from shock.

The Digimon took the time to analyze the small dragon. He had purple scales with a single row of green spikes going from the top of his head, along his back and ending at the tail, with the tail possessing an arrow shaped tip. His height was roughly similar to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and from hearing his voice, he was no more than a few years old.

Twilight looked at BlackWarGreymon with a nervous grin on her face.

“Uhh, sorry about that. He’s never normally like this.”

“It’s ok, Twilight. I’m used to it,” He admitted, knowing that his appearance alone can strike fear into many. Even Ultimate level Digimon were afraid or intimidated by him.

Upon hearing that sentence alone made Twilight grow a sad expression on her face, for she understood what the Artificial Digimon meant.

“It’s ok, soon nopony will fear you, and they will see you as a friend. I’m sure of it,” She said, her sentence somewhat lifted BlackWarGreymons’ spirit up a little. But it was enough.

“Thank you, Twilight. You know, you’re the first to show this kind of hospitality to me. You’re a true friend.”

The purple Alicorn blushed at hearing the Digimons’ words. He was right, she helped him gain understanding of her world, calmed down the citizens when she and her friends were showing him around Ponyville, introduced him to some of her other friends and even let him stay in her castle.

Signs of one friend helping another. Signs of true friendship.

“Thank you. Rarity was right, you are a sweet talker,” She said, clearly touched at BlackWarGreymons’ hind and honest words.

Now knowing that he had fully gained Twilight’s trust, BlackWarGreymon asked her something he had on his mind for some time.

“Twilight, I like to know more about this world and its history. Do you have some sort of archive of information about it?”

Twilight’s face brightened at hearing this, part of her a bit surprised that he wants to know more.

“Yes. I have a library full of books about everything you need to know. About our culture, our society, our history, you name it,” She said while clearly excited to take him to her favorite room in the castle.

Using her magic, she lifted the unconscious Spike on her back and looked back at the Digimon.

“Follow me,” She said before heading off with BlackWarGreymon following behind.

After some time, they passed by many rooms and hallways. The throne room was the one that got BlackWarGreymon’s attention the most. He saw a large blue crystal round table with what looked like a map on it. He also noticed six thrones around the table and each one had its own symbol on the top. He realised that the symbols looked identical to the Mane Six’s cutiemarks.

Later, they arrived at the library. The sheer number of books alone made the Digimon froze in place, never before he had seen so many books in one room.

“Well, here we are,” Twilight said as she looked at BlackWarGreymon, seeing his expression made her chuckle with laughter.

“You own all these books?” BlackWarGreymon asked, he originally thought that the library wouldn’t hold as many books as this.

“Yeah, I’m really into books,” She admitted, hoping that the Digimon wouldn’t think of her as an ‘egghead’, a nickname Rainbow Dash gave her.

“Into it? You’ve got enough books to fill fifteen Control Spires,” He said with the comparison of the books and the Control Spires in his head.

“So, am I free to pick out a book?” He asked.

“Sure. The ones about history is the fifth shelf on the right,” Twilight said before realizing something. “And, would it be ok if you took those off?” She asked while pointing her hoof at BlackWarGreymons’ gauntlets.

The Digimon looked at his Dramon Destroyers and realised she had a point. Not only he would find it difficult to turn a page, but he could cause damage to Twilights’ books.

He can’t have that, so it’s off with them.

He then proceeded to raise both his arms with the claws pointing downwards. Before he could carry on, Twilight immediately stopped him.

“WAIT!!”

This made BlackWarGreymon pause as he looked at the Alicorn in confusion.

“Can you take them off without impaling them to the floor?” She asked him in a rather serious tone.

“Oh.”

He then laid his wrists flat on the ground and slipped his arms out of his Dramon Destroyers.

“Sorry, I never normally take them off,” He said as he walked past Twilight and towards his destination.

As he walked away, Twilight figured out why he never takes his gauntlets off for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he practically had to fight seemly all his life and had to be prepared for anything. Secondly, his armour looked incomplete without them. Finally, his gauntlets suited him well and it made him look cool, intimidating and badass all at the same time.

Once he’s gone, Twilight went through a stack of books on her desk and picked out ‘Origins of Equestria’. She knew that BlackWarGreymon would be interested in this book since it tells the beginning.

Afterwards, Spike began to wake up and when he rolled over, he fell off Twilight’s back.

“Oh Spike, sorry I forgot you were still on my back,” She said with a cheeky smile to the weary dragon. Spike then rubbed his head to ease the bump on his head.

“Oh Twilight, I had a most weird dream. You were by the front door, standing next to a scary black dragon,” Spike explained, thinking that what happened before was just a dream.

Twilight however only gave him a look of amusement.

“That’s not a dream, Spike. What you saw was real.”

Spike only smiled at her, not taking what she said seriously.

“Pfft, yeah right.”

He would soon eat his own words, because he then heard loud footsteps approaching. He then turned his head to see the very thing that made him faint earlier.

As BlackWarGreymon approached the pair, Twilight saw that he was holding some books in his hands.

“I think these would be enough,” He said before noticing that Spike was now awake. The two just stared before the Digimon broke the silence.

“So you’re Spike?”

Spike flinched when BlackWarGreymon spoke to him, due to his normal voice sounding a little frightening to the young dragon. Despite this, Spike summoned enough courage to respond.

“Uhh…yes?”

BlackWarGreymon tried to talk back as nicely as possible.

“Nice to meet you Spike. Twilight told me about you.”

He then noticed Twilight walking away.

“I’m just going to get more books for you,” She said before setting off, leaving BlackWarGreymon with Spike.

The Digimon looked around and found a large table and a sofa big enough for him to sit down. As he went there to put the books down, Spike slowly approached him.

“So…Twilight said that…you’re a dragon from another world?” He asked in a nervous tone, hoping that he didn't made the guest mad by disturbing him.

BlackWarGreymon stopped what he was doing and turned his head to the side so one of his eyes was looking at Spike.

“I’m not a dragon, I’m a Digimon. And yes, I am from another world,” He said while clearly seeing the fear on the little dragon’s face. He had to reassure him.

“There’s no need to fear me, I will not harm you or your friends. For they are my friends too.”

This seemed to have worked, Spike was calming down and walking closer to him.

“I didn’t catch your name,” Spike said, remembering that earlier he didn’t hear what Twilight was saying.

“I’m BlackWarGreymon.”

“Whoa, cool name.”

While this was going on, Twilight arrived with more books for BlackWarGreymon. Using her magic, she placed them on the table.

“There. Is that all or do you want me to fetch some more?” She asked.

BlackWarGreymon was surprised by the amount of books Twilight gave him. It would take him all day to read the lot alone, and she still has more.

“I think this is enough,” He said, not wanting anymore books.

It was at this moment that Twilight noticed that Spike was no longer afraid.

“I see that you’re getting along well, Spike.”

“Yeah, he’s actually a cool guy,” He said while turning his head to look at the Digimon.

“Thanks for the complement,” BlackWarGreymon said as he sat down on the large sofa while holding a book.

Twilight then looked out of her window and realised that it was night time, and started to yawn.

“Well, I guess we should leave you to it. Me and Spike are heading off to bed.” She said while lifting Spike on her back, with the little dragon yawning as well.

“Ok, see you in the morning,” BlackWarGreymon said as he watched Twilight and Spike leave the library.

Once they got to their bedroom, Twilight woke Spike up from his little nap on her back.

“Spike, wake up.”

“Uhh, what is it Twilight?”

“I need you to write a letter.”
………………………………………………………………………………………….........................

Hours had passed. Twilight and Spike were fast asleep in their beds, and BlackWarGreymon was still reading in the library.

Being a Mega level Digimon meant that he requires very little sleep, due to the unbelievable power dwelling within him. The last time he needed to sleep was after that whole battle over the last Destiny Stone. But right now he’s still wide awake as he would be in the day.

In the course of the past few hours, he read ‘Origins of Equestria’, ‘Equestria’s Animals and Monsters A to Z’, ‘Pony Culture’, ‘Arts of Magic’ and the book he just finished, ‘History of the Crystal Empire’.

“Huh, it seems Tirek isn’t the only evil being in this world,” BlackWarGreymon said to himself, now that he has read about the former ruler of the empire, King Sombra.

Before he picked up the next book, ‘Reign of Discord’, he decided that he read enough history for one day, and would like to read something else.

‘I wonder if she has any fictional books.’

With that in mind, he got up from the sofa and headed off towards a maze of shelves and towers of books. After a minute or two, he found a single self that was labeled ‘Fiction’. But the state of the shelf and the books themselves were dustier than all the others he had seen.

“Guess she doesn’t like fiction that much.”

After examining the self’s contents, he then brought his attention to a book that has more dust than any other book on the shelf.

“Seems she hadn’t read this one in a while.”

After picking the book from its shelf, he wiped away the dust to discover that the book was a tan brown in colour and it had no title. All what’s on the cover was a large square with four smaller squares in the middle. Two of these squares had a strange pattern in them which were identical, while the other two had an identical pair of their own. The book itself also seemed a bit withered and torn near the edges, due to aging.

‘Hmm, this could possibly be Twilight’s very first book.’

Now that he’s chosen a book to read, he went back to the sofa, sat down, leaned back and put his feet on the table in a relaxed pose. Now that he was comfortable, he opened the book to its first pages. On one page was a small diamond symbol and on the other, was a picture drawing of an Alicorn princess, complete with her crown, her royal horse shoes and her regalia around her neck.

BlackWarGreymon began to read the short text that was with the picture.

“Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess.”

He then turned the page to see a similar layout, but this time the picture of the Alicorn had a dark aura around her.

“But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort. Which could only be broken by love’s first kiss.”

Again, same thing when he turned the page, but now had a picture of a red dragon lurking around a tower.

“She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire breathing dragon.”

Again he turned the page, now with a picture of pony stallions in armour throwing spears at the dragon.

“Many brave knights had attempted to free her from this dreadful prison. But none prevailed.”

Same thing again when he turned the page to the next.

“She waited in the dragon’s keep, in the highest room of the tallest tower, for her true love, and true love’s first kiss.”

After reading the text, BlackWarGreymon just stopped.

His vision and mind were fixed on the picture next to the text. The image showed the Alicorn princess, who had a golden glow around her meaning that she was cured from her enchantment, kissing her knight on the lips with their eyes shut. The picture also showed a love heart symbol surrounding the pair from the background.

BlackWarGreymon was now lost in his thoughts. To him, this image symbolizes responsibility, devotion, and love…true love. The Artificial Digimon’s self-conscious was telling him that this could possibly be one of the few things he needs to be truly happy. To spend his life with someone special. Someone he would not only care greatly for, but to risk his own life to protect the life of someone he cares more than himself.

However after a split second, his expression saddened.

If it were even possible, who in the world would ever fall in love with the likes of him? Back in the Digital World, back in his past life, he was mean, ruthless, merciless and was once described heartless. He even once suggested that he would throw his heart away, and only to replace it with malice, hatred, fury, rage and constant battles. And the worst of it, he would not hesitate to lash it all out on the innocent, bringing them nothing but fear, pain, misery, harm, destruction or worse…death.

He was a creature…no, a product built for war.

Even though he was given a new life, a second chance to redeem himself, it didn’t mean that his past wouldn’t come back to haunt him.

Without him saying anything, a single tear escaped his left eye.

For the first time in his life, he felt alone.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..........................
Canterlot Castle, few hours earlier.

Princess Luna had just finished raising the moon and was now on her way back to the throne room. The news of Tirek’s escape was getting to her, to the point where she personally assembled her finest guards to tackle the situation, with Princess Celestia’s approval of course.

When she arrived, Luna noticed that her big sister was no longer feeling uneasy. In fact, she looked calm as she got up from her throne and making her way towards Luna.

“Sister, my guards have finally been assembled and are ready for your inspection,” Luna said on a solder like tone, but Celestia just smiled at her when she spoke back.

“It’s ok Luna, there’s no need anymore.”

As she walked past, Luna had a look of disbelief on her face. After trying and failing to puzzle together what was going on, she caught up with the white Alicorn and walked beside her.

“Sister?”

Seeing the confusion on Luna’s face, Celestia explained.

“I just got news from the warden in Tartarus, he said that Tirek is back in his cell.”

Luna had a look of relief on her face.

“Thank goodness for that. But how was he defeated? Was it Princess Twilight’s doing?”

Celestia’s expression fell from calm to worry and concern.

“I’m afraid not. After interrogation, we found out that he was beaten in a fight against a creature…not of this world.”

Hearing those last four words struck fear on the blue Alicorn’s face. After a moment of silence, she spoke up.

“Sister, could this creature, be the cause of the disturbance we’ve felt earlier today?”

“It seems like it, my dear sister.”

Then out of nowhere, green flames appeared in front of the Royal Sisters and then transformed into a scroll with Twilight’s seal on it.

“A letter from Twilight?” Luna asked.

Celestia only nodded as he used her magic to pick up and opened the scroll. Then proceeded to read it.

Dear Princess Celestia

I need to inform you that today was probably the scariest day of my life.

While my friends and I were having our picnic at the newly discovered Everfree Clearing, we were attacked by Tirek. We tried to fight back but he was too strong. He planned to take over Equestria by destroying us first, and it felt like it was going to happen. At one moment he was actually going to kill us.

Celestia had a look of worry and pure utter shock on her face, but kept reading.

But before he did, something truly bizarre happened. A being, a warrior showed up and stood up to Tirek. I thought it wasn’t even possible but, he defeated Tirek all on his own! He pretty much owned the entire fight. And in doing so, he saved our lives.

Afterwards, we had a conversation with him and in the end, we became good friends. His name is BlackWarGreymon, and he’s a Digimon from a dimension called the Digital World. His appearance is that of a black dragon, but he wore armour that’s as black as Luna’s night. His eyes is a fierce yellow, the same as his hair. He also wears a helmet that has horns a bit like a demon.

I know he may sound scary but he’s a really nice guy.

Celestia couldn’t believe what she was reading, a creature that sounds dangerous was actually friendly. And that Twilight had already made contact with him.

He’s currently staying with me in the castle in Ponyville, and I was wondering what we’re going to do to thank him for what he’s done today.

From your fellow princess,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Luna couldn’t see the letter but from reading the expression on Celestia’s face, it must be about something big.

“Sister?”

Chapter 7: A Royal Meeting

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The sun was rising over the horizon. It was morning, a sign that it was time for the inhabitants of Equestria to wake up and enjoy the day. But some ponies really to sleep in and wanted to stay in bed more.

Twilight Sparkle was one of them.

The sunlight penetrating her eyelids was making the young Alicorn uncomfortable as she tossed and turned in her bed, trying to get more sleep. Unable to take it anymore, she opened her eyes with an annoyed look.

“Great, morning,” She said in a sarcastic tone.

As she tried to get back to sleep by burying her face in her pillow, she heard and felt her stomach growling, demanding for food.

“Guess I go and make breakfast then,”

As she got out of her bed, she noticed that Spike’s bed was empty. She figured be probably went ahead to get breakfast first. She then left her room and went off to the kitchen. But on her way there, she saw Spike peeking his head around the entrance to the library. Curious of what’s going on, she walked up to her number one assistant.

“What are you doing, Spike?” She asked, making the young dragon yelp in surprise. When he turned to face Twilight, he was rubbing the back of his head as he had something to ask her.

“Umm, Twilight… did you give sleeping arrangements for BlackWarGreymon?”

Twilight’s eyes widen in shock, she couldn’t believe she forgot all about that.

“Oh my gosh! I didn’t, I completely forgot. What kind of friend invites a guest around and forgets the sleeping arrangements!? I’m a terrible host,” She said in alarm and panic.

“Twilight, calm down. I don’t think that matters right now,” Spike said, trying to calm Twilight.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked with confusion on her face.

Spike just motioned his claw over to the library entrance so Twilight could see what he’s on about. Peeking through the entrance, the Alicorn saw BlackWarGreymon, still sitting on the sofa reading books.

“He’s still reading,” The small dragon said in disbelief as he poked his head through the entrance.

To their surprise, they haven’t gone unnoticed. BlackWarGreymon could hear them talking.

“Don’t you two know it’s rude to lurk in doorways?”

Hearing that made Twilight and Spike froze in place, apparently he had a good sense of hearing. After shaking it off, the pair entered the library and walked over to the Digimon.

“Did you spend all night reading?” Twilight asked him.

“Yes,” BlackWarGreymon plainly said as if it wasn’t a big deal. Then Spike joined in.

“But, don’t you need your sleep?”

“I’m a Mega level Digimon, I hardly sleep at all.”

This Twilight didn’t expect from him. Normally, powerful beings would need a lot of sleep to regain their full strength. Apparently not him.

“Are you saying that you never slept in your life!?”

“Not exactly, I did sleep once before.”

The small princess was impressed that a powerful being like him needs hardly any sleep. He must have a lot of energy to keep going.

“Wow.”

Soon she was snapped out of her state of awe by her stomach growling.

“Umm, I’m going to have some breakfast. Are you hungry?”

After a quick thought, BlackWarGreymon placed a closed book on the table as he stood up on his feet.

“I could do with something to eat.”

It was at that moment Twilight saw something on the table. It was a book that looked very familiar but something she hadn’t read in a long time. She then went to the table and picked up the book with her magic.

She was startled, although the book had no title, but she immediately knew what it was.

“My first…Where did you find this?” Twilight asked BlackWarGreymon.

“That? I found it on the fiction shelf. It was also covered with thick dust.”

After hearing his response, Twilight just stared at the book that’s now being held in her hooves.

“That’s why I couldn’t find it,” She said to herself, her voice just above a whisper.

“Twilight, I thought you didn’t like fiction,” Spike said, confused by the fact that the purple Alicorn normally wasn’t into fictional books. Except Daring Do of course.

“Spike, this book is the first story book I’ve ever had. My mother used to read this to me when I was just a little filly,” She said with a smile while getting flashbacks of her childhood.

Then she realised something.

“You read this?” She asked BlackWarGreymon.

“Yes.”

“Well, did you like it? I hope it wasn’t too childish.”

“Not at all, it was actually an interesting read. And it does make you think though.”

The Digimon began to remember back last night when he first read it.

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked, finding that the last thing BlackWarGreymon said was rather odd.

“Uhh… never mind,” He said, he himself found it strange that his mind experienced thoughts like the ones from last night.

“Well anyway, thank you for finding this book,” Twilight said as she walked up to BlackWarGreymon, and wrapped her forelegs around his right leg.

The Artificial Digimon froze in place, never in his life had anyone gave him a hug before.

“I really appreciate it,” She said as she tightened her hold. Although this was new to BlackWarGreymon, but he could feel it that deep down, he was starting to like this kind of affection.

“You’re… you’re welcome.”

Afterwards, Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon left the library. But after the Digimon got his gauntlets back. He had to admit, he felt more comfortable wearing his Dramon Destroyers. During their trip from the library to the kitchen, Spike kept asking BlackWarGreymon about the Digimon and the world he’s from.

“So, are there dragon type Digimon?”

“Yes. There are all kinds of creatures in the Digital World. Some either looked like animals or flowers and rocks. I think I even saw one that looked like an egg with legs.”

Hearing that made Twilight giggle in amusement, while Spike just went out with it and burst out laughing his head off. After catching his breath from rolling around on the floor, he spoke.

“S-se-seriously? A walking talking egg? That’s hilarious!”

Soon enough, they arrived in the kitchen and were having breakfast. Spike had a bowl of gemstones, Twilight had a hay sandwich and BlackWarGreymon decided to have a bowl of soup. He also decided to try and eat with his gauntlets on, since only his thumbs were free to grab. At first it was difficult to grab the spoon but he quickly got the hang of it.

“You can actually eat gemstones?” The Digimon asked Spike.

“Yep, all dragons in Equestria eat gems and gold,” Spike said before realizing something.

“And how can you eat without a…” He was cut off when he saw BlackWarGreymon put the spoon of soup through the area where his mouth would be, and then pulled put the spoon which was now empty.

“Oh,”

That was all Spike said.

“Twilight, this soup is very tasty,” The Digimon said, who was still new to food.

“Well, glad you like it,” Twilight said feeling good that her guest appreciates her food. But ever since last night, she kept wondering why BlackWarGreymon didn’t want to talk about the events that brought him to her world. But again she had to get her mind off the subject, she didn’t want to upset him as he was enjoying himself.

After breakfast, the three were heading back to the library. But on their way there, they heard the front castle doors opening and a stampede of hoofsteps heading towards them.

Thinking it might be a threat, BlackWarGreymon stood in front of Twilight and Spike and raised his metallic claws to his sides, ready for battle. The purple princess was surprised by his actions, she only knew him for a day and already he would stand in the face of danger to protect her.

But a fight wasn’t to come. To the Digimon’s surprise, the hoofsteps turned out to be Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity. Although Twilight was happy to see her friends, she was a little confused as to why they were all running.

“Twilight!” They all called out as they stopped to a halt in front of her. Not noticing that BlackWarGreymon was still in battle position.

“Whoh girls, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, unsure why her friends looked startled.

Pinkie Pie was the one who answered her question.

“What? Haven’t you heard? Princess Celestia is coming to visit!”

Twilights’ expression went from normal to mild shock.

“Oh.”

While Spike seemed happy about the news, eager to see the sun princess, BlackWarGreymon unfortunately had complete shock written all over his face.

‘She knows I’m here!?’

He then turned to Twilight.

“Twilight, this is about me isn’t it? How did she know about me?”

Despite the alarm in BlackWarGreymon’s voice, Twilight answered calmly.

“Oh, I told her about you in a letter.”

“Oh…”

BlackWarGreymon responded in a calm, understanding manner. But it was quickly replaced with alarm.

“…YOU WHAT!”

“Well, Celestia is the ruler of Equestria. She does have the right to know darling,” Rarity said, trying to bring sense to the Digimon.

“I know. But it’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?” He asked while calming down.

“I actually kind of agree. I thought she would write a letter back to me, not actually coming here herself,” Twilight admitted.

“Yeah, and in most fanfictions, we normally bring the special guest to the princess. But this is different. Now she’s coming to us,” Pinkie Pie said in a happy tone, while the others just stared at her with confused looks.

“What ‘fanfictions?’” BlackWarGreymon asked the pink pony, but Fluttershy answered first.

“Never mind, it’s just Pinkie Pie.”

“Ok, but anyway I still haven’t settled in yet. I’m not ready.”

“Wow, you’re more socially awkward then Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Hey,” Twilight said in protest, despite knowing that the Pegasus was only joking around.

“Don’t worry big fella, I’m sure you’re gonna do just fine,” Applejack said, reassuring the Digimon.

“Yeah. And we’ll be right by your side,” Rainbow Dash added while everypony else nodded in agreement.

Again, BlackWarGreymon was touched by the ponies’ kindness, but he was still unsure what Princess Celestia was going to think of him.

Unfortunately for him, that time was fast approaching. Because all of them could hear a chariot approaching from outside. The first royal meeting was imminent.

Twilight could see the uncertainty in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes and had an idea of how to make him feel better.

“Girls, Spike, stay here with BlackWarGreymon for now. I’ll go out there and… smooth things over first.”

Spike and the girls knew what Twilight meant, and nodded in response.

After taking a quick glance at the Digimon, the purple Alicorn went past the front doors while being confident and nervous at the same time.

Once she was outside, Twilight saw the chariot, pulled by four royal guard Pegasi, descending from the sky. Sitting on the chariot was Princess Celestia herself, all in her royal glory.

After the chariot landed, the white Alicorn climbed out and walked to Twilight. With the smaller Alicorn walking towards her.

“Princess Celestia, it’s good to see you…” Twilight was cut off when Celestia wrapped her right foreleg around her and pulled her in for a hug. Twilight was surprised by this, when she looked up she saw the smile on the sun princess’ face.

“It’s so good to see you unharmed, Twilight Sparkle. I hope you and your friends weren’t hurt in anyway,” Celestia said with concern and worry.

“No, we’re fine, really,” Twilight said, trying to reassure the white Alicorn.

Hidden in the darkness of the open entrance, the five mares, the dragon and the Digimon were watching this touching moment.

“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” Pinkie Pie said while admiring the sight.

“Yes it is, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said in response.

While all of them were quiet, BlackWarGreymon just stared at the two, mainly Celestia.

“They both seem deeply connected,” He said to the mares in curiosity.

“Well you see, when Twilight was a Unicorn, Celestia was her teacher and mentor,” Rarity informed him.

“Twilight was her student?” He asked, with Spike getting his attention.

“Yes she was, and I was by her side the whole time.”

After they finished talking, BlackWarGreymon looked back at the two Alicorns. Even at this distance, he could defiantly sense the power within Celestia. Although it was not as strong as Tirek’s, but it was stronger than any pony he met so far.

However, he was not the only one who can sense power from others.

Princess Celestia too could feel the power of the strange being inside Twilight’s castle. She never felt anything like it before, it felt so… unnatural. It’s almost like the Alicorn Amulet, except that this was far stronger. Admittedly, at first she didn’t believe what she read in Twilight’s letter. But now the evidence was right there, in front of her.

Raising her head and letting go of Twilight, she looked at the smaller Alicorn with a stern look.

“Is he here?” She asked, already knowing what the answer was.

“Yes, he’s in the castle with my friends,” Twilight answered, but slightly worried about what Celestia would say next.

“Very well, may he show himself so I can meet him?”

Hearing that made Twilight excited and nervous at the same time again. Excited that she gets to introduce BlackWarGreymon to Princess Celestia, but nervous at how she would react.

“Uhh, yes of course.”

She then looked at the castle entrance and motioned her hoof, telling her friends to come out. When Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew out, Twilight spoke again.

“Princess Celestia, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to, BlackWarGreymon.”

As on cue, Celestia heard loud footsteps coming from the entrance. As Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Spike walked out, BlackWarGreymon himself stepped into the light, walking in the same pace as his new friends.

As the gang made their way to the two Alicorns, Celestia froze in place with a wide eye look. As she watched BlackWarGreymon getting closer, the more his intimidating appearance matches his description in Twilight’s letter. As clear as day, she could see his three-horned helmet, his strong black armour, his yellow hair, his dragon-like look and his fierce yellow eyes. It was the eyes that sent a shiver down her spine, they looked as if they’re artificial and that they don’t belong to a living being. In a way, they looked as though they shouldn’t even exist.

Celestia then felt an emotion deep down inside of her starting to spark into life.

Fear.

But not from this strangers’ appearance, but from what he did upon his arrival.

At the time, Tirek was only half as strong as he was when he attacked Canterlot a few months back. And even at the stage when his power was only half, not even the combined strength of herself and Princess Luna would be enough to defeat him. It would either take a miracle, powerful magic, a massive army or a giant monster to stand a chance against Tirek. But this, this she definatly never thought possible. A creature smaller than the evil lord, defeating him all by himself and according to Twilight’s letter in record breaking time!

To even possess such power was thought to be insane. But right in front of her, was living proof that it wasn’t.

As all these thoughts entered Celestia’s mind, the spark of fear inside of her burned. Although she’s trying to put on a brave face, but deep inside, she was terrified. If he wanted to, the armoured Digimon literally has the power to conquer Equestria with virtually no opposition in his way. She hoped he really was what Twilight said about him. A protector. A friend.

As he approached her, BlackWarGreymon was slightly startled by Celestia’s appearance. She was taller than any pony he’s seen. From the base of her hoof to the tip of her horn, she was roughly five foot six inches tall, about half the size of himself. Like Twilight she too was an Alicorn, with fairly large wings and a horn that looked as though it could poke someone’s eye out. Unlike Twilight, she was wearing royal jewellery. She wore golden horse shoes, a golden crown with a purple gem in the centre and a golden regalia around her neck, which also has a purple gem. Her fur was as white as snow and her cutiemark was that of the sun. To BlackWarGreymon, the strange thing about her was her mane and tail. Like Rainbow Dash, they were striped but them having a lighter shade of blue, green, indigo and pink. But what was strange about them was the fact they were sparkling and waving, as if they were in the wind even though there was none.

Afterwards, BlackWarGreymon stopped about seven feet away from Celestia. His intimidating but yet curious eyes meeting her fearful ones as he looked down at her. But she wasn’t the only one, all four of her royal guards were trembling in fear at the sight of their visitor.

As silence continued between the white Alicorn and the black Control Spire Digimon, Twilight spoke.

“Umm… BlackWarGreymon, meet Princess Celestia,” She said proudly, despite the awkwardness of the situation.

Knowing the silence wasn’t going anywhere, BlackWarGreymon tried to make a good first impression.

“So, you’re the ruler of this world Twilight told me about.”

Celestia felt a tidal wave of fear when she heard his voice. The way it sounds was like the type that whatever he does, he wouldn’t care about any consequence. To her, it was a voice of a being who doesn’t care, who only brings violence, destruction and malice.

BlackWarGreymon immediately sensed the increase of fear and tried a different approach.

“You’re the one who raises the sun and brings day to your land, is that true?”

Celestia had to answer his question, having no idea what he might do if she doesn’t tell him.

“Uhh… y-yes,” Her voice was shaky, as fear was gripping her throat.

But what the Digimon said next was something she didn’t expect at all.

“Wow. Even by my standards, that kind of power is greatly admired. I see why your subjects love you such.”

The moment BlackWarGreymon said that, all the fear in Celestia was gone. And instead, was replaced by awe and surprise, which was then joined by happiness. The fact that a powerful being like him actually admires what she does on a daily basis. And, despite his voice, what he said was perhaps one of the nicest things someone had ever said about her.

‘Oh there he goes again with his sweet talk,’ Twilight thought to herself, still amazed how calm BlackWarGreymon was despite what he said back in the castle.

“And there’s no need to fear me. I do not wish to harm you or your subjects. They’re my friends,” He continued, and that’s when he realised that the rest of the Main Six and Spike were bowing.

Twilight motioned her hoof at him, telling him that he needs to bow as well. At first glance, it seemed that the Digimon couldn’t understand what the purple Alicorn was trying to imply.

But deep down, he understood perfectly, but refuses to do so. To him, bowing means one subjecting to another, and he didn’t like the idea of doing such things to an inferior being.

Celestia can also see what Twilight was doing and spoke up.

“It’s ok Twilight, there’s no need for him to bow.”

Twilight looked at Celestia in confusion. To them, bowing shows respect to royalty, and what BlackWarGreymon was doing was disrespectful. But she then remembered that when she first met him, he didn’t bow back then. What Celestia was doing was either respecting that he’s the type who doesn’t bow before others due to his past, or because she’s still afraid and didn’t want to offend him.

BlackWarGreymon felt slightly relieved, because of his past he bows to no one. Then it was Celestia’s turn to ask a question. Her voice getting more confident.

“Tell me, is it true that you’re responsible for Tirek’s defeat?”

BlackWarGreymon figured that Twilight would have mentioned that in her letter. He then answered the question.

“Yes.”

Celestia didn’t know what to feel, her emotions were now mixed. But with the fact that she was convinced he’s good, she knew exactly what to say.

“Well. For that, I personally thank you BlackWarGreymon…” To everyone’s surprise, even to the royal guards, Celestia spread her wings and bowed to the Digimon. “…for saving my subjects from Tirek’s wrath.”

She then raised her head to look at BlackWarGreymon, but this time with a heart-warming smile.

“If it wasn’t for you, Twilight and her friends wouldn’t even be here.”

For the first time in his life, BlackWarGreymon felt a little embarrassed. He would be blushing if he was capable of it, but despite this, he felt really appreciated to being thanked for once.

He was starting to really like being the good guy.

“Uhh, thank you, princess. But it’s nothing special, I fight practically all the time.”

His response made everypony look at him in disbelief.

“What?” He asked.

Twilight spoke first.

“’Nothing special’? D-Don’t you even realise the threat Tirek posed?”

BlackWarGreymon looked at Twilight with a confused look. Then Celestia spoke.

“She’s right. Tirek would have taken over Equestria if it weren’t for you.”

It was the Digimon’s turn to have a look of disbelief.

“Seriously? Is Tirek really that much of a threat?” He asked while looking at his friends, only to see them nodding their heads saying yes.

“Yes. Tirek’s considered to be the most powerful villain known so far. It would take a great deal from us to even stand and fight him,” Twilight said while remembering the time when she fought Tirek. At the time, she had the combined magic of herself, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence.

BlackWarGreymon still couldn’t believe how powerful Tirek sounded, but the Centaur was a mere pushover compared to him. In the fight, he never stood a chance.

“I trust your battle wasn’t too much for you, considering that you defeated him all on your own?” Celestia asked BlackWarGreymon, but his answer was opposite of what she was expecting.

“’Too much?’ The fight ended too quickly, I didn’t have a chance to make fun of him.”

His response made Spike and the Mane Six giggle in amusement, even Celestia cracked a chuckle.

“So you are as powerful as Twilight said you were,” The sun princess said, still surprised that he was able to defeat Tirek all on his own.

“Guess I am,” The armoured Digimon replied.

After some silence, Celestia had an idea.

“Again, thank you for saving us. And as a reward for your bravery, I would like to personally give you a tour around Canterlot Castle.

The group were awe-stricken. The sun princess was giving her thanks and awarding him on the same day. The Main Six were proud of BlackWarGreymon for his accomplishments he achieved since he arrived. Although the royal guards were mentally praying that he would say no, BlackWarGreymon figured it would be a great idea, so he would get to see more of Equestria.

“Princess Celestia, I will gladly accept your offer,” He said as politely as possible. While the guards were cursing themselves, everyone else grew smiles on their faces.

“Wonderful,” Celestia said as she made her way back to her chariot. As she climbed on, she looked back at Twilight.

“You and your friends are welcome to come along, Twilight,” She said.

The Mane Six were excited that they could tag along with their new friend. But Rainbow Dash pointed out something.

“Wait. Are those four guards able to pull all of us?” She asked, but Celestia was one step ahead of her.

“It’s ok,” She then sent out a signal with her magic, summoning another chariot with four more guards from the sky.

“I always have a backup.”

‘Well, she came prepared.’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself.

As the group made their way to the chariots, Twilight noticed Spike wasn’t following them.

“Aren’t you coming with us?” She asked the young dragon.

“Nah, you go on ahead. I still got some things to do here,” He replied, while knowing about a secret pile of gemstones back in his room just begging to be eaten.

“Ok, take care of the place while we’re gone Spike,” She said before getting on the second chariot with the rest of the Mane Six.

As BlackWarGreymon walked over to them, Celestia called him over.

“If you like, BlackWarGreymon. You can ride with me.”

Normally, BlackWarGreymon would refuse and chose to fly instead. But he didn’t want to offend the sun princess.

With that in mind, he stepped onto the chariot and stood next to Celestia. The royal guards were shaking in their armour with the thing they fear standing behind them.

“If you don’t mind, I prefer to stand,” He said to Celestia.

“As you wish.”

Soon the two chariots set off and took to the sky. The Mane Six were waving goodbye to Spike as he waved back.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Pinkie Pie shouted, earning some laughs from her fellow pony friends.

Celestia was silent, but then looked over to BlackWarGreymon, who was looking down at Ponyville from above. He saw all the ponies getting on with their lives, happy as can be.

“You saved all those lives down there, and many more,” She reminded him.

The Digimon then turned his head so he was facing the white Alicorn.

“And in time, I’ll do it again,” He said, earning another smile from Celestia.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Canterlot Castle, Luna’s tower

While she was escorted by her bodyguard, Princess Luna was troubled.

Many thoughts crossed her mind. How did Tirek escaped again? Who was this mysterious being from another world? How in the world was he able to defeat Tirek on his own? And why did Celestia insisted that she would confront him alone?

These and many more questions filled her mind, causing her distress. Her guard took note of this.

“Princess Luna, are you feeling alright?” The concerned Unicorn stallion asked.

“I’m fine, thank you. I’m just… troubled that’s all,” Luna replied, this got the guard more curious.

“Ohh? What about?”

“Recent events. First the magic disturbance, then Tirek’s escape and now this… strange being.”

That last bit left the guard confused.

“Strange being?”

“Yes. Apparently he was responsible for Tirek’s defeat,” She informed him.

“Really?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yes. Before she left to meet him, my sister dubbed him as our ‘saviour’.”

The guard had a look of astonishment.

“Wow, never thought anypony can stop Tirek alone.”

What Luna said next sent a chill in the guards’ spine.

“I assure you, our saviour is no pony.”

After that there was a long silence as they made their way to Luna’s chambers. Before the night princess could enter, the guard got her attention.

“Umm… your highness?”

“Yes?”

As Luna looked at him, the guard was finding it difficult to put his words together. But finally he managed to spit it out.

“Um…I-I was just wondering…um…if you and I would like t-to...go out sometime?”

Luna sighed in annoyance. This wasn’t the first time a stallion asked her out for a date. Ever since she returned from her one thousand year imprisonment in the moon, many noble stallions and gentlecolts asked her for a date or more painfully, just outright get married!

But Luna rejected all of them. At the time it was only frequent, but ever since she accidently caught a bouquet of flowers at one of the weddings she attended, literally every stallion who were single asked her, but she still refused.

There was a reason Luna constantly rejected their offers. It’s because she believes that whoever she wants to spend her life with, she must fall in love with him first. If not right away, then at least find someone interesting enough for her to try and see any connections between the two. Someone who understands her. Until then, Luna felt she wasn’t ready.

“I… appreciate the offer. But I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

Despite being rejected, the guard tried to regain his pride.

“Oh… it’s ok. Never mind. My mistake.”

‘And there goes my pride.’

With that, Luna entered her chamber, leaving the guard alone mentally cursing himself.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash, coming from Luna’s chamber.

“Princess Luna!” He shouted as he burst his way through the door, only to discover that the whole room was full of rubble.

As he looked around he saw a giant hole in the wall with something moving in the dust cloud. Then he saw huge crimson red eyes glowing through the cloud, and staring at him. As the creature turned its massive head towards the guard, it revealed to be an enormous yellow dragon.

As its hungry eyes stared down at the guards fearful ones, it smelled him. And then it spoke with the voice of a male demonic beast.

“A Unicorn. Tasty and ripe with magical flavour.”

Before he could take a bite, something in the corner of his eye got his attention. It then set his sights on the far wall to see Princess Luna, who was knocked out cold from the falling debris.

“An Alicorn!? Never tried those before.” He said before retreating his head from the hole. And to the guards’ horror, a four clawed hand reached out and grabbed the unconscious princess.

After claiming his prize, the dragon flew away, causing the tower itself to shake a little. The guard then ran towards the gaping hole in the wall, and along with the other guards and panicking citizens, watched the dragon fly off with his captive.

The guard took note of the dragon’s appearance, Apart from him having red eyes and yellow scales, his whole body was very long, almost like a serpent. From nose to tail, he was about one hundred and thirty meters long, probably making him the longest dragon to have come to Equestria. His wings were small for his size but were still capable of flight. A row of white spikes from the back of his head to the end of his tail. A cluster of long spikes at the tip of his tail. A small horn on its long snout and on each side of his head were three horns.


The guard then ran back towards the corridor as fast as he could.

“I must inform Princess Celestia at once!”
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Canterlot Castle gardens, five minutes after the attack

The two chariots, one holding the Main Six and the other holding Princess Celestia and BlackWarGreymon, were heading towards the landing spot. During their trip, the armoured Digimon took the time to look at the city of Canterlot. Unlike Ponyville, literally everypony were wearing suits and dresses, and the shops all looked fancy. Also the buildings and homes looked were more modern then the ones in Ponyville.

But what caught his vision the most was the castle itself. It was massive, with towers that looked as though they could reach the clouds.

As he marvelled at the sight in front of him, Celestia asked him something she had on her mind for a while.

“During your fight, how was it that Tirek wasn’t able to steal your powers?”

“Probably because my powers aren’t magic based,” He answered.

“Then where do your powers come from?” The princess asked again.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that every Digimon is born with their own abilities,” He said before asking Celestia a question.

“Is it true that magic is all around us?”

“Why yes. The land is full of magic and we Alicorns and Unicorns are able to harness it in the use of spells,” She answered before realizing that there was more to that question.

“Why do you ask?”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think before answering.

“Well you see… the moment I arrived here, I’ve felt a strange force all around me, and at the same time, I felt stronger than I ever was. From what Twilight told me, the strange force I was feeling was the magic of this world.”

Celestia found this information fascinating.

“It seems the magic of Equestria is having a positive effect on your powers,” She said, knowing that it makes perfect sense.

“Kind of ironic, since my powers are composed of negative energy.”

Celestia had a brief look if confusion at what BlackWarGreymon said.

‘Negative energy?’

She didn’t have time to properly think it over. Because the moment the two chariots landed, she saw a royal guard rushing towards her in alarm.

“Princess Celestia, we have a crisis!” He said as he bowed before her.

“What is the crisis?” Celestia asked as she, BlackWarGreymon and the Mane Six got out of the chariots.

“It’s Princess Luna! She’s been captured!”

What he said made the mares gasp in shock, while BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened.

“What!?” Celestia said in alarm.

“Captured!?” Twilight joined in.

“It was a massive dragon. It just broke into Luna’s tower and it took off with her. We tried to stop it but it happened so fast.” The guard explained.

“This is a disaster!” Fluttershy said to her friends while Rarity fainted.

Celestia was speechless, if nothing was to be done, it could have disastrous consequences.

While all this was happening, BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt something deep down inside him quickly building up. The urge he was feeling was responsibility. He first felt it when he protected the tiny pink flower back in the Digital World, and he felt it again when he did the same to Fluttershy. Ever since Celestia herself thanked him for defeating Tirek, he felt deeply responsible for the innocent lives of Equestria.

And because of that, it made him very protective over them.

With responsibility kicking in, BlackWarGreymon stepped forward.

“Where did it take her?”

The guard was startled at first from seeing the Digimon but quickly shook if off.

“W-We don’t know. But we saw it flew north-east.” The guard said as he pointed to the mountain peaks.

Now that he knows where to go, BlackWarGreymon’s mind was set and ran full speed past the guard and towards the mountains.

Unsure and confused by his rapid change in behaviour, Celestia and the Main Six ran after him, trying to keep up with his pace. But it wasn't easy, since the Digimon was much larger than they were. But because she was taller than a normal pony, the sun princess was faster than the Main Six on land and found herself just behind BlackWarGreymon.

“Where are you going!?” Celestia called out, but she soon was stopped in her tracks when she heard his response.

“To save your sister!” He said before leaping into the air and took flight. Within moments the tall Digimon was a mere black dot as he flew further away.

All the ponies then came to a halt. Rainbow Dash had a surprised look on her face as she just witnessed BlackWarGreymon’s speed when he flew away. Celestia too had a surprised expression, but not from BlackWarGreymon’s speed. She turned to Twilight with a look of confusion, the purple Alicorn already knew why she had that look.

“Oh, did I mention that he can fly?”

Chapter 8: Dragon Wars

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Although Canterlot rests on the side of a mountain, but many of its neighboring mountains remains either unexplored or uncharted. The main reasons for this was either the area of the mountains were incredibly vast and that they hold many hidden dangers and mysterious creatures.

For a long time, many ponies went to explore the distant peaks. But none ever came back out alive. It was so dangerous that even the princesses themselves were nervous and decided that no pony should ever venture there. Despite the disappearances being a complete mystery to pony kind, the reason these ponies never returned was because they were all pray to hungry, carnivorous monsters. One of these terrifying monsters was the most feared of all and the one responsible for the abduction of Princess Luna.

The giant yellow serpent dragon.

Measuring at one hundred and thirty meters long, the beast was around for hundreds of years. And probably the longest dragon in Equestria history.

Like most dragons, this one also eats gems. But it mostly prefers fresh meat. And now Luna was on the menu.

After flying through a large cave in one of the mountains, maneuvering through long passageways, the giant dragon landed in the centre of a huge camber. The chamber being big enough for him to fly around in the shadows to tease his pray.

As he dropped the unconscious princess, the dragon sniffed her. Taking in her scent.

“Mmm…so delicious…” He said, unable to stop drooling from his desire to taste Alicorn blood for the first time.

Unfortunately for him, Luna regained consciousness and opened her eyes just in time to see the dragons’ gaping mouth, full of razor sharp teeth. Using her magic, she teleported away just moments before the yellow beast snapped its jaws to where she was.

The dragon however was not surprised. His Unicorn pray had done the same thing in the past. But in the end they never made it out of the cave. He looked around and saw the Night Princess reappearing a great distance away.

“What is this!? You dare try to make a meal out of me!” She shouted in rage, near enough to her famous Canterlot voice.

“That was the idea,” The dragon said before running towards the blue Alicorn.

Thanks to the dragon’s long body, the distance between him and Luna closed very quickly. Before he could chomp on her the second time, Luna spread her wings and took flight above the dragon’s head. Using her magic again, she fired a lightning-shaped beam of energy from her horn directly on top of the dragon’s head.

Just because she was of royalty, that doesn’t mean she can’t defend herself.

To a normal adult dragon, Luna’s magic attack would have been painful. But because of his size, the attack spell was more like a pinch to the yellow dragon.

Luna then tried to fly towards the exit of the cave, but the dragon too took flight and with greater speed, collided the side of his horns into the princess, knocking her out of the sky. The shock of the impact may have paralyzed her wings, but not her magic. The Alicorn teleported moments before hitting the ground and reappeared in the centre of the chamber.

She then looked all around to find the yellow beast, but couldn’t find him. She then looked up to the ceiling to see if she was blindsided, but to her surprise it wasn’t there too. She then realised he was hiding in the shadows of the cave walls.

Luna then heard a sinister laugh echoing through the chamber. Which was then followed by a voice.

“The thing that you fear, is only getting closer…”

Luna tried to turn her head to where the voice originated, but the echo made it sound like it came from everywhere.

“…closer…”

The situation was starting to unnerve her.

“…closer…”

Luna then darted her head everywhere in panic and frustration.

“…before your very eyes.”

The dragon then silently appeared behind her in the air, not making a sound. This was his technique on how to hunt his pray once he captures them and when they put up a fight. He hides in the shadows, intimidate his victim until they show signs of panic, lurk behind them and strike.

Unfortunately, the tactic didn’t work this time.

As he started to descend to strike, his stomach made a loud growl demanding for food. When the sound of the growl made its way to Luna’s ears, she quickly turned her head just in time to see the yellow beast approaching.

She immediately ran to one side and let out a scream of surprise when the dragon smashed his head to the ground, just inches away from her.

Using this to her advantage, Luna kicked her hind legs straight into the dragon’s left eye. After the beast roared in pain and clenched his injured eye with his claw, Luna took to the sky, flew around the dragon’s head and fired a magic beam into his right eye.

With the dragon in great pain and temporarily blinded, Luna then fired her magic beam on the oversized reptile’s face, creating small explosions as concentrated magic hit reptilian scales.

In a blind rage, the dragon waved his arms everywhere, hoping that his claws could land a hit on the assaulting Alicorn.

And it payed off. His claw swiped at Luna, sending her skidding across the ground and into the far wall. As the dragon rubbed his eyes to ease the pain and to see again, the Alicorn decided to use this opportunity to escape. She tried to stand up, but only to collapse back on the ground. She found out that she sprained her leg during the fall. She then tried to fly, but the moment she flexed her wings she felt a very painful sting. When the dragon hit her, his claw had apparently clipped her wing.

She had no choice, she had to use a healing spell on herself. But healing both her leg and her wing was going to take time. Time that she doesn’t have.

After regaining his sights, the dragon looked around and spotted the Night Princess. Seeing her in a state was making him fell hungry even more.

“It appears we’ve reached the end of the game, princess,” He said, sending a dead cold chill through Luna’s spine as he slowly walked towards her on all fours like a cat.

“W-what do you hope to g-gain from this?” Luna asked, her voice being shaky from the pain and the fear.

However, the dragon’s response made her eyes widen in pure horror.

“Your blood!”

“What!?”

The dragon explained.

“For many years I’ve feasted on your kind. You ponies are such easy prey. But out of all the ponies I’ve devoured, the Unicorns were far more to my liking,” As he continued, Luna was feeling dread and fear overwhelming her. “Unlike Pegasi and Earth Ponies, Unicorns possess magic. And it’s the magic that makes Unicorns taste so irresistible.”

He then remembered the time he first ate a Unicorn. He couldn’t believe the amount of flavour the one pony had. Since then the more Unicorns he ate, the tastier they become.

“And now you want to try me?” Luna asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“Yes. For a long time I’ve heard rumors about Alicorns. That they have the qualities of all three normal ponies. That their magic is more powerful than that of a Unicorn. For years I’ve always wanted to taste Alicorn flesh. And now it seems I’ve got my wish,” He said while crouching down in a pounce position like a big cat. Getting ever closer to the fearful princess.
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Mountain peaks, not too far away

BlackWarGreymon kept on flying at high speed in the same direction where he took off back at Canterlot. As he flew by he was trying to locate the kidnapped princess in a similar way he once did with the Destiny Stones back in the Digital World. Flying around trying to find a massive power source and head to that direction.

He also had another advantage in his search. During his time with Princess Celestia, he felt her power signature. And since Luna was her sister, recognizing her power signature would be easy. But right now, the problem he’s facing was trying to find that power signature.

“It’s been some time since I arrived at these peaks. Surely I must feel her power by now.”

As if someone answered his prayer, BlackWarGreymon felt a power source. It was similar to Celestia’s so he knew it was Luna’s. But what was worrying him was how weak it suddenly became.

“No! I must hurry!”

There’s a good reason why he’s determined to save her. If he failed, he would lose his new friends and would then question his newfound destiny. He would be lead astray and eventually go on an endless quest to find his new purpose.

But he didn’t want that to happen. Not one bit of it.

Now homing in on Luna’s power source, BlackWarGreymon found a mountain with a large cave gaping out of it. Realising that the Alicorn was deep in the cave, the Digimon flew much faster until he was just a speeding black blur. Then without fear and hesitation, he flew straight into the cave.
…………………………………………………………………………………………...........................................................

Deep within the cave, main chamber

The dragon was now only inches away from Luna. Again and again the Alicorn tried to get back up, but because of her sprained leg and clipped wing she kept collapsing on the ground. The dragon then grew a sinister grin on his face, knowing that his struggling prey wasn’t going anywhere.

“Don’t worry, princess. This would only end quickly,” He said before slowly rearing his head back and opening his mouth.

Luna then started to tear up. The thought that it was the end for her and that she would never again see her big sister again was starting to become too much for her to bare. And that a huge row of dragon teeth lunging towards her would be the last thing she would ever see.

At least it would be, if fate hadn’t decided to save her.

A speeding black blur flew straight out of a passage way and into the main chamber, where it smashed upwards into the left side of the dragon’s jaw. The impact sounded like an explosion as the yellow beast was flown upwards while corkscrewing on the spot, in the direction where the black blur was heading.

Luna was so in shock of what just happened the only thing she knew was that something attacked the dragon.

After making his impact on the dragon, BlackWarGreymon flipped around so his feet were facing the oncoming wall. Soon after he landed on it, he pushed himself off the wall and flew towards the dragon in the exact same speed as before. This time he smashed into the dragon’s jaw on the right-hand side, leaving him corkscrewing in the same direction.

This time Luna saw what happened, something very fast was assaulting the yellow giant. At first she thought it was Rainbow Dash, because only she could fly at such speeds. But instead of a rainbow blur what the Pegasus makes, this one was black. Also there was no way a pony even like Rainbow Dash could easily hurt a dragon that big.

As Luna saw the black blur disappearing in the shadows, the dragon fell to the ground with a pain-filled jaw. At first Luna thought that his scales were sore from the beating, but as she got a proper view, it was something she didn’t expect a tall.

Underneath the dragon’s lower jaw, were two three-clawed slash marks. Luna was surprised. Whatever the black blur was, it was sharp enough to cleave through the dragon scales like a knife through hot butter.

Soon the dragon got back up on his legs and darted his head around. Then it reared up, standing on his rear legs to get better vision, but still he saw nothing.

“Who’s there!? SHOW YOUR SELF!!”

Luna too was looking around to spot the blur, but like the dragon she also saw nothing. But after a brief second, she saw the blur zoomed past over her head and straight into the dragon’s now exposed underbelly.

As the projectile collided into the pale yellow scales, the dragon felt the very air in his lungs being forced out. Immediately afterwards, the object pushed the dragon back with incredible force, and then smashed him into a wall, throwing up a massive cloud of dust and stones.

As Luna watched on in wonder, interest and surprise, she saw the black blur leaving the dust cloud and back into the shadows. Although it moved slower this time, Luna still didn’t know what it was. But she did saw a bit of the colour yellow in the blur.

Afterwards, the dragon flew out of the dust cloud and moved to the middle of the chamber, hovering above the ground. After releasing a roar of anger and defiance, the oversized drake spewed flames from his mouth into every dark part of the cave he could find. Illuminating the cave so he could either see his tormentor or flush it out.

As the flames start to die down, it seems the dragon’s plan didn’t work. But Luna just saw something move in the dying lights of the flames.

The dragon stayed in place as he used his supreme sense of hearing, using the technique to hear where his intruder was coming from.

This soon payed off. The dragon heard something approaching from behind.

With fast reactions, the yellow dragon used his long, spiky and surprisingly flexible tail to lash out and the object. Completely encasing BlackWarGreymon.

The dragon chuckled in delight as he tightened his grip.

“Hah, got ya!”

Then the dragon felt something moving in his coils, and then started to spin, slowly gaining speed.

On the ground Luna could see what was happening. She noticed that as the spinning was gaining momentum, the dragon’s tail was being reeled in like a fishing rod. By the time the dragon found out what was going on, his tail was completely rounded up and was now pulling him in.

“What the…!”

Before he could finish his sentence, his spinning captive started to spin suddenly much faster and the rest of him was pulled in, spinning around with his head sticking out and flailing everywhere.

“W-WH-WHAT I-IS T-THIS!?” He said while spinning and getting incredibly dizzy.

As Luna watched all this happening before her, she saw a column of black winds forming at the top and bottom of the coils. Creating a tornado. Disbelief was written all over her face as she saw the tornado getting bigger as it spun faster. She then realised these were no ordinary winds, because she could see that the dragon was in pain. As if the winds were hearting him.

Soon the dragon had enough of the spinning. But as he loosened his grip in his tail, he was sent hurtling out of the black tornado and straight into a far wall. Now with nothing holding it back the tornado immediately grew even bigger, the top touching the cave ceiling and the bottom scrapping the ground.

Luna was at a safe distance away, but her fur was blowing madly from such a force.

After getting back up in the air, the dragon’s eyes glowed in rage. And then spewed a sea of fire straight at the tornado. Unexpectedly, the fire ignited the black winds and within moments, the entire tornado combusted into flames, turning into a fire tornado. Both Luna and the yellow dragon had to cover their eyes as the column of flames lit up the entire chamber. As the fiery light died down enough for them to open their eyes, the reptile and the Alicorn saw a black silhouette spinning in the heart of the tornado of fire.

Shortly, the fire tornado started to dissipate. As it did, the spinning silhouette started to slow down. As the last of the flames died around him, with an outward slash of his Chrome Digizoid claws, BlackWarGreymon faced the yellow dragon while dispelling the flames, revealing himself in all his awesome glory.

As the atmosphere in the cave suddenly got quiet, Princess Luna couldn’t believe her eyes. The armoured being was only five to six times bigger than the yellow dragon’s eyeball, but from what she saw he looked as though he had the strength of a full grown dragon. His strength betraying his size. But what was startling that even from a distance, he looked just like the description of the being in Twilight’s letter.

“Wait. Is… is he the one Princess Twilight wrote about?” She whispered to herself.

While Luna looked at the Digimon in awe, the dragon looked at him in hatred and disbelief. How could a creature that small be able to push him around like a ragdoll? If other dragons hear word about this, he would be a laughing stock to his species. Dragons would mock him and would make a fool out of him.

No. He can’t allow that. There’s only one way out of this mess. The dragon would have to fight him.

BlackWarGreymon just stared at the yellow dragon, who was many times bigger then himself. He didn’t look at the Alicorn because he didn’t need to. From what he got from reading her power signature, Luna was still alive.

But she was harmed, and he would not let the dragon hurt her again.

No matter what.

‘Background music’ ‘A Demons Fate by Within Temptation’

As the dragon’s blood red eyes stared at BlackWarGreymon’s soulless yellow eyes, the beast released a loud roar of challenge and started to fly towards the Digimon. The black dragon warrior anticipated the obvious approach and flew straight towards the dragon. But with his much smaller size, he could fly much faster from starting point then the dragon. To the yellow lizard’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon flew at his face and wrapped his arms around the drake’s snout.

BlackWarGreymon then reared his head back and then slammed it in-between the yellow beast’s eyes. The sheer blow to the head forced the dragon closer to the ground. But BlackWarGreymon then flew down towards his head again and with his three-clawed gauntlet, he punched the dragon square in the face. Which was quickly then followed by a swinging kick.

The dragon forcefully crashed to the ground from the three beatings, just fifty feet from Princess Luna. The Night Princess was in shock. Her magic attacks hardly fazed the dragon but the armoured being managed to force the beast back by brute force alone. She then looked up just in time to see the digital being swoop down towards the fallen dragon, collided into his chest and pushed the colossal reptile back, creating huge groves in the ground. After a few seconds, he then flew to the dragon’s head. After grabbing the right side of the reptile’s face with his right arm below his jaw, BlackWarGreymon slammed the dragon’s head to the ground, creating a crater and some tremors.

The dragon was now pissed off. With an angered snarl, he flew back before moving towards BlackWarGreymon. Reaching his claws out, he grabbed the Digimon and slammed him into the ground while using his weight to squish him more.

Despite this, the dragon knew his intruder was still alive. While keeping a tight hold on the Artificial Digimon, he flew towards a cave wall and slammed BlackWarGreymon into it. He then flew upwards and then across the wall while pressing BlackWarGreymon against the wall. Creating a single grove in the stone.

While his armour was protecting him from the stone wall, it was the squeeze that was hurting him. Knowing that the dragon’s scales were not tougher then they look, BlackWarGreymon raised his arms into the air and impaled his Digizoid claws through the yellow scales and into the flesh underneath.

Weapons which were extremely deadly against draconic foes, Dramon Destroyers were specifically designed to kill dragons or dragon-type Digimon. In fact, Dramon Destroyer means Dragon Killer.

Feeling a sudden sharp pain in his hand, the dragon let out a roar of sheer agony. Pain he hadn’t felt in a long time. He then waved his arm around, trying to loosen the Digimon’s grasp.

It payed off. BlackWarGreymon lost his grip and was flung into a faraway wall, crashing through it on impact and surrounded by dust. The dragon then inspected his hand, clear as day he could see three puncture wounds as his blood leaked out.

During this moment, Luna heard a strange noise. She turned her head to see that it was coming from where the armoured being crashed. What startled her more was that she then saw what looked like black mist seeping out of the dust cloud.

Then she heard his voice.

“MEGA DESTROYER!”

Luna then saw him shooting out of the wall, covered in transparent black mists of energy and heading straight for the dragon. The yellow beast was too busy being distracted by his cut to notice BlackWarGreymon flying towards him at breakneck speed.

Like before, the dragon felt air escaping his lungs as the energized Digimon collided into his stomach. Only this time it was more painful due to the energy BlackWarGreymon was giving off. And like before, the Digimon pushed the dragon across the cave and into another wall, throwing up a giant cloud of dust as the ground trembled from the impact.

After mustering enough strength to stand back up, Luna stared at the dust cloud in complete shock. This was a kind of battle she had never witnessed before in her life. Normally, another giant dragon would have the strength to fight another like the yellow dragon, but this armoured being has that strength.

As she looked on, nothing seems to be moving in the dust cloud. But was startled when BlackWarGreymon flew out like a bullet, with the dragon following close behind. The Digimon did a massive U-turn that stretched to the ceiling, but the dragon was still giving chase. Then in mid-air, BlackWarGreymon quickly turned around and kicked the dragons jaw. The strength behind the blow knocked the dragons head back, but was soon back in hot pursuit as he chased the Digimon. BlackWarGreymon landed on a wall and then immediately jumped off, but the dragon followed his every direction.

As he flew to the opposite wall, BlackWarGreymon let out a sudden burst of speed and started to gain distance from the beast. As the Digimon reached the wall, he twisted his body around so he was facing the advancing snake-like beast with his feet pressed against the wall of stone. He then waited for the right moment as the dragon got closer.

“Can’t catch be, big guy,” He said, taunting and tempting the dragon to attack.

As the speeding dragon was only a few feet away, BlackWarGreymon pushed his feet against the wall, jumping out of the way from the dragon’s path. Afterwards, the dragon flew headfirst straight into the wall, making pain-filled grunting sounds as he released more dust in the air.

Princess Luna kept her eye on BlackWarGreymon as he flew back some distance away from the dragon. And to her confusion, the Digimon raised his arms in the air, putting his claws together and started to spin.

“BLACK TORNADO!”

After spinning mush faster, black winds appeared and covered BlackWarGreymon’s entire body. He then made his way towards the dragon, just as the dust cleared. The yellow beast turned his head only to see a spinning black cone slamming across the right side of his face. Sparks flew everywhere as Chrome Digizoid armour made contact with tough yellow scales. The snake-like beast tried to recover, but before he could the spinning Digimon did a U-turn and slammed the dragon in the face on the left.

This process was repeated several times, assaulting the beast as sparks fly. After the tornado attack gave the dragon an uppercut to the chin, it flew over and behind the dragon. Thereby making its way underneath the beast and straight up to the dragon’s stomach. This time BlackWarGreymon spun mush faster, making the black tornado even bigger and, to the dragon’s surprise, pushing him clean of his feet and in the air.

Luna, now wide eyed and opened mouthed, kept on watching something that should be impossible as the dragon was lifted as his body spun in the same direction as the ever-growing tornado.

Then the column of black winds slammed the dragon into the ceiling. The beast roared in defiance as his body was spinning while his stomach being pressed into the stone ceiling.

To the dragon, this felt like being screwed in by a screwdriver.

After a few seconds, the dragon’s yellow wings caught a stray gust of wind and tried to use it to escape the swirling vortex. But because of all the spinning, the dragon was flung straight out of the tornado and crashed to the ground.

The tornado then began to shrink until the black winds was barely the size of BlackWarGreymon himself. After raising his head out of the ground, the enraged yellow dragon unleashed a stream of fire directly at BlackWarGreymon. As the fire got close, the Digimon flew back down to the ground with fire trailing from his hands. After landing on the stone ground, BlackWarGreymon stared back at the winged serpent who was a great distance away.

After a brief moment of silence, the ten foot tall Digimon charged at the one hundred and thirty foot long reptile, with the dragon charging back. As the two got closer, BlackWarGreymon brought his claws ready and leapt towards the dragon’s head. As he got nearer to the beast’s face, the Digimon turned into a black blur, moving so fast Luna couldn’t keep a track on him. But what followed next was a metallic slashing sound, and then BlackWarGreymon reappeared behind the dragon with his right arm pointing forwards.

Luna knew he slashed something. But what?

The dragon’s cry of agony brought forward her answer. She looked at the reptile to see the top two horns on the right side of his head sliced off completely.

After wailing in pain, the dragon swung his tail around and slammed it into the Digimon’s back, sending him flying into a wall. After shaking the pain off, the dragon raised his tail up in the air, as if expecting his tormentor to appear.

He didn’t have to wait very long, because BlackWarGreymon came flying out of the hole in the wall and towards the dragon yet again. But the beast was ready for him. The moment he saw him, he swung his tail down, intending to crush his opponent.

But BlackWarGreymon saw it coming. As the tail full of spikes came down on him, he crossed his arms together to block the attack. As he took the blow, the force of it pushed the Digimon’s legs through the ground, crumbling from the weight of the Digimon and the attack. But amazingly he wasn’t even fazed in the slightest.

Luna was undeniably impressed. This being from another world was scrapped across stone and thrown into a wall twice, but he still had the energy to keep fighting. Plus despite the sharp stones and dragon spikes, his armour hadn’t suffered a single scratch. She could tell that his armour, as well as himself, were incredibly strong and durable.

“Impressive.”

The dragon tried to squish the Digimon with his tail the second time, but again BlackWarGreymon blocked it with his arms formed into an X. smoke blew out of the dragon’s snout as he was getting more frustrated. He was determined to squish his intruder into the dirt.

With a roar, he raised his tail yet again and swung it down. But instead of blocking it, BlackWarGreymon raised his arms up and caught the tail in his hands.

The dragon was admittedly caught off-guard that the Digimon had the strength to catch such a large oncoming tail, but he was going to get a surprise of his life at what his opponent did next.

After gaining a firm hold on the dragon’s tail, BlackWarGreymon swung it over his head, unbelievably taking the rest of the lizard’s body with it. The dragon shrieked out in shock, surprise and defiance as the Digimon slammed him back-fist to the ground. He then did it again, throwing the dragon with impossibly immense strength overhead, then slamming his stomach and head to the ground.

Again, Luna watched the whole thing with a wide-eyed, open mouth look. This dragon was perhaps the longest dragon in Equestria, and yet the armoured Digimon was simply tossing him around like a broken twig.

“Such strength.”

After tightening his grip on the yellow tail, BlackWarGreymon flew straight up in the air. The dragon tried to dig his claws into the ground, hoping to anchor himself down. But the dragon was ripped from the ground and being pulled in the air by his tail.

Luna was speechless. This being not only had the strength to throw the dragon around, but he could pull the dragon while flying. No wander Tirek lost in a fight with him.

As he approached the ceiling, BlackWarGreymon tilted his body backwards and did a U-turn. This action resulted in the dragon getting slammed on the back of his head from the ceiling. As he dived halfway towards the ground, the Digimon threw the dragon downwards. Leaving the yellow beast to fall past the black dragon warrior and straight to the ground.

Despite the beatings, the dragon didn’t want to give up. With his eyes and mouth glowing a fiery red while covered in trailing dust, he rose from the crater and flew seventy feet away from the air-born Digimon. He then reared his head back with flames seeping out from the gaps in his teeth, and fired a concentrated fireball from his mouth. The fireball was twice the size as BlackWarGreymon and it was heading towards him.

But the Digimon would not dodge. He will show how tough he really was.

As it got in range, BlackWarGreymon gave the giant fireball a smash of a backhand. Deflecting the fiery sphere into a faraway wall. The Digimon then put his claws close together and to Luna’s astonishment, formed a red sphere of his own.

“TERRA DESTROYER!”

He then threw the sphere, which was the size of a full grown pony stallion, towards the dragon. As the ball of negative energy approached, the yellow dragon got his claws ready and threw his left arm forward, intending to slice the sphere in half. Like it did with other dragon fireballs in the past.

But this was a big mistake.

To the dragon’s horror, instead of being sliced in two the small red sphere exploded the moment it made contact with his claw. As the beast shrieked in pure agony, the explosive light engulfed his entire arm, causing him pain the likes he’s never felt before.

Luna’s eyes widen in surprise as the red light reflected off them. The fact that an attack so small could create a blast that big was unheard of.

“Such power.”

After the fight faded, the dragon looked at his pain-filled hand. Only to see smoke seeping from his scales, three of this claws almost burnt to a crisp and the claw that touched the sphere, snapped in half.

Then a red glow caught the dragon’s vision. As he turned to see it more, his eyes fell upon BlackWarGreymon preparing for another attack.

“TERRA DESTROYER!”

This time the negative red orb was three times bigger than the first one. The dragon immediately knows that no matter what he could do, the sphere would explode the moment it would make contact with him. As the oncoming red ball made its way to the dragon at high speed, the yellow beast attempted to fly out of the way. But because of his long body, he couldn’t fly fast enough. This ended up with the Terra Destroyer sphere to strike at the dragon’s back, in-between his wings.

Both the impact and the explosion sent pain through the dragon’s wings, freezing them in place. With his wings paralyzed from the pain, the dragon plummeted to the ground while roaring in agony.

Luna, who was at a great distance away from the dragon, stared at what happened to the yellow beast. Then her vision was fixed on BlackWarGreymon. He had shown the kind of power Equestria had never seen. And the fact that he’s using that power to help others was making it more unbelievable. But right in front of her, it’s true.

Some distance away, the dragon locked his blood red eyes on the princess of the night. Seeing her weak and helpless was making his hunger even more intolerable.

“No matter what happens, I WILL taste Alicorn blood,” He growled with his mouth drooling and teeth showing.

With a loud roar, the dragon launched himself forward and ran towards Luna, intending to eat her no matter what. Luna spotted the oncoming dragon and in a panic, tried to run. Although she had the strength to stand, she didn’t had enough to run very fast.

But luck wasn’t on her side. As soon as she started running, she tripped over a loose stone and fell back on the ground. She yelped in pain as her body landed on the sharp stone ground.

BlackWarGreymon witnessed all this. His newfound instinct was telling him to go and protect Luna by any means. Listening to his instinct, he flew down towards the danger.

With the pain keeping her from getting back up, Luna could only look on as the charging dragon was getting closer. Tears began to pour out of her eyes as it seems her fate had been sealed. Her mind processed the same thoughts she went through the last time this same dragon tried to eat her. She mentally prayed that she won’t die here and that she could live on with everypony who loves her with all their hearts.

It seemed her prayers had been answered.

To Luna’s surprise and relief, when the dragon was thirty five feet away from devouring her, BlackWarGreymon slammed his foot right onto the dragon’s snout, pressing him to the ground while halting the dragon’s movement.

Luna still couldn’t believe it, her saviour was battling something far bigger then himself, but wasn’t showing any signs of fear. He wasn’t afraid of the giant yellow dragon at all.

“Such bravery.”

BlackWarGreymon then leapt off the dragon and landed ten feet away while facing him. The dragon was getting fed up with it all. If it can’t chase the intruder away, then he just has to eat him.

With that in mind, the dragon lunged his gaping jaw directly at BlackWarGreymon. Although caught by surprise, the Digimon grabbed the dragon’s maw just in time. His left arm grabbing the lower jaw and his right arm grabbing the upper jaw. But because he wasn’t properly prepared, he was being pushed back. BlackWarGreymon tried to press his feet to the ground to slow down while using his strength to hold back the rows of teeth.

This soon payed off. BlackWarGreymon came to a halt. But what he didn’t realise was that he was just inches away from Princess Luna! The princess herself was frightened that the action was right in front of her.

The dragon was the one who noticed this and began to scrape his claws on the ground, trying to move forward some more to eat both of them. But BlackWarGreymon stood his ground, his muscles tensed as he held back the dragon.

That’s when BlackWarGreymon heard something breathing behind him. Turning his head slightly to see what it was, the Digimon’s eye only caught a glimpse of a starry blue mane. His eyes immediately widened in alarm at how close Luna was from certain death.

He realised that if the dragon pushed further and took a bite out of them, his armour and strength would protect him. But the Princess was a whole other story.

The dragon then got a firm grip on the ground and tried to push with all his might. BlackWarGreymon could feel his upper body being pushed back, but from realising what his destiny might be, he would not give up.

‘No...You...Don’t.’

Then he realised something. If he fails to protect Luna, then his new friends would doubt him as their friend. He would question his new-found destiny and go on another painful never-ending search to find his purpose, even if it took him to the ends of the world.

This he definatly didn’t want to go through after being so close. This he will NEVER allow to happen. Because he made an oath to himself.

‘I promised myself to protect the innocent lives of this world. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Even if it costs me my life.’

BlackWarGreymon’s mind began to fill with an unbreakable determination.

‘I WILL FIGHT ON AND NEVER GIVE IN!!! I’LL NEVER GIVE UP!!!'

Then all of a sudden, BlackWarGreymon felt a sudden adrenalin rush in his strength. Energy deep within him began to peak as his eyes glowed an intense white.

Behind him, even Luna could see the bright light escaping the eye sockets in the Digimon’s helmet-like head. While the dragon just stared in confusion.

BlackWarGreymon then felt something awaken inside his body. Something he would use against the giant yellow reptile.

After summoning enough strength, BlackWarGreymon yelled out as he tossed the dragon’s head into the air. As the beast started to bring his head back down, the claws on the Digimon’s right arm started to glow purplish blue.

“DRAGON…”

As he uttered the first word, BlackWarGreymon swung his right arm downwards, creating a wave of purplish blue energy strong enough to halt and push back the dragon’s head. Then BlackWarGreymon’s claws on his left arm started to ignite in flames.

“…CRUSHER!!!”

After saying the second word, the Digimon threw his left arm upwards. This time creating an upward wave of intense purplish red fire.

BlackWarGreymon had just unlocked a new ability.

The negative powered flames forcefully slammed against the dragon’s yellow face. Normally, dragons were completely unharmed by fire, since they could swim in lava. However, to Luna’s surprise, the dragon screamed out in agony as the flames scorched his scales, sending pain straight through them.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!!! IT BURNS!!! IT BURNS!!!”

This left the dragon completely wide-open to attack. As BlackWarGreymon flew up under the dragon’s head, he wrapped his arms around the dragon’s lower jaw and gaining a firm grip on the yellow scales on the upper jaw. Effectively closing the giant mouth.

Using this strength and speed, the Digimon slammed the dragon’s head to the ground and pulled the beast across the stone floor. Away from the startled Luna so she was out of harm’s way.

With the pain from his burnt scales subsiding, the dragon dug his claws into the ground to anchor himself and then swung his head around violently, trying to force BlackWarGreymon to let go.

With a powerful swing, the dragon flung the Digimon off his jaw, sending him hurtling towards the ground. But BlackWarGreymon repositioned himself in mid-air, thereby landing his feet on the ground and facing the yellow dragon. As BlackWarGreymon began skidding across the ground backwards, he kneeled down and dug the back of his Digizoid claws into the stone floor. The end result was him slowing down, long claw marks imbedded in the ground and showers of sparks everywhere.

Soon BlackWarGreymon came to a halt and looked up at the now charging dragon. He had to admit, the dragon was putting up a much better than Tirek. Even though the evil centaur was more powerful.

As the dragon got closer in an attempt to eat BlackWarGreymon, the Control Spire Digimon was ready for him. Timing it right, he knelt down slightly to get out of the path of the rows of teeth. Then he grabbed the dragon’s chin with his right arm and used his claws on his left arm to gain a lock on the dragon’s lower jaw joint. Then using the strength in his left arm and the dragon’s own momentum, the Digimon threw the giant lizard into a wall behind him. With his head peeping through the newly formed dust cloud, the dragon’s eyes glowed bright red as his anger for the Digimon was building up. He then released his rage in a form of a powerful blast of fire from his mouth and towards his tormentor.

But BlackWarGreymon didn’t move. He just let the stream of fire approach him at high speed. What happened next was his entire body being engulfed in the flames while the ground around him was scorched and blackened by the intense heat.

As Luna looked on in shock and disbelief while trying to think what in Equestria the Digimon was thinking, the dragon pulled a sinister grin on his face, thinking that BlackWarGreymon was incinerated by the fire.

But his grin was instantly replaced by confusion and horror while Luna was speechless in both her mind and body. They saw BlackWarGreymon walking out of the firestorm, completely unharmed and unaffected by the flames, with balls of fire in his hands.

Unable to contain his frustration any longer, the dragon unleashed the loudest roar he could make and charged full speed towards BlackWarGreymon. While the dragon ran, the Digimon just walked towards the beast, completely without fear.

Then the beast leapt forward like a cat pouncing to his pray.

“DIE YOU DEMON!!”

But as the dragon got closer, BlackWarGreymon swung his right arm outwards, slamming the back of his armoured arm into the side of the dragon’s face. This caused some of the lizard’s teeth to be dislodged and the dragon himself sent sailing across the air and landing in a pile of his own coils on the opposite side of the chamber.

Luna still couldn’t believe what was happening before her. The strength and power this being possessed, he clearly was a force to be reckoned with.

With an enraged roar, the dragon leapt in the air and landed on his feet, growling hatred at BlackWarGreymon.

“Enough of this! It’s time to end this fight!”

“I agree,” The Digimon answered back.

With that, both the yellow dragon and BlackWarGreymon leapt into the air while continuing to face each other.

At a safe distance, Princess Luna watched on with anticipation. She knew this battle was coming to an end, but with the biggest dragon in Equestria against a being from another world, she was unsure what the outcome might be.

But she would soon find out, from seeing flicks of flames from the dragon’s mouth and the red sphere in-between BlackWarGreymon’s hands.

The dragon was beyond infuriated. He was tossed around, thrown, punched, kicked, he had two of his six horns sliced off, his arm and back scorched and his scales scratched, chipped, pierced and burned. In all the fights he had in his life, this was the one he suffered the most. That’s why he’s going to give it all he got, putting all his strength in a fire breath the likes he never done before.

As the dragon reared his head back with flames leaking from his mouth, BlackWarGreymon was ready.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

After raising his arms over his head, the red sphere grew to a colossal size. As he threw the negative powered sphere at the dragon, the yellow beast unleashed a powerful sea of fire.

Then the two powers collided in the middle of the chamber. Although the orange flames held the red energy ball in place, they can’t pass through. Even so, the forces from the two attacks shook the cave. Luna had to keep low to say on the ground.

Because the dragon’s attack was continues while the Digimon’s attack was just a concentrated ball, both the dragon and Luna thought the sea of fire would prevail.

But they were wrong. To everyone’s surprise, even BlackWarGreymon’s, the Terra Destroyer attack was starting to push through the flames. In desperation, the dragon tried putting more power into his fire breath, but the giant red sphere was ploughing straight through the flames.

Just as the dragon’s eyes grew wide in horror, the colossal red orb slammed into his mouth, creating an explosion that lit up the entire cave like a miniature sun. This also unleashed a powerful hurricane-like gusts that nearly ripped the stone environment apart. Although Luna had to shield herself from the winds and the blinding glow of the blast, for a brief moment she saw the great red light engulfing nearly all of the dragon.

She had just witnessed the power of a Mega level Digimon.

As the light died down, Luna saw the once formidable dragon falling out of the blast wave, with smoke seeping from his body but heavy smoke from his mouth. Upon closer inspection, anyone or anypony could see that nearly all the dragons teeth were either blown out of their sockets or simply turned into dust. As well as the dragon’s teeth, blood and yellow scales also fell from the sky.

Then the defeated dragon collapsed to the stone floor, limp from the final blow as dust rose from the impact.

Luna used her working wing to block out the sudden draft and the dust and debris that followed, keeping them away from her face.

‘Song end’

Once the breeze died down, Luna looked at the fallen reptile. Although beaten, the dragon was still breathing.

‘Background music’ ‘Hello Hello by Elton John’

After Luna cleared her throat from dust that may had passed through, she was breathing quite heavily from this legendary experience. The likes that she had never seen in her long life. The armoured being was like a rat compared to the size of the dragon, but his strength and power were phenomenal. It dwarfed her own a hundred times over. Then realisation put her on high alert, the powerful being may still be in the cave with her. She tried to spot him but because the environment around her was shrouded in dust, it was almost impossible. But she knew he was still around.

Then after hearing a loud almost thunderous thud, Luna turned to its source. Then she saw the Digimon’s silhouette through the dust. She saw his outline rising back up, standing tall.

As the dust thickened again, hiding the silhouette, Luna became curious of what kind of creature he was and how he possessed such power. Her thoughts however were interrupted by small vibrations through the ground and the sounds of footsteps in the air. Turning her attention back to where she saw the figure, she saw it again. But this time the silhouette was walking towards her.

Unsure of what his intensions were, Luna slowly tried to stand back up, closing her eyes tight for concentration. Either to turn and run or stand and face him. All the while the Digimon kept approaching, his appearance becoming clearer. Just as Luna finally stood to her height, pain once again struck her entire body, causing her to collapse.

She would have landed on the sharp stone ground if BlackWarGreymon hadn’t reached out to catch her, stopping her fall. Luna felt something holding her up. When she raised her head and opened her eyes to see who it was, she found herself looking into the eyes of her saviour.

As Princess Luna’s calm blue eyes meet BlackWarGreymon’s fierce yellow eyes, time suddenly seemed to have slowed down almost in an instant. As the blue Alicorn and the black Digimon continue to stare into each other’s eyes, with a gentle wind brushing digital and pony hair and mane, questions and confusion crossed their minds.

‘She’s safe now. But… why am I staring at her…beautiful blue eyes? D-Did I just used the word beautiful? Why did I used that word? I never used that word before. Why am I asking these questions? And…’ BlackWarGreymon then felt a warm presence deep within his chest. ‘…and what’s this…warm feeling in my chest? Is...Is it my heart? Why am I feeling like this? What’s come over me?’

‘There’s no doubt about it, he is the saviour Twilight foretold. His black armour, his claws, his hair and his eyes… his eyes are so fierce but…very intriguing, and amazing. Wait, why am I staring into his eyes? Why can’t I take mine off them? And…’ Luna suddenly found it harder to breathe as her heart rate increased. ‘…and why am I finding it harder to breathe? Why do I feel so…breathless? And why is my heart beating like this? Is it the exhaustion…or…is it him? What’s come over me?’

The two continued staring at each other, until Luna’s vision started to blur. Exhaustion finally overtook her, causing her to go limp and fall unconscious.

BlackWarGreymon was snapped out of his trance and looked at the Alicorn, who was asleep in his arms.

“Poor thing. She must have tried to fight the dragon herself. No wonder she’s so tired.”

He then looked over the exhausted mare. Even when she’s lying down, he could tell that she was taller than most ponies. But she was shorter then Celestia, about four foot eight inches in height. Like her older sister, she too had royal jewellery. A black crown, pale blue horse shoes and a black regalia around her neck, with an image of a crescent moon on the front. Her fur was dark blue and her cutiemark was of a crescent moon surrounded by a black patch. Just like Celestia, her mane and tail were also sparkling and waving as if they were in the wind. Because of the colour of her mane and the shinning twinkling lights within in them, it resembled the night sky.

BlackWarGreymon then heard the sounds of moaning from behind. He turned his head to see the beaten yellow dragon trying but failing to wake up.

“Guess it’s time to go,” He then looked down at Luna again. “Her sister must be worried sick by now.”

With that, BlackWarGreymon picked up the sleeping princess carefully in his arms, trying not to scratch her with his sharp armoured claws. After getting a firm hold on her, the heroic Digimon walked towards the exit. Then without making a noise, he took to the air and left the cave.

‘Song end’

Before he left however, the fallen dragon got a final look at BlackWarGreymon.

‘Impossible. It’s just an old dragon’s tale. But could it be true? Could he be… the Demon Lord?’

Chapter 9: The Great Race

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Back in Canterlot, Princess Celestia and the Mane Six continued waiting for the return of BlackWarGreymon and hopefully Princess Luna. It had been a while since the Mega level Digimon left Equestria’s capital to find the princess of the night and his long absence was making some of the mares feeling uneasy. Celestia herself was more worried out of all of them.

Twilight Sparkle understood this. After all, Luna was the white Alicorns’ sister. But seeing her former teacher worried to the bone like this was upsetting to watch.

“Don’t worry Celestia. I have complete faith in BlackWarGreymon. He will bring her back. He will not fail you,” She said as she walked beside the sun princess, hoping her words reassured her.

Celestia looked at Twilight with a small smile on her face.

“Your trust in your new friend is impressive Twilight Sparkle…” Her smile shifted into concern. “… but I hope he finds her in time. And I hope she’s holding out. I don’t want to lose my sister again,” She said while remembering the time when she banished her sister to the moon a thousand years back.

Fluttershy was next to speak.

“I hope she’s alright too, princess. But from what that guard described the dragon that took her, it could be the largest dragon to have come to Equestria!”

She then started to panic.

“What if BlackWarGreymon doesn’t have the strength to fight him? What if the dragon ate him? What if we never see him or Princess Luna again!?”

Rainbow Dash, who was flying calmly in the air, hovered above the yellow Pegasus.

“Relax Flutters. You’re talking about the same guy who kicked Tirek’s butt. I’m sure he’s got everything under control and that he’s gonna be juuust fine,” She said casually.

She happened to be right. Because Twilight spotted something flying in the distance. And it was approaching.

“Wait. I think I can see him!”

When Twilight brought up her binoculars to have a better look, Pinkie Pie popped up in-between as she looked through them. There by blocking Twilight’s vision.

After a brief second of her humming, the pink Earth Pony gasped loudly.

It’s BlackWarGreymon! I see him! I see him!” She shouted while bouncing in excitement. Twilight moved Pinkie Pie out of the way so she could see.

“Pinkie’s right! It is him!”

She then spotted BlackWarGreymon holding something. She adjusted her binoculars to get a clearer view.

“And he’s got Princess Luna!”

Celestia breathed out a sigh in relief and concern. She didn’t need to use the binoculars since she could see her little sister being held in BlackWarGreymon’s arms.

By the time Celestia and the Mane Six sprinted and flew to meet up with him, BlackWarGreymon had landed back in the heart of the gardens. As he saw his pony friends rushing towards him, he gently placed the unconscious night princess on the soft grass. He then backed up a few steps, giving room for Celestia as she approached the blue Alicorn.

“LUNA!” She said before kneeling down towards her sister’s face, nuzzling her in an effort to try and wake her up.

So far, there was no response.

“Luna?”

After a few seconds of painful silence, Luna slowly opened her blue eyes and looked into Celestia’s.

“Sister?” Luna said, her voice was weak from her experience but it was all Celestia wanted to hear.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alive Luna,” The white Alicorn said while cradling her younger sibling in her hooves, tears of joy overwhelmed her eyes.

As BlackWarGreymon watched this, he felt satisfaction within him. He deeply felt that what he just did for Celestia was truly the right thing to do. Plus seeing the loving embrace of the two sisters was indeed touching. Something that the Mane Six would agree upon.

Celestia the turned her attention to the Mane Six with pleading eye.

“She needs medical attention!” She called out.

“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash said before saluting and flying off to find help.

While this was going on, Fluttershy walked up to BlackWarGreymon, who was watching the blue Pegasus speeding towards the city.

“What about the dragon? Did he hurt you too?” She asked, making the Digimon turn his attention to her.

“I’m fine, Fluttershy. And don’t worry about that dragon. I’m sure with me around, he will never bother us again,” He said before spotting Rainbow Dash arriving with a Pegasus doctor and two Unicorn nurses.

“Please, take Luna to the hospital,” Celestia said, her order was more like a plea.

“At once your highness. Rest assured she will receive our finest treatments,” The doctor replied after bowing to her.

The two nurses approached Princess Luna and carefully using their magic to lift the blue Alicorn off the ground. Now safely floating in the air, the doctor and the nurses took Luna towards the direction of the hospital. As BlackWarGreymon watched on with Celestia and the Mane Six, he just noticed that the night princess opened her eyes slightly. She was looking right at him before her eyelids closed into slumber.

As Luna and the medical ponies disappeared in the distance, Princess Twilight turned her head to look at BlackWarGreymon, who was still looking in the direction where the blue Alicorn was taken to. A soft, heart-warming smile spread across her face before walking towards him. The rest of the Mane Six noticed this and followed her.

BlackWarGreymon heard the sounds of approaching hoofsteps and looked down to see the six small ponies walking towards him. He was unsure what was happening because while the rest of the Mane Six had looks of confusion, Twilight was smiling.

“You know something BlackWarGreymon. If it weren’t for you, Equestria would have faced its biggest calamity yet.”

The Alicorn’s words were clear and honest, BlackWarGreymon understood that. But the lavender coloured princess wasn’t finished.

“What I’m trying to say is that… we are so lucky to have you in Equestria…” Twilight finished her sentence after flying up to the Digimon’s eye level. “… and as our friend.”

The black Digimon’s yellow eyes softened as his heart was warmed. Again he was touched by Twilight’s kind words, something he rarely received back in the Digital World.

But what Twilight said and did next made his eyes widen in shock as his body froze like a statue.

“I love you,” She calmly said as she flew to his face and wrapped her forelegs around his neck, giving him a big affectionate hug.

BlackWarGreymon was completely taken by surprise by this sudden turn of events. Hugging his leg was one thing but this he never expected. To add to his surprise, he saw the rest of the smiling Mane Six approaching him.

“Me too,” Fluttershy said while flying to the other side of the Digimon’s face and hugged him in the same way Twilight did.

“Same here,” Rarity said before hugging and nuzzling his left leg.

“Aww shucks,” Applejack said while hugging his right leg.

“Oh what the heck,” Rainbow Dash playfully said before going in to hug his right arm.

At this point, BlackWarGreymon was speechless. All the love his new friends were showing made him realise that the path of good he had chosen, was indeed the right path to take.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he saw Pinkie Pie launching herself directly towards his face.

“EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Caught by surprise, the momentum of the pink pony colliding into his face caused BlackWarGreymon to topple backwards, landing on his back with the six ponies still on him.

The six mares all started to laugh in amusement, clearly enjoying the moment. BlackWarGreymon already knew that what Pinkie Pie just did was just her way of expressing her love and delight. But what was new to him was that seeing these ponies laughing and being happy, as well as all the love they’re sharing, was making HIM happy. To a point where even he started to enjoy the moment… and slowly stared to chuckle in delight.

The Mane Six, mostly Twilight, were a little surprised when they heard the Digimon chuckle. But they remembered what he told them about his past, and realised that this was perhaps the only time that anyone or anypony had given him this amount of affection. And so, they kept on laughing with each other.

Princess Celestia watched the whole thing and couldn’t help but smile at the sight before her. BlackWarGreymon had only been in Equestria for two days and already he had earned the respect and the trust of the six element bearers.

Now he had just earned the respect and the trust of the ruler of Equestria herself.

After the Mane Six loosened their hugs and climbed off him, BlackWarGreymon sat up. Just in time for him and the six girls to hear approaching hoofsteps. All of them turned their heads to see Celestia walking towards them.

As the sun princess stopped in front of him, the Digimon noticed that now he’s sitting, he was eye level with her.

“You brought her back alive,” Celestia said before moving in closer, wrapped her forelegs around BlackWarGreymon’s neck and pulling him in for a hug of her own.

Again, BlackWarGreymon was surprised. But it seemed the Mane Six were even more surprised than he was. This was evident by their wide eyes and gaping mouths.

Clearly, this kind of hug Celestia rarely gives to someone she just met.

“Thank you,” She said before letting do and taking a few steps back. After recovering from this unexpected experience, BlackWarGreymon got back on his feet and stood to his full height. Towering above the ponies.

After a brief moment of silence, Celestia turned her head to Twilight.

“Twilight, I want you to take note of this.”

Despite the confusion, Twilight watched on as Celestia took a step closer to the Digimon.

“BlackWarGreymon, I would like you to kneel please.”

The Digimon was confused by her request.

“Why?” He asked, still sticking to the fact that he bows to no one.

“Because I want to reward you for what you’ve done these past two days,” She answered.

Just like the Mane Six, BlackWarGreymon was taken back slightly. No one ever offered an award to him before. Not wanting to offend the white princess, he slowly kneeled down on one knee with his right arm across his chest.

Celestia’s horn began to glow in a yellow aura. Then after focusing her magic, at the end of her horn she formed a long yellow blade. Twilight gasped in excitement, she immediately knew what Celestia was going to do.

“From this day forth, all of Equestria will forever know your name and what you did for our land. So it gives me great pleasure to dub you…” She lowered her head, angling the magic blade inches above BlackWarGreymon’s left shoulder. “…BlackWarGreymon, Defender of Equestria,” she continued while moving the blade over to the Digimon’s right shoulder.

As the magic blade disappeared, the newly titled BlackWarGreymon looked at Celestia. Then at the awe-stricken Mane Six.

“A knight hood? Now that’s what I call an award!” Rainbow Dash said while BlackWarGreymon stood back up on his feet.

“Thank you princess, I am honoured by your gift,” He said before seeing Celestia raise her hoof towards him.

“Please, there’s no need to be formal. You can just call me Celestia.”

“As you wish, Celestia…” BlackWarGreymon then remembered the reason he was in Canterlot in the first place. “… And were you about to give me some kind of tour or something?”

“Oh yes we were, it’s the least we can do for you after all you did for us,” Celestia answered. The tone in her voice hints that she’s going to enjoy giving the tour.

“Let me show you the way,” She said while heading towards Canterlot Castle, with BlackWarGreymon and the Mane Six following in tow.

As they walked through the castle gardens, Twilight surprised the Digimon by flying up to his head and landed on his left shoulder. Which was then followed by a quick hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” She admitted before letting go.

“We all are, darling. You deserve this,” Rarity said to BlackWarGreymon while giving him a smile.

Twilight just remembered something. The fact that she just hugged him around the neck meant that her hooves touched the Digimon’s hair.

‘Woah, guess Pinkie’s right about his hair.’

Just as the group left the gardens and on the path to the castle’s main gates, BlackWarGreymon took a quick glance in the direction where the injured Luna was taken to.

‘I wonder if she’s going to be alright. I hope so.’

After a couple of minutes of walking, Celestia, BlackWarGreymon and the Mane Six entered a long hall that was filled with stain glass windows. With the sunlight beaming through them it displayed a rainbow of colours all over the walls and floors.

BlackWarGreymon stopped for a moment to look at one of these windows. As he did, Celestia informed him about their meaning.

“These windows display important events that happened throughout our history.”

“Interesting,” The Digimon said to himself.

As he walked down the hallway, he kept looking at the windows. Each one telling a different story. Then his eyes fell upon one that had the Mane Six on it. He stopped to have a better look.

“Girls, is that…” His sentence was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“Us? You bet!” We were quite popular ever since we found the Elements of Harmony,” She said, slightly bragging a bit. But the last thing she said made BlackWarGreymon look at her in confusion.

“The…Elements…of Harmony?”

“Yes. The Elements of Harmony are six magical jewels that keeps the balance of Equestria in check. And when used, they have the power to protect the land from evil,” Twilight explained.

“You… you used them?” BlackWarGreymon asked, clearly surprised and impressed at the same time.

“Yes. And before me and my friends, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia used them. Rainbow Dash here represents the Element of Loyalty. Applejack’s the Element of Honesty, Pinkie Pie’s the Element of Laughter, Rarity’s the Element of Generosity, Fluttershy’s the Element of Kindness and me, I represent the Element of Magic,” Twilight explained. Leaving BlackWarGreymon in amazement to hear something like this.

“Wow, so this world does have impressive power,” The Digimon said before turning his attention to the other stain glass windows. He was briefly startled when he saw a pink blur running past him to one of the windows at the far end of the hallway. The pink blur revealing to be Pinkie Pie.

“And this one over here shows Twilight’s coronation!” She said while pointing at the window.

After walking towards it, he looked at the window in confusion.

"Coronation?”

He looked over to Twilight for an answer.

“Oh, it means when a pony becomes a royal pony,” She informed.

“Ah, when you became a princess,” He said in understanding.

“Yes,” Twilight said with a smile.

BlackWarGreymon then looked back at the windows he walked past, and the one that caught his attention the most was the one with the Mane Six defeating a creature that looks like a miss-mash of animal parts. He walked over to it for a closer look.

“What…is that thing?”

“That’s Discord, the Spirit of Cha…”

Before Celestia could finish her sentence, the whole room lit up in a flash. When it faded, standing in the middle of the group, wearing sun glasses and a Hawaiian shirt, was the Draconequus himself.

“Hello everypony! Guess whose back from vacation!”

While Fluttershy was delighted to see him, the other mares were slightly annoyed from his sudden entrance. BlackWarGreymon just stared in bewilderment at the bizarre creature.

“Did you miss me?” Discord asked in a playful manner while kneeling down to Fluttershy, completely oblivious to the Digimon’s presents.

“I most certainly did, Discord. Did you have a nice time at your holiday?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh you have no idea. It’s so good to get out and stretch for time to time.”

He then started to stretch his body in physically impossible poses.

“But enough about me. Did anything happen while I was away? Got a special welcome present for me? And…”

He paused and froze on the spot when he saw the Digimon. A being he had never seen before. Because the way BlackWarGreymon looked, Discord could tell that he’s the type who could cause a great amount of chaos. Because of this, Discord immediately flew past the mares and stopped right in front of the Digimon’s face.

“And who is this!?” He asked while having an insane grin on his face, much to the discomfort for BlackWarGreymon.

“Discord, this is BlackWarGreymon. A Digimon from the Digital World and…” Twilight said before being interrupted by Discord.

“Wait! Are you telling me, that there is a dimension where chaotic looking being’s like him live?” He then paused to think about what he just said. “Sounds like home to me.”

“Believe me, you would fit in nicely,” BlackWarGreymon said as he took the opportunity to take a good look at Discord. He definatly matched the one shown on the stain glass window, the only thing the Digimon would recognize on the Draconequus was his left eagle claw, his right lion paw, his wings one of a bat and one of a Pegasus, his right dear antler, his left donkey leg, his left lizard leg and his snake tail. Not to mention this right fang was longer than his left. His height from the ground to the top of his antlers was about nine and a half tall, almost the same height as himself.

Discord took what BlackWarGreymon said as a compliment.

“Oh hmm hmm thank you,” He then began to think about the Digimon’s name. “Hmm, BlackWarGreymon… it’s kind of a mouthful don’t you think?”

While few of the Mane Six sort of agree on that fact, the rest including Celestia and BlackWarGreymon didn’t take that too kindly.

“Rude much?” Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically.

“It’s also rude not introducing yourself,” Twilight said to Discord.

“Oh right. I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony…” He then began to think about his title. “…well, former Spirit of yadiyadiya,” He said while trying not to repeat himself, already making himself clear.

He then realised something.

“And speaking of names, I couldn’t help but notice that your name has the word ‘war’ in it,” He said as he floated in the air and resting his arm on the Digimon’s shoulder.

Now that Discord had mentioned it, Celestia did felt for a moment that it was kind of strange.

BlackWarGreymon felt uncomfortable when he felt the slight change in Celestia. He had guessed that Twilight wrote only the good things about him in that letter to the sun princess.

Discord then asked him a question.

“Does that have a meaning for something, my pal?”

BlackWarGreymon quickly thought of an excuse.

“The reason for it is because I always fight. Besides it’s not like I had a choice, it was given to me.”

Despite the fact that Celestia started to have suspicions and that the Mane Six already knew the truth, Discord believed him.

“Fair enough, I just assumed that your name meant that you’re capable of fighting a battle, or even a war,” He said while materializing a military helmet on his head.

“As a matter of fact Discord, he fought two battles ever since he arrived here,” Twilight said, earning a confused look from the Draconequus.

“She’s right. Have you heard of Tirek’s escape a few days back?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Oh yes, that bother. I was on my way here to stop him eventually,” Discord said, but from the looks of the mares’ faces, they thought that what he said was only half true.

After rolling her eyes in annoyance, Rainbow Dash continued.

“Well thanks to this guy, Tirek’s back in his cell and no longer a problem,” She said while hovering above the Digimon.

Discord was so in shock at hearing the news, his eyes rolled literally out of his sockets and rolled around the floor on their own.

‘Gross,’ BlackWarGreymon thought as he watched.

After his eyes floated back in their sockets, Discord stared at the Digimon in disbelief.

“You defeated Tirek!? Aww, I wish I could’ve seen that,” He moaned, but then saw Pinkie Pie holding photo’s on her hoof.

“I took pictures if you want to look.”

After taking the pictures from her, the curious Discord took a good look at them.

“You took pictures of my fight?” BlackWarGreymon asked Pinkie Pie.

“Yep,” Pinkie Pie answered with a smile.

As Discord looked through the photos, Celestia used her magic to levitate some and took a look for herself. Her facial expression showed that she was both amazed and impressed. The one that really caught her attention was one with BlackWarGreymon holding a giant red sphere in his hands.

Soon Discord finished looking through the pictures.

“Ok I definatly wished I was there. It would have been so amusing to see Tirek getting his butt kicked,” He said while materializing a tiny version of Tirek. After the rabbit-sized let out high-pitched shouts, he then got squashed by an oversized foot of BlackWarGreymon.

The Digimon himself chuckled in amusement at seeing Discord’s display of humour.

“And just moments ago, BlackWarGreymon saved Princess Luna from a terrifying dragon,” Fluttershy added.

This earned a chuckle from Discord.

“Oh I see. Facing impending doom, fighting beasties, saving lives and damsels in distress. Sounds to me like you’re Equestria’s newest knight in shining armour,” He said to BlackWarGreymon.

“It does sound like it,” The Digimon answered. Discord however decided it was time to make his leave.

“Well can’t keep you waiting. I have to get back to unpack my luggage,” He said while a pile of luggage magically appeared behind him.

“Ok Discord, see you later,” Fluttershy said.

“Ta ta,” Discord called back before disappearing out of the hallway.

After he was gone, nearly all the mares sighed in relief. BlackWarGreymon took note of this and concluded that to them, Discord was annoying.

Then he remembered Discord’s title. Confused by this he turned to the Mane Six.

“Girls, what did he mean by ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’?” He asked, with Twilight answering the question.

“Well you see, Discord… was once a villain."

Her answer made BlackWarGreymon flinch, Twilight immediately saw this and tried to reassure him.

“But thanks to Fluttershy, he was reformed.”

“Reformed?” The Digimon asked.

“Yes. Now he used his powers for good instead of evil,” Celestia added.

BlackWarGreymon was surprised.

“You…changed him?” He asked Fluttershy.

“Yes I did. And now he’s our friend,” she said, but was added by Rainbow Dash.

“Well, mostly Fluttershy’s friend.”

BlackWarGreymon was impressed at hearing this. He wouldn’t have expected the pony to change Discord would be Fluttershy.

“Wow, you really are a very brave pony.”

His words made Fluttershy blush. He then began to piece together what his friends said and made him think about one thing about Discord. He was evil turned good.

Just like him.

‘Guess we aren't too different after all.’

Afterwards, they resumed their tour around the castle. Within hours, the Mane Six and Celestia had shown BlackWarGreymon the dining hall, the kitchen, the main hall where they held celebrations, the gymnasium and training hall because they figured that he might spend a lot of time in there. They even showed him the artefact chamber where they held some of their treasures. But the room the Digimon was more fascinated in was the throne room. To him, Celestia’s and Luna’s thrones were indeed stunning to look at.

Obviously during their tour, they encountered many royal guards. But word of BlackWarGreymon’s new title had spread very quickly and they all see him as an ally. Even though most of them were frightened by his appearance.

But what was strange was that some of the guards that were mares, as well as some of the maids who keep the castle tidy, were whispering, giggling and blushing amongst themselves. Celestia was the only one in the group who noticed their unusual behaviour. She knew the reason why and admittedly, could understand why.

Even though he’s from a completely different world, Celestia did found BlackWarGreymon quite handsome. She chuckled at the thought of this.

After the course of a few hours when they started, the group had finished their tour and were back in the Canterlot gardens.

“Well, what do you think?” Twilight asked BlackWarGreymon, hoping that the tour pleased him.

“I think Canterlot is a great place,” He answered before walking to the edge of the garden, looking down the mountain to the view of Ponyville and Equestria’s great land beyond.

“But with a view like this, it’s even better.”

His words earned the smiles from Celestia and the Mane Six their hearts were warmed. But what he said next made the warm feeling even stronger.

“In fact… it’s beautiful.”

The ponies were astonished. The fact that a fierce looking being like him admires a sight like their world was indeed very rare.

“I’m glad you think so BlackWarGreymon. Now I must go to the hospital to see if Luna has recovered,” Celestia said.

“It’s ok Celestia, we understand. We hope she’s ok too,” Twilight said in support.

This put another smile on the white Alicorn’s face.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle,” She said while giving Twilight a hug.

She then got up and turned her attention to BlackWarGreymon.

“Again, thank you for bringing Luna home,” She said before taking to the skies and flew towards the Canterlot hospital.

As the group watched the sun princess flying away in the distance, BlackWarGreymon remembered something. Something that was very rare or impossible for a Digimon to do without Digivolving. While processing these thoughts in his mind, he looked at his three-clawed gauntlets. Trying to make sense of what happened during his battle with the yellow dragon.

Twilight saw this and had a questionable look on her face.

“Is everything alright?” She asked him in concern.

Not entirely sure what the answer might be, he turned to Twilight.

“Twilight, the magic of this world, is it at times… unpredictable?”

Twilight was puzzled at first, but quickly understood what he meant.

“Well, I guess about half the time… it can be unexpected. Why?”

The rest of the Mane Six approached the pair, they got caught up in their conversation. BlackWarGreymon explained himself.

“Remember when I said that every Digimon has their own powers?” The Mane Six all nodded their heads saying yes. “Well as far as I know, all Digimon are born with certain amount of abilities.”

“What are ya tryin’ to say, big fella?” Applejack asked with the other five ponies becoming more curious.

“You see, I was created with three abilities. But during my fight with that dragon today, I think I may have… unlocked a new ability.” The Digimon explained, earning a collective gasps from the Mane Six.

“You got a forth super power? That’s so awesome!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

“What’s more impressive is that you got it during a fight,” Rarity added.

“I agree, it’s very impressive,” Fluttershy said.

“Well aren’t ya full of surprises,” Applejack included.

“Super power PARTY!!” Pinkie Pie shouted cheerfully.

At this point, Twilight became curious.

“And you think it was the magic of our world that gave you another power?”

“It must be. It never happened back in the Digital World,” BlackWarGreymon then began to think carefully. “Unless there’s something more to it. Something…more.”

“Now that we’re on the subject darling, do your abilities have names?” Rarity asked.

“Yes. My powers are called Terra Destroyer, Black Tornado, Mega Destroyer and my newest one, Dragon Crusher,” He explained.

“I think Dragon Crusher is kinda fitting since you got it while battling that dragon,” Pinkie Pie said, putting the two together.

The group were silent for the moment, taking in everything that was said. BlackWarGreymon then broke the silence as he turned his attention to Rainbow Dash.

“So Rainbow Dash, are you still up for that race you challenged me yesterday?”

Rainbow Dash mentally face-hoofed herself. She couldn’t believe that she forgot all about that.

“Oh yeah. Yeah you bet I’m still up for it!”

“Good. Now I’ll get to see how fast you really are?”

Rainbow Dash was slightly surprised for one reason.

“Wait. You want the race…today? Like right now?”

“Yes.”

“But, aren’t you tired from your fight with that dragon, Tirek and from what Twilight told me reading books all night without sleep?”

“No. Since I’m a Mega, I don’t get tired very easily.”

Rainbow Dash was startled, it was as if BlackWarGreymon doesn’t need to rest at all.

“Now that’s awesome.”

She then thought of a course for them to go through for the race.

“Ok big guy, first up we fly to Cloudsdale and manoeuvre through the cloud factories. Then we dive down through those clouds to Ponyville. Then we speed above the houses and fly around the top of town hall ten times. Next we go straight across the Everfree Forest, then through Ghastly Gorge. And then finally straight back here,” She explained while pointing her hoof to the specific locations they have to go through.

“I’m fine with that,” BlackWarGreymon said, while admittedly had no clue at what he’s going to put himself through.

With that cleared, the blue Pegasus and the black Digimon were soon standing side by side in their starting positions, facing towards the city of clouds in the distance. Although a little surprised that a city made of clouds exists, but BlackWarGreymon came from a world that’s entirely digital, so he quickly got over it.

Pinkie Pie agreed to be the one holding the flag and start the race.

“Ok racers, on your marks.”

Both Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon knelt down, getting ready.

“Just because your new here, it doesn’t mean I’m going easy on you,” Rainbow Dash said to her competitor, but what the Digimon said next made her a little nervous.

“Good, because I wasn’t planning to go easy on you.”

Knowing that he’s determined, Rainbow Dash recomposed herself and grew a confident grin on her face.

“Get set,” Pinkie Pie said, holding the flag high.

Rainbow Dash was ready to take flight by spreading her wings. BlackWarGreymon stayed in place as though he’s about to run a marathon.

‘Background music’ ‘What I’m Made Of by Crush 40’

“GO!!!”

The moment Pinkie Pie waved the flag, the Pegasus and the Digimon took off. While Rainbow Dash took straight to the skies, BlackWarGreymon chose to sprint.

“Why isn’t he flying?” Fluttershy asked, seeing clearly that Rainbow Dash was far ahead.

BlackWarGreymon would have chosen to immediately take flight from starting point. But by having a running start, the increase of speed would propel him even faster when he took to the air.

And that’s exactly what happened next.

Leaping into the air and throwing his arms forward to make himself more streamlined, he shot straight through the air and quickly gaining on Rainbow Dash.

Up ahead, the Pegasus was flying casually, thinking that she got the race in the bag.

“Easy peasy lemon sque…”

She was interrupted when a black blur flew straight past her, the draft it created sent her spinning. After shaking her head to clear the dizziness, she started to close in on her competitor. She couldn’t believe that BlackWarGreymon just over took her.

Halfway towards Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash had just caught up with the Digimon. Now flying side by side.

“Wow, you’re quick,” She complemented.

“You’re not bad yourself,” He responded back.

“Oh yeah? Well you’ve seen nothing yet!” She said as she started to fly faster, about fifteen feet ahead of the Digimon.

Instead of flying faster to catch up, BlackWarGreymon decided to stay behind for now.

He had a plan.

Obviously, he had never been to Cloudsdale or Ghastly Gorge. So if he were to lead the way, he would easily take a wrong turn or get himself lost. So for now he just had to stick close and when he gets a chance, he would make his move.

As the two kept climbing, they eventually reached Cloudsdale and started to manoeuvre in-between the chimneys of the cloud factories. As he was doing this, BlackWarGreymon took note that it seems only Pegasi can actually walk on clouds.

Predictably, the two competitors were spotted by the on looking citizens. At first it seemed that their fellow Pegasus was being chased by a creature that was unfamiliar to them. But from seeing the smile on Rainbow Dash’s face, and that some Pegasi had already heard news from Canterlot, they could tell that this was some sort of race.

After passing the last chimney, Rainbow Dash flew over one of the many rainbows and then started to descend from Cloudsdale, with BlackWarGreymon in hot pursuit. As the two dived towards Ponyville, they headed towards a minefield of clouds. This wasn’t a problem. As the two approached them, Rainbow Dash was busting through them with her hooves while BlackWarGreymon was either slashing them or simply flying straight through them.

As they reached Ponyville, the two racers were flying above the rooftops. They were flying at such speeds that the on looking ponies only saw rainbow and black blurs streaking across the sky. After weaving through the wide streets they reached town hall and started flying in a circle around the rooftop.

Nearby were the Cutiemark Crusaders. After failing at their recent attempt at getting cutiemarks, they thought nothing could cheer them up. Until they saw the two racers flying around the top of town hall. Despite only seeing blurs, the three fillies immediately knew who they were.

After their tenth run around the rooftop, Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon flew off to their newt destination. Leaving the three crusaders in awe.

“Is my eyes playin’ tricks on me, or is that new guy racin’ Rainbow Dash?” Applebloom asked the other two.

“Nope. What we just saw was real!” Sweetie Belle answered.

Scootaloo had a look of disbelief on her face.

“Impossible. He’s actually keeping up with Rainbow Dash!” She said as the racers disappeared in the distance.

Back at Canterlot, the rest of the Mane Six were watching every detail of the race. Unfortunately, they only had one binoculars and half the time they were fighting over who gets to look through them.

“What’s happening? What’s happening!?” Pinkie Pie shouted while snatching the binoculars away from Applejack but looking in the wrong direction.

Twilight used her magic to take the binoculars from the pink pony and peered through them in the direction of Ponyville. She gasped then she saw Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon.

“I see them! They just left Ponyville!” She said before the rest of her friends started to jump on the spot and cheering on excitement.

“Who’s winning Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“It looks like a tie, but I think Rainbow Dash is just ahead,” She answered, leaving the others to gasp in disbelief. It’s rare for someone to almost equal their blue friend in speed.

Back at the race, the Digimon and the Pegasus were weaving around the tops of trees above the Everfree Forest. Either showing no signs of being tired or slowing down. As Rainbow Dash looked over to her side to see BlackWarGreymon, she had to admit that she was slightly jealous. The fact that she had to constantly flap her wings to stay in the air, while the Digimon didn’t seem to be moving any parts of his body at all, meant that he’s using even less energy than her.

“Seriously, how is it that you’re flying?” She asked.

“What’s the matter? Felling tired already?” He replied to mock her.

Now with determination, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings harder, propelling herself faster and passed by the Digimon.

As they left the Everfree Forest and towards Ghastly Gorge, BlackWarGreymon took note that the gorge was a massive canyon, with a stream stretching across the ground bellow. As she approached the edge of the cliff, Rainbow Dash dived down and flew above the stream inside the gorge, with BlackWarGreymon following her lead.

Inside the gorge the two racers had obstacles to overcome in order to proceed. The first was a tunnel with a massive back draft. Upon entering the tunnel, Rainbow Dash was slowed down at first, but after beating her wings harder she kept up the pace and made it out of the tunnel. Unfortunately for the Pegasus, BlackWarGreymon had an advantage. Thanks to his larger body and his smooth streamlined armour, he made it in and out of the tunnel at ease, bringing him closer to Rainbow Dash.

After some twists and turns they came upon the second obstacle, a massive growth of cactuses. Rainbow Dash found an opening large enough to fit into, and then flew straight in.

Thanks to the amount of times she flew in and out of Ghastly Gorge, Rainbow Dash was able to plot a course through the dense growth without getting a scratch from the spiked branches.

By the time she flew back out, Rainbow Dash figured that BlackWarGreymon won’t be able to fit through the opening. And even if he did, he would have to slow right down to move around the branches.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

She then heard a sudden series of loud snaps. She turned her head only to see that BlackWarGreymon didn’t use the opening. Or wasn’t careful.

In fact, he didn’t even slowed down!

He literally just flew straight in without hesitation or fear, smashing his way through at high speed, and to the pony’s surprise, completely unaffected by the thorns.

As he exited the last cactus, bits of branches flew everywhere. This forced the rainbow-maned pony to dodge the incoming thorns.

“What the hay! Aren’t you even hurt by that!?” Rainbow Dash asked, clearly surprised from what she saw.

“Didn’t feel a thing,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

Because he didn’t slowed down, the Digimon was right behind Rainbow Dash. But she wasn’t going to let this get the best of her. By flapping her wings faster, she gained more distance from BlackWarGreymon as they approached the third and final obstacle.

The Quarray eel nest.

From hearing the incoming racers, the giant red eels poked their heads out to see their potential prey. But by sensing the incredible power within BlackWarGreymon, most of the eels were frightened and retreated back in their nests.

Rainbow Dash noticed this and figured that she could use this to her advantage. However, the eels recognized the Pegasus for she was the one who always teased and tormented them. They wanted her to be their pray, even if it meant going near the Digimon.

When BlackWarGreymon flew by, the Quarray eels avoided him completely. But when Rainbow Dash flew by, they launched their heads out with their gaping mouths open, hoping to catch the speeding pony.

But Rainbow Dash was too quick for them and easily dodged their attacks. But by doing this she slowed down and soon noticed that the Digimon took the lead, completely unopposed.

“Seriously!?”

However, one eel had the guts to try to eat BlackWarGreymon. But it launched its head out too early and ended up getting slammed by the Digimon’s armoured shoulder. The eel was knocked out cold.

Back at Canterlot, the rest of the Mane Six couldn’t contain their excitement much longer, for they know the race was almost over.

“What’s happenin’ Twilight?” Applejack asked the Alicorn who was looking through the binoculars.

“Can’t tell yet, but they must be out of Ghastly Gorge any time now,” She replied while focusing more on her sight.

Eventually, she spotted two speeding blurs flying out of the distant gorge.

“They’re out! They’re… wait a minute,”

What she said made her friends look at her in confusion. Clearly puzzled at her change of tone.

What made it more surprising was when Twilight gasped in shock.

“I…I don’t believe it! BlackWarGreymon is in the lead!”

Her sentence made her friends gasp, Rarity even nearly fainted.

“BlackWarGreymon…in the lead of a race…against Rainbow Dash!? This is unheard of! This is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about! RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted in Twilight’s ear.

Back at the race, the only thing left to do was to fly straight back towards the Canterlot gardens where Twilight and her friends were waiting. Now with no more obstacles or misleading directions, BlackWarGreymon was now able to truly put his speed to the test. Now flying much faster, with his arms stretched forward to improve his aerodynamics, he flew past Rainbow Dash and gaining great distance.

But Rainbow Dash wasn’t the one to give up so easily. Flapping her wings harder, she was able to close the gap and found herself next to him.

“I have to admit, you’re faster than I thought you are. But you’re never gonna beat me!” She said while, with a sudden burst of speed, flew past the Digimon and flying faster.

While her speed was climbing, BlackWarGreymon’s wasn’t. At first he thought using lesser energy to fly would guarantee the win, but it seems that’s not the case.

“It seems I’ve reached my top speed. But it’s still not enough to beat Rainbow Dash.”

Then he thought of a cunning idea.

“Unless…”

He then put his arms together and started to spin.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile seems confident that she was going to win.

“Haha. I actually left him in the dust. As it seems he can’t go any faster, it’s clear that I’m the win…”

“BLACK TORNADO!”

She was interrupted when she heard BlackWarGreymon. And was even more surprised when she saw a horizontal black tornado flying past her. She was confused at first but quickly saw through the Digimon’s plan.

Using the black winds that were created while spinning, BlackWarGreymon used those winds to propel himself faster. Given the fact that he was already at his top speed and while in tornado form he was more aero-dynamical, he was traveling even faster than he was before.

“Alright big guy, so this is how you’re going to play it? Then so am I.”

With her statement said, Rainbow Dash flew directly upwards in a complete vertical line. After reaching a very high altitude, she started to dive straight towards the finish line, going faster every second.

Back at Canterlot, the rest of the Mane Six were concerned for Twilight. Who was looking through her binoculars but with an awe-stricken face.

“Now what’s happening Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“Well… it looks like BlackWarGreymon is using his tornado attack to go faster, but I can’t see Rainbow Dash,” She replied. But after moving her sights about, she spotted the blue Pegasus.

“I see her, and…and…”

“And what?” Pinkie Pie asked in concern.

Twilight then put her binoculars down, but still looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash.

“And I think she’s gonna do… the Sonic Rainboom.”

Back at the race, Twilight was correct. As Rainbow Dash kept flapping her wings furiously while diving, a Mach cone began to form in front of her. But she didn’t stop there, she kept going and going… until…

Back to BlackWarGreymon, he kept spinning in his tornado, keeping his pace up. Until he heard what sounded like a large explosion.

“WHAT THE…!!!”

Thinking that something was wrong, he immediately ceased his Black Tornado move, stopped moving altogether and looked to where he heard the sound.

As he looked at the sky, he saw something that he truly didn’t expect. Expanding across the sky, was a massive rainbow-coloured ring.

‘Song end’

He then saw a rainbow trail flew past him and as it did, he briefly heard Rainbow Dash cheering. He then looked back at the sky as the rainbow ring slowly faded away.

“So that’s the Sonic Rainboom? Impressive.”

He then realised that even if he didn’t stop, Rainbow Dash would still fly past him at that kind of speed.

After accepting the fact that Rainbow Dash was faster than him, BlackWarGreymon turned towards the finish line and flew towards it.

At the finish line, Rainbow Dash landed. However she was completely exhausted from the race. The rest of the Mane Six approached the mare who was gasping for breath.

“Are you ok, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked in concern.

As Rainbow Dash answered, she took deep breaths in-between her words.

“I’m…fine…just…tired.”

“Wow Rainbow Dash, I’ve never seen ya so exhausted from a race before,” Applejack said.

“And the race was pretty close,” Twilight mentioned.

“Yeah…good thing…that I used the Sonic Rainboom…huh?” Rainbow Dash said while trying to stand back up.

Afterwards, BlackWarGreymon landed beside them. As Rainbow Dash looked at him, she couldn’t believe that he wasn’t showing signs of exhaustion. Heck, he wasn’t even tired.

“How do you do that?” She asked, finally getting her breath back.

“Do what?” The Digimon asked, letting Rainbow Dash explain.

“You’ve battled two powerful opponents, spent all night reading without sleep and had just raced me across Cloudsdale, Ponyville, the Everfree and Ghastly Gorge. How are you not tired!?”

“I’m just not,” BlackWarGreymon simply replied. “And believe me, I can still keep going.”

“Ok. And that whole flying thing. Do you Digimon have a habit of defying gravity?” She asked him again.

“Well…most of the time.”

“Sorry that you lost the race,” Fluttershy said as she and her friends approached him.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t that bad for my first,” He said, earning looks of surprise from his friends.

“Wait that was your first race ever?” Rarity asked.

“Yes it was. But what made that race better for me was that I got to see the Sonic Rainboom,” BlackWarGreymon admitted.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes. Before now I never met anyone who can fly so fast that they can shatter the colour spectrum.”

Twilight was surprised at the last few words the Digimon said.

“Wow. That was so…technical.”

While elbowing Rainbow Dash, Applejack spoke to her.

“Admit it Rainbow, ya had a lot of work cut out for ya back at the race.”

“Well…yeah kinda. He actually kept up with me,” Rainbow Dash replied.

While this was going on, Twilight pondered over something in her mind.

‘Obviously, BlackWarGreymon’s powers are not magical, he just possesses them. He described his fight with Tirek ‘too quickly’ and despite hearing about the size and appearance of the dragon that took Luna, BlackWarGreymon was still able to defeat it’

Thanks to these thoughts stirring in her head, Twilight wanted to know what the Control Spire Digimon was really capable of.

After walking towards him to gain his attention, she spoke up.

“BlackWarGreymon. You said you have four powers and so far we had only seen two of them. So if it’s ok with you, would you like to show us more of your powers? And how you use them, as well as your fighting skills?”

At first, BlackWarGreymon thought that it was kind of strange for Twilight to make that request. But he remembered that she had an inquiring mind and was obviously interested in seeing his capabilities.

Since they were friends that trust each over, he didn’t mind the idea of showing off a little.

“I think that’s a good idea Twilight. But it’s not like another villain is going to pop out of nowhere,” He stated.

Twilight knew he was right. After looking around, she saw two royal guards inspecting their new catapult.

“I think I’ve got an idea.”
……………………………………………………………………………………….......................................

Discord’s Dimension

After making his grand appearance at Canterlot castle, the Spirit of Chaos appeared in his house in the middle of his distorted realm. Of all the things he loves doing, it things that doesn’t make sense.

Despite being thousands of years old, he was still very childish.

Now reformed to good, the only ‘entertainment’ he could conjure up with his genie-like powers was pulling pranks. Yes he may had made a couple of mishaps, but he made up for it by doing the right thing in the end. A lesson he learnt from his experience with Tirek.

As he used his magic to bring his suitcase to life, he ordered it to climb the stairs and ‘barf’ out his luggage. Leaving Discord alone in his living room.

“Oh that was exciting! Barging in on them like that, the looks on their faces hahaha! Priceless!!”

While in a good mood, he then thought about the new visitor while walking back and forth across the room.

“And that BlackWarGreymon fellow definatly looks interesting. I definatly felt a great chaotic aura from him. I wonder if he likes pulling a prank or two.”

Then to his uncertainty, there was a fact that kept tickling inside his head. Something that for some reason he had to remember.

While still walking back and forth across the room, his good mood shifted to deep thought as he stroked his beard.

“Now, what is he again? What’s the name of his species? Twilight definatly said it. But what was it again? Bibi-something…Poke-something…Digi…Digi.........”

He paused.

He slowly released his hold on his beard with a startled look on his face as he remembered the name. His startled face quickly morphed into shock.

“Digimon.”

He the rushed to his draws and franticly looked through them while throwing its contents out, as if he’s looking for something. This was rare. The only times Discord was like this was when he’s serious. After emptying his draws, he moved to the middle of the room and rubbed his head with his index fingers, trying to clear his mind.

“Digimon…Digimon…where have I heard that name before? I definatly heard that name from somewhere. But when did I…………oh.”

Then it clicked. As he released his fingers from his head, Discord’s face paled while his eyes widened and his red pupils shrunk.

He now remembered where he heard that name.

And from who he heard it from.

As Discord remembered his past, long before he met the Mane Six, long before he was turned to stone by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, he remembered……HIM!

Discord began to shiver in fear. Just the thought of his appearance, his eyes and even his demonic laughter made even the Spirit of Chaos himself stutter.

“Oh…him. Uuuuhhh, he STILL gives me the creeps.”

As he tried to take his mind off the matter, Discord became confused.

“Wait. If BlackWarGreymon had chaotic energy, why is he around ponies? Hmm?”

He then snapped his fingers when he thought of a possibility that cheered him up.

“He’s like me! He WAS evil, but now reformed! HAHAHA!! Finally, someone who’s just like me!”

As Discord cheered, his deranged mind completely forgot the important matter that had him concerned in a way he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Chapter 10: The Test

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At the Canterlot hospital, the doctors and nurses had a very important patient. After hours of intense work, the medics had finally finished giving Princess Luna treatment and left her to rest for the healing to take effect.

Being an Alicorn, Luna and the other princesses could heal much faster than an average pony. But even so, it still took time.

As the medical ponies left to inform Princess Celestia that her little sister was going to make a full recovery, Luna was having one of her dreams.

Now that the nightmare essence of her mind, the Tantabus, was long gone, all her dreams since then had been very pleasant and peaceful. But at the moment, she’s having the same dream she had for the past few weeks.

Because she was constantly been asked by many stallions who all found her attractive, the dream she was having was mainly about her mysterious knight in shining armour.

For some time, her dream was repeating itself over and over again. She gets captured by an evil sorcerer, him threatening all of Equestria unless she submits to him, then her hero appears and fights the sorcerer, and after a quick skirmish, the hero triumphs. Afterwards, the mysterious hero approaches Luna and frees her.

But this time, only one part of her dream was different. Originally, her knight in shining armour had a resemblance of a stallion. But this time around, and to her surprise, he bared the resemblance of what looked like an upright dragon with armour. As he approached her, her dream was suddenly fading. And the last thing she caught a glimpse of were his yellow eyes.

After Luna’s eyes snapped open to reality, she quickly rose her body off the bed while taking in deep breaths.

‘What…what was that all about?’

“Oh Luna. It’s good to see you awake.”

Luna turned her head to where she heard the voice. And standing beside the bed was Celestia, with relief on her face.

“Sister? Where…where am I?” Luna asked while looking around the unfamiliar room.

“Your in the hospital, Luna. You were exhausted from your experience and fell unconscious,” Celestia explained.

Luna was left puzzled.

“Experience?”

Celestia had a questionable look on her face.

“You mean you don’t remember?”

While thinking hard, Luna tried to piece her thoughts and memories together.

“Well… I’m not so sure. I do remember that… I was taken by a giant dragon. He… took me to a cave and… tried to eat me! But as he did…”

“Well?” Celestia asked, noticing Luna’s long pause.

“Well, call me crazy… a black blur came out of nowhere and attacked the dragon.”

“A black blur?” Celestia asked, despite knowing full well who the black blur really was.

“Yes, and it looked like a… an armoured dragon. But it was different from any dragon I’ve ever seen before. It was fast, strong, and the power it had. I’ve never seen anything with that kind of power before. It was able to defeat that dragon on its own and… it saved my life.”

Celestia smiled at hearing Luna’s explanation.

“Seems like we could never thank BlackWarGreymon enough,” She said to herself. But Luna overheard her and was puzzled at a bizarre word her sister used.

“Black…War…Greymon?”

“Oh. I’m talking about our saviour. You know, the one who defeated Tirek yesterday. He’s also the one who saved you, Luna. BlackWarGreymon is his name,” Celestia explained, making it clear to her little sister as Luna looked at her bed to take in the details.

“BlackWarGreymon. Such a strange name.”

“I guess in a way it is, Luna. But he told me that there are many different beings from his world that have strange names.”

What Celestia said brought Luna’s full attention.

“So he isn’t a dragon?”

“No. He may look like one, but he’s in fact entirely different. He belongs to a species called Digimon and he came from a dimension called the Digital World.”

Luna became more intrigued with the new information.

“So… he’s from another world?”

“Yes, Luna. But what’s more interesting is that despite being from another world, he’s perfectly willing to step into danger to protect the innocent lives that he had never met before,” Celestia stated, but Luna looked confused.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well Luna, when the royal guard informed us that you were captured, BlackWarGreymon immediately stepped in without a second thought of his own freewill. And before I could say anything, he took off to rescue you.”

Luna was awe-stricken when she heard this. He wasn’t ordered to save her, he wanted to save her. Back at the battle, he was unstoppable and perhaps a bit vicious. But he did it all to protect her. He was indeed their saviour.

Without hesitating, Luna climbed out of her hospital bed.

“Luna, you should be resting,” Celestia said with concern in her voice.

“Don’t worry sister, I’ll be fine. I would like to meet BlackWarGreymon, where is he?” Luna asked.

“The last I’ve seen him, he was out in the Canterlot gardens with Twilight and her friends. Why?” Celestia asked.

“Well…I like to thank him personally.”

Celestia smiled at hearing Luna’s answer.

“Of course. But go easy on your sprained hoof. It may not have fully healed yet,” Celestia advised.

With that, Luna walked past her big sister and left the room. With other ponies bowing before her as she walked past them.

Already knowing how tough her little sister was, Celestia, who’s seemly alone, smiled at the thought of Luna returning to full health.

Until she was disturbed by someone who appeared to be humming.

“Hmmm, how touching.”

Celestia turned around to the source of the familiar voice. And found Discord, wrapped up in bandages pretending to be injured, on the bed next to the one Luna was on.

“Discord. How long have you been here?” She asked.

“Oh, long enough,” Discord said before teleporting off the bed and reappearing next to the sun princess, with no bandages on him.

“You know I think it’s great for you to put so much trust in our Digi-pall,” He continued.

“Of course it is, Discord. He’s our new saviour,” The white Alicorn said, agreeing with what the Draconequus said.

“I think that’s a good title for him. Well…despite his negative energy of course,”

Celestia was puzzled at what Discord was implying.

“What are you talking about?”

“You mean you didn’t know that he possesses negative energy?” Discord asked.

“Well… on our way to the gardens, BlackWarGreymon did mentioned it. Do you know something about it, Discord?”

Before answering Celestia’s question, Discord thought for a moment while stroking his beard.

“Well, I don’t know how the powers of Digimon work, but I do know one thing. You see, negative energy is their version of dark magic.”

Discord’s answer left Celestia stunned.

“Dark…magic?” Celestia silently asked, but Discord wasn’t listening.

“In a way it sort of makes sense. After all, he does look the part.”

He then paused before speaking again.

"Anyway, best be off now. I’m planning on playing ping-pong with myself and I’m intending on winning this time. Farwell!” He said before disappearing from the room, leaving Celestia alone with confused thoughts.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Five minutes from the Canterlot gardens

With the hospital behind her, Princess Luna made her way towards the gardens beside the castle. During her walk, she kept remembering the events that transpired with Celestia.

Yes, Luna wanted to meet her rescuer, but she did sound a bit too eager. In fact her walking pace was quicker, as if she wanted to see him before he leaves or something like that.

Confused at her own thoughts, she slightly shook her head to clear her mind. She then looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was setting.

“It’s evening!? I must’ve been out for a while.”

Her vision then caught a glimpse of something moving at the corner of her eye. Looking to her right, she spotted two royal guard Unicorns moving a catapult towards the gardens. The guards were also bringing large rocks which were used as ammo for the large weapon.

Curious of what’s going on, Luna slipped into the shadows and while under the cover of darkness, silently moved closer to the guards. After getting to a good distance unseen, Luna then raised her ear to hear the guard’s conversation.

“Uuhhh… tell me why we’re moving this towards the gardens?” The first guard asked the other, clearly exhausted from using his magic to move the heavy catapult.

“Princess Twilight ordered this and other catapults to be moved because she wants to use them as some sort of test for the new guy,” The second guard answered.

Hearing this made the hidden Alicorn listen more.

“Oh yeah, the new guy. But I think he doesn’t need to bother with this. Just the look of him could send a pony running,” The first guard said.

"Oh that reminds me. I’ve heard that he took on Tirek and defeated him all on his own,” The second guard said, leaving the first one with the look of awe.

“You’re kidding!”

“Well word is going around that he is our new protector.”

As they continued their conversation, they disappeared into the streets, leaving Luna with her thoughts.

“What kind of test has Twilight got in mind for him?”

Curious of what the test was, Luna proceeded to fly to the rooftops. But since her once clipped wing was only recently healed, she felt stings of pain as she flapped her wings. But soon she reached the rooftop that had a good view of the gardens.

After settling down on the roof to rest her body, she spotted the Mane Six in the distance. As well as a few loaded catapults.

She was confused. Was this some kind of combat test and more importantly, where’s BlackWarGreymon?

After trying and failing to spot the Digimon who’s apparently out of sight, she turned her sights to Twilight who was gathering her friends together.

“Alright, are you ready girls?” Twilight asked in enthusiasm.

“You bet!” The rest of the Mane Six said at the same time.

‘Background music’ ‘All Hail Shadow by Crush 40’

Twilight immediately turned to a group of royal guards with one of their catapults, ready to fire.

“Are you all set!?” She asked.

“We’re ready your highness,” One of the guards called back.

“Good. Start firing… now!”

The moment Twilight gave the order, one of the catapults launched a large boulder high into the air.

The first shot of the test was fired.

Luna noticed that the guards were being careful with their aim, trying not to point the catapults at the castle. But that wasn’t all the night princess saw.

As the rock kept climbing into the air, a streaking black blur suddenly flew out of the nearby trees. All the ponies and the guards on the ground watched on in amazement as the black blur smashed its way straight through the boulder, shattering it to pieces.

“Shouldn’t that hurt him?” Rarity asked while watching what just transpired.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Pinkie Pie answered.

Back up in the sky for all the amazed ponies to see, the falling stones gave way to reveal BlackWarGreymon. Who was preparing himself for his next target.

With the Digimon in open sky and out of the line of sights of the castle, the guards below were able to adjust their catapults to literally aim and fire at him.

From seeing another incoming boulder, BlackWarGreymon flew towards it with his claws ready. As the two came close, the Digital Monster launched his left arm forward. Then a slashing sound was heard. And by the time the rock past him, it fell apart into pieces.

He then did the same to another incoming boulder with his right arm.

While he was doing this, the ponies below who were watching were amazed that the Digimon’s metal claws, as well as himself, were able to slice through solid rock like it was nothing.

“Now that’s what I call a knife through hot butter,” Rainbow Dash cheered.

After spotting another rock coming towards him from behind, BlackWarGreymon raised his left arm straight in front of him, turned around sharply and slashed the boulder sideways. Doing this caused the boulder to be sliced completely in half.

Although she was not entirely into brute strength, Luna couldn’t help but feel amazed and impressed by BlackWarGreymon’s strength and how he uses it.

“So…majestic.”

After slicing two more boulders into pieces, BlackWarGreymon spotted two more incoming. He slammed his foot into the first one, completely shattering the rock. Then destroyed the second by ramming his elbow into it.

“Seriously, how does that not hurt him?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know, but he is surprisingly durable,” Twilight answered.

Soon after spotting yet another boulder, the jet-black dragon warrior flew towards it, done a forward flip so his feet were facing the ball of rock, and then landed on it with his metal claws dug in to hold on. His actions caused the rock to fall back downwards towards the ground with him still on it. Then both he and the boulder crashed into a hill, the impact throwing a large cloud of dust into the air.

The Mane Six, the guards and Princess Luna were awe-stricken. He had the guts to free-fall with the boulder and risk getting himself hurt.

Then five more boulders were fired in the air, then were falling in the direction of the downed Digimon.

But BlackWarGreymon was waiting for this.

The on-looking ponies then spotted a red glow within the dust cloud. Although still new to the Mane Six, Luna was all too familiar with the Digital Monster’s signature attack.

BlackWarGreymon then burst out of the dust cloud unharmed, with a Terra Destroyer orb that was the same size as he was in-between his hands. He then chucked it at the five incoming boulders. While it collided with one, destroying it, the blast radius obliterated three others. As the fifth one approached the fading red light, BlackWarGreymon appeared through the light and side-kicked the rock as if it were a football.

This sent the rock flying from Canterlot, in-between two nearby mountains and disappearing off in the distance.

“He takes the shot! He shoots! He scores!!” Rainbow Dash cheered, acting as if the two mountains were some sort of goal.

As the Mane Six were all cheering and the royal guards shocked at the Digimon’s combat skills, Luna slowly smiled at how happy Twilight and her friends were about BlackWarGreymon. As well as him using his power and strength for good.

Back in the sky, BlackWarGreymon used Dragon Crusher on three boulders. The wave of energy halting them and then the wave of red-purple fire incinerating them.

Soon after the fire cleared, he then saw five more boulders heading for him.

“Hmm, more fun for me.”

Using his newly enhanced speed, BlackWarGreymon instantly turned into a black blur as he flew towards the boulders. One by one, as he reached a boulder, a slashing sound was heard. By the time he left the group of rocks and slowed down, the five boulders fell apart into pieces of stones.

The Digimon then used Black Tornado to drill through three boulders that were in a row. While passing through them, the force from the black winds shredded what was left of the round rocks. He kept his assault up by an uppercut slash on another boulder, again slicing it in the process.

As more boulders kept flying at him, BlackWarGreymon had done virtually every combat move he could think of. He back-handed them, karate chopped them, head-butted them, slashed, kicked, and slammed his armoured shin guard into them. And every time he landed a hit, the boulders crumbled under his strength.

After spotting another incoming boulder, he reached his arms out to catch it. As he did, his clawed gauntlets dug straight into the rock and held it in its place. He then raised the boulder over his head and threw it into another. The collision shattered the two.

BlackWarGreymon looked to his left and saw yet another incoming boulder, but as he looked to his right, he saw again another flying towards him at the same time. To show off more of his physical strength, he stretched his arms out to his sides and allowed the two boulders to slam into his gauntlets. With the two boulders held in place by his claws, the Digimon reared his arms back and then swung them back together. Shattering the boulders together completely without harm.

The on-looking ponies below were amazed at what they’re witnessing. BlackWarGreymon truly had strength to behold.

“Truly amazing display, But I think it’s time to kick it up a notch,” Twilight said before signalling the nearby guards into switching ammunition.

Instead of the usual boulder, they loaded the catapult with a massive boulder coated in armour. Rainbow Dash took a good look at the metal and recognized its texture.

“Uhh Twilight, is that Cloudsdalion steel?” She asked the purple Alicorn.

“Yes it is,” Twilight answered.

Soon after they loaded it, the guards fired the armoured rock at the airborne Digimon. After spotting it, BlackWarGreymon noticed that the incoming boulder was covered in metal.

“This should be interesting.”

He then proceeded to fly towards the ball of metal. As the two got ever closer, the royal guards, the Mane Six and even Luna were eager to see the outcome. As the boulder got in range, BlackWarGreymon slashed his right arm at it. Showers of sparks flew everywhere as Chrome Digizoid made contact with Cloudsdalion steel.

As the sparks disappeared, BlackWarGreymon paused with his arm still stretched out. At first the armoured boulder seemed intact, but a spit second later, both the metal and the rock inside were sliced in half.

Everypony down below had looks of disbelief on their faces, while Rainbow Dash was in shock.

“That…that’s not possible! Cloudsdalion steel is the strongest metal in Equestria! And he sliced straight through it as if it was no problem!”

“Impressive. Seems his Digizoid armour is far stronger than any metal that we could make,” Twilight said to herself.

As time went on, the catapults were running out of ammo. So the guards decided to launch every boulder they had left, firing a total of twenty five boulders at BlackWarGreymon.

The Digimon knew he didn’t have the time to rely solely on combat, but he had an idea.

“Black Tornado!”

As BlackWarGreymon spun on the spot, swirling black winds that were created completely covered him. And by spinning much faster, the black vortex grew bigger and bigger. Soon a very large black tornado formed high in the sky, and as the boulders got in close, they were all sucked in and spun with the currents.

“He can make his tornado attack bigger!? Who knew?” Pinkie Pie said while everypony else silently stared at the column of black energy.

By adjusting the wind flow in his tornado, BlackWarGreymon sent twenty four of the boulders into the air in a DNA-like fashion out of the top of the tornado. While the last boulder went flying straight out of the tornado, right through the middle of all the other boulders and kept climbing altitude high above them.

With all twenty five boulders above him, BlackWarGreymon stopped spinning and flew towards them. He flew straight past the spiralling boulders and as he approached the stray round rock above his head, his body emitted dark energy.

“Mega Destroyer!”

Like a black comet he streaked high in the sky, and smashed straight through the boulder. The impact caused some of BlackWarGreymon’s dark energy to spray out like a cloud.

After stopping his flight upwards, he looked down to see the remaining rocks spiralling towards him. He then flew straight down towards them with his arms stretched outwards, with the pointed end of his claws facing the boulders. After spinning his body at the same speed as the boulders but in the opposite direction, he proceeded to free-fall with his claws slashing through the boulders, two at a time. As he kept it up, his claws met with more solid rock and sliced through them.

The ponies below were in complete awe at the sight. It was usually the Wonderbolts who had the guts to do that sort of thing. Even so, they dared not tear their gaze away from the spinning Digimon slicing through the armada of boulders.

After destroying every last boulder in the sky, BlackWarGreymon flew straight towards the ground. As he got closer, he did a foreword flip so his feet were facing the approaching ground.

As he landed, the impact sent a cloud of dust in the air as a shockwave travelled through the ground. The ponies felt the shockwave though the ground with their hooves. Even Luna felt it vibrating through the building he was on.

‘Music end’

As the dust cloud faded, BlackWarGreymon walked towards the awe-stricken Mane Six. Completely unaffected by the rough landing and satisfied by completing Twilight’s test.

“Woah, that…was totally awesome!” Rainbow Dash said as she and her friends met up with their digital friend.

“That was mighty impressive big fella,” Applejack complemented, with Rarity agreeing with her.

“Indeed. And that finale you pulled off certainly was graceful.”

“This calls for a celebration!” Pinkie Pie shouted while hugging Fluttershy in a tight squeeze.

Although feeling appreciated from their comments, BlackWarGreymon couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed.

Back on the rooftop, Princess Luna, despite still being stuck in awe at what she’s seen, smiled at how happy the Mane Six were being around BlackWarGreymon. Even though he was from a different world and had power leagues above their own. After deciding that the armoured being was friendly enough to be approachable, Luna teleported off the rooftop and reappeared outside the gardens, making her way towards the Mane Six and their new friend.

“That was incredible, BlackWarGreymon! I’ve never seen anypony fight like that,” Twilight said, clearly pleased how the outcome of the test was.

“Thank you Twilight. But as surprising as it sounds, I wasn’t even using my full potential.”

His response made the Mane Six stare at him in disbelief.

“WHAT!!?” They all shouted at the same time. Briefly surprising the Digimon

“You mean you could do even more than that?” Fluttershy asked.

“I could of. But hurtling boulders are a mere child’s play to me,” BlackWarGreymon answered, but was then joined by a voice unfamiliar to him.

“I most certainly agree.”

Hearing this made BlackWarGreymon shoot his head up in surprise, not expecting it at all. Then he heard Twilight’s voice.

“Princess Luna!”

Looking down to his friends, BlackWarGreymon noticed that the Mane Six were bowing to someone behind him. After slowly turning his head around, he saw Luna walking towards them.

Upon seeing the blue Alicorn again, the black Digimon’s eyes widen slightly for a brief moment as he felt the same warm presence in his chest.

‘This warm feeling again? What is it? What does it mean? And why does it happen when I see her?’

His mind was riddled with questions. But Luna too couldn’t help but feel slightly different when she saw him. From the distance was good enough but up close, he really was quite a sight.

Both their thought patterns were interrupted when Twilight rushed to the night princess.

“Luna, are you alright?” Where does it hurt?” She asked, concerned that the older Alicorn had left the hospital earlier than expected.

“I’m fine. Thank you Twilight,” Luna said before taking a few steps closer to BlackWarGreymon. Her blue eyes looking up at his yellow eyes.

“Boulders were clearly not worthy adversaries to you, B-BlackWarGreymon was it?” She asked to make sure she had got his name right.

“Y-Yes, that’s my name. You were watching me?” He asked back, wondering if she knew about the test.

“From start to finish. I’ve lived with my sister for thousands of years, and I’ve never seen anyone fight in a way you do. You’re very impressive.”

He didn’t know why, but BlackWarGreymon felt a little stunned when he heard her complement.

“Uhh…thank you, Princess Luna.”

Then a brief silence followed, but the Digimon kept hearing the blue Alicorn clearing her throat. He knew she was trying to hint him about something, but was confused as to why she’s not speaking it.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” He asked, but was not expecting the kind of answer that followed.

“Well, it’s customary to bow before royalty.”

For some reason, the Mane Six immediately felt uncomfortable, and they had every reason to feel so.

It was the same reason why BlackWarGreymon chose not to bow to Celestia. Throughout his rebellious life, the Digimon felt that bowing to another meant surrender or submitting. Even through the world he was in was friendly as well as its rulers and that to them bowing shows respect, he still felt that him bowing to another was wrong. Even bowing to a royal.

“I’m sorry, but I bow to no one.”

This caught Luna off-guard, before demanding an explanation.

“What?”

“To you and your kind, bowing is showing respect and forgiveness. But not to me. To me bowing is a sign of one submitting to another. And I don't submit.”

Despite the Mane Six feeling slight pity for BlackWarGreymon after hearing him say that, Luna felt slightly agitated. It was clear that Luna likes to be treated like a royal more than her sister does.

Before Luna could resort back, she was interrupted by a voice from behind her.

“It’s ok, Luna.”

After turning her head around, She, along with the Mane Six and BlackWarGreymon, saw Princess Celestia walking towards the group.

“There is no need for him to bow. He’s already respected us by saving our world.”

“I…I understand,” Luna replied, slightly unsure about it.

“Luna, you didn’t came here just to tell BlackWarGreymon your opinion on his test, didn’t you?” Twilight asked, knowing there was another reason why the blue Alicorn was with them instead of staying in the hospital.

“Oh…right,” She then turned her full attention to the armoured Digimon with a calm friendly expression.

“BlackWarGreymon, I just wanted to say…thank you, for saving my life.”

Like before, BlackWarGreymon felt very good about himself for doing something and being thanked for it.

“You’re most welcome, Princess Luna,”

Hearing him say that made the whole group smile brightly.

After another moment of silence, they all noticed that the sun was setting, giving way to night.

“Well, I’m sure that everypony is tired today. Would you all like to sleep over at the castle tonight?” Celestia asked.

“Really? Well we would gladly accept,” Rarity said while the other ponies nodded their heads in agreement.

“What about you big guy? From everything you been through, you could sleep for weeks,” Rainbow Dash said to BlackWarGreymon.

Despite everything he did lately, BlackWarGreymon still didn’t felt tired at all. But it would be rude to refuse an offer from the princess.

“Well, I guess I could use a little rest,” He said while flexing his arms. Although the Mane Six understood that he could go on without rest at all, but the royal sisters were slightly stunned by what he said.

“A little rest? You mean you’re not tired, even after fighting that dragon?” Luna asked.

“Not really,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Well then, shall we proceed to the castle?” Celestia asked the group.

“You bet,” Pinkie Pie answered while the others nodded their heads.

As the royal guards were putting their catapults away, the Mane Six, the royal sisters and the Digimon made their way towards the castle. During this time, Princess Celestia felt concerned about BlackWarGreymon. Her early discussion with Discord left her mind riddled with confusion and questions. Was negative energy the Digimon equivalent of dark magic? That only evil could possess such a thing? If so, does that mean that BlackWarGreymon was not what he seems?

By he did save Equestria from Tirek’s evil and risked his life rescuing Luna. Does that mean he was raised evil but thought differently? Or that he was evil but now reformed? She really wanted to ask him about it, but she didn’t felt that the time was right. After all he just gained Luna’s trust.

And speaking of Princess Luna, as she walked beside BlackWarGreymon she kept looking at him in the corner of her eye. She wasn’t feeling suspicious or anything, she just felt like looking at him. As she did she took in every detail about him. All from his gleaming armour to his yellow hair. To her even his three-horned helmet was interesting to look at.

In fact Luna was so distracted that she would’ve walked straight into a bush, if Twilight hadn’t stepped in to stop her.

“Luna, you almost walked into that. Are you ok?” She asked in concern.

Despite feeling a little lightheaded, Luna shook it off and reassured Twilight.

“I’m fine Twilight Sparkle. Just had a day dream, that’s all.”

Afterwards they all went to the dining hall. They all enjoyed themselves while having a nice dinner. Except for BlackWarGreymon, who didn’t felt hungry and spent the time listening to his pony friends while looking out the window. He took in the sight of the sun disappearing over the horizon and the moon rising over the trees. As the moon climbed higher in the darkening sky, he looked over his right shoulder to see the royal sisters. He was still amazed that they have the power to move such large objects.

As he looked, his vision focused on Princess Luna. He found her quite demanding and was thankful that Celestia arrived in time back at the gardens. Even so as he eyed the night princess, the warm feeling from before gripped his chest again. He averted his gaze back at the window while in thought.

‘This feeling again. Why does it show up everytime I see her?’

Then he heard Twilight calling for him.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon, are you sure you’re not hungry?”

Turning his gaze to Twilight, he answered.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

He then was curious. A fact that he was curious to find out.

“Princess Luna?”

Him calling her name slightly surprised the blue Alicorn, but quickly recomposed herself.

“Yes?”

“When I arrived at the cave, I couldn’t help but notice that the dragons’ eyes were blackened. Were you really trying to fight him yourself?”

“Yes I was. It’s one of the main duties of being a ruler, we defend and protect Equestria.”

Although it made sense, but it was still surprising to BlackWarGreymon that even a princess could fight back.

“Well, it seems that role has gotten a lot easier with me around,” He stated while turning back at the window.

That was a fact that seemed true. If the likes of Tirek fell to him, who else could possibly stand up to the power of BlackWarGreymon.

After dinner, Celestia escorted the group to their separate bedrooms for the night. Due to BlackWarGreymon’s size, finding a bed for him was impossible at first. But Twilight corrected this by using her magic to make his bed larger.

“Thank you, Twilight,” BlackWarGreymon said with gratitude.

“You’re welcome,” Twilight said while smiling at him before continuing. “So you never been on a bed before?”

“No. But I can give it a try,” The Digimon answered.

With BlackWarGreymon and Twilight in the room were Celestia, Luna, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. All the mares were watching the large Digimon as he knelt down and slid his arms out of his clawed gauntlets. This earned looks of surprise and confusion from the royal sisters.

Twilight noticed this and reassured them.

“I know. My friends and I thought they were his hands too,” She said while referring to the gauntlets.

Luna was still slightly taken back at looking at him. Not just because he had five digit hands, but by him taking off his armoury it revealed more of his muscular arms.

Then Rarity pointed out something.

“Darling, how are you ever going to get comfortable during your sleep with that thing on your back?”

“My shield? Simple,” That was all BlackWarGreymon said before reaching over his shoulder, grabbed his Brave Shield, and pulled them off his back.

“You can take them off?” Twilight asked, clearly surprised.

“Of course. What good is a shield if you could only have it on your back?” He asked rhetorically.

After putting them down, Rainbow Dash flew towards them and tried to lift up one of the two sections. She was surprised at the fact that they were extremely heavy despite that the Digimon carried them as though they were very light.

“Wow…this is heavy…but awesome,” She said while beating her wings as hard as she could, but only managed to lift the Chrome Digizoid shell by only an inch.

BlackWarGreymon slightly chuckled at seeing the Pegasus trying but failing to lift his shield off the ground.

Then Twilight mentioned something.

“Sorry, it’s just that during your fight with Tirek, you never seemed to use your shield.”

“Yes. You took a direct hit from his magic and you didn’t even seemed fazed,” Rarity added.

“Yes. True I hardly use my shield. But it’s a part of me, so I always wear it.”

Part of BlackWarGreymon’s sentence earned looks of confusion from both Luna and Celestia.

‘Part of him?’

“Well…guess it’s time to hit the hay,” Rainbow Dash said after letting out a loud yawn, with Twilight and Rarity doing the same.

“Yes Rainbow, we all need our beauty sleep,” The white Unicorn said while walking out of the room. Followed by Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Celestia.

As Princess Luna was about to leave, she glanced back at BlackWarGreymon. Watching him leaning his gauntlets and his shield against the wall opposite to his bed.

“Have pleasant dreams, BlackWarGreymon.”

Her voice briefly startled the Digimon, he thought all the ponies had left the room. He looked back at her and spoke.

“Thank you, princess.”

“Please, call me Luna,” She said with a smile.

“Very well…Luna.”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t know why, but he felt short for words.

After their little conversation, Luna left BlackWarGreymon’s bedroom. With a smile on her face and an idea in her head.

Chapter 11: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 1) The Birth

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The clocks struck midnight in Canterlot Castle, and most of the occupancies were fast asleep within its walls. The only ones who weren’t were the royal night guards, patrolling the halls and guarding important rooms to ensure safety, security and keeping out intruders.

Some of the most important rooms in the castle were the bedrooms, belonged to the rulers of Equestria, residents from Ponyville and a guest from another world.

In one of the bedrooms, Twilight Sparkle was having one of her most beloved dreams.
………………………………………………………………………………………....................................................

Twilight’s dream

The dream Twilight was in was one of her most favorite of all. Being with her friends at the Golden Oaks Library. Her old home that was long destroyed by Tirek himself.

“Hey guys, do you want to see my new balloons?” Pinkie Pie asked, almost pleading.

“Ok Pinkie, show us what you got,” Twilight answered.

With that, Pinkie Pie placed down a basket and removed its cover. Causing six balloons to float out of it. Each balloon was the same colour as the Mane Six and they all had their faces on them.

The rest of the group let out gasps and ‘aww’s in astonishment.

“Those are beautiful, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, it’s Gummy’s birthday tomorrow and I want to show him who his true friends are. Do you all want to help me put them up in the kitchen?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Why most certainly,” Rarity answered.

Then they all went towards the kitchen. But before Twilight could enter, she heard something behind her.

After walking to the middle of the library to investigate, the room, the walls, the whole library instantly vanished around her and were replaced by a vast expanse that looked like the night sky.

“W-What’s going on? Where am I?” Twilight asked, confusion and panic filled her mind as this wasn’t part of her dream.

Then she heard a voice.

“It’s alright Twilight Sparkle. You have nothing to fear.”

After looking in the direction the voice came from, Twilight saw a shadowy figure walking towards her. After it got close enough, it revealed to be none other than the Princess of the night herself.

“Princess Luna? Wha-What’s happening?” The purple Alicorn asked, still unsure what was going on.

“Forgive me for pulling you out of your dream, Twilight. But I require your assistance.”

Luna’s reply got Twilight puzzled.

“You want my help? With what?” She asked, letting Luna explain herself.

“You see Twilight, since the beginning, I’ve journeyed through the minds of our subjects. Witnessing dreams and fighting off nightmares. But tonight, I’ll be doing something that has never been done before.”

“Really? What are you going to do?” Twilight asked, clearly interested in Luna’s words.

“I’ll be visiting the dreams of the being not from this world. BlackWarGreymon.”

Twilight gasped in excitement at hearing this revelation.

“Really!? You’re…We’re going to see his dreams?”

“Yes Twilight. That is if you accept my offer,” Luna stated.

“Of course I will! It would be a whole new experience,” Twilight said, eager to see the dreams of a Digimon.

“I’m glad to hear that Twilight Sparkle. Now follow me,” Luna ordered, she too had a hint of excitement in her voice.

As Luna and Twilight travelled through the Dream Realm, they approached anther figure in the distance. Which was then revealed to be Princess Celestia.

“Princess Celestia? You’re here too?” Twilight asked the white Alicorn.

“Yes Twilight. I’m glad that you decided to be here too. It’s certainly been a long time since I’ve gone dream hopping with you Luna.”

“Yes sister, it has been a while,” The smiling blue Alicorn said before looking back at Twilight. “Are we all ready?”

Before Luna’s plan was given the green light, Twilight realised something.

“Wait. What about my friends? Aren’t they coming too?” She asked, curious to know why her Ponyville friends were absent.

“I’m afraid I have not fully recovered yet, Twilight. As well as myself, I only have enough power to transport two others through dreams. That being you and my sister,” Luna explained.

“Oh… ok,” Twilight said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She really wanted her other friends to share the same experience.

Celestia walked over to her and placed her royally-dressed hoof on the purple Alicorn’s to comfort her.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. You’ll be back with your friends when this is over.”

Hearing Celestia’s words cheered up Twilight’s mood.

“Thank you, Celestia.”

“We’re ready when you are, Luna,” Celestia said to her little sister, who used her magic to summon what looked like a long hallway full of doors.

In each of the doors, was a link to the mind of anyone and anypony in Equestria. Luna uses these doors to enter the minds of her subjects, witness their dreams or banish any nightmares. On each of the doors, was a name of a pony whose dream belongs to.

As the three princesses walked down the starry hallway, Twilight saw a bright pink door with balloons on it. On the top of the door was the name ‘Pinkie Pie’.

The trio of Alicorns kept walking for a whole minute before Luna immediately came to a stop. Twilight and Celestia then realised why Luna stopped as well as the look of bewilderment on her face.

Normally, the doors to the dreams were made of wood, had names carved into them, decorated in colours to reflect the personality of a pony and were large enough for a pony to fit through.

But the door that stood in front of the princesses was entirely different. Instead of wood it was made of metal, it had no name or any features whatsoever, and the size of it alone dwarfed even the Canterlot main doors. It looked more like a giant metal slab rather than a door.

“Is…this a door?” Celestia asked Luna.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. But it must be. I think this door belongs to BlackWarGreymon.”

The moment the name ‘BlackWarGreymon’ was uttered, the metal door suddenly let out a blinding flash of light. After being temporarily blinded by the sudden flare, the three Alicorns looked back at the door and noticed that only one thing had changed.

On the centre of the door was a symbol. A carving of what looked like a large, tall tower. Almost like a pillar or a spire.

Twilight immediately knew what it was. Recalling back on the day she first met BlackWarGreymon, she remembered him drawing a sketch on the ground with his claw and then explained what it was.

That sketch looked identical to the carving on the door.

‘A Control Spire.’

Celestia and Luna were the only ones out of the three who had no idea what the symbol was or what it meant. But for some reason, just looking at it unnerved them. It looked fairly sinister.

Curious if the strange door indeed belongs to BlackWarGreymon, Luna used her magic in an attempt to open it. The moment she used her magic, the entire metal door was covered in small glowing squares. Then each square started to fade away, taking bits of the door with them.

In an unusual way, the door was opening.

Once the door was opened, the Alicorns started to hear strange, electronic noises within. After a brief moment of thought, the three princesses stepped inside. But they were all not ready for what they were about to see.

Normally, the mind of any resident in Equestria would be the same as the Dream Realm. Misty and an imitation of a calm night sky. But BlackWarGreymon’s mind was completely different altogether. Surrounding the three Alicorns was an expanse of darkness, and in the distance were a mix of black and grey clouds. But the truly bizarre thing was that in the air and on the walls around them, were swarming with green illuminated numbers. In random order, they were only zeros and ones. All of them were shooting across the walls and skies as if in a sequence.

All three mares were even more shocked and confused than they ever were. It was the most unusual site to be hold.

“This is BlackWarGreymon’s mind!?” Princess Celestia asked, but the answer was quite clear.

The three then got a brief scare as the sequence of zeros and ones flowed across the ground they were standing upon. They swarmed beneath their hooves as they passed by.

“And I thought Discord’s mind was more confusing,” Princess Luna added.

While all through the mind-boggling moment, Princess Twilight was fascinated at the surroundings. More so were the swarming numbers, the way they moves was almost like a code.

“Could this be what data looks like?” She asked herself, but the royal sisters overheard her.

“Data?” Celestia asked.

“What’s this word you speak of, Twilight?” Luna added.

Twilight then tried to explain as best she could.

“Well you see… BlackWarGreymon’s body isn’t made of flesh and blood. It’s actually made of data.”

Despite her attempt, the royal sisters were still confused at what data was. So Twilight tried to explain more.

“Ok, umm… oh. Remember when I to the human parallel world?”

“Yes,” Celestia answered.

“You see, humans have devices that contain and receive data. And my sending information, they send data through the atmosphere. Although you can’t see it, but it’s there,” Twilight finished, hoping that her explanation was good enough.

Although Celestia and Luna were starting to get the picture of what Twilight was saying, but they were unsure about one thing.

“Are you saying that BlackWarGreymon, as well as other Digimon, are all made of the same stuff?” Luna asked.

“Well…yeah. But more solid,” Twilight answered, though admittedly she too was confused how powerful bodies could be made out of data.

After their little lesson, the three kept wondering through the bizarre place that was BlackWarGreymon’s mind. It took a solid minute before they finally found something.

Right in their path, was a large glowing ball of light, almost like a gateway or a portal. In a setting like its dark surroundings, it looked as though it was out of place.

Curious of what it was, Luna gently tapped it with her horn. As she did, the white orb flashed and instantly divided into rows of countless smaller orbs. They were all arranged in a way that was identical to the hallway of doors back in the Dream Realm. The three mares noticed that the new balls of light were all roughly the same size as themselves.

“Luna, do you think these things can lead us into his dreams?” Twilight asked.

“Well if they are anything like the doors into the mind, then I think they do,” Luna answered. She then looked at the two Alicorns in confidence.

“So, is everypony ready?”

Twilight and Celestia both nodded their heads in agreement.

“Ok. Here we go.”

With that said, the three Alicorns stepped into the light of the nearest orb. Then they were all consumed in the light. The mares covered their eyes to prevent themselves from becoming blinded.

Soon after the glow faded, the three were no longer in the dark with green numbers surrounding them. As Twilight, Celestia and Luna opened their eyes, they found themselves in the middle of a grassland. Around them were a series of rocks sticking out of the ground and a jungle in the distance. Looking up in the sky, they felt that the air itself was a bit different, almost as if it wasn’t real.

Twilight then gasped out loud in excitement as she came up with an idea what the new place was.

“Celestia, Luna, I think he’s dreaming about the Digital World!” She said with glee.

Despite it being only in BlackWarGreymon’s mind, the world around her could be the closest Twilight would ever be in the world of the Digimon.

“Indeed. I think you’re right, Twilight,” Luna said, she was also amazed at the world around her.

Then both of them heard Celestia’s voice.

“Luna, Twilight, look at this!”

As the two Alicorns turned their heads to Celestia, they saw it too. Right in front of the Sun Princess, was a massive black tower, completely featureless and tall for all to see.

“Sister, it’s the same as that symbol,” Luna said, reminding Celestia of the metal door from before.

Both Celestia and Luna felt it again, just looking at the imposing tower sent shivers down their spines. Twilight however was more interested about its size.

‘It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be.’

“Look, over there!”

Celestia and Twilight heard Luna’s voice and turned to where she was facing. Across the field stood a small mountain, but all around it were more of the dark towers. Lots more.

“There’s more of them,” Twilight said, but the fact that she sounded a little surprised got the royal sisters interested.

“Twilight, do you know what these are?” Celestia asked the purple Alicorn.

“Yes. BlackWarGreymon told me that during his time in the Digital World, it was… infested with these black towers. They were called Control Spires.”

“Twilight, did BlackWarGreymon told you what these… Control Spires serve?” Luna asked.

Before the Moon Princess could receive an answer, all three Alicorns suddenly heard an outburst of laughter. After narrowing down that the sounds were coming from a rock, the three went towards the rock to investigate. During their short walk, Luna was in her thoughts.

‘Twilight used the word ‘infested’, which means that the Control Spires were a work of evil.’ She then looked back at one of the Control Spires. ‘Then why is BlackWarGreymon dreaming about these sinister towers?’

As the three princesses peered their heads around the rock, they saw the source of the laughter.

Four humans, two boys and two girls, were all laughing. Except for one of the boys, the one with spikey hair and wearing goggles. He had a look of confusion.

To the royal sisters, this was the first time they’ve seen a human.

“So these are the humans you speak of?” Luna asked Twilight, who nodded her head.

But it was beside the humans which got the Alicorns interested. Four bizarre looking creatures who were also laughing.

“Wow, other Digimon!” Twilight said to herself.

From what the princesses could tell, the first Digimon looked like a blue bipedal reptile with a tiny horn on his nose, a white underbelly and two horn-like ears. The second Digimon looked like a dark red bird with one long feather sticking out of the top of his head. The third looked like a bipedal white cat with purple stripes and wearing yellow gloves with her claws sticking out. The last Digimon looked like an orange blob with a face, four legs and two bat-like wings on his head.

Then the boy who wasn’t laughing spoke to his friends.

“Alright, what exactly is so funny?”

Hearing this made the princesses think that out of the group, he wasn’t the smart one. However their thoughts were interrupted when the teens and their Digimon stopped laughing and stared in the direction of the small mountain. After following their line of sight, Twilight, Luna and Celestia spotted a large metal contraption with four wheels approaching them.

Because of her trip to the human world, Twilight knew it was a car. Celestia and Luna on the other hand.

‘What kind of contraption is that?’

As the car got closer, it screeched to a halt and what looked like two humans, stepped out. One was a woman with long silver-grey hair, wearing a long red dress-like coat, a striped top hat with a bug gem on it and she wore purple sun glasses. The other looked stranger. He looked like a man with a deformed face, wearing a large blue overcoat and a matching hat. He also had a walking stick.

From the way they both let out sinister chuckles, the three Alicorns knew they were up to no good. Then they heard the woman speaking to the teens and their Digimon.

“Shouldn’t you boys and girls be home with your mummies and daddies?” She asked the teens mockingly.

The two boys answered back.

“None of your business!”

“Alright, what do you want?”

The answer the woman spoke back brought the Alicorns full attention as well as shock.

“I thought you kids might enjoy playing with a little Digimon I put together.”

Out of all the ponies whom were listening, Twilight was the one deepest in her thoughts.

“’Put together’? Does that mean she’s…?”

Twilight was interrupted when the woman uttered two words.

“SPIRIT NEEDLE!!”

After her loud outburst, strands of her hair flew out of her head and in needle-like fashion, went into every Control Spire on and around the mountain.

“So she IS a Digimon!” Twilight said out loud.

“Luna, you understand dreams better than anypony else. Do you know why BlackWarGreymon would be dreaming about this?” Celestia asked.

“I’m not exactly sure sister, but I bet we would soon find out,” Luna answered.

After the last needle entered the last Control Spire on the top of the mountain, the entire area started to shake. As well as the kids and their Digimon, the three mares found it difficult to stand on the ground through the tremors.

As the tremors escalated, the Alicorns saw a massive group of Control Spires rising out of the ground and levitating in the air around the mountain. While that was going on, another boy joined the group with his own Digimon. The small Digital Monster looked like a large yellow armadillo with long claws and spikey ears.

As the last of the Control Spires left the ground, the woman who was responsible jumped into her car with the man and drove to a safe distance away.

“Have a good time! Play nice!” She called back, obviously taunting the teens.

As some seconds went by, one by one, the tall dark towers levitating in the sky started to burst apart like bubbles. As they did, all their dark energy started to gather around the mountain.

However, something brought the princesses attention away from the mountain. A blue glow at the corner of their eyes. As they turned to see what was happening, they saw the small blue Digimon glowing and, to Twilight’s amazement, he changed form!

“Veemon digivolve to………EXVEEMON!!”

All three mares were stunned to a point they couldn’t move. Of all the things BlackWarGreymon told her about Digimon and the Digital World, Twilight always wanted to witness digivolution with her very eyes.

“He…he digivolved!”

She and the royal sisters were about to get more surprises, because the remaining four Digimon were starting to glow as well.

“Patamon armour digivolve to………PEGASUSMON, flying hope!!”

“Hawkmon digivolve to………AQUILAMON!!”

“Armadillomon digivolve to………ANKYLOMON!!”

“Gatomon armour digivolve to………NEFERTIMON, the angel of light!!”

Twilight was close to actually faint from excitement. Not only she saw them digivolving, but she also witnessed armour digivolving. What surprised Celestia and Luna the most was that one of the transformed Digimon looked like an armoured Pegasus.

The Alicorns were snapped out of their state in awe when they saw both the Digimon and their human partners charging and flying towards the mountain.

While these events transpired, all the Control Spires were reduced to pieces of data and then all the dark energy began to whorl around the mountain like a hurricane.

As Twilight, Celestia and Luna watched on, they noticed that Pegasusmon and Nefertimon were the closest to the whirling vortex and getting ever closer.

Suddenly, what caught the on-looking ponies completely by surprise was that the vortex of energy all combined to form a gigantic demonic silhouette over the mountain. As it raised its three-horned head, it lifted its massive three-clawed arms up and released a powerful blast of wind on the two Armoured Digimon. But these winds were far different from ordinary winds, to the good Digimon it felt like receiving several hard punches to the face. The attack sent them falling out of the sky, crashing into the ground and skidding across the land.

The princesses gasped at the sight of the fallen Digimon and turned their gazes back to the silhouette. While doing so, they couldn’t help but think that they’ve seen it before. That it looked very similar to someone they know.

They didn’t have long to find out. The silhouette was lowering its arms and its entire body was shrinking. When it stopped shrinking it took on a physical form, standing on top of the mountain.

All three Alicorns gasped in shock, horror and confusion. Because standing on top of the mountain was indeed someone they recognised.

The newest defender of Equestria himself.

While Twilight and Luna were stunned silent, Celestia spoke up.

“It’s…it’s BlackWarGreymon!”

Although standing, the black Digimon’s upper-body seemed to be slouched forward, as if he was tired. Then his eyes briefly glowed white and, taking in his first breath of life, yelled out his infamous war cry.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Chapter 12: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 2) The Truth

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Princess Luna had hoped that by going inside BlackWarGreymon’s mind, she, along with Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia, thought they would get to see the Digimon’s wonderful dreams. But what they were seeing wasn’t what they were expecting.

At first seeing the DigiDestined and their Digimon together seemed promising, but with the discovery of the land full of Control Spires and two sinister strangers, their hopes dashed out the window. The most startling event the three princesses had seen was the appearance of BlackWarGreymon himself. Combined from data from a massive group of Control Spires on top of a small mountain. After he made his presence known, he yelled out to the world.

His loud outburst echoed through the entire area for all to hear. As he did, his sudden burst of aggression sent shivers of fear down the spines of the three Alicorns.

“Oh my…” Luna said to herself while trying to hide her fear.

Then the three ponies heard the three remaining Digimon talking amongst themselves.

“What should we do, Ankylomon?” Exveemon asked.

“I say protecting the kids is high on the list,” The huge yellow Digimon answered.

“I agree,” Aquilamon added.

With protecting their human partners decided, the three Digimon charged the newly created Control Spire Digimon head on. All unaware of the situation they’re in.

The princesses then turned their attention to BlackWarGreymon, who was still on the mountain. After spotting his opponents, the black Digimon flew towards the approaching group at high speed. Then grappled with Exveemon.

At this point, the princesses noticed that the blue Digimon completely dwarfed BlackWarGreymon. He was much bigger. At first it seemed insane of him to tackle an opponent much bigger then himself, but what Twilight had learned from him was that Megas were one of the strongest kind of Digimon and that size could be deceiving.

After gaining a firm lock on the surprised Exveemon, BlackWarGreymon reared his head back and then slammed it onto the blue Digimon. The blow sent him crashing to the ground. Then BlackWarGreymon flew to Aquilamon and punched the giant red bird Digimon in the face, sending him reeling back.

After noticing Ankylomon aiding the fallen Exveemon, BlackWarGreymon swooped down, collided into the two Digimon and pushed them across the field with unparalleled strength.

After the Artificial Digimon freed them from his grasp, the three heroic Digimon teamed up and attacked BlackWarGreymon together. But despite being outnumbered, BlackWarGreymon was not only holding his own in the fight, but was gaining the upper-hand. It was obvious that three Champion level Digimon were no match for a Mega.

“I don’t believe it! He’s outnumbered three-to-one, but he’s winning!” Luna said in disbelief while witnessing more of BlackWarGreymon’s strength.

“The three Digimon are only at the Champion level. BlackWarGreymon’s too strong for them,” Twilight informed the night princess.

“But I don’t understand. Why is he dreaming about attacking the good Digimon!?” Celestia asked in concern. Hearing her made Twilight and Luna more focused on the situation.

While the Alicorns were trying to puzzle things through, they noticed that Aquilamon flew away with one of the human girls on him. Presumably getting help from somewhere else. They also noticed that BlackWarGreymon grabbed Exveemon by the scruff of the neck and dragged him across the field while pressing him down. Twilight recognised this as it was the same tactic the Digimon used against Tirek.

Luna meanwhile decided that enough was enough and came to a conclusion.

“Celestia! Twilight! BlackWarGreymon must be experiencing a nightmare about harming the good. As such it’s my duty to rid such thoughts!” She said before flying off towards the warring Digimon.

By the time she landed close to them, BlackWarGreymon was lifting Ankylomon overhead. Her horn began to glow a misty white as she pointed it at the black Digimon.

“BEGONE NIGHTMARE!!!” She shouted before firing her magic beam at BlackWarGreymon.

What would normally happen was that the nightmare and any other source of discomfort would disappear entirely. But not this time! All Luna’s magic had done was simply pass through BlackWarGreymon as if he was a ghost.

After seeing her spell fail in front of her, Luna’s eyes shrunk considerably while letting out a gasp of horror and realisation. Her spell not working could only mean one thing.

But how could she had not realised? She was a Dream Walker. She should had known which was which.

As Celestia and Twilight approached her with concerned eyes, they saw the grief on Luna’s face.

"Luna, what happened? Why didn’t your spell worked?” Twilight asked, but Luna was too in shock to say anything.

“Luna?” Celestia asked, growing more concerned to Luna’s lack of response.

Luna then finally turned to face the other two Alicorns and spoke with an expression of both shock and sadness.

“Celestia…Twilight…I’m…I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“What’s wrong? What is it, sister!?” Celestia asked, growing even more concerned than before. But what Luna said next, shocked the two Alicorns right down to the core.

“This…This is not a nightmare. This isn’t even a dream! It’s a memory!!”

Both Twilight and Celestia let out loud gasps of horror and disbelief.

“Wait, Luna. You mean that everything we saw, everything we’re seeing… has already happened!?” Celestia asked. Luna only nodded her head in reply.

Though BlackWarGreymon already told Twilight about his past, but she never expected anything like what she was seeing.

The three Alicorns looked back at the battle in front of them, knowing that it had already happened in the past. Exveemon fell on his back, exhausted from his fight with his powerful foe.

As BlackWarGreymon was about to finish him off, he was tackled by Ankylomon, who spoke to his fallen friend.

“Let’s keep fighting! I’m sure that Stingmon will show up soon!”

Hearing the plea made the blue Digimon rise back on his feet. Not refusing to give in while his friends needed him.

Hearing and seeing these events made the three Alicorns smile at how strong the Digimon’s friendship were to one another. Then they saw Aquilamon flying back to the battle with an ally. He looked like a flying, bipedal green bug with blades on his wrists and spikes on his shoulders. The fight was going to escalate.

As the three Alicorns the blue dragon Digimon and the green bug Digimon glowing at the same time, Twilight was feeling giddy again. They were about to digivolve, but unlike the two digivolutions before, they were about to do it in a different way.

“Exveemon…”

“Stingmon…”

“…DNA digivolve to…PAILDRAMON!!”

Twilight, Luna and Celestia got a chance to see a Hybrid Digimon for the first time.

“Th…they…they fused together to form one!” Twilight shouted to herself, but quickly recomposed herself as she and the royal sisters saw him heading straight for BlackWarGreymon.

As the Hybrid Digimon flew closer, the Artificial Digimon too flew towards him head on.

“This is gonna get ugly!” Paildramon said while drawing out his wrist blades.

The three ponies noticed that his voice sounded like Exveemon and Stingmon talking at the same time.

As the two Digimon collided into one another, they released a brief flash of red and the shockwave threw dust everywhere. The shockwave, as well as the impact, forced the two Digimon to bounce away from each other.

As BlackWarGreymon landed back on the ground, Paildramon stayed airborne.

“Wow, talk about meeting head-to-head! We’re gonna need an aspirin the size of a Control Spire after this fight!” The Hybrid Digimon said, noting that the impact hurts more than it looked.

As BlackWarGreymon waited patiently on the ground, Paildramon grabbed his two guns attached to his waist and pointed them at his target.

“DESPERADO BLASTER!”

The moment the fused Ultimate level Digimon said those words, the barrels of his guns began to collect and build blue energy. Then a massive volley of blue lazers were fired at BlackWarGreymon.

As the lazers struck their target, BlackWarGreymon was engulfed by the light as the land around him began to crumble.

Despite being under fire, the Control Spire Digimon’s silhouette could be seen through the light, completely unmoved. As the Hybrid Digimon stopped firing, the glow faded to reveal the ground reduced to rubble, and right in the middle of it all, was the unharmed and unmoved BlackWarGreymon!

This left everyone and everypony gawking at him and his insane durability.

“Uh oh!” Paildramon said while BlackWarGreymon let out a sinister chuckle.

“I…I don’t believe it!” Twilight said.

“Thou doesn’t even have a scratch!” Luna added.

“Impossible!” Celestia said to herself. Truth be told that she was the only one out of the three who hadn’t seen BlackWarGreymon in action firsthand.

Then to everyone’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon’s entire eye sockets glowed an intense white glow. After the glow vanished, he stood tall while being shrouded in a bright light that surrounded his body. As it did, he released another vocal outburst.

“RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

What followed next was a colossal blinding explosion that engulfed everything around it in a mile radius. Because that it was a memory, the three Alicorns were completely immune to the blast. But they had to shield their eyes from the intense light to prevent from being blinded.

Once the light finally faded, the three mares were stricken at what they saw. Half the land was completely decimated, all the teens were knocked out, and the Digimon were both unconscious and reduced to their lesser, smaller forms.

The three mares just stood there in stunned silence, they still couldn’t believe that what transpired here, actually did happen.

BlackWarGreymon did this.

A thunderous footstep brock their attention away from the fallen heroes and towards its source. They saw BlackWarGreymon standing beside them, also looking at the destruction he caused.

After a brief silence, the three fearful princesses heard the woman talking. Speaking to her finest creation.

“You have done an outstanding job, BlackWarGreymon.”

What she said next raised the fears in the princesses as well as making them slightly tremble.

“You may now proceed to destroy the Digital World!”

The three mares couldn’t believe what they were hearing. She actually wanted the whole world to be destroyed. And worse, their beloved saviour was going to do it himself.

As they turned to see BlackWarGreymon, they expected him to do just that. Trembling at the thoughts of the Digimon they knew, laying waste to the strange yet beautiful world.

But it never came. Instead of obeying his creator, BlackWarGreymon just stood still. Not moving a muscle as if he was a statue. This confused the princesses.

Getting irritated by his lack of response, the man dressed in blue spoke to the Artificial Digimon.

“Don’t just stand there patting yourself on the back, your master has given you new orders! Now get to work!”

What caught Twilight, Celestia and Luna off-guard was that BlackWarGreymon spoke back in a serious tone.

“I will take orders from no one.”

His creators were completely taken back by BlackWarGreymon’s rebellious attitude. Never before had one of their creations been disobedient.

“YOU WHAT!!”

The three on-looking ponies remained silent, both from shock and from wanting to listen carefully.

“Why should I take orders from you? When you are so weak you need me to do your fighting for you,” He said as he turned his head to look at his creators. As he finished his sentence he faced back in front of him, looking out to the wide open space of the fields beyond.

“I must find a more worthy opponent.”

BlackWarGreymon then took off into the sky, flying away from the carnage he caused. As he disappeared over the horizon, the world around the three mares vanished into nothingness as the memory finished.

They found themselves back in the Digimon’s mind.

The three just stood there, completely motionless. The events they witnessed completely shocked the princesses to the core of their souls. It was evident on their fear-stricken faces, slightly wobbly legs and widened eyes.

“I…I don’t believe it! It can’t be true!” Twilight said, hoping that it was some kind of illusion.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. But Luna said it was his memory.” Celestia said to Twilight despite that she too didn’t want to believe.

Luna meanwhile was silent. It seemed the events they’ve seen affected her the most. Her big sister saw Luna’s expression and stood by her side to comfort her.

“It’s ok, Luna. You didn’t know. We all didn’t.”

They were then joined by another voice, echoing through the Digimon’s mind.

“And I want you out.”

Hearing the familiar voice sent more fivers down the spines of the princesses. Turning around to the source of the voice, they met with the recognizable form of BlackWarGreymon. Walking towards them with a rather angry look in his eyes.

Because that they weren’t in a dream or a memory, the BlackWarGreymon the princesses were looking at was his subconscious. Basically the Digimon himself.

After seeing the relic of his dark past, the three mares couldn’t help but feel a wave of fear towards BlackWarGreymon. Seeing the things that he’d done. But they had to remember that what they saw was all in the past and that they were in the present. That didn’t help however because of the Digimon’s angry expression.

After stopping some distance away from Twilight, Celestia and Luna, BlackWarGreymon spoke up in a dead serious tone.

“I won’t ask how, but I will ask why. Why are you all in my mind!?” He demanded.

“BlackWarGreymon! It-It’s not what you think!” Twilight explained, so far being the only one able to talk.

But her answer only made the Digimon angrier than he was.

“Isn’t it!? You’re all here because you don’t trust me, don’t you? Even after everything I did for you and your whole world, you suspect me for planning ill intent. Or is it the way I look? Yes, I admit I look terrifying. But I thought you’ve seen past that!”

As BlackWarGreymon spoke, his voice got louder as he lost his temper.

“No! It’s nothing like that! Honest!” Twilight said, hoping to calm down the angry Digimon.

“Then why are you here!?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Then Luna confessed.

“I’m sorry, BlackWarGreymon. It’s my fault.”

The Digimon was slightly stunned at hearing the blue Alicorn. He wasn’t expecting it to be her doing at all. Truth be told that he thought it would most likely be Twilight.

“You?” He asked, almost sounding as if he didn’t believed her.

Luna explained herself.

“I…it wasn’t intended. W-we only wanted to see your dreams. To see what they were like.”

“But instead, you found my memories.” The Digimon added, Luna started to feel guilty.

“It…it was an accident. I’ve never been inside a Digimon’s mind before. I…I…” Before Luna could finish, BlackWarGreymon finished for her.

“You got lost and chose the wrong path.”

The three ponies noticed that the Digimon was calming down as his voice softened. With the warrior’s temper out of his system, Twilight wanted to get one thing out of the way.

“BlackWarGreymon. Since that was your memory, does that mean that…?”

Twilight was unable to find the correct words to finish her sentence. But BlackWarGreymon knew what she was on about.

“Yes. You three are the first ones to have witnessed my birth.”

He received a collection of gasps from the three princesses.

“Tha-That was how you were created!?” Twilight asked.

“What did you expect? Me being grown in some sort of lab or something?” He responded rhetorically.

However, Celestia and Luna understood the kind of tone between the young Alicorn and the Digimon. Both of them then stared at Twilight in confusion.

“Twilight, you knew about this?” Celestia asked.

It was Twilight’s turn to feel guilty.

“…yes. Me and my friends know.”

But why didn’t you tell us about it before?” Luna asked. She and Celestia felt slightly betrayed.

“I-I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner but, I was trying to give BlackWarGreymon a good first impression when he first met both of you,” Twilight admitted while feeling ashamed.

“So that’s why you mentioned only the good things about me in that letter to Celestia,” BlackWarGreymon said.

With the truth in the clear, Celestia understood what Twilight tried to do. Feeling sorry for her former student, the white Alicorn wrapped one hoof around Twilight to bring her in for a hug.

“It’s ok, Twilight. We understand now,” She said, comforting Twilight.

With her being forgiven, Twilight turned back to BlackWarGreymon.

“BlackWarGreymon. That woman, was she the one you told me about?” She asked while the royal sisters got more curious by the second.

“Yes. But what you’ve seen was just her human form, she was in fact a Digimon. The Digimon who created me… Arukenimon.”

Twilight was lost for words. Just the thought of someone creating life the unnatural way felt unreal. But in BlackWarGreymon’s case, it was possible.

“And who was that strange man that’s with her?” Celestia asked.

“I guess you could call him her admirer. He too is a Digimon, named Mummymon.”

Hearing the silly name made the three mares giggle in amusement.

“That’s a funny name,” Twilight said after her giggles.

After they stopped, Luna asked BlackWarGreymon a serious question.

“Please tell us. Why did she create you?”

“That’s a good question, Luna. But you won’t like the answer. Arukenimon brought me into the world with no purpose but to be her slave.”

His answer made the royal sisters gasp in horror.

“A… slave?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. You see, because I wasn’t born like a normal Digimon, I am dubbed as an Artificial Digimon. Which meant I was a mockery of the original.”

“A mockery?” Luna asked, but she let BlackWarGreymon continue his story.

“And I wasn’t the first either. Arukenimon created lots more Artificial Digimon before me. But unlike me they were mindless obedient creatures with no sense of morale or mercy.”

While Twilight remembered hearing the details before, the royal sisters meanwhile couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“But…how is it that you’re not like that?” Luna asked him, growing more concerned for him.

“What makes me different was that I was the only one to be created from one hundred Control Spires. All that data from the Spires gave me my own free will.”

“So is that why you didn’t obey her,” Celestia said.

“Yes. I left her behind to find my own purpose.”

Then there was a brief moment of silence before BlackWarGreymon spoke again.

“So now that you know the truth of my origin. I request that you leave.”

Twilight, Celestia and Luna thought otherwise. Their confusion and concern for their Digimon friend was getting the better of them. They wanted to know more.

“BlackWarGreymon, would it be ok if we see more of your memories?” Luna asked.

The sudden turn of events made the jet black dragon warrior flinch. Not only did they enter his mind without letting him know first, but they dared to ask to see more of his dark past. No. He would not stand for it. They had already seen enough to know that he was once evil. He had to put an end to it.

“No. You have seen too much of my past, you don’t need to see anymore.”

Although Twilight and Celestia were about to give in, Luna stood her ground.

“No. I don’t think we’ve seen enough. You can’t just leave it like that. All we’ve seen was the beginning, when you were evil. But something happened to you that turned you good. I…We want to see how you changed.”

BlackWarGreymon turned away from the mares before he responded.

“No. There are events that I don’t want you to see. That even I don’t want to see. Now please leave and let’s never speak of this again.”

As he started to walk away, Luna lost her temper.

“BlackWarGreymon! Show us your memories!” She shouted as she stomped her hoof.

Her outburst caused BlackWarGreymon to stop in his tracks, but he said nothing. But from the way his muscles become tense all of a sudden, Twilight and Celestia were worried that Luna may had gone too far.

Then to their surprise, they heard echoing voices throughout the mind they were in. The mares realised that the voices were like audios to the memory they witnessed.

“Destroy the Digital world.”

“Your master…”

“Get to work.”

“New orders.”

“Why should I…”

“I will take orders from no one.”

After hearing mixed voices of the past BlackWarGreymon, Arukenimon and Mummymon, the mares felt that it all showed an important point. A worrying one too.

This didn’t help when the Alicorns saw BlackWarGreymon turning his head to face them. Revealing the burning fury in his eyes.

“Are you…giving me…orders!?”

His question sent shivers of fear in the three mares. Realising from what they had seen and heard the three could tell that BlackWarGreymon wasn’t the type to obey orders from others weaker then himself.

“N-No! I…It wasn’t an order! It’s…”

Luna was cut off by the angered Digimon.

“Well it sounded like it! Now let me tell you this.” He said as he approached the Alicorns, his voice almost like a growl.

The mares couldn’t help but take a few steps back from fear. Realising that even he had a nerve that was best left alone.

The sentence BlackWarGreymon had for the mares was indeed the deciding factor.

“Just give me one good reason why it would be beneficial for you to witness more of my past.”

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Twilight gave him a reason.

“Because we want to help you.”

The black Digimon was taken back by the new development. He wasn’t even expecting an answer at all.

“To help me?”

“Yes. We’re your friends, and friends help each other no matter what. If you show us your past, we can get to know you more and it would even bring our friendship closer,” Twilight added.

“Or force it apart,” BlackWarGreymon said quietly, but loud enough for the princesses to hear.

Hearing him say such things made the three ponies grow sad expressions on their faces. They thought that he believed their friendship would break if they went through with the idea. Celestia spoke up as she approached him.

“Luna and Twilight are right, BlackWarGreymon. If you show us, we would get a better understanding of you. We promise we won’t hold any grudges against you, all we’re asking is…please?”

A long silence followed as BlackWarGreymon thought it over, leaving the mares waiting in anticipation. He found that their reasons were possible, but he feared that his reasons would be true.

After releasing a heavy sigh, he came with a decision.

“Fine.”

“What?” Celestia asked, making sure she and the others heard him correctly.

“You win. I’ll let you see my past,” He said, earning smiles of approval from the princesses.

“But I must warn you, what you all about to see isn’t for the faint hearted,” BlackWarGreymon added.

Twilight walked over to him and placed her hoof on his leg in an attempt to comfort him.

“Don’t worry. I promise when this is over, we will still be best friends.”

Twilight’s words softened BlackWarGreymon’s expression. If he could smile, he would be doing it.

With nothing more to say, the three Alicorns walked into the next bright orb into the next memory. BlackWarGreymon stayed behind to await their return, hoping that he wouldn’t regret the choice he had made.

Chapter 13: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 3) Destiny in Doubt

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As the bright light faded away, the three Alicorns found themselves in what looked like a barren wasteland. The soil was sandy with only a few grass patches and massive cliffs dominated the landscape. Luckily since it’s all a memory, the three princesses were unaffected by the otherwise extreme heat.

“Wow, the Digital World has deserts too,” Twilight said as she looked around her surroundings.

“So the Digital World is like our world. It has different environments,” Celestia joined.

But as Twilight, Celestia and Luna looked on, they saw an unnerving sight. Digimon, multiple types and sizes, all lie on the hot sand. They were left beaten and broken.

Then the trio heard footsteps, which was then followed by a voice all too familiar to them.

“Who’s next? Come on! Stand up and fight!”

The three Alicorns turned towards the voice and saw BlackWarGreymon, walking past the fallen Digimon around him.

The princesses immediately knew that the devastation was his doing. He defeated the innocent Digimon and left them in the sand. Seeing such things broke the hearts of the mares, never had they seen BlackWarGreymon being so heartless and cruel. Despite the sight, they had to constantly remind themselves that it was what BlackWarGreymon was before he found friendship. Where he believed that fighting was all he thought was good for.

After a few more footsteps in the sand, the armoured Digimon spoke again.

“This is too easy. I need a more worthy opponent,”

Then he called out to the world around him.

“Is there no one who can challenge me!?”

The princesses knew he had a point. Knowing that he was capable of beating Tirek, there was very little in Equestria that could stand to his power.

Then they heard him spoke as he came to a stop.

“What’s this?”

It took the mares a few seconds to realise why BlackWarGreymon stopped. Standing in front of him, was a herd of elephant-like Digimon. Twenty of them. They had shaggy brown fur, two long tusks and strange looking ears. But what made them truly strange was that all of them had armour on, covering their faces right down to their trunks. Also, they had yellow stripes and a cyclops eye engraved on their facial armour. They were noisy too, they kept blowing their trunks loudly.

“These Digimon get weirder and weirder,” Luna said before she and the other mares realised that the herd were all facing at BlackWarGreymon.

“Well well well, what do we have here? Looks like the circus is in town,” The black Digimon remarked as the heard kept blowing out their trunks. Until one spoke up.

“Hardly. We’re Mammothmon! Giant woolly Digimon who travel in herds. You are no match for our Tusk Crusher attack.”

As soon as the Mammothmon finished its introduction, the three Alicorns spotted Arukenimon and Mummymon on the top of a cliff behind the herd.

Then they heard them calling out to BlackWarGreymon.

“There you are, BlackWarGreymon. What a bad boy, running away from home,” Arukenimon said, acting like a mother to a disobedient child.

Then Mummymon joined in.

“You’re in a lot of trouble, now be a good Digimon and come with us. Do you know how many Control Spires it took to create theme Mammothmon!?” He asked before trying to figure it out for himself.

“How many was it?”

“Two hundred,” Arukenimon answered. That left Twilight figuring something out.

“So two hundred Control Spires. And there’s twenty of them. They must be Ultimate level Digimon,” She said. Then the trio of Alicorns heard BlackWarGreymon speaking.

“I wonder how powerful they are? Let’s find out!”

This earned looks of disbelief from both his creators and the on-looking mares.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Mummymon demanded.

“He’s seriously going against the whole herd!?” Celestia asked while she and the other two Alicorns waited in anticipation.

Then without a moment’s notice, the whole Mammothmon herd charged at BlackWarGreymon. Who just stood in place without a hint of fear.

As the shockwaves from the stampede flowed through the sand beneath them, the Alicorns noticed that just one of the advancing Digimon completely dwarfed the armoured Digimon. One was enough to scare the living daylights out of the royal guards, but there were twenty of them.

“Over here, boys!” BlackWarGreymon called out, then followed by a crazed chuckle.

The three princesses didn’t say a word, eager to find out the outcome.

After a nerve-racking moment, slashing sounds were made when the herd went through and past BlackWarGreymon. As the last Mammothmon went past, the whole herd came to a halt. When the dust cloud faded to reveal the black Digimon, everyone and everypony were shocked when they noticed that he was left completely unscaved.

“I don’t believe it!” Mummymon said.

“That’s impossible! They didn’t even make a dent!” Arukenimon added.

“Not a scratch on him,” Mummymon added again.

It was clear that his creators completely underestimated BlackWarGreymon. Even the three Alicorns were left gawking at how strong and resilient he was, to take a full stampede and come out of it still standing and unmoved.

Then something happened that shocked everyone. Four of the twenty Mammothmon immediately got deleted. All their data just poofed into the air and into nothing.

“Tell me I didn’t see what I just saw!” Arukenimon shouted in a panic. Stricken to see four of her creations destroyed at once.

“Well if what you saw was four large Mammothmon disintegrating then I can’t tell you that because that’s what you saw!” Mummymon answered, whom was also in a panic.

Although Celestia and Luna were also surprised at what just happened, Twilight was surprised at something else.

‘So that’s what happens when a Digimon dies.’

She then froze at what she just thought of. She had just witnessed a death of four Digimon. By BlackWarGreymon. But she had to remember that they weren’t ordinary Digimon, they had no true feeling or emotion whatsoever.

“Next,” BlackWarGreymon said as he turned to the next Mammothmon, temping one of them to attack. And it worked.

“I’ve got a few tricks in the old trunk.”

One Mammothmon then charged at its fellow Artificial Digimon. Who was getting his claws ready to strike back.

Then in a flash, BlackWarGreymon slashed at the assaulting Digimon. After a few seconds of silence, the Mammothmon was destroyed. Who was then quickly followed by another with minimal effort.

While the fight was going on, the three Alicorns talked amongst themselves.

“He’s making mincemeat out of them,” Twilight said.

However, Luna was puzzled by one thing.

“But I still don’t understand. Up against three Digimon is one thing, but here, BlackWarGreymon’s against twenty. How is he still winning?”

Twilight then answered Luna’s question.

“Because BlackWarGreymon is a Mega level Digimon. The strongest type of Digimon there is. And the Mammothmon are Ultimate level Digimon, a stage below a Mega.”

“Wow. Even though he’s outnumbered, he’s still stronger,” Celestia said, amazed that even twenty Ultimates couldn’t defeat one Mega.

Celestia then continued.

“To think that BlackWarGreymon is now a lot stronger then he was back then.”

Hearing the sentence out loud sent shivers straight through the group, knowing that back in Equestria BlackWarGreymon was capable of so much more.

Because that what they were seeing was a memory, the three princesses were able to hear BlackWarGreymon’s thoughts as he was slaughtering the Mammothmon. And what he said made the Alicorns concerned as they listened.

‘I defeat my opponents so easily. It’s not enough. I still fell an emptiness inside me. No matter what I do, nothing seems to fill this void.’

Soon, to the surprise of the three mares, his hidden frustration got the better of him.

“WHY DO I FEEL SO EMPTY!!!?”

Hearing his emotional outburst sent sorrow into the hearts of the Alicorn princesses. He was new to the world and all he knew at the time was to fight. He had no experience with feelings and was greatly confused about it.

The princesses knew that, in a way, BlackWarGreymon was scared. To have no idea about the world around him. To have no experience in anything apart from war.

To feel totally alone.

Just the thought of it made Twilight, Celestia and Luna feel deeply sorry for BlackWarGreymon. He was like a lonely child, completely defenceless in a world he didn’t understand. Missing out on opportunities that could’ve prevented him from being haunted and scarred for the rest of his life. Only to grow up being feared, hated and unloved.

In short; Being alone would mean he wouldn’t understand. And what he wouldn’t understand, he would try to destroy.

The thought of it all was enough to make one shed a tear.

The mares’ thoughts of sadness however were interrupted by Arukenimon.

“You can’t be feeling empty because you have no feelings!”

Confused at the statement, the Alicorns, as well as BlackWarGreymon, listened to what the Digimon had to say.

“It’s just your imagination. I created you from Control Spires. So you’re nothing more than my little puppet.”

Although Twilight and Celestia were unmoved by the obvious insult, Luna was starting to grunt in anger.

“Who does she think she is?” She said quietly to herself. But what Mummymon said next just made it more insulting.

“Oh, I do love a puppet show!”

After silencing her comrade, Arukenimon became intrigued about BlackWarGreymon’s behaviour.

“I wonder why you’re experiencing this. These imaginary feelings of yours.”

She then thought up with a conclusion.

“It’s quite possible that when the Control Spires you were created from fused together, the left over programs that weren’t being used caused this reaction.”

“Left over…programs?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Although confusing at first, he and the princesses eventually got the right picture.

‘Could that be why he is different from the others?’ Luna thought to herself.

As the Mammothmon herd charged at BlackWarGreymon, he spoke back to his creators.

“How simple would it all be if I were just another one of your Control Spire Digimon. But I’m not!”

He them performed his infamous Black Tornado attack, deleting three Mammothmon in the process. Afterwards, he spoke again in a serious tone.

“I’m not a simple creation from one Control Spire. I’m complex! Made up of many Spires! That’s why I suffer! Or is it still my imagination!?”

“Beats me,” Arukenimon answered, followed by a suggestion from Mummymon.

“There is an easy way to end your suffering!”

“How do you suppose I do that?” BlackWarGreymon asked, eager to know the answer.

“Just simply forget all this feeling nonsense and follow orders like you’re supposed to do!”

His suggestion was not the one the princesses were expecting.

“They’re the ones with no feeling. They don’t even care about what he’s going through. They don’t care at all!” Luna said to herself, her anger reaching to a point where Twilight and Celestia start to notice.

What BlackWarGreymon said next was one of the reasons as to why he didn’t like being ordered around.

“I will not take orders from those inferior to myself.”

After a quick discussion on the edge of the cliff, and realising that their Mammothmon were no match for the Mega, Arukenimon and Mummymon taunted BlackWarGreymon before retreating away.

“Go ahead and feel if you want. You’re of no use to me.”

“Yeah, feel to your imaginary heart’s discontempt!”

Their taunting seemed to had gotten the better of Luna more than anyone else.

“Luna? Are you alright?” Celestia asked, concerned of her sisters’ change in behaviour.

After hearing her older sister, Luna calmed down and answered.

“Uhh… I’m sorry. It’s just that they treat him as if he’s nothing. As if he was their slave. Don’t they realise that they have created a living, thinking being?”

Before either Celestia and Twilight could say anything, they heard BlackWarGreymon. Who apparently wasn’t effected by the taunting.

“I’m not imagining my turmoil.”

He then turned toward the advancing Mammothmon herd.

“If what they say is true, then my enemies don’t suffer when I destroy them. Tell me something Mammothmon,” He then charged straight into the heart of the stampede.

“Are you imagining me!?”

During the next five minutes, BlackWarGreymon was relentless. Every time a Mammothmon tries to attack, he deletes them with minimal effort. As he kept up the onslaught, the three on-looking Alicorns felt fear and sadness towards him. Fear from the fact that he was fully capable of holding his own in a fight against creatures that could overwhelm royal guards. And sadness that no one was answering the questions that he so desperately wanted to find out. He even resorted to ask the Mammothmon.

As the fight reached its conclusion, BlackWarGreymon was still fully in his prime, and there was only one Mammothmon left.

“How about you? Do you feel any pain?” BlackWarGreymon asked. But the fake Digimon only responded with a blow from its trunk before charging.

That earned a sigh of disappointment from the black Digimon before looking down at something that caught his vision. Right in front of him was a small grass patch with a lone pink flower.

“What’s this? A tiny flower? Hmm.”

The three Alicorns followed his line of vision and too spotted the flower.

“Why is he looking at that flower?” Twilight asked, expecting an answer.

What BlackWarGreymon said next made the princesses question why he was so concerned.

“It’s right in Mammothmon’s path.”

As the stampeding Mammothmon got closer, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened when he realised that the flower was about to be crushed under the woolly Digimon’s foot.

“NNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Moving at great speed, BlackWarGreymon leapt on top of the grass patch. Shielding the flower by taking the blow from Mammothmon. Seeing its advantage, the woolly Digimon repeatedly stamped its foot onto BlackWarGreymon’s back. Pounding him in hopes he would break.

The three Alicorns whom were watching were taken completely by surprise in his change of behaviour. Plus, the fact that he was protecting an ordinary flower. No, the fact that he was protecting… something.

Twilight was then hit with da-ja-vu. She had seen this action before.

“He’s protecting it in the same way he protected Fluttershy from Tirek!”

“But, why is he protecting that flower?” Celestia asked.

“Well, yesterday he did say that during his time of being bad, he encountered signs, showing that he could be more then what he realised. I think this is one of the signs,” Twilight answered, earning interest from the royal sisters.

After turning their attention back to the fight, Mammothmon was still stomping on BlackWarGreymon’s back while he was still shielding the flower.

With a sudden determination of ending the fight to ensure the safety of the flower, BlackWarGreymon mustered up his strength and rose back up. Despite Mammothmon pressing down a hard as it could.

After he got back up on his feet, the Mega faced the final member of the herd and performed an attack that Twilight and Luna were familiar with. Celestia however, being the only one out of the three who had never seen the attack before, was left completely awe-stricken at the amount of power it packed.

“Terra Destroyer!!!”

Then the great red sphere collided into Mammothmon, vaporizing it entirely. Twilight looked over to Celestia, being slightly amused by her expression.

“Yeah, he can also do that.”

With no more opposition towards him, BlackWarGreymon immediately checked up on the tiny pink plant in great concern.

“The flower!? ......safe,” he said while sighing in relief. But his concern was then followed by great confusion and questioning of his recent actions.

“But why did I care? What difference does it make if there’s one more tiny flower in the world or not? Hmm.”

Continuously being clouded in confusion and desperate for finding answers, BlackWarGreymon went ahead and done something that no one, no Digimon and no pony would ever had expected. Especially since it was coming from the likes of him. The three princesses couldn’t help bit giggle at the sight. To them, it was rather cute.

BlackWarGreymon, the ultimate anti-hero himself, was talking to the flower.

“You and I are very different. I mean, besides the obvious, you’re a little flower and I’m the most powerful Digimon on two worlds. I-I mean you’re alive and I’m just artificial. You have real feelings and I can only imagine it…”

His eyes start to narrow in anger, confusion and something even the Alicorns could detect, sadness.

“…like I can imagine this pain in my heart.”

In frustration of his confused mind, he squashed the flower with his own foot. Then wiping his foot side to side to smear it on the grass patch.

Seeing the action and BlackWarGreymon in such a confused state broke the princesses’ hearts. Feeling deeply sorry for him to go through such a thing.

“Why should I care about whenever a tiny flower lives or dies? Who cares!?”

He then lifted his foot off the patch, revealing the crushed flower. The very same one he protected moments ago.

“All I want to know is, where is this empty feeling inside of me coming from? If I’m not a true living creature, why does my heart ache? Well the truth is… my heart doesn’t even exist.”

His last sentence mad the three mares feel deep sorrow for BlackWarGreymon. He has done something good but had doubts about it afterwards.

“But…for him to ask such questions, his heart must exist. Right?” Luna asked, but Celestia and Twilight weren’t too sure what the answer might be.

But one thought occurred to them that he might indeed have a heart. He saved Equestria from Tirek, rescued Luna from the yellow dragon. And accepted friendship from everypony he had met so far. That should be signs that BlackWarGreymon had a heart.

But further thought of the subject was put on hold. Because the memory started to fade into whiteness. But instead of leaving the memory, the memory itself changed. It skipped ahead a few hours. Though the Alicorns found themselves in the same desert area. But with the sun setting and a long shadow of BlackWarGreymon stretched to the distance.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“We’re still in the same memory, Twilight. But later in the day,” Luna answered before talking to herself.

“Strange, I had no control over it.”

As the princesses caught up with BlackWarGreymon, they noticed a strange, wobbly path the Digimon was leaving behind. Rippling through the ground as he passes by.

“Wow. Even back then his energy was intense,” Twilight said to herself.

Then to their surprise, the three mares heard a child-like voice.

“Hi, you look familiar. Are you lost or something?”

It was obvious that the voice was intended for BlackWarGreymon. Hearing in brought his full attention.

“Hmm? Me?”

“That’s right.”

After narrowing down the source of the voice, the three Alicorns saw a large rock in front of BlackWarGreymon. On top of the rock, was a Digimon.

He looked like a small yellow carnivorous dinosaur with three claws on each hand, a small tail and large green eyes. After looking at him, the three ponies estimated that he was taller than an average pony, but slightly smaller than a stallion.

“What’s that small Digimon doing on his own?” Twilight asked, but before she could get her answer, BlackWarGreymon spoke.

“Why are you talking to me? Do you want to fight?”

His sentence earned looks of disappointment from the Alicorns. Even at a state of confusion, he still thought that fighting was the best way to go.

Then the small Digimon answered back.

“No, just being friendly. Allow me to introduce myself. Agumon’s my name, protecting this area’s my game.”

Hearing his introduction made Twilight gasp in astonishment. Seeing one of the very Digimon that BlackWarGreymon mentioned first hand.

“That’s Agumon!?”

“You know him?” Celestia asked in confusion, clearly seeing that Twilight heard the name before.

“Well not exactly. But BlackWarGreymon told me and my friends that Agumon was the first Digimon to offer friendship towards him.”

The answer made Celestia and Luna look at Twilight in utter surprise.

‘His first friend?’ Celestia thought to herself while smiling warmly at Agumon.

Then the small Digimon said something that even caught Twilight off guard.

“When I warp-digivolve, I become WarGreymon.”

Twilight was left completely in shock at the piece of useful information that BlackWarGreymon could have told her.

“H-He can warp-digivolve? He has a Mega form!? He can transform into… WarGreymon!?”

“Twilight, who’s WarGreymon?” Luna asked the smaller Alicorn.

“I…I don’t know. BlackWarGreymon never mentioned a thing about him.”

After their brief and confusing lesson, they heard BlackWarGreymon said something that made them concerned again.

“Were you also made from Control Spires?”

His question almost sounded like he wanted Agumon to say yes. But the answer he received was not what he wanted to hear.

“Na. I came from a Digi-egg.”

BlackWarGreymon frowned in disappointment, expecting to see that talking would lead him to nowhere.

“Then I have nothing to talk to you about. You couldn’t possibly understand me whenever you become WarGreymon or any other real Digimon,” He stated as he walked past Agumon.

Hearing his words made the princesses sad again. He really was the only one of his kind.

Then Agumon tried to be supportive.

“But maybe I can help.”

It seemed to have worked. BlackWarGreymon stopped and turned his full attention to the Rookie Digimon.

“Wait, I will talk to you. And perhaps you can answer all of the questions that plague me.”

Seeing the sudden turn of events made the Alicorns smile. Then they giggled at Agumon’s response.

“Umm… I didn’t know there would be a quiz involved.”

As time went by, the Alicorns stood still in silence. Because of how important the conversation was between BlackWarGreymon and Agumon, they wanted to hear every word. But the questions the black armoured Digimon asked were something that the three princesses really wanted to answer. Because the small Digimon doesn’t have them.

Like the question about where the heart was. Unfortunately, Agumon was unsure where it was on his body.

“Hmm, maybe right here?” Agumon said before moving his hands from his chest to his head. “Then again?”

He then gave up.

“Oh, I’m not sure. I’m sorry I’m not more helpful to you. No one has ever asked me before where my heart is.”

BlackWarGreymon then answered back.

“Strange. You claim to be alive and yet you don’t know where your heart is. Maybe in doesn’t really exist. Maybe the heart is just an illusion.”

The three princesses couldn’t believe what they just heard.

‘He thinks that hearts are fake,’ Twilight thought to herself while she, Luna and Celestia watched on.

“It’s not an illusion. When you really care about someone more then you care about yourself, it’s called love. And I know it comes from the heart. I just don’t know where it is,” Agumon said in protest, clearly disagreeing that the heart doesn’t exist.

BlackWarGreymon was briefly intrigued that Agumon used an emotion as an example.

“Interesting. Then let me ask you this. Why do you have a heart?”

“I don’t know why, I just do that’s all. Humans have them and so do Digimon.”

“But I’m a different kind of Digimon. Made from Control Spires. Does that mean I have a heart too? Or was I created without one?”

It was a question that baffled the Alicorns just as much as it did to Agumon. But in a way he had a point, but the princesses still believed that he had one. The Rookie Digimon however wasn’t entirely sure.

“Hmm, these are all very good questions that I love to answer for you. But I’m not very good at this kind of stuff,” He admitted before continuing.

“Could you repeat the question?”

“I’m not sure I remember what I asked anymore,” BlackWarGreymon said, the question was so confusing that even he forgot what it was.

“Hmm… then we’re both confused. Let’s forget the whole thing and grab a bite,” Agumon suggested, he was clearly no help. But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t finished.

“I’m sorry, I need more answers.”

As more time went by, the sun was just barely over the horizon. The sunset made the sky glow red as the conversation continued.

Tired from the constant standing, Twilight, Luna and Celestia sat down to rest. To them it was strange for a brief moment because BlackWarGreymon too sat down as he talked to Agumon.

“But you see I’m not alive. I’m just…uh…a thing. Why would I possibly have any use for a heart in the first place?”

His question made the expressions on the mares’ faces sadder by the minute.

“Good point,” Agumon said. Then he made a suggestion that made the princesses’ eyes sparkle in happiness.

“Hay, you can be a friend!”

“A friend?” BlackWarGreymon asked, confused and interested in what Agumon had to say. So did the Alicorns in fact.

“Yeah! You see if you care about me, then we’re friends. And if we’re friends, then you have a heart. You can’t have one without the other.”

Twilight’s face suddenly beamed with utter joy.

“He’s right. Agumon’s absolutely right!” She then turned to her fellow princesses. “BlackWarGreymon is friends with us because he cares. So it must mean he does have a heart!”

“I agree with you, Twilight,” Luna said white Celestia smiled warmly at the two. They then turned their attention back to the two Digimon.

“Look at me. I got lots of friends,” Agumon added.

However, what BlackWarGreymon said next was a great example of him doubting himself.

“What if I’m not capable of being a friend? That would prove once and for all if I have a heart or not.”

The statement alone took the happiness from the princesses. If only the past BlackWarGreymon could see his future life in Equestria.

“Of course you’re capable, everybody’s capable of being someone’s friend.”

The Alicorns couldn’t agree more. Agumon was clearly a good example of a true friend. But BlackWarGreymon still had doubts.

“But what if…”

He was interrupted by Agumon.

“What if. Always with the ‘what ifs’. What if my aunt had a moustache? She’d be my uncle,” He said, obviously making a joke.

“She would? Your logic confuses me,” BlackWarGreymon said, clearly didn’t get the joke.

“How is friendship supposed to feel or does it just happen? At any rate it certainly hasn’t made me feel any better,” He continued.

“That’s because we just met. Give it time,” Agumon answered. But his advice had only angered BlackWarGreymon.

“Time!? I’ve given you time to answer all of my questions and you haven’t answered one yet.”

He then raised his right gauntlet up to his face, showing his metal claws to threaten Agumon.

“I should just destroy you and move on. It seems to be my purpose in life. And if that’s so, then so be it. I will dedicate myself to being the most powerful.”

The statement was something the princesses didn’t want to hear. He not only had a chance at making a friend and threw it away, but thinking that hurting other Digimon just to prove that he was the strongest was his meaning in existence, literally hurt the Alicorns. They simply couldn’t believe that BlackWarGreymon was once so cruel.

But the image of the pink flower made BlackWarGreymon flinch, already doubting what he just said.

“But I have to know if that was my true destiny. Or if there’s something more for me in this world than just fighting. You know like a reason why I’m here. For some it’s money, others power, and for you perhaps friendship. But I have to know the reason why I was created.”

His long rambling got both the Alicorns and Agumon all worried.

“Snap out of it! Boy are you a serious guy,” Agumon said, trying to calm BlackWarGreymon down.

As the conversation neared its conclusion, the sun disappeared over the hills, giving way for night. And BlackWarGreymon suggested something that both the princesses and Agumon completely disagreed on.

“No way! You can’t throw your heart away!” The Rookie Digimon said in a serious tone.

“But if what you say is true, and I have a heart, then it is clearly interfering with my fighting. And I can’t reach my full fighting potential until I throw my heart away,” BlackWarGreymon said, but what Agumon said next sounded like a beacon of hope for something good.

“Fighting is important but it’s not everything. You need to trust me as your friend before you can find your heart.”

What the black Digimon said next caught the three ponies by surprise. He suddenly changed his mind.

“Very well. I will be your friend in order to prove if my heart exists.”

It made the Alicorns smile, as if he decided to keep his heart after all. But what he said next made them feel uneasy.

“But if it doesn’t, I will be forced to destroy you.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Agumon said, taking slight offence to the sudden threat. Then he softened his expression.

“By the way, it’s customary to shake hands with a new friend.”

He then raised his right hand up and stretched it out in front of him. The action caught BlackWarGreymon by surprise.

“Hmm!? Shake…hands?”

He then raised his right gauntlet in front of him. After looking at his claws, he slowly moved his arm towards Agumon’s outstretched hand.

Knowing that it was an equivalent of a hoofshake, the three Alicorns were amazed at the sight. BlackWarGreymon was moments away from accepting Agumon as his very first friend! It looked as if it was a start of something both new and big for their saviour. A beacon of hope that would shine on through the rest of his days.

At least, it would of.

As BlackWarGreymon’s claw was just an inch away from Agumon’s hand, his whole body started to tremble from the sudden pain he was feeling. Grunting all the while.

“You…ok?” Agumon asked, unsure what was going on.

It became at the point where the three Alicorns became deeply concerned. They approached him to see what was wrong.

“Uhh…uh…aagh…the pain! It’s getting worse! S-Something’s hurting me!”

The pain got so intense, he covered his head with his hands in hopes for it to go away. But the pain still lingered.

“What’s happening to him!?” Luna asked, but nopony could answer even if they wanted to.

As the pain got to its peak, BlackWarGreymon couldn’t bare it anymore. He roared out in pain and frustration before flying away. But not before the Alicorns noticed the pupils in his eyes became perfect slits.

As Twilight, Luna and Celestia took off to follow him, they heard Agumon calling out to him.

“Where’re you gong!? I was gonna make s’mores! Come back!”

The three Alicorns were silent as they kept up with BlackWarGreymon, determined to find out what’s happening, where he was going and what caused someone like him such pain.

They didn’t have to wait for long. In a massive clearing in front of them, they spotted the same humans from before and their Digimon. What was puzzling to them was that another Digimon, who looked like a knight, was attacking a massive rock with a golden ring around it.

“Why is it attacking that rock?” Luna asked. Twilight meanwhile seemed to know the answer from her previous conversation with BlackWarGreymon.

“I…I think it’s one of the Destiny Stones.”

“I guess BlackWarGreymon has already told you about them?” Celestia asked, knowing that Twilight couldn’t possibly had known what it was if the Mega Digimon hadn’t told her.

“Yes. He said that the Digital World was kept in balance by stones like that one,” Twilight answered.

The princesses then noticed that the sky above them was getting darker. They then turned to BlackWarGreymon, who was speeding towards the knight Digimon while being shrouded in dark energy that not only emanated from his body, but it was spreading across the night sky.

After spotting the incoming Mega, the Artificial Digimon named Knightmon turned around to face him with his sword ready.

However, it never got the chance to use it.

“Mega Destroyer!”

BlackWarGreymon collided into Knightmon’s chest, impaling it with his nose horn. The attack destroyed Knightmon, its body and data disappearing into nothing.

After eliminating his opponent, BlackWarGreymon landed and faced the Destiny Stone in curiosity and determination.

The princesses soon followed in pursuit.

“What’s he going to do?” Celestia asked. Although she and Luna had no idea, Twilight had a pretty bad one.

‘He’s going to destroy it.’

She was right. BlackWarGreymon raised his arms above his head with a red glowing orb in-between them.

“Terra Destroyer!”

He then threw it at the Destiny Stone, causing it to crack open like an egg.

The princesses were shocked at his actions, completely speechless at what they saw.

Just as the good Digimon; one Ultimate, two Champion and two Armoured, charged at BlackWarGreymon in an attempt to stop him, the Mega turned to face them and then defeated all of them with just one Terra Destroyer attack.

With all the opposing Digimon reduced to their smaller forms, they and the DigiDestined were powerless to stop BlackWarGreymon from further damaging the stone with another red glowing orb.

Then he finished it off with another, completely obliterating it.

Again the Alicorns were just as shocked as they were speechless. He just destroyed one of the very things that kept the Digital World in balance. Within one memory, things went from being calm with Agumon to violent and enraged. The destroyed stone then transformed into a giant black tornado, towering high above the ground and into the sky.

The three ponies just stood there in silence as they watched the DigiDestined retreated away and BlackWarGreymon not moving. He just stood there, watching the calamity he caused.

As the memory faded into whiteness, Twilight, Celestia and Luna heard BlackWarGreymon asking a question that they dreaded.

“Could destroying the Destiny Stone…be my destiny?”

After a blinding flash, the stunned princesses found themselves back in BlackWarGreymon’s mind. And behind them was the Digimon himself, who hung his head down in shame and regret.

Knowing that he was behind them, the three turned around to look at him. their faces were full of disbelief. Yes, he told Twilight about what he had done, but she never thought it was anything like what she’d just seen.

Silence surrounded the four of them for a solid minute before Twilight spoke.

“B…Black…WarGreymon…?”

The Digimon spoke back while not daring to look at her.

“I know… I did warn you that it wasn’t for the faint hearted. And now you know why.”

He then moved his eye so he could look at the princesses, and read the expressions on their faces. They were exactly what he had expected, it magnified his guilt.

“I knew you’d look at me like that. Thinking that I’m nothing but a cold-hearted monster.”

As he kept talking, sadness was evident in his voice.

“I knew this was a mistake!” He then turned his back against them. “Now get out before more damage can be done!”

What he said next really opened the hearts of the Alicorns.

“I…I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

After another moment of stunned silence, Celestia walked up to him and attempted to ease his suffering in a way she knows best.

“BlackWarGreymon… you’re not a monster.”

Hearing her made BlackWarGreymon look at her with uncertainty in his eyes.

“I’m…I’m not?”

“No. You see, Discord had done terrible things in the past. And despite everything he’d done, we forgave him when he accepted friendship and became a good friend to Fluttershy,” Celestia said, but BlackWarGreymon still wasn’t sure.

“But that’s different. He tried to take over your world, whereas I almost destroyed mine.”

Luna was next to step in.

“You were only miss-guided. Those… creators of yours were obviously no help to you. You were confused and had questions that needed answering. But with no one to turn to, you took measures into your own and tried to find answers by yourself.”

Despite Luna’s support, it didn’t seem to help BlackWarGreymon. But then she said something that actually did help.

“Not only that, I believe you do have a heart.”

Her words made BlackWarGreymon turn to face the three ponies. He was speechless at what Luna said. Then Twilight backed her up.

“She’s right, BlackWarGreymon. All those questions you asked, those were the sort of questions that comes from someone with a heart. Not only that, back there you almost accepted Agumon as a friend. Even when you arrived in our world, you saved everypony in Equestria from Tirek’s wrath. If that’s not proof that you have a heart, then I don’t know what is.”

Hearing Celestia was one thing, but hearing both Luna’s and Twilight’s words had made BlackWarGreymon glad that he had the three Alicorns as his friends.

“Thank you. All of you.” BlackWarGreymon said, touched by the kindness he was receiving.

Then out of the blue, a thought occurred to Twilight. Something she really wanted to know.

“BlackWarGreymon… just who is WarGreymon?”

The Digimon was surprised at first, but understood why she asked. Both their names sounded similar. Celestia and Luna were just as keen.

“Well… remember when I said that Artificial Digimon were copies of the originals?”

“Yes.”

“Well basically, I’m a copy of him.”

The mares all shared collective gasps at the revelation. But he wasn’t finished.

“But because of the amount of Control Spires that were used in my creation, I was… altered."

All three Alicorns became confused at the last word.

“Altered?” Celestia asked.

BlackWarGreymon explained himself.

“You see, unlike other Digimon and their artificial copies, WarGreymon and I don’t look identical.”

He then described WarGreymon.

“Unlike me, his eyes were green and his helmet was chrome silver. He had orange skin, red hair and his voice was different too. But the most interesting part about him was his armour. While mine is black, his was gold.”

The princesses were intrigued at the description of WarGreymon’s appearance.

“I actually met him a few times. You could say he was my rival,” He said while letting out a chuckle at the last thing he said.

While Twilight and Celestia also chuckled, Luna was lost in her thoughts. She was concerned at one of the events she witnessed that popped back in her head. BlackWarGreymon was the one who noticed her.

“Are you ok, Luna?” He asked, making Luna flinch in surprise. She also gained attention from the other two Alicorns.

Luna found it difficult to answer, afraid that she might offend him.

“I’m fine… it’s just that… I know you only did it in self-defence, but… it’s strange… seeing you easily killing those evil Digimon.”

The group were surprised but caught on what Luna meant by. BlackWarGreymon never did once mentioned that he’d done such things. But then the Digimon said something that left the Alicorns confused.

“You can’t kill what isn’t alive.”

The confused princesses looked at him, wanting an explanation.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“Artificial Digimon may look alive, but they’re basically walking talking Control Spires. So destroying one is just the same as destroying one of the dark towers.”

He then stopped, realising that he was also talking about himself.

Twilight noticed his expression and tried to reassure him.

“I don’t think you’re a walking talking Control Spire. Because the way you act and the way you talk, as well as those questions you asked Agumon, that sort of makes you more like a real Digimon than a fake one. It’s those qualities that makes you alive.”

BlackWarGreymon felt happy hearing Twilight’s statement. It was backed up by the smiles from the Alicorn sisters.

“Thank you for telling me that. And when it comes to real Digimon, I have never destroyed one.”

The princesses all let out a sigh of relief, knowing the only Digimon that BlackWarGreymon had destroyed were only the artificial ones. But what he said next made them confused again.

“Besides, even if I did, Digimon never really die.”

All three mares were baffled at what the Digimon said. It was a sort of thing that needed to be explained.

“Can you explain that please?” Luna asked.

“All I know is that when a Digimon’s body gets destroyed, its data gets reconfigured and then comes back in a form of a Digi Egg. So the Digital World gives that Digimon another chance in life.”

The princesses were amazed.

“So…it’s like reincarnation?” Twilight asked.

“In a way yes. But Artificial Digimon are a different story. When they get destroyed, their data just collapse and disappears into nothing,” BlackWarGreymon said before pausing again, not exactly sure if that fact was even true, since he himself had been through that.

Again, Twilight noticed his pause.

“Are you ok?”

BlackWarGreymon was then snapped out of his trance before speaking.

“I’m…fine, thank you.”

The three princesses then received an odd feeling. A feeling that BlackWarGreymon was hiding something from them.

But the matter of the subject was put on hold as BlackWarGreymon spoke again.

“So…I take it that… you want to see more of my past?”

“Yes we do. And I take it that what we saw was just the beginning,” Twilight said with a hint of worry.

“Yes,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

Then he remembered a question. A question that was never answered to him.

“Oh, before you go, answer me this Twilight… where does your heart lie?”

Twilight was confused at first, but then remembered that Agumon himself didn’t know the answer. So, to ease his tension, she answered his long awaited question.

“Right here,” She answered with a smile on her face while placing her hoof on her chest.

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened as he became intrigued.

“In…the chest?”

He then lifted his right arm and placed in on his chest plate. Where the heart should be.

“Right…here?”

The princesses smiled as they saw the expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes softened. He had finally received an answer to one of the questions that haunted him.

Chapter 14: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 4) Choosing Fate

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In the course of a few hours, the three princesses, Twilight, Celestia and Luna ventured into more of BlackWarGreymon’s memories.

While nearly all of them were of the black Digimon destroying more Destiny Stones, there were specific events that peeked the Alicorns' interest. One such event was when BlackWarGreymon described one Destiny Stone to be ‘beautiful’, showing that even back then he had a concept of beauty. As well as another DNA digivolution, the girls also got the sight of Arukenimon’s and Mummymon’s true forms, which were creepy looking at best. What else was that after more stones were shattered, an image of a bizarre dragon-like Digimon kept briefly appearing, and BlackWarGreymon dubbed it as his ‘worthy opponent’. Since then, he was determined to find the rest of the Destiny Stones. One by one, the heroes of the Digital World tried many ways to hide or protect the stones. Either blockading them, hiding them or even using their power to further digivolve their Digimon. One such event was in a canyon, where a Champion level Digimon, Angemon, digivolved into an Ultimate named MagnaAngemon. The battle was nerve-racking for the Alicorns because BlackWarGreymon looked as though he was about to be sucked into the portal called ‘The Gate of Destiny’.

But despite the DigiDestined’s attempts to protect the Destiny Stones, BlackWarGreymon always managed to outwit them and destroyed the stones.

As the three princesses witnessed more of BlackWarGreymon’s messed up past, the more they had mixed emotions towards him. However, the emotion they experienced the most frequently was pity. Yes, he was destroying the Destiny Stones one by one, but either no one was helping him or he was too confused and conflicted to listen. To add in the fear factor, every time BlackWarGreymon destroys the Destiny Stones, he gets stronger, making him more unstoppable. What else was that everytime a stone was destroyed, it creates rifts throughout the Digital World on a catastrophic scale. One such rift even caused BlackWarGreymon to go to a human world in a shadowy form. What was odd was that while trying to find the Destiny Stones, the black Digimon felt a deep satisfaction from destroying Control Spires. It was strange considering that he was created from them.

The three Alicorns knew that even if BlackWarGreymon destroyed all of the stones, it would not end his suffering.

Inside the next memory, the three princesses found themselves in an industrial area of the Digital World, where BlackWarGreymon was searching for the last Destiny Stone.

“Wow, the factories here are huge. They’re definatly bigger than the ones in Cloudsdale,” Twilight said while she and the Royal Sisters were looking for BlackWarGreymon.

Although they couldn’t see him, but they could hear him.

“My mission is clear. That Destiny Stone is here somewhere and I’m going to find it if I have to destroy everything in my path!”

All of the sudden, BlackWarGreymon burst himself out of a nearby wall with dust surrounding him. The Alicorns were surprised by his sudden appearance.

“Now, where is it?” He asked while flying in the air, looking down at the factories.

“Black Tornado!”

Surrounding himself in spiraling black energy, he dived down like a missile and drilled straight through a group of silos. The damage caused them to explode in a massive ball of fire. Despite the destruction, the Artificial Digimon was left unharmed as he stood in the middle of the rubble.

“Where is it!? I still don’t see it. I should just destroy everything here!” He said before taking off into the air, ripping the end half of a crane clean off and proceeded to use it to swat his creators whom were nearby, narrowly missing them.

The princesses were amazed at BlackWarGreymon’s display of physical strength. It was so great that it was practically an equivalent of a full grown dragon.

“Amazing,” Luna said, almost speechless.

“Well it makes sense, considering he was able to lift Tirek with ease,” Twilight added.

“But still…such strength,” Celestia said, clearly impressed.

Afterwards, BlackWarGreymon resumed destroying the industrial site. Laying waste to the facility and turning massive buildings into twisted metal and scrap. He kept it up for a while, until a bright green glow shined through the entire area. The Alicorns and the Digimon turned to its source and discovered that it was coming from a jungle nearby.

“Wha-What is that amazing light?” Luna asked.

“I think it might be the last Destiny Stone!” Twilight answered.

As the blinding light faded they, as well as BlackWarGreymon, took off into the air and flew towards where the light came from.

Soon all of them landed in a big clearing in the jungle, and in front of them they saw the Destiny Stone. Hovering in the air above a pool of water that looked like soup. To Luna’s annoyance, Arukenimon and Mummymon were already there.

“The final Destiny Stone. I’ll shatter it to pieces!” BlackWarGreymon said while preparing to strike.

As the princesses feared the worst, they heard a voice.

“STOP!”

Right on cue, the DigiDestined and their Digimon arrived and stood in-between the Mega and the levitating rock.

“You just never seem to learn your lesson, do you?” BlackWarGreymon said to intimidate the heroes.

“Obnoxious parasites! Show them what you’re made of, BlackWarGreymon!” Arukenimon said to entice her creation into fighting the heroes.

“I don’t need you to tell me!” BlackWarGreymon said while raising the palm of his right gauntlet to summon a small Terra Destroyer orb and then chucked it at his creators. And for a sphere half the size of a pony, it created an explosion that sent both Arukenimon and Mummymon into the deep jungle in the distance. A prime example of how powerful BlackWarGreymon truly was. The princesses were as amazed as they were intimidated.

Soon after, some of the good Digimon began to DNA digivolve.

“Exveemon…”

“Stingmon…”

“DNA digivolve to… PAILDRAMON!!”

“Aquilamon…”

“Gatomon…”

“DNA digivolve to… SILPHYMON!!”

During their travels through the memories, the Alicorns were already familiar with the new Hybrid Digimon and its capabilities.

Despite being up against two Hybrid Ultimate Digimon, the Alicorns knew that BlackWarGreymon won’t be holding back.

“Terra Destroyer!” BlackWarGreymon said while hurtling a giant red sphere at his two opponents. But both of them dodged it in time to escape its blast range.

Then it was their turn to attack.

“Desperado Blaster!” Paildramon said while firing a volley of blur lazers at BlackWarGreymon. But the black Digimon merely done a side-step to get out of the way, leaving the attack to fly past him.

“Static Force!” Silphymon said while collecting energy to form a pinkish-red ball in its hands. Then fired it at BlackWarGreymon.

But BlackWarGreymon merely back-handed it to deflect the blast away. The Alicorns again couldn’t help but be impressed by his skills in combat, despite the fact that he was attacking the good Digimon.

Then to the Alicorns surprise, the remaining two Digimon DNA digivolved.

“Ankylomon…”

“Angemon…”

“DNA digivolve to… SHAKKOUMON!!”

The princesses were left in a state of shock at what they saw. The new Digimon was huge, even taller than Paildramon! In fact, compare him to the creatures of Equestria, he was almost the same size as the red dragon that Twilight and her friends met long ago.

After getting over their shock, they noticed that the three Hybrid Digimon were facing towards BlackWarGreymon.

“You’re standing between me and the last Destiny Stone. Now get out of my way!” the black Digimon said, determined to destroy the stone.

“Who’s gonna make us?” Silphymon responded, not heeding to the warning.

“Move or else!” BlackWarGreymon shouted in a threatening manner.

“We chose ‘else’,” Paildramon answered, trying to make a joke of the situation.

“Very well, Terra Destroyer!!” BlackWarGreymon shouted while throwing a large red sphere at the trio.

As the orb got closer, Shakkoumon stood in its way and tried to push it back. The sheer power of the orb sent powerful gusts through the area, but the Hybrid Digimon stood his ground.

Then all of the sudden, after raising his arms, Shakkoumon collapsed the sphere of negative energy and absorbed it into his body.

The action surprised everyone who witnessed it. The DigiDestined, the other Digimon, the Alicorn, even BlackWarGreymon himself.

“Wha-What just happened?” Luna asked.

“He absorbed it!” Twilight answered while in shock.

Celestia hadn’t said a word. But from what she saw in BlackWarGreymon’s expression, she knew he was in trouble.

Then Shakkoumon’s eyes glowed red as he began his attack.

“HARMONIOUS SPIRIT!!!”

He then fired orange beams of energy from his eyes and towards the armoured Digimon. Surprisingly when the first beam struck BlackWarGreymon’s right shoulder, he felt pain. The same happened when the second struck his left arm.

The Alicorns couldn’t believe it, he actually got hurt from that. But before they could say anything, the Hybrid Digimon, Paildramon and Silphymon charged forth.

“You know the plan, Paildramon!” Silphymon said to its comrade.

“Right! No matter what, protect the Destiny Stone!”

They then attacked BlackWarGreymon.

“Me first, Static Force!”

Silphymon then fired a blast of energy at BlackWarGreymon, but the Mega Digimon countered it by slashing it with his metal clawed gauntlet.

Before they could continue their attacks, BlackWarGreymon got fed up with them.

“YOU ASKED FOR IT!!!”

He then flew up to Paildramon, grabbed his giant wrist and threw him to the ground. And then he swung himself around and slammed the back of his left Dramon Destroyer into Silphymon’s face, sending the Hybrid Digimon to the ground.

The Alicorns remained silent. They still couldn’t comprehend BlackWarGreymon’s physical strength and his style of fighting. It seems there’s no limit.

“Now I’m angry!” Paildramon said while getting back up.

“Why do you persist this way? You can’t win!” BlackWarGreymon said, thinking that he had already won the fight but Shakkoumon thought otherwise.

“KACHINA BOMBS!!!”

After speaking, Shakkoumon opened a hatch in his armour and sent a volley of swarming razer-sharp disks straight for BlackWarGreymon. Buzzing like buzz saws.

In response to the attack, the black Digimon brought forth his black Brave Shield for protection. Even though the disks made loud impacts on the Chrome Digizoid shell, they were deflected away.

But then the princesses noticed something rather startling about his shield.

“His… his shields’ been cracked!” Luna noted.

“Those disks must have been very powerful,” Celestia said. She could tell from Luna’s reaction and Twilight’s silent expression that the shield, as well as the armour, were thought to be impenetrable.

“Why do you keep trying to protect the Destiny Stones?” BlackWarGreymon asked, eager to find out why.

“It’s a little something we call ‘saving the world’!” Silphymon said while leaping in the air with Paildramon, going in for another assault.

“Desperado Blaster!”

Paildramon then fired another volley of blue lazers at BlackWarGreymon, who still held his fractured shield in place to protect himself from the blue streams of energy.

Again the Alicorns saw that the attack was taking its toll on the shield, as the lazers left dents and even holes in the Digizoid metal.

“How can you be so certain that what you fight for is right?” BlackWarGreymon asked while trying to hold back the showers of lazers, but instead of answering his question, Silphymon attacked.

“Static Force!”

The princesses gasped in shock as the ball of energy exploded onto BlackWarGreymon. Not only it obliterated his Brave Shield, but it also sent him hurtling into the jungle.

“I grow tired of this fight! I’m going to find my answer! Right here!! RIGHT NOW!!!” He said before impacting the ground hard, throwing dust and dirt in the air while sending shockwaves through the ground.

The Alicorns immediately rushed over to see if BlackWarGreymon was alright. But as the dust settled, they gasped in shock and horror at his condition. His skin was brouzed and his armour were scratched and badly dented. Even though he was evil back then, the three princesses couldn’t help but feel deeply concerned for him. It didn’t help their stress by the fact that fluid was leaking from his armour. It was a sight that would make Spike, Fluttershy and Rarity faint.

“Is…is BlackWarGreymon…BLEEDING!?” The panicked Luna asked. But Twilight noticed something odd about the fluid. It wasn’t red, it was black.

“I don’t think that’s blood. I think it’s……oil?” Twilight said, despite not being sure of it herself.

“Either way, he’s badly injured,” Celestia said, but she had to remember that what they were seeing was just a memory. But in the sanario they’re in, everything felt real.

To their surprise, BlackWarGreymon slowly got back up. Despite the pain he was feeling and the fluid bursting from the holes and cracks in his armour, he still wanted to fight.

“I keep asking questions of my enemies and yet I still get no answers. Why am I so different from them? Why was I created like this? Well if they won’t answer me then why should I be so concerned about them anymore? I’ve given every opponent a chance to convince me otherwise. But now I’m through talking! Why should I care if they’re destroyed? Or for that matter, their whole precious Digital World!”

His entire statement opened the hearts of the three Alicorns. Yes, he was angry. Yes, he was threatening to destroy all. But the mares could easily tell that deep down inside, BlackWarGreymon was in fact sad and alone. He truly felt that all Digimon, the Digital World, even reality itself were all against him. To the princesses, all he needed was comfort. What he needed… was a friend.

“Destroying the Destiny Stones means my own destruction as well. But if that’s what it takes to finally find my answer, then so be it!”

His new statement caused the princesses to freeze in place.

“Was…was he really planning to go THAT far!?” Twilight asked, not believing what she just heard.

To add in the disbelief, BlackWarGreymon was walking towards his opponents, not giving up the fight.

“He seriously still wants to keep fighting? Even in that condition!?” Luna asked.

“Wow, he really does have a fierce will to fight. Especially to the end,” Celestia said to herself, admittedly amazed by the Digimon’s determination to carry on fighting.

As BlackWarGreymon stepped closer, Paildramon and Silphymon charged towards him.

“Don’t take another step or else!” Paildramon said, him and the Alicorns not expecting BlackWarGreymon’s response.

“I choose ‘or else’.”

As Silphymon flew in close, BlackWarGreymon caught him in his grasp and chucked the hybrid aside. Paildramon then attempted to grab him but only to have his wrists grabbed and then flung over BlackWarGreymon’s shoulder.

As Shakkoumon entered the fray, it gave way to a four-way melee. The three Hybrid Ultimate Digimon gave everything they got against the Artificial Mega Digimon. To the three princesses, what followed next was simply unbelievable. BlackWarGreymon was scratched, brouzed, dented, weakened, injured and above all out-numbered. But despite it all, it seemed he was winning!

‘Wow. He’s injured, but he still has the strength to fend for himself. It…It’s amazing… he’s amazing,’ Luna thought to herself while smiling. She then blinked in confusion at the last thing she thought of.

Twilight and Celestia were silent, unable to say anything about the situation. They were stuck in a state of awe.

That was… until they saw what looked like a rainbow glow coming from behind. Turning around, the three Alicorns saw the last Destiny Stone being surrounded by rainbow light. Then a multi-coloured beam of energy shot out of the stone and streaked across the sky.

It hadn’t gone unnoticed, because BlackWarGreymon and the three Ultimate Digimon stopped fighting to look at the new light.

As the rainbow beam disappeared over the horizon, clouds started to gather all around blocking out the blue sky. Then after a moment, rays of light pierced through the gapes in the clouds, surprising anyone who saw them.

“Is… is that the sun light?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“I don’t think so. The rays travelled too quickly,” The white Alicorn answered.

It was at the moment where everyone noticed that it looked like something was moving in the clouds. Then to everyone’s surprise, a massive serpent-like creature emerged from the clouds and then flew back in.

The princesses gasped in shock and surprise from both the creatures’ presents and its appearance. Its body was insanely long and looked like living water. Its short arms and legs were also the same colour and appearance. It also had several angel-like wings all along its back. Strangely it had massive chains coiling along its body. But the fascinating part about it was its head. It was blue with a series of yellow stripes. It had a razor-sharp lightning bolt shaped blade on its snout. Four huge red eyes and a massive beard and moustache, as if to show that it was very old. For a brief moment, the beard reminded the Alicorns of a Unicorn wizard named Star Swirled the Bearded. Except the fact that its flowing, much like the Royal Sisters’ manes.

As it kept disappearing and reappearing through the clouds, the princesses talked amongst themselves.

“What is that thing!? It’s bigger and even longer than the dragon that took me!” Luna said as she took a few steps back.

“Twilight, did BlackWarGreymon mentioned anything about this creature?” Celestia asked her former student. But she was stuck in a trance.

“Could it be him? Could that be… Azulongmon!?”

“And who’s Azulongmon?” Luna asked, she and Celestia apparently overheard Twilight.

“BlackWarGreymon said that he’s one of the four mythical Digimon. But he never told me that he was so huge.”

Twilight’s answer left the Royal Sisters completely in shock. Apparently mythical beings exist in the Digital World.

Since they were silent, the Alicorns were able to hear BlackWarGreymon talking.

“Finally, my ultimate opponent has appeared.”

The mares then realised that Azulongmon resembled the bizarre images that popped up when the Destiny Stones were destroyed.

As Azulongmon stopped moving, he turned his four eyes onto the armoured Digimon below. Then he spoke to him, much to the amazement of the princesses.

“YOU! You are the one with the cursed soul of darkness!”

His statement left BlackWarGreymon shocked.

“Soul of darkness? You can’t mean me!?”

The Alicorns were shocked to hear, but listened to what the giant Digimon had to say.

“Tell me, why do you destroy the Destiny Stones?” He asked, his voice sounded like an echo.

“I did it to make you appear, so we can fight. You are stronger than any Digimon I’ve ever seen before,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” the mythical being asked.

“Only that you are my ultimate opponent.”

It was at the point where the giant Digimon wanted to make it perfectly clear.

“I am Azulongmon!”

“Azulongmon?” The black Digimon asked, letting the giant being explain himself.

“I am the guardian of the eastern hemisphere of the Digital World and the keeper of the spheres of Light and Hope. Because you had destroyed the Destiny Stones, this world has become unbalanced! Do you understand the consequences of what you had done!?”

The mares all stood in silence, they never knew that the guardian had such a big responsibility. BlackWarGreymon however, grew tired of talking.

“I don’t care about any of that nonsense. Fight me Azulongmon! IT IS MY DESTINY!!!”

BlackWarGreymon then launched off the ground and flew to fight the guardian head on. Much to the shock of the Alicorns.

“He’s really going to fight a guardian!?” Luna asked, thinking that BlackWarGreymon had bitten off more than he could chew. But luckily, Azulongmon thought differently from fighting.

“You fool!” He said as his hand started to glow, and then a blinding flash of light emanated from it.

Although it didn’t hurt him, but the light was enough to force BlackWarGreymon to stop and shield his eyes. As the light faded, Azulongmon spoke up.

“You mean that’s the reason you’ve caused all this suffering? When it’s your existence itself that seals my power and causes the unbalance in this world!”

That left BlackWarGreymon and the Alicorns confused.

“My existence? What do you mean!? I WANT THE TRUTH!!!” BlackWarGreymon demanded.

“You can’t handle the truth. The Control Spires here in the eastern region were built to seal my power. And you are made from one hundred of those Spires! You do the math.”

After thinking what the guardian said, BlackWarGreymon slowly pieced it together.

“WHAT!?”

‘He was built to keep him away?’ Twilight thought to herself while she and the Royal Sisters remained silent.

The black Digimon turned around to face the DigiDestined.

“What does this mean?”

“Alright so now you know, big deal”

The princesses turned to the source of the new voice, only to discover that it was Arukenimon.

“Our plan was a simple one. Build as many Control Spires as possible and destroy the balance of the Digital World once and for all. You got a problem, so sue me.”

As she and the DigiDestined continue to talk. The Alicorns couldn’t believe what they just heard.

“So that was her plan the whole time! How could she do that to the Digital World?” Twilight said while growing angry at how evil it all sounds.

“Easy Twilight. I hate it just as much as you do, but you have to remember that this was in the past,” Celestia said to Twilight, reminding her that they were in a memory.

“True, but her plan does seem to be failing. Those kids keep destroying her Control Spires,” Luna added.

As if she just heard them, Arukenimon spoke out to BlackWarGreymon.

“That’s why I created you to stop them, but instead you wonder around the Digital World like a baby looking for its bottle.”

Again like before, Luna grunted in anger from hearing the insult. What she would give to turn Arukenimon into stone. But what the Ultimate Digimon said next actually struck BlackWarGreymon’s nerve.

“Didn’t it ever occur to you that Digimon like yourself have no souls of their own?”

In response to her insult, BlackWarGreymon flew down to Arukenimon in a blink of an eye, grabbed her by the shoulder and lifted her off the ground. She then spoke out in protest as she tried to squirm free from his grasp.

“Hey, put me down! This is a brand new outfit! Do you know how hard it is to get winkles out of polystyrene!? Don’t get mad at me because fate has dealt you a bad hand!”

“FATE!? Then why am I standing here within an inch from destroying you!? Is that fate too!?” BlackWarGreymon said to her.

Without Celestia or Twilight knowing, Luna was mentally marvelling at the sight. Nice to see Arukenimon getting a taste of her own medicine.

However, Azulongmon stopped him.

“BlackWarGreymon! Urrh, you ask more questions than Cody does. No one can answer it but you.”

What the guardian said next not only gained BlackWarGreymon’s attention, but it also made the three princesses smile in agreement.

“You see, every life has a purpose. A reason. The circumstances surrounding its birth don’t matter.”

“You’re saying that my life has a meaning too?” BlackWarGreymon asked, he too was understanding the guardian’s words.

“Precisely. But it is up to you to find out what that meaning is.”

The armoured Digimon’s eyes widened as he took a moment to take it all in. He had the opportunity to find out what his destiny was. And he would have to find it himself. The Alicorns were simply stunned at what they were hearing.

“BlackWarGreymon, I have nothing more to tell you. Unless you want to hear a good joke Gennai told me while I was in limbo,” Azulongmon said, apparently even guardians had a sense of humour.

Then BlackWarGreymon dropped Arukenimon and faced the guardian once more.

“I’m grateful to have met you. I now know that my existence has meaning.”

The princesses start to smile in joy as they heard him accepting what the guardian said. And the fact that he was grateful too. But what he said next took that smile away.

“Even if that meaning is only to be hated and alone.”

He then walked past the DigiDestined and into the depths of the jungle. Although it looked like Azulongmon was going to have an interesting conversation with the DigiDestined, the Alicorns followed BlackWarGreymon into the jungle.

“Hmm, he sounded like he doesn’t want to be hated and alone,” Celestia said, breaking the silence.

“Well, he did say his life was rough. But I had no idea it was anything like that,” Twilight admitted, feeling sorry for BlackWarGreymon to go through all the pain.

Luna meanwhile was silent, trying to keep up her pace with the Digimon.

‘If only this BlackWarGreymon could see where he is now. Equestria has given him kindness and friendship, and in return he isn’t hated and alone.’

Luna’s eyes suddenly widened when a thought occurred to her. BlackWarGreymon wasn’t entirely evil, he was misunderstood…

…JUST LIKE HER!

What happened to BlackWarGreymon was almost a reflection of what happened to her back in Equestria. Something she could relate to.

Then to the Alicorns’ surprise, BlackWarGreymon roared out in anguish and took to the skies. As he gained altitude, a black portal appeared in front of him, leading him elsewhere in the Digital World.

“Wait! He can create portals!? He never told me that!” Twilight complained while in shock. Then a thought crossed her mind.

‘Wait. Could that be how he entered Equestria in the first place? No. That portal was white and it created a storm, this one’s black and there’s no storm around it.'

Before Twilight could get any more confused, the Alicorns heard Azulongmon speaking to the departing Digimon.

“My friend, I feel your agony. I hope that one day, you will find the answers to your questions.”

BlackWarGreymon then disappeared into the portal, followed by the portal closing up. As it did, the memory around the Alicorns faded into whiteness.

They were soon back in BlackWarGreymon’s mind, with the Digimon himself standing by, whom awaited their return. When the princesses turned to face him, he had a blank expression in his eyes while looking down at the ground. He didn’t want them to see him, a powerful being, to be in such pain. But he had no choice, in order for his friends to truly understand him, they had to see everything.

His lack of response began to make the mares concerned.

“BlackWarGreymon… you were in pain……weren’t you,” Twilight said softly.

“Yes… I was. But despite it all, I still kept on fighting. That was how badly I wanted answers,” He said, earning looks of sadness from the three Alicorns.

“I’m sorry to hear that, BlackWarGreymon. But you could just ask them instead of fighting them,” Celestia said, earning a serious look from the Digimon.

“You think I hadn’t tried that already? Those who did approach me kindly didn’t have the answers I needed. And all the rest just viewed me the same as any other Digimon created from Control Spires. A product…a creation… a symbol of evil itself. So to them, all evil must be destroyed.”

The three princesses finally understood the gravity of BlackWarGreymon’s problems.

“In most of the battles you’ve seen, only half of them I intended. But the other half… was simply a battle to survive.”

BlackWarGreymon was silent afterwards, letting his words sink in. The Alicorns never knew that his past was so dark and sad.

Twilight then figured out a way to cheer him up and change the subject.

“Don’t mind me asking, BlackWarGreymon. But in that battle, your shield was destroyed. How was it that you got it back?”

BlackWarGreymon knew that Twilight mentioned it to raise his spirit. He mentally thanked her for it.

“It’s actually similar to how you heal from a cut. My body simply regenerated it back.”

“You…can heal your armour?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. My armour is a part of me, so it repairs itself along with my body. I can also speed up the process by sleeping,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Sleeping?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, I’ve slept after that battle.”

“And Twilight mentioned that you never told her that you can create portals,” Celestia mentioned.

“Oh, I guess that slipped my mind,” BlackWarGreymon admitted before continuing. “But I hardly use that ability, since creating a portal to another part of the Digital World uses up a lot of my energy. I just prefer to fly.”

Twilight then got around to a question she wanted answering.

“BlackWarGreymon, are black portals the only ones you can create?”

The Digimon was slightly confused at the question, but answered it anyway.

“As far as I know, yes.”

‘So… the portal that sent him to our world, wasn’t created by him after all. Could it be someone else who sent him here? Or is it something else?’ Twilight thought to herself, her mind constantly on the subject of the white portal.

Luna meanwhile was silent throughout the entire conversation. She still couldn’t comprehend how similar she was to BlackWarGreymon. They were both once evil, they became threats to their worlds, they were treated as villains even though they had changed. It was truly bizarre, someone from a completely different world went through the same experience she herself went through.

She finally brought her attention to the group when BlackWarGreymon spoke to her.

“Luna? Are you ok? You seem to be spaced out for a moment.”

“Oh…um… I’m fine, thank you,” She replied, feeling slightly awkward.

“I suppose you all want to see more of my past,” BlackWarGreymon said, feeling that their conversation was nearing its end.

“Yes, if it’s still ok with you,” Twilight said.

“Fine. But the next memory is just me recovering from that battle,” BlackWarGreymon mentioned.

“Ok, BlackWarGreymon. And again, thank you for allowing us to see more of your past,” Celestia said with kindness in her voice and a warm smile on her face.

It seemed to cheer the Digimon up a little.

As the three princesses walked past the mentioned orb of light that lead to the memory, Luna couldn’t help herself but have a quick peek into its contents.

The sight that the blue Alicorn saw, had actually made her heart ache. BlackWarGreymon, injured and beaten, was hiding out in a cave in a lonely mountain in the middle of nowhere. Far away from any source of life. He was sleeping on the hard stone ground with his back against the wall.

Although his eyes were shut, Luna could see them squinting every few seconds. A sign that the powerful warrior… was in pain.

‘BlackWarGreymon…’

Chapter 15: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 5) WarGreymon War

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After entering BlackWarGreymon’s next memory, Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found themselves in what looked like a street. Thick snow covered everything they saw, all from the distant woodland to the nearby house.

As the three looked around their surroundings, they noticed that the sky looked somewhat different to the Digital World and quite similar to their own world.

“Ok, don’t get me wrong, but I think we’re in the human world,” Twilight said to the Royal Sisters. After mental comparison, the older Alicorns agreed with her.

“Indeed. This area seems different to what we have seen so far,” Luna said.

Celestia meanwhile was staring at the snow covered trees.

“Wow, even the snow is just like the snow in Equestria,” She said to herself.

But quite suddenly, all of them were interrupted by a familiar voice.

“They’re nearby, I can sense it. Perhaps now I will finally find the answers I seek.”

Luna was first to turn her head to see BlackWarGreymon walking through the woods and towards the house. Despite his imposing statement, the blue Alicorn couldn’t help but feel relieved at BlackWarGreymon’s condition. The brouzes on his skin were healed, the scratches were gone, the dents were nowhere to be found on his armour and his Brave Shield was restored. It was almost as if he was completely new again.

Soon Twilight and Celestia also spotted him and after joining Luna, they followed him. Although their minds were questioned as to why the Digimon was in the human world, the three mares remained silent. The only noise they heard was the crumpling sound of the snow as BlackWarGreymon took every step, leaving huge three-toed tracks behind him.

Then he stopped walking and stared at the house, leaving the princesses in a state of confusion. But their confusion only perked up when the Mega level Digimon summoned his Terra Destroyer orb and threw it at the house. Destroying the side of it.

“Why is he destroying a house!?” Twilight asked, but got no answer.

Then just as BlackWarGreymon threw another red orb at the house, the mares noticed Arukenimon and Mummymon leaping out of the smoke. The two Digimon only had enough time to see the oncoming orb smashing its way through trees and towards them. They ducked just in time as the red sphere struck the house the second time, sending more dust, smoke and debris into the air.

As the smoke cleared, the two Ultimate level Digimon got the chance to see who was responsible for the attacks. But only to wish they hadn’t.

“It’s BlackWarGreymon!” Arukenimon exclaimed in alarm and disbelief.

“Oh no!” Mummymon said, but was joined by BlackWarGreymon.

“Oh yes.”

Luna was the only one who quietly chuckled at BlackWarGreymon’s choice of words at the right time.

“So, we meet again,” BlackWarGreymon called out to the two disguised Digimon.

“And this time, we’re ready for you,” Mummymon declared before he and Arukenimon transformed into their real forms. It seemed they were going to fight him for a change.

“Ready to be defeated again, you mean!” The black Digimon said as he got his claws in battle position, making his creators back off in fear.

Then to the princesses’ surprise, a new voice spoke out.

“So this is the informus BlackWarGreymon?”

Appearing through the smoke, stood a tall man wearing a long purple trench coat. His voice was deep, his hair was long and black, his face was very pale and his eyes were almost completely featureless.

The three Alicorns couldn’t find out why, but just looking at the man creeped them out.

‘Who is he. BlackWarGreymon never mentioned him to me,’ Twilight thought to herself before hearing the strange man again.

“Just what do you hope to accomplish here?” He asked. Then the armoured Digimon gave his answer.

“I wish to look upon the face of my creator.”

Hearing what he said confused the on-looking Alicorns.

“But isn’t Arukenimon his creator?” Twilight asked, but again got no answer. The Royal Sisters were also confused by the mystery.

“You come all this way to see what you already seen then. I gave you life from just the tiny hairs on my head,” Arukenimon spoke up, seemly telling the truth. But BlackWarGreymon thought otherwise.

“Perhaps, but who gave you life? And who is your creator Mummymon?”

The question left both the Alicorns and the two Digimon greatly confused. But the man spoke out.

“It was me.”

Both Arukenimon and Mummymon were surprised to hear the answer. Twilight was equally surprised.

‘What! But how!? He’s just a human. Or is he really a Digimon?’

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted when the tall man spoke again. Explaining himself as he approached the three Digimon.

“I made both of these Digimon by turning my DNA into data. So you see BlackWarGreymon, I’m the creator you’ve been searching for.”

“Then I am a product of the real world, not the digital one. Interesting,” BlackWarGreymon stated.

“Yes, I think you’ve gotten what you came for, haven’t you. So now leave us!” The man ordered, making the princesses think of him being very rude. But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t listening.

“It’s all beginning to make sense to me now. I’ve been searching for answers in the Digital World, trying to find the meaning to my existence. But have been able to find nothing to ease my pain. And now I know why.”

The princesses paid close attention to what he was about to say.

“I was created from you. Just like Arukenimon and Mummymon were. We’re part of the real world, foreign to the Digital World. We do not belong there.”

The mares’ eyes, as well as Arukenimon’s and Mummymon’s, were widened as hearing every word BlackWarGreymon said. But the man grew tired of it all.

“If you’re done philosophizing, then goodbye.”

As the man turned to face away from BlackWarGreymon, the black Digimon raised his right arm, pointing his claws outward to his right.

“I’ll leave. As soon as I’m done here.”

The words caught the man’s attention as he looked back at the Digimon, hearing him out. But didn’t expect the kind of answer he received.

“Foreign objects must be eliminated.”

The Alicorns felt another wave of fear from hearing BlackWarGreymon’s powerful words, noting that he was being serious.

The man however, thought it was some kind of joke.

“What are you talking about? I’m not a foreign object.”

“But you are. You belong in neither the Digital World or the real world. You upset the balance of both!” BlackWarGreymon said with a visible gleam in his right eye. A sigh that he was actually dead serious.

“Upset the balance?” Celestia asked, unsure of what BlackWarGreymon’s intentions.

Twilight and Luna were unsure if he was about to do an act of good or just plain crazy. Mummymon however was starting to worry and pointed his gun at the black Digimon.

“This guy’s talking crazy! Do you want me to…uh…take care of him for you, boss?”

However, the Digimon got no answer.

“Boss?”

The man could be seen twitching while showing an angered glare.

“A foreign object!? I give you life and this is how you repay me!?” The man shouted, seeming that he lost his calm demeanor.

“What’s going on?” Arukenimon asked, unsure what was happening.

Even though it was all a memory, the three princesses couldn’t help but take a small step back from what might be a fast approaching battle.

It didn’t took long, because BlackWarGreymon started to charge at them with his right arm extended. Intending on impaling the trio of evil.

But to the mares’ surprise, the three-way melee was immediately halted by a familiar child-like voice.

“Wait! Wait! WAIT!!”

All eyes looked to one direction and spotted non-other than Agumon, along with his human ally.

‘It’s Agumon!’Twilight thought to herself. Quite surprised for him to turn up at the right time.

“YOU! I remember you,” BlackWarGreymon said to the small yellow Digimon.

“Let’s talk about this!” Agumon suggested, hoping that the Mega Digimon was in the mood to listen.

“There’s nothing to talk about!” BlackWarGreymon said before resuming his attack.

But then immediately, catching the Alicorns by surprise, Agumon started to glow a bright golden colour, before uttering out his famous words.

“Agumon warp-digivolve to…”

What the Alicorns were seeing was yet another truly amazing sight. A Rookie transforming straight into a Mega.

The golden light completely engulfed Agumon. And as it faded, it revealed someone although similar, but entirely different. He looked exactly like BlackWarGreymon, but the massive difference was his colour scheme. Instead of black, his skin was orange. Instead of yellow hair and yellow cords, his was red. Rather than having yellow eyes, his was green. The armour on his chest as well as his three-horned helmet were a shiny chrome silver. But the biggest difference about him that really got the princesses attention, was his Chrome Digizoid armour. It was as gold as the sun. Although his Brave Shield looked identical in shape as BlackWarGreymon’s, it had a symbol covering it. The Crest of Courage. Celestia in particular found the symbol fascinating, since it somewhat looked like a sun. The other difference about him was his voice, which was deeper than his artificial counterpart. Which was evident as he finished his sentence.

“…WARGREYMON!!!”

Sparks flew when WarGreymon’s claws clashed with BlackWarGreymon’s, blocking his attack.

As the two Mega Digimon wrestled for strength, the Alicorns were stuck in a state of shock and awe. They never thought they would get to see the golden warrior in the flesh. But there he was, in the way of his dark counterpart, letting the man and his two Digimon followers escape.

“It’s going to be a good fight. Maybe we should stay,” Mummymon suggested.

No kidding, considering that the upcoming battle was said to be one of the most memorable Digimon fights in history.

The three princesses were soon snapped out of their trance when BlackWarGreymon shoved WarGreymon aside.

“Why do you protect him!?” He asked, clearly aggravated by the interfering.

“Because without Oikawa, we’ll never get the Dark Spores out of those kids. Don’t you understand, they’ll stay in there forever if we destroy him,” The human boy said, making the on-looking ponies realise that more evil was going around at the time.

“Then you should have stopped him. NOT ATTACKED ME!!” The angry BlackWarGreymon said before charging at the boy. But WarGreymon was quick to defend him.

“Don’t even think about hurting Tai!”

The mares had clear front row seats for a legendary skirmish between the two WarGreymons. After a quick duel on the ground, the two took their battle to the skies. Forcing the Alicorns to fly after them.

After giving each other quick jabs with their claws and knees, BlackWarGreymon broke the stalemate by giving his golden counterpart a hard three-clawed blow to the face. The action caused WarGreymon to back off.

“STOP! Don’t you remember what we talked about? We should be working together,” WarGreymon said, hoping to talk reason to BlackWarGreymon.

But the dark Digimon responded with an attack.

“Never! TERRA DESTROYER!”

He then fired a stallion sized red sphere at WarGreymon. But the good Digimon brought forth his Brave Shield and deflected the energy ball away. The action left the small sphere hurtling into a large lake, the amount of energy in the explosion under water caused a very large splash that went high in the air.

The Alicorns were still amazed at the amount of power inside the small attack. Truly a sight to behold.

They then spotted WarGreymon flying higher in the sky, with BlackWarGreymon in hot pursuit. Sadness was evident on the princesses faces. They really wanted to see a time in the black Digimon’s past where he was a friend, not a foe.

After another quick duel in the Earth skies, BlackWarGreymon was forced down on the snowy ground, with WarGreymon pinning him down. The golden warrior still wanted to talk his artificial counterpart out of the fight.

“I don’t understand you. Why do you have to fight when we could be friends!?”

“Friendship is weakness! Fighting. Struggle. That is my life.”

The princesses felt a sharp pain in their hearts at what BlackWarGreymon said. Back then, he truly despised friendship. Believing it to be nothing but an obstacle in his way. The mares were glad that the BlackWarGreymon they knew was more understanding, but they wanted to find out when in his past he accepted friendship. And how it was done.

WarGreymon was a good example of a friend. And like a good friend, he kept on trying to reason with the artificial Digimon. He never gave up on him.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way!”

BlackWarGreymon however was getting tired of all the talking.

“Enough!”

Using his left leg, the black Digimon forced WarGreymon out of his hold, sending him tumbling down the snow covered hill. After stopping himself, WarGreymon looked up to see BlackWarGreymon standing on top of the hill, looking down at him.

“There is no need for two WarGreymons in this world! Either you go… or I go.”

The statement left the Alicorns in a state of worry. It wasn’t just an ordinary battle, to BlackWarGreymon… it was a fight to the death! To see who was the strongest. so far, it was a stalemate between the two. All even in power, strength and speed. It was evident when the fight resumed. One moment when BlackWarGreymon was being chased by WarGreymon, the golden adversary flew above his dark rival and slammed his foot onto his back. The sneak attack sent the artificial Digimon falling to the ground.

During most of the fight, Twilight, Celestia and Luna were left speechless. Unable to say anything. They had no idea who was winning. Despite the spectacle, they still felt hurt after hearing BlackWarGreymon’s words. It kept stinging both their minds and their hearts.

The only subject that was on their minds, was when and how did he change. How was it that a being so dark and cruel, became such a good friend to them? They wanted to know. They needed to know.

They were so caught up in their minds that they missed WarGreymon kicking BlackWarGreymon’s Terra Destroyer orb away as though it was a football.

Celestia’s and Luna’s thought patterns were interrupted when they heard Twilight.

“They’re heading towards a city!”

The Royal Sisters looked out to see that the young Alicorn was right. The two Megas were bringing their fight to a populated area. Giving how powerful the two were, it could mean bad news for the unsuspecting people.

“I Know this is just a memory, but I hope nothing bad happens to the innocent,” Celestia said while she, Luna and Twilight flew after them.

By the time the three Alicorns caught up with the two warring Digimon, BlackWarGreymon sent WarGreymon crashing into a wall of a tall building. With the golden fighter immobile, he was wide open to attack.

“You shall face your doom!” BlackWarGreymon said as he charged up another red sphere, intending to put an end to their fight.

“He’s going to destroy him!” Twilight shouted.

But just as things look bleak, a giant dragon-like Digimon appeared out of nowhere and grabbed BlackWarGreymon with his massive hands.

The princesses couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The new Digimon was a colossus! Probably one of the biggest they had ever seen. Like BlackWarGreymon, his armour was black, but with red, silver and gold colours on his chest, knees and toes. On his right arm was a cannon. His skin was blue, as well as his tail. On his forehead was a golden crown-like crest. And on his back were a pair of massive red dragon-like wings.

His name was Imperialdramon, and he was in Fighter Mode.

His interference caused BlackWarGreymon to cease his attack as Imperialdramon carried him higher and higher, away from the city. They were then followed by WarGreymon.

“UNHAND ME!!! OR FEEL MY WRATH!!!” BlackWarGreymon shouted in protest.

After Imperialdramon reached above the clouds, he let go of BlackWarGreymon. Soon after the black Digimon gained some distance away from the giant, WarGreymon joined the two.

When the three Alicorns caught up with them, they were startled by the fact that they were right in the middle of the three Mega level Digimon. They arrived just in time to hear the golden warrior speaking to the dark one.

“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!!!”

Twilight spoke up with panic in her voice.

“He has a point! Just look at that giant! He clearly is a Mega! BlackWarGreymon’s fight with WarGreymon was equal enough! But with that giant by WarGreymon’s side, BlackWarGreymon doesn’t stand a chance!”

She was joined by Celestia.

“I believe so, Twilight. If BlackWarGreymon was wise, he should know he’s outmatched.”

Luna however, thought otherwise.

“That may be true sister, he is outmatched. But he’s no coward. He’s the type who would keep on fighting, no matter the odds.”

Celestia and Twilight were both startled to hear Luna’s words. But soon discovered that she was right.

As on cue, BlackWarGreymon placed his gauntlets together and formed a small red orb in-between them. Seconds later, WarGreymon did the same, but his orb was yellow in colour. At the same time, Imperialdramon raised his right arm at the dark Digimon. Then blue energy began to gather in his wrist cannon.

The Alicorns faces all went pale with dread. Three Mega level Digimon were charging up their most powerful attacks, and the three mares were right in their line of fire!

Using her magic, Luna teleported herself, Celestia and Twilight away. But not before hearing the names of the Digimon’s signature attacks.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

“TERRA FORCE!!!”

“POSITRON LAZER!!!”
………………………………………………………………………………………......

The three princesses reappeared on a shoreline several miles away from the fight, with Luna slightly dazed from using her spell to cover quite a distance, while maintaining the memory.

“Wow, good thinking sister,” Celestia said.

“Yeah, that was a tight spot we were in,” Twilight added.

“Thanks, but what about…”

Luna’s question was cut short when she and the other two Alicorns heard a massive explosion in the distance. They then saw the colossal blast itself as it dominated the skies and lit up the entire area as if it was a miniature sun.

The Royal Sisters had never seen an explosion of power of such magnitude in their entire lives. Just the size of the blast was almost the size of a mountain. Twilight was just as amazed, the explosion made her explosion of magic with Tirek in their first fight look like a firecracker.

It seemed every time the three mares entered BlackWarGreymon’s memories, they continued to underestimate the power of the Digimon.

As the explosion faded away, the princesses all gasped when they saw four objects falling towards the land they were on. With smoke trailing from them. As they fell closer, the mares all knew it was the Digimon. Three were Rookies and one was a Mega, all were knocked out from the blast.

The Alicorns could only watch as the four Digimon crashed to the ground, unable to help.

Then Twilight spoke up, hoping to cheer up the mood.

“Well… at least they’re still alive.”

Her words seemed to had worked. The Royal Sisters grew smiles, glad that the Digimon survived an explosion that could have annihilated everything else.

Then the mares waited patiently for the Digimon to recover consciousness. After what felt like an eternity, one by one, the four Digimon finally woke up. While Agumon, Veemon and a green bug Digimon named Wormmon sat back up, BlackWarGreymon stayed lying on his back. Staring at the sky above.

After clearing his mind, BlackWarGreymon broke the silence.

“I’m surprised you could defeat me. Even two on one. Though I almost wish you had destroyed me completely.”

His sentence alone shocked the Alicorns to a point that they didn’t want to believe what they just heard.

‘He… wanted to be destroyed!? Was…was he really giving up on life? W-was that how much he was hurting?’ Luna thought to herself, felling deep sadness for BlackWarGreymon after his attempted suicide.

“You’re kidding me. Is that what you’re after?” Wormmon asked, gaining BlackWarGreymon’s full attention, as well as the Alicorns.

“What?” The black Digimon asked, letting the small Digimon explain.

“You mean this whole time we’re been chasing you around, watching you blow up everything blow-up-able. You just wanted to find something to destroy you? Don’t you have anything better to do with your free time?”

“Hmm,” The Mega Digimon said, clearly intrigued with the information.

The princesses were unsure where it was going, but listened on.

“I know all about self-pity. When Ken was the Digimon Emperor, he treated me like fish bait. I almost started to believe the awful things he said, but deep inside I had faith that one day the real Ken would come back to me. I just kept on trying to get through to him. I didn’t give up and neither can you.”

The first part of his story made the Alicorns felt sorry for Wormmon. But the latter part made their eyes sparkle with hope.

“Wait! Could THIS be the time when BlackWarGreymon started to change? To become good?” Twilight asked herself. Celestia and Luna overheard her and smiled, hoping that it was so.

Then BlackWarGreymon turned his head to Agumon, for he spoke next.

“Even if your life is all fighting and struggle, it can still have meaning. I had to fight all my life, but I believed in what I was fighting for. I think it’s that belief, not the fighting, that has given my life meaning. Can you imagine the trouble Tai would get into without me? If all you got in your life is lemons, make lemon pie.”

He then got off topic.

“Hay, I’m hungry!”

After realising where BlackWarGreymon got the whole ‘lemon pie’ thing from, Twilight’s face was continuing to smile bright. She kept believing that the memory was the turning point in the black Digimon’s life.

After BlackWarGreymon looked back at the sky to take in the new information given to him, it was Veemon’s turn to talk.

“And your life doesn’t… you know, have to be filled with a whole bunch of incredibly amazing events to be special. Believe me, some of the best times I’ve had, are just eating, and sleeping, and hanging out with my friends! And the thing is, we could all be your friends if you just gave us the chance to be!”

Then Wormmon joined in again.

“He’s right! Look at Ken, he never thought he could have friends and now he has lots of them. You just need to lighten up a little. Give us a chance.”

It was at that specific moment the Princess of Friendship couldn’t contain her excitement any longer.

“Yes. Yes! YES!!! This must be the moment that everything changed for him!”

The Royal Sisters let out a small chuckle at the lavender Alicorn’s actions. But they too were secretly excited. The three then paid attention to the Digimon’s conversation, just in time to see BlackWarGreymon rising back on his feet.

“I don’t know.”

His choice of words got the other Digimon concerned.

“Please don’t go!” Veemon called out.

“Don’t you want some pie?” Agumon asked, still thinking about food.

“This is all so foreign to me. I must think on it,” BlackWarGreymon said. The princesses noticing that his voice was softer than before.

“Are you sure?” Wormmon asked, hoping that they should be friends right away.

BlackWarGreymon then glanced over his shoulder to look at the three small Digimon.

“I thank you for your advice.”

“You’re welcome,” Veemon responded.

Then BlackWarGreymon said something that made the princesses’ eyes widen and their smiles brighter.

“Perhaps it is time to put aside my warrior ways, they have provided me few answers. And maybe one day, we could even be… friends.”

He then took to the skies to find a place to be alone to think it over. Then the Alicorns overheard Agumon talking to himself.

“I hope so, BlackWarGreymon. I hope so.”

It was at that point where the memory ended. The Alicorns found themselves back in BlackWarGreymon’s mind. After facing the Digimon himself, the princesses were silent while smiling at him. They wanted to hear him say it.

“Alright. I’ve should have stopped to listen to them back in the Digital World to begin with,” BlackWarGreymon said, finally admitting it.

“It probably would have saved you all the trouble,” Celestia said. Her smile had never left her face.

“I guess.”

After another brief moment of silence, Twilight Sparkle spoke up.

“BlackWarGreymon, who was that tall man?”

The Digimon understood the nature of the question. For he was responsible for Arukenimon’s and Mummymon’s creation. And in turn, was responsible for HIS creation.

“He’s a human named Oikawa. And he was the one responsible for the conflict in the Digital World at the time.”

The Alicorns gasped at hearing what he said.

“He started it all? But why?” Twilight asked him.

“Well at first, I thought he just wanted to upset the balance of the Digital World. But later on, I found out that it was more than that.”

“What was it?” Luna asked.

“That he wasn’t the one pulling the strings. He was in fact being controlled by an evil Digimon. He just didn’t know it himself.”

“An evil Digimon?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “Do you know who it was?”

BlackWarGreymon thought for a short while. Strangely, he knew who it was without even meeting him in person. He then pieced together all he knew, into an answer.

“Yes. His name was MaloMyotismon. And he took over Oikawa’s mind, created Arukenimon and Mummymon, created the Control Spires, tricked a boy into becoming the Digimon Emperor and upset the balance of both worlds, just to return to the Digital World.”

The princesses were shocked by the complexity of the evil Digimon’s plan. It was enough to put someone like King Sombra to shame and would make Discord’s head spin. MaloMyotismon must have been a genius.

“He did all that… just to go back to the Digital World?” Celestia asked while slightly baffled at the plan.

“Yes. But not while I had anything to say about it.”

“You stopped him? How did you do it?” Luna asked, clearly impressed.

“Well I…”

BlackWarGreymon immediately stopped mid-sentence before he could say anymore. After remembering what really happened on that day, he felt a sudden but small pain in his chest. He then placed his right arm on his chest plate while trying to think of something else to say. But found it difficult to do so.

“I…I…”

The mares noticed his sudden lack of response and grew increasingly concerned. Then Twilight recognized the way BlackWarGreymon put his hand on his chest. It was the exact same reaction when he was asked how he came to Equestria in the first place.

Although confused, the purple Alicorn didn’t like seeing BlackWarGreymon acting so off. So she thought of something that could ease his pain. But it might also reinforce it.

“You don’t have to tell us. Because we’re about to see it for ourselves in your memory.”

BlackWarGreymon flinched at first, knowing that the one memory he hoped to avoid was about to be witnessed. The very memory that he thought would break the princesses! He knew the day would come for them to see the truth, but he had hoped that it would be much later. And as much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t stop his friends from entering his final memory. The three had come so far and it was too late for them to turn back.

“F-Fine. If you want to see it for yourselves……then so be it,” He said, his voice had a hint of sadness.

What was unsettling to the Alicorns, was that they detected the sadness in his voice. Meaning that something big had happened on that day.

“I know you all have questions you want to ask me,” BlackWarGreymon said before pointing to the next orb of light. “And that memory will answer them for you.”

As well as his voice, the princesses noticed that even the Digimon’s eyes seemed saddened.

“BlackWarGreymon… what’s wrong?” Luna asked in concern, but the Digimon didn’t answered back.

Twilight then remembered something. As well as BlackWarGreymon’s same reaction with his hand on his chest, she remembered that Fluttershy figured out that something bad happened to him.

‘BlackWarGreymon, what is it that you’re not telling us?’

“Well if you want to go? Then go. I’m not stopping you,” BlackWarGreymon said as he looked away from the Alicorns. The three suddenly felt more sympathy for him.

And for him to be acting so out of the ordinary, the princesses even felt regret.

“BlackWarGreymon. If… if it’s something you don’t want us to see…”

Celestia was interrupted by BlackWarGreymon himself.

“No. You might as well see for yourselves now. You may never get another chance to do so.”

As the three received his permission, they decided to go for it.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will turn out alright in the end,” Twilight said hoping to cheer the Digimon up.

As the princesses approached the orb of light that lead to the memories, the three were puzzled as to why it was to why it was the final one.

“Why is there only one left?” Celestia asked.

“Maybe BlackWarGreymon’s hiding the others,” Luna said before looking back at the Digimon. But the hint of sadness in his eyes and his behaviour made her think that there may be another reason. “Or maybe there’s something more to it.”

Luna then thought to herself.

‘If he wasn’t acting like this when we found out he was once evil, then we might be expecting something…worse.’

As she continued to look at BlackWarGreymon, she saw him turned his back to them with his head hung low. Not from sorrow and regret, but from pain and sadness.

Chapter 16: Trip Down Memory Lane (part 6) The Death

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As Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered the final orb that lead into BlackWarGreymon’s memory, they were once again shrouded in its bright light.

All the while they were trying to figure out why their Digimon friend seemed upset.

“Twilight, sister, you two know BlackWarGreymon more than I do. Do either of you know why he was behaving like that?” Luna asked her fellow Alicorns.

Only Twilight provided the answer.

“Well… it’s strange because when I asked him about how he came to our world, he reacted in the exact same way.”

“You think there could be a connection, Twilight?” Celestia asked her.

“Maybe, because we’re about to find out,” She answered, just in time for the light around them to fade away.

The three Alicorns found themselves in a middle of a confrontation. On one side were some of the DigiDestined, with Paildramon as their vanguard. And on the other side were Arukenimon and Mummymon in their true forms, plus their boss, Oikawa. What was unsettling to the princesses was that the tall human’s body was surging with purple energy.

Before the Alicorns could utter a word, a dark portal opened up over their heads, and BlackWarGreymon came flying out of it. He then hovered in the air as he faced the evil trio.

“Oikawa! You must be stopped! TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

His colossal attack impacted between Arukenimon and Mummymon, blowing them away and leaving a path to Oikawa.

“And now, it’s your turn,” The Mega Digimon threatened as he landed on the ground.

And to the princesses’ surprise, WarGreymon also turned up.

“Looks like I’m just in time,” He said as he landed next to Paildramon.

The Alicorns compared the two groups. While Oikawa had two Digimon on his side, the heroes had three since BlackWarGreymon seemed to be on their side.

“Seems the tables had turned,” Celestia said, knowing that in a straight fight the heroes would win.

While Luna remained silent, Twilight spoke up.

“Yeah, now Oikawa doesn’t stand a chance.”

They then heard WarGreymon talking to his dark counterpart, concerned for his safety.

“BlackWarGreymon, this is dangerous. What do you think you’re doing?”

“There’s a dark influence emanating from that cloud. And I need to find out what it is,” He answered while giving a quick glance to his golden counterpart.

‘Why is WarGreymon so concerned?’ Twilight thought to herself, knowing how powerful BlackWarGreymon was he could tackle any situation.

“Oikawa, we have unfinished business,” BlackWarGreymon said as he took a few steps closer. But the human was unfazed.

“Have you come back to face the truth? Perfect! I can make use of the energy from the Control Spires that created your image,” He said, earning looks of surprise from the Alicorns.

“Is he… threatening BlackWarGreymon!? Thou’s gone mad.” Luna said, thinking that it was crazy to say such things to a being that some might consider a god.

“You’re only a human. My power far surpasses you. You’d be signing your own death warrant!” BlackWarGreymon pointed out, but the human kept his calm face.

“Stop flattering yourself. You’re simply an electronic being.”

To everyone’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon changed the subject.

“Did you create your two flunkies because you’re afraid to be alone?”

The question left Oikawa stunned to a point he couldn’t speak. The Alicorns took note of the change.

“Yes, he’s found his weakness,” Twilight said, thinking that it could lead to his downfall.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” BlackWarGreymon mocked, knowing he had just hit the right nerve. But Oikawa wasn’t pleased by it at all.

“That’s absurd! Do you really think I’m that foolish!? I can obliterate you in a heartbeat, don’t forget that!” Oikawa threatened again, the dark cloud that was surrounding him went haywire.

To Twilight’s and Celestia’s surprise, Luna chuckled.

“Ha, this human is as foolish as he is delirious. To think he has that kind of power.”

However, Twilight remembered something that despite being obvious, she didn’t realised it before.

“Wait a minute, Luna. How would you know if Oikawa really was serious?”

Luna looked at the smaller Alicorn in confusion.

“What are you saying, Twilight?”

However, Celestia answered for her. She too noticed that something was off.

“She has a point, Luna. Have you forgotten that since this is all a memory, we can’t sense their power levels?”

Luna’s eyes widened in realisation as she understood what they meant. How come she didn't realised it before? Oikawa threatening BlackWarGreymon in a serious tone could mean one thing. And WarGreymon’s concern only backed it up.

The power in Oikawa’s dark cloud must had been an equivalent of a Mega level Digimon, or even higher than BlackWarGreymon himself.

“It… it can’t be true. Could it?” Luna asked, uncertain what was right.

What happened next briefly startled the princesses. Instead of fighting him, BlackWarGreymon was trying to convince Oikawa to stop.

“Do you think that power is going to bring you happiness? If you do, then you’re living in a dream! Power isn’t going to help you escape the loneliness you feel because you don’t have any friends. It just makes it worse. Take it from me. The more power you get, the more alone you become!”

His words were causing Oikawa to experience a major headache. As his human will was trying to fight back the mind control.

“Can’t take the truth, can you?”

While another human turned up to talk to Oikawa, the three princesses were stuck in a state of awe at BlackWarGreymon’s words.

“Th-This is it! This is the exact moment that BlackWarGreymon changed!” Twilight cheered, her voice full of hope and excitement.

Both Celestia and Luna smiled in agreement.

“Indeed, he must have been truly alone in the past. But here, he has chosen to throw away his quest for power and dominance to accept friendship from others,” Celestia said, with Luna smiling at the reformed Digimon.

“Amazing. To think that the words of the three small Digimon, were powerful enough to change a being whose power is beyond their own.”

“Yes, Luna. And this proves that he has a heart after all,” Celestia added.

As the three smiled on, Twilight remembered something important.

“Wait. If what we’re seeing is a good moment in BlackWarGreymon’s life, then why was he so reluctant to tell us this?”

The Royal Sisters both looked at Twilight and realised that she was right. BlackWarGreymon was indeed upset about the memory they were in. But why?

As the three ponies looked back at the scene, they were just in time to see Oikawa screaming with his hands clenched to his head.

Then as he stopped, his eyes opened to reveal a faint red glow. All the while the purple fog around him went haywire again.

“What’s happening to him? Oh no, this must be that evil Digimon’s doing!” Twilight said, remembering what BlackWarGreymon said about MaloMyotismon.

Unfortunately for them, things were about to get worse. Much, much worse.

After glaring at the humans with an evil look on his face, Oikawa raised his arms at them and fired a burst of dark energy at them.

Just before it could hit one of the humans, BlackWarGreymon stood in its way, and took the full blast directly to the chest!

The Alicorns were stunned by his bravery, protecting the human in such a way. But their admiration was replaced completely by worry. Because as the beam struck him, BlackWarGreymon let out a pain-filled cry as his eyes went wide. A sign of pure agony.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!” WarGreymon and Paildramon called out.

As the purple energy disappeared from BlackWarGreymon, he immediately placed his arm over his chest. Preventing a clear view of the damage.

“His…his arm is in the way! What’s happened to…!”

Twilight’s words were cut off when she and the Royal Sisters noticed the black Digimon’s legs start to wobble, a sign that he was about to collapse.

As he looked at Oikawa, the mares followed his gaze and all gasped. They all briefly saw a shadowy face of the Digimon controlling the human. All the while it let out the most sinister laugh the three ponies had ever heard. It was worse than Tirek’s.

“Oh no, YOU!” BlackWarGreymon said as he fell to one knee, all the while covering his chest. “It can’t be. NO!” He then fell on all fours.

“What’s happened to him!?” Luna shouted as she and the other two Alicorns rushed to his side, but realised they could do nothing, since they were in a memory.

Again they tried to see what happened to his chest, but the Artificial Digimon kept covering it up with his arm. He then spoke up.

“How could I’ve been so blind? I should have known!”

The Alicorns then looked at the man who hurt him so, with his purple glow disappearing.

“You’re perfectly right about being alone. We’re both doomed to remain this way forever. There isn’t any other choice,” He said before turning his back to BlackWarGreymon.

The princesses were unable to say anything, due to everything happening at once. To a point that they kept on looking at Oikawa, not noticing their Digimon friend slowly rising up, with his chest finally exposed.

“He’s controlling you. This changes everything.”

Oikawa spoke back to BlackWarGreymon’s statement.

“You’re very perceptive for someone so narrow minded. I have to harvest all the Dark Spores in order for me to fulfill my deepest desire. I’ve always wanted to go to the Digital World!”

He then ran off, laughing like a maniac. Leaving both the mares and the injured BlackWarGreymon.

The Alicorns were so focused on Oikawa, giving him glares of hate for hurting their friend, they didn’t notice BlackWarGreymon rising back on his feet.

“He must not be allowed into the Digital World ever again!!”

“What do you mean ‘again’?” WarGreymon asked while running to the injured Digimon’s side, holding him up to keep him from falling over.

Hearing WarGreymon’s voice snapped the Alicorns out of their trance. But as they turned around to see the commotion behind them… Twilight, Celestia and Luna all let out the loudest gasps of pure horror they’ve ever done.

With WarGreymon holding him up, the horrified princesses all got a clear view of BlackWarGreymon’s injury. It was FAR worse than anything they had ever imagined.

“HE HAS A GREAT BIG HOLE IN HIS CHEST!!!” Twilight shouted, more rather screamed.

Celestia and Luna meanwhile were too shocked and horrified to say a word. His seemly impenetrable armour was penetrated. The gaping hole revealing a patch of black even darker than his skin. Basically his insides.

Despite being in the worst pain he’d ever felt, BlackWarGreymon wasn’t done yet.

“My body is not going to last much longer. The image created by the Control Spires will soon start to break up. But there’s still something I have to do!”

His first two sentences left the Alicorns staring in disbelief and ever increasing sadness.

‘His body…break up…is…is he…?’ Twilight though to herself as her eyes start to shed tears. It was clear that Celestia and Luna thought of the same thing, since their eyes too were watering up.

However, it was his last sentence that Paildramon protest against.

“Save your strength!”

But BlackWarGreymon didn’t listen to reason, and his next choice of words not only increased the sadness in the princesses, but also gave them a sign that he had changed. A sign that all around him were his friends.

“No. My strength is my final gift to you, my friends.”

After moving WarGreymon aside, BlackWarGreymon took a few staggering steps forward. Trying his best to ignore the pain in his open wound.

“I will seal the Highton View Terrace Gate with my own body.”

Again, the saddened Alicorns were unable to say anything. They were just allowing the memory to flow accordingly.

“Don’t do it!” WarGreymon demanded, urging his dark counterpart to reconsider.

“I MUST!!!” BlackWarGreymon shouted back before sprinting, and then taking to the air. Due to all the sudden movements, he let out a long loud cry of agony. To add in more pain, a trail of blue mist escaped his open chest wound.

His cry would also be his last.

While BlackWarGreymon was torturing himself, WarGreymon, his friends and the Alicorn princesses watched on in silence. However, it was the three ponies whom had tears in their eyes.

Their disbelief only skyrocketed when BlackWarGreymon’s very body started to collapse into pieces of data. Showering the entire area and by chance, creating a rainbow. Along with the DigiDestined and their Digimon, the princesses never thought they would ever witness such a terrible thing.

BlackWarGreymon’s demise.

Twilight, Celestia and Luna were stuck in a state of shock, disbelief, horror and sadness all at the same time. They had just witnessed the last thing they had ever expected of him. As the final memory around them started to fade into whiteness, the only thing the Alicorns could hear, was WarGreymon. Calling out to his fallen friend.

“BlackWarGreymon!”

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!”

“BLLACKWARRGRREYMOOOOOOOOOOONNN!!!”
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It had been a solid three minutes since the final memory ended, but the three Alicorns remained still. Completely motionless. Totally in shock to see something that to them, was thought to be impossible. But it was true, because they had seen the truth with their very eyes.

The long silence around them, was shattered by the voice of a once dead Digimon.

“Now you all know why I don’t like anyone looking inside my mind.”

Then, BlackWarGreymon appeared behind them, with the look of sadness in his eyes. As if he had just seen the memory himself.

“Because I didn’t want you or anyone else to see that moment in my past.”

Hearing the Digimon’s voice meant to the mares that they were back in his mind. It seemed as though they were too in shock to realise it for themselves. Then, they all slowly turned around, looking behind them to stare at BlackWarGreymon with disbelief on their faces and sadness in their eyes.

Twilight was first to speak to him.

“Y…you……you died!?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond at first. But after slowly raising his head to look at the small Alicorn, he answered.

“Yes.”

Luna however, thought otherwise and tried to deny it. But deep down she knew it was true.

“No. It…it can’t be true! It must be a trick of the mind! Some kind of illusion!”

“Sister, you of all ponies know that’s not true. It… had happened,” Celestia said while placing her hoof on Luna’s shoulder to try and comfort her. Although putting on a brave face, she tried her best to hold back her tears.

“She’s right, Luna. The memory you saw was just as real as all the rest,” BlackWarGreymon said.

Trying to get over the shock, Twilight figured out that something wasn’t right. Something that needed answering to.

“BlackWarGreymon. If you died, then how are you still here? How is it that you’re in Equestria? How is it that you’re the only Digimon here? How… how are you still alive!?”

BlackWarGreymon thought hard about the questions and tried to explain as simply as he could.

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure either. I should have just died there and then. But…just moments after my death, I… somehow found myself in a realm that... looked like space. I have no idea how I got there, or where I was, but all I know was that all my wounds were completely healed. Before I could figure out what was going on, I was sucked into a white portal. Then the next thing I remember… was ending up in the middle of the area you call the Everfree Forest.”

Just milliseconds after BlackWarGreymon finished his story, Twilight let out another loud gasp as she placed her hoof over her mouth. The gasp surprised Celestia and Luna.

“Y-you mean… that whole time you beating Tirek, making friends with us for the first time. All that… was just moments after your death?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t even need to answer. Just the look in in his eyes was all that Twilight needed to conform that everything she said was true.

The young Alicorn was suddenly hit with sadness and grief as her purple eyes started to water uncontrollably.

“O-oh my gosh……I’m…I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be. I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t tell you sooner, so the pain is not your fault,” The Digimon said in kind words. But it didn’t help Twilight’s grief as she tried her best not to burst into tears. Her voice even stuttered from the overwhelming emotions.

“I…I know, but… but still… I know Fluttershy said that something bad happened to you. But I never thought… it would be anything like that. And… and the times when… when you covered your chest… that was… that was where you… you got your…”

As Twilight was on the verge of crying her eyes out, Celestia pulled her in for a hug to comfort her. The young Alicorn hugged her back as he sobbed.

“It’s not your fault, Twilight. He didn’t tell us because he didn’t want to see you upset.”

While the affections went on, Luna remained silent. Although she was doing better than Twilight to hold back her tears, she wasn’t as good at it as Celestia. Silent tears fell from her eyes as she watched on.

Seeing his new friends in such grief and sadness was also upsetting BlackWarGreymon himself. He had to find a way to lighten up the situation. After some thought, he found an answer that he also agreed upon.

“Though in a way… I’m actually glad that I died.”

Hearing him stunned the Alicorns as they looked at him in confusion and disbelief.

“H-How could you say that?” Twilight asked, her voice quelled by her sadness.

“Because if I hadn’t, then I would have never ended up here in Equestria. I would have never met you and all your friends. We would’ve never been friends. I also would’ve never known how kind and forgiving friends could be. And by chance, I would have never found the true path to my destiny.”

BlackWarGreymon’s words opened the hearts of the three princesses, realising that he was completely right.

“Yeah, I understand now. And if you weren’t there to fight Tirek and that dragon, Equestria would’ve faced its greatest calamity yet,” Twilight mentioned.

“You’re right. You probably wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me.”

BlackWarGreymon’s choice of words seemed to had lifted the spirits of the princesses. They all seemed to had finally stopped crying.

“Well… I can say for all of us, that we are glad to have you here in our world. And as our friend,” Luna said in honest words.

With the mood around them lifted thanks to BlackWarGreymon, the Digimon felt that their time in his mind was coming to an end.

“Well I guess that’s it. You all wanted to see my past from start to finish, and now you got it. I have no more memories to show you. So what now?”

There was silence at first, then Luna answered his question.

“Now we bid you farewell, BlackWarGreymon. It was… an experience to see your memories.”

Twilight and Celestia couldn’t have agreed more.

“Hmm, I bet it was,” BlackWarGreymon said as he turned around to walk away. But before he did, he wanted to get something off his chest.

“Oh, by the way. Celestia, Twilight told me that you have a passion for hearing others about their lessons of friendship. Is this so?” He asked while glancing over his shoulder to look at the white Alicorn.

“Yes, that’s true,” Celestia answered, she and the others were unsure why the Digimon was bringing up the subject. But were then startled when he explained to them why as he turned to face them fully.

“Well… I would like to share mine with you.”

All the princesses let out small gasps of surprise. Twilight, being the Princess of Friendship, squealed in excitement as she spoke to him.

“You’re going to tell us your lesson of friendship!?”

BlackWarGreymon chuckled as seeing Twilight’s display of happiness.

“Indeed I am.”

“Well you don’t want to keep Twilight in such suspense, please do tell,” Celestia said, with the younger Alicorn blushing in embarrassment.

BlackWarGreymon took in a few deep breaths, before he opened his heart.

“I sacrificed my life, in an attempt to save the world. And I doing so, I’ve learnt that life is beautiful. Most of my life, I always thought that I was entirely different from everyone else. But it was until I put aside my differences, that I saw the true power that myself, Digimon, humans, even ponies all share deep inside. It matters not where you come from. Be it from another land or another world. Because in the end, we’re all the same. With the same feelings, the same emotions, even the way we think. I’ve seen now that the consequences of one’s birth is completely irrelevant. Because it’s what you do with the gift of life, that determines who you are.”

When he finished, BlackWarGreymon looked at the princesses and saw a sight he wasn’t expecting. Twilight, Celestia and Luna were crying. Not of sadness or pity, but of pure happiness. It was evident by the warm loving smiles on their faces.

“That was beautiful,” Celestia said while wiping away the tears in her eyes.

“Yes, I-it was wonderful to hear,” Luna added, her voice somewhat shaky from the emotions she was feeling.

“Yeah, BlackWarGreymon. Probably one of the best I ever heard,” Twilight replied, smiling brightly.

The three were proud of BlackWarGreymon for learning such an important lesson of friendship such as what he said. Making friends no matter who or what they were.

BlackWarGreymon felt a warmth in his chest. Reacting to the amount of love his friends were showing to him.

And he loved it.

Chapter 17: Midnight Stroll

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It was early in the morning, but the sun wasn’t shinning over the horizon. It was too early for that. It had been a few hours since Twilight, Celestia and Luna left BlackWarGreymon’s mind and back into their own. But despite the calm serenity of Canterlot Castle, the three princesses were restless from their experience.

In the Sun Princess’s royal bedroom, Celestia finally managed to get to sleep after hours of uncomfort. BlackWarGreymon’s kind words and his lesson about friendship should had put her mind at ease. But the memories of his sacrifice kept replaying in her thoughts, like a record player on a constant loop.

She shed a few tears of sadness from viewing the Digimon’s death over and over again against her will. For a long time Celestia thought that beings with power that far surpassed her own could hardly experience death, if not never. But BlackWarGreymon was one of those kind of beings with unbelievable power, and had experienced death.

Plus the kind of death he went through, being hollowed out from the inside, shouldn’t even be allowed upon any living being, never mind a powerful one. The white Alicorn felt like he didn’t deserve it at all. But if his death hadn’t happened, then he would’ve never arrived in Equestria to begin with. But still, she couldn’t help but feel that there may be another way.
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Twilight Sparkle however, was far less fortunate. Being the first pony to make contact with BlackWarGreymon, she felt like she was his closest friend. And as the youngest Alicorn, she had little to no experience when it comes to losing a friend… permanently.

So seeing her friend’s demise, repeating in her head constantly, made her fall into tears. Even at the present moment she was sobbing in her pillow. Her tears soaking the fabric while cradling it as if she was holding on to someone. Never letting them go.

It seemed though at the rate she was at, she would cry herself to sleep.

That was, until she heard someone knocking at her door.

She jolted up in surprise, but the realised that her crying may had woken someone up and wanted to see if she was ok.

“C-Come in?” Twilight said, her voice was shaken by her sadness. She was also unsure who it was on the other side of her bedroom door.

When the door opened, Twilight was surprised that it was someone that she wasn’t expecting.

“BlackWarGreymon?”

Standing in the doorway was indeed the Digimon himself. While lacking his gauntlets and his shield, he had a look of concern in his eyes.

“Wha… What are you doing here?” Twilight asked while wiping the tears from her face.

“I sensed that you’re in distress…” He said while crouching down to fit through the doorway. “…and I came to see if you’re alright.”

“I- I’m fine. Really,” Twilight said while mentally pushing aside her emotions to reassure the Digimon.

But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t falling for it. He knew exactly what was going on.

“You’re clearly not, Twilight. You were thinking about my death, weren’t you?” He asked, despite already knowing the answer.

The young princess sighed in defeat, tears slowly creeping out of her eyes as she was reminded of the subject.

“Yes. I was. But… the visions of it just… just wouldn’t go away.”

BlackWarGreymon was in a way startled by her reactions.

“Wow. I never thought witnessing my death would affect you like this.”

“Of course it would. My friendship with you is the same as all my friends. I would go through the same thing if anything happened to them,” Twilight said with words of true honesty.

BlackWarGreymon was taken back by Twilight’s words. She cared for him the same way she cared for her friends. He originally thought that she only liked him because he saved her and her friends. But the truth was she liked him because, despite his past, he was good, protective, and even caring. All those who follow the path of good would make friends no matter what.

As Twilight started to sob again, BlackWarGreymon felt that he had to ease her mental suffering. He knelt down on one knee and placed his hand gently on the Alicorn’s shoulder. Surprised by his actions, Twilight stopped crying and looked at the Digimon in the eyes.

Then he spoke to her in kind soft words.

“Now listen Twilight, I know watching a death of a friend can be devastating to the heart and soul. But you need to realise that if my death never happened, fate would’ve never brought me here, and I would have never met a friend so great as you. Now that I’m here, my death and everything before it is now a thing of the past. And I believe that because of my actions of heroism, fate gave me a second chance to live in the right way. To help others instead of helping myself. I believe that is the purpose I was looking for in my life. To defend the good and make great friends along the way. Because of you, your friends, the princesses and everyone else, this world has given me a new life. And in return, I will use all my power to protect it.”

After BlackWarGreymon finished his speech, Twilight was so awe-stricken she couldn’t say a word. He was only in Equestria for two days, and already he completely trusts her and her friends. The Artificial Digimon in front of her was entirely different to the one in the past. He had evolved.

To the Digimon’s surprise, the young Alicorn reached out and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. Pulling him in for an affectionate hug.

After sheading a few tears of joy, relieved to hear him say such things, she spoke to him in a quiet voice that almost sounded like a whisper.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon. Even when you’re not using your powers, you continue to amaze me.”

She continued to embrace the Digimon, enjoying the touching moment. Then to Twilight’s surprise, she felt something wet dripped on her back. After releasing her hold and pulling herself away to look at BlackWarGreymon’s face, she saw something that she truly didn’t expect.

“BlackWarGreymon? Are…are you crying?”

“I am?”

The Mega was surprised by what Twilight said, but he felt that something was in his eyes. After stroking his left eye with his finger, he looked at it. Only to see that Twilight was right. It was his tear.

“Strange. These are my tears but… I’m not even sad.”

Twilight too was taken back by what she was seeing, but then gave a heart-warming smile when she realised what it meant.

“Wow.”

Her voice was quiet, but BlackWarGreymon heard her and became curious.

“What? What is it?”

“You know when your creators said that you have no feelings? And that other Digimon said that you don’t have a heart?” Twilight asked, making BlackWarGreymon confused of the reason behind the questions.

“Yes?”

“Well… they have no idea how wrong they are.”

BlackWarGreymon understood what the Alicorn meant by. Since the emotion he was feeling was in fact joy.

“Thank you, Twilight.”

After their little heart to heart, BlackWarGreymon left Twilight’s bedroom. Leaving the purple princess to finally sleep in peace.
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The story in Luna’s bedchamber was different altogether. While Twilight and Celestia managed to get some sleep, the Night Princess couldn’t get to sleep from the start. Unlike the other two Alicorns, the thoughts that were going through her head were not just about BlackWarGreymon’s death. It was about all of his past. The birth, the constant fighting, all the pain and suffering he went through, all the lessons he learned. All those thoughts forced Luna awake, no matter how hard she tried to sleep. It was evident in her tossing and turning on her bed, plus sweating from the strain.

After letting out a gasp from the exhaustion, she let out deep breaths to calm herself.

‘Why? Why can’t I get these thoughts out of my head?’

Climbing out of her bed, she decided to walk out to her balcony to get some fresh air and to cool off.

After resting her head on the balcony fence, getting a clear view of Equestria’s night, Luna was alone in her thoughts.

Why couldn’t she stop thinking about BlackWarGreymon’s past? Why did he had to suffer so much? Why did he had to die in the way he did? How did fate save him? Those and many other questions were swarming through her mind. But the one question she was fascinated in was, how was it that his past reminded her of her own? Was she really that similar to him?

‘Background music’ ‘Shine bright like a Diamond by Rihanna’

Her thought patterns were soon interrupted by a noise she heard coming from beneath her. Looking over the edge of her balcony, and onto the balcony below her, she saw BlackWarGreymon walking to its edge.

Luna became curious. After looking carefully, she noticed that his shield and gauntlets were back on.

‘What is he doing up so early?’

Luna stood there in silence, watching BlackWarGreymon to see what he would do next. But from the looks of things he was just standing there, looking out to the city of Canterlot.

The Digimon remained still for another moment until he turned his head left, and then to his right, to see if he was being watched. His actions confused Luna, thinking that he may be up to something.

After thinking that the coast was clear, BlackWarGreymon took one step forward, and then leapt into the air. Flying away from the castle and towards the city.

As he gained some distance, Luna became even more curious. She wanted to know where he was going at such an early time. Hesitant at first, the blue Alicorn eventually jumped off her balcony, spread her feathered wings and then flew after him.

At first, Luna lost sight of BlackWarGreymon. Given the fact that he wore black armour made it very difficult to see him in the dark.

‘Wow. Twilight was right. His armour really is as black as my night.’

After several moments of weaving in and out of the empty streets, trying and failing to spot the Digimon, Luna found herself in a large clearing of the Canterlot city square. As soon as she realised she saw something above her, she looked up. But couldn’t believe the sight she was seeing.

The princess not only caught up with the Digimon, she was near enough below him to his left. But the way his body was angled and being in-between her and the shinning full moon in the sky, the light of the moon made his smooth armour gleam in the night. As time seemed to slow down, Luna saw the moon light in his yellow eyes as his hair waved freely in the wind.

To Luna, it was a sight truly to behold. She witnessed his past and watched him take down a dragon, but once she never saw that side of him. Seeing him in such glory was making her heart race. She could practically feel it pumping in her chest. She didn’t know why, but she liked seeing him in such a way.

‘Wow. He’s more handsome then before.’

Her thoughts were cut off when she saw BlackWarGreymon change course, heading to the outskirts of the capital city. Of course, Luna followed. She remained confused as to why he was out and about at such an early hour.

As she trailed behind him, keeping her distance to make sure the Digimon couldn’t either hear her or sense her power, she noticed that he was checking his surroundings from right to left.

‘Is he… looking for something?’

What she didn’t know was that BlackWarGreymon was doing that very thing.

‘Well… nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. No trouble, no problems. Everything seems just fine.’ He thought to himself, unaware that he was being followed. He was too focused on what he was doing. Patrolling the area.

After seeing that everything was in order, he then left Canterlot and flew higher in the early morning sky towards the clouds. He wasn’t feeling sleepy and tried to think of what to do next to pass the time.

That was when it hit him. He could finally choose what HE wants to do purely of his own free will. Back in his past, back in the Digital World, although he had done things on his own, but it was when he was greatly confused about his destiny and had to find answers. He never really wanted to do the terrible things he had done, but he felt as if he had no choice. He thought it would all lead him to his purpose in life, so he had to do it. Plus, what made his decisions in the past more intolerable was that his creators, Arukenimon and Mummymon, were constantly following him and mocking his confused state.

If he had to admit the truth, he hated it. He hated every single bit of it!

But in Equestria, BlackWarGreymon felt as if he had finally found his purpose in life. His destiny. So instead of constantly pursuing it, he could learn from it. Embrace it. And even love it. What made it a bonus was that his creators were no longer around to make fun of him.

BlackWarGreymon felt that he could explore the world he was in, his new home and all its beauty. He felt free. He was finally free!

His eyes widened. No words could describe what he was going through. He had been trapped in a state of confusion and doubt for so long, just the thought of all those problems and all the suffering going away was bristling him with an emotion he rarely felt. Happiness. And with his problems gone for real, he could hardly contain his happiness as he let out a chuckle. Which was slowly turning into laughter.

With joy overtaking his body, he increased his flight speed to a point only a few could match.

Luna, who followed him all the while, was caught by surprise by BlackWarGreymon’s sudden burst of speed. Leaving her confused as the Digimon disappeared into a group of large clouds.

‘Now what’s he doing?’

After a brief thought that he might had noticed her, the Alicorn suddenly saw him emerging from a giant cloud. Flying vertically as he spun his body around, leaving a spiral cloud vapour trailing from his claws.

Luna was surprised. Both by the spectacle and by BlackWarGreymon’s behaviour.

After the Digimon stopped spinning, he dropped back down into the clouds. Disappearing from sight.

Feeling the strain from her wings from flying too long, Luna found a small patch of cloud and landed on it. While resting on her cloud, she looked around. Trying to spot the Digimon.

It didn’t take long, because she spotted him in a distance not too far away. Flying in and out around a large group of clouds as if they were an obstacle course.

While he was weaving in and out, BlackWarGreymon’s mind was bristling with thoughts.

‘Ha! I’m… I’m free! I’m finally free!!’

He then flew above a massive mass of cloud, then he’d done something he thought he would never do. He stuck his left arm into the cloud as he flew by, feeling the packed water vapour in his hands.

‘I can’t believe I’m saying this but… I’m so happy right now!’

BlackWarGreymon then flew away from the cloud with another burst of speed, and sped towards Canterlot. All the while Luna was watching him despite the darkness of early morning.

‘He can’t be heading inside, his speed is too fast.’

It turned out that he wasn’t heading inside after all. BlackWarGreymon was in fact heading to the large waterfall on the outskirts of the city at remarkable speed.

After reaching to the waterfall’s edge, the Digimon flew down with the falling water at matching speed. BlackWarGreymon looked to his side to see a large water droplet falling beside him. He had got his speed just right.

As his fast decent was quickly approaching the river below, he immediately leveled his altitude so he was five feet above the waterline. As he increased his speed the draft that was created left a big grove in the river. Making massive ripples spread all over the water’s surface.

After following along the bendy river at the base of the mountain, BlackWarGreymon increased his speed even further as he tilted his body upwards towards the sky above. What he didn’t realise was that he was already traveling at such speeds he turned into a black blur, but yet his speed was increasing further than before. As the Digimon kept flying faster as he streaked across the sky, he suddenly heard a loud boom which seemed to had come from him. Caught by surprise, he immediately came to a halt at discovering his new revelation. Which was also his recent achievement.

“Was that… a sonic boom?” His eyes went wide when he realised that it was. “Did I just broke the sound barrier!?”

He then decided to test it again.

Back on her cloud she sat upon, Luna lost sight of the Mega the moment he left the river. All the while she was confused as to why BlackWarGreymon was behaving in the way he was. But after comparing to the similar things Rainbow Dash does, then it meant that he was celebrating something.

But her confusion only spiked up when she heard a loud boom in the distance.

‘What was that? It didn’t sound like an explosion.’

Luna’s attention was then brought by a sight of a speeding black blur against a thick gathering of clouds. She knew immediately it was BlackWarGreymon, but she never saw him flying in such speeds as what she was seeing. Then it happened. Just as she got the image of the Digimon in her vision, she saw a shockwave erupted from him. the wave pushed aside any clouds that lie in their path, which was then followed by the same boom noise the Alicorn heard before.

Although Luna was surprised, deep down she was also impressed.

“A sonic boom.”

As the Night Princess continued to watch the armoured being traveling at the speed of sound, she noticed that he was slowing down as he descended towards the ground. Flying after him, she found out that he was landing on a nearby hill with a single tree on its top.

‘Song end.’

The Alicorn then flew down towards the tree and hid behind it, unnoticed by BlackWarGreymon. As she peaked around the tree, she saw him standing tall. Looking out to see the view of Equestria’s land as it was lit up by the bright moon.

As he gazed at the scenery, he was alone in his thoughts.

‘Interesting. I’ve never flew that fast before. Could this world be making me faster as well as making me stronger? Hmm… maybe later I might have a rematch with Rainbow dash.’

BlackWarGreymon then closed his eyes as he felt the cold wind on this face. His yellow hair swaying in the cool breeze.

After a short moment of silence, the warrior from another world opened his eyes as he spoke out.

“I know you’re there.”

Luna was caught completely by surprise, she thought she was well hidden in the shadow of the tree. Apparently during the silence, BlackWarGreymon’s senses picked up the Alicorn’s energy signature. What started her more was that he was looking in her direction.

Realising there was no point of hiding anymore, Luna stepped out of the shadows. Her body revelled by the moon light.

“Seems your senses are as sharp as your claws,” She said with a smile. In a way, she was glad that she was spotted by him. So she could talk to him.

“What are you doing out here?” BlackWarGreymon asked, confused as to why the princess was outside instead of resting. Since she was recovering from her dragon attack.

“I only followed you here. And I was about to ask you that very question,” Luna answered.

Her question left BlackWarGreymon uneasy, but he had to answer quickly.

“I…uhh… I was just patrolling the area. You know, to see if there was any trouble during the night.”

Luna had read the expression in his yellow eyes, the way they looked was as though what he said was only half true. But truth be told, it was.

“At first maybe, but I don’t think flying around at great speeds count as patrolling.”

Luna’s response made BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widen, but then realisation hit him.

“So you’ve seen me the whole time?”

“Like I said, I followed you from Canterlot. But the way you were flying around those clouds, it was as if you were… happy.”

The Digimon took a deep breath before answering.

“That’s because I was happy.”

BlackWarGreymon then turned away from Luna and walked to the edge of the hill. Looking at the moon in the sky.

“The reason I’m happy is because that since I came to this world, I never felt so free. Back in the Digital World, I was alone, feared and hated by many. And every choice I made was only on impulse or my desire to find my destiny. Which meant hurting others. For a long while, I always dreamt of all my suffering to go away. And now that it had, with no other Digimon to mock me and my destiny closer than ever, everyone here actually accepts me as a friend.”

The Digimon’s whole statement made Luna pause in thought. Since her trip in his mind, she couldn’t believe how similar their pasts were. The way he describes his problems was almost identical to her own.

BlackWarGreymon looked at her over his shoulder before speaking to her.

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

His sentence snapped Luna out of her trance as she looked at him in confusion.

“You don’t know what it was like to be feared, rejected and treated like a villain. Even though I desire something otherwise,” The Digimon said as he looked back at the moon.

BlackWarGreymon then heard hoofsteps as Luna walked up to his right while staring at the moon as well. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke up.

“You’re wrong, BlackWarGreymon. Because I know exactly how you feel.”

The warrior was so surprised he didn’t made a sound, but it was evident in his eyes. Although he was expecting her to say such things in an attempt to help him ease his pain, but what surprised him was that the tone of voice she had. It was very honest as if she was telling nothing but the truth. Not one hint of it was a lie. The fact was reinforced when BlackWarGreymon looked at Luna. Her face was of sadness and regret. As if she had done something she shouldn’t had done.

“You… you do?”

After another moment of silence, Luna confessed.

“Yes. As you know, Celestia and I ruled Equestria for centuries. My sister raises the sun to bring day, and I raise the moon to bring night. We were at it for so long in perfect harmony.”

After a brief pause, the blue Alicorn continued.

“But then one day, over a thousand years ago, I grew jealous of my sister.”

“Jealous?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Yes. You see, while all our subjects enjoyed basking and playing in her sunlight, they all slept during my night. Completely missing out on the beauty that I create.”

Luna paused upon hearing a noise to her side. When she looked over, she saw BlackWarGreymon sitting down next to her. She was surprised that he was interested listening to her problems.

“Then what happened?” The Digimon asked.

Luna too sat down beside him. After realising that she was near enough the same height as him, though about a head or two shorter, she continued.

“Jealousy got the better of me. After I refused to lower the moon… I then transformed into a monster. A nightmare. Nightmare Moon.”

“Nightmare Moon?” BlackWarGreymon asked, confused at the name he had never heard before.

“Well, that’s the name of my darker self. A form that I regret to this day,” Luna explained.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to examine the expression on Luna’s face. It was the same as his own when he told her about his death. Which meant only one thing.

“Something else happened to you, didn’t it?”

After releasing a heavy sigh, Luna spoke up.

“Yes. After I transformed, I threatened to grip all of Equestria in eternal night. And then… I threatened to destroy my own sister.”

Her sentence shocked BlackWarGreymon to a point he didn’t said a word. He just kept on listening to what Luna had to say.

“After she and I had our battle, Celestia did the very thing that tore her apart.”

“Tore her apart? What did she do?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“By using the Elements of Harmony, Celestia defeated me and sent me to the moon. It was there where I was imprisoned for a thousand years.”

BlackWarGreymon then pieced together all what Luna said.

“I understand now. Although she did it to save Equestria, but it ended up with loosing you. Her own sister.”

Luna’s expression saddened even more after hearing those words in the open.

“True. She ended up looking after our land, all on her own.”

Both of them felt sorry for Celestia. For enduring a thousand years of loneliness. After a moment of silence, the Digimon asked Luna another question.

“If you were imprisoned on the moon, how did you return?”

“I escaped by using the stars. But I was still Nightmare Moon at the time and tried again to bring eternal night. But after Twilight Sparkle and her friends rediscovered the Elements of Harmony, they defeated me and transformed me back to my normal self.”

BlackWarGreymon remained silent as he listened on.

“Of course, Celestia forgave me and Twilight and her friends offered their friendship to me. But as I tried to make friends with my subjects, they all ran away in fear. Scared that I was still Nightmare Moon.”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened when he finally realised something. Because the ponies feared her as a villain, they treated her as one. Leaving her feared, hated and rejected. Just like he once was.

Luna continued to explain herself.

“Of course, it’s been a couple of years now since I’ve returned. And it looks like everypony has finally forgiven me, and now loves me as the princess I am.

Silence followed as Luna finished, but was then broken by BlackWarGreymon’s chuckling.

“What?” Luna asked as he looked at him in confusion.

“I just realised something. We have a lot in common, you and I.”

Although Luna already knew it, but she was surprised to hear the Digimon say that himself.

“I mean, we both were once evil. Threatened entire worlds. Later reformed to good and tried many means to be accepted as friends instead of foes.”

As BlackWarGreymon finished, Luna smiled in acceptance.

“You’re right. We both are indeed similar in many ways.”

Then Luna realised that something what the Digimon said was rather unsettling.

“Wait. ‘Threatened entire worlds?’ I know I threatened Equestria, but not the entire world itself?”

“In a way it would. Since eternal night would mean the end of the world.”

The atmosphere around the Alicorn turned stone cold after hearing BlackWarGreymon’s words. There was a dead silence as Luna’s eyes widened before speaking again in disbelief.

“What?”

The Digimon looked at the blue Alicorn in confusion.

“You mean you don’t know what would happen? But then again, this world is magical. So it might not even happen.”

Luna’s senses spiked up from both curiosity and urgency.

“Please tell me, BlackWarGreymon. What would happen if a world would experience eternal night?”

After picturing of what would happen in his mind, BlackWarGreymon answered Luna’s desperate question. But soon wished she hadn’t asked.

“Well, if the night is constant, then it will never bring forth day. Plants and vegetation all need sunlight to grow. Without it, plant life would wither and die. Of course that would affect the animal kingdom… and then pony kind.”

Luna was left shaken after hearing those words.

“I…I would have starved my subjects!?”

“True. But they would probably freeze to death before it would come to that.”

Luna thought it couldn’t get any worse. Turns out it wasn’t as the Digimon continued.

“Without the warmth of the sun, temperatures of your great land would continue to drop to unbearable levels. But those who would survive it would only experience something far worse. An ice age. And soon enough, all of Equestria would be frozen in ice. Uninhabited for hundreds or even thousands of years.”

Luna was speechless, she couldn’t comprehend the amount of damage she would have brought upon.

But she soon learned that it doesn’t end there.

“And by lowering the sun, then it must mean that it rises on the other side of the world. And I think their fates would be far worse than freezing.”

“Wha…what do you mean!?” Luna demanded, desperate to know the answer. But again, she wished she hadn’t.

“Well with the sun constantly in the sky, it would pour unrelenting heatwaves upon any land it touches. And of course this would create droughts. Vast areas would turn into deserts and wastelands. Lakes and rivers would boil and dry up. But the worst of it would be that wildfires would easily start up. And with dried up vegetation all around, within minutes a small spark of ember would turn into a huge firestorm that couldn’t be controlled. Once great forests would burn to the ground, only leaving ashes of them and any inhabitants unfortunate enough to be in its way.”

BlackWarGreymon then summed it up to a conclusion.

“To put it simply, nothing would survive. Half of the world would freeze while the other half would burn. But like I said, since this world is magical, that might not happen.”

Luna was left shaken after learning a dreadful lesson. Even though their world was magical, but throwing off balance that great might make those events possible. And she would have been responsible for it all.

Therefore, it was a good thing that the Elements of Harmony changed before it was too late.

BlackWarGreymon could practically feel the fear and dread radiating from Luna. He had to find a way to lighten up the mood.

“If it’s any consolation for you Luna, I honestly prefer the night rather than day.”

As those words reached the Alicorn’s ears, she instantly sparked with curiosity as she turned towards him.

“Sure, day is good and that you can see the world around you. But the view of the world can be different at night. Plus the night can hold many mysteries, and that you would be able to see things that you would probably never see during the day. It’s an amazing experience.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked up at the open sky.

“Even up there, you can see the stars that decorate the dark sky. This is why I like the night, because of all its beauty.”

Luna blushed at hearing the Digimon’s words. Although he may be referring to any night, but because he said it to her, the princess of the night, and that he was looking at the night that she made, the complement made her smile both on the inside and the outside.

Luna then tried to test him.

“You know, BlackWarGreymon. I take time and magic to create nights just like this. So, what do you think?”

Not realising he was being tested, the Digimon answered.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s definatly better than the ones in the Digital World. In fact… it’s beautiful.”

The Night Princess could feel her heart warming from hearing his answer. But surprisingly he wasn’t finished.

“Just like you.”

Luna’s eyes widened as her blush deepened. Clearly not expecting that at tall.

‘He…he thinks I’m beautiful?’

However, it seems BlackWarGreymon himself was more surprised than she was. He was only supposed to think of that, not tell it openly. Then he flinched again. Why was he thinking of it? Did he really think she was beautiful?

He then looked at Luna, only to see the big blush on her face. Although he wasn’t entirely sure about positive emotions, he knew that blushing meant that one was either flattered or embarrassed. But he couldn’t tell which was which.

“Th-Thank you,” Luna said with a smile, trying to control her blush.

BlackWarGreymon and Luna were then both silent as the two were gazing at the stars. Mesmerized by the twinkling lights.

“BlackWarGreymon,” Luna said, breaking the long silence.

“Yes?” The Digimon asked.

“The Digital World. Is it up there?”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think of an answer as he scanned the sky.

“If it’s a world among the stars, maybe. But if it’s in a different dimension or universe, then it won’t be up there. For all I know, it might even be in a different reality altogether.”

The Princess’s expression saddened after hearing the Digimon’s answer.

“So in a way, you’re a long way from home.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked at Luna and saw the sadness on her face. Then he decided to tell her something that had been on his mind for a while.

“True. But even if you or the others had found a way back to the Digital World, I would not return there.”

The princess was surprised to hear that. Did BlackWarGreymon chose Equestria over the Digital World? Eager to know the truth, she looked at him.

“You… want to stay in Equestria?”

“Yes. Even if I do go back, now being a changed Digimon, I already caused too much damage to be forgiven. Even if some do, there will always be some who would fear or hate me. No matter what I do, they will always see me as a creation of evil. A product built to destroy. But here, here I can start again. Since I have no past here, everyone can see me as an ally and a friend. I can use my powers for good, to defend those in need.”

Luna was awe-stricken at hearing BlackWarGreymon’s words, but he wasn’t finished.

“I…I think that’s why fate brought me here. To start a new life. A new beginning. And because that everything good had happened to me since I got here, I know that this world holds the key to the destiny that I had been searching for. This is why I will not go back to the Digital World. Because Equestria is my new home.”

Luna was so taken by those words, she felt like she could burst in excitement. She didn’t know why, but she felt so happy that BlackWarGreymon decided to choose Equestria as his new home. However, she then noticed that the Digimon’s eyes saddened as a stray thought crossed his mind.

“And to think, that I actually wanted to be a simple Control Spire Digimon.”

The Alicorn was startled by his change of mood and from what he said.

“You…wanted to be like them?” She asked, disbelief hidden in her question.

“Well…some time ago…yes. I know that they all were mindless creatures that throve on chaos and destruction. But their lives and destinies were simple and straight forward. While mine was complex and needed reason. One point in my life, I actually envied them.”

Luna understood what BlackWarGreymon was talking about. His mind was so riddled, so confused, he wanted to be simple like the other Artificial Digimon. But he couldn’t. So he tried to find a Digimon with great power to fight, so he could be destroyed by that Digimon to put an end to his mental suffering.

Desperate to help BlackWarGreymon to get his mind off the past and his faults, she tried to support him.

“You want to know something, BlackWarGreymon? I’m glad you’re not a simple-minded creature. Because being different from others makes you an individual. And that gives you your own identity.”

As Luna went on, BlackWarGreymon looked at her in curiosity, Eager to hear her out.

“From what I’ve seen in your memories, the Artificial Digimon were all identical to the originals. But you’re not, because you’re unique. Even on the day you were created, you were given a name that was never mentioned before. Because the normal Digimon, those humans, even your creators saw that you’re different. It’s that difference what makes you unique. What makes you special. And that’s what I like about you.”

Luna paused a second after she realised what she just said. She just admitted that she likes him. True that the both of them were friends, but the Alicorn couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed from saying that out in the open.

BlackWarGreymon however was new to positive emotions. So he didn’t catch on the hidden meaning in that sentence. But he did took it as a complement.

“That’s…very sweet of you, for liking me for who I am. Thank you, Luna. I needed that.”

The princess blushed from happiness. She couldn’t help but feel amazed that a being so fierce and powerful, could be also kind and gentle at times.

As the Alicorn and the Digimon looked back up at the starry sky, BlackWarGreymon noticed that the moon was lower than it was earlier. Meaning that the sun would rise in a few hours.

“I guess it’s time to head back,” BlackWarGreymon said as he rose to his feet.

“Yes, lets,” Luna replied as she got up on her hooves.

BlackWarGreymon and Luna then took to the air and flew towards Canterlot. As they flew, the princess looked to her side to see the Digimon. Of all the things about him, she remained amazed that he could fly without wings. She was also thrilled that she got to fly next to him.

Half way to one of Canterlot’s towers, BlackWarGreymon noticed that Luna’s pace was dropping and starting to fall behind. After looking at her to see what was up, he saw that she was straining from flying.

“Are you alright?” He asked her.

At first Luna didn’t answer. She was too busy trying to brush aside the strain she felt in one of her wings.

“I’m…fine,” She answered.

However, BlackWarGreymon knew she wasn’t fine. He noticed that one of her wings wasn’t keeping pace with the other.

‘She hasn’t fully recovered.’

The all of the sudden, Luna felt her energy in her wing dropped like a landslide. Unable to keep it up anymore, she dropped from the sky.

But her fall was only brief. For the moment she started to drop, she landed on something. Opening her eyes, she found herself resting on BlackWarGreymon’s back. Lying upon his shield.

“Don’t worry, Luna. I’ll get you back safely.”

Luna was surprised how much of a gentleman he really was, helping her in the way he did. She couldn’t help but smile as she was being carried the rest of the way back to her tower.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon.”

Chapter 18: Defender of Equestria

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It was moments before the rising of the sun. Everypony in Canterlot were gathered outside the castle for something important.

Earlier in the hour, the citizens all received a message that the Royal Sisters would be making an important announcement. While some were hesitant, the ponies were too curious to find out what the princesses had to say on such short notice.

Beside one of the castle towers, the growing crowd of ponies converged around the centre stage. The stage was where the Alicorns stood when they give out important speeches. Within the crowd stood Princess Twilight and all her friends from Ponyville.

“My. It seems everypony in Canterlot is here,” Rarity said while looking around.

While the others agreed with her, Applejack noticed that Twilight was more quiet than usual.

“Hay Twi, are ya alright?”

The lavender Alicorn snapped out of her trance when she felt Applejack’s hoof nudging her shoulder.

“Oh umm… I’m fine. I just had a hard time sleeping, that’s all.”

“Are you sure, Twilight? I mean you still look tired,” Fluttershy said, noticing that parts of Twilight’s eyes were red.

“I’m fine, Fluttershy. Really,” She replied, reassuring the yellow Pegasus.

It was then that Rainbow Dash realised something.

“Uhh guys, where’s BlackWarGreymon? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

“Yeah, he’s really missing out.” Pinkie Pie added.

Not including Twilight, the rest of the group were wondering where the Digimon was. The last they seen him was last night before they went to bed.

“Well I’m not sure if he heard about the princesses’ announcement. But still it’s kind of rude for him to leave us waiting,” Rarity said while looking around to spot him.

Then Twilight spoke up.

“He’s not rude, Rarity. In fact…”

She then had a flashback of when BlackWarGreymon entered her room when she was upset. Then cheered her up of which she awarded him with a hug. To her, that moment was very touching.

“…he cares deeply for us.”

All her friends looked at her in confusion. Yes, the Digimon agreed to be their friend and saviour, but the way Twilight said was as if she knew him for a long time. Even though it was only three days since his arrival.

While they were having their conversation, at the back of the stage hidden from view, the Alicorn sisters emerged from their castle. Not only that, BlackWarGreymon was with them.

The Canterlot royal guards that stood in position were trying to put on a brave face for Princes Celestia and Princess Luna. But BlackWarGreymon’s appearance alone made their legs tremble in fear. Even though they knew he was an ally and a friend to the princesses, but the way he looked remained intimidating as ever.

As the Royal Sisters and the Artificial Digimon walked by, BlackWarGreymon noticed that one guard wasn’t intimidated. In fact, that guard wasn’t afraid of him at all.

The guard was a Pegasus mare, but roughly an inch or two taller than an average mare. She had light grey fur and her long mane and tail were white. But what was strange was the weapons she possessed. While all the other guards had swords, spears and axes, she held wing blades within her wings. Meaning that she must be an expert in aerial combat.

Just because she wasn’t scared, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious. She kept her eye on the tall Digimon with a plain expression on her face. While not facing her BlackWarGreymon’s eye glanced on her also with a plain expression. He too was curious as to why she wasn’t afraid of seeing him for the first time.

He then broke off his glance as he walked on, following the princesses as they approached the stage.

Then Celestia spoke to him.

“BlackWarGreymon, I like you to stand here for a while until we call for you.”

“Very well,” BlackWarGreymon replied, understanding of what was going to happen due to him being briefed earlier.

The Digimon stayed put as the Royal Sisters approached the front of the stage, revealing themselves to the onlooking crowd. It was there they stood, standing in front of statues of their cutiemarks, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were showered with applause from the citizens. Showing both respect and loyalty to the Royal Sisters.

As the applause died down, Celestia spoke out to them.

“Citizens of Equestria. As you may already know, we have a special announcement for you today. But first, let us raise the sun and bring forth a new day.”

The whole crowd began to cheer even louder than before. Which were also joined by the Main Six.

BlackWarGreymon stood in silence while listening to all the admiration. Ever since his talk with Luna, he understood the importance of her and Celestia’s royal duties to Equestria. Of which their citizens thanked them for looking after them and the land.

He was more fascinated in the duties of Princess Luna. Being a Dream Walker, she had the power to enter dreams and vanquish any nightmares. He figured that during the thousand years of her being on the moon, all the ponies dreams would have been wild and full of fright. But since she had returned, all that was gone. Which was why so many were thankful for her return as her normal self, not Nightmare Moon.

He was then snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Celestia and Luna hovering in the air. Because their wings weren’t flapping, he guessed that they were using their own power to levitate. Then he saw that their horns were glowing with magic. At first he didn’t know what they were doing, but he then got his answer when he saw sunlight by his feet.

Turning around, he not only saw the moon descending downwards and out of sight, he also saw the sun creeping above the horizon. Shining ever brighter as it ascended.

The Digimon’s eyes widened when he saw the celestial body shinning above. He couldn’t believe that the princesses possessed the power to move such large objects. In the Digital World, such thing was impossible. So, to see such thing in person was definatly an experience to remember.

He had to admit it. Although his power was far greater than their own, seeing them doing something so big that not even he could do, made him feel small.

As the sun slowly climbed higher in the sky, Celestia and Luna landed back on the stage. After smiling at one another in approval, Luna spoke out to the crowd.

“Attention everypony, we have something to announce to you all.”

As the crowd quietened, Celestia spoke to the patient ponies. But with a stern look on her face.

“As you all have heard, there were rumors that the evil Lord Tirek had escaped Tartarus, and that Canterlot was recently attacked by a large dragon.”

What she said next sent shivers of fear in the crowd.

“They are true.”

Before the citizens could panic, Luna intervened.

“But don’t be alarmed citizens, because both these disasters had been successfully dealt with. Thanks to the efforts of a being from another world.”

While the crowd were either speechless or confused, the Mane Six all gasped in excitement.

“They’re going to show him to the world.” Twilight said while her friends remained silent, eager to hear more.

Then Celestia spoke again.

“Yes. And we made contact with this warrior from beyond and extended our friendship to him. He may look frightening, but he has agreed to use his great powers to avert any danger and protect the lives of our great land. For he was the very one who helped us in our time of need.”

The crowd couldn’t believe what they were hearing. A creature from a different world was going to protect them from harm. Celestia’s speech seemed to have a positive effect on the ponies, her words were responded by an uproar of cheer.

“Here we go.” BlackWarGreymon said to himself as he prepared to go on the stage.

Then it was Luna who gave the introduction.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, may we present you for the very first time. The defender of Equestria. BlackWarGreymon!”

A second after Luna finished, the crowd heard footsteps coming from behind the Royal Sisters. The ponies tried to see who it was but all they saw was a silhouette, due to the sun being behind it. As seconds ticked by, more of BlackWarGreymon’s details were seen. Up to when he stopped at the edge of the stage, standing in-between the Alicorn sisters and in full view of the world.

At first, the crowd were in stunned silence. They expected their saviour to be more pony-like, not dragon-like. Although he was nowhere near as big as an adult dragon, but the fact that he defeated a powerful villain like Tirek all on his own, must meant that he was insanely strong. The other fact that left them stunned was the way he looked. Princess Celestia wasn’t kidding when she said that he looked frightening. The design of his black armour was like nothing they had ever seen before. Almost like it came from Tartarus itself.

After more seconds went by, the black dragon warrior finally got a response. Somewhere in the crowd, he heard what sounded like children cheering. Thinking that he was some kind of super hero. Then the chain reaction happened, soon more and more ponies were applauding and cheering. If the kids found him likeable, why not the adults?

‘Well they’re not running and screaming, that’s a start,’ The Digimon thought to himself before Luna’s voice caught his attention.

“Now. BlackWarGreymon has also agreed to demonstrate one of his powers. Of which he’ll use against any evil that would dare crawl out of the shadows.”

As if on cue, a catapult that was stationed elsewhere fired a large boulder into the sky. The audience all looked up to see the large rock sailing high above them. While they were confused of what was going on, the one thing that they knew was that the boulder was a target.

“Now, if you will,” Luna said to BlackWarGreymon with a smile, obviously knowing what he was about to do.

“With pleasure,” He answered back. Hearing his voice gained the attention of half the crowd as they looked back at him.

BlackWarGreymon then raised his clawed gauntlets high above his head, separated from each other by a small gap in-between his palms. Then, a small filly-sized sphere appeared in the gap. The red glow gaining everyone’s attention as they gazed at it in awe. Then as the dragon warrior separated his arms even more, the tiny orb of super-heated energy grew into a massive size. It kept expanding until it was twice BlackWarGreymon’s size.

If he had been in the air, he would’ve made his Terra Destroyer attack even larger. But being near others meant he had to restrict its size, otherwise he would’ve harmed his friends by the immense heat.

The crowd watched on quietly, mesmerized by the scale of the sphere. But the pony who seemed to be more surprised by it was Celestia herself. She may had seen BlackWarGreymon performed his signature attack many times in his past. But because all the previous times were all in his memories, she never felt its power. But since it was happening right in front of her, she could feel the power of the sphere as if it was touching her.

The white Alicorn couldn’t believe it. If the orb was the size of an ordinary stallion, its level of power would had been equal to her very being. And that was only a fraction compared to what he was really capable of. Not to mention that back in the Digital World, his power already dwarfed her own. But since he lived in Equestria, he became a lot stronger than he ever was.

Celestia then felt a cold shiver up her spine from the thought of what the Digimon’s true power was like. Good thing he decided to become their friend. Then he could use his power to help, not abuse. Who knows, maybe he would even learn lessons from her.

As BlackWarGreymon held the huge red sphere in his grasp, he had to aim carefully. One thing he didn’t like was missing his target or letting his target get away. He had to make his shot count.

Then he took the shot. He threw the orb in the direction to where the hurtling boulder was heading. The crowd followed the path of the Terra Destroyer sphere in anticipation. Thinking that it was impossible to hit a target so far away with an energy ball.

The Digimon’s accuracy was spot on. To everyone’s surprise and disbelief, even Twilight and her friends, the orb of negative energy collided straight into the boulder. Creating a rather large explosion that brightened up the sky despite the sun already being there.

The ponies stared in awe at the bright red light, a sight they had never seen before. Then to their surprise, the Digimon himself spoke out to them.

“I am BlackWarGreymon. I am a being from another world who seeks acceptance and friendship. Your princesses and some of their subjects have already given me that.”

He then looked to his side to see the smiling faces of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, who had walked over and stood beside her younger sister.

“They had looked past my appearance and treated me as a friend. And for that, I’m eternally grateful,” He said as he tilted his head downwards with his eyes shut.

The ponies who knew him well were surprised at his actions.

‘Did he… just bow to us!?’ The Royal Sisters thought to themselves. Confused by the fact that he bowed to no one. It was either showing respect in front of the crowd or maybe… that friendship was changing him.

BlackWarGreymon then turned back to the awe-stricken crowd.

“I hope that you all will accept me too. And in return for your kindness and friendship, I will protect you all from ant danger that threatens this world. No matter what, I will defend Equestria to the very end!”

His speech got an immediate response from the crowd. Everypony was cheering for him and the promise that followed. Again, BlackWarGreymon felt something inside him welling up. It was happiness. He felt happy that everyone had accepted him for which he rarely got in his past.

The Royal Sisters understood it. They could tell by the expression in the Digimon’s eyes that although it was new to him, he liked being loved and respected for once. They smiled at him, knowing that his future in Equestria seemed bright.

Within the crowd, Twilight and her friends couldn’t had agreed more. With tears of joy in their eyes. Although Rainbow Dash tried to hold back, she and the others couldn’t help but feel very proud of the Digimon.

“Wow. Who knew he was good with speeches,” Applejack said to her friends as they wiped away their tears.

“Yeah! And everypony seems to love him,” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced on the spot.

“Well he definatly deserves it. After all he’s done for us,” Rarity added.

“We’re all so proud of him, aren’t we girls?” Fluttershy asked with the others nodding in agreement. The yellow Pegasus was so happy for the Digimon she felt like giving him a big hug.

Afterwards, Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight was not only silent throughout the entire time, but also had a rather sad look on her face.

“Hay Twilight, are you alright?” The blue Pegasus asked in uncertainty.

The young Alicorn snapped out of her thoughts before answering.

“Oh, um… yeah Rainbow. I’m alright.”

“I am not too sure about that Twi, Ya’ seem to be down in the dumps,” Applejack said, she and all the others noticing that something was up with their friend.

Knowing that her friends wouldn’t give up on her so easily, Twilight sighed in defeat before speaking.

“Listen girls, there’s something I need to tell you about BlackWarGreymon. But not here. Wait until we get back on the train to Ponyville.”

Hearing the sadness in Twilight’s voice meant that whatever she had to tell them, it was bad. The girls wanted to know what it was, but the last thing their friend needed was pressure.

“Ok Twilight. We’ll wait,” Applejack said with a caring smile.

“Thanks girls,” Twilight said before she and her friends turned back to the Digimon on stage.
………………………………………………………………………………………..................................

Canterlot halls

It had been several hours since the announcement, giving way to midday. While Twilight and her pony friends took the train back to Ponyville, BlackWarGreymon chose to stay in Canterlot for a while. He liked to explore more of Equestria’s capital and all its beauty. Currently he was walking down a long hallway, passing by some maids while they were keeping the place tidy. While some had already gotten used to him, others looked at him in awe. Normally, BlackWarGreymon would ignore them. But instead he looked back at them as he passed by. Making some of them nervous. Despite it, he knew they were grateful for what he had done for their land.

Then he noticed something rather odd about some of them.

‘They have gotten used to me that’s for sure. But when few of them looked at me, why were their faces glowing red?’

BlackWarGreymon took note that he really needed to understand more about positive emotions.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a nervous voice.

“Umm… pardon me sir.”

The Digimon paused upon hearing the voice. As he turned to its source, he saw it was one of the maids. She was so nervous that she kept averting her eyes away from him. But she had something to say to him.

“I…I just want to speak for all of us that… I just want to say…umm…thank you for stopping that monster Tirek. It…it was very brave of you.”

BlackWarGreymon wasn’t entirely surprised, for word about him had spread very quickly. But still, he liked being thanked for what he had done and being respected for it, instead of being feared. To the mare’s surprise, he spoke back.

“You’re most welcome. I just did what I do best.”

He then continued on his way. Walking past the maid who sighed in relief, shaken from the new experience.

‘Wow, I did it! I spoke to him! He’s so cool.’

As BlackWarGreymon walked on, he was lost in his thoughts. He just couldn’t believe how powerful Tirek was to the ponies.

Truth be told, BlackWarGreymon had faced more powerful opponents. Even Paildramon proved to be a better fighter than the evil Centaur, and he was only an Ultimate level Digimon. If Tirek was considered the most powerful villain in the world, would that mean that all other evil beings in Equestria would never be able to stand a chance against the Artificial Digimon?

Could that mean, HE was the strongest force in Equestria?

He briefly got a shiver through his body at the thought. Back in his past life, one of his desires was to be the strongest Digimon and the most powerful being in the world. But as it seemed to had happened for real in Equestria, he felt uneasy. Not to mention that the magic of the land was making him stronger than he ever was.

But it was that fact that puzzled him.

‘I don’t understand it. Even if I possessed the power I had back in the Digital World, I would still have the strength to defeat Tirek. But the magic of this world made me far surpass even that. But why? Why is this world making me stronger? Is there a purpose… a reason for it? Is it coincidental? Or is it something…more?’

He then came to a halt when the next questions entered his mind.

‘Could it be that…this world is…preparing me for something? Something bigger and more powerful than the likes of Tirek? Something that only I have to face!? What could it be?’

Before BlackWarGreymon could continue to puzzle out the truth, he was interrupted by another voice. Unlike the first one, it sounded more confident.

“Hay big guy! Over here!”

As the Digimon looked ahead, he saw a group of royal guards walking towards him. Lead by the familiar Pegasus mare with the wing blades.

“That’s it. Right here,” She said with a confident smile. The same couldn’t be said for her comrades, who were shaking in their armour.

BlackWarGreymon recognised the one who was addressing him.

“It’s you from before.”

“That’s right… BlackWarGreymon was it? The name’s Double Edge,” She responded, revealing her name to him.

BlackWarGreymon remembered there was something about her that didn’t made sense to him.

“We’ve never met before. How is it that you’re not intimidated by me?”

“Because I’ve encountered many strange and bizarre creatures during my time. No offence.”

“None taken.”

“One of my main roles is to face such creatures. In fact, I’m one of the few who were selected to face Lord Tirek. Until you showed up and done it for us.”

“Sorry I didn’t mean to ‘steal your thunder’.”

Double Edge let out a small chuckle from the little joke. Even if he wasn’t trying to be funny. She then got a glance at BlackWarGreymon’s Dramon Destroyers, eyeing the perfect fine edge on the clawed blades that looked as though they could carve through anything.

“That’s some hardcore gear you got there. Listen, me and the guys are heading off to the training hall to do some combat. Maybe you can tag along and show us your stuff.”

Her comrades felt dread as some of them looked at her in disbelief, thinking that she was in way over her head. BlackWarGreymon however was surprised by the offer and unsure if he should take it.

“You’re sure that’s wise? If Tirek couldn’t stand against me, what makes you think you could? I don’t wish to severely harm you.”

Double Edge then said something that caught the other guards completely off-guard.

“Aww, are you afraid of hurting little old me?” She said in a playful tone while blinking several times at once.

She then continued.

“Sure, Tirek was a brute. But our combat skills are far better than his. And I can tell that you’re good at it too.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked down at his gauntlets, knowing that it’s true that he was good in combat. He wasn’t even trained. He knew how to fight like a warrior the moment he was created.

Then Double Edge said something that got him thinking.

“And besides. Do you really think that Tirek could give you the challenge you deserve?”

Again the guards were afraid, hoping that she hadn’t gone too far.

While looking at his Digizoid claws, BlackWarGreymon responded.

“You know, the funny thing is I know you’re playing me…”

He then finished his sentence after looking back at the guardsmare with a confident expression in his eyes.

“…But you’re right. I could use a real challenge.”

Double Edge smiled in satisfaction while her comrades shivered at the thought of what the Artificial Digimon was capable of.
………………………………………………………………………………………….................................

Canterlot East Hall, fifteen minutes later

After saying their goodbyes to Twilight Sparkle and her Ponyville friends, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were heading back to the throne room to start their royal duties. The white Alicorn questioned her little sister’s well-being since she was moving a little slow. But Luna reassured her that after a few hours of rest, she’ll be as good as new.

“Well the announcement went well, don’t you think sister?”

Luna hadn’t received a response. Turning her head, she saw that Celestia had a blank expression on her face. Meaning she was deep in thought.

“Sister?” Luna said again, snapping Celestia out of her trance.

“Oh. Sorry Luna. I was just lost in my thoughts.”

“Is it about BlackWarGreymon?” Luna questioned.

“Yes. He’s such an amazing being.”

“How so?” The blue Alicorn asked in curiosity.

“Well…it’s that time when he summoned that giant red sphere. Even not a full size, its power was…overwhelming.”

“I know how you feel. I felt if for the first time when he used that very same attack on the yellow dragon. It’s quite intimidating,” Luna admitted before continuing.

“And when he did it the final time to defeat that dragon, it was the biggest sphere I’ve ever seen him summon. Even the ones he used in his past wasn’t as large as that.”

Then both their minds trailed off on another fact.

“Now that I think about it Celestia, he was already strong enough back in his own world. But yet, he’s getting stronger still.”

“Yes. And I remember that he told me that it’s the magic of our world that’s making him stronger,” Celestia added.

“But why sister? Is there a reason for this?”

"I don’t know, Luna. But I reckon in time, we will find out.”

As the two finished their conversation, a loud metal clashing sound was heard. Catching the two Alicorns by surprise.

“What was that!?”

“Celestia, it came from the training hall.”

With that, Celestia and Luna rushed towards the sounds of battle. As they got closer, the two heard what sounded like cheering. The Alicorns were certain that whatever was going on, it was some kind of training exercise. But they never heard of one up to such a scale.

As the princesses reached the entrance to the training hall, they found out what was going on. It was combat training like no other.

On one side of the hall was a large group of fifteen royal guards, all in armour and weapons of choice. And on the other side was BlackWarGreymon, who looked as confident as ever.

“Alright, ready for another round?” Double Edge called out to the Digimon.

“Ready when you are,” BlackWarGreymon called back, getting ready to charge.

‘Background music’ ‘World on Fire by Slash’

After seconds of silent glances at one another, some of the guards made their first move by charging forth. Even though half of them were scared of BlackWarGreymon.

And speaking of the armoured Digimon, he began to sprint towards them. For the first time, he wasn’t going to fight to survive of out of anger. He was going to fight for fun. Maybe even make the guards more confident in their skills while he’s at it.

As they got closer, a Unicorn guard brought forth his sword. Held by his magic, he swung the blade forward. The Digimon anticipated it and blocked it with his metal claws. The guard then tried to swing hid sword again, but BlackWarGreymon dodged it. Then two more guards joined in. An Earth Pony with a sword in his mouth and a Unicorn with a spear. All three tried to strike blows to BlackWarGreymon, but he evaded every attempt. The guards couldn’t believe how fast he was moving for someone bigger and heavier than they were.

After evading more attacks, BlackWarGreymon leapt back some distance away. Realising what was going on.

“You all are being too soft. I want you to give it everything you got. Don’t hold back.”

The guards then grew confident in themselves, no longer afraid of hurting him if he wanted a real fight. Then BlackWarGreymon said something that got them going.

“Come on!” He then stretched his arms out to his sides, showing off his claws that gleamed in the light.

“HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!”

On cue a volley of spears were thrown directly at him, aiming for the chest. But as the spears struck him, they bounced off his armour. Not even leaving so much of a scratch.

Then three Unicorns and an Earth Pony charged at him, all equipped of swords. As they attacked, BlackWarGreymon countered every move. Either clashing with his claws or blocking with his gauntlets.

“That’s better,” He said as saw a sword swung towards his hip. He raised his leg so the Equestrian blade would strike his shin guard.

Then he came on the attack. Moving quickly, he swung his right leg low. Sweeping all four of the guards clean off their hooves. With the four on the ground, the Digimon then took to the air. It was there where he met three Pegasi, two with axes and one with no weapon at tall.

As axes were swung, BlackWarGreymon kept hovering backwards while constantly changing direction. Evading them in the process. But they caught up and he was on the defensive again. His armoured arms countering blow to blow. Then the unarmed mare came flying in and swung her armoured hooves at the dragon warrior. But everytime she tried to score a hit, her opponent kept tilting his head side-to-side. Dodging her attacks.

Then to their surprise, BlackWarGreymon flew back but then threw his right arm forward. Though he didn’t physically hit them, the air current that followed from the swift movement blew one of the ponies away. Then he swung his left arm as if slashing the air, thereby creating a powerful gust that blew away the remining Pegasi guards.

As the air-born guards fell to the ground, BlackWarGreymon was suddenly under fire from several Unicorn guards. Firing magic beams and attack spells from their horns towards their opponent. The Digimon knew that their magic attacks, no matter how strong, would be completely ineffective against him. If not, harmless. But if he stood still and simply took them, then the battle wouldn’t be interesting. However, he had something in mind.

As streams of magic flew at him, BlackWarGreymon merely flew side to side to dodge them. After evading the thirteenth shot, he quickly landed and used his gauntlets to defend himself. To his surprise however, when the attack spells made contact with his metal arms, they bounced off the smooth surface and flew into either the ceiling, the walls or the floor. Smoke and small explosions erupted everywhere.

Realising that the Digimon had supreme reflexes, the Unicorn guards ceased firing. While surprised at how reflective his armour was, they were unsettled by the fact that BlackWarGreymon had a cunning look in his eyes.

‘Let’s test the power of the royal guards,’ He thought to himself as he placed his claws together. Within moments, a tiny red sphere formed in-between them. About the size of a filly, BlackWarGreymon had to control the size and power of his Terra Destroyer attack to ensure the safety of the guards.

The guards were nervous. Seeing a powerful being showing his powers was obviously going to be intimidating. But to show off their own stuff, that had to keep their nerves together. The onlooking princesses were also nervous. Remembering the power of the red orb and the short work it made to countless boulders. But they trust that BlackWarGreymon knew what he was doing. After all, he understood more about his powers then anyone else.

Then the moment happened, BlackWarGreymon threw the tiny orb at the group of armoured Unicorns. As the glowing red ball of negative energy came hurtling towards them, one guard had the guts to charge up an attack spell. Then the beam of magic that was fired collided and at first, held back the small energy ball. But as seconds ticked by and to the shock of the guards, the tiny Terra Destroyer sphere was pushing through the magic beam. The guard tried to put more energy into his attack, but to no avail. When it came to power, he was outclassed.

Seeing their comrade struggling, the remaining Unicorn guards banded together and fired their own beams of magical energy at the ball of negative energy. Their combined efforts payed off by holding the red sphere back. but despite its small size, BlackWarGreymon’s attack had tremendous power that made all the Unicorns feel the strain from holding it back. With the energy going haywire, the pint-sized Terra Destroyer sphere exploded. Shaking the entire hall in the process.

The Unicorn guards couldn’t believe how exhausted they became. They used up nearly all their energy just to hold back one attack. An attack that BlackWarGreymon himself could deflect with just a wave of his arm. The two princesses and Double Edge, who was also watching from the sidelines, couldn’t believe it. The filly-sized orb of super-heated energy pushed nearly all the Unicorn guards to their limit. An attack that was probably even less of a fraction of BlackWarGreymon’s true potential.

Then the Digimon spotted more royal guards walking past Double Edge. But they had larger weapons while they themselves looked almost as tall as Double Edge herself. As well as their confident expressions, their armour also looked different.

Because of the difference in moods and armory, the black dragon warrior guessed that the new arrivals were the ones, alongside Double Edge, were assembled to take on Tirek.

Then an armoured stallion with a battle axe spoke to him.

“Seems your luck just ran out, because now you’re dealing with the elite guards.”

Then a mare with an axe-like spear joined in.

“Our armour and weapons are forged from Cloudsdalion steel. The hardest metal in Equestria,” She boasted.

BlackWarGreymon however was unmoved. Apparently, the elite didn’t know about the test Twilight gave him the day before. A test that involved a boulder that was covered in the exact same metal. And what he did to it.

But he decided not to tell them, because it would spoil the surprise. But he did say something that unnerved them.

“My luck? I’m just getting started.”

A Unicorn guard made the first attempt to swing his sword at the Digimon, but his tall opponent countered it with his metal claws. Then more member of the elite joined in. the stallion with the battle axe swung his weapon that looked as though he would chop off BlackWarGreymon’s head. But the Mega saw it coming and tilted his head back, narrowly avoiding the axe.

As more of the elite joined in the brawl, they thought their superior numbers would be enough to out-flank BlackWarGreymon. But to their surprise, he was matching them blow to blow. Clashing sounds of metal to metal filled the air as the elite were forced to give everything they’ve got. But despite their efforts that could take down a manticore or even a hydra, they just couldn’t break through the black Digimon’s defense.

In a different attempt to at least faze him, three Pegasi charged with their spears pointed at their seemly invincible opponent. Going on the defensive again, BlackWarGreymon crossed his arms in a X fashion and blocked the spears. Then using his strength, the Digimon threw his arms out. Flinging the Pegasi and their weapons away.

“I’m impressed. You ponies are better fighters then I anticipated,” He said, admiring their tenacity and their skills.

The elite took several steps back in worry, intimidated by the Digimon’s strength. Then the Pegasus mare, with the axe-like spear under her wing, leapt up in the air behind BlackWarGreymon as she spoke to him.

“Thanks for the complement, but kind words won’t stop me!”

As she descended towards the tall dragon warrior, she swung her weapon down. Aiming for his shoulder with full force. But BlackWarGreymon anticipated an attack from behind and turned his body aside with his right gauntlet raised, blocking her assault.

But to the mares’ shock and disbelief, as well as the princesses and the rest of the elite, the moment the Cloudsdalion steel made contact with Chrome Digizoid, the axe-like blade completely shattered into pieces.

Time seemed to have slowed down as the wide-eyed Pegasus stared at her once formidable weapon. Used to fight off attackers, even tough dragon scales couldn’t block the blade. But it had finally met its match.

The mare flew back to gain distance from the Digimon. Then eyed at the gauntlet she’d struck and couldn’t believe what she saw.

“Y-you shattered my blade… and I hadn’t even left a scratch on you! Wha…what kind of metal is your armour made of!?”

It was BlackWarGreymon’s turn to boast.

“Chrome Digizoid armour. The hardest metal in the Digital World. The world I came from.”

Then he heard oncoming hoofsteps from behind and saw an Earth Pony stallion with a sword in his mouth. He then jumped in the air and swung his weapon at him. But to everypony’s amazement, the Digimon countered it with just his nose horn! Then with a mighty thrust, his head dislodged the guards weapon away.

“Nice try, next time do better,” He said to the guard

BlackWarGreymon then heard approaching hoofsteps from his right, and saw Double Edge casually walking towards him.

“I’m impressed big guy, but now you face me,” She said as she spread her wings, revealing more of her wing blades that resembled axe hatchets that were held at the tips of her wings. Meaning that she could use them while flying.

She then started to charge, ready to attack. BlackWarGreymon stood his ground as the mare sprinted towards him. As she got in range, Double Edge leaped off the ground and threw her left wing forwards. With the blade heading towards him, the Digimon raised his right arm and took the strike to his armoured limb.

To his surprise however, as the sharpened blade struck his arm, the weapon gave off a magical burst of blue light. BlackWarGreymon felt the force of it when his arm was pushed back a little.

Double Edge leapt back a couple of feet, leaving BlackWarGreymon stunned and puzzled.

“You’re only a Pegasus. How do you possess magic?”

“I don’t. It’s my blades.”

Double Edge then explained more to her confused opponent.

“My father’s a Unicorn. And as a gift, he magically enhanced my weapons. Enchanting them so they would be stronger then plain Cloudsdalion steel.”

After he understood, BlackWarGreymon got ready to face her.

“That’s quite a gift, but it’s going to take a lot more then enchanted blades to defeat me”

Double Edge charged forth and took another swipe at the Digimon’s arm. As the blade grazed across the metal arm, long with another burst of magic, sparks flew everywhere. As the mare pressed her attacks, swinging her blades across BlackWarGreymon’s armour, the Digimon either dodged out of the way or blocked them. Everytime her weapons struck, they light up the training room with blue flashes of magic as the sparks flew. And despite the battering and the beating, neither the blades of the armour suffered any damage at all.

BlackWarGreymon tried an attempt to go on the attack by throwing his left arm at Double Edge, but the mare flew above the attack and over the Digimon’s head. Behind him, she tried to attack with her blades. But the Mega was quick to block it by twisting around and countered it with his right arm.

Before Double Edge could press on, BlackWarGreymon took to the air and hovered in place, waiting for the armoured pony. The Pegasus took to the air and again swiped at the Digimon with her blades. Being an expert in aerial combat, Double Edge was at her prime in the air. But again, the Digimon wasn’t fazed by her assault. BlackWarGreymon knew he couldn’t attack her directly, his armour allied with his strength could easily knock the mare out. So he kept going on the defensive.

The onlooking guards and princesses were amazed at the display of combat.

“Impressive. Double Edge is giving it her all and he’s still one step ahead of her,” One of the guards said. And to his surprise, Luna spoke up.

“True, but sister and I can tell that BlackWarGreymon’s holding back.”

The guard looked at her in shock, then looked over to Celestia who was nodding in agreement.

“Yes. Had BlackWarGreymon gone all out, he could defeat all of you very easily.”

The guard realised Celestia had a point. The Digimon hardly attacked at all, he was mostly on the defensive.

Back at the battle, Double Edge was pressing her blades against BlackWarGreymon’s claws. But the Digimon merely shoved them back, making the mare back off a couple of feet. As they hovered in place, more Pegasus guards took to the air and hovered beside Double Edge.

“You’re sure giving me a run for my money. You’re tough to crack,” She said before trying to catch her breath. She then continued.

“But I bet you’re not so tough without your armour.”

“You think so?” BlackWarGreymon said before grabbing his left arm with his right hand. And then pulled one of his gauntlets off.

Though he had never done it before, but he’s going to try and fight without his Dramon Destroyers and his Brave Shield.

While holding his clawed weapon as though it was light as a feather, he glanced over to one of the air-born Pegasus guards.

“Here, catch.”

He then tossed his gauntlet to the open hooves of the Pegasus stallion. But the moment he caught it, to his shock the clawed weapon was a lot heavier then it looked just moments ago. He was pulled down back towards the ground, dragged by the weight of Digizoid metal.

BlackWarGreymon then did the same with his right gauntlet. Pulling it off, looked over to three Pegasi and passed it over to them. Despite beating their wings as hard as they could, like the guard before them the three were pulled from the sky by the gauntlets’ weight.

BlackWarGreymon then reached around and took his black Brave Shield off his back, and then simply dropped them. The two free-falling pieces of digital metal crashed to the ground, one nearly impaling through the floor. He then cracked his knuckles together as he tilted his head sideways as if cracking his neck.

“Still think I don’t look tough now?” He asked Double Edge.

At first the mare was to distracted to respond. BlackWarGreymon’s armour must had weighed more like a ton, and he made it as though it was lighter than air. He had no problem moving quick with them on. But with them off, does that mean that he’s a lot lighter and faster than before?

She felt that she might had overdone it. Despite the realisation, she won’t back down after all the tough talk she let on.

“Bring it.”

Then the two flew at each other to continue their fight. Double Edge kept swinging her blades back and forth, but BlackWarGreymon kept dodging them. Though some landed hits on his chest, it only created flashes of magic and showers of sparks.

Then to the mare’s surprise, when she tried to swipe her left wing blade at BlackWarGreymon, the Mega reached out and grabbed the weapon with his bare hands. Then he swung around and threw the Pegasus towards the ground. While surprised, Double Edge shifted her body so her hooves were facing the ground and upon landing, she came skidding to a halt.

She took a moment to catch her breath, for she wasn’t expecting the move at all. Then she heard BlackWarGreymon speaking to her.

“Do you plan to give up now?”

Double Edge responded back to the air-born Digimon.

“Not a chance.”

After giving a smile, she flew up towards her opponent, while BlackWarGreymon flew down to intercept her. To the Pegasus, her usual training exercise was going to be her toughest.

‘Song end’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Train to Ponyville

On board the long steam train to Ponyville, in one of the carriages was the Main Six. It had been some time since they left Canterlot and they respected BlackWarGreymon’s decision to stay in Equestria’s capital for a while. He deserved a little time to himself after everything he had done for them.

Also during their time in Canterlot before leaving, Rainbow Dash kept on bugging Twilight to tell her and her friends what was causing the purple Alicorn to be so quiet. But the princess kept on insisting her Ponyville friends to wait until they were on their way home.

After they got on the train, Twilight told them the whole truth. The truth that she, Celestia and Luna had entered and seen BlackWarGreymon’s entire past. All the memories of his life before arriving in Equestria.

She told them about his creators, and about how he was created in such great detail. As well as the fights he was in, the destruction he caused and the lessons he learned. She also told them about the other Digimon in such detail that they could picture them in their minds. Agumon, Arukenimon, Mummymon, Paildramon, Pegasusmon, Azulongmon and even WarGreymon. All of Twilight’s friends wished they could’ve seen them. There the Alicorn explained that Luna only had enough power for herself and two others.

Then came the moment Twilight was worried about. The moment she told them about it, all her friends let out collective gasps of horror. As well as being frozen in stunned silence, Rarity simply fainted.

“Woah, Woah, Woah! Wait a minute! You’re saying that… BlackWarGreymon died!? Him!? The very same guy who kicked Tirek’s butt!?” Rainbow Dash asked, somewhat in denial. But the look on Twilight’s face confirmed that it was true.

“Yes Rainbow. He… sacrificed himself.”

“Oh my,” Applejack said as she took her hat off and placed it on her chest.

“But…but it can’t be true! BlackWarGreymon’s too powerful!” Rainbow Dash shouted in complete denial.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. This just proves that there are some other Digimon more powerful then him,” Twilight explained, her voice saddened.

“Yeah, and I don’t think anyone could survive havin’ a hole in their chest,” Applejack joined.

Rainbow Dash just couldn’t believe it. Despite being the only Digimon she’d met, to her BlackWarGreymon was the most awesome.

“Wow, never knew his life was so rough,” She said, finally accepting the truth.

Fluttershy meanwhile was in an absolute state. She was so distraught about the news, her body was trembling as she felt her gentle heart ache. The other ponies could see it, as well as the tears in her sad eyes.

“I-I knew something terrible happened to him. I saw it in his eyes. But I never imagined it would be from something so horrible. The poor thing. It… it must have been so painful.”

Applejack walked up to Fluttershy to comfort her. Then Pinkie Pie spoke up.

“It is painful. He saved an entire world, and no one threw a party to thank him for it!”

Everypony looked at the pink party pony in confusion. Pinkie Pie explained.

“What? I’m just saying that he deserves some recognition for doing such a good deed.”

While the others were thinking that Pinkie Pie was just being Pinkie Pie, Twilight’s expression brightened.

“You know something? That’s a good idea, Pinkie.”

While the others looked at Twilight for an explanation, Pinkie Pie giggled with glee. As soon as she spoke, Rarity woke up.

“He died being a hero and had accepted friendship. He gave up the pursuit of power because he doesn’t want to be alone. So I say it’s about time that he gets a celebration for all the good deeds he’s done.”

The moment Twilight finished, all her friends were cheering in agreement. Then their train slowly came to a halt, for they had arrived in Ponyville. As the group got off the station platform, discussing what to do when BlackWarGreymon returns, Rarity spoke to Twilight.

“You know Twilight, I think it’s a good thing we’re doing this for him.”

“Well that’s what friends are for. To be there for one another and bring happiness. BlackWarGreymon definatly deserves happiness.”

As the six mares left the train station, they were unaware they were being watched by hungry reptilian eyes, hidden in the bushes nearby.

“There they are. Ponies,” A voice growled in the green foliage.

“A whole village of them,” Another said, followed by another with a loud growl from his stomach.

“Uhh… just seeing them is making me starve! Let’s get them!”

“Not yet! First bring in the reinforcements, then we can attack,” The first voice ordered, but the one who was hungry looked at him in confusion.

“Reinforcements?”

“You know… the whole gang?”

“Oh I got ya. On it.”

The bushes rustled as one of the creatures moved. As it burst out of the bush, it was revealed to be a young, teenage dragon. Without being noticed, he flew away to get his friends.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Canterlot Tower, on the roof.

In normal combat training sessions, the lessons would only last about an hour. But with a powerful being entering the fray, it was shortened to only sixteen minutes. Nearly all the royal guards were exhausted beyond belief. BlackWarGreymon proved to be too strong for them.

Speaking of the dragon warrior, after the fighting lessons ended prematurely, he flew away and rested on the roof of one of the towers. As he looked at the afternoon sky, he remained amazed at what he did recently. Although he remained a strong fighter without his shield and Dramon Destroyers on, but having them back on made him feel whole again.

Apparently, he’s not alone. Sitting next to him was Double Edge, painting after what was the toughest battle she had yet.

“Sorry if I was a little rough, I trust that you’re not hurt,” BlackWarGreymon said, noticing a small brouze on the mares’ side.

“It’s ok. I had worse,” She said, rubbing her brouze with her hoof.

She then continued.

“You sure can throw a mean punch though,” She complemented, not realising the true extent of the Mega Digimon’s strength.

“Truth be told, I was holding back,” BlackWarGreymon admitted, seeing the look of surprise from Double Edge.

“You were?”

“Yes. In fact, I was only using about five percent of my power.”

The eyes of the mare kept growing wider.

“Really?”

“Yes. If I was fighting at my full potential, well… you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Double Edge couldn’t believe it. She reached the limit of her fighting capabilities and BlackWarGreymon only used a tiny fraction of his. In fact at the end of their fight, while she was exhausted, he didn’t even break a sweat.

“Wow… so you’re a small package with a lot of punch,” She joked.

“Yeah like you wouldn’t believe,” He said back.

The Digimon and the mare were silent for a short moment. Then Double Edge asked him a question.

“Hay, are all Digimon very powerful, or just some of them?”

Before BlackWarGreymon could answer, he suddenly heard a quiet faint voice.

"BlackWarGreymon."

The Digimon froze in place, not expecting it at all. He didn’t know where it came from, but he could tell that the voice was female. While the voice sounded calm like a windchime, it also carried wisdom. As if the voice belonged to an all-knowing being. Flowing with the wind, it was a voice unlike anything he had ever heard before, and yet it knew his name.

Double Edge was confused by BlackWarGreymon’s lack of response.

“Hay, you ok?”

Then to her surprise, the Digimon quickly stood upon his feet. His expression looked puzzled.

“Did you hear that?” He asked the Pegasus mare.

“Hear what?” She asked back.

“A voice.”

Double Edge was confused. The only voices she heard were BlackWarGreymon’s and her own.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

BlackWarGreymon came to realise that only he heard it. Which meant either he was going crazy, or someone else telepathically spoke to him.

To double check that someone wasn’t pulling a prank on him, the Digimon closed his eyes and focused his mind. By using his extraordinary senses, he could feel the energy from everypony around him. By isolating the power he felt from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, he would have an even better chance at finding something out of the ordinary.

So far he could only sense that of the ponies…until…

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes suddenly snapped open when he felt something else.

“What is it?” Double Edge asked, seeing the change.

“I sense something. Its power is strong but far away from here. It’s coming from somewhere in the Everfree Forest.”

Double Edge followed his gaze until she saw the large forest in the distance.

“The Everfree?”

“You stay here. I’m going to check it out,” BlackWarGreymon said before he took to the skies and on a bee-line to the Everfree.

At first Double Edge wanted to come, but the moment she flexed her wings she felt a massive strain. She had to rest for a while from her battle. Until she could fly again, she could only look on as the Digimon flew away.

As BlackWarGreymon flew closer towards the Everfree Forest, he felt the faint power signature getting stronger.

‘Whatever is out there, could it be the source of the voice? Only one way to find out.’

Chapter 19: Revelations

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Minutes ticked by as BlackWarGreymon flew above the Everfree Forest at a steady speed, mere inches above the tops of the tall trees. He was determined to find out what the power signature he felt was and more importantly, the voice that apparently only he could hear. It was as if the voice was calling out to him, and wanted him to come and find whoever it belonged to.

The Mega level Digimon was intrigued. The power he was feeling was almost identical to the magical energy in Equestria’s atmosphere. But the fact that it was more concentrated and that it remained still on the same place he first felt it, made it all the more interesting.

As the jet-black dragon warrior continued his approach, he started to descend into the dense forest. The reason behind it was if the power source belonged to a living being, he had to proceed with caution.

“Guess I have to go on foot from here,” He said as he landed on the forest floor.

As he turned to where the power source was coming from, he began to walk. After a few minutes of silence, BlackWarGreymon came across another fact about the strange power he was feeling. Its strength. He couldn’t tell if it was weaker or stronger than his own. It was as if it kept switching places. Like a flickering light flashing on and off. He knew that the only way to find out for sure, was to face it himself.

‘Strange. First the voice. Then its power. And now changing its strength. It’s almost if it wants me to find it.’

Further in the forest, there was a small skirmish. A fight between wildlife was going on. A Manticore was challenging a wild brown bear for dominance of territory. As the large lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail roared out, the equally big bear growled back. accepting the challenge.

However, before the two fierce beasts could unleash their primal fury on one another, both of them quickly stared in one direction. The same went for all other wildlife in the area.

They could sense something coming. Something extraordinarily powerful. Something that could easily triumph over the two beasts in a heartbeat.

Before they got the chance to get a look of whoever or whatever it was, both the rival carnivores legged it. The Manticore flew up to the tall branches of a nearby tree and the bear simply ran for terror. The other animals either ran or flew away in fright.

After a short dead silence, footsteps were heard. Then a tall being, who turned out to be BlackWarGreymon, appeared from the thick tree growth. The Digimon was silent as he walked by, the only sounds he was making were simply his footsteps.

Then he heard what sounded like whimpering. He stopped for a moment and turned his head to look back at the canopy. He could just see the Manticore, trembling in fear and staring at him in fright.

‘Hmm… definatly seen something like that before,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself, while remembering a Champion level insect Digimon named Kuwagamon.

After his flashback passed, he turned back to where he was going and continued on his way. Leaving the Manticore alone.

Ten minutes later, BlackWarGreymon was starting to get bored out of his helmet. It seemed there was no end to the Everfree Forest at all.

‘No wonder hardly any ponies come through here. Everything looks the same.’

Then to his relief, the trees gave way to an opening. Once out in the open, he was surprised at what he saw.

In front of him not too far away, there stood ancient ruins of an old castle. Abandoned long ago, the grey crumbling walls showed decay as plant life overgrew into some of its chambers. BlackWarGreymon remembered that Twilight Sparkle mentioned that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna once lived in a different castle that wasn’t in Canterlot. It was known as the castle of the two royal sisters.

“Could this be… Celestia’s and Luna’s old castle?”

Distracted from following the power source for a moment, BlackWarGreymon flew off the ground and headed towards the entrance of the once great castle.

The moment he landed, the vibrations of the impact made a few loose walls wobble as bricks fell to the ground.

‘No wonder this place was abandoned. It looks like it was in a warzone.’

He then looked to a far wall and realised that his suspicions were true. On the wall was a blast mark. Stone scorched in black. Meaning that the wall was hit by a powerful attack spell.

‘This must be when Celestia fought Nightmare Moon,’ He thought to himself as he touched the mark with his claws. Even while wearing his gauntlets he could feel the indentations on the wall.

He then noticed at the far end of the abandoned hallway, there was a podium of some sorts. Although it looked like a model of a solar system, he could tell that it served a different purpose. In the middle was a large sphere and below it were five arms, with platforms that looked as though it one held spheres of their own.

As BlackWarGreymon got the idea of exploring more of the castle, he suddenly felt the strange power signature again. Unlike before, it felt very close to where he was. He then heard the voice once more. Sounding clearer than before, almost like a melody, the Digimon could definatly tell that it was a voice he had never heard in his life.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

“W-Who’s there? Who are you?” BlackWarGreymon called out as he looked around his surroundings. But he received no response.

Determined to find out the truth, he walked back outside and tried again to feel out the power signature. As he pinpointed its whereabouts, BlackWarGreymon looked down at a small nearby canyon in front of the castle and spotted a cave.

“The power source is coming from there.”

He then jumped down the canyon wall and landed with a thud by the entrance of the cave. He took a moment to inspect the cave, before deciding to venture in. The moment the Artificial Digimon stepped inside, he suddenly felt a wave of invisible energy washing over him. At first BlackWarGreymon thought he was being pushed back, but then the energy acted as though it was cradling his very being. Embracing him inside and out.

Then the energy vanished, leaving BlackWarGreymon confused.

“Ok… that was weird.”

Then his eye caught a glimpse of something deep in the cave. To his surprise, it turned out to be a bright blue glow.

“What’s that?”

He then started to walk towards the bright light, more curious then ever to find out what or who the glow belonged to. As he got closer, the dark cave around him became more illuminated by the light. And the energy he felt kept growing stronger after every step.

Then as he turned around a bend in the cave… no words could describe what his mind went through. His yellow eyes widened in amazement as he gazed at the origins of the light and the power.

In front of BlackWarGreymon, standing tall and bright, was a massive tree made entirely out of magical crystals. The crystals themselves looked as though they were alive like a real tree. Draped from its branches were beautiful crystal vines that gave off a rainbow light. On each of its five biggest branches were five different shaped and coloured gemstones. An orange apple, a red bolt, a purple diamond, a pink butterfly and a blue balloon. In the middle of the tree was a sixth gemstone that resembled a bright purple star, and below it were symbols of a sun and a crescent moon.

BlackWarGreymon would’ve known that the symbols were identical to the cutiemarks of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the Mane Six. But he was too mesmerized by the light and the beauty of the tree to notice. As he walked closer, he couldn’t help but stare in awe at the great tree. The energy that it gave off felt warm and inviting, as if it would make anyone feel better just by being near it.

He then stopped just a few meters away from the towering tree. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Its beauty dwarfed even that of the Destiny Stones.

“What… is this?” He asked, not expecting an answer to follow.

“It’s the Tree of Harmony.”

BlackWarGreymon flinched at hearing another voice. Unlike the first voice, it was the one he definatly recognized. He then turned around to the source of the voice, and saw Princess Luna standing behind him.

Although relieved to see the Alicorn back to full strength, he was curious as to why she was in the cave too.

“You have a habit of following me around, don’t you?” He asked, half joking and half serious.

“I saw you left Canterlot in a hurry, and I wanted to see what’s caught your attention,” Luna explained.

Deep down, the princess never thought she would get to see the tree and BlackWarGreymon in the same place at the same time. To her it was kind of strange.

BlackWarGreymon then turned his attention back to the great tree. Curious about its name.

“The Tree of Harmony?”

“Yes. This was the place where my sister and I first found the Elements of Harmony.”

The Digimon’s eyes widened at hearing the origins of the famous magical gemstones.

“The elements came from here?”

“Yes. Can’t you see them?”

Hearing Luna’s question sparked BlackWarGreymon’s curiosity even more. The elements were back on the tree. The Mega took a moment to see them for himself and noticed where on the tree they were.

“I can also sense them. Six separate power signatures. Five on the branches and one on the trunk.”

“That’s right. What’s interesting is that Twilight’s element, the Element of Magic, is considered the most elusive element. It took her to understand friendship to discover it,” Luna said as BlackWarGreymon listened.

Then the Digimon asked the Alicorn a tricky question as he turned to face her.

“So, the Elements of Harmony were created from this tree. But where did the tree itself came from?”

Unfortunately for BlackWarGreymon, the answer he received wasn’t the one he expected.

“I’m afraid I don’t know. Nopony knows, even my sister. All we know is that the tree possessed powerful magic and it may have existed before Equestria’s founding,” Luna answered as she walked to BlackWarGreymon’s side, curious to know the truth as well.

The Digimon’s mind began to wonder as he felt the tree’s power.

“Strange. This is my first time seeing the Tree of Harmony. But there’s something really familiar about its energy.”

“You mean… you felt it before?” Luna asked, curious about what was on the Digimon’s mind.

“Yes. But when?” He said before trying to think back through his life. The type of power he had felt before, but he couldn’t quite figure out when he felt it.

Then the hidden truth struck him in his mind.

“…wait.”

“What is it?” The blue Alicorn asked, seeing that the Digimon may had found his answer.

“Before I came to this world, after I died in my own, I found myself in a realm that looked like space. During my brief moment there, I’ve felt the energy surrounding me. Call me crazy, but that energy felt very similar to the Tree of Harmony. If not, identical.”

Luna couldn’t believe what she just heard. At first, she was at loss for words.

“BlackWarGreymon… are you saying that… the energy came from the tree? And if so, does that mean that the tree…”

Luna was interrupted by BlackWarGreymon, who finished her sentence.

“Saved my life and somehow brought me to this world. I’m certain, but it’s not possible.”

“Maybe it is. Since the tree does possess powerful magic that we yet still don’t understand,” Luna said. But BlackWarGreymon was unsure.

“Powerful enough to summon beings from a different world? I’m not sure. But maybe it wasn’t the tree itself that did the impossible,” The Digimon said as he flew halfway up the tree and moved slowly closer to its shining trunk.

He then raised his right arm to his side and reached out. As if he was going to touch the Tree of Harmony.

“Maybe… just maybe.”

He then done it. He touched the Tree of Harmony. The moment his Chrome Digizoid claws made contact with the ancient crystal trunk, the entire tree started to flash and glow even brighter than before. Taken by surprise, BlackWarGreymon flew a few meters back.

Luna too was startled by the development. To her, only Alicorns, bearers of the elements or beings with powerful magic could make the tree glow bright. But BlackWarGreymon didn’t possess magic, and yet the tree was glowing brighter than it ever had been.

‘I don’t believe it! The tree… it’s reacting to his very being!’

As Luna and BlackWarGreymon marvelled at the amazing light, the Control Spire Digimon heard the voice once more.

“You found me.”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes couldn’t be anymore wider.

‘That voice… came from the tree?’

Then the shinning glow from the great Tree of Harmony slowly faded back to normal. Leaving the two spectators stuck in a state of awe.

“Well… that was new,” Luna said, breaking the silence.

“Luna, surely you heard that voice too, did you?” BlackWarGreymon asked the princess as he landed beside her.

“A…A voice?” She asked in confusion.

“Yes. It was that same voice that lead me here. I think it came from the Tree of Harmony.”

The moment she heard his words, Luna froze in place. Completely in shock. Never before she heard anything about a voice from the tree. She and Celestia were the ones who first found it, and Twilight was the one who returned the Elements of Harmony back in their rightful place. And yet never once they heard a voice.

“I’m…I’m afraid I didn’t hear a voice. But do tell. What did it sound like?” She asked, eager to at least know one thing about the voice.

“Well it…”

BlackWarGreymon stopped mid-sentence when he suddenly felt something else. Something not inside the cave. Something bad.

He then sharply turned his head back to the cave entrance. Luna noticing the alarm in his eyes as he seemed to be on alert for something.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I got a strange feeling about something. And it’s not good!” BlackWarGreymon answered as he rushed out of the cave, with Luna following him out.

If the two inspected the Tree of Harmony even closer, they would’ve noticed that on the back of the tree, on its trunk, was some writing. Writing that hadn’t been seen for millennia.

Outside the cave, Luna caught up with BlackWarGreymon. He was looking around in haste.

“Something’s wrong! I can sense it.”

He then heard Luna’s voice.

“Look. Up there.”

BlackWarGreymon followed Luna’s line of sight and spotted, high above the forest, a group of creatures flying in the sky in one direction.

“What are they?” The Digimon asked.

After Luna used a magic spell to magnify her sight, she saw clearly what they were.

“They’re dragons. About four of them. They’re small so they must be in their teens.”

As he watched the airborne dragons, BlackWarGreymon realised something.

‘Wait… they’re flying in the direction I came from.’

He then quickly turned to the Alicorn.

“Luna, do dragons normally fly around here?”

“Not really, no. If they do, then they’re either trying to find caves to sleep in or they’re out hunting. Why?”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Then it’ just as I feared. They’re heading to Ponyville!”

Luna’s eyes too widened in shock.

“R-Really? How can you be sure?” She asked.

“Only one way to find out.” He answered before leaping into the air and took flight towards the airborne dragons. Leaving Luna back at the cave.

“If it’s as you fear, I’ll let my sister know at once. Go get them BlackWarGreymon.”

Meanwhile up in the air, three muscular dragons and one skinny dragon were on their way to their destination. The smaller teen leading the way.

“Ok guys, Garble said that the pony settlement should be further along. We’ll get there soon,” He said to his friends, all unaware that they were being followed.

As BlackWarGreymon flew in close, he came to an immediate stop right behind the four. The resulting gust of wind brought the attention of one of the buff dragons that took up the rear of the group. He turned around fast, and couldn’t believe what his reptilian eyes were seeing.

“Woah… hey guys, check this bad boy out!” He called out to his dragon buddies. Soon the rest were gathering around their friend and too couldn’t believe what was looking at them.

However to them, they thought he was another dragon. Though two times bigger than they were, his size was like a teenage dragon. But it was his armour that got their full attention.

“Wow, your armour looks beyond awesome!”

“Yeah, where did you get it?”

“Can I get one?”

Then the smaller dragon silenced his excited friends.

“That’s enough you lot!”

After the three dragons calmed down, the forth one took a good look at their guest.

“Never seen you before. You’re new here?” He asked.

“You could say that, yes,” BlackWarGreymon answered, being cleaver by the fact that he was new to Equestria altogether.

Because he was unsure of the dragons’ intentions, the Digimon had to play along as a dragon.

The smaller dragon, being more cleaver then the other three, was surprised by the voice their visitor had. His size was that of a dragon in its teens, but his voice sounded much older. Almost like an adult.

“Ok then, would you like to join me and my friends for dinner?” The dragon asked.

“Dinner?”

“You know what I mean. Ponies of course.”

BlackWarGreymon’s fears and suspicions had been confirmed. The group of dragons were heading to Ponyville to eat the inhabitants!

Despite urgency and rage building up inside him, the Digimon mustn’t lose control. But what the other dragons said next really tipped the balance.

“Yeah, we’re on our way to meet up with all the other dragons.”

“Even as we speak, they’re probably having fun without us.”

“But hopefully by the time we get there, we would find leftovers.”

The dragons were so overtaken by their lust for food, they failed to notice BlackWarGreymon. His muscles had tensed up and his eyes were full of hatred. Hatred for anything that could cause harm to his new friends. He hated the thought of losing them after so much had happened. He would fight for their lives, even if it meant the cost of his own.

But the first thing he had to do, was to take out the four in front of him.

“So, what do you plan to do after that?” He asked, trying to hide the anger in his voice.

The dragons didn’t expect the kind of question which was spoken.

“Oh… I don’t know… probably go places,” The buffed dragon nearest to BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Places hmm? Like that lake over there?” The Digimon asked while pointing his arm towards the distance.

Obviously, the dragon followed its direction. Completely oblivious that he’s fallen into a trap.

“Actually, that looks more like a riv…”

The dragon was suddenly interrupted as he received a solid punch to the face. The force from the blow sent him shooting straight to the river, screaming all the way until he hit the water and creating an enormous splash in the process.

It happened so fast that the remaining three dragons couldn’t comprehend what just transpired. That was until they looked at BlackWarGreymon. The Digimon had a glare of hatred and his right arm stretched forward.

It meant only one thing.

“You…you punched him!! Why!?” The skinny dragon asked as BlackWarGreymon recomposed himself. Glancing over to them with a gleam in his eyes.

“Wait…? Are you…? You’re a prissy pony lover, aren’t you!?” He asked again.

“You could say that. If you want to get to my friends, you have to go through me first,” BlackWarGreymon boldly said. The dragons infuriated by the second.

“Oh really? You may be bigger than us. But there’s three of us, and only one of you. You’re outmatched!” The smaller dragon said as the larger two got ready to fight.

BlackWarGreymon let out an amused chuckle that made the flying reptiles uneasy.

“Outmatched you say?” He then looked down at the river below. “Well from the looks of your friend, I think otherwise.”

The remaining three followed BlackWarGreymon’s gaze and had their sights fall upon their friend. Who was washed up on the bank of the river. They couldn’t believe it. The dragon was the strongest out of the four, and he was knocked out by a single punch.

While the smaller dragon stared back at BlackWarGreymon in fear, knowing that he was more than a dragon, the two bigger dragons glared at the Digimon in anger.

“Let’s rush him!!”

Then with a mighty flap of their wings, the two stronger dragons flew towards BlackWarGreymon, wanting to rip him open. But in a blink of an eye, the Mega level Digimon flew right up to them with superior speed, punched one dragon out of his way with his left gauntlet, twisted his body around and then slammed his right foot into the second dragon’s face.

Before the remaining dragon could understand what happened within the second that ticked by, he saw his once strong allies falling towards the forest below.

“No way! He knocked them out so easily!”

He then looked at BlackWarGreymon in terror. Frozen from the Digimon’s fierce gaze.

“How about you?”

The frightened dragon then resorted to his secret weapon. After a huge inhale, he released a sea of fire upon the black dragon warrior. After five seconds of engulfing his enemy in flames, the lizard smiled in satisfaction. Only then to gawk at the sight of his attack disappearing and BlackWarGreymon unharmed and unmoved. Even his yellow hair wasn’t singed by the slightest.

“Big mistake,” BlackWarGreymon said coldly.

After a moment of continues gawking, trying to say a word but unable to do so, the forth dragon flew away as fast as he could while shouting a name.

“GARBLE!!!”

After giving the fleeing dragon a five second head start, BlackWarGreymon flew after him. Making use of his far superior speed, the Digimon closed in on the dragon and flew downwards. Underneath the unsuspecting drake, BlackWarGreymon threw his body around and slammed his right foot full force into the dragon’s underbelly.

Time seemed to slow down for the dragon as he felt air escaping his lungs. And probably a few broken ribs. Then BlackWarGreymon flew in front of him and swung his left leg into the dragon’s side. Sending him straight into the forest floor alongside his unconscious buddies.

Three lessons were learnt on that day.

Lesson one: Don’t mess with a Mega level Digimon.

Lesson two: Don’t mess with an anti-hero.

And lesson three: Never mess with BlackWarGreymon.

With the four dragons easily dealt with, the victorious BlackWarGreymon turned his sights to the direction of Ponyville and flew towards another battle.

As long as he took every breath, as long as his heart kept beating, the good hearted Mega level Digimon won’t let anything bad happen to his new friends.

He would make sure of that.

Chapter 20: Attack on Ponyville

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Ponyville. A place where all kinds of ponies co-existed, was under attack from a gang of teenage dragons. With so many drakes in one place, the gang looked more like an army.

For a long while, the adolescent reptiles, led by a red dragon named Garble, were trying to find Ponyville. The unusually large scale attack was made when Garble told all his friends about a town full of defenceless ponies. Of course, the young dragons agreed to the potential meal. But the truth was that Garble himself had a score to settle with Spike and some of his pony friends. So, he figured that a full-on attack was the best way for his payback.

While all the other dragons see it as a town-sized dinner, to Garble it was vengeance. He felt humiliated on the day he met Spike and got out-witted by three mere Ponies. He would make them regret the day they crossed him.

The task was simple. Create as much destruction and confusion as they could, flush a large group of ponies out in the open, corner them, and finally swoop in to devour them.

However, no pony so far was eaten. The dragons were having too much fun scaring and chasing them. To them it was a game.

Just because the ponies were herbivores, it didn’t mean that some couldn’t fight for themselves.

One such pony made a daring move. As she spotted a dragon hovering above a group of young ponies, she dived down and tackled him to the ground. Then flew back in the air to taunt the reptile.

“Hay! Up here, scaly!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew away with the dragon following in pursuit.

At Sweet Apple Acres, an Earth Pony mare was holding her own against a drake. Being faster on land, she dodged a stream of smoke and kicked her hind legs hard into the dragon’s gut. The attack sent him flying.

“Take that ya’ pesky vermin!” Applejack shouted, followed by her brother Big Mac.

“Yep!”

Back at the town centre, things weren’t looking very good. A stampede of panicked ponies ran blindly in terror to hide from the winged beasts. But the dragons got the upper claw on them.

While at Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie, despite not being the strongest, was defending the bakery well. By filling her party cannon with cake or cooking dough, firing on the dragons meant that they got splatted or blinded by the desserts.

“Stay away! No party poopers allowed!” She said as she kept up her assault.

Meanwhile at the castle of Ponyville, purple streams of magical energy streaked across the open sky. Landing hits on the airborne lizards.

Princess Twilight Sparkle had also joined in the fray.

“Where did these dragons come from? Why are they here?” She asked herself, unaware that Spike ran out of the castle to join her.

“Twilight! What’s going on!?” He asked, moments ago he was sleeping before being awoken by noises of battle.

Twilight turned to face him in alarm.

“Spike! Get back inside! It’s not safe out here!”

However, she was too late. Spike became paralyzed with fear as he saw four dragons homing in on them. By the time Twilight turned around, the group of teenage drakes landed in front of her.

After a quick yelp of surprise, Twilight and Spike backed up some distance away. Just as one of the four dragons got a glance of the young purple one.

“Hay wait a minute, aren’t you that young dragon who gave Garble such a hard time at the Great Dragon Migration?”

“Yeah, named Spike?” The second followed.

Spike could only mumble in fear while hiding behind Twilight. But the dragons knew it was him.

“So it IS you!” The second dragon said before glancing over to Twilight. “And who is this? Your little pony mama?”

The other dragons laughed at the insult, but it struck one of the Alicorns’ nerves.

“Hay, that’s not funny! And what do you think you’re doing!?”

The first dragon answered her question after letting out a little chuckle.

“Well you, two other ponies and Spike here only gone and done made Garble mad.”

“Yeah. Especially how a baby dragon got someone like Garble on the ropes,” The third dragon said before releasing a chuckle from what he said. Only to get a slap on the back of his head by the forth.

“He means because of you, Garble spent a long time planning this day. He said, leaving the princess shocked at the revelation.

“You mean this is all to get back at us!?” She asked, demanding an answer.

“You bet! And this whole town is going to pay the price!” The second dragon blissfully shouted.

“But these ponies had nothing to do with that!” The purple princess shouted back, wanting the dragons to leave the town out of the destruction.

Meanwhile at the back of the group, the fourth dragon spotted the third one looking out to the Everfree Forest.

“What’s wrong? Food is right here,” The curious dragon asked.

“Well it’s my brother. He should have been here by now. What’s taking him so long?”

“I’m sure he’s fine. Probably chasing a Changeling again.”

After the reassurance, the two payed their attention back to the current matter at hand. What to do with Twilight and Spike.

The first dragon made a suggestion.

“I say we eat the pony. Pummel Spike to the bone. Then take him to Garble and watch him pummel him some more.”

He then looked over his shoulder to the other three.

“All in favor?”

“Eye!” The three dragons answered, agreeing to the idea.

“Then it’s settled,” The first one said while turning back to the fearful Twilight and Spike.

The Princess of Friendship took a brave stand by getting into her battle pose. Her head low with her wings flared, as if accepting a challenge.

Spike too tried to put on a brave performance by hopping on the spot and having his wrists to his sides. Throwing punches in the air in front of him.

“Yeah, put’em up! Put’em up! You don’t scare me!”

The four dragons chuckled to themselves like bullies in a school playground.

“You’re going to regret the day you crossed us,” The second dragon said before him and the other three started to walk towards the pair.

Twilight and Spike suddenly felt nervous. But they had to push their fear aside if they’re going to fight back.

However, just as the dragons were about to make their move, all of them heard sounds of screaming. But they weren’t the screams of ponies, but of dragons. Just as the four drakes, Twilight and Spike looked up to where the screams came from, something large crash-landed in-between the hunters and prey. The impact shook the ground hard as everyone near the castle lost their balance.

When the tremors stopped, the surprised princess and dragons got back up and looked at the newly formed dust cloud in front of them. It was there they saw, just poking out of the bottom of the dust cloud, was another dragon. Unconscious and badly beaten.

The four assaulting dragons were shocked at the sight. One of their brethren was beaten, and by from the look of it, not from a pony.

If it wasn’t a pony who done it, then who?

Soon Twilight and Spike got their answer. Moving out of the cloud of dust, was a black armoured leg. It then pressed its three-toed foot on the fallen dragon’s head, pinning him down.

As Twilight and Spike slowly looked up in awe, more and more of their suspicions became correct. As the dust cloud faded, the outline of the intruder became visible. A shiny black gauntlet and its gleaming claws could be seen, barely covered by the fading cloud. Followed by a black shield and soon enough, BlackWarGreymon was revealed. With his back to his two friends and facing the dragon group.

“BlackWarGreymon! You came!” Twilight said, complete in glee and relief that her powerful friend turned up to save the day.

“And just in time too!” Spike added, admiring the Digimon’s perfect sense of timing.

“Of course. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you and your friends,” BlackWarGreymon said as he glanced over to the pair, relieved that they were unharmed.

While the conversation went on, the four dragons were frozen in their tracks from what they were seeing. Not from the intruder’s appearance or the beaten dragon under his foot, but from what the Digimon was holding in his right hand.

“B…Big brother?” The third dragon uttered.

He was correct. Grasped firmly in the Mega’s grasp, was his own big brother. Beaten and grappled by the back of the neck, with his body dangling loosely. He was lucky to be alive.

Apparently after dealing with the first four dragons back in the Everfree Forest, BlackWarGreymon came across more dragons on his way to Twilight’s castle. Obviously each one he gone up against weren’t a clear match to the strength of a Mega level Digimon.

BlackWarGreymon then glanced his cold yellow eyes at the intimidated dragon crew.

“I assume this belongs to you,” The Digimon said as he tossed the beaten reptile in front of his partners. His tone of voice referenced to a time when he was cruel.

The frightened four continued to stare at BlackWarGreymon’s handiwork as he continued to speak.

“If you all know what’s good for you, I suggest that all of you leave now and not come back!”

By the time the Digimon finished his speech, the four dragons felt rage building up inside them. The newcomer may look like a dragon, but like Spike he too was a friend of ponies. But the fact he took out some of their own kind was the fact that really got them mad. They soon glared at BlackWarGreymon with bitter hatred and increasing thoughts of violence.

“You dare hurt one of our own kind!?” The first said in defiance.

“You’re gonna pay for this!” The third dragon shouted, with the second and forth rallying behind them in support.

“Yeah!!”

Twilight Sparkle and Spike took a few steps back, away from the inevitable fight. Knowing what BlackWarGreymon was capable of, the Alicorn felt sorry for the unsuspecting dragons. But she knew that it was they who started the attack on Ponyville and the Digimon was only going to fight to protect his friends and the town.

Before the battle of Ponyville began, BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened then again. Glaring at the dragons to show that he was both serious and would not hold back.

He then spoke to them in a way that would even make Princess Celestia curl up in fear.

“Hmm… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

‘Background music’ ‘Hero by Skillet’

The four dragons started to charge towards BlackWarGreymon. Two in the lead and two taking up the rear. Then with a sudden burst of speed, the Digimon flew towards them with his arms stretched wide. As he flew in-between the front two teenage dragons, he used his gauntlets to clothesline them. The impact from the slam immediately knocked them out cold. As he approached the remaining two, he grabbed both their muzzles and double-choke slammed them to the ground hard.

Twilight and Spike were amazed at the fighting style they never saw before. The four dragons were out of the fight within a blink of an eye.

Then BlackWarGreymon heard cries of panic in the sky, and spotted Rainbow Dash being pursued by three flying reptiles. After kneeling to grab two of the fallen dragons by their tails, he threw them towards the ones chasing the speedy Pegasus.

They hit their mark. One of the pursuing dragons got tackled by the unconscious one. Followed by the second.

Rainbow Dash, who looked back at the right time, saw the whole thing and along with the third dragon, paused in confusion. Then out of nowhere, the last dragon was tackled by BlackWarGreymon himself. Ramming his armoured shoulder into the reptile.

After another dragon bit the dust, the Digimon flew to another part of town. Rainbow Dash, amazed at what she saw, cheered him on.

“You go, big guy!!”

At Carousel Boutique, just buy the front door, Rarity was trying her best to hold of the draconic pests. Because she made dresses for a living, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t fight when the time mattered.

“Stay away you ruffians!” She shouted while standing in-between the dragons and her little sister, Sweetie Belle.

The oncoming dragons however only laughed at her display as their stomachs growled in hunger.

Unable to contain his lust for food any longer, one dragon leapt forward in an attempt to devour the two Unicorns. But as he made his move, BlackWarGreymon came from the right and slammed his right foot at the dragon. Knocking him out of the way.

The Digimon didn’t had time to say hello to his friends behind him. He had to take out the dragons quick.

“Dragon Crusher!”

With a downward swipe of his right Dramon Destroyer, BlackWarGreymon released a wave of energy that pushed back the dragons. Then with an upward swipe of his left, he threw a wave of unnatural purple fire that consumed the dragons. After screaming in pain, the dragons fell to the ground from the sheer heat and power of the attack.

Not far away, a lone dragon witnessed what happened to his friends, and was having none of it.

“Hay!”

He then charged forth and took a swipe of his claws on BlackWarGreymon’s arm. But the attack hadn’t made a mark on the Digimon’s armour. BlackWarGreymon retaliated by back-handing the drake with his left gauntlet. Then out of nowhere, another dragon came around and tried to take a bite on the Digimon’s armoured waist. But again, Chrome Digizoid proved to be too tough. The Mega then slammed his right arm onto the dragon’s head, sending him to the ground. Again, another dragon fried a head-on attack. But before he could get anywhere near the Digimon, the otherworldly visitor kicked the drake back with enough force to make him skid across the ground.

However, the clash was all witnessed by a familiar and enraged red teenage dragon. Knowing that something wasn’t right, he released a loud roar. A roar to gain the attention of every dragon. A roar for reinforcements.

Upon hearing the roar, all the dragons immediately stopped what they were doing and flew towards the dragon call.

As all the dragons gathered above Ponyville town hall, they all glared down at the onlooking but unmoved BlackWarGreymon. Most of the ponies who were under attack slowly crept out of hiding to see why the dragons had stopped attacking. Then they found out why because the Digimon was on the scene. Although the citizens of Ponyville never saw him in a fight, the fact that he gained the attention of so many dragons meant that he means business.

Then the ponies and BlackWarGreymon saw another dragon flying up at the heart of the group. When he stopped ascending to look at the Digimon below, like the rest of his personal army he was confused by his appearance, and enraged that a fierce dragon-like creature was on the side of ponies.

The individual was none other than the red dragon himself. Garble.

Despite being surrounded by roughly fifty of his friends, Garble was almost immediately identified by BlackWarGreymon as both leader and the one behind the raid on Ponyville.

Then the leader of the teenage dragons spoke to the defender of Equestria.

“Hay you! Do you know what happens to those who get in our way!? They get beaten and eaten!” He shouted, with his friends yelling in agreement.

What Garble said may had been the most ridicules threat BlackWarGreymon had ever heard. But he knew the dragons were a threat no matter what and had to be dealt with as soon as possible. So many lives were at stake and he knew it.

“Let’s turn that statement around, shall we?”

Then what many would believe to be a suicide run, BlackWarGreymon leapt to the air to engage the dragons head on. As he flew closer, the faces of the dragons and some of the ponies showed that they thought the Digimon was insane to fight while outnumbered.

BlackWarGreymon threw the first punch at Garble, but the smaller dragon ducked in time to avoid it. However, it left two poor dragons behind him to take the brunt of the attack. Knocking them out very easily. Then the Digimon fried a left swooping kick, but again Garble avoid it by flying above it. But it ended up costing three more dragons who were caught in the kick, sent straight down to the ground.

While the dragons were startled, the ponies below were amazed at the Digimon’s display of strength. He tried to get one dragon, but ended up getting five.

The dragons snapped out of their trance when they realised that the Digimon became surrounded by their numbers, and then prepared to attack. But what they didn’t expect was that BlackWarGreymon wanted to be surrounded. So he could knock them all out at the same time with only one attack.

“Black Tornado!”

One second the dragons were confused when BlackWarGreymon started to spin on the spot with his arms raised. Then the next second they found themselves in pain and trapped in the swirling black vortex.

Outside, the ponies were in awe. It was as if the black winds were summoned from BlackWarGreymon’s very body as it spun above town hall.

Then the dragons, either knocked out or in pain, were flung out of the tornado. Smashing to the ground or launched afar. As the tornado attack faded, Garble flailed in the air waving his arms around to keep himself balanced. Unfortunately, he was right in front of BlackWarGreymon, who sent the dragon crashing through a fruit cart with a single punch.

Almost instantly, BlackWarGreymon heard more screaming to his right. And just as quick as he heard it, he sped towards its source.

In front of a local spa, two Earth Ponies were cornered by a dragon who was two foot taller than the Digimon.

The two spa ponies, Aloe and Lotus Blossom, couldn’t find a way to get around the towering drake. As the reptile raised his head to prepare to eat the two, all the helpless ponies could do was scream and hope.

Fortunately, luck was on their side. Because BlackWarGreymon flew by, scooped the two girls in his arms and got out of harm’s way. It left the unsuspecting dragon to smash his own jaw on the ground. After he quickly got over the pain, he turned to where his prey went.

BlackWarGreymon, while holding the two spa Ponies, kept on flying to gain distance from the danger. After a couple of seconds, he came to a halt and knelt down. Releasing the pair from his grasp.

Although thankful for the rescue, the two ponies stared in horror at something approaching behind their saviour. The same dragon who tried to eat them. BlackWarGreymon was quick to read their expressions and glanced over his shoulder to see the oncoming drake. In response, the Digimon spun around and slammed the back of his left gauntlet into the dragon’s face. The force of the blow knocked both the dragon back and some of his teeth out.

Then BlackWarGreymon tackled the dragon and flew him straight into a stray building. The impact caused the entire building to collapse on the two inside.

As the rumbling stopped and with the dust fading, the gathering Ponyville citizens were in awe at an unbelievable sight.

At the heart of the debris, BlackWarGreymon rose back up to his full height. Not harmed in any way, even from a collapsed building. Down by his feet was the dragon, knocked out from the attack and the rubble.

After realising something was up, the unstoppable Digimon looked above to not only see roughly twenty-five dragons in the sky including Garble, but their mouths were spewing fire. Which meant only one thing when Garble gave the signal.

“ROAST HIM!!!”

All at once, the dragons unleased hell upon BlackWarGreymon. Either streams of fire or concentrated fireballs, they all landed hits on the Digimon below. Engulfing him and the demolished building in flames.

As the ponies grew faces of despair, thinking that their saviour couldn’t stand to the onslaught, some of the dragons stopped attacking and smiled in apparent victory. Garble being one of them.

“Ha, he’s toast!” He said before laughing like a playground bully.

However, something that had never been done before happened in front of everyone’s eyes. BlackWarGreymon, while being covered by dragon fire, jumped straight out of the fire pit and flew directly towards the assaulting drakes.

As Garble witnessed the approaching fiery Digimon, which to him was like watching an ancient god of legend rising out of the deepest depths of Tartarus itself, he screamed at the top of his lungs. The scream resembling more like a little school girl then a dragon. Within seconds, BlackWarGreymon slammed his shoulder into Garble. Shutting him up in the process. He then threw both his fiery arms outwards, using the dissipating flames to hit any airborne dragons who were in their path.

The ponies were even more impressed at what followed when BlackWarGreymon flew back to the ground. While he kept a struggling dragon in a headlock, the Digimon used his right arm and his legs to fight off any dragon who dared to go anywhere near him. With mere swipes, punches and kicks, some dragons were sent flying. As BlackWarGreymon continued his assault by throwing the grappled dragon into the others, he then slammed his gauntlets onto their heads. Again, the citizens couldn’t believe it. Although heavily outnumbered, their saviour was winning.

Then to the Digimon’s surprise, another large group of dragon teens flew above him and all dived down.

“DOG PILE!!!”

As BlackWarGreymon raised his arms to shield himself, the dragons kept piling on him. Hoping to use their combined weight to pin him down.

The only dragons who didn’t took part was Garble and his unusually large brother. Though a teenager, the larger one was twenty-five foot tall. About as tall as some buildings and more than twice BlackWarGreymon’s height.

As the struggle went on, Garble spoke to himself.

“Is he planning on taking on every dragon in sight!? I’ve never seen anything like it! He can’t be a dragon… he’s almost like a demon.”

The larger dragon overheard what Garble said and joined in.

“That kind of being… they call the Demon Lord.”

Then to the surprise of the dragons and the onlooking ponies, Twilight and her friends included, a blue glow appeared at the heart of the pile. Then a pulse of negative energy blew the dragons off BlackWarGreymon, who’s whole body was blowing with his own power. As the glow faded, the Digimon raised his arms above his head and created a large red sphere.

“Terra Destroyer!”

He then threw the giant orb at the dragons who took flight. The ball itself struck five dragons, while the explosion that followed consumed fourteen more. The end result was nineteen dragons knocked out and falling from the sky above.

The citizens were left gawking at the Digimon’s display of power for the first time. Defeating such a large number of foes with only one attack was something very few could match. After witnessing the attack several times before, the Mane Six thought they would be used to it. But even they were impressed.

While Garble was in a state of shock from the sight of his friends being beaten badly, his giant but not very bright brother growled in anger before charging forth to avenge the fallen dragons. As Garble attempted to call him back, it was too late.

BlackWarGreymon spotted the approaching dragon raising his huge claws above his head to either slash or crush the Digimon. But as the dragon swung his arms down, BlackWarGreymon ducked down. Allowing the dragons’ arms to pass over. Along with the rest of his body. Then the Mega Digimon raised his upper body into the dragons’ stomach and, with his strength betraying his size, he flipped the dragon over his back and then crashed to the ground.

Before the reptile could get back up, BlackWarGreymon grabbed the beast by the muzzle and tossed him into the remaining group of dragons on land. It was then quickly followed by a Terra Destroyer sphere.

Seeing the strength and power of his enemy, as well as his friends going through pain was too much for Garble to handle. Although terrified, he was getting angry from seeing his dragon-folk being beaten as if they’re nothing.

With a roar of anger, the red dragon charged at the Digimon, hoping that he was too distracted to notice. Unbelievably, without even looking, BlackWarGreymon reached out his right arm to his side and caught Garble by the neck. As the dragon struggled to get free, he suddenly found himself looking into the eyes of the so-called Demon Lord. The Digimon glaring at him with not just anger, but disapproval at the drake’s actions.

“Pathetic.”

Then with a mighty throw, BlackWarGreymon launched Garble high in the sky. The Digimon himself took off in pursuit as he engaged another attack.

“Mega Destroyer!”

Upon saying his words, his entire body became shrouded in a mass of transparent black energy. Like a black comet, he shot straight towards Garble and skimmed past the dragon. Only his shoulder and the black energy caught the dragon, but it caused him to grunt loudly from the sudden pain.

As Garble fell towards the ground, BlackWarGreymon stopped his attack, done a quick U-turn, slammed his right foot into Garble’s back and squashed him to the ground. Plus, the momentum caused the Digimon to grind the dragon in the dirt. Practically using him as a skateboard.

After the momentum stopped, the Mega kicked his right foot out, flinging the beaten Garble into the rest of his crew on the outskirts of Ponyville.

As Garble slowly got back up, he turned around and saw BlackWarGreymon walking towards him. As if he wanted to fight some more. Although he really hates to admit defeat, Garble knew that he and his dragon buddies were no match for the Digimon.

They had no choice but to retreat.

“Everyone! Let’s get out of here!! This guy’s too much!!”

After his command, the once feared dragon Garble, flew away in fear and humiliation. One by one, all the other dragons who were awake too fled for their lives. Following Garble all the way back to wherever they came from.

As the dragons faded away over the horizon, the ponies of Ponyville gathered at the town outskirts to watch them leave for good towards the sunset. They then looked to their side to stare at the one responsible for saving them all. BlackWarGreymon.

With his back to them, the Digimon too watched the fleeing drakes. He then turned around to look at the lives he’d saved. Glad that he arrived in time and the sight that no pony was severely harmed.

Then out of nowhere, a blue twelve-foot dragon emerged and charged at the Digimon from behind.

‘Song end’

Before the ponies could say a word of warning, BlackWarGreymon, without even moving his position, elbowed the dragon in the chest with his right arm. And then tilted his arm upwards to slam his Digizoid gauntlet in the dragons’ muzzle.

If one would blink, they would’ve missed that the Digimon knocked out a dragon without even trying.

After BlackWarGreymon regained his calm composure, he hoped that the fact he could take on an army of teenage dragons and win, wouldn’t make the ponies fear him just as much.

Luckily, he was dead right.

Because the moment there was no sign of bad dragon activity, the ponies all cheered as loud as they could. Praising the Artificial Digimon for his timely rescue and devotion to protect the whole town.

BlackWarGreymon couldn’t think of a word to describe what he was feeling. It was the second time that a mass of ponies cheered in celebration for what he’d done for them, and again he wasn’t used to it. But he did felt happy that he was using his powers to protect, not destroy.

The feeling of happiness only grew stronger when he saw Twilight and her friends. Smiling and cheering just as much as everypony else.

If he had a mouth, BlackWarGreymon would be smiling.

As the cheering died down, a lone Earth Pony walked up to him with a smile on her face. She had tan coloured fur, her mane and tail were grey and her cutiemark was of a scroll with a blue ribbon. She was none other than the Mayor of Ponyville herself.

“What is your name, brave sir?” She asked the Digimon.

“BlackWarGreymon,” He answered.

“Well BlackWarGreymon, on behalf of everypony in Ponyville, we thank you for saving us all in our time of need.”

The Mega knew she was right. Had he not arrived in time, the whole town would’ve been destroyed.

“You’re most welcome,” He said, finally getting a hang of accepting someone’s gratitude.

The mayor turned around to face all the other ponies and then raised her hoof to their saviour.

“Now everypony! Let’s cheer for our new hero, BlackWarGreymon!”

The response was obvious. Everypony young and old, big and small, all cheered for BlackWarGreymon. Twilight and her friends couldn’t be more proud of the Digimon for putting himself on the line for others. Ironically the one thing he wasn’t created to do.

BlackWarGreymon felt happy again as he felt a warm embrace in his heart. Glowing from the amount of love and admiration he received.

Though he couldn’t figure out why the Tree of Harmony brought him to Equestria, or how it even knew of his existence, but he was so glad that it did.

Chapter 21: Day in Ponyville

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Dark lair, unknown location


Morning. It’s been several hours since the invasion of Ponyville ended in failure. And before the morning started, it wasn’t a good day for Garble.

In fact, perhaps the scariest day of his life.

Yes, it’s true that he attacked Ponyville for his own reasons, but the real truth was that he was ordered to do so. Ordered by a creature who was far from being a dragon. A force that originated from a different world altogether. A being so strong, so evil, so intimidating that not even BlackWarGreymon could measure up to his level. True, the red dragon got beaten by the Artificial Digimon on the day before. But compared to his ‘boss’, he’s only a close second.

The day Garble first met the creature, just the sight of him made the dragon literally freeze in terror. And the sound of his voice almost made him wet himself like a hatchling.

If it weren’t for the fact that Garble despise ponies and their way of life, the horrifying creature would’ve killed him.

Knowing that ponies were weak and that dragons eat flesh as well as gems, the beast gave Garble a deal. Destroy Ponyville and become a member of his ranks. But there was a catch.

Failure was not an option.

Even though he failed, Gable had to face the creature. Because he said that if he didn’t for whatever reason, he would track the teen dragon’s family down and would slaughter them all without mercy, pity or compassion.

Traits of a pure, heartless monster.

There Garble stood, shivering in utter terror just as he told his boss that the raid in Ponyville was unsuccessful. After grunting in anger and tightly clenching his huge hands, the being made his way towards Garble. The terrified dragon tried to step back but found himself with his back against a wall. Garble’s feet were scraping on the ground as if to try to gain more distance. But he cannot escape from the being’s terrifying gaze.

“You had Ponyville within your grasp, and you let it slip!”

His voice ripped through Garble’s ears and sent a dead cold chill through his entire body. The drake tried to explain but his fear only made him stutter and mumble.

The evil being only grew inpatient as he reached out and grabbed Garble by the neck. The dragon tried to squirm and wiggle free as he was hoisted off the ground. But the grip of the huge hand was solid as rock.

Before Garble knew it, he found himself lifted to the beings’ eye level, staring into his hellish yellow eyes. The creepiest part about his eyes was the pupils themselves. The way they looked was like they could penetrate skin and bone, and see into the very soul itself.

“You pathetic oversized gecko. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t skin you alive.”

Garble responded back.

“B-Because I-I don’t have skin. I-I have scales,” He said, trying to humour the monster.

But it only made things worse.

“DON’T BE FUNNY WITH ME!!” The being shouted as he tightened his grip on Garble’s neck. His claw-like fingers digging into dragon scales and slowly into the soft tissue inside.

As Garble tried to fight for air, he pleaded for his life.

“NO WAIT!! PLEASE!! IT’S NOT MY FAULT! I SWARE! I SWARE IT!! We were beaten in a fight! We weren’t prepared!!”

Garble’s choice of words made the creature pause his hand clenching. But what he said in response was evident that he was more infuriated then before.

“Are you telling me… that you were BEATEN… BY WEAK… DEFENCELESS… PONIES!!?”

He then clenched his hand again, strangling Garble in the process. As tears fell from the dragon’s eyes, he pleaded again.

“But they’re weren’t defenceless! A creature came out of nowhere and helped them!!”

Upon hearing the new information immediately made the evil being loosened his grip slightly. Not chocking Garble but holding him by the neck.

“I’m listening,” The being said, making the teen explain what happened.

“We…we were doing just fine, according to plan. But we were attacked by… some kind of black dragon. But he’s no dragon I’ve ever seen. He fought like a demon. Even with my whole crew, we couldn’t beat him. He’s too powerful.”

The creature turned his head aside in thought, taking in the useful information. Then as he faced the dragon again, Garble panicked.

“I-It’s the truth I tell you! I swear it! Please don’t hurt me!”

After pondering of what to do with Garble, the monster made a decision.

“If I wanted to, I would’ve turned you into a leather jacket. But thanks to your information of this… ‘black dragon’, I’m now in a good mood.”

With this statement made, he threw the confused dragon near the exit of his lair.

“Now leave and never return. Oh, and by the way. If you ever tell anyone about me or this place, I will hunt you down and make you watch as I destroy everything you love. EVEN your precious family. Understand!”

Garble responded with several quick nods of understanding and took off towards the exit, crying all the way out.

Then, in the darkness behind the powerful being, a mass of dark magic began to gather silently. In a form of a living shadow, the dark energy began to mould itself into a pony-like figure, and then it took physical form.

There stood a dark stallion. Roughly the same height as Princess Luna. While he had grey fur, his black mane and tail swayed around from the energy within him. Metal plates adorned his body while a red robe covered his back. Being a Unicorn, he had a horn. But unlike a normal Unicorn horn, which was like a spiral cone and the same colour as the pony fur, his was red and curved like a dragon’s. Bizarrely for a pony he had fangs, and his eyes were green and red, with purple misty energy escaping from them.

The evil being didn’t need to see the dark pony to know that he was behind him.

“I figured you would be nearby.”

The pony answered back.

“How could I resist. It’s rather refreshing to see you threatening that dragon the way you did.”

The dark being let out an amused chuckle before he spoke.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you, King Sombra.”

The pony, identified as the former ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra, pondered on the description Garble told.

“Seems Tirek was right. There is a new force in Equestria.”

The dark being let out another chuckle.

“You speak as though I didn’t believe that pathetic Centaur. But I did.”

“So you think it’s from the same world where you come from?” Sombra asked, eager to know.

“No doubt about it. Only a Digimon could defeat Tirek so easily.”

As the evil Digimon went on, Sombra patiently listened.

“The description of this Digimon is almost identical to the one I fought in the past. But his colour scheme is completely off. It’s a new one even for me. I remember him being gold, not black.”

“You think this… Digimon could pose a problem for us?” Sombra asked.

But his answer was a confusing one.

“I’m not entirely sure, Sombra. So far, his actions are of a hero. But I can sense his energy. It’s too dark to be from a true hero.”

“So what do you want me to do about him… m…my lord?” Sombra asked, slightly hesitant at calling the one before him his lord.

“Nothing yet. I still need to decide if he’s friend of foe. But there is something I want you to do.”

Sombra payed full attention.

“What may that be?” He asked.

“Go to the furthest edges of the Everfree Forest, and find the Changeling hive.”

The Digimon then looked at his open palms as he was deep in thought.

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen their queen.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………...................

Ponyville, Twilight’s castle

BlackWarGreymon, a Digimon who called Equestria his home, was standing on the roof of the highest crystal tower. He first went up to the top to watch the morning sunrise, which turned into enjoying the view of Ponyville below.

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for BlackWarGreymon. First being royally introduced to the citizens of Canterlot by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, then doing combat training with the royal guards, flew to the Everfree Forest to encounter the Royal Sisters’ old castle and the Tree of Harmony, the elements included. And to top it all off, saving the town from a large group of teenage dragons.

He then remembered the events after his victory over the reptiles. The Mane Six, along with himself, Spike and the whole town all rallied what was left of the beaten drakes and chased them out of town. And those whom were knocked out, BlackWarGreymon personally and literally threw them out like trash bags.

Day gave way to night after the clean-up and the Digimon decided to try sleep again. Although new to him, he found sleeping very relaxing. It also gave him time to think things over.

Once such subject to think about was the voice he heard that led him to the Tree of Harmony. It was definatly a voice he had never heard before. And despite being around others at the time, only HE heard it. And when he touched the tree, it reacted to his very being. But one question dominated all, how did the voice know his name?

He needed answers, and he knows just the pony to talk to.
………………………………………………………………………………………….......................

After finishing her breakfast, Princess Twilight went back to the task of re-organizing her study room. It being one of her best hobbies, other ponies felt that she was too organized. Even Spike would agree, but being by her side since he hatched, he had come to terms with it. After all, he was her number one assistant.

Speaking of the young purple dragon, Spike arrived at the study room with one of his comics grasped in his claws. He planned to spend half the day helping Twilight, and the other half reading, eating and napping.

Before he got to sit down however, Twilight spotted him.

“Oh Spike, can you come over here for just a minute?”

Spike, being one of Twilight’s closest friends, had to push aside his own needs to help the Alicorn in any way he could. Being loyal and faithful. Even if the ‘minute’ turned out to be hours.

“Yes Twilight?” Spike said as he rushed to her side.

“I’m going to re-organize this shelf, can you help me pick up all these scrolls?” She asked while pointing to a bunch of scrolls scattered around the floor.

“Yes mam,” Spike answered before picking up the scrolls.

As he picked them up, he briefly spotted BlackWarGreymon’s name in one of the scrolls. Curious to find what it was about, Spike unrolled the scroll and noticed that the page was completely blank. All what’s on it was the title.

“BlackWarGreymon’s maximum strength?” He read out in confusion. He then unrolled another scroll and read from it.

“BlackWarGreymon’s top flight speed.”

Then another.

“BlackWarGreymon’s true power output.”

Then the curious dragon got Twilight’s attention.

Umm, Twilight, what’s this about?” He asked her while showing her one of the open scrolls.

Twilight explained.

“Well Spike. Since BlackWarGreymon’s staying in Equestria, I’d like to learn more about him.”

“So you’re going to study him? Now I feel sorry for BlackWarGreymon,” Spike said, the last sentence he said was to himself. But Twilight heard a bit of it.

“What was that, Spike?” She asked with a suspicious raised eyebrow.

“Ohh…nothing,” Spike said in a mild panic. He then continued.

“But what else is there to learn from him? He’s like an awesome super hero who goes around saving the world.”

Upon hearing the comment made Twilight Sparkle nervously chuckle.

“Funny thing is Spike, he wasn’t originally like that.”

Spike looked at the Alicorn in confusion.

“Huh? What do you mean, Twi?”

“Well… you see… he was in fact opposite.”

Spike froze from hearing the answer. An opposite of a hero could only mean one thing.

“WAIT… he was evil?”

Despite the hint of fear in Spike’s voice, Twilight answered as if she wasn’t worried at all. In fact, she was calm about it.

“Mm-hmm.”

“And now… he’s good?”

“Yep.”

Spike blinked in bewilderment.

“Woah… he sounds like Discord. But wait. How is it that you got used to BlackWarGreymon much quicker then Discord?”

Twilight answered what was in fact a very good question.

“Because Spike, Discord was evil because he enjoyed spreading chaos and disharmony. BlackWarGreymon only did it because he thought it was the only path to the meaning of his existence.”

Such an answer only confused Spike even more.

“Huh?”

Twilight explained once more.

“You see Spike, BlackWarGreymon… is like a child. An incredibly powerful child. He was created in a world he didn’t understand, and tried to solve his problems on his own. Because he didn’t know what was right and wrong, it lead him being very destructive. Even becoming a great threat to his entire world.”

Spike froze in place. Understanding BlackWarGreymon was one thing, then hearing the fact that he was a threat to his world was even more startling. But Twilight carried on.

“But it was when he stopped and listened to other Digimon, he discovered that there was a whole lot more to life than being the strongest of all. BlackWarGreymon became good and even accepted friendship.”

“Woah, that is deep,” Spike said in awe.

They were then interrupted when they heard someone flying through an open window and landing on the crystal floor behind them. Turning around, Twilight and Spike saw that it was none other than the Digimon himself.

“Oh, hay BlackWarGreymon. We were just talking about you,” Twilight said. She then noticed that he looked a little serious about something.

“Is something the matter?” She asked.

“Twilight, I need to ask you about something?” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Well, it’s about the Tree of Harmony.”

Twilight immediately paused her organizing and, with wide eyes in shock, stopped moving altogether. Yes, she and her friends told him about the Elements of Harmony, but they never mentioned about the tree itself. Spike, who was just as surprised, broke the stunned silence.

“Wait, how did you know about the tree?”

“Because I’ve seen it in a cave at the Everfree Forest.”

Twilight, while startled, faced BlackWarGreymon.

“B-But how did you find it? Although I did mean to tell you about it sooner, but I don’t remember telling you where it is.” She said before drinking her glass of water she was saving.

“You didn’t. The voice from the tree spoke to me and I followed it.”

Hearing what he said surprised Twilight so much, she spat out the water she drank. Accidently soaking poor Spike. BlackWarGreymon didn’t know why Twilight was acting up suddenly, but what he said clearly startled her.

After stuttering to herself, failing to make a word, the Alicorn stared at the Digimon in disbelief.

“A…A…A voice? The...the tree…SPOKE…to you!?”

“Well… yes. Yesterday I heard it from Canterlot, followed it to the Everfree and found that it came from the tree.”

Twilight couldn’t move a muscle. The revelation of what she heard was new even for her.

‘This won’t end well.’ Spike thought to himself.

“And since you’ve seen and been around the tree before, I thought that you’d know something about it,” BlackWarGreymon continued.

However, instead of answering, Twilight rushed like a roadrunner to a nearby shelf and franticly looked through her books and scrolls.

While Spike had seen Twilight acting up in a similar fashion, BlackWarGreymon only blinked in surprise and confusion. He was unable to figure out why she was behaving so oddly. Until he heard her talking to herself.

“No, no, no. How can that happen? I don’t understand. It makes no sense.”

“What’s wrong? Are you ok, Twilight?” He asked, but Twilight was too distracted to listen.

“I don’t get it. I’ve read and studied as much as I could about the Tree of Harmony. Even Celestia lent me her information about it. But I’ve never read or heard anything about hearing a voice.”

Becoming more determined to find answers, BlackWarGreymon rushed to her side and knelt beside her.

“Wait! You’re telling me that neither you or your friends heard the voice like I did?”

The frazzled Twilight answered.

“No… never. But I’ve used one of the elements and help re-energize the tree. It even gave me a chest that later turned into this castle. And not once I’ve heard a voice.”

BlackWarGreymon too was confused. He was sure it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but the voice sounded too real.

“Then… why is it that only I heard it?”

Twilight then became more intrigued by the new information.

“I don’t know, but… what did it sound like?”

BlackWarGreymon then remembered hearing the voice, and then described it.

“Well… it was definatly of a female. It was soft and calm. Kind of like a wind chime in a cool breeze. It sounded both young and old at the same time, as if it’s all-knowing. All I could say is that the voice sounded warm and inviting.”

Twilight was amazed at the description. Making her wish that she could hear it.

“Sounds like the voice was beautiful,” Twilight said.

Then BlackWarGreymon felt something tapping his right leg. Looking down he saw Spike, trying to ask him something.

“Umm, BlackWarGreymon. I’m just throwing it out there but, can I try wearing that?” He asked while pointing at one of the Digimon’s Dramon Destroyers.

While the question may had spoiled the feeling of mystery just seconds ago, BlackWarGreymon allowed it anyway.

“Suit yourself.”

He then laid his right arm down and slid it out of the gauntlet. Spike then walked over and slipped his right arm into it. Eager to feel what it was like to wield such a weapon, he tried to lift it. But the gauntlet didn’t even move so much of an inch. He tried to lift it again, even resorting to use both his tiny arms in the Digizoid weapon. But try as he might, he couldn’t even make the thing budge.

“Wow. This…is…very…heavy,” The young dragon said in-between attempts to lift the gauntlet.

“Yeah. My Dramon Destroyers are heavier then they look,” BlackWarGreymon said.

The unusual use of words caught Twilight’s attention. Turning her away from her work.

“Dra-what Destroyers?”

“Oh. Dramon Destroyers is what my gauntlets are called. Although I use them against all my opponents, they’re very effective against dragon-type Digimon. In fact, the name means Dragon Killer”, BlackWarGreymon explained.

Upon hearing every detail, Spike froze. After adjusting his eyes so his sights fell upon the clawed weapon, he immediately backed away from it. Almost in a panic.

Before they could carry on, Rainbow Dash flew in through an open window to great the three.

“Hey guys.”

Although slightly startled from the entry, Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon spotted the hovering Pegasus.

“Hi Rainbow dash. What’s up?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, I just dropped by to see how the big guy’s doing,” Rainbow Dash answered.

“I’m doing just fine,” BlackWarGreymon assured before asking her a question.

“How’s Ponyville?”

“Well the town took some damage, but it’s nothing we can’t fix,” Rainbow Dash answered. Then after a second of silence, she let out a squeal of excitement. Which caught the three off-guard.

“But you were so awesome yesterday! The dragons never saw you coming! You jumped into danger! You can take a hit! You just kept on coming! I mean you took a huge dog pile, being engulfed in flames and had a building collapsed on you! And yet you walk out of it like it was nothing! Sweet Celestia you’re so cool! If somepony wrote a story about you, I would definatly read it!”

Twilight and Spike paused in awe. The last time they’ve seen Rainbow Dash like that was when she read her first Daring Do book. Then meeting the treasure hunter herself. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile paused for a different reason. Being liked and thanked was one thing, but being praised was another.

Seemed as though the Digimon has got himself a little fan.

“Uhh……thank you?”

Just as it seemed Rainbow Dash got her excitement out of her system, she spoke again.

“And it’s not just your strength. But I bet that the thing that makes you even more awesome is your super powers! You can even make fire that not even dragons can withstand!”

“Yeah, and we dragons can swim in lava,” Spike joined, he too was surprised at what the Digimon could do.

It was also the kind of topic that got Twilight interested.

“I’m glad you mentioned it Rainbow, because I’ve been meaning to ask you something BlackWarGreymon?”

All eyes turned to the Alicorn.

“Your powers aren’t magic based. So how is it that you can use them?” She asked the Mega.

Feeling ok to share knowledge about himself to his friends, BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Well, I could tell you how my Terra Destroyer attack works.”

In response to the new lesson, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike sat in front of BlackWarGreymon while he explained.

“You see, because I’m made from Control Spires, my entire body contains negative energy. And I use this energy to draw in all the negative emotions around me, and then focus it into a sphere of super-heated energy. Because I have complete mastery of this technique, I can even control the size of it. I could make it as small as a ball or as big as a building.”

“Interesting,” Twilight said, clearly fascinated by the information.

Rainbow Dash and Spike however were confused.

“Sorry. I kinda got lost after the negative energy bit,” The Pegasus said.

“Yeah, I didn’t get it either,” The young dragon joined.

After releasing a sigh, BlackWarGreymon explained it much simpler.

“Basically, I put all the energy from the atmosphere into a big ball of total annihilation.”

“Ooh,” Rainbow Dash and Spike said, finally understanding.

Then BlackWarGreymon knelt to one knee in front of his friends.

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

He then raised his free right hand in front of him and opened his palm. Then after a brief second, red light gathered above his hand and a small orb appeared. Not wasting such an opportunity, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike went up to BlackWarGreymon’s hand for a closer look. Even though it was half the size of Spike, the tiny sphere was giving off great amount of heat.

“That’s so awesome,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above the sphere.

“Woah,” Spike said, almost mesmerized by the red light.

Although mesmerized herself, Twilight had another question.

“BlackWarGreymon, what do you mean by negative emotions?”

“You know, emotions that bring out your negativity. Like fear, hatred, anger and guilt” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Luckily somepony as cool as me is hardly like that. I’m always positive,” Rainbow Dash said with a smug grin on her face. Only for it to disappear from the truth that the Digimon spoke of.

“Pride counts as a negative, Rainbow.”

“Wha!? It does!?” She moaned, making Twilight and Spike quietly chuckle.

Then BlackWarGreymon thought of another demonstration.

“Ok. I want you three to close your eyes and think of something that makes you angry or scared. Then watch the sphere.”

Wanting to see where the little test was going, the two ponies and the dragon closed their eyes and concentrated. Twilight thought of what would happen if she lost her friends or lost the bond of friendship he had with them. Her fear. Spike focused on the thought of being kicked out of Twilight’s home and her life. His fear. Rainbow dash simply thought of the time when Discord messed up her friendship with her friends. Her anger.

Just as the three opened their eyes at the tiny Terra Destroyer orb, the instantly noticed that it grew bigger by a couple of inches.

“Wow, it worked!” Twilight said with glee, happy that BlackWarGreymon shared the information with her.

“Yes. And with the magic of your world enhancing my abilities, this small ball alone is very destructive. It could even destroy a small building,” The Digimon said before focusing his energy to make the orb disappear from his hand.

As BlackWarGreymon reached around to put his right gauntlet back on, Rainbow Dash said something that caught his attention.

“Seems the Demon Lord’s living up to his name with that kind of power.”

BlackWarGreymon turned to her in confusion.

“Demon Lord?”

Their conversation also brought the attention of Twilight and Spike.

“Oh. During your fight with the dragons, I overheard one calling you the ‘Demon Lord’. Now that’s a cool nickname for you,” Rainbow Dash continued.

“I don’t think that’s a nickname, Rainbow,” Twilight spoke up, bringing everyone’s attention to her.

“You know about the Demon lord?” Spike asked.

“Our knowledge of the dragons is limited. But I think I have something from Celestia’s old castle.”

Knowing that she read about it before, Twilight used her magic to look through a stack of books. After putting the rest back in their place, only one book was left in front of her.

“Here,” She said, with Spike reading the title of the book.

“The book of dragon folk lore.”

“Yes. It holds all the tales and legends that dragons beyond Equestria believed in. Some tales were over a thousand years old,” Twilight said as she set the book down for her friends to see. Then skipping through pages to find the one she was looking for.

After a brief moment, Twilight found the page.

“Here it is.”

She then read out loud what the page said.

“The Demon Lord.

A strong dragon-like entity with power unrivalled by many of his time. Thousands of years old, it is said that he was an offspring of fire and Tartarus itself. Wearing impenetrable armour forged from a world unknown. And powers that destroyed the land around him. Known as the God of War, he was feared by both Alicorns and elder dragons. According to legend, he took on an army of demons forged from dark magic. And prevailed.”

The three who were listening couldn’t believe it. Even BlackWarGreymon was impressed by how strong the Demon Lord was.

“What else is there about him?” Spike asked.

“Well there’s not much. All what’s left is that one day the Demon Lord disappeared without a trace. And as time went on, he just became a legend. An old dragon’s tale,” Twilight answered, almost disappointed that not much was said in the book.

“Well… I may not be that Demon Lord, but I do like the name,” BlackWarGreymon admitted.

“See. Doesn’t hurt to have a cool nickname,” Rainbow Dash said.

Afterword’s, BlackWarGreymon stood back up and made his way towards the exit of the study room. Twilight caught on.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

The Digimon paused and looked back at the Alicorn.

“If you don’t mind Twilight, I’m just heading out to explore Ponyville some more.”

“Ok. Have fun.”

As BlackWarGreymon headed towards the gates that lead outside, Rainbow Dash appeared above his head.

“Mind if I tag along?” She asked while flying upside down. Knowing how long it would take for Twilight to re-organize her study room.

“Don’t see why not,” The Digimon answered. Not minding some company.

With the blue Pegasus by his side, the pair passed through the gates and left Twilight’s castle.

As the two walked down the short path to the town, Rainbow Dash asked BlackWarGreymon something.

“Just out of curiosity, why do you shout out the names of your attacks when you use them?”

It was a question BlackWarGreymon had to think about.

“You know something, I don’t actually know. All Digimon do it. I guess we say it because we want the names to strike fear into our enemies when we defeat them,” He answered. Although he was unsure but it was the best answer he could think of.

But it was enough to amaze the blue pony.

“Wow. Sounds cool.”

After their conversation, the pair entered Ponyville. BlackWarGreymon’s presents alone made everypony around him pause and look at him in awe. Then after their stunned silence, the ponies began to happily gather around the Digimon while all talking at the same time. Although he knew that they’re only being friendly, it remained new to BlackWarGreymon. It was evident by the puzzled expression in his eyes. Rainbow Dash noticed it and elbowed his arm to get his attention.

“Don’t worry big guy, you’ll get used to this,” She said, clearly from experience.

Despite the growing crowd and the increasing voices, most of what the Digimon got out of them were mainly ‘thank you’s’.

“Uhh… all of you are very welcome. I just did what had to be done,” BlackWarGreymon said, feeling awkward from what was happening in front of him.

Rainbow Dash could literally feel the awkwardness coming from BlackWarGreymon, meaning that it was his first time being praised in such a way.

“Ok everypony. The big guy knows you’re all thankful. Please give him some room.”

Knowing that they’re making him uncomfortable, the ponies took a few steps back while looking at him in awe once more.

“So this is the first time this happened to you?” Rainbow Dash asked BlackWarGreymon.

“Definitely.”

Then the two continued on their way. As they walked through town, ponies kept looking at their saviour. Giving him warm smiles of gratitude. Like before, BlackWarGreymon felt good that everyone around him liked him instead of feared him.

Just as he was getting comfortable, he heard short screams of joy in front of him. looking ahead, he saw a group of fillies running towards him. BlackWarGreymon had to stop. The last thing he would want was to step on one of them. Completely still, the powerful Digimon could only watch as five fillies playfully ran around and in-between his legs.

Rainbow Dash, as well as other ponies around her, couldn’t help but snicker in laughter as they watched the young ponies having fun with BlackWarGreymon.

It was also new to the Mega. Young ones playing near him.

After their little game, the laughing fillies climbed on BlackWarGreymon’s feet and gave him a quick hug before running off.

“Hah, even the kids like you,” Rainbow Dash said while the Digimon kept looking in the direction where the fillies ran off to.

“Hmm.”

Not far away from them, Pinkie Pie left Sugar Cube Corner with a cupcake on top of her head. Flinging her head back, she tossed the tasty treat in the air and then let it fall into her wide gaping mouth. Then without chewing, she swallowed it whole.

After she had her little snack, Pinkie Pie spotted Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon heading in her direction. Releasing a loud gasp of excitement, she ran as fast as she could towards them.

“Hey guys!” She shouted as she came to a screeching halt in front of her friends.

“Hey Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash greeted back.

“So you’re enjoying your stay, BlackWarGreymon?” The pink pony asked.

“As a matter of fact, I am,” BlackWarGreymon answered, making Pinkie Pie’s smile bigger. Then she let out a gasp.

“Oh, how could I forget. I forgot to welcome you to Ponyville.”

What she said left the tall being confused.

“I thought you already did.”

“No silly. I mean the official welcome!” The pink mare said as she reached behind a stray crate and brought out her pink party wagon. It had an oven in the middle and several tall tubes sticking out which were in fact confetti cannons.

“I use this to welcome newcomers,” Pinkie Pie said.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” BlackWarGreymon said, thinking that he had been welcomed enough.

“Plleeeeeaaasse.” Pinkie Pie pleaded as she tried to use her cute puppy eyes and quivering lips.

Rainbow Dash giggled at seeing the pink mare trying to pull such a trick on BlackWarGreymon.

But the Digimon didn’t want to upset one of his new friends. After releasing a sigh, he gave in.

“Ok then.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie Pie said as she gave BlackWarGreymon’s leg a quick hug.

Then she rushed back to her wagon and pressed a button.

Then to the Digimon’s surprise, the wagon started to bounce on its own and several flags popped out and waved. Not only that, music seemed to play out of it.

Then along with the music, Pinkie Pie sang her welcome song.

“Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you.
Welcome welcome welcome, I say how do you do.
Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip hip hurray.
Welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville today!”

During the course of her musical singing and dancing, she somehow managed to put a party cone hat on BlackWarGreymon’s head.

Before the Mega could even comprehend what just happened, Pinkie Pie spoke.

“Wait for it.”

‘Wait for what?’ The Digimon thought to himself as he looked at the pink wagon.

Then an on cue, the oven dinged and a cloud of confetti came bursting from it. As the confetti passed BlackWarGreymon, the surprised Digimon noticed that the tubes on the wagon suddenly bulged and then fired what looked like uncooked cake dough in the sky. Unfortunately for him however, the dough passed above his head and came raining down on him. Completely covering him and Pinkie Pie in cake mix.

“Guys?” Rainbow Dash said after a long silent pause.

Then Pinkie Pie shook the cake mix off while laughing at herself.

“Oops, silly me. I must’ve put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the party cannon. Again.”

After the party pony ate what was left of the dough on her, she and Rainbow Dash looked at BlackWarGreymon. The only thing not covered in cake dough was his yellow eyes. The way they looked showed that he was not amused.

Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash tried her best to not laugh out loud by the way the Digimon looked.

“Oops… sorry,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice sounding innocent.

Though he didn’t say a word, BlackWarGreymon forgave her. As he tried to wipe the dough off his body, he heard a voice.

“Don’t worry!”

BlackWarGreymon saw something moving over his head. Looking up, he saw it was a Pegasus pushing a cloud over his head.

The Pegasus mare had blonde mane and tail, light grey fur and series of bubbles for a cutiemark. What was strange about her was that her eyes were looking in separate directions.

Her name was Derpy Hooves.

The cloud she was pushing was suspiciously dark as she placed it over Digimon’s head.

“I’ll wash it off,” She said as she prepared to kick her hind legs into the cloud.

Her plan was to use the rain to wash the cake dough off BlackWarGreymon. But Rainbow Dash realised that the cloud looked suspicious for a reason.

“Wait Derpy! That’s not a rain cloud, that’s a thunder…”

She was cut off when Derpy kicked the cloud. Instead of rain, it released a thunderbolt on BlackWarGreymon. As it made contact with him, it gave off a blinding light. Then as quick as it came, it faded. Revealing to the ponies what happened to the Digimon.

Although BlackWarGreymon was unharmed by the thunderbolt, the high temperature from the voltage literally cooked the cake dough on his body. The result left him resembling a cake version of himself.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold it in anymore. It was too much for her to cope. She fell to the ground laughing while holding her stomach.

“Don’t tell me! You…you’re a BlackWarGreymon cake!” She said while continuing to laugh her head off.

While Pinkie Pie giggled at the sight and the joke Rainbow Dash made, Derpy flew to BlackWarGreymon’s shoulder and took a bite on a lump of thunderbolt roasted cake.

“Mmm… it tastes like muffins.”

“Very funny,” The Digimon plainly said as he wiped off the cake from his body. As he tried he still had large clumps of cake stuck to his armour and his hair.

It was at the moment when Rarity arrived. She gasped from the site of BlackWarGreymon in such a state.

“BlackWarGreymon darling, what in Equestria has happened to you?”

Before the armoured being could answer, Rarity herself answered her own question.

“Wait. Don’t tell me. Pinkie Pie happened.”

“Yes,” BlackWarGreymon said.

“Well today you’re in luck. I happen to be on my way to the spa to freshen up, and I insist that you come and join me,” Rarity said while giving the Digimon a look that said that she would not have a ‘no’ for an answer.

The thought of him being cleaned up from the cake bits, as well as never been to a spa before, made BlackWarGreymon consider the offer.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try,” He said, earning a satisfied smile from Rarity.

“Splendid.”

“Hay Rarity. Is it ok if I join you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Of course, I would be delighted. You coming too, Pinkie?” Rarity asked the pink party pony.

“Love to. But I have a few things to pick up. So maybe later,” Pinkie Pie answered, slightly feeling guilty that she couldn’t join. But she had a few things to do.

“Very well. See you later, Pinkie,” Rarity said as she walked on with BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash.

“Ok, see you three later!” Pinkie Pie called out, suddenly back to her usual happy mood.

As the three made their way to the local spa, Rarity spoke up.

“Oh, BlackWarGreymon. I just like to thank you for saving me and Sweetie Belle yesterday. It was very brave of you to fight so many dragons by yourself.”

“You’re welcome. Though it wasn’t really a tough challenge for me. I’ve faced far worse,” He said.

If Twilight hadn’t told Rainbow Dash and Rarity about her trip through BlackWarGreymon’s past, the two would’ve thought the Digimon was being boastful.

Then before they knew it, they arrived at the spa. Walking through the front door was easy for the two ponies, but BlackWarGreymon had to knell down just to fit through.

As the Digimon looked around his surroundings, Rarity and Rainbow Dash went up to meet with Lotus Blossom. One of the spa ponies.

“Good morning. How may we help you?” Lotus asked the two.

“Yes. I would like to have the usual, thank you,” Rarity answered.

“I’ll just have a warm bath,” Rainbow Dash joined.

It was then that Lotus saw BlackWarGreymon approaching from behind. She also took note that he had bits of cake stuck to him.

“And would you like a bath too, brave sir?” She asked him with a smile.

“I would, thank you.”

“Would you also like a free massage?” The second spa pony named Aloe asked as she appeared behind Lotus.

“Really? A free massage?” Rainbow Dash asked. She and Rarity were both surprised by the sudden offer.

“Of course. It’s the least we can do after he saved us from that dragon,” Lotus added.

BlackWarGreymon was also surprised. But he never had a massage before.

“Well… if you two don’t mind, then thank you for the offer.”

Although the spa ponies didn’t expect BlackWarGreymon to arrive, they were more than happy to make him feel relaxed and comfortable.

As the trio made their way to one of the rooms, they found two ready-made pools of warm steamy water. It was decided that Rarity and Rainbow Dash would share one tub, while BlackWarGreymon would have the other.

As the blue Pegasus and the white Unicorn slipped into the bath, they felt the warm water against their bodies. Making them feel relaxed.

As they enjoyed themselves, BlackWarGreymon took off his Dramon Destroyers and his Brave Shield. After leaning them against a wall, the Digimon climbed into his bath. The moment he felt the water’s warmth, his entire body suddenly felt relaxed as he sat in the tub. Resting his arms on the side of the tub, he tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of a spa bath for the first time.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity noticed it and gained his attention.

“Wow BlackWarGreymon, even when you’re relaxed you still look fierce,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I bet I look fierce even when I’m asleep,” The Digimon replied.

“And I know you took off some of your armour. But what about your helmet? Don’t you want to wash your face?” Rarity asked, unaware of the truth BlackWarGreymon was about to tell.

“This helmet IS my face.”

“Really!?” Both Rarity and Rainbow Dash asked, both were actually startled to hear that sort of thing.

“Yes. Not all Digimon have fleshy faces. Some even have masks which are in fact their faces,” BlackWarGreymon explained.

As the three continued relaxing in their baths, the pink furred blue maned spa pony Aloe approached the Digimon.

“Are you ready for your massage?” She asked him, slightly shy.

“Knock yourself out,” BlackWarGreymon answered. Allowing the massage to start on him.

Because he had never been massaged before, he was going to relax and let the professional do her thing.

Because the armour on the Digimon’s shoulders couldn’t be removed, Aloe started her work on his arms. The second the mare rested her hooves on BlackWarGreymon’s upper right arm, she paused for a moment as a small blush formed on her face.

‘Wow, such muscles.’

Aloe had to admit it. Even though BlackWarGreymon likes like a dragon and was from another world, he did look handsome. A fact that Lotus would agree on. As she kept working on his right arm, feeling his muscles, her blush deepened to a point that it was visible through her pink fur. Despite Aloe feeling shy, BlackWarGreymon seemed to be enjoying the treatment.

“You’re very good at this. I feel so relaxed.”

BlackWarGreymon’s complement caught the spa pony off-guard.

“Oh…um…you’re… very welcome,” She responded with a shaky voice as she worked on the Digimon’s left arm.

After she finished working on his arms, Aloe decided to wash BlackWarGreymon’s hair. As she placed her hoof in the yellow hair, the feel of it was something she truly didn’t expect.

To a point where she rushed over to Lotus as she washed and cleaned BlackWarGreymon’s shield.

“Hay Lotus,” Aloe whispered, trying not to draw attention of herself to others.

“Huh? What is it Aloe?” The blue pony asked.

“You have to feel this,” The pink pony said, but only brought confusion to Lotus.

“Feel what?”

“Just follow me.”

After leading Lotus behind BlackWarGreymon, Aloe motioned her hoof at the Digimon’s head. Urging her to touch his hair.

Wondering what the big deal was, Lotus went ahead and put her hoof in the yellow hair. She too was surprised by the way it felt.

“Wow. It’s so soft,” She said as quietly as possible.

“I know.”

Despite it seemed that he was oblivious to what was going on, BlackWarGreymon was well aware of what was transpiring.

‘Again with the hair.’

Despite it, he chose not to intervene. Just relaxing and letting the two girls touch his hair.

In the bath tub next to his, Rainbow Dash peeked over her shoulder to see how her Digimon friend was doing. Although a little surprised at the sight of Aloe and Lotus enjoying themselves while touching his yellow hair, it got her thinking.

“Hay Rarity, do you remember what Pinkie Pie said about BlackWarGreymon’s hair?” She asked her Unicorn friend.

After thinking back to the day they first met the Digimon, Rarity remembered.

“Why yes. She said it was surprisingly pleasant to the touch.”

“Well it seems it’s true. Even the spa ponies are touching the hair,” Rainbow Dash said as she motioned her hoof over her shoulder.

Looking to where the Pegasus was pointing, Rarity too saw the scene. Though just as surprised, she also became interested.

“Is it really that soft?” She asked herself but Rainbow Dash caught on.

Curious to find out for themselves, Rarity and Rainbow Dash climbed out of their bath and walked over to the spa ponies behind BlackWarGreymon.

With Aloe and Lotus stepping aside to make room, Rarity and Rainbow Dash felt BlackWarGreymon’s hair. To their surprise, Pinkie Pie was right about the hair.

“What’s with you girls and my hair?” The Digimon asked, knowing that his two friends had joined in.

“Well… it’s just bizarre that a hard-core fighter like you has hair so soft. It feels almost like a cloud,” Rainbow Dash admitted while feeling the Digimon’s hair.

“As well as showing off your warrior side, to have hair as soft as yours is to die for,” Rarity joined while stroking the yellow locks.

It left BlackWarGreymon puzzled by one fact.

‘Was my hair always this soft?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………................

It had been over an hour at the spa. Since Rarity’s ‘usual’ spa treatment took a great amount of time, BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash were first to leave. The blue Pegasus’s fur was clean and soft while the Digimon was free from cake crumbs. That and his armour was sparkling clean.

While BlackWarGreymon inspected his gauntlets, Rainbow Dash spoke.

“So, what you’re going to do now, big guy?”

“I’m not sure. But where’s Applejack and Fluttershy?” He asked her.

“Well if I know Applejack, she’s probably doing chores at Sweet Apple Acres. And Fluttershy’s more likely at her cottage.”

BlackWarGreymon was then in thought. He hadn’t been to either of the places mentioned. He didn’t mind seeing them for himself.

“Which is the nearest one from here?” He asked.

“That would be Fluttershy’s cottage,” Rainbow Dash answered while pointing the way.

Knowing where to go, BlackWarGreymon was on his way.

“Thank you,” He said as looked over his shoulder to see the blue Pegasus.

“I would join you, but I’ve got some things to do. See ya.”

Rainbow Dash then took off to the clouds, leaving BlackWarGreymon walking towards his next destination.
…………………………………………………………………………………………....................

At the cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy was trying to settle an argument between a full-grown brown bear and Angel. Fluttershy’s pet white rabbit.

“Now Angel, you know you supposed to share your food with others. Like Pinkie once said, sharing is caring.”

Angel’s reaction was opposite to what the yellow pony had hoped. He blew a raspberry at the bear, meaning he didn’t like the idea. The bear resorted in turning his head away and crossing his arms.

“Angel! That’s not very nice!” Fluttershy sad, offended by the rabbit’s attitude.

Then to Fluttershy’s surprise, both Angel’s ears pointed straight up as his face looked passed the mare and at the front door. The Pegasus could see that his face looked… startled. As if he could hear or sense something that she couldn’t. The confused mare looked to the bear and noticed that his reactions were the same as Angel’s.

Then the small white rabbit let out a loud screech of fright, startling the pony in front of him. Then like a white blur, he ran straight across the living room and under the couch.

The scared bear tried to follow suit. But his much larger body left the couch balancing on his back and blocking the back window.

Fluttershy knew that both the animals were terrified of something. Knowing what scares Angel was easy, but what would scare a full-grown bear? The last time the bear was so scared was when the Plunder Vines invaded Ponyville. But she knew that the vines were long gone.

Something else was scaring them and Fluttershy had to find out what.

“What is it? What’s gotten you two so scared?”

All of a sudden, loud cries of animals inside and outside the cottage were heard. All sorts of Fluttershy’s animal friends; otters, mice, squirrels, ferrets, chipmunks, rabbits, birds, and many more, either were rushing to a corner, hiding in their homes, or went straight out of an open window.

Seeing all her animal friends so scared made Fluttershy herself scared too. Although she wanted nothing more than to stay inside with them, she had to find out what was troubling them.

“Umm…uhh… I guess… you want me… to check it out?”

The animals didn’t answer, they were too busy trying to hide. Then Fluttershy let out a loud gulp before speaking.

“……ok,” She said quietly, taking it as a yes.

After walking quietly to the door, she slowly opened it a crack to peek outside. Many thoughts crossed her mind. What if it’s a creature her animals never seen before? What if it’s a dragon? Or an angry Manticore? Or a Hydra? What if it’s a dangerous animal that likes eating ponies? What if she gets eaten!?

All the negative thoughts terrified Fluttershy, and the thing was just on the other side of the rise where the path was.

However, luckily for her, emerging from the rise was someone she recognised. BlackWarGreymon.

Although she was relieved that it was just her digital friend, she let out a loud gasp when she remembered that the other day, Twilight told her and her other friends about her trip through the Digimon’s mind, and witnessing his life in the Digital World.

Moving in speeds that was rare for her, Fluttershy bolted out of her home and flew straight towards the black armoured warrior.

“BlackWarGreymon!”

Ahead of her, BlackWarGreymon saw her speeding towards him.

“Hi, Flutter…!”

He was cut off when the yellow Pegasus wrapped her hooves around his waist, holding him tight in an affectionate hug. Then to his confusion, he could hear her sobbing sadly as she nuzzled his chest.

“Oh BlackWarGreymon! I’m so sorry you had to go through it all!”

As the confused Digimon looked down at Fluttershy, to his surprise the Pegasus had tears in her eyes as she looked back at his own.

The teary Fluttershy continued.

“Twilight told us everything. About how you were created. What your life was like back in your world. The horrible horrible pain you went through. Even your…!”

Her talking was replaced by a loud gasp of shock when she realised what she was about to say. She even backed off with both her hooves covering her mouth as her watery eyes stared at BlackWarGreymon’s chest.

She then immediately flew in close and pressed her hooves on the Chrome Digizoid chest plate and the thick yellow cords attached to it.

“And how’s your chest!? Does it still hurt? Please tell me that you’re not hurting!?”

“Calm down Fluttershy. I’m perfectly fine now.”

BlackWarGreymon’s words calmed Fluttershy down. The Pegasus slowly landed back on the path while not tearing her gaze away from the Digimon.

The dragon warrior knew what Fluttershy was referring about, and immediately knew how she found out about it.

‘Guess Twilight’s told them about my past.’

As he continued to look at the upset pony, the once deceased Digimon spoke up.

“Yes Fluttershy. Everything Twilight said about me was true.”

Fluttershy let out another loud gasp of horror.

“You…you mean that… that you…”

BlackWarGreymon answered for her.

“Yes. Before I came here… I died.”

Fluttershy tried her best to stay calm and fight against the urge to cry. But it wasn’t working. Even as she closed her eyes, tears were flooding out of them as she sobbed. Just the thought of him going through death while in excruciating pain was too much for her to bare.

BlackWarGreymon again felt his heart ache at seeing his kind friend in such state. He then brought her attention by kneeling down on one knee and using his free thumb to wipe away her tears.

“It’s ok Fluttershy, it’s all in the past. What matters is that I’m here and still alive. So you don’t have to worry about my past, ok?”

His words seemed to brought comfort to Fluttershy. She stopped crying and wiped what was left of the tears on her face.

“Ok.”

Then BlackWarGreymon was curious about something.

“How did you know I was coming?”

“Oh. My animals must’ve sensed your power that you’re giving off, and it frightened them. So I opened the door to see.”

But what the Digimon said next really got her confused.

“I wasn’t giving off my power.”

“Huh? You weren’t?” She asked.

“No. I was aware that you had animals in your home. So I took precautions of hiding my power so they couldn’t sense me. I even walked all the way here instead of flying.”

BlackWarGreymon’s answer got Fluttershy asking one question.

“Then… then what was spooking the animals?”

Then to their surprise, the two heard a loud bear-like roar coming from the cottage. While BlackWarGreymon looked on in bewilderment, Fluttershy looked on in horror.

‘I know that roar!’

Thinking that it was what she was thinking, Fluttershy rushed back to her cottage. With BlackWarGreymon following behind.

Then the two heard the roar again. The sound came from behind the cottage, near the way to the Everfree Forest.

After making a quick run around the cottage, the pair saw what the commotion was about. But all they saw was a lone bear in the middle of the opening. One of Fluttershy’s friends. It was also the same one that was hiding earlier, but summoned the courage to step outside.

“She has a bear as a friend?” BlackWarGreymon said to himself, thinking that it’s rather odd for a timid pony like Fluttershy to be friends with a carnivore eight feet tall.

While BlackWarGreymon was focused on the bear, Fluttershy spotted something else. All her animal friends were hiding in the trees. Either in the leaves, under the roots or behind the trunks. Even Angel was seen in a berry bush.

“Please tell me it’s not what I think it is?”

Then the pony and the Digimon both heard a loud buzzing sound. The way it sounded was like one very big bug. Following the noise that lead to the sky, both Fluttershy and BlackWarGreymon looked upon a bizarre beast.

It looked like another large bear, larger than the one below. But the similarities ended there. Its entire body was separated to three sections, almost like an insect. Also like an insect, it had six limbs. Two legs and four arms. It had white and dark grey fur with black and amber coloured stripes. As well as possessing wings and antennae of a bumblebee, its dark crimson red eyes also belonged to a bug. Finally at the end of its abdomen section, it had a dangerous looking stinger.

The creature was called the Bugbear.

‘Oh no! Not that thing again!’ Fluttershy thought to herself. All the while BlackWarGreymon stared at the creature in confusion.

“What… is that thing?” He asked the small mare.

“It’s called a Bugbear. A nasty creature that looks like a bear but has traits of a bumblebee,” Fluttershy explained before talking further.

“But what’s it doing here? I thought Twilight sent it to Tartarus.”

Before BlackWarGreymon could question further, both of them heard a roar. But not from the beast from prison, but from the brown bear.

Fluttershy gasped as she knew what it meant.

“They’re going to fight!”

BlackWarGreymon knew that the stakes weren’t in the brown bear’s favour. With the Bugbear’s size, stinger, extra arms and flight capability, it was clear that it would triumph over the natural carnivore.

Before he could interfere however, the Bugbear flew down towards the bear, bringing forth its stinger. Amazingly, the brown bear reared up on his feet and caught the stinger in his claws. Then slammed the stinger point-first into the ground.

With the Bugbear impaled to the ground, the bear took advantage by slamming his paws in the evil creature’s face, then biting on one of its four arms.

‘Cleaver bear,’ The Digimon thought to himself, impressed by the bear’s intelligence.

But the Bugbear retaliated by biting its jaws on the bear’s brown furred shoulder and used its three other arms to push the bear away. It worked. The bear was forced to back off, leaving the Bugbear to pull its stinger free from the ground.

After circling around each other, growling and snarling, the two charged at each other and began to bear-wrestle. All the while biting and hitting each other. But it was clear that the Bugbear was stronger. After wrestling the brown bear to the ground, the six-limbed beast grabbed the bear from behind in a head lock and flew to the sky. Carrying the bear with it.

As the bear struggled to break free while roaring in protest, the Bugbear grew a grin as it got its stinger ready.

Fluttershy gasped in horror at the site, the Bugbear was going to finish her friend off.

BlackWarGreymon decided that the fight between the two bears had gone on long enough. He began to raise his power level, only enough to get the Bugbear’s attention.

Being more sensitive than the other animals, the Bugbear picked up the sudden rise in power and turned to face its source.

“That’s right big guy. Eyes on me,” BlackWarGreymon said.

Sensing a much bigger challenge, the Bugbear slowly lowered itself from the sky and dropped the bear to the ground. All the while keeping its eyes fixed on the black Digimon.

Fluttershy knew that BlackWarGreymon did it to save the bear.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon. But what are we going to do about that thing!?” She asked while pointing at the Bugbear. Who was hovering in the sky while growling at BlackWarGreymon.

“This Bugbear wants a fight. So I’ll give it a fight,” The Digimon said as he took a few steps forward. His presence was seen by all the other animals in the area.

After stopping ten feet away from Fluttershy, BlackWarGreymon had an idea.

“But let’s make this interesting.”

He then impaled his gauntlets to the ground and slipped his arms out of them.

“I’ll fight it without my Dramon Destroyers and my shield. And I won’t even use my powers,” He said as he took off his shield, placing them on the ground.

“Just be careful,” Fluttershy said, feeling concerned for her animals, her home, even the Digimon himself. Then again, he had defeated every opponent he went up against so far. And if he’s willingly going to fight the Bugbear without his powers, then it must mean that he knew he can beat the beast.

BlackWarGreymon glanced up to the airborne Bugbear, a sign that he’s ready to fight. The creature answered the call with a roar, and dived straight at the Digimon.

As the Bugbear tried to tackle the dragon warrior, BlackWarGreymon braced himself and caught the bear-like beast by its middle arms. The Bugbear then tried to use its wings and body to move forward and wrestle the Digimon to the ground. But BlackWarGreymon held firm and threw the beast some distance away.

After getting control of its flying to stop falling over, the Bugbear let out a roar of surprise and rage at the unexpected strength of its opponent. Charging forth again, it intended on ripping its challenger apart. But as it got closer, BlackWarGreymon leapt out of the way and flew higher in the air.

Although surprised that its foe could fly, it did not put off the Bugbear’s anger. Changing course, it flew fast to intercept BlackWarGreymon. But the Digimon was more agile in the air then the Bugbear. He easily flew to the side, leaving the beast to slash its claws in thin air.

Every time the Bugbear tried to land a hit, BlackWarGreymon kept moving out of the way. Then the Digimon grabbed the creature’s arms and wrestled it to the ground. Fluttershy and the other animals watched as BlackWarGreymon pinned the Bugbear down.

Roaring in defiance, the Bugbear tried to use its extra two arms to punch BlackWarGreymon in the face. But to the monster, it was like punching a solid statue. Despite the hard punches, the Digimon wasn’t fazed at all. It was like the punches were doing absolutely nothing.

Then grabbing BlackWarGreymon’s sides and beating its wings as hard as it could, the Bugbear managed to turn over the Digimon. Pinning him down as it tried to lunge its jaws forward. But to its surprise, BlackWarGreymon slammed his head into the creature’s muzzle. Head-butting it with enough force for it to back off.

Then grabbing one of its arms, BlackWarGreymon threw the Bugbear over his shoulder and smashed it to the ground. To the surprise of Fluttershy and her animals, creating a large crater as the ground shook. While holding on to its arm, the Digimon threw the beast high in the air and then chased after it. Grabbing its leg, BlackWarGreymon then threw the Bugbear straight to the ground. Throwing up a dust cloud and sending another wave of tremors through the ground.

Fluttershy was amazed. BlackWarGreymon seemed to be winning with just his strength alone.

‘Wow. He would definatly give Iron Will a run for his money.’

Then the Bugbear crawled out of the same crater it made before. Covered in dirt and bruises, it was breathing heavily. But the battered monster wasn’t planning to give up. After seeing BlackWarGreymon landing in front of it, it let out a loud growl in rage.

“I admire your tenacity, Bugbear. But it’s clear that I’m the strongest out of the two of us. Give up now while you still can.”

But BlackWarGreymon’s warning was ignored by the Bugbear. Knowing that its stinger wouldn’t be able to puncher through the Digimon’s armour, it did saw that there were some parts on its opponent that wasn’t armoured.

It decided to go for it. Buzzing forward as fast as it could, the Bugbear grappled its four arms onto BlackWarGreymon’s arms, pinning them to his sides. Then with a mighty thrust, the beast from Tartarus jabbed its stinger on BlackWarGreymon’s left upper thigh.

“BlackWarGreymon!!” Fluttershy shouted in concern and alarm. Fearing that her friend was harmed by the stinger.

But to her confusion, there wasn’t a sound of pain. No cry of agony. It was absolutely silent. BlackWarGreymon didn’t made a sound. He didn’t move a muscle. Heck, he didn’t even flinch. He just stood firm with a blank expression in his eyes.

The Bugbear was also confused. Why wasn’t its foe in pain? Looking down to where its stinger was, it saw that it was on the exposed part of the Digimon’s leg. But to its shock, it failed to impale through it.

It then tried again, and again. But its weapon couldn’t penetrate through BlackWarGreymon’s skin. As the beast panicked, it left itself wide open for an attack. BlackWarGreymon slammed his right knee into the Bugbear’s chest. The beast felt air escaping its lungs and the pain shocked through its body from some of its broken ribs caused by the armoured shin guard.

The Bugbear was stunned from the sneak attack, grabbing its chest to hold itself together. But BlackWarGreymon then gave the monster an uppercut to the chin, sending it flying through the sky. Then the Digimon followed up by flying to the hurtling beast, and grabbed its hairy abdomen. Then raising the Bugbear over his head, BlackWarGreymon flew straight down with the beast in tow. Then he slammed it to the ground with enough force to create a few large cracks in the earth. Fluttershy tried her best to stay balanced as the ground rumbled beneath her. She just managed to stay standing when it stopped.

She stared at the dust cloud in anticipation and worry, hoping that BlackWarGreymon hadn’t hurt himself. To her relief, the Digimon jumped out of the cloud and landed in-between his impaled gauntlets, with his back to the pony and facing the dust cloud.

At first all was silent. Then with a loud desperate roar, the beaten Bugbear launched itself out of its crater and delivered a hard punch straight at BlackWarGreymon’s face.

Although the sound wave of the impact vibrated the nearby grass and bushes, BlackWarGreymon didn’t even move a millimetre of an inch. The only reaction after five seconds of silence was the Bugbear, wailing in pain as it clenched the hand that it used.

Fluttershy knew that BlackWarGreymon could take a lot of punishment and not be bothered by it, but she never knew that he could take a full-on punch and not reacting to it.

If Rainbow Dash was there to see it, she would be in awe that would last a very long time.

As the Bugbear tried to fight back the pain in its possibly broken fist, BlackWarGreymon formed his right arm into a fist of his own and pulled it back.

“You lose.”

Then with full force, BlackWarGreymon punched the Bugbear square in the face. Sending it flying over the Everfree Forest and through the distant horizon.

With the Bugbear gone and the fight over, BlackWarGreymon slipped his Dramon Destroyers back on and re-equipped his black shield. As he turned back towards Fluttershy, he was suddenly tackled by the yellow Pegasus as she hugged tight around his neck.

“Oh BlackWarGreymon!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved all my animal friends from that terrible Bugbear! It was so nice of you! Thank you so much!”

Then out of pure joy and happiness, Fluttershy did something that had never been done in both Equestria and the Digital World.

She kissed him on the cheek.

BlackWarGreymon’s body stiffened as his eyes widened in shock. Even his senses were put on immediate halt. Being hugged was one thing, being praised was another, but a kiss? It was on a whole new level that even he wouldn’t expect to happen to him. His mind froze as he tried to think, but it looked as though he couldn’t focus on anything.

While hugging him, Fluttershy noticed BlackWarGreymon’s total lack of movement. She released her hold and saw his yellow eyes staring blankly at open space. As if he was in a trance.

“What’s the matter?” She asked him.

BlackWarGreymon then raised his right arm to his face and used his thumb to touch the spot where she kissed.

“You…you kissed me?”

Fluttershy was surprised when she realised what she just did. Though she understood why the Digimon was so startled. From what Twilight told her about BlackWarGreymon’s past, it was very likely that he had never been kissed before.

But still, it couldn’t stop Fluttershy from blushing in embarrassment.

“Ohh…uhh……I’m…I’m sorry. I just got carried away. I was just so happy that you helped, I didn’t think straight.”

As the surprised BlackWarGreymon continued stroking his cheek, Fluttershy then brought her attention to his leg.

“How’s your leg!? You were stung by that thing!”

BlackWarGreymon looked down at his unharmed leg and chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. It will take a lot more than that to hurt me.”

‘Wow, he must have really strong leg muscles,’ The mare thought to herself.

Seeing the usually timid pony they knew being friendly to the scary visitor, the animals that were hiding became less afraid. If Fluttershy could trust BlackWarGreymon, then they could too. The woodland critters slowly came out of their hiding places and one by one, they approached the pair.

After hearing noises beneath them, Fluttershy and BlackWarGreymon looked down and saw some tiny mammals. All staring at the tall Digimon.

Then Fluttershy introduced them to the artificial being.

“Oh! How rude of me. Little critters, this is my new friend. BlackWarGreymon.”

At first, the animals looked at the Digimon in awe. Then one brave squirrel jumped on his left foot, climbed up his leg to his chest, then settled upon his shoulder. All the while BlackWarGreymon watched the small mammal. Then the squirrel jumped in his yellow hair, disappearing from sight as it let out several chirps of comfort.

Fluttershy chuckled when she saw the playful critter poking his head out of BlackWarGreymon’s hair.

Then BlackWarGreymon saw a red bird hovering in front of his face. Then his head and eyes followed the bird as she flew around his head while letting out happy chirps. She then perched herself on one of the Digimon’s horns on the side of his helmet.

Fluttershy always wanted to see such a thing. In awe at the sight of an all-powerful being like him to be around her animal friends.

She then gasped in excitement when the rest of her animals approached from hiding. All of them either standing and looking at BlackWarGreymon or nuzzling his feet and legs in gratitude.

It was also new to the Digimon. Having animals liking him instead of running away in fear.

“Aww… they like you,” Fluttershy said.
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Sometime had passed since the events of the Bugbear attack. Knowing that the creature wouldn’t dare return for a rematch, BlackWarGreymon was at ease as he sat with Fluttershy in the garden. The animals around them had finally got used to the Digimon’s appearance as they either played beside him or rested upon him.

Fluttershy also introduced some of the critters to BlackWarGreymon. The animal who was next was a certain white rabbit.

“And this is my pet rabbit named Angel.”

All Angel did was just stare at the Digimon as he stared back. More likely intimidated by the being’s draconic look.

“It’s ok, Angel. He’s a friend. Now say hello,” Fluttershy said after noticing the rabbits lack of response.

After summoning enough confidence, Angel smiled as he leapt on BlackWarGreymon’s lap. He then waved his paw to say hello.

“Awe… isn’t he cute, BlackWarGreymon?” The Pegasus asked.

“Well… Spike did tell me about Angel, Fluttershy. But cute wasn’t the word he used. It was more like ‘stubborn’,” The Digimon answered, remembering that Spike once told him about the rabbit’s attitude problem.

Angel flinched from the remark and face-palmed himself, before jumping off and landing next to Fluttershy.

After the yellow Pegasus chuckled at Angel’s behaviour, her mind passed over to another subject. A subject that made her look at BlackWarGreymon in deep concern.

“So, uhh…BlackWarGreymon? When you were… you know. Were… were you in agony?”

BlackWarGreymon took notice of Fluttershy’s sudden change of mood, and understood perfectly what she was referring to. He looked down at his chest where he once received his fatal wound. He then raised his right gauntlet to his face and looked at his metal claws. All the while the expressions in his eyes were of sadness and pain as he remembered back. The look in his eyes made Fluttershy regret the decision of talking about what happened.

But before she could change the subject, BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Hmm… taking a blow from a blast that left a gaping hole in the chest. Yes, it was agonizing. Physically, it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt to this day. But mentally, it was a close second.”

Although feeling pity for him, the last sentence the Digimon said made the mare confused of its meaning.

“Close second? Then what caused you mental pain even greater then that?”

“The thought of my life without a purpose. Without meaning. A life without a destiny.”

Fluttershy was intrigued by BlackWarGreymon’s choice of words.

“Life without a destiny?”

“Yes.”

BlackWarGreymon began to think back to his past as he kept on staring at his raised gauntlet.

“Arukenimon may had created me with a purpose to destroy. But that was HER desire, not mine. The destiny that I wanted would be the one I choose. I may had made mistakes in my pursuit, but that was because I didn’t know what was the right path to my destiny.”

He then turned his sights to Fluttershy.

“It’s almost like getting your cutiemark.”

“Wow. If it’s like that, then it must’ve been very important to you,” Fluttershy said, seeing similarities between a pony finding their talent and BlackWarGreymon’s story.

“It was important to me, Fluttershy. Back then, I wanted it more than anything else. But now, it seems I may have finally found it.”

The Digimon looked at the ground with a rather determined glare.

“Evil may have created me… but it will NEVER enslave me.”

Fluttershy was impressed by BlackWarGreymon’s statement. Then another thing got her curious.

“So umm… if you were made to do evil, what was the first act of good you’ve done?”

Before he could answer, something in the meadow caught the Digimon’s attention. It was something he recognized. Looking as though he wasn’t listening to Fluttershy, he got up to his feet and walked to the middle of the meadow. What got Fluttershy more curious was that he then knelt down on one knee as he looked at something on the ground.

After walking to BlackWarGreymon’s side, Fluttershy saw the thing that got the Digimon’s attention. On the ground in front of him, was a tiny pink flower.

As the pony tried to puzzle what it meant, the warrior spoke up.

“To answer your question, my first act of good was protecting a flower that looks just like this one.”

The yellow Pegasus was amazed at what he said.

“You protected a flower? That’s so cute. But why?”

“I wasn’t entirely sure to start with. It wasn’t even accidental. When that Mammothmon was moments away from crushing that flower, I suddenly had the urge to protect it,” BlackWarGreymon said, secretly leaving out the part where he later crushed that very same flower.

Then he heard Fluttershy speaking to him.

“That sounds amazing. And you know what else is amazing?”

“What?” The Digimon asked.

“Well… Equestria and the Digital World are separate from each other. But you say this flower is just like the one you know,” She said as she pressed her nose to the tiny flower, smelling its scent.

Then a large pink butterfly caught her attention as it flew near her. Then it flew above her and in front of BlackWarGreymon. The Mega watched in interest as the butterfly hovered in front of his face and ten landing on his nose horn.

Fluttershy tried her best not to laugh at something as cute as what she was seeing.

As the butterfly perched on him, BlackWarGreymon looked at the sky and took note that the sun was slightly moving towards west.

‘Wow, it’s afternoon already?’

As the Digimon stood back up, he gained attention from Fluttershy.

“What is it?”

“The only place I hadn’t seen yet is Sweet Apple Acres. So I’m going to have a look,” He answered.

“Ok BlackWarGreymon. See you later, and thank you.”

After the butterfly flew off his nose horn, BlackWarGreymon took off the ground and started to fly away. But he then came to a halt when Fluttershy called out to him.

“Wait! Sweet Apple Acres is that way,” She said as she pointed her hoof in the opposite direction to where BlackWarGreymon was heading.

“Oh,” He said as he changed direction, leaving Fluttershy chuckling to herself.

Chapter 22: Apples and Crusaders

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High above the town of Ponyville, BlackWarGreymon was on his way to one of the places he hadn’t seen yet. Sweet Apple Acres. As he flew by, he saw all the ponies below him. They eventually spotted the airborne Digimon and waved hello at him. After taking in the sight, BlackWarGreymon went on his way.

As he approached his destination, he came to a halt as he looked upon Sweet Apple Acres ahead of him. As well as a large red barn and several farm fields, what really caught his was the apple orchard itself. He had never seen so many apple trees in one place before. They literally stretched as far as his eye could see, and he was in the air.

“That’s one big apple farm,” He said before making his descent.
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Not far away, at a tree house called the Crusaders Clubhouse, the Cutiemark Crusaders, were inside planning.

“Alright fellow crusaders, any ideas on how to earn our cutiemarks?” Applebloom asked as she looked at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle from behind her podium.

“Well, the hang gliding idea didn’t work the other day. Now I got nothing. What about you Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked, but she saw the young Unicorn looking worried as she stared at her hooves.

“Hay Sweetie Belle, are you feelin’ ok?” Applebloom asked, gaining her attention.

“Oh, sorry girls. It’s just that…”

Though her friend found it hard to speak, Applebloom knew what she was talking about.

“It’s about that dragon attack yesterday, isn’t it?” She asked in concern.

“Well…yeah. It was so scary. Rarity and I were almost eaten,” Sweetie Belle said, cringing at the thought of her becoming dragon food.

She then felt Scootaloo’s hoof resting on her shoulder. The young Pegasus trying to comfort her.

“Well that was before BlackWarGreymon swooped in and saved the whole town.”

“Yeah! And it was amazing that he took all of them on and kicked their butts,” Applebloom joined.

The positive talk about the Digimon had cheered up the Unicorn filly.

“You’re both right. We were lucky that he showed up.”

“Yeah. He might even be just as amazing as Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said.

Not far away from the clubhouse, BlackWarGreymon made touchdown. His landing however let out a sound of impact, which was heard by the crusaders.

“Did you hear that?” Sweetie Belle asked the other two fillies.

“I think it came from outside,” Applebloom said while looking at the window.

Scootaloo popped her out the window and saw the Digimon in the distance.

“Hey, it’s BlackWarGreymon! He’s here!”

Her reply caused the other two girls to look out the window over Scootaloo’s head. Then they saw him too.

“Wow, even from here he still looks huge. Wait, where’s he going?” Sweetie Belle asked, watching BlackWarGreymon walking in the opposite direction to their clubhouse.

“I think he’s headin’ to the farm,” Applebloom said, curious as to why he was dropping by to visit.

Then a lightbulb lit up in Scootaloo’s head.

“I got an idea girls!”

She then ran to one of their draws and pulled out binoculars.

“How about a cutiemark of watching someone powerful without being spotted?”

Although Applebloom and Sweetie Belle weren’t keen on the idea, but it was better than no idea at all.

“Ok, let’s do it.”

Decided on what to do, the three grabbed more binoculars, jumped out of the tree house and landed in a nearby bush. After poking their heads out of the plant growth, they saw BlackWarGreymon walking further away. Pretending to be spies and ninjas on a top-secret mission, the three fillies ran, jumped and crawled to one bush after another.

Every so often, they stop to regroup in a large bush or behind a tree, put up their binoculars and watched the distant Mega. At first it felt like an important mission, but the fillies started to enjoy themselves.

It went on until BlackWarGreymon stopped at the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. The distance between him and the hidden crusaders made him look like the size of a bug. But as they put on their binoculars, they got a full view of the Digimon.

“What’s he up to?” Applebloom asked in a silly suspicious tone.

“Maybe something evil?” Sweetie Belle joked as she laughed to herself. Knowing that it wasn’t true.

“Maybe he’s just stopping by to visit?” Scootaloo joined.

After the three finished guessing and kept looking at BlackWarGreymon, he shifted his head slightly to the left and motioned his left eye in their direction.

Thinking that they’ve been spotted, the three young ponies immediately retreated into the bush. Hiding while breathing heavily as if BlackWarGreymon was a predator.

“You girls think he saw us?” Sweetie Belle said after catching her breath.

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo answered.

“I don’t think so. There’s no way in Equestria he could spot three small fillies from that distance,” Applebloom stated, thinking that it was just a coincidence.

Back where BlackWarGreymon was, he averted his gaze from the far away bush and back to the large red barn.

“Very funny.”

As he approached the barn, he noticed that the barn’s doors were wide open. As he got closer to investigate, he heard the unmistakable sound of Applejack’s voice.

Peering his head through the open door slightly, he spotted the orange Earth Pony herself. He also spotted two other ponies with her.

One was an elderly mare with green fur and a greyish-white mane and tail, that were both done up in a bun. Her winkles confirmed that she was old. Her cutiemark was of an apple pie and her wobbly legs looked as though they were about to give out any second. The second pony was a large red furred, orange maned stallion. His size and looks confirmed that he was Applejack’s older brother. His cutiemark was of a green opened apple.

“Knock Knock,” BlackWarGreymon said as he stepped out in the open. Addressing the three ponies.

“Well howdy, big fella,” Applejack said as she approached him.

The other two ponies however stared in shock.

“Is my eyes playin’ tricks on me again?” The elderly mare asked.

“Nope,” The stallion answered, trying to get over the shock since his sister knew who the visitor was.

“What are ya’ doin’ over here?” Applejack asked BlackWarGreymon.

“I’ve never been in a farm before, so I dropped by to visit.”

“Well, you’re always welcome at Sweet Apple Acres. Let me introduce ya’ to my family,” The orange mare said as she motioned BlackWarGreymon to enter the barn. Luckily the barn doors were big enough for him to walk through.

“Family, this is BlackWarGreymon. He’s a visitor from another world,” Applejack said to the other two ponies, whom were stuck in awe.

After a brief moment of silence, the old mare quickly calmed down and spoke.

“Well, howdy stranger. I’m Granny Smith, Applejack’s dear old granny.”

Applejack then motioned her hoof to the red stallion.

“And over there is ma big brother, Big Macintosh.”

Big Mac merely responded with a simple smile and nod. Recognizing the Digimon as his sister’s friend.

BlackWarGreymon then noticed that the stallion had a white bandage on one of his legs.

“What happened to you?” He asked Big Mac, but Applejack answered for him.

“Well he got hurt from fendin’ off the pesky dragons yesterday. But he’ll be ok.”

The Digimon then looked back at Big Mac.

“The dragons attacked here too?”

“Yep,” The stallion answered.

“And you chased them away?”

“Yep.”

After receiving the same answer twice, BlackWarGreymon sensed a pattern.

“Not much of a talker, are you?”

“Nope,” Big Mac admitted.

BlackWarGreymon then turned his attention to Applejack.

“And of course, ya’ already met Applebloom. She and her friends are over by their clubhouse.”

“Well, they were at the clubhouse.”

The Digimon’s sentence made Applejack confused.

“Were?”

“Yes. When I landed here, they tried to be sneaky and followed me here.”

Then the Digimon and the three ponies head three voices shouting at once.

“WHAT!?”

Facing at the barn doors where they heard the voices, the four saw Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo emerging from hiding and walked inside with surprise written on their faces.

“How did ya’ know we were followin’ ya’?” The young Earth Pony asked, demanding an answer.

“I sensed you,” The Digimon simply replied.

Then Applejack joined in.

“And I guess you were tryin’ to get a cutiemark from spyin’?”

“Well…maybe,” Scootaloo said, but the way she spoke confirmed that it was in fact true.

“Well, all of ya’ can take a break from crusadin’ and help me,” Applejack said to the three fillies.

“Help with what?” Sweetie Belle asked, She and her friends were confused by Applejack’s meaning.

“Ya’ see, with Big Mac now out of work until he’s healed, I’m on my own with doing the chores. I don’t think even I could get it all done by nightfall all by myself.”

As well as the crusaders, BlackWarGreymon too was thinking about it. Because that he’s bonded with the ponies of Equestria and feeling that friendship could be the key to his destiny, he had the opportunity to prove himself that he could be a true supportive friend. Though he already made very good examples. Such as tending to Twilight Sparkle as she grieved over seeing his death from his memories. And then comforting Fluttershy as she too learnt of his death.

Also apart from visiting Sweet Apple Acres, he had nothing else to do to pass the time.

“If the chores are very important to you, then I guess I could help out.”

Applejack had to admit it, she was taken back by BlackWarGreymon’s offer. She thought helping around the farm would be the last thing he would do.

“Really? You wanna help out?”

“That’s what friends do, right?”

Applejack couldn’t had said it better herself.

“Well… thanks big fella. Ya would really be helping out a lot here.”

“So what do you want me to do?” The Digimon asked.

“Follow me,” Applejack said as she walked passed the Digimon and out of the barn. Curious of what she had in mind, BlackWarGreymon and the crusaders followed.

Outside, Applejack lead the four to a large empty field with a large garden plough at the front.

“Well one of Big Mac’s chores was to plough the fields so we can plant the seeds. Ya think you can handle that?” She asked BlackWarGreymon.

The Digimon was in thought as he walked up to the plough. Yes, he could do it piece of cake, but the effort of getting rope long enough to tie it around him would take time. But then he had an idea.

“I know how to make this easier, Applejack,” He said to her.

“Huhh, how?” The Earth Pony asked.

Without answering and while being watched by Applejack and the three fillies, BlackWarGreymon stood parallel to the plough and faced the empty field. Then he knelt down and put the tips of his clawed gauntlets in the dirt. Then he remained still.

The confused ponies watched on as BlackWarGreymon focused his inner energy into his arms. Then after a moment of silence, he suddenly threw his arms up, creating two gusts of wind powerful enough to be seen from the naked eye. As the four amazed ponies watched the curved winds, they noticed that the winds carved groves in the dirt below. They went on until the winds gave out, leaving two long groves from one end of the field to another.

“How’s that?” BlackWarGreymon asked as he looked at his handy work.

At first, there was stunned silence from Applejack, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Then the oldest pony spoke up.

“Ah’ don’t believe it! You just did a fifteen-minute job in just five seconds!”

Then Applebloom joined in.

“That was so cool!”

BlackWarGreymon then turned towards Applejack.

“What’s next?”
………………………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................

Later, the Digimon, the Earth Pony and the Cutiemark Crusaders were in the apple orchard. They were ready for the next item on the chore list.

“Right BlackWarGreymon. The next thing we’re gotta do is to collect apples from these apple trees. Like this,” Applejack said before standing in front of an apple tree, turning away from it, and then slammed the tree with her rear hooves.

The force of the impact shook the tree, freeing all the apples that it held and into the awaiting baskets below.

“Impressive,” BlackWarGreymon complemented.

“Thanks. That’s one tree down, and over a hundred to go,” Applejack said as she looked at the end of the field to see the apple trees in the distance.

“You sure have a lot of work cut out for you,” The Mega said as he too saw the distant trees.

“Now ya see why I need some help around here. But thanks to you, we’re ahead of schedule.”

Applejack then made a plan of action.

“Ok, ya three fillies come with me. And BlackWarGreymon, ya can start with these trees here.”

With the plan set, the orange mare and the three crusaders ventured deeper into the orchard. Leaving the Digimon to deal with fairly large trees around him.

Knowing his strength, he would have to rule out his kicking. The trees, as think as they were, would easily be snapped in two if he kicked. He couldn’t just punch them either, his claws may impale the trees.

He decided then to use the smooth flat side of his Dramon Destroyers. In the way, he would lower the risk of damaging the trees.

After walking up to his first apple tree, BlackWarGreymon took a good look of its bark and the red apples above. Feeling that he was ready, he slammed the back of his armoured against the tree. The giant plant vibrated from the aftershocks of the impact and shook all the apples loose. BlackWarGreymon felt satisfied as he watched all the red fruit landing in the already prepared baskets.

“Well, that was easy.”

Then to his bewilderment, the Digimon suddenly heard loud creaking noises. Then to his shock, the tree that he hit started to topple over. Then crashed with a thud on its side with its dirt-covered roots sticking out.

BlackWarGreymon may had put too much strength in that blow.

“Uh oh.”

Then to his alarm, he heard Applejack’s voice in the distance.

“What the hay was that!?”

It was clear to the Digimon that Applejack heard the fallen tree and was sure that she would arrive to investigate what happened.

He also knew it would be stupid to just fly away from the scene. He had to fix his mess, and quick.

Not wasting a moment, BlackWarGreymon swiftly grabbed the giant tree, lifted it off the ground and hastily put it back in its original place. He had just moments to stand next to the tree and pretended to look innocent by looking at the sky before Applejack showed up.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon, did ya hear a fallen tree?”

The Digimon averted his gaze from the sky to the pony as he answered.

“Huh? A fallen tree?” He asked back, acting as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

Applejack grew suspicious from his response. Knowing BlackWarGreymon’s advanced hearing, she was sure that he could hear a falling tree a mile away. She then brought her attention to the ground around the Mega Digimon’s feet. There were leaves everywhere. Not to mention that the ground around the base of the tree looked up-rooted.

Applejack looked at BlackWarGreymon with a suspicious raised eyebrow and a smile. She knew exactly what happened.

“You knocked over that tree, didn’t ya?”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in alarm. He was busted. But kept trying to act cool.

“No I didn’t. I was just looking at the sky.”

Applejack chuckled at BlackWarGreymon pretending to be denial about it. Since no harm was done, the orange mare turned back to the way she came. But then stopped as she had something to say.

“Well at least ya put the tree back in its place. And by the way big fella, you’re a terrible liar.”

As she disappeared into the tree growth, BlackWarGreymon breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Well… she took that surprisingly well,” He said. He thought that she would totally flip out and get mad.
…………………………………………………………………………………………....................................................

Hours had past at Sweet Apple Acres and the apple orchard was thinning on apples. After his mishap with the first tree, BlackWarGreymon quickly got the hang of controlling his strength. After finishing his one hundred and forty fifth tree, the Digimon stopped for a moment to look at the sky. The sun was just over the horizon and the orange sky showed that it was evening.

“It’s that time already? How long have I been out here?” He asked himself as he approached what looked like the last tree full of apples.

He suddenly heard three voices calling out his name.

“BlackWarGreymon!”

Turning to his side, he saw the Cutiemark Crusaders rushing towards him.

“Oh, it’s you three.”

“Yeah, and watch this,” Scootaloo said as she, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle positioned themselves around the apple tree. Then at the same time, all three kicked the tree.

The combined blow from the fillies shook the tree like it would when kicked by Applejack. Soon the apples fell into the baskets below.

Then BlackWarGreymon heard a small thud as he felt something landed on his nose horn. Looking up, he saw an apple impaled on his horn. The three young ponies let out their laughter at the sight of it.

“Haha, he’s got an apple on his nose,” Sweetie Belle said, trying her best to calm down.

While remaining calm, BlackWarGreymon stuck one of his metal claws into the apple and pulled it off his horn.

“Here,” He said as he lowered the apple to one of the crusaders.

Applebloom was the one who pulled the red fruit off the metal claw and quickly ate it whole.

While the small Earth Pony munched on the apple, Scootaloo became intrigued by the clawed gauntlets.

“Hey BlackWarGreymon? How sharp are your claws anyway?”

After looking at his Dramon Destroyers, the Digimon looked around to see what he could use them on. It ended up being a large stray rock at the end of the field.

“Sharp enough to cleave though almost anything.”

He then faced the distant rock with his claws ready.

“Just watch.”

As he began to sprint, the crusaders noticed that he was heading for the rock. Then as he got within range, BlackWarGreymon slashed his right arm at it and came to a halt as he passed it. Not moving a muscle, he glanced back to see the faces of the fillies.

The crusaders were confused at first, since it seemed nothing had happened to the rock. Then tot their amazement, the top half of the rock started to slide at an angle before detaching itself completely.

“Wow. He sliced that rock like it was butter,” Sweetie Belle said while Scootaloo and Applebloom were simply speechless.

Then the three ponies ran towards the sliced boulder to inspect it. The part where it was sliced felt incredibly smooth to the touch. The fine edge of the angle was perfect.

“Woah… and just how strong are you?” Scootaloo asked.

Again, making another demonstration, BlackWarGreymon walked to the bolder and with the crusaders backing away a few steps, he placed his right foot on the top of the rock.

Then he began to press. The leg muscles tensed up as he pressed his leg harder and harder on the rock. The fillies could hear BlackWarGreymon grunting lightly as he kept pushing his strength. Then the young ponies started to hear cracking sounds. Looking at the rock, they were amazed to see large cracks forming beneath the Digimon’s foot and spreading across the surface.

Then to their surprise because of the loud noise, the solid rock shattered into pieces.

“How’s that?” BlackWarGreymon asked, already knowing the answer.

“That was amazin’!” Applebloom cheered, while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared in awe.

Then appearing from behind, Applejack appeared to fetch the four.

“Alright y’all, it’s time for break!”

Not including BlackWarGreymon, the crusaders were relieved to hear one of their favorite words. Then Applejack spotted pieces of rock down by the Digimon’s feet.

“Huh, what did that boulder ever do to you?” She asked BlackWarGreymon, obviously joking.

“I was just testing my strength,” He answered.

“Well I like to thank ya again for the help today. Now come on y’all, we’re headin’ back home.”

Applejack then turned to walk home. As the fillies and the Digimon followed, Scootaloo caught BlackWarGreymon’s attention.

“Hay, BlackWarGreymon. Did you really race against Rainbow Dash the other day?” She asked with excitement in her voice.

“Yes, I did.”

“…But, she won. Right?” The filly asked again. The second time hoping that her hero hadn’t lost.

“Yes she did. But the race left her exhausted.”

“Wow. Never heard of Rainbow Dash being tired in a race before.”

The two continued their conversation as they headed back to the barn.
…………………………………………………………………………………………...........................................................

Half an hour had passed and the sun was close to touching the horizon. The evening sky slowly began to darken.

Upon hearing BlackWarGreymon’s fight with the Bugbear at Fluttershy’s cottage and the Digimon’s presence at Sweet Apple Acres, Princess Twilight was on her way to check up on the saviour.

After arriving at the barn, she was greeted by a happy looking Applejack.

“Greetings Twilight.”

“Hi Applejack. I heard that BlackWarGreymon dropped by.”

“He sure did. And I tell ya Twi, the big buy’s a life saver.”

“What do you mean?” The Alicorn asked in curiosity.

“Well since Big Mac got himself hurt in that dragon attack, BlackWarGreymon’s been helpin’ me with the chores.”

While Twilight was awe-stricken, Applejack pointed to exhibit A.

“Ya see that field over there? He did those two groves with just his claws in five seconds, where it would’ve taken a plough fifteen minutes to do.”

“Wow. I better add that to my notes,” Twilight said, learning something else to write about the Digimon.

“Ya do know that he’s a real being, not a science project?”

Though it was a joke, Twilight took slight offence from Applejack’s remark.

“I know that. It’s just that I like to learn about him.”

“Well if ya want to see him, he’s inside.”

Soon Applejack lead Twilight inside the barn. Meanwhile, Granny Smith was showing BlackWarGreymon her old photo album. Which included ones from her youth. As surprisingly, the Digimon was interested in learning its history.

“And this one was when the town was first open to the public. And I was right there when they cut the ribbon,” Granny Smith explained while pointing her hoof at the picture of a mare that turned out to be her from the past.

“You were there when Ponyville was founded?” BlackWarGreymon asked, surprised that the old pony lived THAT long.

“I sure was. And it all began from this very farm. Which is why it’s known as Ponyville’s Core.”

While Granny Smith kept looking at the black and white photo, reminiscing of her past, BlackWarGreymon saw Applejack and Twilight entering the barn.

“Hey Twilight.”

“Hey BlackWarGreymon. I just dropped by to check up on you. I hear you’ve been helping with the chores around here.”

“Yeah. I’ve been filling in for Applejack’s brother.”

“Yep,” Big Mac said as he watched Granny Smith turn a page in her book. Then he started to giggle when he saw a certain picture of Applejack.

“And this one here is Applejack when she’s just a little baby.”

Hearing Granny Smith brought BlackWarGreymon’s attention back to the book. Although seeing the orange pony as a baby was cute, but what she was wearing made him chuckle.

“Never thought I would see her wearing a diaper.”

His one sentence almost made Granny Smith and Big Mac burst out in laughter. It was the way the Digimon said it made it funny. While Twilight was giggling too, Applejack had a massive blush of embarrassment all over her face.

“Hey Granny, don’t go show him that!”

“Why not? It’s ok since he’s ya boyfriend,” The cheeky granny said in amusement while giving a playful wink.

Again, Twilight and Big Mac tried to hold their laughter in, while Applejack’s face kept growing in embarrissment.

“W-What!? He AIN’T my boyfriend!”

Despite the funny ordeal, BlackWarGreymon then became confused.

‘Boy…friend?’

After letting out an aggravated sigh, Applejack had just about enough.

“Come on now, break time’s over. There’s still one more chore to do.”

After her statement, Applejack stormed out. Followed by Twilight and BlackWarGreymon.

“She thinks he’s your boyfriend?” Twilight whispered to Applejack, finding the whole joke funny.

“It aint that funny, Twilight. I’m starting to think that her age is gettin’ to her.”

While the mares were talking, the confused Digimon behind them caught their attention.

“Girls, what is a ‘Boyfriend’?”

Twilight and Applejack looked at BlackWarGreymon in disbelief. How could he not know what a boyfriend was?

But he wasn’t finished.

“I mean… I am classified as a boy. And I am your friend. But the word felt like it had a different meaning.”

“Don’t worry about it, BlackWarGreymon. I’ll explained another time.” Twilight said to him.

When the group arrived back at the fields, Applejack explained the last chore of the day to the two. Whom were joined by the crusaders who were waiting outside.

“Ok BlackWarGreymon. I was originally gonna get Rainbow Dash to do this. But since ya here, I’ll let ya give it a shot.”

She then pointed to another barn on the top of the next hill.

“Ya see that old barn up there, it needs to be taken down.”

“Hay. That should be easy for you,” Twilight said to BlackWarGreymon.

“Is that all I have to do?” The Digimon asked, finding the task incredibly simple and easy.

He was then briefly startled when the crusaders caught his attention.

“Hay! Hay! BlackWarGreymon! Try using your powers on it!” The excited Applebloom suggested. Then joined by Scootaloo.

“Yeah! Use that giant ball attack of yours!”

Then the three fillies tried to guess the name of BlackWarGreymon’s signature attack.

“The Death Ball!” Said Applebloom.

“The Aura Sphere!” Said Scootaloo.

“The Spirit Bomb!” Said Sweetie Belle.

The first two fillies looked at the young Unicorn in confusion.

“The Spirit Bomb? You totally made that up,” Scootaloo objected.

“But that is a cool name if ya think about it,” Applebloom said.

“Girls, girls. It’s not either of those names. BlackWarGreymon call it ‘Terra Destroyer’,” Twilight corrected.

“Woah, now that’s a cool name,” Scootaloo said before she and the other fillies realised that someone was missing.

“Wait, where is BlackWarGreymon?” Sweetie Belle asked while looking around.

“Well while ya three were discussing names, BlackWarGreymon’s gettin’ started,” Applejack said while pointing at the Digimon, who was hovering high above the old barn.

“Get ready girls,” Twilight said as she waited in anticipation. To once again see the power of BlackWarGreymon.

While Applejack was calm, the three crusaders just couldn’t wait to see the Digital Monster in action.

After the Artificial Mega positioned himself high above the worn-out barn, he raised his right arm to the air and quickly gathered energy. Because of his mastery of his technique, he could form the Terra Destroyer sphere at the end of his clawed gauntlets. As well as he would normally do with his palms.

Which he done so. He formed the red orb at the end of the claws on his raised arm.

With the sphere expanding to the size of Big Mac, BlackWarGreymon threw it straight down at the barn below. First the red orb smashed through the roof. Then when the ball struck the ground, it exploded in fiery light with enough force to blow apart the roof tiles and wooden supports. The floor and the walls either crumbled from under the pressure or incinerated by the blast. Even though it took place quite far from the watching ponies, they felt the shockwaves from the ground beneath them.

When the explosion died down, all what’s left of the old barn was debris and a smoking crater.

When BlackWarGreymon landed next to the ponies, he saw the looks of satisfaction from Twilight and Applejack. While Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had looks of astonishment.

“Wow. That small ball packed quite a punch,” Sweetie Belle said while looking at the destroyed barn.

“Yeah! But I figured that you would make the ball bigger,” Scootaloo said, slightly disappointed that the small orb was all that’s needed to get the job done.

“If I did, I would’ve blown up the entire hill,” BlackWarGreymon mentioned. Only he knew the true extent of the Terra Destroyer’s destructive factor.

The crusaders meanwhile, were startled by the Digimon’s statement.

“Ya can do that?” Applebloom asked.

“Yes. But I don’t think Applejack would allow that,” BlackWarGreymon said as he turned to the orange mare.

“Exactly. And with that old barn gone, that means the chores are pretty much done. Thanks for helpin’ me today,” Applejack said to the Digimon.

“No problem.”

Once they were done with the thank you’s, it was time for Twilight and BlackWarGreymon to head back to the castle. As they left Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family and the Cutiemark Crusaders were seeing them off.

“See ya latter you two!” Applejack called out while waving goodbye.

Come by and visit soon!” Granny Smith said.

“Yep!” Big Mac added.

“Hope to see you again soon!!” The crusaders cheered.

On the road back to town, Twilight looked over to BlackWarGreymon and gave him a kind smile. There was something about him that she indeed noticed. Something that wasn’t there before.

“What is it?” BlackWarGreymon asked, sensing that the young Alicorn had something to say.

“Hmm, it’s just that you’ve really came out of your shell.”

BlackWarGreymon was confused by the statement and gave Twilight a look that showed it.

“Out of… my shell?”

“It’s just a saying. It means that you have changed a lot,” Twilight said, but it brought more confusion to BlackWarGreymon as he looked at hi gauntlets.

“Are you sure? Because I’m still a Mega.”

After letting out an amused chuckle, Twilight got the Digimon’s attention while explaining herself.

“That’s not what I meant. What I mean is that… when you first came to Equestria, you were solitary, alone and confused. But now you’re not like that anymore. You’re now friendly, well-mannered and from what I’ve been seeing, making new friends.”

BlackWarGreymon finally understood what Twilight meant by him changing. He was not the same Digimon he was before. The things he thought he couldn’t do, he not only done them, but got better at it. He once doubted that he could be a friend. But there he was not only a good friend to others, but making friends.

If defending their world meant gaining more and more friends, then he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

He then felt deep satisfaction at the positive thoughts. He would never be the cold heartless monstrosity he once was. Never again.

His thoughts were interrupted by Twilight.

“And that’s not all. I’ve even heard that Fluttershy kissed you.”

Her sentence made BlackWarGreymon think back to the events at Fluttershy’s cottage. After saving her and her animals from the Bugbear, the Pegasus herself awarded him with praise and a soft kiss on his right cheek.

BlackWarGreymon then touched the spot on his cheek where he was kissed. The action suddenly earned a gasp from Twilight.

“Wait, she actually kissed you!? I thought Fluttershy was only joking. That’s… that’s so sweet of her.”

Then under the realisation that he needed to know, he turned to Twilight with something on is mind.

“It’s just her showing gratitude. But I need to know something, Twilight.”

“What is it?” She asked, wanting to hear the Digimon’s request.

“I would like to understand more about positive emotions. I keep experiencing them but, I don’t know how to act upon them.”

Although baffled, Twilight perfectly understood what BlackWarGreymon meant by.

“Of course. I’ll be glad to help you with that. And may I ask, how did you create those groves back at that field?” Twilight asked.

Realising that the Alicorn was referring to his first chore, BlackWarGreymon stopped walking and placed his pointed claws of his right arm on the path. Then after a brief moment, he was ready.

“Like this.”

Throwing his right arm up, he once again created a powerful gust of wind. The amazed Twilight could see the curvature of the wind while seeing the wind creating a long grove in the ground as if it were a blade.

But it didn’t stop. After passing over the path, a loud booming sound was heard when the curved wind collided into a tree. At first only its leaves fell, but then the entire top half of the giant plant started to slide off the bottom. It then crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

In one swift move, BlackWarGreymon created a grove in the ground and sliced a huge tree in two.

Twilight and BlackWarGreymon just stared at the fallen tree in shock and worry. Then the Alicorn broke the awkward silence, followed by the Digimon.

“We should go.”

“Right.”

With that, the two immediately took off into the sky and while silent, flew towards the town.

Then BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“Twilight, if anyone asks, the dragons did that.”

“Deal.”

Then Twilight realised something. She was flying alongside BlackWarGreymon. One of the things she wanted to do for the past few days.

She couldn’t help but let out a giggle of excitement that she was flying by his side.
…………………………………………………………………………………………................................................

Beyond Equestria, The Changeling Hive

Far beyond the view of Canterlot, deep within the darkest areas of the Everfree Forest, was something that very few ponies had ever seen. Of not, no pony had ever seen.

The Changeling hive.

Home to the shape-shifting creatures called Changelings.

The Changelings were sentient insectoid creatures that resemble ponies, but were in fact entirely different. Instead of fur, they had dark grey and blue exoskeletons, just like an insect. Also like an insect, their eyes were blue and featureless, as well as their thin see-through wings used for flight. The most bizarre trait they had were the holes in their legs, but it didn’t seem to be a problem for them. They also had large canines and fin-like mane and tails. Just like Unicorns, they too had horns on their heads. Which they use for their own kind of magic. Another one of their unique traits was their ability to shape-shift. Disguising themselves to the very image of any pony caught in their sights. It was a very useful tactic when invading territories, such as the Canterlot wedding incident. Changelings were also known to feed off the love from their victims. Other food in their diet was unknown.

Like all insects and their hives, the Changelings had their queen.

Royal Changelings were uniquely different from their ordinary counterparts. They could grow to the size of a full grown Alicorn. While they had the same wings, exoskeleton, fangs and hole-filled legs like the solders, the unique traits on the royals, which were mostly queens, were their longer green manes and tails, longer jagged horns which possess stronger magic, crown-like antenna on their heads and eyes which were very similar to ponies.

The queen of the current hive in particular was called, Queen Chrysalis. The same queen who was responsible for invading Canterlot a few years back. But was thwarted by the shear amount of love between the newlyweds Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour. Their power of love literally blew all the Changelings back to the Everfree. Since then, they kept a low profile to recover.

As Queen Chrysalis inspected her children, she knew she was facing another problem.

“Queen… we’re so hungry,” One Changeling said, begging for food.

“I know you are. But we will find love somewhere,” Chrysalis said, trying to reassure her hungry child.

But then, she and most of the Changelings around her heard a voice.

“Hmm. Haven’t you tried ‘normal’ food?”

The shadowy voice startled the Changelings. While the soldiers were looking around for the intruder, ready to protect their queen and home, Chrysalis was startled for only one reason. She knew who the voice belonged to. But the last she heard of him… he was dead.

After feeling out the sudden dark energy, Chrysalis turned to the small ridge in her and saw a mass of living shadow. The moment her children saw it too, they were quick to be on the defensive around their queen. They were ready to fight.

Then the living shadow morphed into a shape of a stallion and soon took physical form. Even before he showed his face, Queen Chrysalis already knew who he was.

King Sombra had just arrived.

As the former king of the Crystal Empire let out a chuckle, the Changelings soldiers sensed he was a threat and reacted by flapping their wings. Thereby creating a loud buzzing sound.

But Chrysalis thought otherwise as she raised her hoof.

“Stand down my children, he’s an old friend of mine.”

Although confused at her command, the Changelings dared not to question her authority. She was their queen after all. So they recomposed themselves and quietened down.

Seeing himself as a guest, Sombra leaped off the ridge and landed ten feet in front of Chrysalis. He then let out a smile as he gave his greetings.

“Queen Chrysalis.”

The Changeling queen responded back.

“King Sombra.”

“Hmm, it’s been so long since we last met,” Sombra said as he approached Chrysalis, eyeing her and her subjects.

“Indeed. But the last I’ve heard of you… you were dead,” Chrysalis mentioned.

“Hmm…yes I was. But I was resurrected by, you know who.”

Sombra’s statement startled Chrysalis.

“Who?” She asked, despite already knowing the one who was responsible.

“You know who I mean. You can’t fool me, Chrysalis,” Sombra said before receiving a flashback of what happened to him.

It was on the day the Crystal Empire returned to Equestria. But as it did, so did he. He came back for the Crystal Heart and to enslave the citizens of the empire like he done so before. But thanks to the young dragon Spike, the Crystal Heart was returned to the empire. And the power awakened within it shattered the dark king’s body and blew him to smithereens.

But what the ponies didn’t know was that while Sombra’s body was destroyed, his red horn remained intact. And after months of lying in the snow of the Artic North mountains, a large mysterious figure emerged and retrieved the horn. While the horn itself may not look like much, the creature knew that Sombra’s dark magic remained within it. After taking it to his lair, the being used his phenomenal powers on the horn. Igniting the dark magic and restoring the fallen king’s body and memories.

But even then, that wasn’t the first time Sombra met the evil creature from another world. He was all too familiar with him. And from the look on her face, so did Chrysalis.

The Changeling queen knew what and who the king of the shadows was talking about, but she doesn’t want to think of the matter. When the evil being first came to her, she was only young. No bigger than a filly. It was during the reign of her mother, the queen before her. Since then to the present, Chrysalis was terrified of him. She feared him more than anything in Equestria.

She wasn’t even sure that he was in fact a ‘he’… more like an ‘IT’.

The one true reason she was so scared of him was because of what happened to one of her family. Long ago, when she was a young teen, she had an older brother. She loved him because he was always looking out for her. Even though he was a royal Changeling, a prince, he was the strongest Changeling of his time.

But he didn’t last five seconds when he defied the foreign being. The creature took his life right in front of the young Chrysalis.

The queen shivered in cold fear as she remembered everything that happened involving the evil being. She’d hoped that he would’ve forgotten all about her.

She looked away from Sombra in fear and shame when she spoke up.

“I know who you mean, Sombra. He’s the one who planned the Canterlot wedding invasion. Some plan that turned out”

Sombra intervened.

“May I remind you that the plan was YOUR doing. He only gave you information on the castle and the city. Nothing more.”

Chrysalis knew he was right. The dark being only told her about Canterlot, the plan itself was her idea.

She then decided to change the subject.

“Enough of the past. Just why are you here?” She asked.

However, the answer she received definatly wasn’t the one she wanted.

“The dark one requests your presence.”

It seemed all the hopes of Chrysalis had dashed away. She really didn’t want to have anything to do with the powerful being. Even as far as to be near him.

“He has you and Tirek. Why should he need me?” She asked, hoping to find a way out of it.

“Haven’t you heard? Tirek’s back in Tartarus.”

Chrysalis was stunned. Even at half power, Tirek was stronger than both her and Sombra. But she did recall hearing that before, he was defeated by the Mane Six in their Rainbow forms.

“He was defeated by the ponies again? I thought that fool would’ve learnt his lesson by now,” She said, but the next thing Sombra said unnerved her.

“That’s just it. It wasn’t the work of the ponies. We have a much bigger problem.”

“What is it?” She asked in curiosity.

“Well, do you remember the name of the dark one’s species?”

Although it was a question that was never spoken to her before, she knew the answer as it was imbedded into her fear.

“Yes. He…was…a Digimon. What are you saying?”

King Sombra took in a deep breath and spoke clearly.

“There is another.”

Queen Chrysalis let out a gasp of disbelief, she thought that the dark master was the only one in Equestria. The Changelings around her were concerned. Their queen was frightened. Despite their concern, they were also confused. Since they were relatively new compared to their queen and Sombra, they’ve never heard of a Digimon before. But by the reactions of the queen, the Digimon sounded frightening and very powerful.

Then Sombra made it clear to Chrysalis.

“That’s right. Tirek was defeated by a Digimon. And by the way things are going, we believe that this one is a friend to the ponies. Now you see why the dark one requires you and your soldiers. The more allies we have, the greater our chances of taking over Equestria and getting the paradise we deserve. This new Digimon is a threat, and all threats must be eliminated. And the only way to do that, is to ally with the dark master. Don’t you want to take over this world and everyone bowing before you? Don’t you want to be worshipped?”

As Chrysalis took in the information, Sombra made a conclusion.

“We can rule all, and even more by working together. What do you say?”

The Changelings looked at their queen while she was in thought. Yes, see wanted all that was explained. But the only problem she was facing was to work with the evil being. Just his appearance alone makes her want to hide away in fear. But if she wanted everything that Sombra said, she had to overcome her fear.

She then let out a chuckle and gave Sombra a sinister grin, she had found her answer.

“……I’ll do it.”

Chapter 23: Questionable Destiny

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Morning arrived in Ponyville, and although she was awoken from the sunlight, Princess Twilight Sparkle felt sleepy.

Last night turned out to be a long night indeed. After bringing BlackWarGreymon back to her castle, she tried to teach him more about positive emotions. How they work and how to act upon them. Unfortunately, the lessons were much harder to explain than she anticipated. Firstly, half the time the Digimon didn’t know which emotion was which. Secondly, he found it difficult to act in a fashion that matched the explained emotion. Finally, it seemed his mind was too distracted from thinking about two subjects at once. One on the lessons and another on something else.

In the end before Twilight became too tired teach, BlackWarGreymon only understood half of the positive emotions. Such as happiness, joy and kindness. Kindness though he pretty much nailed down. But just as they got on the important subjects, such as love, Twilight kept falling asleep and had to put the lessons on hold.

As Twilight and Spike went to bed, BlackWarGreymon stayed in the library to think about the other subject he had on his mind. The Tree of Harmony. His pony friends had been near the tree and even used the elements it held. Then why was it that when he came to Equestria, it ‘talked’ to him? Why just him and no one else?

He tried looking through all the books on the subject, but found nothing. So in the middle of the night, he gave up and rested.

After trying to wake herself up by rubbing her eyes, Twilight let out a loud yawn and climbed out of bed. She then quietly left her bedroom without waking up Spike.

“I wonder how BlackWarGreymon’s doing?” The Alicorn asked herself as she walked down the hallway towards the library.

On her way there, she looked out of the window and saw that the sun was high in the sky. She and Spike had overslept.

“Woops, better be more organized with the lessons,” She said as she walked past the window. If she stayed and looked out the window a little longer, she would’ve seen two blurs streaking across the sky. One black and the other rainbow.

“BlackWarGreymon?” Twilight called out as she looked through the library entrance. But he was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he?” She asked as she walked down the hallway, confused of the Digimon’s whereabouts.

She then heard her name being called down the other end of the hallway.

“Twilight!”

Turning around, the princess saw that it was Spike. Running down the hallway with a surprised look on his face.

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked the young dragon as he came to a halt in front of her.

“Something’s happening outside! Come and see!” Spike said as he ran past the startled Twilight and towards the castle entrance.

Twilight then followed him outside. On the path to Ponyville, the Alicorn caught up with Spike as the two came to a stop just outside of town.

“What’s going on?” The princess asked Spike in concern, thinking that they’re under attack again.

Spike then pointed to the sky with a smile on his toothy face.

“Look up there.”

Although confused that Spike was smiling, Twilight looked up to where he was pointing and saw the sight herself.

High above their heads and the town, a black blur and a rainbow blur were speeding across the open sky side-by-side. Like a pair of racers. Just like Twilight and Spike, the whole town looked at the sky to see the two. Some of them cheered, knowing exactly why they were. Spike was one of them.

“It’s BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash!”

“They’re having another race?” Twilight asked, but the answer was clearly obvious.

The two racers flew above the rooftops, high and low and around the clouds, through twists and turns, all the while neck and neck. It was unclear who was in the lead, but one thing was clear. BlackWarGreymon had gotten faster.

Twilight, Spike and the onlooking ponies were amazed. Even as the two racers sped across the sky, they could see that the Digimon’s speed had rivaled Rainbow Dash’s. A feat very few had ever done.

Twilight and Spike were then surprised when the two blurs changed direction and headed right towards them. As the Alicorn and the dragon took many steps back, they avoided the shockwave as the two blurs landed on the ground hard.

As the small dust cloud settled, it revealed the two racers. BlackWarGreymon looked in his prime as he stood firm. Completely unaffected by the amount of racing he went through. Rainbow Dash however was far less fortunate. She was breathing heavily, almost like wheezing for breath. She was sweating all over, her mane and tail were in a complete mess, her wings hung down to her sides and despite standing, her legs were so wobbly they looked as though they would collapse.

In short, the blue rainbow maned Pegasus was exhausted.

Twilight and Spike were in shock. The only times they’ve seen Rainbow Dash in such a state were times she either done stunts or race other speedsters. Such as some members of the Wonderbolts.

But what surprised Twilight even more was BlackWarGreymon’s speed. Rainbow Dash looked as though she was close to creating a Sonic Rainboom and unbelievably, the Digimon matched her speed perfectly.

Could it be possible that one day, if not soon, the Mega could SURPASS Rainbow Dash!?

As the Pegasus continued to drip sweat while catching her breath, she looked at BlackWarGreymon in shear disbelief.

“How!? How did you become so fast!? So quickly!?” She asked him, desperate to know how he done it.

BlackWarGreymon looked at the exhausted mare and replied.

“Push-ups. Sit-ups. And plenty of juice.”

Rainbow Dash knew that his answer wasn’t true. He only said that to lighten her mood.

“Very funny. You’ve made a joke.”

Rainbow Dash tried her best to recompose herself, but her legs were still shaky.

Twilight and Spike then approached the two.

“That was amazing,” Spike said.

“Yeah, and you were nowhere near that fast the last time you raced her, BlackWarGreymon,” Twilight added.

“Yeah,” BlackWarGreymon said before turning his attention to Rainbow Dash.

“At this rate, I might even be faster than you someday.”

Rainbow Dash looked disappointed from the possible fact.

“I…I really hate to admit it. But maybe you’re right. Maybe you will be faster than me and be the fastest flier in Equestria.”

BlackWarGreymon sensed something uncomfortable in Rainbow Dash’s sentence. There was sadness in her voice. The Digimon then thought of something to say to her that was truly honest in hopes to cheer her up.

“Even if that would happen Rainbow Dash, you would still be the fastest pony in Equestria. And that’s something I could never take from you.”

It worked. His words made Rainbow Dash’s face beam in happiness. It was true, she would remain the fastest pony. The one thing the Digimon could never be.

“You’re right. I am the fastest AND the most awesome pony around.”

While Rainbow Dash was busy praising herself, Twilight walked up to BlackWarGreymon in curiosity.

“Seriously though. How did you manage to fly so fast within a few days?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but it started to happen after my first sleep here. Now I can fly so fast, I can do this.”

Then BlackWarGreymon leapt into the sky at bullet speed. The sudden draft created surprised Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash.

“Seriously! What did he eat for breakfast, jet fuel!?” The blue Pegasus asked.

“Wow. His new speed is almost instant,” Twilight added as she, her two friends and most of Ponyville looked up to the sky. Keeping their eyes on the high-flying Digimon.

From the ground below, BlackWarGreymon was a faint dot in the sky. But the speed he traveled meant he was visible to the ponies. as they watched him streaking across the sky, flying at speeds that only Rainbow Dash could do, they took note that he was gaining speed. He kept going and going until, to their shock, he broke the sound barrier. Creating a sonic boom of his own.

As Twilight watched the air around BlackWarGreymon exploded in the loud boom, she saw that the blast wave itself, normally clear, had a hint of black in it. Probably due to the Digital Monster’s excess energy.

A black sonic boom perhaps? Maybe.

As the shocked but amazed ponies watched on, it looked as though BlackWarGreymon had disappeared. Then he was spotted hovering above Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash.

The blue Pegasus smirked at how cocky the Artificial Digimon was being.

“Oh yeah, show off?”

She then took off the ground and flew in front of the black dragon warrior.

“You know you’re not the only one who could create a tornado,” She said, almost like creating another challenge for BlackWarGreymon.

“Oh really?” BlackWarGreymon asked, as if he didn’t believe the Pegasus.

“Yep, watch this.”

She then flew some distance away from BlackWarGreymon and started to fly in circles. As she gained speed, a tornado quickly formed in front of the Digimon’s eyes.

BlackWarGreymon had to admit it, he didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to be capable of creating a tornado. Another new lesson learnt.

As Rainbow Dash kept flying around her tornado, making it bigger and faster, she was ready.

“Let’s see you stop this!”

Then adjusting her flight pattern, she launched the large tornado, spinning towards BlackWarGreymon. Then Rainbow Dash stopped and looked at her handiwork, hoping to out-wit the Digimon in brains and surprise.

But BlackWarGreymon knew what the daredevil pony was like and expected her to test him in such a way. As the tornado came within reach of him, the Digimon merely back-handed the swirling vortex with his right arm. Thereby cutting off the airflow and dispelling the tornado completely.

Rainbow Dash paused with a wide-eye open-mouth look. She just saw him took out a tornado. After glancing at the sky above and saw some clouds, she immediately shock off her awed expression and thought of another challenge.

“Bet I can get rid of more clouds than you,” She declared before speeding off towards the clouds while BlackWarGreymon watched her.

“She doesn’t give up, does she?” He asked before pursuing the Pegasus.

As Twilight and Spike watched the two clearing out the sky from stray clouds, the Princess of Friendship couldn’t help but smile at BlackWarGreymon’s progress. From what she could tell by the Digimon’s behaviour, it was clear that he had finally gotten used to life in Equestria and among ponies.

Another reason why he was putting himself through Rainbow Dash’s challenges was because he liked challenges. Being an active Digimon, he liked to test the limits of his body and his abilities. And since there were no other Digimon he was aware of, any challenge was acceptable.

Then the two speedsters landed back on the ground in front of the Alicorn and the dragon.

“Ahh, just took out fifty clouds. How about you, big guy?” Rainbow Dash asked the tall Digimon.

“Fifty-three. I won.”

Although a little stunned that she lost the challenge by three clouds, Rainbow Dash decided to let it slide since she had a busy day ahead of her.

“Well, I’ll beat you next time. But now I’m off to AJ’s. Yesterday she wanted me to take down some old barn but I forgot about it. See ya.”

After her farewell, Rainbow Dash flew away in a rainbow blur. Leaving Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon behind her. Then Twilight grew a cheeky grin on her face.

“Guess nopony told her that you already done that,” She said to BlackWarGreymon.

As she looked at the Digimon, Twilight noticed that he was just staring at the sky blankly. As if he wasn’t even looking at the sky itself, but just alone in his thoughts.

“Uhh, BlackWarGreymon… are you ok?”

The Alicorn’s question snapped BlackWarGreymon out of his trance and turned his attention to her.

“Oh sorry, I just have something on my mind.”

“What is it?” Spike asked while Twilight looked on in concern.

BlackWarGreymon was always so vigilant, as if to constantly keep his eye out for potential danger. So to see him being distracted in the way he did, didn’t felt right to the princess. Almost as if something was wrong with him.

But BlackWarGreymon’s answer to Spike’s question wasn’t the one Twilight was expecting.

“Well… it’s about my destiny. Could my existence in this world… really lead me to my destiny?”

“But I thought you said that you found your destiny,” Twilight said with deep concern. Then her face saddened at the thought that… maybe… BlackWarGreymon had changed his mind.

“You… you’re not saying that… you want to leave us? Aren’t you?”

Her voice was shaken with sadness as her eyes looked as though they were watering up with tears. The sight made Spike concerned for her.

The Mega was shocked to see Twilight so upset and immediately corrected himself.

“N-No Twilight, I didn’t mean it like that! Why would I ever leave you? Being with you and your friends has brought me closer to my destiny than ever.”

Hearing his words brought Twilight and Spike out of sadness and doubt and into happiness. Relieved that their friend still wanted to stay with them.

The two remained silent as BlackWarGreymon continued to explain himself.

“Believe me, I still want to stay and protect you and your world. But lately, it feels as though I could do much more than that. You know, a destiny to do more than just defending.”

“You mean, a purpose to be more than just a saviour?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. Just like that.”

BlackWarGreymon then reached a decision.

“I need some time alone to think things through. To see if I could puzzle these things together.”

Just as he turned around to fly away, Twilight said something that forced him to stop in his tracks.

“Ok BlackWarGreymon. But next time, don’t scare me like that! For a moment there, I thought you didn’t like being a defender anymore and that you would leave us forever. I don’t like losing friends,” She said with sadness in her voice.

Even though the misunderstanding had been cleared up, BlackWarGreymon guessed that the thought of what Twilight said stung her heart.

Wanting to help lift her spirit and to prove that he would never do such a thing, BlackWarGreymon walked up to Twilight, knelt on one knee and to the Alicorn’s surprise, placed his right hand on her left shoulder.

Then he spoke the absolute truth.

“You’re not going to lose me, Twilight. I will never abandon you.”

Twilight saw that the Digimon’s yellow eyes reinforced his statement. They were the most caring eyes she had ever seen him done. It was so rare to see an all-powerful being like him to be caring and gentle. The fact about it all brought a heart-warming smile to Twilight’s face. The words that the Digimon used to comfort her made her start to shed tears of joy.

BlackWarGreymon chuckled at seeing Twilight’s change of emotions. Straight from negative to positive. After standing back up, the Digimon slowly levitated off the ground and then flew away above the rooftops.

While Twilight kept on smiling at how much BlackWarGreymon had changed from his old self, Spike just stood there in bewilderment.

“Uhh… what was all that about?”

While she kept her smile, Twilight turned to the young dragon.

“Spike, you remember yesterday when I said that BlackWarGreymon is like a child?”

“Umm…yeah?”

Twilight then looked back to where BlackWarGreymon flew off. Smiling like a proud mother to her child.

“Well, it looks like he’s all grown up.”

As Twilight continued to smile, Spike then thought about everything that BlackWarGreymon said before he left.

‘I wonder if this has something to do with the Tree of Harmony.’
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It had been nearly an hour since he left Twilight and Spike alone, and during that time, BlackWarGreymon tried to find a secluded place to be alone in his thoughts.

But so far, his search hadn’t been a good one.

Not in the town centre, because it was busy and full of ponies. Not at Sweet Apple Acres, because the Apple family were possibly doing chores. Not back at Twilight’s castle, because he overheard that the Canterlot royal guards were doing an inspection of the place.

So far, every option was a dead end.

Though he almost found a perfect spot on one of the hills. But to his surprise, Pinkie Pie turned up from out of nowhere and started having a conversation with him.

Although he appreciated the pink mare’s company, but the constant talking and party planning kept distracting the Digimon’s thoughts. So as the pink pony’s back was turned, he immediately took off like a bullet.

Back above Ponyville, the lack of success was irritating BlackWarGreymon. It appeared that FINDING a spot was a lot harder than finding the answers to his destiny.

“This is ridicules. Surely there must be a spot.”

Then to his curiosity, he heard someone shouting.

“Cut it out!”

Knowing that something was up, the Digimon descended towards the sounds of distress. It lead him to a large building that he guessed was a school. But the voice came from outside the building. Flying above the rooftop and positioning himself behind the bell tower, he stealthily peered over and saw the playground below. From the number of children that were outside, he could guess that it must be recess or lunchtime. As he eyed the group of young colts and fillies, he spotted the Cutiemark Crusaders. But then he spotted another filly who looked as though she was laughing at them. He saw that she was pink with a tiara on her head and a cutiemark of a tiara. Next to her was another filly with light grey fur and silvery-white mane. She also wore glasses and had a spoon for a cutiemark.

Then using his advanced hearing, BlackWarGreymon listened to the conversation.

“Quit teasing us!” Sweetie Belle demanded, her voice was somewhat desperate.

“Yeah, leave us alone,” Scootaloo said, she and Applebloom were getting irritated.

One of the tormenting fillies, named Diamond Tiara, responded back. Followed by the second filly, named Silver Spoon.

“Why? What are you going to do about it?”

“Oh wait, you can’t. Because you don’t have a special talent to stop us. In fact, you don’t have any talents at all.”

“Blank flanks!” The two taunted, then proceeded to laugh at the three.

Back at the bell tower, BlackWarGreymon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The three crusaders, his friends, done absolutely nothing wrong. And yet they’re being picked on because they don’t have their cutiemarks. Those two other fillies were bullies. He knew what it felt like to be a bully. After all, he did terrorize his entire world and picked fights with nearly every Digimon that crossed his path.

But then again, he only did it because instead of answering his questions, the other Digimon either fled in terror or tried to fight back. Just because he was an Artificial Digimon.

In a way, he was also the victim.

But that was the past and he was a changed Mega. But to see the same thing happening again in front of him made him feel unsettled. He had to put a stop to it.

“How can we not be talented? We’re personal friends with the saviour of Ponyville himself,” Applebloom said.

“Oh, the saviour of Ponyville? Oh please. I was lucky enough that I was in Manehattan when I heard about the dragon attack. If he really is your friend, then where I he?” Diamond Tiara asked, clearly mocking the crusaders.

Then to the surprise of the crusaders and all the other children, a loud thundering impact was heard from behind the two offending fillies. While the other children stared in awe, the three crusaders looked above Diamond Tiara’s head and smiled.

The offending but startled pink pony took the looks on their faces as a sign.

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

Though they didn’t say anything, but the smiles on the Cutiemark Crusaders made it clear that it was a yes.

As Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turned around, all they saw was a close up view of the yellow coloured shin guards. Knowing that they were looking at the legs, the two fillies slowly looked up. As they trailed their sights higher and higher, their mouths silently opened as their eyes widened. Looking past his thighs, past his chest, past his shoulders, all the way up to the Digimon’s head. Glaring down at them with unamused eyes.

Finally seeing BlackWarGreymon for real, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t know what to do or how to feel. Sure, he was the defender of Ponyville, but he was the most frightening thing they had ever seen. Plus his angry glare wasn’t helping at all.

Silence surrounded them all as BlackWarGreymon glared at the two young ponies by his feet.

Then he broke the silence.

“Boo.”

The reactions followed as such. Silver Spoon fainted while Diamond Tiara ran inside the school screaming.

While the rest of the children were stunned from seeing him up close, the Cutiemark Crusaders approached the tall Digimon with no fear.

“Wow. Ya sure scared her,” Applebloom said.

“Yeah, thanks for sticking up for us,” Scootaloo joined.

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

“Of course, no one messes with my friends. Next time someone picks on you, come and find me ok?” BlackWarGreymon suggested.

“Yeah, nopony will mess with us with you around,” Sweetie Belle cheered.

With the trouble over, BlackWarGreymon levitated off the ground and flew to the skies. The young ponies all let out ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ as they saw the Digimon flew without wings.

Back at the school, Diamond Tiara dragged her teacher out in a panic.

“Miss Cheerilee, come out and quick! There’s a horrible monster in the playgrou…”

The filly paused herself when she saw that the Digimon was nowhere to be found.

“He… he’s gone!? But he was just here! Where is he!?”

“Oh BlackWarGreymon? He just left,” Scootaloo answered.

“BlackWarGreymon was here!?” Miss Cheerilee asked while buzzing with excitement, eager to see the Digimon up close. Much to the confusion of Diamond Tara.
…………………………………………………………………………………....................................................................................

More time had passed and BlackWarGreymon still had no luck finding a perfect secluded spot to focus his mind. It was already late afternoon.

His eyes then spotted a large field, empty with no ponies in sight.

Much to his relief, the field was the perfect spot.

After flying down towards the field, BlackWarGreymon landed on the soft grass and then sat down with his legs crossed. After he got himself comfortable, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his thoughts.

However, he was only ten seconds into his thoughts when he sensed that someone was nearby.

‘What now?’

After the annoyed Digimon opened his eyes, he looked in front of him to see if someone was near. But he saw nothing but open grassland. He then looked to his left, but found nothing. But his suspicions were confirmed when he looked to his right. Standing twenty feet away staring at him, was a lone small filly.

‘A little girl? What is she doing out here?’

Believing that the girl’s parents were nearby watching her, BlackWarGreymon went back to his thoughts. But he couldn’t focus. Even with his eyes shut, he could tell that the girl was still staring at him.

It was distracting. Very distracting.

He once again opened his eyes. But when he saw the same filly, she moved closer. Standing about ten feet away from him. She just stood there, staring at BlackWarGreymon with great curiosity.

The Artificial Mega Digimon took a good look at his young visitor. And was quite startled for a number of reasons.

She was a Unicorn with no cutiemark and maybe a tad younger than the Cutiemark Crusaders. But her black fur coat was the exact same shade as his skin and armour. Her eyes, mane and tail were just as yellow as his eyes and hair. Plus her mane looked just like his hair, with several yellow strands that made up her fringe.

In a way, she was like a pony version of himself.

BlackWarGreymon thought that she was probably a fan of him and tried to mimic his look. But her colours looked genuine enough to be proven that she was born like that.

“Hmm,” The Digimon uttered before trying to focus his mind again. But the small filly’s presence continued to distract him.

Again he opened his eyes to see the young girl. Though her facial expression was blank, her eyes were full of curiosity.

“Hello,” BlackWarGreymon said, but received no reply.

“Can I help you with anything?” He asked, wondering if she wanted something.

The girl’s only reactions were a little blink and her head tilting to the side slightly.

BlackWarGreymon was starting to get confused.

“Can you speak?”

Again she said nothing, but the small filly let out a small kind smile.

BlackWarGreymon’s expression softened at seeing her genuine smile. The girl wasn’t afraid of him at all, despite that it was the first time she met him.

After the short moment of silent staring, the filly started to walk past BlackWarGreymon. Leaving him while still smiling.

The confused Digimon watched as she walked past him, wondering how and why she appeared out of nowhere. And where she came from. But he would have to think of that another time. Finally alone, he could focus on his destiny and its possibilities.

As he coursed through his mind, he tried to piece things together.

As far as he knew, he was the first Digimon to ever be in Equestria. He was new to the land. And yet, the magic of the land was enhancing his strength and powers. But why? Why was his powers reacting with the magic of Equestria? That goes for the Tree of Harmony as well. Why did it react to his very touch? And why out of everyone, did it spoke to him? His past had been dark and violent, surely one with a humble beginning would be worthy enough to hear from the tree. But why him? And more importantly. Why was he sent to Equestria in the first place? Was it fate’s doing? If not, could there be a reason? A link?

The BlackWarGreymon realised something. After his death and before arriving in Equestria, he was in a realm that looked like space. Despite only being in there for a short moment, he had felt the energy surrounding him. But the most shocking thing, was that the energy felt very similar to the energy from the Tree of Harmony!

He could’ve sworn that the two… were identical!

Could it be possible? Could the tree be responsible for bringing him to Equestria!? But how? And if not the tree itself, could it be that… some ethereal otherworldly deity brought him to Equestria? The same that might’ve created the tree? If so, who was the deity? Could it be the key to his true destiny?

BlackWarGreymon’s head began to ache from processing so much information at once. He tried to slow down and try again.

If it’s all true, who was the deity? What motives did it had? Where was it? When did it know him? And how did it know him?

Equestria and the Digital World were in completely separate dimensions, or even universes. So how was it possible for the Tree of Harmony to be aware of BlackWarGreymon’s very existence!?

Just as his mind peeked from so many questions, unfortunately, his mind lost complete focus.

It meant one thing, he was not alone again.

Opening his yellow eyes, his gaze fell upon the same Unicorn filly. But to his surprise, there were other young ponies with her. Some a little older and some a little younger, but all smiling at him.

The Digimon was really confused. It was obvious that the first filly told the others about him, but where did they all come from?

After remembering the direction where the first filly walked off to, BlackWarGreymon turned his head around and saw a small building in the distance.

How he didn’t noticed it before was beyond him.

“Just perfect.”
……………………………………………………………………………………....................................................................................

At the building fifteen minutes later, a Unicorn mare walked out of the front doors. Curious to see if the children were outside.

“Now where did they run off to?” She asked herself as she looked around, trying to spot the fillies and colts.

Then the collective sounds of playful laughter caught her ear. Realising where they were, she followed the sounds.

Halfway across the field, she spotted something large sitting on the grass. To her surprise and relief, it turned out to be BlackWarGreymon, the saviour she heard so much about. Although she had never seen him in person, she recognized his details that her friends described. What added to her surprise even more was that the children themselves, were very close to him while having fun.

Two colts and five fillies were running in circles around BlackWarGreymon while another group played peekaboo on his lap. Using the yellow cords on the Digimon’s chest like a ladder, some of the children climbed up to his shoulders and used his shield as a slide. A lone colt carefully tapped his hoof on one of the tips of the metal gauntlets, ending up with only a little prick and a tiny jolt of pain. It felt like touching the pointed end of a needle. Another colt used the horns on the side of BlackWarGreymon’s head like monkey bars, swinging back and forth, and a small filly snuggled and nuzzled in the Digimon’s soft yellow hair.

In a manner of speaking, they were using BlackWarGreymon like a climbing frame or a jungle gym.

The expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes clearly showed that he was annoyed and didn’t like the idea of becoming a children’s plaything. But what could he do? The colts and fillies were innocent and only playing around, so he shouldn’t be rough or angry around him. He even thought that since the children were so young, they wouldn’t go anywhere near him, let alone play with him. So he was surprised that they got so used to him so quickly. Although annoyed that he couldn’t focus on the meaning of his destiny, but deep down he was happy that the ponies so young weren’t afraid of him at all, and were happy to be near him.

The mare chuckled at seeing both the display and the Digimon’s annoyed expression. An all-powerful, fierce looking, otherworldly being, forced to come to terms of the playful children, was reduced to their little activity. But it was time for their play time to end.

“Ok kids, time to come inside.”

The young ponies all let out sighs of disappointment from the call of their fun time being cut short. But they had to do what they’re told. So after a brief hesitation, they all climbed off the relieved Digimon and made their way towards the building.

The mare also done a head-count as the colts and fillies walked past her.

“…five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, el...”

She paused her counting when she missed one. In alarm, she looked around franticly, trying to find the odd one out.

“Whe… where is she?”

Unexpectedly, she got her answer from BlackWarGreymon.

“She’s right here.”

As she looked at him, the mare noticed that the Digimon was looking down. Following his gaze, she saw one of the fillies sleeping on his lap.

The filly in particular was the same black furred, yellow maned one that first met BlackWarGreymon.

Although surprised, the mare smiled at how peaceful the young girl was as she slept on the leg of the Digimon.

“Awww… it seems Nina has taken a great liking to you.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at the mare, then back down at the sleeping but smiling filly. Knowing her revealed name.

“Nina? That’s a beautiful name,” He admitted, the name suited her well.

“Isn’t it? I chose it myself since she never had one,” The mare said.

Her sentence made BlackWarGreymon look at her in confusion.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well you see… Nina’s an orphan,” The mare answered, but it brought surprise to the Digimon. Since he learnt what the word meant from one of Twilight’s books.

“An orphan?” He asked.

The mare explained herself.

“Yes. The building I came from is an orphanage. All the children here are orphans. I’m only their caretaker.”

BlackWarGreymon was stunned. The kids were left or abandoned by their true parents, so the caretaker was technically the only mother they had. He then looked down at the sleeping Nina. Who in their right minds would give away someone as adorable as her?

He then felt sympathy for the little filly as she snuggled his leg.

But then good news came to light.

“Luckily for Nina. A young couple took great interest in her this morning. And are planning to adopt her,” The mare said.

The news brought relief to the Mega, knowing that the future of the little filly would be safe and secure.

Then the caretaker of the orphanage approached the Digimon.

“If you’re ready, it’s time to take her back inside.”

“Of course.”

Deciding it was time to go, the Unicorn mare used her magic to gently lift Nina off BlackWarGreymon’s lap and rested the filly on her back.

“The children here really like you. You can come by and visit anytime you want. And thank you for saving Ponyville the other day,” The mare said before turning away, walking towards the orphanage.

As BlackWarGreymon watched on, his mind was buzzing with thoughts. Even though he couldn’t figure out the connections between him, his destiny, the Tree of Harmony and his existence in Equestria, but he did somewhat enjoy helping out the Cutiemark Crusaders and spent time with the orphans. Even though it was all unintentional.

So in conclusion, his day so far wasn’t a total loss.

“Hi BlackWarGreymon!”

BlackWarGreymon jolted back in surprise as he unexpectedly heard a loud voice. After quickly got his bearings straight, he saw Pinkie Pie standing in front of him with a big wide smile.

“Wh…where did you come from?” The Digimon asked, it was as if the pink Earth Pony appeared from out of nowhere.

“I followed you, silly. It took me a while to find you, but here I am,” Pinkie Pie answered.

BlackWarGreymon assumed that the reason Pinkie Pie spent a lot of her time to find him, meant that she wants him for something.

“So is there something you want me to do?”

“Funny you should ask that, because there is!” Pinkie Pie answered before walking closer to the Digimon.

“Can I please ride on your back as you fly?” She asked with pleading, puppy dog eyes.

BlackWarGreymon was surprised by the pony’s bizarre request. But with the answers to his questions drawing a blank in his mind, he had nothing better to do.

“Well, I’m heading back to town. So I don’t see why not.”

“Yipee!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around in excitement.

After calming down, Pinkie Pie bounced so high she flew over BlackWarGreymon’s head and landed on his left shoulder.

“Ok, I’m ready!”

“Hmm, hang on,” The Digimon said as he started to walk.

Pinkie Pie let out a huge grin as she waited for the flight to begin.

Then with a massive leap, BlackWarGreymon launched himself off the ground and shot straight into the sky. With Pinkie Pie cheering all the way.

Back at the orphanage bedroom window, Nina, who had just woken up, saw the events outside, and silently waved goodbye at the departing Digimon with a genuine smile.
…………………………………………………………………………………….................................................................................

Outside of Ponyville

During BlackWarGreymon’s time at the orphanage, school had finished. And to Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s surprise, Applebloom immediately rushed outside and ran towards a nearby forest. Luckily that it wasn’t the Everfree, but the two fillies were concerned as to why the young Earth Pony was in a rush and why she didn’t tell them anything. Maybe she found a way of getting her cutiemark. But if so, why didn’t she said a word about it?

Concerned for their friend, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tried to follow Applebloom. But when they started, they lost sight of her. And the forest they were in was unfamiliar to them.

Instead of getting themselves lost, the two fillies went back to Ponyville to find somepony to be their guide. Luckily for them, they bumped into Applebloom’s older sister, Applejack.

“Woah now, what are ya two doin’ right now?” Applejack asked while shaking her head from her collision with the two fillies.

“Oh Applejack, thank goodness. You need to help us find Applebloom,” Scootaloo said while grabbing the older pony’s shoulders.

“What? Ah thought she would be with you two,” She replied, her voice shown a hint of concern for her little sister.

“She was. But when school finished, she ran into that forest over there,” Sweetie Belle said while she pointed her hoof to the forest she mentioned.

Applejack’s eyes widened in alarm as she recognised the forest.

“WHAT!!? Has she lost her mind!?”

Then like a stampeding bull, Applejack ran straight into the forest as fast as she could. Confused of what was happening, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran after her in the tree growth.

As the fillies ran through the forest floor, they caught up with Applejack. Just in time to hear her.

“That filly’s gonna get herself killed!”

“Why? The Everfree Forest is back the other way,” Scootaloo mentioned. Followed by Sweetie Belle.

“And this isn’t White Tail Woods.”

Then the worried orange mare corrected both the fillies.

“It’s not the forest that worries me. It’s what’s beyond the forest that does.”

The fact that the two fillies had never been to the forest, they were curious of what was on the other side.

“What is beyond this forest?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Applejack narrowed her sights as she gave her answer.

“Froggy Bottom Bogg.”

The two fillies were confused at the name.

“Froggy Bottom Bogg? That doesn’t sound dangerous,” Scootaloo said, earning a harsh lesson from Applejack.

“Not dangerous!? It’s near enough just as dangerous as the Everfree Forest! It has wild animals, thick mud, and who knows what!”

Applejack had every right to be frightened. The last time she and some of her friends were at the bog, they had a deadly encounter with a certain giant four-headed reptile.

“If it’s that dangerous, then why did Applebloom come here all alone?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“That’s exactly what I want to know too,” Applejack said.

Soon enough, the three ponies arrived at the edge of the forest and at their destination.

“Woah, so this is Froggy Bottom Bogg,” Scootaloo said while taking in the sights of the huge swamp.

“EWW! This place is gross!” Sweetie Belle complained as she looked at the terrain. She almost sounded like Rarity.

“Now ya know why this place ain’t a place for small fillies,” Applejack said as she looked at the two.

Truth be told that she wanted Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to stay in Ponyville. But to find a small filly in such a large area meant she needed all the help she could get.

With that, the three looked in random places to find their friend. Scootaloo searched high, Sweetie Belle searched low, Applejack peered through the thick long grass. But so far, they hadn’t found a clue. The three even called out Applebloom’s name, in hopes that she would respond.

As the search went on, the mare and the fillies were getting more concerned by the second. Worried if something bad happened to the young Earth Pony.

Then they heard a voice in the distance.

“HELP! Is there anypony out there!? Help me!”

As the three turned their heads in the direction of the voice, Applejack’s eyes grew wider.

“That voice… Applebloom!”

Applejack immediately ran towards the voice she recognised, followed by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. As the three reached a clearing, they spotted the Earth Pony filly.

“Applebloom!” The three said, they were glad to see the filly unharmed.

But she was in trouble.

“Girls, help. I’m stuck,” Applebloom said as she looked at the ground beneath her. All four of her legs were bogged down in the thick mud up to her knees. Preventing her escape.

“Hang on, I’m coming!” Applejack said as she ran straight towards her trapped sister.

But unlike her older sister, Applebloom could see the danger that laid in front of her.

“No! Wait Applejack!”

But her warning came late. Just six feet away from Applebloom, Applejack felt her hooves sink into the soft sticky mud beneath her. Stopping her advance. The orange mare tried to pull her front legs free, but the action caused her hind legs to sink deeper. From feeling her legs starting to become immobile, Applejack started to panic. No matter how hard she tried to pull free, the suction of the thick mud held her in place and slowly pulling her in.

“No! I…have…to get free,” She said as she started to squirm and flail her body in hopes to get loose, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Stop squirmin’ Applejack! Ya only making it worse!” Applebloom called out, seeing that her older sister was already knee deep.

By calming down and keeping still, Applejack’s sinking slowed. But she was still in danger.

The two fillies on the side-lines could only watch in horror.

“What are we gonna do!?” Scootaloo asked in a panic.

“I know!” Sweetie Belle answered as she got an idea.

Using her magic, Sweetie Belle’s levitation spell surrounded Applejack and tried an attempt to lift her free. As first it was working, the mare was lifted by a couple in inches. But the Unicorn filly was still new to performing magic and she started to strain from the pressure. She tried to focus as hard as she could, but being new to magic, plus the suction of the mud only made her do very little.

Soon enough, Sweetie Belle’s magic gave way. She simply didn’t had the strength to free Applejack.

“It’s no good. I’m still new to magic.”

With every attempt failed, the orange pony came to a bold decision.

“Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, go back to Ponyville and find help.”

“What!? We can’t leave you and Applebloom like this!” The Pegasus filly stared, wanting to help anyway she could without leaving.

“This ain’t a task for fillies! Now go and find help. We’ll be fine as long nothin’ else happens,” Applejack said, though slightly doubting her last sentence.

Although hesitant at first for leaving their friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

“Ok. We’ll be back as soon as we can!” Sweetie Belle promised as she and Scootaloo turned around and ran back to the forest. Heading back to Ponyville and leaving Froggy Bottom Bogg.

Applejack and Applebloom mentally hoped that the two fillies would find help in time. Especially from the fact that the swamp could hide other dangers. Some a lot worse than being stuck in thick mud.

And it might happen at any moment.

Chapter 24: Trouble in Froggy Bottom Bogg

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High in the skies above Ponyville, BlackWarGreymon was speeding through the open air, with Pinkie Pie holding on to his back. She was practically having the time of her life as she cheered, her mane and tail swaying wild in the wind.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! This is the best ride I’ve ever been on!!”

BlackWarGreymon merely chuckled at her obvious joke. Thinking that he was some kind of rollercoaster.

As the two arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville, the black Digimon landed on the dirt road. Then Pinkie Pie jumped off his back, her mane and tail were swept back and stretched from the high-speed traveling.

“Hehe, that was fun!” She said before her pink mane and tail puffed back in place, back to its puffy fluffy look.

“Guess it is,” BlackWarGreymon said, seeing how happy the pink party pony was.

Then Pinkie Pie looked at the tall Digimon with a playful smile.

“And I didn’t know you were great with children,” She said, earning a surprised look from BlackWarGreymon.

He then remembered that the pink mare appeared moments after the orphans went back to the orphanage, so it was likely that Pinkie Pie was around long enough to had seen his interactions with them. He then had an embarrassing thought that she had seen him being treated like a climbing frame.

“Yep, you were so cute with those kids playing around with you,” Pinkie Pie added.

From the expression in his eyes, it was clear that it was the first time that BlackWarGreymon was called ‘cute’.

“C…cute? I’m not cute, Pinkie. Far from it.”

Pinkie Pie let out a chuckle of amusement.

“Hehe, of course you are. Even fierce beings can be cute at times, or do cute things.”

“But still, I wouldn’t say I’m cute,” The black armoured Mega said, embarrassed that soon other ponies would call him cute.

However, their conversation was interrupted by the rapidly approaching Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“Pinkie Pie! BlackWarGreymon!”

After gaining their attention, the two fillies stopped in front of them. Exhausted from their running.

“What is it girls?” Pinkie Pie asked, concerned as to why the two fillies were panicking.

After gasping for breath, Scootaloo answered. Followed by Sweetie Belle.

“It’s Applebloom and Applejack!”

“They’re in trouble!”

Pinkie Pie and BlackWarGreymon were shocked to hear the terrible news.

“TROUBLE!?” The pink mare asked in disbelief, greatly concerned for the two in peril.

“What happened to them? And where are they?” The black Digimon asked. With Scootaloo answering his question.

“They’re stuck at Froggy Bottom Bogg!” She then pointed in the direction of the forest where they came from. “They need help!”

Brimming with determination to save Applejack and Applebloom, BlackWarGreymon was more than ready.

“I’m on it!”

He then sprinted past the two fillies and ran straight into the dense forest. Wanting to help out, Pinkie Pie galloped after him.

“Hay! Wait BlackWarGreymon!”

Not wanting to leave a fellow crusader behind, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed the pink mare. But being fillies, they couldn’t keep up. Pinkie Pie saw the two and offered help.

“Quick, hop on!”

Agreeing to her offer, the young Unicorn and Pegasus leaped onto the party pony’s back as she ran into the forest.

Speeding across the forest floor, the three ponies managed to catch up to BlackWarGreymon. The sprinting Digimon glanced to his right to spot them following him.

“I suggest you three go back to Ponyville. Let me deal with this,” He said to them, concerned for their safety.

“No way. Applebloom is a fellow crusader. And crusaders all stick together.” Scootaloo stated with Sweetie Belle nodding in agreement.

“Yeah. And Applejack is my cousin. So she’s family,” Pinkie Pie added, trying to keep up with the black Digimon while carrying two fillies on her back.

‘Applejack is her cousin?’ BlackWarGreymon thought, as if he didn’t believe her. But then his mind focused on an important fact.

Friends stick together, no matter the odds. Even if the odds were stacked against them, they would be there for each other no matter what.

BlackWarGreymon then sighed in acceptance.

“Ok. But you three be careful.”

Sweetie Belle noticed that ‘being careful’ was not what the Digimon was doing.

“Watch out! You’re about to run into those trees!”

However, BlackWarGreymon was aware of the approaching trees, but he ran straight towards them regardless. Then the trees, no matter thick or thin, were all snapped as the Digimon smashed his way through them while running at full speed. From a bird’s eye view of the forest, some sections of trees were either brushed aside of simply knocked down. Anyone who was watching would think that a giant creature was in there.

Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were all amazed at BlackWarGreymon’s display of strength, and his determination to save his friends. He looked as if nothing would stand in his way.
……………………………………………………………………………................................................................................................

Froggy Bottom Bogg

Applejack and Applebloom remained stuck in the humid swamp. While the younger filly was still up to her knees in the thick mud, the older sister was slightly deeper. She was half way up her upper legs.

After another failed attempt to struggle free from the grip of the mud, she turned her concern to her little sister.

“Ya ok, sugercube?”

Applebloom inspected the ground beneath her before answering.

“Ah think so. The mud over here seems to be much firmer than the one you’re in,” She said, noting that it took longer for her to sink further into the muddy trap.

“Right. So… would ya tell me why ya ran off here all by ya’self!?”

Applejack’s demand caught Applebloom off guard.

“What!? Ah don’t think this is the time for that, AJ!”

“It sure is little missy! Now spill!”

With the situation they were in, Applebloom had no choice but to confess.

“Ok ok. I thought that by coming to the forest alone, it might earn me a cutiemark for bravery or somthin’. But I didn’t know about this swamp, honest!”

Applejack could see in her little sister’s eyes that, although ashamed, she was telling the truth. As the big sister responded, she and the filly were unaware that something was moving in the murky waters as green mist started to appear around them.

“That last part I understand, Applebloom. But what I don’t understand is why ya came here all alone. I mean what if somethin’ happened to ya? And why can’t ya try somthin’ safer to earn ya cutiemark?”

“Well I…”

Applebloom’s answer was cut short as she breathed in the green mist. Its unexpected stench caused the filly to cough in disgust.

“Uhhh! What in Equestria is that smell!?” She asked before shaking her head side to side, trying to get rid of the mist.

Applejack meanwhile froze at her sister’s reactions. It was the exact same reactions as Twilight’s the last time she came to the bog. The green fog stench was a sign that meant only one thing.

Her worst fears of coming back to Froggy Bottom Bogg were coming true as she heard sounds of splashing. She then saw a tall silhouette in the green mist, stretching up from the pond behind Applebloom and into the sky. It was followed by three more identical silhouettes.

As the stinky green mist started to fade away, Applebloom realised that her big sister had suddenly got very quiet.

“Applejack?”

Looking at her sibling, Applebloom saw that Applejack was paralyzed in fear while staring at something behind the filly. Though already she had a bad feeling of what was going on, the young pony’s eyes widened as she heard sounds of growling. Turning her head around to the source of the sounds, she gasped at the beast behind her.

High in the air looming over the two ponies, were four identical dragon-like heads. Each of the heads had scary green eyes and bright red spikes on the sides of their heads. Supporting the heads were incredibly long snake-like necks, covered in thick orange scales. Slowly rising to the surface was the rest of its body. It had a yellow under-belly, two legs ending in claws, and several yellow spikes on the end of its tail.

As the sixty foot tall reptile fully emerged itself from the swamp, the hydra let out several loud roars.

Seeing the massive monster for the first time, Applebloom let out a scream of panic as she struggled like mad to get out of her muddy trap. But given the type of mud she was in, she was stuck like glue.

The screams only made the hydra draw its attention closer to the two ponies, licking its lips as it approached its prey.
Unable to run or defend themselves, Applebloom and Applejack called out for help.

“HEEELLLPP!!!”

Just in the nick of time, BlackWarGreymon, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle arrived on the scene. They immediately spotted the huge reptile, much to the surprise of the Digimon and the two fillies.

“What is that thing!?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“That’s a hydra! A big meanie monster with four meanie heads!” Pinkie Pie answered, remembering the last time she encountered a hydra.

“It’s huge!” Scootaloo said while eying the four-headed beast.

BlackWarGreymon meanwhile was quickly analyzing the situation. He first spotted Applejack and Applebloom, struggling to free themselves from the mud they got bogged down in. He then glanced up at the hydra, seeing the carnivore grinning meant that it planned on eating the ponies as they were unable to escape.

The Digimon narrowed his eyes in determination. He knew he could take it on. He then glared back at his three companions as he formulated a plan of action.

“Ok. Pinkie Pie, you get Applejack and Applebloom out of there. And you two, hide and stay out of trouble.”

He then glanced back at the beast.

“I’ll take care of the hydra.”

To the surprise of his three friends, BlackWarGreymon immediately took off the ground and flew straight towards the danger.

Unaware of the advancing Digimon, one of the four hydra heads lowered just above the two Earth Pony heads and opened its gaping mouth wide to engulf them both. Just as the two stranded girls gave up hope, BlackWarGreymon flew in-between them and the hydra and kicked the lizard’s head square in the jaw.

The sheer force of the attack caused the hydra head to swing over its other heads and flop down over its back.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Applejack and Applebloom said, they never thought they would be so glad to see their digital friend in the nick of time.

“Don’t worry girls, we’ll get you out of there,” The Digimon said as he turned his attention back to the hydra.

The Mega level Digital Monster then became aware that each of the four hydra heads had minds of their own. Because as the head he kicked rose back up with a dizzy expression, the other three heads looked as if they were mocking it.

“Back off now, if you know what’s good for you,” BlackWarGreymon demanded. Since the hydra was only acting on instinct instead of desire like the dragons, it wasn’t evil. It’s just a hungry reptile.

But the hydra was indeed hungry and only glared back at the Digimon with amused grins.

“Suit yourself,” BlackWarGreymon said, already knowing that it would end up in a fight.

Flying up to the hydra’s heads, the black Digimon punched one of them back. The head forced back and sustaining a large scratch form the metal gauntlets.

Though surprised at the intruders’ strength, instinct told the hydra to fight back. trying to gobble him up.

While the fight was on, the two fillies on the side lines were either sulking or in awe.

“Why can’t we help? We can do something too, right Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked while looking at Scootaloo. Seeing her amazed expression.

“Wow. He just booted that hydra in the jaw.”

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle shouted in her friend’s ear, snapping her out of her trance.

“Uhhh… yes. We must find a way to help,” The Pegasus said, putting on a brave face.

The two fillies were just in time to see Pinkie Pie rearing on her hind legs and had a look of confidence on her face.

“Don’t worry AJ and Applebloom! Pinkie Pie’s here to rescue you!”

Then the pink pony without a plan charged straight towards the stranded two. Completely oblivious to the fact that Applejack saw she was making a big mistake.

“No! Wait Pinkie!”

But the orange pony’s warning came too late. Her supposed-to-be saviour ended up getting herself stuck waist-deep in the same thick mud. Only her upper body and her forelegs were free.

“EEEEEEE! Now I’m stuck too,” Pinkie Pie said, briefly happy about her situation for some reason. But after a short second, she and Applejack panicked.

“HELP!!”

Back at the fight, BlackWarGreymon was holding back one of the hydra’s heads while doing the same with his legs on the second head. As he wrestled the two heads at once, he heard the sudden cries of distress. He turned his head around to see what was going on, only to see something as ridicules as part of his plan backfired on him.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

After he finished talking, he immediately got head-butted from the side by another hydra head. The blow knocked the Digimon out of the way.

On the sidelines, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched on as the older mares sank deeper in the mud. Pinkie Pie was up to her ribs and Applejack was up to her stomach. While knee deep in thick mud, Applebloom pleaded with her fellow crusaders.

“Come on girls, think of somethin’ quick!”

“But I don’t know what we can do,” Scootaloo answered in worry. But Sweetie Belle had an idea. Though it hadn’t worked before, but she could at least try to slow down the sinking.

“I know what to do,” She said before pointing her horn at Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and concentrated as much magic as she could.

Surrounding the two stranded mares in her magical aura, Sweetie Belle held them in place. Stopping their decent into their muddy tombs.

“Great work, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo complemented.

“Yeah. But I can’t hold this forever,” Sweetie Belle said, already feeling the strain from holding two ponies at once.

Back in the sky, BlackWarGreymon took a brief moment to see what was going on back on the ground. And spotted what Sweetie Belle was doing.

“She’s slowing them down. But I must end this fight, and quick,” He said as he charged at the hydra, just as it lunged its four heads at him.

As the heads came close to him, BlackWarGreymon elbowed one on top of its head with his right arm, while at the same time, he slammed his left knee into another. After twirling himself over the third head, narrowly escaping its gaping jaws, the Digimon swung his right leg over and slammed his heel on the back of the hydra’s third neck.

The trio of beat-downs caused the three heads to be dizzy. The forth hydra became infuriated that its prey was outsmarting the other three heads. It then let out an angry roar to bring the three to attention, and then to BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, one of them suddenly reached out and grabbed a hold on the Digimon’s left leg.

With its prey firmly in its jaws, the hydra reared its long neck back and then flung BlackWarGreymon straight to the ground. The black Digimon hardly had time to brace himself as he impacted straight through the soft ground. Throwing up heaps of thick mud in the air.

As the mud settled, there was no sign of BlackWarGreymon anywhere. The five onlooking ponies thought for a brief moment, that their digital friend didn’t made it and stayed buried under the swamp.

As the hydra started to laugh un amusement, the pool of mud started to bubble. Gaining the beast’s attention as well as the ponies. Then to their surprise, BlackWarGreymon came bursting out of the muddy pool. Launching himself free like a cannonball. He also grunted while doing so, showing that it took a bit of effort to free himself.

The mud covered BlackWarGreymon then hovered up to the hydra’s eye level some distance away, guarding the ponies below.

The two mares and the three fillies remained still ad quiet, seeing that the Digimon was clearly not happy. As the hydra got a brief shiver from BlackWarGreymon’s gaze, the Digimon spoke to it in a serious tone.

“I’ve been taking it easy on you, hydra. But no more! Now you asked for it!”

He then raised his Dramon Destroyers above his head and a tiny red orb formed in-between them. Though the hydra barely sensed the orb’s power, but it froze in fascination. Wondering how BlackWarGreymon was doing that.

Although Pinkie Pie and Applejack knew what was coming, the three crusaders and the hydra were in shock at what happened next.

Almost instantly, the Terra Destroyer orb grew from the size of a football to the size of BlackWarGreymon himself. Measuring ten feet in diameter.

The Mega level Digimon saw the hydra’s expression and decided to go further.

“Not scared yet!? How about now!?”

Within less of a second, the glowing red sphere of negative energy doubled in size. Up to twenty feet.

The hydra started to feel fear as it took one step back. Although trying to keep his temper down, BlackWarGreymon wanted to scare the giant reptile even more.

“How about now!?”

Like before, the size of the fiery sphere doubled again. Growing to an impressive forty feet.

But then to the surprise of everyone whom were watching, even surprising BlackWarGreymon himself, the giant orb expanded again. Measuring a colossal fifty feet in diameter.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie both had never seen BlackWarGreymon’s Terra Destroyer attack so large. It was even bigger than the one he used to defeat Tirek. Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were stuck in both awe and utter shock. They were glad that the black Digimon used a much smaller sphere to destroy the old barn the other day. If he used one that was fifty foot wide, it would utterly destroy half of Sweet Apple Acres. Or maybe even the whole of it.

‘Wow. Seems my power has advanced even greater than I thought,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself as he stared at his larger-then-average energy sphere.

While with the explosive orb within his claws, the black dragon warrior turned his sights back to the frightened hydra. Its natural hunting instincts instantly vanished as it looked at the unbelievable sight, realising the situation it was in.

It wouldn’t stand a chance. Eating five ponies wasn’t worth it for being beaten in a way it never felt before.

No longer wanting to fight BlackWarGreymon anymore, the massive hydra backed off as it lowered its four heads closer to its body.

The powerful Mega took those actions as signs of defeat.

“Good. NOW GET LOST!!!”

As he shouted, the Terra Destroyer sphere suddenly got brighter. Seeing what looked like a miniature star and the angry Artificial Digimon beneath it, the terrified hydra immediately turned its dragon-like body around and ran as fast as its two short legs could go.

After seeing the hydra fleeing across the horizon, BlackWarGreymon started to condense his giant red orb. Shrinking it as its immense energy faded away. After the mighty Terra Destroyer sphere shrunk into nothing, the Digimon turned around and flew down to the ponies.

There was some work to be done.

Back on the ground, Sweetie Belle finally ran out of magical power and nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said as she rushed over to the young Unicorn.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t do it,” Sweetie Belle said, her voice as well as her face was one of defeat. She thought she had let Applejack and Pinkie Pie down.

But it was not to be.

“Don’t worry. I got this.”

Turning towards the source of the voice, the two fillies, as well as the three stranded ponies, saw the victorious BlackWarGreymon hovering above their heads.

“BlackWarGreymon!” The five ponies cheered, glad to see that the danger was long gone thanks to him.

Seeing that Applejack was deepest in the sinking mud, the Digimon decided to free her first.

“Hay, it’s a good thing ya showed that hydra a thing or two,” The orange Earth Pony said as she watched BlackWarGreymon position himself above her.

“Yeah. Now keep still.”

BlackWarGreymon then lowered his arms and dug his metal claws in the mud either side of Applejack. Then closing them together, he felt his claws joining together and then used his two gauntlets as a scoop to successfully pull Applejack free.

BlackWarGreymon then reached out his leg so Pinkie Pie could use her free forelegs to grab a hold on the Digimon’s foot. Levitating upwards, he pulled Pinkie Pie free and then placed the two mares on safe ground with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“Wow, that was close,” The pink party pony said as she tried to shake the mud off her fur.

“Don’t forget me,” Applebloom said, getting everyone’s attention.

“Don’t ya worry. We’re gettin’ ya out, lickidy split,” Applejack said as BlackWarGreymon hovered above the Earth Pony filly and freed her the same way he freed Applejack.

After the Digimon placed Applebloom on much firmer ground, Applejack ran up to her and gave her little sister an affectionate hug.

“Ya ok, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Well I’m fine now,” Applebloom answered.

“Maybe you’d want to save that for when we get back to Ponyville,” BlackWarGreymon suggested, seeing that the town was much safer for the ponies than in the swamp.

After the five ponies nodded in agreement, they and their Digimon friend walked back into the forest where they came from. Leaving Froggy Bottom Bogg behind them.

As the six trekked through the forest, Applejack was scolding Applebloom for all that she had done.

“…now Applebloom, surely ya would know better than running into the forest alone!”

"Applejack, how many times did I say I’m sorry?” Applebloom asked, but wasn’t expecting an answer from Pinkie Pie.

“About fifty-seven times.”

After looking at Pinkie Pie in surprise and confusion, Applejack spoke back to her sister.

“Though I’m glad we got outa’ there in one piece, but ya still in big trouble little missy.”

As Applebloom tried to get the thoughts of punishment out of her head, she and the others surprisingly heard BlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“Don’t be too hard on her, Applejack.”

Surprised and confused, the five ponies looked at the Digimon while he explained himself.

“She had no idea about the bog, never mind that hydra. Yes, she shouldn’t have gone in the forest alone, but she had an adventures spirit. The same goes for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They go out and beyond the ways of a normal filly to try to find their destinies. I recon in time, they would eventually find their cutiemarks.”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were surprised at BlackWarGreymon’s surprisingly wise words. It seemed Twilight was right, he really had changed from what he once was. The Cutiemark Crusaders all smiled in joy, knowing that he was right about them being adventures.

Then the three fillies were startled at the Digimon’s next statement.

“In a way, that’s something I can relate to.”

The confused Scootaloo started to question him.

“What do you mean? I bet you were born to save lives and be a hero.”

“If that were true,” BlackWarGreymon said as his mind trailed off in thought. Not realising that he openly spoke out loud.

While Applejack and Pinkie Pie grew in concern of what they’re aware of, the three fillies were worried at what the Digimon was trying to say.

“Wha-what are you saying, BlackWarGreymon?” Sweetie Belle asked.

BlackWarGreymon took her question as a sign and then looked over to the two older mares.

“I assume you haven’t told them,” He said to the two Earth Ponies.

“Well… not yet. Ah just didn’t want Applebloom and the others to get the wrong idea of ya,” Applejack replied, while feeling a little guilty.

“Same here,” Pinkie Pie added.

The Cutiemark Crusaders became desperate for an explanation.

“What? What haven’t ya told us?” Applebloom asked, with her two filly friends just as eager to know.

The whole group stopped in their tracks as silence followed. Then as if he told the same story a hundred times, BlackWarGreymon told the crusaders the truth as he looked at their faces. He wanted to see how they would react.

“You see, back in the world where I come from, the Digital World, all Digimon were born from Digi eggs.”

His expression darkened, almost scaring the fillies.

“But not me. I wasn’t born from a Digi egg, I was created. Created by evil Digimon.”

The three fillies gasped in shock, frightened to what BlackWarGreymon was implying.

“You mean… like an experiment?” Scootaloo asked.

“Of sorts,” The Digimon answered. The filly’s question wasn’t far off.

“So… if you were created by evil Digimon, does that mean that… you were…”

Sweetie Belle’s question was interrupted by BlackWarGreymon.

“Evil? Yes, I was. I was created to destroy the entire Digital World.”

The young girl’s expressions were a mix of shock and horror, something that BlackWarGreymon expected. The fillies turned to Applejack and Pinkie Pie to see if he was correct. Only to see the two mares nodding their heads, confirming that it was true.

The fillies looked back at BlackWarGreymon with mixed feelings, realising that he had the power to do such things. Then again, it was kind of obvious. His powers and strength were both formidable and very destructive. Even his name and appearance alone were frightening.

“Ya… didn’t destroy ya whole world, didn’t ya?” Applebloom asked in a shaky voice.

To the relief of the fillies, BlackWarGreymon’s answer was the one they were hoping for.

“No. Because of the extent of my power, I disobeyed my creators and left to find my mark. You could say I was just as rebellious as you three.”

The three crusaders, or rather the three little devils, chuckled at the Digimon’s last remark. Of which Applejack reinforced.

“Ya can say that again,” She said as she ruffled Applebloom’s mane.

As the group continued their walk to Ponyville, Scootaloo asked BlackWarGreymon a question.

“So, you were evil. But like Discord, you became good?”

“Yes.”

Their conversation was joined by Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing around the whole group.

“That’s right! He came from baddie to goodie. Oh, which rhymes with cookie! Now he saves lives so I can continue celebrating parties, holidays and birthdays!”

As he listened to the joyful pink pony, BlackWarGreymon became curious of the last word she said.

“Birthdays?” He asked with a questionable look, which surprised his pony friends. Mostly Pinkie Pie.

“Wait, ya don’t know what a birthday is?” Applebloom asked the tall Digimon.

Knowing that he would like to know the answer, Sweetie Belle explained what a birthday was.

“A birthday is a yearly event to celebrate the day of a pony’s birth. I just had mine a couple of months ago.”

“Celebrating the day you were born. Interesting,” BlackWarGreymon said.

Then to the Digimon’s surprise, Pinkie Pie let out a loud gasp as she got an idea. She then jumped up right in BlackWarGreymon’s face in excitement.

“Do you have a birthday!? Do you, do you, do you!?”

BlackWarGreymon took a short moment to think. Remembering how long ago it was since he was brought to existence by a hundred Control Spires.

“Well… if you count my creation as my birth, I say it was about four months ago.”

All five ponies paused in shock at the startling revelation of the Digimon’s age. BlackWarGreymon noticed that his friends stopped following him and turned to see what was wrong.

“Hold on now. Months? Not years?” Applejack asked to make sure that the Digimon hadn’t made a mistake.

“Yes, months.”

“You’re four months old!?” Pinkie Pie asked in shock and disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Ah don’t believe it! He’s even younger than us!” Applebloom said to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, whom were both just as surprised.

“He’s even younger than the baby Cake twins!” Pinkie Pie added.

Applejack was almost speechless. She knew that BlackWarGreymon’s life was short, but she didn’t know it was THAT short!

“Wow. Sorry about that, big fella. We thought you were older.”

“Well I do sound older and look older. But I am indeed four months old,” BlackWarGreymon said before he and his five pony friends started to walk on.

The mares and fillies simply couldn’t believe how young the Digimon was compared to them. His life so far was even shorter than a speck compared to the likes of the Alicorn Sisters.

Chapter 25: BlackWarGreymon’s Invite

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On the outskirts of Ponyville, Princess Twilight Sparkle was having an emergency meeting with Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. All unaware of the events at Froggy Bottom Bogg and the battle with a sixty-foot tall hydra.

“Are you sure she just disappeared?” Twilight asked Rarity, whom looked distressed.

“Definatly darling. I can’t find Sweetie Belle anywhere since school finished,” The white Unicorn answered.

“Yeah, I had no luck with Scootaloo either,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Aren’t they at their clubhouse?” Twilight asked the group. The question answered by Fluttershy.

“I just checked. But they weren’t there.”

“Speaking of which, where’s Applejack and Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, noting the absence of her other pony friends.

After the group shrugged in uncertainty, Rainbow Dash came to a decision.

“I say we spread out and look for them.”

“Yeah!” The other three girls said.

But before they could begin their search, they heard a voice.

“Hay Rarity! We’re back!”

The white Unicorn gasped in joy at hearing the voice she was all too familiar with.

“Sweetie Belle! Oh, thank goodness you’re baaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

Her tone of voice shifted greatly into shock as she turned to not only see her little sister, but Applebloom and Scootaloo all with messy furs and covered in mud.

“What in Equestria happened to you three!!?”

“It’s a long story,” Sweetie Belle answered with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Well you tell me all about it,” Rarity said as she rushed to her sister to comfort her, but kept her distance by a couple of inches so she wouldn’t get dirty.

“Maybe after we clean you up,” She added.

As the remaining older mares walked up to Scootaloo and Applebloom, Twilight was startled when she recognized the type of mud that was on the fillies fur.

“Did you three went to Froggy Bottom Bogg?” The Alicorn asked in both alarm and disbelief.

Before either of them spoke up, Applejack’s voice intervened.

“We sure did.”

The ponies gasped when they saw Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The state the two were in was much worse than the fillies.

“You too?” Rainbow Dash asked as Rarity fainted from the sight of the amount of half dry mud on a pony.

“And that mud on your legs, did you run into trouble?” Twilight asked in concern.

“You bet,” Applejack answered while smiling. She was then joined by Pinkie Pie.

“And we would still be in trouble if it weren’t for BlackWarGreymon.”

“Wait, BlackWarGreymon?” Twilight asked as Pinkie Pie pointed in the direction of the forest where they came from.

The gang gasped again at the sight of the mud-covered BlackWarGreymon. Rarity then fainted the second time just moments after regaining consciousness.

“Even you!?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“My goodness BlackWarGreymon, you’re practically covered head-to-toe in mud,” Fluttershy mentioned.

The dragon warrior checked himself over before responding back.

“Yeah. You can thank the hydra for that,” He said, which startled Twilight.

“You encountered a hydra!?”

“Yeah. And he beat em!” Applebloom said, she and her friends remained amazed that the Mega could scare away a towering hydra.

After waking up from her fainting, Rarity spoke to the mud-covered group.

“Well… can we talk about this, after we go to the spa to freshen up?”

“Yeah, we could do with a wash,” Scootaloo said, with the others thinking of the same thing.

As the group headed off to the spa, Twilight walked beside BlackWarGreymon to talk to him.

“So BlackWarGreymon, did you found out what your purpose in life might be?” She asked the mud-covered Digimon.

The Mega took a moment to collect his thoughts on what he had learnt.

“I only managed to puzzle a few things together. We already know that the magic of this world is making me stronger. And I think that the reason why I was brought here… is because of the Tree of Harmony.”

“The tree?” Twilight asked, clearly interested as the Digimon continued.

“Yes. Though I’m not entirely certain, but I feel that this is all the tree’s doing. If not the tee itself, probably some sort of otherworldly being. I don’t know. I’m just so confused about it all.”

Twilight heard the hint of disappointment in BlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we could figure this out together,” She said in reassurance, cheering up her digital friend.

When the Mane Six, the Cutiemark Crusaders and the Mega level Digimon arrived at the local spa, they were given immediate treatments. More so were the ones who went to Froggy Bottom Bogg. Though happy that they got more customers, Lotus Blossom and Aloe were exceptionally glad that BlackWarGreymon came back. They were more than happy to wash him again.

Afterwards, the whole group were relaxing in their bath tubs. While his Dramon Destroyers and his Brave Shield were being held aside to be washed, BlackWarGreymon rested in a large tub of warm water, with the Mane Six in one of their own.

Curious at the Digimon’s words, Twilight spoke up.

“BlackWarGreymon. Earlier you said that, our world is making you stronger. Do you know any reason why?”

“I don’t know, Twilight. But it’s definatly not a coincidence. It almost feels as if the magic of Equestria, WANTS me to be stronger,” BlackWarGreymon said as he looked at the steamy water he was in. The more he thought of it, the more it felt true.

While Twilight and her friends thought about what BlackWarGreymon said, the Cutiemark Crusaders emerged from the spare room to take a bath. Seeing that the black Digimon was alone, they happily decided to join him.

BlackWarGreymon’s thoughts were interrupted when Scootaloo shouted.

“Cannonball!”

Then like a cannonball, Scootaloo made a loud splash in the bath tub. Followed by Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. The combined splashing soaked the Digimon. But he wasn’t bothered in the slightest, he knew the fillies were only having fun.

After popping their heads back at the water’s surface, the trio looked at BlackWarGreymon before speaking.

“We hope you don’t mind but…” Sweetie Belle said.

“We would like to keep ya company,” Applebloom finished.

“I don’t mind at all,” BlackWarGreymon said as leaned back and closed his eyes. Going back to being relaxed.

As Sweetie Belle tried to do the same, mimicking her Digimon friend, she received a big splash of water to the face.

“Splash fight!” Scootaloo declared before swinging her hooves in the water, sending some playful waves to the two fillies.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom retaliated by sending waves of water, either back at the young Pegasus or at each other. Their playful laughter caught the attention of BlackWarGreymon, who watched as the three fillies threw water attacks at each other.

The expression in his eyes softened as he watched their little game. If he had lips, he would be smiling.

And then in an unexpected but predictable turn of events, the Cutiemark Crusaders combined their efforts to send a wave of warm water straight to BlackWarGreymon’s face. The Digimon blinked in bewilderment at the sudden surprise.

“Gotcha, big guy,” Scootaloo said while Sweetie Belle and Applebloom watched on. Waiting patiently to see how BlackWarGreymon would react.

After a brief moment of silence, the Digimon’s expression changed to an amused glare. He then stuck his hand in the water and threw a wave back at them.

The wave engulfed the three, but the fillies re-emerged laughing. They then attacked each other and the Digimon with relentless water attacks, with BlackWarGreymon retaliating with some of his own. He even started to chuckle as he joined in the game of water fight.

As the four continued, Applejack watched them with a smile on her face.

“Huh, now he’s acting like a four month old,” She sarcastically said as she turned back to the rest of the Mane Six.

“I still can’t believe how young BlackWarGreymon is. I mean really? Only four months old?” Rainbow Dash said, surprised at the Mega level Digimon’s age.

“I thought he would be a little older,” Fluttershy said. Then joined by Rarity.

“Well he does look and sound older.”

After a short moment of thinking, Twilight spoke up.

“I know from what I’ve seen in his memories, his life was short. But I didn’t really took note on how long his time in the Digital World lasted.”

She then looked at the playful four as they continued their water war.

“But it is nice to see him doing something else, other than fighting.”

Rainbow Dash then moved closer to Twilight, with a joke that she just had to share.

“I can see the headlines now, Twilight. BlackWarGreymon. The world’s strongest baby.”

Twilight couldn’t help but let out a little snicker, seeing that in the way, the most powerful being in Equestria was an infant.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..........................................................................

After their relaxing treatments, the group left the spa sparking clean. Ahead of the group were the Cutiemark Crusaders.

“Wow Sweetie Belle, ya weren’t exaggeratin’ about BlackWarGreymon’s hair,” Applebloom said.

“It’s as soft as a cloud,” Scootaloo added.

It became apparent that during their war-games with BlackWarGreymon, they touched his yellow hair. But the three were then put on halt from Rarity calling out to them.

“Now you three don’t go wandering off just yet. We have to get you ready.”

The three fillies looked back at the white Unicorn in confusion.

“Get us ready for what?” Sweetie Belle asked her older sister.

“For the Grand Galloping Gala, of course.”

The fillies gasped in both shock and excitement at the delightful news. Applejack gasped for a different reason.

“Ahh shot! Ah forgot that it was on tonight!”

“Well luckily, I have all your dresses back home,” Rarity said to the other mares, who all responded with smiles.

“The Grand Galloping Gala?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

Twilight sensed the confusion in the Digimon’s voice. Of course, he wouldn’t know what it was.

“Oh. The Grand Galloping Gala is an annual royal ball held to celebrate the completion of Canterlot after Equestria was founded. It’s basically a social party that’s held in Canterlot every year.”

“That sounds like fun for you,” BlackWarGreymon said, but the Main Six didn’t felt the same.

“Well, when we first went there, it kinda wasn’t what we expected,” Pinkie Pie said, then joined by Applejack.

“Most of the ponies there were all posh and uptight. But we go there and have fun nonetheless.”

Then Twilight remembered something.

“Oh, nearly forgot. Here are the tickets Celestia gave me,” She said as her horn lit up in magic. Then several golden tickets appeared out of thin air.

She then gave each of her Ponyville friends and the Cutiemark Crusaders the shiny invite.

After receiving her golden ticket, Rarity noticed that Twilight had one extra ticket within her magical grasp. Knowing that Twilight possibly had her own back at the castle, the white Unicorn made her inquiry.

“Twilight darling, who’s that extra ticket for? Is it for Spike?”

Twilight let out a cheeky grin before answering.

“Well no. Spike already has his own back home. But take a good guess who this one is for.”

Rarity, and the rest of the ponies who were caught on, saw that the purple Alicorn was pointing her hoof to the side. Her action made the group turn their gazes to the only one in the group who didn’t have a ticket.

BlackWarGreymon took note that from the collective gasps of his friends while staring at him, and the extra ticket, meant only one thing.

“Who, me?”

Twilight then let out a cheerful chuckle before speaking.

“Yes! Princess Celestia herself had invited you too!”

Twilight then levitated the ticket to BlackWarGreymon, who grabbed it and looked at the golden invite in both disbelief and shock. Celestia had actually invited HIM!

However, if he was a pony, he would be excited to go. But he wasn’t one. He’s a big tall Digimon who could frighten the living daylights out of strangers just by being near them.

Twilight could see the doubt in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes before he spoke.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t do well in social gatherings and…”

He was interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who came up with a rather good point.

“How would you know? You’ve never been to one.”

Then Twilight joined in for support, followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Please BlackWarGreymon. Not everypony could get a ticket from Princess Celestia herself, and it would really mean a lot to her if you go. Not only that, going to the Gala could really help you improve your social skills.”

“Yeah. Not to mention that you would be the first Digimon ever to go to the Grand Galloping Gala. It’s an opportunity you can’t simply pass up.”

From hearing his friends, BlackWarGreymon felt honoured by the invitation. But still wasn’t one hundred percent on the idea.

“I’m not sure.”

Then a fact what Rainbow Dash said reminded Twilight of another good news.

“I almost forgot. Celestia told me that for the first time in over a thousand years, Princess Luna herself will be joining too.”

While the rest of the Mane Six and the Cutiemark Crusaders all gasped in excitement, BlackWarGreymon paused in silence.

‘Luna’s going to be there too?’

He was then lost in his thoughts. Truth be told that he hadn’t seen Luna since before his battle with the dragons. He didn’t know why but, he didn’t mind seeing her again. In fact, he wanted to see her again.

While he was thinking, the pony gang talked amongst themselves.

“Wow. Princess Luna at the Grand Galloping Gala,” Scootaloo said.

“I can’t remember even hearing of Luna attending the Gala,” Fluttershy stated, remembering that it was only Celestia who went to the party. Luna was always absent.

“Yeah. I bet even Celestia was surprised,” Twilight said.

“Ooohh, I wonder what dress she would be wearing,” Rarity said with a few possibilities in her head.

“Ah bet she would look stunnin’,” Applejack said with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom nodding in agreement.

“Yeah. And with BlackWarGreymon there, the Gala’s gonna be so awesome!” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered in the air in excitement.

“You could even say it would be… the best night ever!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she leaped into the air.

“Hold on now, girls. We’re not sure if he even wants to go,” Twilight stated.

Just as the group grew disappointed at the fact, they heard BlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“I’m going.”

Surprised, Twilight and her friends turned to face the black Digimon.

“What was that?” The Alicorn asked, making sure she and her friends heard him correctly.

“The Grand Galloping Gala. I decided to go. You’re right, my social skills could use a little work,” BlackWarGreymon explained, though what he said was only half the reason why he wanted to go.

“Perfect!” Twilight cheered as the others grew big smiles. The first Digimon in Equestria’s history, was going to the Gala.

After the cheering, Rarity let out the loudest excited gasp she could muster, she then ran to BlackWarGreymon’s feet.

“And I can make you a perfect suit! You need to dress proper for the Gala tonight,” She said before turning towards the rest of the group.

“Come on everypony, your dresses awaits!”

Then they made their way to Carousel Boutique, the home of Rarity and Sweetie Belle. BlackWarGreymon found it impossible to fit through the front doors, so Twilight kindly used her magic to teleport the Digimon inside. As it was the first time he was teleported via magic, BlackWarGreymon felt a bit queasy, but quickly shook it off.

With everyone inside, Rarity lead the rest of the ponies into the changing rooms to try out their new dresses. Rarity then went to her workshop where BlackWarGreymon was waiting. With the Digimon’s posture very similar to Spike’s, the fashionista decided to make him a large tuxedo. But a type that would match his personality perfectly.

But first, she had to take measurements.

“Darling, is that all the armour you can take off?” Rarity asked BlackWarGreymon, seeing that he only took off his Brace Shield and his Dramon Destroyers.

“Yes, the rest is pretty much my whole body,” The Mega said. His helmet, his shin guards and his body armour could not be removed even if he tried.

Rarity took a good look of the details that would imperfect his would-be suit.

“No worries. Creating a new kind of fashion is my passion. There is always a way.”

She then thought of a few ideas.

“Hmm…perhaps a tie could cover up your chest cords.”

Then to BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, Rarity suddenly appeared on his right shoulder as if she teleported. She looked and felt the pauldron spike on his armoured shoulder.

“And I suppose I could work my magic around these things.”

She then jumped down to get a second look at the Digimon. Picturing the look of his future suit in her head.

“Hmmmm… oh and definatly a cape.”

After more untold ideas were approved in her head, Rarity was ready.

“Ok. Now the measurements. Once I’m through with you my friend, you will be the most handsome Digimon anypony had ever seen!”

BlackWarGreymon was worried from two things. One was if it was possible for her to make a suit for his size on time, the second was that he hoped Rarity wouldn’t go overboard with her ideas.
…………………………………………………………………………………………........................................................................................

Almost an hour had passed at Carousel Boutique. The dresses that belonged to the Mane Six and the crusaders were long being put on and the group spent the time talking amongst themselves.

“Wait, aren’t these dresses the same ones we wore the first time?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked over her dress.

“Rarity said that these dresses are the improved versions of the previous ones,” Fluttershy said, remembering what Rarity told her.

“It doesn’t matter to me. Mine is pink like me!” Pinkie Pie said as she tried not to bounce in excitement. Otherwise she might ruin the dress.

“Calm down now Pinkie. Remember how dull it was last time. Ah don’t see how this would be different,” Applejack said. But then heard Applebloom’s voice.

“Well Applejack, what do ya think?”

As the orange mare turned around, she was stunned at her little sister’s appearance. Her dress not only matched her perfectly, it also made her look more mature. Applejack even shed a tear at how wonderful Applebloom looked.

“Oh… my little Applebloom, has all grown up,” She said, completely forgotten her previous statement.

Back near the centre of the group, Scootaloo was talking to Rainbow Dash.

“Oh oh, Rainbow. Did I tell you how BlackWarGreymon totally kicked that hydra’s butt!?”

“Relax Scootaloo. You already told me that twice. But like there was no doubt. If he could defeat a giant dragon, he could easily beat a hydra.”

Then Rainbow Dash thought about her public image.

“But if I was there, I could totally take that hydra on.”

Scootaloo giggled at the thought of her idol fighting a hydra. She found it awesome enough that it should be a movie.

“Speaking of BlackWarGreymon, I wonder what kind of suit Rarity has in mind for him,” Twilight said as she put on a little make-up powder on her cheeks.

“Hopefully not over the top,” Applejack said, knowing how much the white Unicorn could get carried away.

Speaking of Rarity, the Element of Generosity entered the dressing room. At first, she looked exhausted from her work, but was then perked up when she saw her friends all in the dresses she had made for them.

“Wow girls, those dresses look gorgeous on all of you!” She complemented.

“Thanks Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said, slightly blushing.

As the group agreed about their new outfits, Twilight walked up to Rarity with a questionable look. She was then followed by Fluttershy.

“So, how is BlackWarGreymon?”

“Is he ok?”

Rarity reassured the two with a smile of pride.

“Why he looks better than new. Come and see for yourselves.”

She then motioned the girls to follow her back to the workshop, eager to show them her newest masterpiece. Following Rarity back outside the changing room and into her workshop, the rest of the Mane Six and the Cutiemark Crusaders all let out gasps of awe and amazement.

Even though he was the same BlackWarGreymon they knew and love, his new outfit made him look entirely different. Rarity changed him from a warrior to a gentleman. The Digimon wore a white long sleeved undershirt and a black tuxedo perfectly for his size. Rarity even made the shade of black match the colour of his Digizoid armour. At the end of the Digimon’s white sleeves were golden cufflinks tipped with diamonds. On the front of his chest and tucked into his tux was a yellow tie. Rarity originally wanted to go for red, but the colour would clash with the Digimon’s loser armour. She even shaped the material of the black suit so it would fit over BlackWarGreymon’s shoulders and shape around his pauldron spikes. The back of his new tux had two strands that draped over the back of his upper legs. Attached to the suit, Rarity fitted a long cape that nearly touched the floor. The outer side was the same shade of black while the inner side was yellow. As well as his hair freshly combed, he also wore a black top hat with a yellow band above the base.

BlackWarGreymon felt embarrassed and weird from wearing something completely different for the first time. But from the positive reactions of his pony friends, he seemed to be absolutely perfect.

“Doesn’t he look fabulous!?” Rarity asked, her comment only had risen BlackWarGreymon’s embarrassment level.

At first, the girls were speechless. They had never seen their digital friend look so formal.

Rainbow Dash then broke the stunned silence.

“He…looks…awesome!!”

“Wow Rarity! You did a great job!” Sweetie Belle complemented. Followed by Applebloom and Scootaloo.

“Yeah, a great job!!”

It was Applejack’s turn to speak to the awkward Mega.

“Wow BlackWarGreymon, ya look very stinnin’ in that getup.”

“And…handsome,” Fluttershy said while hiding a little blush.

Best suit for a Digimon, EVER!!” Pinkie Pie cheered.

Twilight meanwhile couldn’t be any prouder of BlackWarGreymon. He was like a completely changed Digimon from what he once was. If he was, he would never in a million years attend to any party, let alone wearing a suit.

“You’ve certainly out-done yourself, Rarity. BlackWarGreymon, you look fantastic,” The Alicorn said to both of them.

Then walking through the door and setting off the entrance bell, Spike the dragon arrived in the room. Like BlackWarGreymon, he too wore a black tuxedo, a white shirt and a top hat. But he lacks the cape and had a red band on his hat and wore a red bowtie.

“Sorry I’m late, took me a while to find this suit and…”

Spike paused his words when he saw BlackWarGreymon and his change in attire. He couldn’t help but feel blown away.

“Wow big guy, you look amazing. So, this means you’re going to the gala too?”

“Thanks, and yes I am?” BlackWarGreymon said, despite feeling embarrassed.

“I just realised something. It’s like you and Spike are dragons of the Gala,” Pinkie Pie remarked, since that Spike was the only dragon to ever attend the Gala and that BlackWarGreymon’s appearance resembles a dragon.

“Wow, the dragons of the Gala. Hay, that pretty much makes us… well, like brothers,” Spike said, eager on the idea.

Though obviously a different species altogether, the Digimon decided to play along.

“Whatever you say, …big brother,” He said, hinting his age.

Spike became startled as he took the hint in, and then became confused.

“Big brother?” Spike asked. Then Twilight explained.

“Well Spike. Although you’re a baby dragon, BlackWarGreymon is actually four months old.”

Spike’s green eyes widened as his mouth hung wide open in disbelief. At first, he was too startled to make any sort of sound. But then managed to speak.

“I’m older than him!? Wow.”

Spike’s predicament caused the mares and fillies to laugh in amusement. Afterwards, Rarity asked BlackWarGreymon something.

“Well BlackWarGreymon, what do you think?”

Before answering, the tall Digital Monster took another good look at the suit he was wearing through a mirror. Though he was uncomfortable about trying something new like clothing, he did like the way Rarity designed it and the colours she chose. Although he looked more formal, he still looked badass. Seemed Rarity was true about her eye in fashion and attention to detail.

“You did a fine job, Rarity. I like it. Though I’m not so sure about the hat.”

Though Rarity stuck with her design, she did see that BlackWarGreymon had a point. It looked rather unusual for a Digimon like him to be wearing a top hat. Also since his head was practically a helmet.

“Oh but you must wear it when you arrive. Once inside, then you can take it off if you chose to.”

Rarity then went over the rules on how to make the black Digimon well mannered.

“Now remember darling. Act formal, speak gently and be on your best behaviour. Oh, and don’t talk about fighting. If somepony does ask, just say it was for self-defense.”

“What are you Rarity? His mother?” Rainbow Dash joked, which caused her friends to laugh while Rarity blushed in embarrassment. She indeed spoke in a motherly tone for a brief moment.

Then the white Unicorn remembered something.

“Oh, another thing BlackWarGreymon. If somepony asks you to dance, it would be wise to oblige.”

BlackWarGreymon had a questionable look in his eyes.

“Dance? But I’ve never danced in my life. And what kind of dance is there?”

The pony gang were a little startled by the Digimon’s interest. They thought that BlackWarGreymon would’ve said something like ‘no way’ or ‘I do not dance’. Despite the fact, Rarity was more than happy with the solution she thought up within her mind.

“Well BlackWarGreymon, there are many kinds of dancing. But the most popular kind for the Gala is ballroom dancing. Here, let me demonstrate.”

She then turned around and used her magic to levitate Spike to her side.

“You don’t mind in helping me Spike?” Rarity asked with a smile.

“Oh… of course. Sure, I can help,” Spike said, his heart melted from seeing Rarity’s loving smile.

Seeing Spike stuttered response, as well as knowing his crush on Rarity, made the crusaders and their older friends quietly giggle in amusement. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile found Spike’s goofy behaviour rather strange. It was like an immediate change from the moment Rarity spoke to him.

‘Interesting. What’s got into him?’

After facing the lovey-dovey dragon, Rarity went ahead with the dancing lesson.

“Now pay attention, BlackWarGreymon. First step is to face your dance partner and stand on the hind legs. Since you already stand on two legs, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

She then did what she said. Standing in front of Spike, Rarity reared up onto her hind legs. Spike couldn’t believe what was happening. Even though it was just a demonstration, he would get to dance with the pony of his dreams.

Rarity then explained further to BlackWarGreymon.

“Then using your left hoof, or in your case your left hand, you gently hold onto the lady’s right hoof, and hold your arm out to the side. Then with your right hoof, or hand, you place it on the lady’s waist as she rests her left hoof on your shoulder.”

Showing how it was done, Rarity allowed Spike to hold her right hoof while placing his right clawed hand above her hip, and then placed her left hoof on his shoulder.

Spike could feel his face literally burning into an inferno as he felt the Unicorn’s soft silky fur. The joints in his arms almost stiffened as he tried to control his breathing. Of all the times he spent with Rarity, being her dance partner was definatly a first for him.

“Ready Spike?” Rarity asked.

“Huh, huh,” Spike said in a goofy tone as he nodded his head.

How Rarity doesn’t see the obvious signs was startling.

“Good Spike. Now lead the dance.”

BlackWarGreymon took note that in a ballroom dance, it was the boy who leads the dance. So as before, he payed close attention. Watching on as the two danced.

Although startled, Spike managed to muster enough self-control to move his feet. Followed by the rest of his body, he leads Rarity into the routine dance.

BlackWarGreymon watched every detail of the dance in great fascination. Unaware that a hidden program in his mind was doing its work. By taking in every step, every movement of the dance, all the information he was seeing was being collected and stored as data.

It was entirely possible that BlackWarGreymon himself doesn’t know about the ability to process information in the ‘Digimon’ way.

While the demonstrations went on, BlackWarGreymon, as well as the Mane Six, Spike and the Cutiemark Crusaders, were all unaware that some decisions were being made at Canterlot.
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Canterlot Castle

It was hours before the opening of the Grand Galloping Gala, and both the gardens and the main hall were finished being prepared. It was enough to make Pinkie Pie proud.

As she walked through the hall and towards the throne room, Princess Luna took a good look at all the decorations. It was true that she had never attended to the Gala, and it was the first time she even what the party had to offer.

As she entered the throne room, Luna spotted Princess Celestia using magic to send off a pile of envelops. No doubt that in the envelops were more golden tickets to the Gala.

After sending the last invite, Celestia spotted her sister approaching her.

“So Luna, how did you like the decorations?” She asked.

“They’re…fine, sister. But um…”

Celestia took note of Luna’s response and her questionable tone.

“What’s the matter?” The white Alicorn asked in concern.

Luna found it hard to answer. After taking in a deep breath, she spoke up.

“Sister, I’m not sure about… attending to the Gala.”

It had been a few years since Luna returned from her thousand-year banishment. Even though everypony had forgiven her for what she had done as Nightmare Moon, Luna still felt uncomfortable at a gathering like the Gala.

Celestia however thought differently and figured that going to the Gala would be good for her unusually shy sister.

“Please Luna? It would mean a lot if you come.”

Hearing Celestia’s plea made Luna’s mind even more conflicted. She wasn’t one hundred percent on the idea, but she didn’t want to disappoint her older sister.

“Um…I’m…not sure.”

Though Celestia felt a little disappointed, she perfectly understood Luna’s insecurity.

“It’s ok, Luna. Shame you would miss out though. Because I hoped that this would be the biggest Gala in years. Especially now that BlackWarGreymon’s attending.”

Luna listened on. But was suddenly paused at the last thing Celestia said. Was she hearing things? Or did she heard what she just heard?

“What was that, sister?” Luna asked.

“Oh, didn’t I mention it to you before?” Celestia asked before explaining herself.

“I decided to invite BlackWarGreymon to the Grand Galloping Gala. He had done so much for us in the past few days, I thought that it was the least I can do to repay him. it would also help improve his social skills around ponies.”

Luna was lost in her thoughts. The Artificial Digimon that she had come to respect, was going to arrive at the Gala. Something that never happened in Equestria’s history.

‘BlackWarGreymon’s… coming to the Gala?’

Luna then took a quick moment to think. It had been a few days since she had seen the saviour of Equestria. She had hoped that one day she would meet up with him again. Since the two had a lot in common, she liked the times when they talked. Perhaps the Gala was her chance to see him again.

As Celestia sorted out the left over envelops, Luna spoke in a firm tone.

“Sister, I had changed my mind. I would like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Really Luna? Well you changed your mind fast,” Celestia pointed out. But as she thought of it, a little too fast in fact.

“It’s as you said. It would mean a lot to you and everypony if I attended to the Gala. And I could get used to it once I start trying,” The blue Alicorn explained, though what she said was only half the reason why she wanted to go.

Then a stray thought entered her mind. Luna silently giggled at the image of BlackWarGreymon wearing something like a formal tuxedo-like suit.

Chapter 26: The Grand Galloping Gala

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The time had finally arrived. The event that so many had waited for, possibly even months on end. A gathering to celebrate the founding of Canterlot and considered by many, the best night ever.

The Grand Galloping Gala.

Far and wide across Equestria, mares and stallions whom were given a golden ticket, had full access to what the Gala had to offer. Even a garden so some could either go for some fresh air or see the animals within its boundaries. Some of the invitations even went to the furthest edges of Equestria to be claimed.

Most of the invited guests took the Gala seriously, considering that they were posh ponies. Therefore, anything from loud noises to sugary foods were not accepted by them.

Because of it being a formal party, not a ‘fun’ one, Princess Celestia herself found the Grand Galloping Gala rather dull. In fact, she even once admitted that it was awful. That was why one year, she invited Twilight and her friends. The white Alicorn had hoped that the behaviour of the residents from Ponyville would ‘lighten up’ the Gala.

To Celestia’s delight, they succeeded. Though it did cost a big mess in the main hall, property damage and wild animals running loose. While the Canterlot ponies found that particular night to be a disaster, Celestia found it as an improvement.

Goes to show that even the Princess of the Sun had a wild side.

The princess hoped that the current Gala would also be a blast. If not, more so. Especially since she invited a powerful being from another world.

At the main gates to Canterlot castle, already there was a commotion. The Mane Six, the Cutiemark Crusaders and Spike the dragon were all standing mere meters from the entrance. All dressed up and ready to go. They were also receiving stunned glares from the Canterlot ponies. Perhaps they remembered the six mares from one particular year.

No. They were not staring at the Ponyville ponies directly. In fact, they were actually looking at their Digimon friend behind the group.

BlackWarGreymon.

Arriving at Canterlot was less stressful for him. As he couldn’t fit in the carriage with his pony friends, he took to the air and used the cover of the night sky to fly undetected. But at the gates, he had to make a landfall.

BlackWarGreymon was nervous. He hoped that his fearsome appearance wouldn’t frighten the ponies. But word of his presence and his trust with the royal sisters should had made it clear that he wasn’t a threat. Besides, he was wearing a tuxedo. So it should be obviously clear that he was a guest.

BlackWarGreymon was also shy as well as nervous. It was the first time he wore a suit in his life, let alone in public. He wondered if he looked suitable enough to look proper for the Gala, instead of a fool of himself. Plus with the special lessons and lectures from Rarity, he would try to be on his best behaviour.

It however would be difficult. Since he was a warrior from another world who caused great destruction on a worldwide scale with his unbelievable powers and only just recently accepted friendship.

Before entering the main gates, Twilight and her friends all turned to face BlackWarGreymon. They could easily tell that he was nervous.

“You ok?” Twilight asked him.

It was at that moment when BlackWarGreymon finally understood the term ‘having butterflies in your stomach’.

“I’m not sure I can do this.”

As the ponies and dragon who knew him well grew concerned for the black Digimon, Rainbow Dash tried an attempt to boost his confidence.

“Come on, big guy. You defeated the most powerful villain in Equestria’s history on day one, and now you’re afraid of a little party? This isn’t the time to get cold feet. You must be bold, daring,” She said, trying to make him be like her.

“Bold, daring,” BlackWarGreymon repeated, growing more confident by thinking positive.

He had faced every obstacle thus far and passed. He would not back down from a challenge. Even if it was a party.

Rainbow Dash smiled as her plan worked. BlackWarGreymon recomposed himself and, with his smiling friends, took brave steps as they entered the entrance, to the Grand Galloping Gala.

Upon entering the hall towards the main stairway, the group were in awe at the decorations. It was a massive improvement from last time. The Cutiemark Crusaders were all letting out squeaks of joy and excitement.

“Ah can’t believe we’re at the Gala!” Applebloom cheered.

“I know, this is a dream come true!” Scootaloo added.

“I’m so excited!” Sweetie Belle joined.

BlackWarGreymon remained silent as he looked at his surroundings, taking in the sight. As he walked by, ponies who only heard of him all watched him in fascination. He looked like a fighter but was wearing a suit. A strange combination, but stunning at the least.

At the front of the group, Twilight Sparkle smiled in delight at the sight of Celestia at the base of the stairs. The white Alicorn wore an orange and white gown that matched her talent of raising the sun to bring day to all.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, gaining her attention while marveling her dress.

“Twilight! It’s so good to see you and your friends here,” Celestia said with a welcoming smile.

“Wow. I really like your dress,” Twilight complimented. Then joined by Rarity.

“Same here. It looks marvelous on you, princess.”

“Thank you very much. You all look wonderful too,” Celestia replied before turning back to Twilight.

“Is BlackWarGreymon here?” She asked with a hint of excitement.

“He’s right there,” Twilight said as she pointed her hoof behind her.

Celestia looked behind the group and spotted the much formal looking Digimon. His black and yellow cape swayed back and forth as he walked towards her.

She had to admit it. When she sent him the invite, she thought he would turn the offer down. But she was glad that he decided to join. Plus, she was surprised that he was wearing a suit. She thought that his armour was appropriate enough. But she couldn’t help but let out a little blush from seeing the Digimon’s change of attire.

“Hello, your majesty,” BlackWarGreymon said, trying to get a hang of a formal tone.

“BlackWarGreymon. I’m so glad that you could come to the Gala. And I see that Rarity designed your new suit very well.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Rarity said while blushing in embarrassment and happiness.

“Yeah, she made this to match the way I look. Good to see that it worked,” BlackWarGreymon said as he inspected his sleeves.

His movements caused his top hat to slide forward and rest on his nose horn.

“But I’m not still not so sure about the hat,” He added as he pushed it back into place.

“Don’t worry, you can take it off once you and your friends go to the main hall. I’ll be announcing the upcoming events in there once I’m ready,” Celestia mentioned.

“Thank you Princess!” The Cutiemark Crusaders said as they rushed to the main hall.

Giggling at their excitement, the Mane Six, Spike and BlackWarGreymon followed them into the hall. As the dressed Mega walked passed her, Celestia gave him one more glance. She couldn’t help but smile at how much he had changed, and to try out new things just to be with his new friends. The white Alicorn could tell that the black Digimon was going to enjoy his very first formal gathering.

Upon entering the main hall, the group saw that everything had been redone to accommodate the vast number of guests. Buffet tables supplied high class food and snacks, as well as the bowl of punch. Dining tables were available for full-course meals. The big dance floor so clean one could see their reflection. And an open door to the Canterlot gardens, were guests could relax and enjoy the sight of the night sky.

“Don’t wonder off yet everyone. We still need to hear Princess Celestia’s announcement,” Twilight suggested, the others nodded in agreement.

BlackWarGreymon looked to a far wall and spotted a hat stand. Since he had arrived, he was free to put his top hat away. As he reached the stand, the Artificial Digimon placed his hat on the very top.

“That’s better,” He said, finding out that the hat was rather annoying.

Wanting to see what the punch was like after spotting it, BlackWarGreymon walked over to the buffet table. As he walked, the ponies who had never seen him before were talking amongst themselves.

“Hay, is he the one I’ve been hearing so much about?”

“Wow, it’s him. It’s the saviour. BlackWarGreymon I think he’s called.”

“He looks fierce. Almost like a dragon.”

“I hear he’s a close friend of the princesses.”

“Well I hear he’s from another world.”

“I bet he’s really strong.”

“I certainly agree. I mean… look at those muscles.”

Even though he was fully dressed, the outline of BlackWarGreymon’s muscular arms could still be seen.

After reaching the buffet table, the Digimon gently picked up a glass filled with punch. If he had no control of his strength, his hands could very easily crush the glass. Holding it near the area where his mouth should be, he took a sip. As the punch went through BlackWarGreymon’s mouth area, the liquid broke down into molecules and then transformed into data. Replicating the nutrients for his body and the taste of the punch.

‘Hmm… not bad.’ He thought to himself as he finished off his glass.

He was then brought to attention by someone’s voice.

“Hello again, my digi-pall.”

Turning to his side, BlackWarGreymon spotted the familiar being that was Discord. Dressed in an orange suit with a white undercoat, an orange top hat and a black cane in his lion paw.

“Oh, hi Discord,” BlackWarGreymon said, slightly uncomfortable about the Draconequus after learning about what he was like before becoming a friend to the ponies.

“Never thought I would see you al suited up, never mind going to the Gala,” Discord pointed out, admittingly surprised that the Digimon showed up.

“Celestia invited me. And I thought that coming here would help my social skills,” BlackWarGreymon explained.

Discord then let out a cheeky smile.

“Oh, that’s such a coincidence. Because Celestia had invited me too.”

BlackWarGreymon was a little stunned to hear that Celestia invited him too. Discord showed proof by holding up his own golden ticket in his eagle claw.

“Wow. So she did.”

Discord then let out a chuckle before making a hint on something that he really wanted to talk about with the black Digimon.

“Well between you and me, big guy. I think she has a soft spot for renegades like us two.”

BlackWarGreymon’s mind briefly froze as his eyes widened slightly. Does Discord know about the truth about him?

With his mind uncertain, the Digimon tried to act as if it was nothing.

“Renegades?”

Discord retaliated by waving his clawed finger side-to-side in disapproval.

“Now don’t play dumb with me, BlackWarGreymon. I know full well that you were once a villain yourself.”

Discord’s statement left BlackWarGreymon in a state of shock and disbelief.

“H…h-how did you know about that?!” The Digimon demanded. His voice almost like a harsh whisper.

“Oh please. You’re not the only one who can sense energy from others. The moment we first met, I definatly felt a great chaotic aura from you,” Discord explained.

Realising that there was no point in hiding the truth anymore, BlackWarGreymon confessed after letting out a sigh of defeat.

“Yes, I admit it. I was indeed evil once.”

Discord performed a fist bump in victory.

“Yes. Now I finally have someone to relate to.”

“I doubt that, Discord.”

The Draconequus gave BlackWarGreymon a questionable look.

“Whatever do you mean?”

The Mega explained his meaning.

“You were evil just for the fun of it. I did it because I had no choice. I thought it was my way of life, but I was wrong.”

Despite the differences, Discord continued pestering the Digimon.

“Even so, I bet you had spread chaos in your world. Do tell, what was the most chaotic thing you’ve ever done?” He asked as he sipped his own glass of punch.

Although he was reformed, chaos remained to be Discord’s main interest.

“I would rather not say,” BlackWarGreymon said, much to the disappointment of Discord.

“Oh, pretty please?”

“No.”

“Pretty pretty please?”

“Uhh… If I tell you now, will you stop asking?”

As the two former villains talked amongst themselves, they hadn’t realised that Celestia’s announcement had already begun.

“Greetings mares and gentlecolts. I welcome you all to this year’s Grand Galloping Gala.”

The crowd briefly applauded to the dressed Sun Princess before she continued.

“Thank you everypony. Now I like to say that with the upcoming events for the Gala, I hope that this night would be the best night ever. And now to tell you the details of what we have planned for you tonight, attending to the Gala for the first time in over a thousand years, Princess Luna!”

The ponies in the crowd mumbled in surprise. To those whom attended the Grand Galloping Gala before, Luna herself never appeared in one. So no wonder the momentous news confused them.

Though hesitant at first, the princess of the night walked on stage beside her sister.

All the mares gaped in astonishment at how stunning the blue Alicorn looked. The gentlecolts were all gaping… for the same reason… kind of.

At the back of the crowd, BlackWarGreymon told Discord one of his acts of villainy in the Digital World. Leaving the spirit of chaos stunned.

“So, let me get this straight. By nearly destroying all the stone thingies, you not only threatened the existence of your world, but you nearly threw off the balance of another world? In short, you threatened two whole worlds? By doing one small thing?”

“Yes I did. I thought destroying the Destiny Stones would lead me to my answers. Good thing I was talked out of destroying the last one.”

Discord paused. The most chaotic thing the Draconequus had ever done was turning all of Equestria into his personal paradise. Discord may be the spirit of chaos, but even he would never do something like destroying the world.

The spirit couldn’t help but feel that the Mega level Digimon in front of him was more hardcore than himself.

“Wow……I mean look at me. I’m over a millennia old, even older than the princesses, and not once I thought of destroying a world instead of taking over it. I bet you must have at least a few years of experience to think of something like that.”

“As a matter of fact, Discord. I’m four months old.”

Discord suddenly felt awkward of the situation. BlackWarGreymon was technically a new blood and yet he’d done a more higher degree of evil than the Spirit of chaos himself. Discord then cleared his throat before speaking.

“Ok big guy, the most chaotic event I’ve ever done…was…”

Discord’s speech was put on hold as his was distracted from the familiar yet new sight on the main hall stage. His mouth was slightly agape.

“Hmm? What were you saying, Discord?” BlackWarGreymon asked as ne noticed Discord’s lingering sentence.

He then noticed that the ponies around him were all staring in the same direction as he heard one of them muttering.

“Wow, look at her.”

Confused at what was going on, BlackWarGreymon followed their gazes.

“And what are they all staring aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…?

BlackWarGreymon’s voice also lingered as he looked at the stage. Just like the Draconequus and the ponies, he too was amazed beyond belief.

On stage next to Princess Celestia, there stood the familiar sight of Princess Luna. But the dress she was wearing was all too new. Like her older sister, her gown reflected her talent of bringing night to Equestria. Her dark blue dress was attached just behind her wings and reached down to the floor, covering her hind legs while her tail was out through the back. The dress was adorned with white wind-like swirl patterns, white fury bands, a crescent moon on the back and the whole thing was glittering in the lights. Much like her mane. The two belts that attach the dress to her newer looking regalia were crescent moons joint to several stars. A length of sparkling light blue transparent fabric draped over her shoulders that reached down in front of her forelegs. It too was attached to her stunning gown. Her mane behind her ears were styled to fall to the sides of her neck. And as a finishing touch, a white rose was placed on her left ear.

Overall, it was a style so new that it wowed both the gentlecolts and the fanboys alike.

As he looked in awe at the newly dressed Luna, BlackWarGreymon again felt the warm feeling in his chest. But unlike the times before when it happened, the warm presence felt much stronger. But then, two new reactions followed. The Digimon felt that his heart was beating much faster, almost like a million miles an hour. He then found it hard to breathe, it was like the sight was taking his breath away.

“Heavens above. She’s… she’s so beautiful. Almost like an angel,” BlackWarGreymon quietly said, his mind trailed off with his voice.

Up on stage, Luna explained the details of the Gala to the crowd.

“Good evening everypony. As what my sister, Princess Celestia said, we have exciting events planned for you. Firstly, we have an open dance floor for a series of slow dancing of your desires. Then we got a thrilling performance by none other than the Wonderbolts. And finally, to finish off the spectacle, we have an impressive firework display.”

The crowd applauded afterwards.

“I hope all of you will have a wonderful night, and enjoy the Gala,” Luna added, receiving more applause from the party guests.

As the crowd dispersed, Discord and BlackWarGreymon remained at the buffet table.

“Wow, wouldn’t have thought that Princess Luna would be here too. Wouldn’t you agree?” Discord asked BlackWarGreymon, but the Digimon was too distracted to listen. He was deep in his thoughts as he blankly stared at the floor.

‘Again with this feeling? Why is Luna causing this reaction? And what’s with those other reactions? I could hardly breathe at that moment.’

Despite his confusion, BlackWarGreymon felt that he would soon find out the answers.

“Hello. Is anyone in there?” Discord asked as he knocked on the Digimon’s head like a door. Causing BlackWarGreymon to bring his attention back to reality.

“Oh, Discord… can you excuse me for a moment.”

Without even receiving a reply, BlackWarGreymon walked past Discord. Leaving the spirit both confused and planning something for his amusement.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..........................................

At the back of the stage, Luna let out a sigh to relax herself. She was indeed nervous about making an appearance in the Gala.

Celestia then wrapped her wing around her little sister for a quick hug.

“Well done, Luna. That was an impressive speech,” Celestia said before letting go of Luna and making her way towards one of the corridors.

Left alone, Luna took in another deep breath to relax herself.

“My… that was intense.”

Then to her surprise, she heard a voice calling out to her.

“Hay, Luna!”

Surprise turned into delight since Luna recognised the voice. She definatly felt her mood improving by the second.

“BlackWarGreymo…!”

Her voice suddenly froze as she turned around, only to see the Digimon in formal attire of his own. Luna was impressed at the kind of style of the suit BlackWarGreymon wore, and seeing the fabric drapes and the yellow and black cape swaying in the air behind him made his overall look all the more stunning.

The blue Alicorn was speechless. She just couldn’t believe that her favourite Mega was really at the Gala with her. Her face started to show signs of blushing, and her heart felt like it just skipped a beat.

The same could be said about BlackWarGreymon. As he walked closer to the night princess, more and more of her beautiful appearance became apparent. Beyond the Digimon’s control, his heartbeat raced as his walking pace slowed, almost to a complete stop. Not knowing why, and for the very first time, he suddenly felt shy and nervous as he looked at the blue Alicorn. His movements and his speech became too hesitant to respond to the Digimon’s command. If he was a computer, he would be on the verge of crashing.

‘Wha…What’s going on? What’s wrong with me? Why am I so nervous all of a sudden? W…why am I acting like this!?’

Though his mind panicked, his body was showing no signs of any struggle. It was a kind of battle that BlackWarGreymon may not win.

“Sorry BlackWarGreymon. But are you feeling ok?” Luna asked after finally snapping out of her own state of awe.

‘She’s talking to you! Quick, say something!’ The stunned Digimon thought, as if he was trying to shout at himself.

After getting a grip on himself, BlackWarGreymon spoke up without thinking first.

“Oh… forgive me Luna. Sorry it’s just that…well…you look beautiful.”

BlackWarGreymon’s reply wasn’t the kind that Luna expected. It was so sudden. The moment he mentioned her beauty, the princess’s face literally turned red. She then tried to hide it by averting her gaze to the side.

BlackWarGreymon too was shocked at what he said.

‘Wait! I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud!’

After calming down, Luna seemed to have appreciated the surprise comment.

“W…well…thank you…BlackWarGreymon. D-Do you really think… I’m beautiful?” She asked as she stroked her mane. Her voice showed a hint of shyness.

Seeing the Alicorn doing something cute made BlackWarGreymon’s nerves go into over drive. Then his reply again made Luna blush in flattery and embarrassment. But mostly flattery.

“Definatly. I mean your dress makes you look so stunning.”

‘Seriously, shut up!’ He thought to himself. Trying to stop himself from talking from his mind.

Luna smiled warmly after hearing the black Digimon’s words.

“I’m… I’m so flattered by your words. And I think that… you look very handsome tonight.”

Finally engaging in proper conversation, BlackWarGreymon could think straight and talk not from his conflicted mind.

“T-Thank you, Luna, Rarity kindly made it for me,” He said as he looked down at his tuxedo.

“It really does suit your style. And…well…I’m happy that you could come to the Grand Galloping Gala,” Luna said, finally regaining composure of herself.

BlackWarGreymon felt incredibly relieved that Luna welcomed his company at the Gala. Then as he replied to her, he decided to tell her the truth.

“Yeah. Twilight said that this would help improve my social skills. But… to be honest, the real reason I came here… is to see you again.”

What BlackWarGreymon said not only caught Luna by surprise, but it made her happy on the inside.

“Re……Really?”

“Yes, Luna. To tell you the truth, I enjoy the times when we talked together. No matter how short. And since you and I are a lot alike, it felt nice talking to you about things that would make others uneasy. If you know what I mean.”

Luna was so moved by BlackWarGreymon’s kind words, she was practically speechless. Indeed, she knew exactly what he meant and understood why it would scare any other pony. Truth be told that she only attended the Gala because the Digimon himself was going. And the things he said, she felt the same way. She felt that he was the ideal one to talk to if she had any problems.

BlackWarGreymon felt strange upon realising the words he just said.

‘Wait. What I just said. Was I… speaking from the heart? How did that happen?’

Luna’s expression softened even more as a blushed smile took form. She was happy and amazed that BlackWarGreymon would risk embarrassing himself at the Gala so he could get to talk to her.

“That… that was so nice of you to say. Thank you.”

The Mega Digimon didn’t know what just occurred or why he talked so openly, but he felt good that it happened.

The two continued to silently stare at each other for a few more moments, until they were interrupted by a mare who was addressing the Alicorn.

“Ah, princess. I know this is the Gala but I have some important discussions I must have with you. Please follow me.”

Because that the sudden voice started Luna, she didn’t think properly before agreeing.

“Oh, very well.”

As she turned to follow the mare towards one of the corridors, Luna realised what she just said. She looked behind her at BlackWarGreymon with a somewhat saddened expression.

Knowing that royal duties come first, and that there was plenty of time left, the almost stunned BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“So I’ll see you later tonight, Luna?”

“Yes. I’ll be back soon,” Luna replied before turning to follow the mare.

Even though she wanted to spend more moments with him, Luna couldn’t help but smile.

‘Wow. BlackWarGreymon’s so nice. And…why is my face burning up?’ She thought to herself, finally realising how red and warm her face was.

As he walked back to the buffet table, BlackWarGreymon felt a little annoyed that his moment with Luna was cut short. But he was lost in his thoughts about the events and the feelings he felt.

‘What…what just happened?’

The Digimon never felt so conflicted. All the times he spoke to Luna, he was always confident. Then why was it that he was shy all of a sudden? He knew it was something to do with positive emotions, but he wanted to know which one of them was the one he felt the strongest.

He was so distracted, that he hadn’t realised that he ate one of the foods on the table. His mind was brought back to an erupt attention when he found that the taste was not to his liking.

He shivered in disgust as the taste left him.

“Uhhh…what was that?”

He looked down at the plates to see that all of them were filled with posh food. He then heard what sounded like Applejack.

“Huh. Guess ya’ tried one of them, ha?”

BlackWarGreymon looked to his right to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Both the mares seemed disappointed.

“I ain’t a big fan of fancy food like this. Where’s an apple fritter when ya’ need one, ya’ know what I’m sayin’?” Applejack asked.

“Tell me about it. I mean, I haven’t seen one sugary food anywhere! I mean, sugar is like a fun party in the mouth, and these ponies are missing out on it!” Pinkie Pie complained.

“I think you’ve spoken too soon, Pinkie. Because Celestia is bringing out a big cake right now.”

What may had been something random for BlackWarGreymon to say, it caught the two mares’ attention. Following the Digimon’s gaze back to the stage, they saw the sun princess bringing out a large cake covered in frosting.

While the high society ponies were surprised by the sudden treat, the two Earth Ponies from Ponyville couldn’t tear their gazes away. They then rushed past the Digimon towards the tasty dessert.

“Yippee! Cake!” Pinkie Pie cheered as Applejack followed.

BlackWarGreymon chuckled at their sudden change of mood. Satisfied by how happy they were.

But then to pile on his nerves, he spotted a group of dressed mares approaching him. From the way they were looking at him, they wanted to talk, not eat.

‘Ok, remember what Rarity taught you,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself, remembering to act formal in a conversation.

“Excuse me, sir. But are you the saviour we’ve heard rumors about?” One of the mares asked formally.

“The one with the long name? What was it again, BlackWarGreymon?” Another asked.

The Digimon in question mentally tried to keep his cool as he answered.

“Y-Yes, I am…ladies.”

The group of mares let out small blushes as the Digimon addressed them as ‘ladies’. Though they were usually called so in their spare time, they found it surprising when it came from a being like him. They then let out smiles as another spoke up.

“Well, it’s a privilege to meet you in person, BlackWarGreymon. We’ve heard so much about you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” BlackWarGreymon said, trying to keep his formal tone.

“Do tell, do you usually speak so formal? Because I figured you didn’t,” One mare mentioned, briefly startled the Digimon.

“Well… isn’t it how one speaks at the Gala?” BlackWarGreymon asked rhetorically.

As they engaged in proper conversation, one by one the mares felt a little crafty as they continued.

“Well sir, I heard that you rescued one of the princesses from a giant beast of a dragon. You have to be strong to fight off a dragon. Very… strong,” One said while looking at BlackWarGreymon’s arms. She could just see the outline of his muscles.

“Tell us, how often do you work out?” Another asked.

BlackWarGreymon had to think of a practical answer. If he told them that he was created like that, they would think that he’s strange.

“Well I work out about… two to three times a day, every week. I don’t usually keep track of time,” He said, reinforcing his statement just in case if three times a day work out was too much.

“So is fighting something you do or is it a hobby?” Another mare asked.

“I…only fight to either protect or self-defence,” The Digimon answered, remembering his lessons from Rarity.

Then the next mare, who was a Pegasus, asked him a question.

“Is it also true that your hair is as soft as a cloud?”

The question surprised BlackWarGreymon. He recalled that it was only Scootaloo whom compared his hair to a cloud. True, Pinkie Pie said that it was soft, but she hadn’t made any comparisons.

“Well…from the reactions I’m getting, that maybe true,” He replied, feeling awkward of the moment.

Then the same Pegasus hovered slightly above the floor as her curiosity peaked higher.

“May I feel it?”

BlackWarGreymon was confused. He thought that ponies act posh and formal at the Gala. He could only guess that either the mares in front of him weren’t from Canterlot, or they were just getting comfortable around him.

Probably a bit too comfortable.

Not wanting to be rude, he decided to agree. What could possibly go wrong?

“By all means.”

With her invitation accepted, the mare flew behind BlackWarGreymon’s head and gently patted his yellow hair. She was surprised at how soft it felt.

“Wow, it’s true. This is just as soft as a cloud.”

Unfortunately for the tall Mega, the other mares who could fly became eager to find out for themselves.

“I would like to feel his hair.”

“Me too.”

“May I as well?”

Then without permission, they all gathered up behind BlackWarGreymon’s head and felt his soft hair. Either taking turns or trying all at the same time, they were amazed at its texture.

BlackWarGreymon started to feel uncomfortable. The ponies were literally invading his personal space. Of course, they would be curious about him since he was from another world, but perhaps they were going a bit too far.

He wanted them to stop, but he had to not make it show as if he wanted them to stop.

So, he thought of an excuse.

“Uhh… I think I could see Princess Twilight calling to me. Please excuse me.”

As he walked away, it seemed his bluff worked. Though the mares seemed disappointed that he left so soon.

‘Wow, that’s intense,’ He thought to himself as he breathed a sigh of relief.

He then spotted Rarity talking to a well-suited Unicorn stallion with a blue mane, white fur and a… blue moustache?

After spotting him, Rarity called him over.

“Oh! Over here, darling!”

Wanting to see what she wanted, BlackWarGreymon walked over to her. With the Unicorn mare introducing him to her stallion friend.

“Sir, this is BlackWarGreymon. The saviour I was talking about.”

The stallion turned towards the Digimon, amazed by his appearance.

“Well I say. You’re certainly a big chap, aren’t you? And that’s one dashing outfit you got on.”

“Thank you. Rarity made it for me,” BlackWarGreymon said as he looked at the suit the stallion was wearing. He also had a small monocle lens in his pocket that he uses to cover one of his eyes.

Rarity became flattered that he mentioned her.

“Well the pleasure is all mine. Oh, and this is Fancy Pants. One of my friends from Canterlot.”

BlackWarGreymon just paused.

‘Is that seriously his name!?’

“Nice to be your acquaintance,” Fancy Pants said in respect, bringing the Digimon’s attention back.

“Uhh…like wise.”

“Well you’re certainly acting formal,” The white stallion mentioned.

“Oh, I’ve been teaching him how to act proper for the Gala,” Rarity said, Fancy Pants smiling at her response.

“Oh. Well you certainly taught him well.”

Then to the surprise of the two Unicorns and the dressed Digimon, Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared next to BlackWarGreymon’s head.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon! Come with me! I have someone I want you to meet!”

She then pulled on the Digimon’s head, urging him to follow her. Before he started walking, he spoke to the white Unicorns.

“Uhh, see you later.”

Though Rarity and Fancy Pants were puzzled, they were happy that BlackWarGreymon was getting along just fine.

“So what is it?” The black Digimon asked the excited blue Pegasus.

“I want you to meet the Wonderbolts! The most elite fliers in all of Equestria!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

“Well you seem keen,” The Mega pointed out, never he had seen Rainbow Dash so excited.

“Well of course. They’re my childhood heroes. My lifelong dream is to be one of them.”

“Well you are a fast flier. So why aren’t you?”

“Well I am in the Wonderbolt reserves. So I still got one more step to fulfil my dream.”

As they walked across the main hall, Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon spotted two Pegasi ponies wearing goggles and streamlined suits. One was a white stallion with blue spikey mane, and the other was a mare with orange fur and a swept-back flame like mane.

“I take it that’s them?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“They sure are!” Rainbow Dash said, her voice nearly squeaked in excitement at the thought of introducing her heroes to the saviour.

“Hey Spitfire!” She called as she landed next to the orange Pegasus. Gaining her attention.

“Hey Rainbow. Long time no see.”

Rainbow Dash giggled in excitement as the moment she had been waiting fir had just arrived.

“Spitfire. Captain of the Wonderbolts. I like you to meet the big dude himself. BlackWarGreymon.”

Following to where the blue Pegasus was pointing, Spitfire let out a stunned gasp as she saw the digital warrior in person.

“Wow! So you’re the saviour I’ve heard so much about.”

“Sure am,” BlackWarGreymon responded.

The white stallion who was with Spitfire joined in on the conversation. After he got over his state in awe.

“And I’m Soarin. Spitfire’s wing pony. It’s so awesome meeting you.”

“Thanks.”

Then Soarin had a puzzled look on his face.

“Wait. You don’t have wings. But we heard that you can fly.”

“Yeah, how can you fly?” Spitfire asked.

Unusually for him, BlackWarGreymon thought of a crafty way to answer their curiosity. Showing off to the Wonderbolts right in front of Rainbow Dash.

It was entirely possible that friendship had increased his mental abilities in more ways than one. Such as a clever way of demonstrating his power and possibly his sense of humour.

“You know…”

As he paused, he levitated a few meters off the floor while crossing his arms in pretend thought.

“…I can’t remember.”

As the Digimon landed softly back on the ground, the two Wonderbolts gawked in amazement. Rainbow Dash smiled as she knew her tall friend had made a joke.

“Wow! You can fly without wings!?” Soarin asked in amazement.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“So how fast can you fly?” Spitfire asked.

“Almost as fast as Rainbow Dash,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“Really?” Spitfire asked as she looked at the smiling blur mare.

“Yep. But he still needs a lot of training to be as fast as me,” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. Trying to hide the truth.

“Well next time we see you, I wanna see that for myself,” Spitfire said before she and Soarin turned towards the crowd awaiting them.

“Catch you two later,” Rainbow Dash said while waving goodbye.

With the conversation with the Wonderbolts ended, Rainbow Dash could finally calm down her hype. Then BlackWarGreymon spoke to her in a suspicious tone.

“Needs more training to be as fast as you, you say?” He asked, hinting about what really happened earlier that same day.

Rainbow Dash let out a nervous laughter and a cheeky grin, trying to act innocent.

“He,he…well…um…”

She was cut off by BlackWarGreymon.

“It’s ok, I understand. You just want to impress your Wonderbolt friends.”

Rainbow Dash breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, big guy. You’re alright.”

Rainbow Dash then looked around, searching for one of her friends.

“Now I’m gonna find Applejack. Talk to you later.”

With her farewell, the blue Pegasus walked into the next chamber. Looking for her Earth Pony friend.

Currently alone, BlackWarGreymon felt like he needed some fresh air. Being inside with so many ponies was too crowded for him. He then proceeded to the back gates and into the gardens. Even though it was night, he could tell that it wasn’t the same garden to the one he had been before. Despite the new surroundings, BlackWarGreymon looked up to the dark sky and watched the glittering stars. Seeing the twinkling lights up above reminded him of that one particular night at Canterlot. Where he and Princess Luna were on top of a hill, having their heart-to-heart as they shared their similarities. They were truly alike.

Even though it all happened after he became an involuntary volunteer to have his memories witnessed, the once chaotic Digimon couldn’t help but feel glad that it happened, and that his friends could understand the problems he had and probably will soon face. So it was definatly a night to remember.

“Hmm…fun memories.”

Despite the fact that he was being watched by eyes of the stunned ponies who had never seen him before, he didn’t mind. He was mentally enjoying the moment, until the small sense of fear in the air put him off.

“Hmm?”
…………………………………………………………………………………………...................................................

Inside the gardens, a chase was on. Because that the animals live in a different place, Fluttershy couldn’t contain herself and tries to express her friendship.

Unfortunately, she was so eager to make new friends, the animals found her terrifying. So, they try to flee as best they could, but the usually shy Pegasus was relentless. Almost like a terminator.

The chase was halted as the exhausted pony cornered a rabbit and two chipmunks. After getting her breath back, Fluttershy spoke.

“Now my little friends, just come to me, and we can get along just fine.”

The fact she was tired from all the running, her normally sweet voice was distorted. Making her sound creepy and scary.

Fearing the worse, the three small mammals let out terrified shrieks as they made a run for it. In-between the pony’s legs and back to the gardens. With frustration looming over her, Fluttershy chased after them.

Deep in the gardens, BlackWarGreymon was following the scent of fear. Then to his uncertainty, it was heading towards him.

“What is this?”

What startled him next was the three tiny furry mammals running out of a bush and all hid behind his legs. BlackWarGreymon could see the terror on the animals faces.

‘Wait a second. I haven’t even lowered my power level, and yet these animals fear something else. What could possibly be scarier than me?’

To his disbelief however, the worn out Fluttershy emerged from the bushes. What confirmed that it was her the animals feared was when BlackWarGreymon sensed their fear increasing unbelievably.

“Fluttershy!?”

After seeing her Digimon friend, Fluttershy tried to recompose herself as she responded.

“B-BlackWarGreymon. Wha-what are you doing here?”

“I came here to get some air. Tell me, why are you scaring the animals?”

“W-well. I was just trying to make new friends.”

BlackWarGreymon became confused.

“By scaring them? What happened to the nice calm Fluttershy from Ponyville?” He asked.

“Well…I tried to say hello. But they keep running away from me.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked at the three scared animals behind his leg in thought. Then he came up with an idea.

“Have you tried letting them come to you?”

Fluttershy paused, realising that it wasn’t one of the things she had done.

“N-no, I hadn’t.”

“Here, let me show you,” The Digimon said. Truth be told that he had never done anything like it, but he must at least try.

As the Mega took a few steps away, the three animals felt a wave of fear as they saw his head. But his yellow eyes were calm and without malice. After facing the animals, BlackWarGreymon knelt down on one knee and extended his right hand out open palmed. Slowly as to not frighten the animals. Fluttershy carefully watched on in fascination.

The three animals became less afraid at the open invitation and slowly crept towards his hand. Then after sniffing his hand and a brief hesitation, one of the two chipmunks leapt onto his palm.

BlackWarGreymon was amazed at how quickly it took. It was his first attempt at extending his new-found friendship, and it was a success!

From watching the whole thing, Fluttershy was in complete shock as well as amazed. She had never seen a powerful warrior like him being so gentle towards something so small. She was so touched at how much the Artificial Digimon had changed from his old violent self, she let out the most loving smile anypony or anyone had ever seen.

Realising that there was something she could do, she walked up to the chipmunk on BlackWarGreymon’s hand.

“Listen, I’m very sorry for scaring you and your little friends. I was just so excited at meeting you, I couldn’t control myself.”

Seeing how sorry the yellow pony was, the chipmunk jumped off the Digimon’s hand and into Fluttershy’s pink mane. It also talked to her by letting out several squeaks.

“Oh, you’re very welcome,” Fluttershy said as the other tiny animals walked up to her to nuzzle on her fur.

BlackWarGreymon’s expression softened to a point one would think he’s smiling as he listened to the giggles of his pony friend.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon,” Fluttershy said as she looked back at him with a loving smile.

“Hmm, if you’re wondering how I’m good with animals, I don’t know either,” BlackWarGreymon said as he stood back up.

As the Digimon looked back at the window to the inside, something strange caught his attention. To a point where he narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“Hey, Fluttershy. You know Discord more than any other. How is he at parties such as the Gala?” He asked without tearing his gaze at the window.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think he’s ever been to a party like this. Why?”

“Because he’s on stage right now.”

Knowing how mischievous the Draconequus could be, Fluttershy felt that he might ruin the Gala with whatever he was doing.

“Oh, I like to see you and your friends more, but I have to go,” Fluttershy said to the little animals around her before leaving the gardens with BlackWarGreymon.

As the Pegasus and the Digimon entered the main hall, as well as a crowd of ponies around the stage, they saw that the whole room was darkened with a single spotlight pointing to the laughing Discord on stage. Fluttershy and BlackWarGreymon joined the crowd, curious to see what was going on.

“Ok everypony! How about we kick things off with a couple of hilarious jokes!?” Discord announced as a microphone appeared in his lion paw.

The crowds’ expression however showed that they had no idea what was going on and how it even happened. Hearing no objections, Discord started his line of jokes.

“Ok, let’s start with something for the kids in the audience. What is the fastest cake in the world? …. Scones.

His joke was followed by a drum solo that came from out of nowhere.

‘Budum tiss’

To Discord, the joke in some accents, the word ‘scone’ sounds like the word ‘gone’.

Unfortunately, the joke was so outdated that no one was laughing. Even Pinkie Pie found it too obvious. BlackWarGreymon didn’t laugh because he lacked the full understanding of a sense of humour. However, he had found the joke annoying.

Seeing his joke had no effect, Discord tried a different approach.

“I only have these tiny miss-matched wings. But even I can fly better than Twilight Sparkle. Am I right!?” He said as his joke again was followed with a drum solo.

“Hey!” Twilight complained, offended by the remark. To her surprise however, she heard Celestia chuckling quietly to herself.

In the back, BlackWarGreymon grunted in irritation.

Again seeing no good effect on his jokes, Discord tried again.

“Oh, tough crowd. Probably even tougher than the royal guards. Am I right!?”

Instead of laughter, the only noises were heard was a distant cricket.

BlackWarGreymon knew Discord was trying to be funny. But while to the others the jokes were lame, to him they were just painful to listen.

‘Uhh, I can’t stand it any longer.’

Discord then went back to kiddy jokes without much thought to it.

“Ok this one you will definatly get. What’s a crocodile’s favourite game? …Snap!”

After a moment of silence, there was finally a reaction. But it wasn’t laughter, it was from the annoyed BlackWarGreymon.

“Hey Discord! We’ve heard your stand up, now let’s hear you shut up!”

While BlackWarGreymon only meant for his remark to make Discord stop, he unintentionally caused several ponies to quietly giggle to themselves. The Digimon didn’t know it, but he just made a rhyming joke.

Discord was the only one who heard the silent giggles and grew annoyed.

“Oh, now everypony is a comedian,” He said as he crossed his arms.

“Everypony except you!” BlackWarGreymon said back, again unintentionally making some ponies snickering. But only louder.

It was the that the Mega noticed that the crowd were laughing at what he said. He was confused. He didn’t mean it as a role-playing joke, but the others found it funny nonetheless.

‘Did…Did I just made them laugh?’

“Ok. If you think you can do it better…” Discord said as he snapped his fingers, teleporting the unsuspecting BlackWarGreymon next to him.

“…then you try it.”

Discord snapped his fingers again, teleporting off the stage and into the crowd. Leaving the startled BlackWarGreymon alone in the spotlight, one stage with a microphone in his hand!

All the ponies in the crowd looked on, eager to see how it will play out. Discord meanwhile had a mischievous grin on his face as he chuckled with sinister intent.

“Oh, this is definatly going to be humiliating for him. I’m going to enjoy this.”

The Mane Six, Spike, the Cutiemark Crusaders and the princesses all felt a little unsure as they gulped nervously. Knowing BlackWarGreymon’s character, he was like the last anyone would expect to crack a joke.

“Pretend to laugh, no matter how bad it is,” Pinkie Pie whispered to the others, just in case. But they hoped that he might pull it off somehow.

Up on stage, BlackWarGreymon looked as though he was staring at open space. He couldn’t believe that the situation had turned against him. Instead of ending it, he became part of the act! As he looked at the microphone in his left hand, his mind tried its best to quickly calculate the best solution of making others laugh despite never having to do so before. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of any. After taking a deep breath, he tried to come up with his first ever legit joke.

“Uhh… ok. Uhh, lets’ see. Oh. The other day, I saw a pony eating potato chips. And strangely… he had a side order of… chocolate brownies.”

Then came the punch line.

“Now I see why they’re called……chocolate chips.”

After only two seconds of stunned silence, in the distance, Pinkie Pie burst out laughing.

“HAH! HAAAAAAHH!! Hahh! Haah! Cho…chocolate chip! Ha, ha, now that’s funny!”

Pinkie Pie continued to laugh hysterically. Her friends looked at her in confusion. Knowing her so well, they could tell her pretend laugh to her real laugh. But the way she was rolling on the floor, she wasn’t pretending. She was laughing for real!

Then one by one, the other ponies start to understand the joke and start to join in the laughter. Discord had a look of disbelief, the Digimon’s first joke actually worked.

“Wow. They liked it?”

Seeing his very first public joke being a successful one, BlackWarGreymon tried to pull of his very second.

“Ok umm… A customer walked into a carpenter’s shop. The carpenter asks, ‘How may I help you?’ The customer said, ‘Well I found this saw, but it has a pair of eyes on it.’ Then the carpenter said, ‘Oh, that’s my see saw’.”

The reaction of the crowd was again a positive one. The mares and gentlecolts were laughing louder as the new joke.

“Oh, I get it! See-saw!” Spike said before resuming his laughter.

Discord however was confused. So confused, that he created a saw with a pair of false eyes on it.

“Hmm, eyes on a saw…? OHHH! That is kinda funny.”

Back on stage, BlackWarGreymon started to feel good about himself and no longer felt nervous.

“I can’t believe how easy this is. Hmm… Discord done a joke that offended Twilight. Time to give him a taste of his own medicine,” He said quietly to himself before coming up with another joke. A mischievous one.

“Ok, I heard that Discord here was turned to stone. Twice in fact.”

Discord became anxious of where the joke was leading to as BlackWarGreymon continued.

“So, he had plenty of time to practice standing still. Yet he still loses to a game of musical statues.”

Hearing the unusual joke made some of the ponies hysterical. The royal sisters, Spike and the Mane Six were the only ones who truly knew what he meant by. But they couldn’t help but crack up in laughter at how obvious the remark was.

As BlackWarGreymon was showered with laughter from the audience, he was surprised when Discord appeared next to him. Despite that the joke was aimed at him, he was smiling for some reason.

“Oh ho ho, BlackWarGreymon. If that joke was about my misfortunes… it’s very cleaver, I admit it.”

He then had a sinister grin on his face.

“But how about we set the stage for something else?”

Then with a snap of his fingers, the entire stage floor lit up. Consuming both the Draconequus and the Digimon while temporarily blinding the audience.

When the light faded, the crowd gasped at what they saw.

Greeted with battle music which came from out of nowhere, the stage floor was magically transformed into a large boxing arena. At first no one was in the ring, but then Discord appeared. Wearing a black suit and with a microphone on his lion paw, he gave an announcement.

“Greetings mares and gentlecolts, boys and girls! Welcome to the annual international Canterlot boxing championship!”

Then a loud applause was heard despite that the actual crowd were silent. Twilight meanwhile gulped in nervous anticipation.

“Oh no. This isn’t good.”

Wanting to see where Discord was going with his act, Celestia said nothing to stop it.

Discord continued as the audio cheering died down.

“Oh yes, everypony! This is going to be an exciting match, because it will certainly be the one to remember!! Tonight, we have a surprise guest. And he dared challenge the reigning champ!”

Discord then turned his attention to his right. Which was left to the audiences’ eyes.

“In the left corner, is the reigning champion himself. Weighing in at…absolutely nothing because he can levitate. The prankster of the pranks. The Spirit of Chaos himself! DISCORD!!!”

A stage light beamed over to the left corner revealing another Discord. Dressed in a brown top and white baggy trousers. He also had a white belt around his waist and a white cape on his back. Unusually he had a black afro for hair, a black moustache and a deep booming voice as he spoke.

“Oh yeah!! The champ is here!!” He said as he had his arms in the air, doing a victory pose with his fingers. He clearly took on the form for showboating.

As he did, another audio sound of cheering was heard from nowhere. Blocking out Rainbow Dash’s attempts to say ‘boo’ to him.

The Discord in the centre of the ring then pointed over to the opposite corner.

“And in the right corner, is the ultimate challenger of the ultimate match. Weighing at a colossal nintyninethousandninehundredandeightytwo pounds!”

Discord momentarily snickered after saying the excessive weight number very quickly. Earning a protest from Twilight.

“Hey, he doesn’t weigh that much!”

Ignoring the young Alicorn, the Draconequus continued.

“All the way from the Digital World! The saviour of Equestria! BllaackWaaarrGreymooooon!!” He declared, extending the Digimon’s name in a way some announcers would.

Then in a flash, BlackWarGreymon appeared in the right corner of the ring. Stripped of his tuxedo and back in his usual armour, though he still lacked his Brave Shield which remained in Ponyville. Plus instead of his Dramon Destroyers, which were also in Ponyville, the Digimon saw that he was wearing red boxing gloves.

‘What. What’s going on!’ He asked himself, though he was a little startled that Discord could duplicate himself.

“Ok, both the challengers are here. Now both fighters, meet in the middle,” The Discord in the middle said.

After changing his attire into green baggy shorts and green boxing gloves, the Discord in the left corner made his way to the middle of the battle ring, smiling confidently. Though BlackWarGreymon had no idea what was going on, he decided to follow suit.

As the two stood two feet from each other in the centre ring, the announcer Discord vanished and reappeared in-between the two dressed as a referee.

The referee Discord then spoke to the second Discord and BlackWarGreymon.

“Ok you two. You know the rules, there are no rules, this is a fight to the finish. Whoever is dead, losses. Now both combatants touch gloves and start fighting!”

BlackWarGreymon figured out what was going on. Boxing was some kind of fighting sport. And since only his fists were covered in protective gloves, he only had to use his fists to fight.

Looking in front of him, he could see the smiling Discord glaring at him with both his wrists raised forward. BlackWarGreymon then glared back to the invitation to the challenge.

“Ok then, let’s play your little game,” He said as he bumped his fists with Discords’.

“And their off!” The referee Discord shouted before disappearing. Followed by a double from a non-existent bell.

“Celestia. Should we even allow this?” Twilight asked the older Alicorn.

“I don’t see why not,” Celestia said to the smaller pony. Hiding the fact that she craved for excitement at the Gala.

The rest of the party guests meanwhile had no idea what to make of the sudden events. Was it planned or was it just like the previous year?

Back at the ring, BlackWarGreymon stood his ground. He only watched as his childish opponent threw midair punches as he wiggled his feet in a dance like fashion. He was circling the motionless Digimon as he was throwing punches rather too close.

“You’re making a big mistake, Discord. You’re only going to get yourself hurt,” BlackWarGreymon said.

“Oh spare me the chit-chat, big guy. You’re the one who’s goin’ to be hurtin’!” Discord said as he moved closer to the Digimon’s front.

“This is going to be good,” Rainbow Dash said to herself, wanting to see Discord going down.

After several sidesteps, weaving left and right, Discord threw his first punch straight to BlackWarGreymon’s chest. Followed by another, and another. He then quickened his assault and even resorted to using the end of his tail as a third fist.

“Yeah! How do you like me now!?” Discord asked as he was enjoying himself.

In fact, he’s too focused on enjoying himself so much, he failed to notice that his punches were doing absolutely nothing to BlackWarGreymon. The Mega didn’t fought back, he didn’t dodge, he didn’t block, he didn’t even budge! Even his wrists were lowered as he took hits from Discord, wondering why the spirit was even trying.

The crowd were amazed at the sight of the Digimon taking hits without any damage or reactions. It was as if he was a solid statue.

“Yeah. You’re going down!” Discord said as he continued to punch the Digimon’s chest.

As Discord kept on going, BlackWarGreymon saw an opening. Without the Draconequus even noticing, the Digimon raised his right arm above the spirit and then slammed his fist right on top of his head.

The sudden blow caused Discord’s body to go stiff as his body vibrated up and down like a jackhammer. After his body stopped jolting, Discord then felt dazzled as he tried to stand up straight. Trying to sooth the throbbing in his head.

“Oh… that’s gonna hurt in the morning,” He said as he finally got his bearings and glared at his opponent with cheeky confidence.

He then hung his left lizard foot out, much to BlackWarGreymon’s confusion.

“Wha-what’s this? A little thunder?” Discord said as he twitched his foot. He then hung out his right donkey leg, twitching it too.

“Oh, and a little lightning.”

He then made his ridicules move.

“Thunder. Lightning. Thunder. Lightning…” Discord continued as he advanced towards the Digimon.

The spirit thought that by distracting BlackWarGreymon with his fancy footwork, he could get close enough to strike back.

But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t stupid and made his move before Discord did. Allowing the Draconequus to get within reach, the Digimon silenced Discord with a lightning-fast right handed punch straight to the face.

Because of his bizarre powers, the punch caused Discord’s head to fly off his body and roll on the floor. The sight caused some of the onlooking ponies to faint in shock.

“Well…this is unexpected,” Discord said as his body found his own head and placed it back into place. Then he spun his head around like a screw to secure it.

Since he got used to the fact that Discord could separate himself and make clones, BlackWarGreymon payed no mind to it. He then turned his back to the Draconequus.

“This match was over before it even began, Discord. I suggest we end this now.”

Seeing the Digimon with his defences down, Discord ignored BlackWarGreymon and prepared a sneak attack. Tip-toeing closer to his challenger while talking out loud where he should’ve been whispering.

“With his opponent’s back turned, the champion sneaks up from behind and with a mighty pu…!”

As he snuck up behind him, Discord was silenced when BlackWarGreymon slammed the back of his right fist into the spirit’s face. The force of the blow literally caved in the Draconequus’s facial features. The only thing that was seen on his face was his white beard.

After taking a few steps back, Discord pulled his face back to normal before having another idea.

“Ok, ok. We get it, you’re stronger then you look. But how about we try something else? Something that will ‘blow’ the audience away.”

BlackWarGreymon faces Discord in curiosity.

“What may that be?” He asked, but wasn’t expecting the kind of answer that Discord spoke of.

“Let’s say… demonstrate your true power?”

The Digimon was baffled at Discord’s request. Even the crowd were muttering amongst themselves in confusion. The Mane Six simply couldn’t believe it.

“My…my true power!?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

Discord explained himself.

“Yes. You see, I’ve heard a lot about your powers. Especially your ‘signature attack’. The very same as the one you used to defeat Lord Tirek with just one move. I want to see and feel if for myself.”

BlackWarGreymon couldn’t believe Discord would even suggest such an idea. Especially since they were inside.

“You’re insane, you know that? You could get hurt or worse.”

Discord chose to ignore BlackWarGreymon’s warnings.

“Oh that won’t happen. After all, I am the spirit of chaos,” Discord said as he held up a sign which said, ‘spirit of chaos’ while pointing at himself.

BlackWarGreymon came to a conclusion that it was not possible to reason with Discord when he was in his cocky mood. Wanting to put an end to the pointless match and to show discord that he was the type not to be trifled with, he let out a heavy sigh as he came to a hesitant agreement.

“If you insist, Discord. But to be on the safe side, I will only use half of my power.”

“Oh well, whatever floats your boat,” Discord said, not too bothered by the Digimon’s suggestion.

“Have they forgotten that this is supposed to be the Gala!?” Twilight asked with worry.

The other ponies seemed to be stunned by the scene. One would notice that Celestia was showing a tiny smile as she and the crowd saw BlackWarGreymon levitating off the ground and into the air.

As BlackWarGreymon got to a good height of fifty meters, he brought his hands close together. As he gathered negative energy, the energy shredded the boxing gloves he wore. Then a tiny red orb formed in-between his hands.

As he looked down to Discord, BlackWarGreymon saw that he was smiling while holding up his right arm which was covered by a baseball glove. As if he was about to catch a ball.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” The Digimon asked as he raised his hands above his head. Bringing the sixty-centimeter-wide orb with him.

“Of course, I’m sure. Now come on, we don’t have all night,” Discord replied, tempting the Digimon to throw his attack.

“Ok,” BlackWarGreymon said before, without warning, the tiny sphere instantly expanded from sixty centimeters to thirty meters wide! Much to the surprise of both the crowd and Discord.

Speaking of the crowd, the ponies felt intimidated by the giant red sphere. Despite its size, it looked as though the explosion it would create would be even bigger.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” BlackWarGreymon continued before, with hesitation, threw the massive orb down towards the awaiting Draconequus.

“Oh, this is going to be a piece of ca-OH BLIMY!!!” Discord shouted as the sphere touched his hand. Incinerating his baseball glove.

The force of the Terra Destroyer sphere was so sudden, Discord resorted to use both his hands to hold it back. But the sheer power of the red orb was slowly pushing the spirit across the surface of the boxing ring. He even tried to dig his lizard clawed toes into the ground, but he continued being pushed back. Plus, the energy from the sphere created gusts of winds that blew through the main hall.

The crowd were frozen in awe, and the Main Six were cringing at the thoughts of what could go wrong. It didn’t help by the fact that Discord was gritting his teeth as he tried to push the energy ball back.

Discord could feel the muscles in his arms and legs burning from the enormous strain. His face was sweating and veins could be seen in his eyes. But despite his efforts, he was being forced back. As his hands started to feel the burn from the super-heated sphere, he started to worry as he regretted his decision.

“I…can’t…hold it!”

As a last resort, instinct took over Discord’s powers. By using the white hairs on the end of his tail as extra fingers, he snapped them. Then suddenly, the mighty Terra Destroyer orb was transformed into a ball of water. It then all splashed onto the shaken Discord, drenching him head to toe. He just coughed as BlackWarGreymon landed back on the ground.

“Are you ok, Discord?” He asked, snapping Discord out of his state of shock.

“Oh…uh, yeah I’m fine.”

Then with a snap of his fingers, he dried himself, returned the stage floor to normal, and redressed himself and BlackWarGreymon in their own suits. Feeling that he had done something wrong, the Digimon got off the stage and approached Princess Celestia.

“I’m deeply sorry, Celestia. I shouldn’t had allow myself to go too far like that,” He apologized.

But her response wasn’t the one both BlackWarGreymon or Twilight had expected.

“There’s no need for apologies. That was the most exciting I’ve seen in the Gala in years!”

“It was!?” BlackWarGreymon and Twilight asked.

“But…but…” Twilight added, but was too baffled to speak properly.

Celestia chuckled at Twilight’s disarray.

“Oh Twilight. Could you imagine how dull it would have been if I hadn’t invited Discord? And with BlackWarGreymon here, the night just got even better!”

“Is that the REAL reason you invited me?” The Digimon asked. His expression was half suspicious and half playful.

Celestia let out another chuckle in amusement.

“But it still helped you getting along with everypony. Did it not?”

“Hmm, I guess it actually did.”

While BlackWarGreymon and Celestia chatted, Discord was breathing sighs of relief.

“Whoo, that was close. He’s definatly stronger than I thought,”

Discord then looked at his hands before he spoke on.

“And that was just half his true power!”

Discord then received a disturbing thought. The one involving another horned being with phenomenal destructive power.

“I wonder if BlackWarGreymon is as strong as…him.
…………………………………………………………………………………………...............................................

Half an hour had passed since the excitement and Celestia decided that in hopes to settle down the guests, she would bring forth the planed events.

It worked. With slow music paying in the background, the centre of the main hall was filled with couples. Dancing together along with the flow of the soft music.

At the other side of the hall however, the atmosphere was drastically different as Fluttershy scorned Discord.

“Now seriously, Discord! What were you thinking!? I was worried that you could have gotten yourself or somepony hurt!”

“Now now, Fluttershy. Take it easy. It all turned out fine in the end.”

The Twilight joined in.

“But still. It was amazing how you managed to hold back BlackWarGreymon’s strongest attack. Even if it was half as strong,” She said to Discord.

“Well I was…a little startled at first. Though I must say that his power level must be over nine thousand,” Discord said as a scouter appeared over his left eye, making beeping noises as it scanned BlackWarGreymon in the distance.

As Discord’s scouter vanished, Rainbow Dash joined in as well.

“A little startled? You looked as though you were about to wet yourself. I mean, if you were barely able to hold back that attack when it was just half as powerful, think of what would happen if BlackWarGreymon went all-out.”

“I don’t want to think about that thank you. And I didn’t look like I was about to… ‘wet myself’,” Discord said, annoyed at the remark aimed at him.

“Oh yeah? Then what’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked while pointing at Discord’s left leg.

The pony’s question caused the spirit to quickly look at his trouser leg. Only to see that it was dry. He then heard an uproar of laughter from the blue Pegasus.

“Gotcha!”

The joke made the other girls roll their eyes while Discord huffed in frustrated anger.

Back near the stage, Celestia left the room to have a business discussion with Fancy Pants. Leaving Luna to watch over the party. As she walked through the crowd, they were delighted to see the princess of the night at the Gala for the first time.

‘Hmm. Seems sister was right about me attending after all,’ She thought to herself as she smiled back.

She then spotted a lone, well-dressed stallion approaching her. And then he spoke to her after bowing in respect.

“Your highness, if you like, would you like to dance with me?” He asked as he gestured his hoof to the main hall centre.

Though briefly startled, Luna thought otherwise.

“I thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid I must decline,” She said before making her way out of the crowd, leaving the stallion disappointed.

The blue Alicorn walked to the buffet table and took a sip of the punch.

‘Uhh… that’s the seventh time tonight,’ She thought to herself, before looking at the couples slow dancing in the centre of the hall.

‘But it would be nice to dance with somepony I like. Or… someone.’

As her thoughts trailed off, her vision caught a glimpse of BlackWarGreymon talking to a couple near the back gates.

A small smile appeared across her face, followed by a small blush.

“Should I…?”

At the opposite end of the hall, the disappointed stallion approached several others. All noticing his glum look.

“She turned you down, didn’t she?” One asked.

“…yes.”

“I know it hurts. We all have a crush on Princess Luna. So we know how you feel,”

“Don’t worry, there’s always next time. We’ll have our chance,” Another joined.

“Strange don’t you think? I mean we’re noble gentlecolts, and yet she hadn’t chosen any of us,”

“Well it’s not like she would be interested in some ruffian.”

Then one stallion spotted Luna walking past the crowd. Following her line of path, the group saw BlackWarGreymon on the other side.

The group became anxious of what it could mean.

“Wait. You don’t think…”

“Of course not! Don’t be ridicules! It’s probably some kind of business they’re about to discuss.”

“Outside his role as protector, I bet the princess has no interest in that… thing.”

Near the back gates, the tall Digimon was in a middle of a conversation with a unicorn couple.

“I must say, your strength is impressive. You made that Discord look like a common amateur,” The mare said.

“Uhh…thank you. I’m surprised that you aren’t afraid of me after that,” BlackWarGreymon pointed out.

“Well with the battles Equestria had in the past few years, it’s nothing uncommon. Besides, you were just demonstrating the power you have to protect us from harm,” the stallion said.

“Please excuse us, our friends are planning to meet us in the gardens. It is nice to meet you,” The mare said before she and her husband left for the gardens.

BlackWarGreymon was amazed. The ponies had witnessed the kind of power he possessed, and yet they already had gotten used to him. If he kept on his good behaviour, then none of the innocent lives of Equestria would ever fear him.

He was then briefly startled when he heard Luna’s voice from behind.

“Umm, BlackWarGreymon?”

After the quick surprise, the black Digimon turned around and saw the awkward looking Alicorn.

“Oh, hey Luna. Are…are you alright? Your face is a bit red.” BlackWarGreymon said, pointing out that Luna was showing a little blush.

Luna moved her head slightly away and averted her gaze to the side. Trying to hide her embarrassment. She then stroked the floor with her hooves, fidgeting as she tried to summon enough courage to speak.

“Uhh… I’m fine, BlackWarGreymon. It’s just that… well…”

The Mega felt that Luna was trying to say something to him.

“What is it, Luna?”

As her blush deepened, Luna felt embarrassed about even thinking of the question she had in mind for him. But she really wanted to ask him. She didn’t know why, but it felt like her heart was demanding it.

“W-well…umm…if…if you like…uhh. If you want to that is…well…...w…would you…”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..................................................

Back at the opposite side of the hall, the stallion group stared at the Alicorn and the Digimon in anticipation. Their gazes were serious, sharp and determined. Not moving or speaking so they could see every reaction from the two.

To their surprise, Luna looked as though she just asked something, and BlackWarGreymon’s bodily reactions were widened eyes and a quick jolt of his head. A sign that he was surprised.

The noble stallions gasped at the possible conclusion.

“Did…did she just asked him!?”

“Tha…that’s just not possible!”

“Yeah! She’s a princess, and he’s just a…uhh…a thing!”

“Not to mention that the highness is a pony. And he’s……not.”

“Yeah, there’s just no way for her to…”

‘Background music’ ‘What About Love by Heart’

Their sudden silence was brought upon by the sight of their beloved Luna, turning around and walking beside BlackWarGreymon. Making their way to the dance floor.

The stallions stared on in utter disbelief. Wide eyed and open mouthed, it was a sight they couldn’t believe.

‘Th-they’re actually doing it!’

‘Why your highness, why!’

As Luna and BlackWarGreymon walked towards the centre of the hall, the other dancers either slowed or stopped to see such a rare sight. Even other ponies on the side-lines watched on.

As the two walked, Luna looked to her right to see BlackWarGreymon’s face. She then smiled softly at him. Then as the Digimon looked to his left to see Luna, she quickly averted her gaze away while trying to hide a blush on her face. BlackWarGreymon looked puzzled as to why his Alicorn friend was acting in the way she did. But as she moved her eyes to look back at him, he suddenly felt nervous and too quickly shifted his head away.

‘What’s going on with me?’ He thought to himself as he looked back at Luna. Their eyes briefly meeting.

As most of the dancing couples came to a full stop, the Mane Six on the outskirts too stared on in curiosity.

When BlackWarGreymon and Princess Luna arrived in the very middle of the dance floor, the two turned to face each other. Both nervous and confident to go through with it.

As Luna started it off by standing up on her hind legs, her new height measured up to just below BlackWarGreymon’s chest. She then reached out her right hoof. After a split second of hesitation, the nervous digital warrior reached out his left hand and gently grabbed hold on Luna’s hoof. He felt a slight tingle as his fingers felt her silky-smooth fur. Softer than he imagined. Knowing the next thing to do, BlackWarGreymon placed his right hand on Luna’s waist. The feeling of a hand on her body was so new to her, Luna quietly let out a surprised yelp as her wings popped open and her eyes widened. After taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes, her wings folded back into place as she controlled herself. As Luna placed her left hoof on BlackWarGreymon’s right arm, she looked up at him as he looked at her.

The two were incredibly nervous. Either of them had never done a dance before. But still, they wanted to go through with it.

After quiet seconds of staring, BlackWarGreymon checked if his left hand was firmly but gently on Luna’s hoof. And then started to lead her in a ballroom dance.

To his mental surprise, all the important information from his lessons with Rarity were sent from his mind and into his body. Replicating the exact movements of the dance perfectly.

But still, he checked if his feet weren’t getting in the way.

Despite his doubts, his lessons payed off. The crowd were amazed how someone of his size could move so smoothly and precise. Even Luna herself was moved. Silently staring at BlackWarGreymon in disbelief and awe at how good he suddenly became.

As he felt comfortable about his movements, the Digimon looked at Luna to see if she was alright. But his startled yellow eyes became fixed to Luna’s soft blue eyes.

With confidence swelling up within her, Luna started to smile. Slowly her white teeth could be seen in her smile as she enjoyed the moment. Seeing her positive mood softened BlackWarGreymon’s own expression. Through he had no lips, his eyes shown that he too was enjoying the moment.

The two continued to dance in circles with the music, much to the amazement and slight jealousy from the crowd. Even the Mane Six watched on at the never-before-seen sight.

“Aww, they look so sweet together,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice squeaky in excitement and joy.

“Wow Rarity. Seems he learnt ya lessons well after all,” Applejack said to the white Unicorn.

“Wow, you’re right,” Rarity said.

“Huh. Never thought of you as a teacher, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Amazing,” Fluttershy joined.

Twilight smiled on as she watched BlackWarGreymon, and saw the expressions in his eyes.

“I bet he’s having the time of his life right now.”

The black and yellow cape and the long dark blue dress swayed in the movements as BlackWarGreymon and Luna continued to dance. Feeling the warm feeling glowing inside of her, Luna couldn’t help but smile even brighter as her wings slowly started to fan out on their own.

Then without her knowing and to the amazement of the onlooking crowd, Luna’s mane and tail momentarily sparkled even brighter. Then, her usually night-styled hair slowly transformed into strands of blue. Still filled with celestial energy, her mane and tail flowed as if they were underwater, but taking on the appearance of actual blue hair. BlackWarGreymon became too captivated by the sight to say a word. In fact, it only made his own heart warm with a loving feeling.

‘So…beautiful.’

Outside of the crowd, Princess Celestia and Fancy Pants emerged from the hallway. Talking to each other.

“Don’t mind me saying so, your highness. But this years’ Gala sure is interesting,” The white stallion said.

“Most certainly. It’s definatly the one to remember,” Celestia replied. But then noticed that Fancy Pants had stopped walking as he looked at the crowd with startled eyes.

“I say, princess. Is that your sister dancing with that BlackWarGreymon fellow?”

The white Alicorn was startled by the sudden question. She then followed the Unicorn’s gaze, only to see that to her surprise, he was right. She could clearly see that her sister Luna was in a middle of a dance with BlackWarGreymon. It was something she never expected to happen. She knew that the black Digimon would be nervous about being in a formal gathering for the very first time, and that the blue Alicorn would feel uneasy from appearing at the Gala. But there the two were, dancing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Not even the staring of the amazed crowd put them off.

But what amazed Celestia the most, was the way Luna looked. Her blue hair was glowing and sparkling in a way she had rarely ever seen. Her wings were spread wide open, and the expression on her face was so warm and genuine. She looked…happy. Very happy. In a way, she hadn’t been in a very long time.

‘Wow. It’s been so long since I’ve seen Luna smile like that.’

Then from out of nowhere, a thought occurred to Celestia. Which made her raise an eyebrow.

‘…I wonder…’

Back at the centre of attention, the princess and the Digimon continued their dance. Completely unaffected by all the staring. But Luna felt that the music was reaching its end. And once it does, so does their moment. She briefly frowned at the thought.

BlackWarGreymon sensed the music’s end too, and was the only one who saw Luna’s expression. But then for reasons unknown to him, he suddenly felt the urge to make her smile. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to keep her happy.

As Luna felt that they should stop dancing soon, BlackWarGreymon thought of an idea to make the ending more exciting and memorable. With his left hand firmly but gently gripped on Luna’s side, he surprised the blue princess by levitating off the ground. Floating higher as he took his dance partner with him.

Luna’s brief yelp of surprise, was quickly replaced by chuckles of laughter and happiness as she let BlackWarGreymon take her in the air, while moving in the rhythm of the music. The two were literally dancing in the air above the heads of the crowd below.

“Well…can’t beat that,” One of the stallions from earlier said. Admitting defeat.

As the music started to die down, BlackWarGreymon and Luna began to descend back to the ground with it. Circling in the rhythm of the last parts of the moving tune.

‘Song end’

As BlackWarGreymon and Luna landed on the floor, both their motions slowed. Until they were left just holding each other, and staring into each other’s eyes.

Then beyond Luna’s knowledge, she suddenly felt an urge. An urge to lean her head closer. BlackWarGreymon felt the same way as he stared into Luna’s blue eyes. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to lean his head down to the Alicorns’.

However, just before they could move, the crowd around them started to cheer. Celebrating perhaps the most amazing dance they had ever seen. As the two became startled, Luna’s mane and tail returned to normal. Then the two released their hold on each other before talking.

“Umm…thank you, BlackWarGreymon… for the dance.”

“Uhh… you’re most welcome, Luna. I enjoyed it.”

Then the two parted. Walking in opposite directions.

BlackWarGreymon then met up with the Mane Six.

“Wow. You were unbelievable, BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah! You only had one lesson from Rarity. And you nailed it!” Rainbow Dash joined.

“Not to mention that it was ya first dance,” Applejack added.

“Yep. You were like a pro!” Pinkie Pie said while bouncing in excitement.

“The whole dance was just so lovely,” Fluttershy complemented.

“Well I’m impressed that you learned so quickly, darling. Even I was captivated by the spectacle,” Rarity said.

The positive comments caused BlackWarGreymon to feel embarrassed. But he was happy that he got to dance with Luna.

At the other side of the large hall, Luna was approached by her older sister.

“Luna? Are you ok?” She asked, seeing that there something… odd about her little sister.

“Never better, sister,” Luna replied as she walked past Celestia. Leaving the confused white Alicorn behind.

“Wow. She looks so happy.”

Then a thought occurred to her.

‘Now that I think about it, Luna and BlackWarGreymon actually have a lot in common. Could HE be the reason why Luna wanted to come to the Gala?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………................................................

A quarter of an hour had passed since the never-before-seen dance. And the events had moved onto the Wonderbolt show. With everyone looking up at the night sky from the Canterlot gardens, all could see the Wonderbolt cadets performing stunts and aerobatics. Although they weren’t as magical as Unicorns, but the skilled Pegasi were leaving a trail of dark smoke as they flew by. Smoke that contained electricity. It shows that some Pegasi possess their own magical properties. Even BlackWarGreymon was amazed at their manoeuvres. Some of which could be used in combat. Though Rainbow Dash was amazed, she was showing it a lot better than the others did.

Then the Wonderbolts finished up their show by flying vertically in a tight formation. As they almost reached body contact, the group immediately separated. Somehow creating a large firework-like explosion. All eyes below were dazzled by the sight.

Then came the final event of the Grand Galloping Gala, the firework display. Rockets filled with special powder (probably gun powder) were fired into the night sky. Then the rockets exploded, filling the sky with unique shapes, patterns and colours. They were also joined by shapes of cutiemarks.

“Wow. Imagine having something like that for a cutiemark,” Scootaloo said to the other two crusaders.

“Or ah firework cutiemark?” Applebloom suggested.

As the display continued, BlackWarGreymon became curious. He had never seen fireworks before and wanted to know more about them.

With all eyes focused on the fireworks, BlackWarGreymon slipped by unnoticed and made his way to where the rockets were launched.

Once he arrived, he spotted a Unicorn stallion with a sparkler in his magical grip. Using it to light the firework fuses.

The stallion then felt that someone was behind him.

“I told you kids before, you shouldn’t be back he…”

He paused as he turned around. Instead of crafty children that he was guessing, it was to his surprise the tall black Digimon.

“Oh, it’s you. Well… be careful anyway. These fireworks are dangerous.”

BlackWarGreymon couldn’t help but chuckle in response. He was far more dangerous than the fireworks.

“Trust me. Your rockets wouldn’t even singe my hair,” The Mega said, making the Unicorn nervously gulp.

The pony then went back to setting off the fireworks in a sequence of patterns. Timing each one perfectly. BlackWarGreymon watched on as the fireworks streamed to the sky, exploding in a massive array of colours.

As the display nearly reached its finally, BlackWarGreymon had an idea for a ‘big finish’.

“Mind if I join in?” He asked, not really wanting an answer.

The stallion was confused at what the Digimon was implying.

“What do you mean ‘join in’?” He asked as he turned around. Only to see that BlackWarGreymon had a red energy sphere within his palm.

Then as the last of the fireworks flew high into the air, the Digimon flung the two-foot-wide orb into the air. Launching it with the fireworks. From the distance, the crowd couldn’t tell that the glowing orb was with the fireworks. To them, it looked like another firework.

Then as they got to a good height, the fireworks exploded. And the shockwaves from the loud booms caused the tiny Terra Destroyer sphere to detonate. Creating a fairly large explosion even for its size.

While the crowd were stunned at the last explosion, the Mane Six recognised the final blast.

“Wait. Isn’t that?” Twilight asked before smiling. She knew it was BlackWarGreymon’s doing.

As the excitement of the firework display died down, the final event had wrapped up the Grand Galloping Gala for another year.

Chapter 27: Night of Fright

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With the Grand Galloping Gala drawing to a close, it was time for the invited guests to return home. Though the current Gala wasn’t nearly as chaotic as the previous years’, but undoubtly it was the most exciting.

Thanks to her idea of inviting both Discord and BlackWarGreymon, Princess Celestia concluded that the Gala was a far greater improvement than the ones that she was so used to.

The excitement of the party was in fact caused by the two former villains. Though it was mostly Discord. Seeing the Spirit of Chaos against the ultimate anti-hero was indeed thrilling to the audience. Even Discord couldn’t handle BlackWarGreymon’s power.

But the real highlight of the evening, was when the Digimon had his first slow dance with Princess Luna. It was truly a moment to remember. It was because of the dance, that Celestia suspected that the real reason Luna decided to attend the Gala, was because BlackWarGreymon was attending too. Could there be a reason behind it? Celestia wasn’t entirely sure, but she would need more evidence before coming to a conclusion. But one thing was for certain, Luna had enjoyed her moment with BlackWarGreymon. The way her mane and tail glowed wouldn’t had happened otherwise.

Not many ponies know, but an Alicorn’s body and a celestial object they control reacts to the emotions they would be experiencing.

As the last of the guests left Canterlot, the Main Six, the Cutiemark Crusaders, Spike and BlackWarGreymon volunteered to clean up the place.

“Well, this was actually a fun night,” Rainbow Dash said as she pulled down the decorations from the ceiling.

“Oh most definatly, probably the most interesting Gala yet,” Rarity joined before turning towards BlackWarGreymon.

“And you mister. You were simply dazzling on the dance floor! Just how in the world did you learn to master dancing in just a few hours?”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think before answering.

“I’m not exactly sure. Its’ almost as if my mind… recorded your dance with Spike, and it all just stored in my mind. And when the dance happened, it all played out through my body.”

“So ya brain is like… some sorta’ video recorder?” Applejack asked.

“I guess you could say that. I am digital after all,” The Digimon said.

“I thought it’s because you have a mind of an elephant.”

Everyone in the room looked at Spike with puzzled expressions. The dragon became startled that all eyes were on him.

“What? Elephants never forget.”

“Well it’s better than having a mind of a goldfish. I mean they forget things in the next five seconds,” Scootaloo mentioned, earning chuckles from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

Then arriving from the Canterlot gardens were Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

“Goodbye little friends!” Fluttershy called out to the animals in the garden.

“Wow Fluttershy, those animals have gotten so used to you,” Twilight said, noting the difference in behaviour from the previous year.

“Well, it was in fact BlackWarGreymon who helped out. You should’ve seen him, Twilight. He was so gentle with the little critters.”

“He did? That’s great. It means he’s learning friendship very well.”

Then Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie met up with the rest of their friends in the main hall.

“Are all the decorations taken down outside?” Rainbow Dash asked the three whom just arrived.

“Done and dusted,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile.

Then suddenly, the group were startled by a sudden sound of lightning. When the loud echoing rumble ended, Fluttershy, who was hiding under a carpet, spoke up.

“Wha…wha…what was that?”

Princess Twilight walked towards the window to see what was going on. She then saw that the night sky was completely clouded over, with the sounds of heavy rain on the way.

“Oh, it looks like a thunderstorm is scheduled tonight.”

“Oh… I forgot about that,” Rainbow Dash said with a cheeky smile.

“Ya part of the weather team, Rainbow. Couldn’t ya changed the day of this darn weather?” Applejack asked, rather annoyed.

“The Gala was coming up. I’ve forgotten.”

Then the rain arrived, heavy droplets of water could be heard as they impact on the roof and outside the main hall. Though BlackWarGreymon didn’t mind the rain as much as his pony friends, but he didn’t felt like ruining his new suit.

Then Celestia arrived.

“Well tonight certainly is a downpour.”

“Yeah, and we have to go through it,” Sweetie Belle said, moping by the fact that the rain would soak her new dress.

The white Alicorn read the filly’s expression, then she showed that she was just as generous as Rarity.

“I know, how about all of you stay for the night here?”

Rarity was literally filled with glee from the invitation.

“Really!? Oh thank you so much, your highness,” She said, bowing repeatedly every one second.

Celestia chuckled at the over-enthusiastic Unicorn.

“It’s my pleasure. I don’t want you all getting wet. So you all know where the bedroom chambers are?”

Though Celestia asked, she already knew the answer.

“Don’t worry, we remember. And thank you so much,” Twilight said as she walked past Celestia out of the hall.

The others followed suit. But when BlackWarGreymon walked by her, Celestia stopped him.

“Oh and, BlackWarGreymon.”

Hearing the princess calling his name caused him to stop. He then turned to face her.

“Yes, Celestia?”

The Alicorn smiled when she spoke.

“Thank you for giving Luna such a great time.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at her in confusion. Then Celestia explained.

“You see, my sister hardly attends to these kinds of parties because she feared that everypony might fear her for what she had done in the past. All I ever wanted was for her to at least try to experience one and have a nice time. And thanks to you, that actually happened.”

BlackWarGreymon was moved by Celestia’s words, and finally understood why Luna was absent from parties like the Gala. But the thought of missing out in all the fun made the Digimon felt sorry for Luna.

It was tough being an ex-villain, and he knew that very well.

“You’re most welcome, Celestia. And I can say that I did enjoy myself here because of Luna.”

Celestia smiled as BlackWarGreymon walled off to join with the others.

Then a thought occurred to the Digimon.

‘Speaking of which. Where is Luna anyway? Probably off to bed I guess.’

Soon, BlackWarGreymon caught up with the girls as they approached the bed chambers.

“Well am’ definatly gonna sleep after all that, that’s for sure,” Applejack said after letting out a tired sigh.

She was then suddenly brought to attention when Pinkie Pie let out a loud gasp.

“Oh oh, Everypony! I have an idea! Let’s all have a sleepover!”

“A sleepover!?” The crusaders asked before cheering, keen on the idea.

“That’s a good idea, Pinkie. We hadn’t had any of those in a while,” Twilight said.

Spike and the rest of the Main Six were also excited about a group sleepover at Canterlot. Then Pinkie Pie rushed over to give BlackWarGreymon’s left leg a hug.

“And BlackWarGreymon will have his very first sleepover!”

While the group were even happier on the idea, the Digimon looked puzzled.

“Umm, what exactly is a sleepover?” He asked.

“Well darling, a sleepover is when a friend or a group of friends stays the night at another friend’s, house. But before they go to sleep, they play games and have fun,” Rarity explained.

While BlackWarGreymon started to get the idea, he was curious about one thing.

“What kind of games?”

“You know, like pin a tail on a pony,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh, a don’t forget truth of dare,” Scootaloo joined.

Then Rainbow Dash spoke while flying above the group.

“Yeah. But before we go to bed, we tell each other scary stories,” She said, trying to sound spooky.

BlackWarGreymon became more intrigued in what Rainbow Dash said.

“Scary stories?”

“Yeah. I know plenty of good ones,” Rainbow Dash said, her face smug with pride.

“Interesting,” The Mega said, just as a thought entered his head. A rather cunning thought.

While thinking, he spoke to the crusaders.

“Uhh, you three. Can you come with me for just a little bit?”

“Uhh…sure. But whatever for?” Applebloom asked.

“I need you to help me with… a thing that I just forgot about.”

“Well, ok,” Scootaloo said before she and her crusader friends followed BlackWarGreymon back to where they came.

The Main Six and Spike, though confused, grew suspicious of the Digimon. His reply sounded more like an excuse. A cover-up for something else.

‘Now just what is he up to?’ Twilight thought to herself.
…………………………………………………………………………………………...............................................................................

Unknown location, hidden lair.

After persuading the queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis, to join him on his quest for conquest, King Sombra led her and her Changeling army through a series of dark passageways. Bringing them ever closer to the meeting place.

Though the Changeling solders didn’t trust the dark Unicorn, but he was an acquaintance to their queen. So, they had to ether trust him of put up with him. But after reaching inside the caves, their dislike of Sombra was the last thing on their minds.

“These passageways are a lot longer than I remembered. How much further, Sombra?” Queen Chrysalis asked.

“Almost there,” King Sombra replied.

“Q…q…queen,” A voice behind Chrysalis uttered.

When the queen looked back, she noticed that her children were shaking with fear after every step they took.

“What is it?” Chrysalis asked.

“Queen… I’m scared.”

Then another joined.

“There’s this… strange feeling in the air, mother. I don’t like it!”

“It’s making me uneasy,” Another mentioned.

It wasn’t just the three, Chrysalis could see the expressions on the faces of the rest of her offspring. They were terrified.

“It’s ok. Everything will be fine,” Chrysalis said, trying to reassure her children.

But she wasn’t sure herself. But knowing where the odd feeling was coming from, and who it belonged to, she was probably more frightened then her solders.

“So, you can all feel it?” Sombra asked as he looked over to the Changelings. He then smiled in satisfaction.

“Well you all have to get used to it. We are going to be working for him for a while,” He continued, hiding the fact that the energy was disturbing even for him.

“Wait. The feeling is coming from… a creature? One Changeling asked. Then joined by another.

“What kind of creature could give off such awful energy?”

King Sombra answered for them.

“He is a being… not from around here.”

“You mean, he’s from the badlands?” Another Changeling asked.

“No, much further.”

“How much further?” The same Changeling asked.

But Sombra’s reply sent a cold chill straight through the insect-like ponies.

“Further than you could possibly imagine.”

“Mother? What does that mean?” Another Changeling asked. But Sombra answered instead of Chrysalis.

“You’re about to find out… because we’re here.”

Sombra, Chrysalis and the Changelings emerged from the darkened passage, and into a massive chamber. Even though they were far from sunlight, the cave was somehow dimly lit. Bright enough for the guests to see all around them. The Changelings began to shiver in fear, the odd feeling they felt was definatly among them in the chamber.

Then to their confusion, King Sombra called out into the darkness.

“My lord, they’re here like you asked!”

Then to the Changelings surprise, a demonic voice called back.

“Excellent, Sombra. You have done well.”

Queen Chrysalis felt her heart froze the moment she heard the voice. It was the last voice she’d ever wanted to hear. She knew it was him. No other being in Equestria could have such a voice. Some of her solders even tried to hide behind her.

Then they got scared when they heard a loud scraping noise. As if the hidden creature was deliberately dragging his claws on the ground as he walked.

Then Sombra spoke to the Changelings.

“Children of Chrysalis, meet your new master.”

Then out of the shadows, the creature’s three-toed foot emerged. Followed by a loud footstep. As he walked, he let out deep growl-like breaths. As the evil Digimon stepped into the light, the Changelings quaked in terror as their eyes trailed up to the rest of his body. His long arms were indeed dragging his clawed hands across the stone ground. But to the solders, the most horrifying thing about the bizarre being was his face. With his demonic horns and his piercing yellow eyes, it was like the stuff of nightmares.

Even Chrysalis tried to avert her gaze as the Digimon looked her way.

“Ahh, my dear Chrysalis. It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

“Shame that it’s sooner than later,” Chrysalis said, finally gaining enough courage to look at the creature.

The Digimon would had taken her tone as defiance. But he decided to toy with her instead.

“Still afraid of me?”

The queen of the Changelings gulped as she turned her head away. She didn’t want to admit that she was scared, but she showed it clear as day.

“Good. You have every right to be afraid of me. Soon all of Equestria will fear my name,” The Digimon said in satisfactory.

The Changelings had learnt a lesson about their queen. Even she could be afraid.

“A…As you requested. I’ve brought my solders too,” Chrysalis said.

The evil Digimon tilted his head to the side to get a better look of the solders. He then revealed his white razor-sharp teeth, making the Changelings back off in fear.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Chrysalis.”

Then to everyone’s surprise, the Digimon immediately stretched his right arm out and crashed his hand beside Chrysalis. The Changelings yelped in surprise, thinking that he was attacking.

Then all was silent as Chrysalis stared at the dust cloud, thinking that the beast had crushed one of her children. Then to her confusion, a series of loud squeaking could be heard. Then as the Digimon lifted his hand out of the dust cloud, a small white rat was revealed. Having its tail grasped in-between the clawed finger and thumb, the rat shrieked and squirmed around, trying to get free as it was brought closer to the monster.

Using his other hand, the Digimon scratched the rat’s stomach with his index finger.

“You’ve even brought ratatouille too.”

As the Digimon tilted his head back, he raised the suspended rat above his face. He then opened his mouth wide. Seeing the teeth of the beast caused the rat to squeak in panic as it tried to wiggle free.

Although all eyes were away from the sight, they could all hear everything. First the squeaks of the terrified rat, then it was silenced by a squelching munching sound. Even Sombra found it disturbing.

The Digimon just ate a live rat.

Then, one Changeling was brave enough to speak.

“Have…have we done good?”

The freakish Digimon was silent at first. Fiddling the inside of his mouth with his hand. He then shockingly pulled out a perfectly clean leg bone. After looking at it, the Digimon chuckled as he tossed the bone to the Changelings. Scaring them in response.

“Have a bone.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..................................................................

Canterlot castle, bedchamber

Though the group were given individual rooms, the Main Six and Spike thought that it would be more fun to be in one large room to have their fun and games. To prevent their clothes from getting messy, Rarity took them off her friends and neatly put them aside.

As they sat in the middle of the room in a circle, they waited for BlackWarGreymon and the crusaders. Wondering what was taking them so long. To pass the time, they started playing truth or dare.

“Ok darling, truth or dare?” Rarity asked Twilight.

“Umm…truth.”

“Oh. Is there something going on between you and Flash Sentry?”

The Unicorn’s question caused the Alicorn to blush while bringing her mind into a frizz.

“WawaWA! No! It’s nothing like that. Besides, I hardly see him.”

“Oh, but you must. If you want to get anywhere with him,” Rarity added.

“Well…” Twilight tried to answer, feeling deeply awkward.

Next was Rainbow Dash’s turn.

“Ok Pinkie, truth or dare?”

“OH! OH! Dare! Dare!”

Then the Pegasus brought out a tray of cupcakes.

“I dare you to inhale all these cupcakes,” Rainbow Dash declared.

After pausing for a moment of thought, Pinkie Pie took in a deep breath. Inhaling the air in front of her powerful enough to suck in all the cupcakes. After consuming every last crumb, the pink pony stopped inhaling and wiped her lips with a tissue.

The others just stared at her in shock.

“Woah! I didn’t think you can even do that,” Rainbow Dash stated.

“You’ll never know until you try it,” Pinkie Pie said as if it was nothing special.

Then to the delight of the group, BlackWarGreymon finally entered the room.

“Hey big guy. You sure took your time,” Rainbow Dash said, noting on how long the Digimon was gone.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting,” BlackWarGreymon said.

“Oh, before you sit down, allow me,” Rarity said before using her magic to remove BlackWarGreymon’s tuxedo he wore at the Gala.

“Thank you,” He said. He felt more comfortable being back in his usual armour. Well, minus his shield and Dramon Destroyers he’d left back in Ponyville.

As BlackWarGreymon sat in the circle in-between Twilight and Fluttershy, Applejack asked him a question.

“Say now, where is my sister and her friends?”

The Mane Six and Spike didn’t know why, but the Digimon paused for a few seconds before he answered.

“Well, Princess Celestia wanted them for something. Probably ideas on how to get their cutiemarks.

Though his answer was convincing, the group felt that something about it was fishy.

“So, what were you doing?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Oh, we’re playing truth or dare,” Fluttershy answered. Then Twilight explained the rules.

“It’s a game where a pony asks another a truth or dare. If a pony chooses truth, then they must answer a question with the absolute truth. If a pony chooses dare, then they have to do anything that pony tells them.”

“Seems simple,” BlackWarGreymon said.

“Allow me to demonstrate,” Pinkie Pie said as she looked over to Applejack.

“Ok AJ, truth of dare?”

“Umm…dare.”

After a quick second of thinking, Pinkie Pie thought of a dare.

“OH, OH, OH! I got one!”

‘It’s got something to do with me, isn’t it?’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself. Immediately feeling like a victim.

Then the pink pony spoke the dare.

“I dare you to touch BlackWarGreymon’s hair.”

‘I knew it.’

Applejack looked confused.

“Ya want me to touch his hair?”

“All hooves in the air if you touched BlackWarGreymon’s hair,” Pinkie Pie proclaimed.

Along with her, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity raised their hooves. The only ones who didn’t were Applejack and Spike.

“Ya all did?” Applejack asked.

“Oh you should, darling. His hair just feels fabulous,” Rarity said.

“And Scootaloo said that it feels just like a cloud. And I kinda agree,” Rainbow Dash joined.

“Well if it’s a dare, then I’ll do it,” The orange mare said.

“Umm, can I too?” Spike asked as he raised his hand in the air as if he was in school.

“Of course. If you don’t mind that is,” Twilight said to the Digimon.

“Go right ahead,” He said as he tilted his head aside.

Using her magic, Twilight levitated Spike and Applejack above BlackWarGreymon’s head. As soon as they’re within reach, the orange pony and the young dragon reached out and touched the yellow digital hair.

Both were amazed at how it felt.

“Well I’ll be! Ya all right,” Applejack said.

“I never knew it could be so soft,” Spike joined.

With the dare done, Twilight placed Spike and Applejack back in the circle.

Then it was Rainbow Dash’s turn.

“You’re next Flutters. Truth or dare?”

The yellow Pegasus normally picks truth every time, but she felt that she could give dare a go.

“Umm…dare.”

‘It’s going to be me again,’ BlackWarGreymon betted.

After a few seconds of intense thought, Rainbow Dash briefly glanced over to the Digimon and let out a giggle.

‘Called it.’

Then the blue Pegasus spoke the dare.

“I dare you… to kiss BlackWarGreymon.”

BlackWarGreymon and Twilight were not entirely surprised at the question, since it happened before. But as Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike were the ones who weren’t aware of it, they were completely surprised.

“Y…You want Fluttershy to do…that!? Surely you couldn’t suggest such a…”

Rarity was interrupted when Fluttershy spoke. Somewhat happy.

“Ok then.”

As Fluttershy flew off the ground, Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe that her friend would immediately accept the dare. To them, it was strange that she seemed happy about going through with it.

“Wait a sec, Flutters. Aren’t you even embari…”

She was silenced when unbelievably, the usually timid pony flew up beside BlackWarGreymon’s head and without hesitation, kissed him on the cheek.

Though it happened for the second time, the Digimon again felt just as surprised as before. Even though she heard about it from Fluttershy herself, Twilight was surprised to actually see it. But to the rest, it was a complete shock.

When the Pegasus landed, she saw that most of her friends looked at her in complete disbelief.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? You just kissed him!” Rainbow Dash stated.

“We thought that you would be… nervous,” Applejack added.

“Well I’m not. That was the second time after all,” Fluttershy said. Earning more silent intense stares from her friends.

“YOU KISSED HIM BEFORE!?” Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike asked at the same time.

“Well, the first time was when he saved my animals from the Bugbear.”

The group were once again surprised at what they heard.

“Wait! You were attacked by the Bugbear!?” Rainbow Dash asked in a worried tone.

“Yes I was. But BlackWarGreymon defeated it without even trying,” Fluttershy said before nuzzling on BlackWarGreymon’s leg in gratitude.

“Wow. So, the fight wasn’t difficult at all?” Rainbow Dash asked the Digimon.

“It was the easiest one I had in this world yet. I didn’t even use any of my powers.”

“Ok, it’s my turn. BlackWarGreymon, truth or dare?” Twilight asked.

After feeling like he was the centre of attention the moment he walked into the room, BlackWarGreymon tried to give the game a go.

“Truth.”

“Well… this is kind of a plain question but… are you happy being in Equestria?”

Twilight’s question caused everyone else to become serious all of a sudden. They all stared at the Digimon as he gave his answer.

“Of course I am. I never had fun like this before.”

Pinkie Pie gasped when the Mega mentioned her favourite word.

“Did you say you had FUN!?”

BlackWarGreymon then spoke the truth.

“Yes. Being in this world and amongst all of you, had freed me from all the problems I had back in the Digital World. I no longer feel the same pain. I could even go as far as to say that… I feel at home here.”

His words surprised the whole group. He was even willing to accept the world of Equestria as his home. They were all so happy to hear him say such warm and loving words.

“Hay, BlackWarGreymon. How about you take a turn?” Spike asked, moving the game to the Mega.

“OK.”

The Digimon then chose Rarity.

“Rarity, truth or dare?”

“I’m going to go with… dare.”

BlackWarGreymon then tried to think of a dare. But not just an ordinary dare, it had to be a good one. A perfect one. One that they would never expect for him to say.

He then remembered the dare Rainbow Dash gave to Fluttershy. To everyone else, it was so unexpected. Maybe his dare could be something similar.

His eyes narrowed as he came up with one such dare. He even chuckled at the thought of it. If he had lips, he would’ve made a sinister smile.

His chuckle made Rarity feel nervous she had no idea what the Digimon had in mind. But she soon found out.

“I dare you to kiss Applejack.”

Predictably, the reactions he received were of pure shock.

“W-Wha-WHAAAT!!?” Rarity shouted while a blush of embarrassment formed on her face. Applejack followed suit.

“Are ya serious!?”

But the others were of no help to them.

“Ooohhh! A juicy dare!” Rainbow Dash said.

“I never thought that kind of dare is even possible,” Fluttershy joined, blushing at the thought of the dare.

“I’ll get my camera!” Pinkie Pie declared.

There was a reason why BlackWarGreymon chose Applejack to be part of the dare. She was a rough hard worker and Rarity was clean and elegant. They were opposites. Which made the dare all the more amusing.

“The…there’s no way I can do that!” Rarity said in protest.

“As strange as it sounds, but you have to do it. It’s the rule,” Twilight mentioned.

Rarity and Applejack became too embarrassed to even look at each other. But it was a dare, so they had to go through with it.

“Well……it’s just for fun…after all,” Applejack said, reminding Rarity that it was just part of the game.

“Yes…just for fun.”

After a few moments of hesitant stares, Rarity and Applejack closed their eyes with their lips puckered. Afterwards, they moved very slowly towards each other.

“Oh, they’re really gonna do it!!” Spike said, finding the situation hilarious.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight tried to contain their giggles, BlackWarGreymon silently watched on in amusement, and Pinkie Pie was ready with her camera.

Sweat was constantly dripping from the embarrassed Rarity and Applejack. Pressured by the dare and all eyes watching them. Both mares knew they were getting close, even with their eyes shut tight. They could feel each other breathing from their nostrils.

But just as they were mere centimeters apart, the two immediately parted from each other.

They failed the dare.

“No! Ah can’t do it!” Applejack said.

“Me neither! It’s just… unusual!” Rarity joined.

“That’s a bummer. It would’ve made a funny photo,” Pinkie Pie said, complaining that she couldn’t get a picture of the moment.

“Still, the looks on your faces were priceless!” Rainbow Dash said. She would remember it forever.

Then Fluttershy made a suggestion.

“Maybe it’s time to do something else?”

The others nodded in agreement. BlackWarGreymon was keen on one such event.

“How about the scary story thing?”

“Must we? So soon?” Fluttershy asked, worried that the stories might scare her for days on end.

“Come on, Flutters. You’ve got to get over your fears some time. Why not now?” Rainbow Dash said.

Though Fluttershy was nervous, she knew that her fellow Pegasus friend had a point. She would feel better if she had conquered her fears once and for all. But if she got too scared, she could always huddle close to BlackWarGreymon.

“Umm…ok.”

“Aright, so who’s first?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Oh, how about ‘The Curse of the Weredragon’?” Spike asked. But the Mane Six disagreed.

“Come on, Spike. You get scared just by telling the story,” Twilight said, remembering the dragon’s last panic attack.

Then all of a sudden, a loud thunderbolt was heard from outside, and knocked out the lights in the room. While the Digimon stood firm, Spike and the Mane Six were startled. Then a dimly lit lamp was seen, turned on and placed in the middle of the group by Rainbow Dash.

“I got one for you. It’s called ‘The tale of the Headless horse’.”

While the other ponies were eager to listen to Rainbow Dash’s tale, Spike and Fluttershy had a brief shiver just by hearing the name. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile tried to picture what the Headless horse would look like.

As the blue Pegasus was telling her story, most of the group were already shaking in fright. Only Twilight and BlackWarGreymon were unmoved. The Alicorn had already heard of the story so many times, she even told it once. The Digimon was too busy listening to even think about fear. Though some bits had surprised him, hearing what the Headless horse had done.

Then Rainbow Dash finished up the story.

“Then, just as the pony thought she was safe. There, stood behind her was… the Headless horse!”

After letting out a yelp of fright, the dragon and the Mane Six laughed. Though Spike and Fluttershy were late to laugh as they were the most scared.

“Uhh… that story gives me the creeps every time I hear it,” Rarity said.

“So what about you, big guy? Were you scared?” Rainbow Dash asked BlackWarGreymon.

“The story was good, but it’s not really that scary.”

The group looked at him in disbelief.

“Wait. You weren’t scared at all?” Pinkie Pie asked him.

“Well I am confused about one thing. If it’s headless, then how does in know where it’s going?”

“Well, it just knows…”

Rainbow Dash was interrupted by the Digimon’s second question.

“And if it rains, wouldn’t its body be filled with water?”

The Pegasus was baffled at the second question.

“Well… it’s just a story.”

“I don’t think that story was thought entirely through.”

“Well, do you have one in mind?” Rarity asked him.

Rainbow Dash then grew a cocky smile on her face.

“Yeah, let’s see you do better.”

After closing his eyes in thought, BlackWarGreymon let out a chuckle.

“Oh I’ve got a story alright. A story that would make you want to shiver and hide. One that was thought to have no name. But to a few, it’s a story called… Alien.”

The group around the Digimon became intrigued. They couldn’t even remember a scary story about an alien before.

As everypony and dragon remained silent, BlackWarGreymon told his story.

“The story takes place far in the future. Where space exploration became a reality to the ponies of Equestria. On-board a reconnaissance ship, a scientific group of eight mares and two stallions were approaching a newly discovered planet. Upon entry, the ship was battered by unrelenting storms that ravaged the planet’s surface. The crew had to hold on tight to avoid hurtling about inside the ship. After passing through the storm, the ship managed to land safely and the crew decided to start exploring. But all around them, the land was rocky and barren. Empty of any kind of life other than their own. Just when they felt that the mission was a waste, one of the stallions spotted something in the distance. Something huge. As the group reached the top of a nearby hill, they too spotted it. Lying in front of them, was a gigantic spaceship that easily dwarfed their own. But from the state of the ship, it crashed on the planet and laid there for hundreds of years.

Being explorers, the crew explored the massive ship. As they travelled around, one stallion became separated from the others and found himself in a large chamber. All around him were hundreds of organic egg-like pods. All connected to each other by their organic roots. Amazed at the sight, the stallion took a closer look at one of the egg pods. As he got closer, to his surprise, the top of the organic pod opened. Peering inside the egg, the stallion saw that in had something inside. Something alive. Even though it didn’t have any eyes, the stallion could tell that it was looking right at him. then, to his horror, the creature leapt out of its egg and onto the stallion’s face. Using its ten spider-like legs, it grabbed a firm hold on the stallion’s head as it pressed its flat body on his face. The parasite then wrapped its long tail around the pony’s neck for extra grip. The stallion tried to cry for help, but only his muffled screams could be heard.

Half an hour later, the rest of the crew entered the chamber to find their lost friend. And they did. They found him lying unconscious on the floor. But next to him, was the same alien parasite. It lay lifeless on the ground, dead. Thinking that the stallion needed medical attention, the crew brought him out of the giant ship and back into their own. Seeing that the planet was too dangerous, the crew decided to abandon the planet and head back home.

However, even off the planet, they were far from safe.

After a few hours from being attacked by the parasite, the stallion woke up and felt that he was well enough to make a recovery. But every so often, he felt something in his chest.

After reuniting with the rest of the crew, the stallion explained what happened. His friends were shocked. Though they were happy that their friend was unharmed, they did wonder why the parasite ‘hugged’ his face.

Unfortunately, they were about to find out in the worst way possible. Because after telling his story, the stallion suddenly felt a very sharp pain in his chest. Crying in agony, he collapsed as his friends gather around to try and save him. But they could do nothing as the pony felt his ribcage shattering from the inside. After more cries of tearful agony, the ponies could see that something was moving under his skin. Then, after a brief silence, something burst out of the stallion’s chest. The crew looked and screamed in horror as they saw a small snake-like alien slithered away, hiding in the air ducts.

The crew mourned over the death of their friend. They also came up with a theory. As the parasite held itself onto the stallion’s face, it must had impregnated him with an alien embryo. And once it was grown, it left the host.

Somewhere else on the ship, the alien embryo began to grow. Continuously sheading and creating slime as it grew bigger and bigger. After a few minutes, the alien had fully grown into an adult. Its body changed from its snake-like look. It stood on two legs, standing seven feet tall. The adult alien had long, branching arms with sharp claws that could tear flesh form bone. Its long tail had a blade on the end, used to slice and impale. The blood that ran through its veins was highly corrosive, melting away anything that its spilled upon. It had a long cylinder-shaped head with no eyes and razor-sharp teeth. Hidden inside its mouth, was a second set of jaws. Used to shot out of its mouth with enough force to pierce metal and shatter bone.

The alien, was a pure carnivore.

Vowing to avenge their fallen friend, the rest of the crew decided to take action and destroy the creature. But it was a fight they couldn’t win. Even though they were wearing protective gear, and were armed to the teeth, they weren’t prepared to face such a monster. Using its black fleshy exoskeleton, it was nearly invisible in the shadows. And with the ability to climb on walls and ceilings, it could easily ambush the unsuspecting ponies.

Being outwitted at every turn, one by one, the crew were being killed, slaughtered and eaten. With every kill, the alien let out a blood-curdling shriek, echoing throughout the near empty ship. The massacre continued until only one solitary pony was left. With her weapon cradled in her hooves, the mare was shivering in pure terror while huddling in the corner. Hoping. Praying that the alien wouldn’t find her.

As the mare mourned over the loss of her whole crew, her friends, she felt something slimy dripping on her head. As she slowly looked up, the last thing she ever saw, was a soulless black face… and a double set of white teeth.

The end.”

As BlackWarGreymon finished his story, the looks on everypony’s faces were exactly the ones he was expecting. With wide eyes and pupils the size of pinpricks, mouths wide open and faces all completely pale, it was a kind of tale the Mane Six and Spike had never heard of. And the kind they never expected to hear. Just the thought of such a creature existing was enough to make them hide under their beds. Even just the description of the alien made them tremble in fear. Amazingly even the usually brave Rainbow Dash looked as though she’d seen a ghost.

It was truly a story they would never come up with on their own. Not even in their wildest dreams.

BlackWarGreymon may had overdone it. His tale wasn’t a scary story, it was more like a horror story.

The girls and dragon were stunned silent at first, then Applejack spoke up.

“...wow… that was… some story.”

“More like creepy,” Rarity joined.

“Wha… what if that kind of alien is real?” The frightened Pinkie Pie asked.

“No way, Pinkie! Of course, there’s no such thing as that kind of alien! Ask anypony!” Rainbow Dash said, her voice sounded loud in alarm. To her surprise, BlackWarGreymon responded to her last suggestion.

“Ok then. How about you ask… THE PARASITES!!!”

Then suddenly, as the thunder struck outside, three facehugger- shaped creatures leapt from behind the Digimon and in front of the group! Seeing the sudden appearance of the creatures from BlackWarGreymon’s story caused Spike to faint and the mares to scream in fright. The girls immediately fled the room and tried to hide in the nearest closet. The terrified mares breathed heavily from the adrenaline and the sudden scare.

“They’re… they’re real! They’re totally real!!” Rainbow Dash screamed. Huddling in a ball.

Then to their confusion, they started to hear laughing. Aliens don’t laugh… do they?

Wanting to find out the truth, the girls peered through the gap in the closet door, and saw what was going on.

At first glance, the three things liked like the parasites. But after a good look, it was in fact… the Cutiemark Crusaders!? All three of them were laughing their heads off while in fact, wearing costumes that looked like the parasites. Their suspicions were confirmed when BlackWarGreymon himself was laughing loudly. Clenching his stomach and rolling on his back, the normally serious Digimon joined the crusaders in laughter.

With no real alien around, the Mane Six emerged from hiding. Approaching the laughing four with looks of surprise and confusion.

“It…it was just you three!?” Applejack asked.

“Of course, it is! These are just costumes!” Applebloom answered before laughing again.

The Mane Six then pieced together all the events. That was why they were so late, because they were making the costumes. But BlackWarGreymon said that Celestia wanted… And that before, he had a private word with… And that the costumes looked identical to what BlackWarGreymon sai…

The six mares all glared at the amused Digimon when they finally figured it out.

“You planned all this from the start!?” Twilight asked.

“I did,” The Digimon admitted before continuing.

“Not bad for my first prank, wouldn’t you say?”

As the four culprits laughed again, the remainder of the group couldn’t help but laugh along with them. Twilight and Pinkie Pie were amazed at something about BlackWarGreymon. They never heard him laugh so hard before. He really was having a good time in Equestria.

“I can’t believe you scared us like that,” Rainbow Dash said, with Fluttershy joining in.

“Please don’t do that again.”

“Though I had to admit. That story was pretty scary,” Scootaloo said, taking off the costume.

After letting out a yawn, Twilight looked at the time.

“Well we don’t have time to think more of it. It’s time for bed.”

“Hah, if you all can sleep after that story,” Sweetie Belle said as she and the girls left the room.

The large room they were in was in fact BlackWarGreymon’s room for the night. Twilight was last to leave the room, carrying the unconscious Spike on her back. Looking back at the Digimon, she was impressed at how quickly he adapted his new life in Equestria. Just give him a chance, and he could turn out to be a very good friend.

Finally alone in his room, BlackWarGreymon laid there on a large bed made specially for him. As he looked up at the ceiling, he reminisced the day he had. It was indeed a very eventful one. First, he raced Rainbow Dash the second time, then spent most of the day trying to find a spot to think over his destiny, his little meeting at the orphanage, saving some of his friends from a hydra, trying out a tuxedo for the very first time, attending the Grand Galloping Gala, done a dance with Princess Luna and finally told a story that scared the daylights out of his friends.

A very eventful day indeed.

The Mega didn’t felt tired at first, but after an hour his eyes began to feel heavy. All the while, listening to the constant thunder and lightning from outside. Being a Digimon built for war, he found the rough weather rather soothing.

However, his peaceful rest was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Oddly enough since the storm outside was louder than the knock.

“Who is it?” The Digimon called out.

The door slowly opened, revealing itself to be a distressed-looking Twilight.

“Hay. It’s me.”

“Oh? What’s up?” The Digimon asked.

At first, he was confused as to why Twilight was up so late. but then he became confused as the Alicorn entered his room and closed the door behind her.

“Sorry of the intrusion, but it’s just that… I’m not really fond with thunderstorms.”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to examine the Alicorn’s face. Her fur was rough, her mane was a mess and her eyes were nearly all red. It shown that she tossed and turned a lot in bed trying to get to sleep, but the storm kept her awake.

“So you don’t like thunderstorms. But then, why are you in my room?”

BlackWarGreymon’s question caused Twilight to blush in embarrassment. What she had in mind was unusual. But since pike was still passed out, she couldn’t find comfort in her room. She had to sleep somewhere else. Somewhere safe.

“Well, BlackWarGreymon. If you don’t mind, can I… sleep with you tonight?”

BlackWarGreymon looked at her in bewilderment. Was she really that scared of thunderstorms? And to her, the safest place for her was by his side? It must be true, since she came to him before anyone else. Plus by looking at her purple eyes, she was desperate. After some thought, the Digimon spoke.

“If you’re that afraid, then it’s fine by me.”

At first, Twilight was hesitant in getting to bed despite his agreement. But after another loud sound of thunder, she practically leapt beside BlackWarGreymon. After calming down, Twilight coiled herself into a ball beside the Digimon’s left arm.

“Comfortable?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Much better. Thank you,” Twilight said as she and BlackWarGreymon began to sleep.

Then as her back touched the Digimon’s arm, Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘Wow! His body feels…so…warm.’

Twilight began to fall into slumber, snuggling up against BlackWarGreymon’s arm. Feeling a great amount of warmth from it.

The Digimon quietly chuckled at seeing how comfortable and safe she was around him. it was almost as if she knew him for years.

As he began to close his eyes, he heard a quiet voice coming from the door.

“Um… BlackWarGreymon.”

Turning his head, the Mega saw Fluttershy poking her head around the door.

“Fluttershy? You got scared by the storm?”

“N-no. Hearing your story gave me such a terrible nightmare.”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

Fluttershy then blushed in embarrassment when she tried to speak.

“Um… if it’s ok with you. Perhaps… uhh…”

BlackWarGreymon knew exactly what she was about to ask.

“If you want to join me, it’s ok.”

Happy that she doesn’t get to spend the night alone, Fluttershy quickly entered the room and flew above BlackWarGreymon. It was then when she spotted the sleeping Twilight beside him.

“Twilight?”

“Yeah. The storm kept her awake, so she decided to come here. And it looks as though my body is just the right warmth for her,” BlackWarGreymon said.

Fluttershy then landed on her spot. In-between the Digimon’s right arm and the side of his chest. She was then surprised when she accidently rested against his armoured body.

“Wow, even your armour feels warm.”

“It does?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t receive an answer, because Fluttershy instantly fell asleep. She must have been very comfortable to sleep so suddenly.

“Is my body really that warm?” He asked himself. He too started to feel comfortable as soft pony fur pressed against his skin.

Though he did felt happy that the girls felt safer when near him. Because they knew that whatever happens, he would be there to protect them.

His thoughts however, were interrupted by another knock on his door.

By the time it was midnight, all six element bearers and the three Cutiemark Crusaders were in bed with BlackWarGreymon. Either were spooked by the storm outside or awoken by nightmares about the horror story. They all felt warm and safe by BlackWarGreymon’s side.

The reason Princess Luna wasn’t there to vanquish the nightmares, was because she was distracted by pleasant dreams of her own. She was so moved by the dance at the Gala, she kept on dreaming about it again and again, enjoying every moment.
……………………………………………………………………………………..................................................

Unknown location, hidden lair

Back in another part of Equestria, things weren’t peaceful at all. It had been hours since the Changelings arrived and all of them were terrified of their new master. Everything about him was far more disturbing than their darkest nightmares. All from his energy to his appearance. He was like a demon, but something far worse that even Tartarus wouldn’t take in. What’s worse, they even sensed that their queen was threatened even by the mention of their evil lord.

The impatient Digimon growled as he clenched his huge fists, irritated that King Sombra left on an errand.

“Where is he? He has been gone too long!”

The nearby Changelings quivered in fear, but one was brave enough to talk to him.

“I’m sure it’s fine. You just need patience and…”

The Changeling was hushed when the Digimon roared in anger and then slammed the ground hard with his foot. the impact coursed the ground to shake violently as a large crack formed like an earthquake. A demonstration of the monster’s strength. The frightened Changelings scattered themselves either in the shadows or the newly made crack in the ground.

As the tremors stopped, one Changeling popped his head slightly out of the crack and spoke.

“M…Maybe he’s stuck in traffic.”

The angry Digimon needed to get something else on his mind. Something to distract him from the absent Sombra. Looking around, he spotted Queen Chrysalis sitting alone on a ledge. The beast let out a chuckle as he made his way towards her. Despite being far away, the Digimon’s large frame enabled him to take longer strides. Quickly closing the gap as he approached her.

“Tell me, Chrysalis. Why were you trying to hide from me?”

The queen had to speak. The Digimon was as unpredictable as he was freaky.

“I…I wanted to stay away from you. I just wanted to live in peace.”

After three seconds of silence, the Digimon spoke.

“Isn’t your desire to conquer Equestria and rule it? By working for me, you can have that desire.”

“But I wanted to do it my way. Your way is…!”

Chrysalis immediately went quiet when the Digimon pressed his finger beneath her chin. She could feel the pointed claw against her jaw. Even though he was just holding her head up, the Digimon’s claw was hurting her. The Changeling queen froze, too scared to think straight. All she could do was listen to her master.

“And another thing. Have you told your children what happened to your brother?”

Queen Chrysalis felt a small tear forming in her eyes, fearing that the Digimon could snap her neck with ease. Even though she didn’t say a word, the beast conformed his answer by looking at her face.

“You didn’t. Shame if they found out that is. And what would happen afterwards? They would either doubt you and rebel against you. Or they would try to fight me. And I know that either of those options are the last things you would want.”

Chrysalis tried her best not to succumb to fear. The Digimon was blackmailing her. But she was afraid that what he was saying might become true. She didn’t want to risk it. She didn’t want to lose anymore of her family.

“Please don’t tell. I’ll do anything you say.”

The Digimon removed his finger as he chuckled in satisfaction.

“Good. Glad that we understand each other.”

Both of them then heard another voice.

“Master!”

Turning in its direction, the Digimon, Chrysalis and the Changelings spotted King Sombra entering the lair. The being grunted as he moved towards the Unicorn, annoyed by his absence.

“And where have you been?”

Sombra smiled as he spoke.

“Been out treasure hunting.”

The monster became intrigued.

“You got me a present?”

“You could say that. It’s a little something I swiped from the dragon lands.”

When Sombra finished, a black cloud appeared in front of him. then after using a summoning spell, an object materialized within the cloud. It resembled a long staff with a large red gem on the top. The gem itself possessed a large amount of magic.

The dark being’s eyes widened in excitement.

“Is this… the Bloodstone Sceptre?”

Chrysalis and the Changelings all gathered around the artefact. Eyeing the staff they had never seen before in great interest.

“Yes it is, my lord. It is said that whoever wields the Bloodstone Sceptre, becomes the new Dragon Lord,” Sombra explained.

The evil Digimon shrugged as he grabbed the sceptre, almost without care.

“I’m not bothered with that legend or title, Sombra. It’s the gem I’m interested in. It has a decent amount of power within. It may not grant me full power, but at least I can skip ahead a couple of weeks.”

The Digimon then ripped the red gem from its staff and held the stone in a tight grip in his right hand. He then began to absorb the gem’s magical energy, fusing it into his own body. A red trail of energy escaped the gem, flowing through his arm and into his chest. The Digimon grunted and then yelled as the adrenaline of energy channelled into his very being. His body slowly started to expand. Growing larger, centimeter by centimeter. The Changelings took a few steps back. Not only intimidated by the Digimon’s slow growing, but by a radical increase in his energy. His power was growing fast.

As the evil being drained every last drop of magic from the gem, the artefact cracked and was then crushed under the strength of his hand.

“Sombra, wouldn’t the dragons notice that the sceptre is gone?” Chrysalis asked.

“Don’t worry, I created a copy before I left. Though it may not be as powerful as the original,” Sombra replied.

After some heavy breathing, the Digimon spoke to the dark Unicorn. Then to the Changeling queen.

“You have done well, Sombra. Now we can get down to business. Chrysalis, I have a job for you. How would you like to take Canterlot?”

Though Chrysalis was intrigued, she had doubts.

“How could you be sure that we won’t fail like last time?”

The Digimon chuckled before pointing at one of the Changelings.

“You! Come here.”

Though hesitant, the scared Changeling obeyed. His eyes widened as he got very close to the towering being. When the Changeling got close enough, the Digimon raised his left hand and extended his index finger. Then an eerie yellow glow formed within his finger as he channelled a tiny portion of his energy.

“Open wide,” The Digimon commanded.

Scared of what might happen, the Changeling opened his toothy mouth. Then the Digimon placed the tip of his glowing finger into the mouth. Then as quick as it happened, the Digimon withdrew his hand away, leaving the Changeling staggering around in a brief dizziness. But then immediately regained his senses.

“Are you ok, my child?” Chrysalis asked in concern.

“Yeah, I do. In fact, I feel a little bit stronger. I’m not even hungry anymore.”

“That’s because I gave you an energy boost. Now you can take on any pony that gets in your way,” The evil being explained.

“Do…do we get one too?” Another Changeling asked.

“Well, of course.”

The Changelings were starting to warm up to the being as they formed in line. And one by one they were given the energy from their master. Chrysalis was confused. Normally the Digimon kept the energy all to himself, so it was surprising to see him offering some of it to her subjects. A little odd, in fact.

As the Digimon shared his advanced energy, he quietly chuckled in satisfaction, and deep down… a hint of treachery.

Chapter 28: Surprise Party for the Saviour

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It was a beautiful sunny morning at Canterlot, and another day had begun. With the Grand Galloping Gala behind them, the Mane Six, the Cutiemark Crusaders and Spike could focus on something that they secretly planned for a while.

A special surprise for BlackWarGreymon. To award him for everything he had done for them and to celebrate his arrival in Equestria. They thought it would be appropriate since the Digimon decided to stay in Equestria with them.

Speaking of which, when the group woke up in the morning, BlackWarGreymon had vanished. They must have been sleeping very comfortably for the Digimon to get out of bed and not wake them. But after asking a guard on his whereabouts, they were informed that BlackWarGreymon had left for Ponyville quite early in the morning. They were then told that he returned to Canterlot a short time later.

The group guessed that the Mega went to pick up his shield and his clawed gauntlets.

With their digital friend nowhere in sight, the Mane Six thought it was a good opportunity to go to Ponyville and prepare his surprise.

At the Canterlot train station, the group prepared to depart. Only Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were on the platform.

“Ok Pinkie, can you get everything sorted by the time he gets there?” The purple Alicorn asked.

“Sure I can! I’m a party planner after all! Ohhh, I’m just so excited about throwing him a party!!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she entered the train carriage to join with the rest of her friends.

Then Twilight turned towards Rainbow Dash.

“Though I appreciate your help, Rainbow. But I’m still a little surprised that you volunteered to stay in Canterlot so quickly.”

“No biggy, Twi. I got this in the bag,” The Pegasus said to reassure her friend.

“Ok Rainbow. Remember the plan, keep BlackWarGreymon busy until sunset.”

Rainbow Dash responded with a solute, accepting the mission.

After Twilight boarded the carriage, the train slowly started to move. And then left for Ponyville.

As the train disappeared from her view, Rainbow Dash giggled in excitement as she took to the skies. Yes, she had a task on her hooves. But the real reason she volunteered so quickly, was because she overheard that BlackWarGreymon was in the combat training hall. Rainbow Dash always wanted to see the Digimon fighting against the royal guards.

Though the blue Pegasus had seen him fought against the horde of teenage dragons, there were so many things happening at once she didn’t get a chance to see him in action fully. Plus seeing him defeating Lord Tirek and remembering the stories of his past battles from Twilight, that he could fight and hold his own against multiple powerful opponents at once, only made her more hype to see BlackWarGreymon’s skills.

Traveling at great speed, Rainbow Dash entered Canterlot castle and sped across the halls. Passing by the cleaning maids and the guards. With her gut telling her that she was near, the blue mare slowed down and landed on the floor. Eager to find her Digimon friend, she galloped down the long hall until she spotted a commotion in front of her. The guards and the maids whom were off duty were peering through an open door.

She also heard them muttering.

“Wow, this guy is tough.”

“Up against six? Not even I could keep up with that.”

“He’s like a whole army rolled into one.”

“He’s got the strength… and the looks.”

“Yeah. Even though he’s not a pony, he’s so hot.”

Curious of what was going on, Rainbow Dash joined in the crowd and looked through the doorway. Her eyes widened in amazement as she too watched on.

The jet-black dragon warrior stood strong in the middle of the training hall. The guard from before was right, BlackWarGreymon was wearing his Brave Shield and his Dramon Destroyers. Scattered around him were six royal guards. All exhausted as they tried to keep up with BlackWarGreymon throughout the training session. It didn’t seem to have worked.

“Are all of you seriously worn out already? I barely even warmed up,” BlackWarGreymon said, trying to tice the guards into attacking.

It worked. Three of the six guards, whom were Unicorns, charged up their horns with magic and then fired beams of magical energy. The beams exploded upon making contact with the Digimon’s body, throwing huge clouds of smoke around him.

The guards gasped for breath after their attack. Growing tired from using magic. But when the smoke cleared, to the surprise of everyone whom were watching, BlackWarGreymon remained unscaved. It was as if the attack spells didn’t do a thing.

“Hay. With all due respect, could we take a little break?” One guard asked.

“Save your breath because you’re going to need it. Now again!” BlackWarGreymon commanded, much to the disbelief of the guards.

“Well… could you at least take off your gauntlets?” Another guard asked.

“Would the enemy do the same if you asked them?” The Digimon spoke back, making a good point.

Then out of nowhere, a Pegasus guard charged to the Digimon’s left, throwing a flurry of punches. Despite standing in place, BlackWarGreymon dodged them with ease. Moving quick for a Digimon his size. Then a second Pegasus joined in from the right. But the two still couldn’t land a hit on BlackWarGreymon. It’s as if he could predict every move they made.

After seeing an opening, BlackWarGreymon leaped forward out of the way and then spun his left leg around. Slamming the two guards at once and knocking them away.

Again like before, because that the ponies were nowhere near as strong as he was, BlackWarGreymon had to restrain his full strength. Otherwise, he could easily break every bone in their bodies.

“Ow! That kick really hurt,” One guard complained while rubbing the side of his head to sooth the pain.

But what the Mega said next made the guards gawk in disbelief.

“Just be glad that I’m going easy on you.”

“Wait, YOU WERE!?”

As it felt that the combat training was prematurely over, BlackWarGreymon heard a familiar voice,

“Mind if I join in?”

Turning around, BlackWarGreymon spotted Rainbow Dash walking towards him without a hint of fear.

“Are you sure, Rainbow Dash? This could get dangerous.”

Despite the Digimon’s concerns, Rainbow Dash smiled in confidence.

“Don’t worry. I faced dangers before. It’s nothing new.”

“If you say so. But just to be sure.”

BlackWarGreymon then impaled his claws into the floor and then pulled his hands out of his gauntlets. The last thing he wanted was to slice his friend into pieces.

“Oh NOW he takes them off,” A guard complained in the background.

“I’ll let you strike first, Rainbow,” The Digimon said.

“If you insist,” Rainbow Dash replied while formulating a plan of action.

‘Obviously, I can’t attack his armoured parts. I might chip a hoof. Or even break one of my legs. He is showing skin in the arms and legs department, but I bet that would barely slow him down. Magic isn’t an option because… well… I’m not a Unicorn. Even if I was, magic won’t do a thing to this guy. Wait. His neck is armoured, but he’s moving his head with no problem. So that armour must be thin, so that’s my best option.’

With a plan of action, the blue Pegasus braced herself as she prepared to charge. Glaring at BlackWarGreymon with confidence at her side. BlackWarGreymon stood firm, waiting for Rainbow Dash to attack.

After spreading her wings, the Pegasus charged towards the Digimon with great speed.

“Prepare yourself!”

Then as a rainbow blur, Rainbow Dash flew under BlackWarGreymon’s left arm, performed a tight U-turn behind him, swung her right hind-leg around and slammed her kicking hoof into the side of the Digimon’s neck.

The blow from the attack echoed through the hall. The guards were impressed, that kind of kick was powerful. But BlackWarGreymon remained unmoved, and Rainbow Dash twinged as she felt a stinging sensation in her leg.

As pain followed, the Pegasus backed off as she grabbed her aching leg.

“Ow ow OWW! What gives!?”

BlackWarGreymon explained himself.

“The armour on my neck may look thin, but it’s still the hardest metal in the Digital World.”

Rainbow Dash tried to think of another plan. But it was rather desperate.

‘I know it’s made of metal, but next is the face!’

Rainbow Dash then unleashed a flurry of punches straight at BlackWarGreymon’s armoured face. But the blows barely made the Digimon blink, never mind budge. The Pegasus backed off as her front hooves felt sore from her own attacks. She then disappeared into a rainbow blur and tried to slam him repeatedly in the arms and legs. But despite her best efforts, she was unable to cause anything effective to BlackWarGreymon.

The Digimon however was amused. Even though Rainbow Dash was totally outclassed, she still believed that she could take him on.

As Rainbow Dash came around again, she extended her right foreleg in attempt to dive-attack BlackWarGreymon. But to her surprise, the Digimon moved out of the way. As the Pegasus passed him, the Mega quickly grabbed a hold on one of her rear legs, and then threw her across the hall.

After flailing around as she tried to regain control, Rainbow Dash landed on her hooves as she skidded across the floor. Eventually coming to a stop. As she tried to think of something else, she spotted one of the swords on the floor that one of the royal guards used. Knowing that BlackWarGreymon was perfectly capable of handling the fully equipped guards, she knew he could handle her with a sword.

“Get ready, big guy!” She said before picking up the weapon and flew straight towards the Digimon.

As she got close, Rainbow Dash swung her weapon at BlackWarGreymon. But the Digimon blocked the attack in a very unusual yet badass way possible.

What surprised everypony more than the fact that he blocked such a fast attack, was that he blocked it with only one of his fingers!

Rainbow Dash paused as she saw the blade touching the finger. The blade itself remained fine and sharp, but the finger sustained no damage at all.

‘What!!? How can he block it like that!?’

After backing off, Rainbow Dash tried to repeatedly lash her opponent with the sword. But BlackWarGreymon blocked every attack with the same finger.

After the twelfth slash, Rainbow Dash dropped the sword in amazement.

“How in Equestria doesn’t that hurt you!?”

“If you were an Ultimate or a Mega Digimon, then it would’ve hurt. But you’re more like a Rookie,” BlackWarGreymon answered, causing Rainbow Dash to gawk in disbelief.

“A Rookie!? Oh, we’ll see about that!” She said as she challenged him again.
………………………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................................................

Several hours had passed and morning turned into evening. Rainbow Dash was successful in distracting BlackWarGreymon, but at a price.

By midday, Rainbow Dash, as well as most of the royal guards, were completely shattered in the combat sessions. Even though BlackWarGreymon was holding back his strength as best he could, he was proven to be too strong for them.

In fact, some of the guards were so exhausted, they were unfit to perform their duties. Too tired to stand up, let alone do their tasks. Feeling bad that they were responsible for it, BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash volunteered to act as temporary guards until the real ones recovered. Rainbow Dash didn’t know why the guards took their job so seriously. Because that no criminal activity happened, she became so bored that she almost fell asleep on the job.

Four times.

BlackWarGreymon seemed ok with the role. Because he got a chance to explore more of Canterlot castle and the grounds around it. Unlike the times before, all the ponies he encountered respected him to a great degree. Though he had suspected that some ponies looked suspicious. But the moment those ponies saw him, they immediately felt intimidated and carried on with their day.

What BlackWarGreymon found most interesting, was when he patrolled the Lunar towers. It was there when he encountered the door to Princess Luna’s bed chamber. The Digimon didn’t know why, but he suddenly became very curious. To a point where he even went close to the door. Though he didn’t enter the room, to his surprise, the scent from the night princess’s room found its way to his nose. He became confused because, he liked the smell. Was it from some sort of perfume, or was it her natural scent? Either way, he felt attracted to it, like a bee attracted to the scent of honey. It was only when he heard Rainbow Dash he retreated and carried on patrolling.

First he enjoyed Luna’s company, then he liked the moments when he thought of her, and to top it off, he felt calmer when he smelt her scent. BlackWarGreymon had no idea why he was experiencing those kinds of reactions. And why no other pony except Luna was causing them.

By the time the sun was just above the horizon, the guards had recovered and were back on duty. With their role as temporary guards over and done with, Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon left Canterlot and took flight towards Ponyville. During their trip, the Digimon noticed that his Pegasus friend kept on giggling and snickering in excitement. Much to his confusion.

“Oh I can’t wait to see the look on your face.” Rainbow Dash said quietly to herself. But BlackWarGreymon caught on.

“What was that, Rainbow?”

“Oh, nothing!”

Arriving at the town, the two landed near the entrance to Twilight’s castle.

“You’ve been very quiet for most of that flight, Rainbow. Is something the matter?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Oh…it’s nothing. Nothing at all,” Rainbow Dash answered while snickering some more.

Again, the Digimon noticed her odd behaviour.

“And why do you keep doing that?”

“Nothing. Now let’s…go inside.”

As the two approached the main doors, BlackWarGreymon was puzzled as to why Rainbow Dash was so excited.

He soon found out the moment he opened the door.

“SURPRISE!!!”

BlackWarGreymon jolted in surprise as pretty much everypony in town popped out of nowhere, with balloons floating in the air and confetti being launched from hidden party cannons.

“What the…!!”

He then looked above the ponies and saw a large banner that read, ‘Welcome to Ponyville’.

“Hay, are you surprised!?” Pinkie Pie asked as she appeared out of nowhere.

“Yeah, I was surprised. But what’s all this?”

“Well it’s your welcome party, of course.”

As the crowd began to mingle, BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash followed Pinkie Pie inside.

“A party? For me?”

Pinkie Pie explained herself.

“Well you said so yourself. You never had a party before. So, we thought we could throw you one to celebrate your welcome here.”

BlackWarGreymon looked all around him to see the smiles on everypony’s faces as well as all the decorations.

‘Wow. They put all this effort, just for me.’

He knew that Pinkie Pie said she wanted to throw him a party, but he never knew she would stay true to her word. The ponies didn’t even need to organize a party for him, but they done it anyway. As he looked around, he saw the recognizable faces of the rest of the Mane Six, Spike, the Cutiemark Crusaders and some of the other ponies he met in Ponyville. He then spotted a white Unicorn mare named Vinyl Scratch, aka ‘DJ Pon-3’, whom was wearing headphones, shades and playing around the music on her records. For a world with little technology, BlackWarGreymon was surprised that the ponies had already invented such an advanced thing.

Then the Mega was approached by the mayor of Ponyville.

“So tell me BlackWarGreymon sir, how are you enjoying our land of Equestria so far?” She asked, hoping that the Digimon had enjoyed himself.

“I found it to be a very pleasant place. It’s such a nice welcoming world.”

It was an answer the mayor was hoping for. It was evident in her smile.

“So nice to hear that you’re having fun. And would you recommend our world to any of your friends back in your world?” She asked out of curiosity.

Confused at first, BlackWarGreymon thought that it might be a good idea.

“Well if I ever get the chance to, then yeah. I probably would.”

“Well that’s splendid!” The mayor cheered.

As the party went on, everyone continued enjoying themselves in the fun and games. Virtually everypony in town gave their greetings to BlackWarGreymon. At one moment, the Mega level Digimon found the whole thing strange. He was created to destroy and conquer, but instead he was friendly to others and was surrounded by lots of friends. He truly found his new life far better than his old life.

Since he was in a big crowd, he placed his gauntlets and shield in a spare room to avoid accidently hurting somepony.

As Vinyl Scratch played more and more dance songs, Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help herself. If there was something she loved just as much as books, it was dancing. The Princess of Friendship was practically raving in a way that a princess shouldn’t dance. But she didn’t care, she just liked to have fun.

Several ponies watched on as Twilight danced like wild. She was enjoying herself so much, every now and then she stuck out her tongue out of sheer joy. While other ponies found it odd, BlackWarGreymon found it rather cute.

The Digimon watched from the side-lines as a big crowd of ponies danced along with the music. Then one of them, Pinkie Pie, caught his attention.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon! Come on! Join in! It is your party after all!”

He may had danced before with Princess Luna, but BlackWarGreymon found it strange if he danced in the way Pinkie Pie and the others were doing.

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure I can dance like that.”

“Aww, don’t be a party pooper. Just give it a try!” Pinkie Pie said.

‘Background music’ ‘Flip, Flop and Fly from Chicken Run’

As soon as a new song was played, Pinkie Pie gasped in excitement.

“OOHH, I LOVE THIS SONG!!! You now MUST dance to this, BlackWarGreymon! Shame you don’t have a tail, otherwise you would be shaking it!” Pinkie Pie said as she started shake her tail.

“I’m still not sure, Pinkie. Especially now since you’re dancing like tha…!”

BlackWarGreymon prematurely halted his sentence when he suddenly felt something odd with his body. Specifically, one of his feet.

“Wa-wait! What the…!”

As the Digimon looked down, he saw that his right foot was moving all on its own. And to his confusion, it was tapping along with the music playing.

“What… What is this?”

Then a smiling Rainbow Dash hovered behind his head and answered his question.

“It’s called a beat, big guy. Can you feel it pulsing through your body?”

Slowly but surely, the rest of BlackWarGreymon’s body began to follow suit. First his left foot joined in the beat, then his shoulders, then his hips, his torso, his arms and legs. Before he even knew it, his body swayed with the upbeat music. His movements slowly growing faster.

“Y-Yes. I…I can feel it. It’s so strange.”

“Come on! You can do better than that!” Rainbow Dash declared as she flew in circles around BlackWarGreymon’s head.

Her quick momentum caused the Digimon to be dizzy and made him spin in circles. But when he controlled his footing, his whole body was dancing beyond his control. His increased movement caught the attention of the crowd. Amazed to see him dance. BlackWarGreymon looked at his body in confusion. It’s as if his body had a mind of its own. Demanding to move in a way it never had before.

“Look! I-I’m going with it!” He said. Despite the mental surprise, deep down, he was starting to enjoy it.

“Wow BlackWarGreymon. What’s gotten into you?” Fluttershy asked, her body was bobbing up and down with the musical beat.

BlackWarGreymon noticed her movements before responding to her.

“The same thing that’s gotten into you.”

Feeling excited of the new sensation, Fluttershy joined in beside him. Though usually embarrassed that she was dancing in front of everypony, for once the yellow Pegasus didn’t mind at all.

As the music got louder during the chorus, everypony else joined in. Then the biggest dance party in Ponyville history happened. The music was loud enough that it could be heard outside. And crazy party lights could be seen through the crystal walls of the castle.

Smiles were all around as everyone in the castle danced like they meant it. BlackWarGreymon was practically embracing the new sensation.

“Of all the things that I never thought would ever happen to me, this is definatly one of them!”

“It’s like Pinkie said, you never know until you try it!” Twilight said, never in her life had she seen the Mega having so much fun.

“Yeah, BlackWarGreymon! You got it nailed down!” Pinkie Pie said, complimenting the Digimon’s first dance at a fun party.

“Oh yeah?”

After gaining enough room around him, the Digimon knelt down with his hand on the floor. Then with a thrust and a twist of his body, he spun at high speeds on his back. His move amazed the crowd when small sparks formed from the friction of his Digizoid back and the crystal floor.

“WOW!!” Everyone said in awe.

As his spinning motion slowed, the motivated Mega pressed his hands on the floor and pushed himself up into the air. High above the crowd below him, BlackWarGreymon performed two wide angled kicks in the air. Adding a fighting move before landing back on the ground.

The crowd cheered even louder as the dance resumed.

“That was totally awesome, big guy!” Rainbow Dash said to him as she hovered above his head.

Everyone continued enjoying themselves and having a fun time.

‘Song end’

But just as it felt like the song was finishing, all the lights suddenly shut down and the music was prematurely stopped.

As the startled crowd discussed amongst themselves, the Cutiemark Crusaders, Spike and the rest of the Mane Six joined up with BlackWarGreymon, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“What’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked while sticking close to Applebloom.

“Is it some kind of blackout?” Scootaloo asked as she walked beside Spike.

“I’m not so sure,” Twilight said before realising something.

BlackWarGreymon had been very still and very quiet since the blackout.

Too quiet.

Looking up at him, Twilight saw his yellow eyes. They looked as though they’re staring blankly, but his pupils were small and slit-like. She began to feel worried that something was wrong.

“What’s the matter, BlackWarGreymon?” She asked him. Her question gained the attention from all her friends.

“I don’t know, Twilight. But I got an odd feeling all of a sudden. Something’s not right.”

His friends felt a chilling vibe from hearing his words.

‘Where is it coming from?’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself as he looked around the crowd.

Then his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of something. As he shot his upwards at the skylight above his head, he saw shadowy silhouettes speeding across the dark cloudy sky.

“What the…?”

In curiosity, BlackWarGreymon levitated off the ground and towards the skylight. Wanting to see what got his interest, Twilight followed suit.

As he reached the skylight, BlackWarGreymon opened the window and took a good look at what was going on.

High above Ponyville, the Digimon saw creatures flying in the sky. Hundreds of them. By hearing the buzzing sounds from their wings, he could tell that they were a type of insect. But to his confusion, they resembled ponies.

When Twilight joined him, she gasped in horror at the creatures she and her friends were all too familiar with.

“Twilight. Do you know what these things are?” The Digimon asked, noting her frightened gasp.

“I’m afraid so. They’re called Changelings. Creatures that feed on love from others and have the ability to transform their bodies to mimic ponies,” She explained.

“They can disguise themselves? But why are they in their true forms?”

“I don’t know. They’re only like that and in huge numbers when they’re… INVADING!!!”

Both Twilight and BlackWarGreymon turned around to see where the Changelings were flying to. And were shocked at the sight.

The city of Canterlot was swarmed by hundreds of Changeling solders. Even from Ponyville, the two could see whole blankets of creatures swarming over the city. Twilight could easily tell that the swarm was far bigger than the last one.

“They’re attacking Canterlot!!” The Alicorn shrieked as she and the Digimon flew back down.

As BlackWarGreymon ran for the spare room, Twilight was approached by her friends.

“What’s going on!?” Spike asked.

“Canterlot is being attacked by an army of Changelings!”

Twilight’s answer caused everypony around her to gasp in horror.

“Oh, that Chrysalis has really done it this time! So, what’s the plan Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked.

But Twilight was in such a panic, she couldn’t think straight.

“I…I don’t know! It will be too late by the time we get there!”

Everyone then became startled when BlackWarGreymon emerged from the spare room. Re-equipped with his Dramon Destroyers and his Brave Shield. Luckily, he came up with a plan.

“Keep the children safely inside! All of you who can fight, take down those things when they’re above Ponyville! I’ll take care of the ones in Canterlot!”

With his words spoken, BlackWarGreymon ran past the main doors and immediately took to the skies. By the time the crowd followed him out, the Digimon was long gone.

Though still puzzled, Twilight decided that her digital friend’s plan was better than no plan at all.

“You heard him! Let’s take down those Changelings!”

As Twilight prepared herself for battle, she couldn’t help but feel amazed at BlackWarGreymon’s leadership skills.

Chapter 29: The Changeling Assault

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With their new plan in motion, Queen Chrysalis ordered her entire hive of Changeling warriors to attack the city of Canterlot.

With the swarm outnumbering the royal guards a hundred-to-one, the Changelings didn’t bother using their unique shape-shifting ability. With their vast numbers, attack techniques and their newly acquired energy boost, they were confident enough to engage the city head-on.

Though taken by surprise, the royal guards were quick to fight back. With either brute strength of weapons of choice by their side, the Pegasi attacked the air-borne swarm while the Earth Ponies engaged the ones on land. With their attack spells in handy, the Unicorns went for both. Shooting them out of the sky to defend their capital and their princesses. Other royal guards operated their catapults, firing boulders into the sky and landing hits in the swarm.

But the Changelings’ newfound strength had become apparent. Whereas before it took one guard to take down one Changeling, the newer ones were so difficult it required three guards to take one on.

In terms of strength and numbers, the Changeling army had the upper hand. But the ponies had determination, spirit and honor. Plus, two powerful Alicorns with a millennia of battlefield experience.

As a group of Changelings circled above the Canterlot square, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were at their best to take down as many as they could. Being the younger sister meant Luna was more energetic and even resorted to using her own hooves to fight if a Changeling dares to get too close. Celestia however preferred mostly her magic. Though the last time she used physical combat was when she and Luna battled King Sombra over a thousand years before.

The pair were frightened that so many Changelings appeared all at once. But if they want to protect their citizens, they had to keep on fighting as streams of gold and blue magic filled the skies and knocked out changelings continuously fall to the ground.

“There’s so many! Why are there so many!?” Celestia asked.

“I think assistance is required for this fight,” Luna added, knowing that if the fight continues, she and Celestia would be too worn out to carry on fighting.

But they had to fight on.

Then to their surprise, a large green blob fell from the sky and landed on their hooves. Effectively gluing the two Alicorns to the ground. Startled, the princesses tried to pull free from the sticky goo. But the slime had a firm lock on their hooves.

As they struggled, they heard a voice from above.

“I’m afraid that assistance would be useless.”

Though Luna was unfamiliar with the voice, Celestia knew it all too well. Looking above their heads, the two saw the Queen of the Changelings herself descending towards the ground in front of them. Chuckling all the while.

Princess Celestia glared at the tall Changeling as she said her name.

“Queen Chrysalis!”
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‘Background music’ ‘End of All Hope by Nightwish’

As the leaders of opposing sides confronted each other, battles all around them raged on. Both sides showing no signs of backing down or total surrender.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Canterlot, a lone group of six Changelings watched the fight from a distance. Justifying if they should enter the fray or not.

“I don’t think our help is needed. Looks like mother has this all wrapped up,” One of them said. With the second one agreeing.

“Yeah, you said it.”

Then one changeling, a dim-witted one, saw something in the Canterlot gardens.

“Hay! Some of our bothers over there aren’t fighting. They’re… they’re just lying down.”

The rest looked at him with a deadpan expression as one spoke up.

“They’re knocked out, you idiot.”

“Whatever. Let’s just hang back and bask in victory,” Another joined in.

The sentence was aid far too prematurely. Because when one of the Changelings looked over his shoulder, he spotted what looked like a black fog in the distance. Approaching from Ponyville.

“Hay what’s that?!”

With all six Changelings turned around, they all saw the black fog. Of which was rapidly approaching their position. But the Changeling group were confused.

“Is that Sombra? Why is he here?”

“Don’t he think we can handle this ourselves?”

As they talked and complained, one Changeling used the holes in his legs like a binocular to see what was coming. That was when he saw a truly fierce looking black armoured dragon-like being glaring straight at him. His body engulfed in black energy.

The Changeling let out a yell in surprise, then informed his comrades.

“The-there is a scary dragon thing heading right toward us!”

“We must alert the queen!”

“Too late!!” One alarmed Changeling pointed out.

Indeed, they were. Using his Mega Destroyer attack, BlackWarGreymon immediately closed the gap between himself and the Changeling group. Like a speeding black comet, he smashed into the group, knocking all six of them out cold.

BlackWarGreymon then turned his sights to the city and charged straight into the swarm.

After defeating an attacking Changeling, a Unicorn royal guard looked up at the sky and spotted the incoming Digimon. He then shouted to inform his friends-in-arms, and to startle the Changeling hive.

“The saviour has come!!”

“What!?” One Changeling said as he and some others spotted BlackWarGreymon. Whom yelled out his battlecry to strike terror into the hearts of the hive.

“RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

As BlackWarGreymon dived into the swarm and flew across the Canterlot sky, two royal guard Pegasi joined in and flew close behind. Together they took down any Changelings within their reach. They suffered a bashing from the ponies but bashing, scratches and cuts from the Digimon.

After he took down a decent number of Changelings, the black armoured warrior spotted another cluster of bug-like creatures flying in a tight formation.

Moving up towards them, he joined his hands together and batted the heart of the group away. BlackWarGreymon then cartwheeled mid-air into another group, taking out a lot of Changeling numbers.

As he kept spinning, he prepared another attack on the group.

“Dragon Crusher!”

A wave of red-purple energy pushed the Changelings back and a wave of fire that followed engulfed the whole group. When the flames cleared, the burnt Changelings fell from the sky.

Seeing how many of their brothers and sisters lost their fight to BlackWarGreymon within such a short time, a brave three dived at the Digimon while using their magic to turn themselves into green energized projectiles.

Hoverer. When they struck BlackWarGreymon directly to the chest, the Chrome Digizoid metal caused them great pain instead. As the three moaned and grabbed their aching heads, the unharmed Mega smashed his face into the three. Slamming them with enough force to knock them out.

BlackWarGreymon then detected a large magic outburst to his left. Turning around, he saw streams of blue and gold magic firing from the city square. He didn’t need to feel their energy to know that they belonged to Celestia and Luna. But what concerned him was the huge number of Changelings that were near them.

He knew what to do as his eyes narrowed and bringing his claws close together. Creating a small Terra Destroyer sphere.
………………………………………………………………………………………............................................................................

Back at the city square, Celestia and Luna relentlessly fired magical attacks up at the flying Changeling queen. Even though they were stuck to the ground, the royal sisters continued to put up a fight.

After narrowly dodging some of the attacks, Chrysalis fired another greed blob at the two. By landing on the two Alicorns horns, the goo stuck the princesses’ horns together and prevented them from using their magic.

Immobilized and with nothing to defend themselves with, the two princesses were defenceless and were at the mercy of Queen Chrysalis.

As the Changeling queen landed, she let out an amused chuckle as she watched the royal sisters struggling to pull free.

“Haha! Now no one can help you now!!”

Her triumphant moment was crashed when to her surprise, a gigantic red energy orb flew high over her head and collided into a section of her Changeling swarm. With the colossal explosion that followed, the night sky was lit up like day as countless number of Changelings fell from the sky.

The explosion was large enough for all to see. The fiery light reflecting off the eyes of the frightened queen.

“What in Equestria was that!!?”

As the two princesses looked at the fading light, it was Luna who looked behind Chrysalis and spotted who was responsible. Her eyes beamed of hope when she saw him.

“BlackWarGreymon!”

“Who?” Chrysalis asked as she and Celestia followed Luna’s gaze. While the Sun Princess smiled with her sister, the Changeling queen gasped at the sight.

BlackWarGreymon flew high above the square, and facing him on the other side was a swirling swarm of Changeling solders. Green light flashed from the pony-like insect’s horns as they fired blasts of their magic. As the attack spells trailed across the sky towards their target, BlackWarGreymon responded with an attack of his own.

“Terra Destroyer!”

After creating a sixty-foot wide ball of superheated energy, the Mega tossed it at the Changelings. Along the way, the negative red sphere swallowed up all the green magic blasts and then collided into the attacking swarm. Those who escaped the sphere were then caught in the one hundred and fifty-foot wide explosion.

As hundreds of defeated Changelings fell from the sky, the Digimon dived in and flew underneath them.

“Black Tornado!”

As he flew by, BlackWarGreymon’s swirling black winds caught most of the unconscious Changelings and then flew higher into the sky, attacking more Changelings.

Queen Chrysalis could only gawk in horror. A large portion of her army were knocked out, by a force that didn’t originate in Equestria. The being’s power was far beyond her imagination.

'I…It’s him! The Digimon that my master had foretold!’ She thought to herself. Frightened that there really was another Digimon in Equestria.

The queen was approached by one of her solders.

“My queen! That thing has taken out a great number of us!”

“I can see that! I don’t care who he is, no one must interfere!”

With anger and hatred taking over her mind, Chrysalis flew to the sky to face BlackWarGreymon. Leaving the two princesses struggling to free themselves from the goo.

High in the dark skies, the panicked Changelings fired their attacks at the advancing Digimon. But their magic had no effect on BlackWarGreymon’s body. He then flew close and threw hard punches at the insect ponies. knocking them out very easily.

As he backhanded another solder, BlackWarGreymon’s senses picked up a power greater than the Changelings. Turning around, he faced the queen of the Changelings herself.

Chrysalis growled as she stared at BlackWarGreymon right in the eye, whom was some distance from her.

“You dare attack my Changelings!?”

Upon hearing BlackWarGreymon’s answer, his voice sent a cold chill through her body. It sounded cold and heartless.

“Yes I dare. You brought this upon yourself.”

Queen Chrysalis’s horn began to glow as she charged up her attack spell. Intending to end the Digimon.

“Well let’s see you fight without a head!!”

Throwing her head forward, Chrysalis fired a powerful green magic beam at BlackWarGreymon. The attack landed, striking at his head and creating an explosion of smoke.

Chrysalis huffed in satisfaction, thinking she had won the battle. However, the smoke covered BlackWarGreymon immediately flew in close to her and, to her surprise that he survived her attack, gave her a hard, left-handed backhand.

Before he did, Chrysalis saw a piercing white glow in his eyes through the smoke.

The attack sent Chrysalis straight into the gardens. Luckily for her a large bush cushioned her fall, but she fell hard. As she emerged from the bush, the queen breathed heavily as she limped. Trying her best not to fall from the pain.

Despite her rough landing, it felt as though the attack itself had caused most of the damage.

‘He’s…He’s so strong!’ She thought to herself. Staring fearfully at the ground.

Then a concerned Changing solder approached her.

“My queen! Are you alright!?”

After reassuring her child, Chrysalis issued an order.

“I’m fine. Take out the princesses. They may be useful for the master.”

Obeying the order, the Changeling let out a screech that only Changelings could hear. Letting them know what needs to be done.

Back in the square, Celestia and Luna continued trying to free themselves from the green goo. But despite their struggles, they couldn’t break free.

“We have…to keep trying,” Celestia said as she tried to pull her leg free.

Luna then spotted a large green glow shinning from the sky. She gasped in shock when she looked up.

“Sister! Up there!”

When Celestia looked, she too gasped at the sight. High in the sky, a massive swarm of Changelings all fired their magic attacks. With the order to bombard the princesses and the entire city square. The royal sisters closed their eyes as the energy attacks rain down upon them.

Fortunately in the nick of time, BlackWarGreymon appeared in front of them. Standing in-between the princesses and the rain of attacks, the Digimon brought forth his Brave Shield and took the full force of the blasts. Though the attacks exploded on impact all around him, the princesses needed to be protected.

Feeling that they were being shielded by someone, Celestia and Luna opened their eyes to see their saviour protecting them from the Changelings.

“BlackWarGreymon!” The two sisters said, thrilled to see the Digimon in time for the rescue.

But to their confusion, both Luna and Celestia noticed that the eye sockets in BlackWarGreymon’s helmet were glowing bright white.

Luna gasped in realisation. The kind of glow that was shown was identical to the time when BlackWarGreymon saved her from the giant yellow dragon.

It was a moment before… he unlocked a new power!

‘NO! I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM MY FRIENDS!!!'

With the thought in his mind and the adrenalin rush in his body and energy, BlackWarGreymon threw his shield apart. The Mega-powered draft that was created threw off the aim of the Changeling attacks, all landing away from the Digimon and his friends.

As the surprised Changelings stopped attacking, the enraged BlackWarGreymon immediately placed his shield back on his back and then placed his hands close to his chest. The tips of his six Digizoid claws almost touching each other. Then as he charged up his negative energy, an energy sphere formed in his claws. What confused the Alicorns, was that instead of being red, the sphere was green in colour.

After fully charging his attack, BlackWarGreymon yelled out the name of his newest ability.

“WAR BLASTER!!!”

After thrusting his arms forwards, the Digimon unleashed seven green oval-shaped energy spheres. Each one aimed in different directions.

As the blasts landed on their targets, they exploded on impact. Both the attack and the blast took out some of the Changelings.

Though the War Blaster attack wasn’t as powerful as the Terra Destroyer attack, they still dealt a heavy blow on the swarm and illuminated the sky like seven green suns.

Celestia and Luna were mesmerized by the new spectacle. In fact, so mesmerized, they didn’t took note that the Mega was about to free them.

With a slash of BlackWarGreymon’s claws, the green goo surrounding the Alicorn’s hooves and horns were shredded. The sisters couldn’t be gladder to be free.

“You two better stay here for find some cover. I’ll wrap things up here,” BlackWarGreymon said before taking off towards the mass of Changelings.

While Celestia thought about complying, Luna felt differently. She wanted the Changelings to pay for humiliating her and her sister. And to prove that she wasn’t weak and helpless. So without a word said, the blue Alicorn took off after BlackWarGreymon.

“Luna, wait!” Celestia said as she spotted Luna flying off. Though reluctant, she took off after her sister.

As BlackWarGreymon approached the swarm of Changelings, he was slightly startled when beams of blue and gold flew by him and striking the insect-like ponies. Looking behind, he saw the two princesses following him.

“Figured they would fight on,” He said to himself as he turned back to the swarm.

Upon reaching the Changelings, BlackWarGreymon went all-out as he threw punches and kicks at the enemy. Luna then joined him as she threw punches of her own, followed by her magical blasts. Then Celestia joined in and unleashed beams of magic that matched the intensity of the sun.

Far below them, Princess Twilight managed to teleport herself and her five Ponyville friends from Ponyville to Canterlot square. The purple Alicorn felt dizzy from using a spell to cover such a great distance. But somehow, she managed it.

As the Mane Six looked around at the warzone, they were truly amazed when they looked above their heads.

“Wow. BlackWarGreymon, Celestia and Luna…are fighting alongside each other!” Twilight said as knocked out Changelings rain down from the sky all around her and her friends.

“So awesome!” Rainbow Dash said in agreement.

Three Changelings tried to a surprise attack just as Luna’s back was turned. But just as she saw them, a black gauntlet swung over her head and into the Changelings. Battering them away.

Seeing that it was BlackWarGreymon’s doing, Luna smiled in gratitude. Of which the Digimon responded with a nod.

Seeing such a great number of their own already fallen, what was left of the Changeling swarm backed away from the trio. If the princesses were alone, they could take them on. But with the arrival of the Digimon, the tables had turned.

As Celestia flew to BlackWarGreymon’s right as Luna flew to his left, the two Alicorns began to charge up their magic. Their horns glowed so bright that their bodies even glowed slightly. Then BlackWarGreymon charged his attack in a form of a red sphere in-between his claws. As he raised his arms above his head, the Changings were surprised to see the small orb instantly expanding to twenty-five feet wide.

The Changeling solders began to feel dread as they heard the voice of BlackWarGreymon.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

The moment BlackWarGreymon threw his attack, both Celestia and Luna fired their attacks in a form of gold and blue beams of magic.

Interestingly, the two beams began to circle round the Terra Destroyer sphere. Then as quick as it did, the two fused into the giant orb. As the three powers combined, the magical gold and blue glow mixed in with the negative red.

The Changelings tried to flee from the red, gold and blue sphere. But the fused attack flew straight into the heart of the swarm and exploded. Defeating the Changelings and lighting up the sky in red, gold and blue.

‘Song end’

Queen Chrysalis couldn’t describe how she felt. She failed. All around her lay the unconscious bodies of her troops. All barely awake, as if they had been through a war.

The queen was then approached by one of her children. Whom barely escaped the final blast.

“Mother! That thing had completely changed the tide of battle in their favor. Almost the entire hive is out of it! There are a few groups left, but not enough to form an effective swarm!”

Before Chrysalis spoke, she took a deep breath.

“Even if we did, we wouldn’t stand to the power of that Digimon. We have no choice. Signal a full retreat.”

Obeying his queen, the solder let out a loud buzz from his wings. Giving the signal to withdraw.

With pure instinct taking over their bodies, all the Changelings took to the air and made a hasty getaway. Some were slow due to the punishment they had sustained.

As Queen Chrysalis joined in the retreat with the rest of her children, she remembered her very brief confrontation with BlackWarGreymon. And how quickly it ended bad for her.

“First the master, …and now him. Why are Digimon so strong?”

By the time the sounds of battle died down, all the Changelings had fled over the horizon. And BlackWarGreymon, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, the Mane Six, the royal guards, all of Canterlot and all of Ponyville could breathe a sigh of relief. For the battle with the Changelings was over.

Chapter 30: The Oncoming Storm

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Hidden lair, unknown location

Hours had passed since Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army were sent away on a mission. While it seemed as though by taking control of Canterlot would mean it would be easier for the dark master’s arrival, it felt like that wasn’t the case.

While the dark Digimon waited patiently in his chamber, King Sombra approached him.

“You’re still here? I thought you would prepare yourself to finally emerge from hiding,” Sombra said.

The evil being let out a chuckle in response.

“As powerful as I am, Sombra, I’m still not at full power. I’m just waiting for Chrysalis to return.”

The king of the shadows gave the Digimon a look of confusion.

“Waiting for her return? Chrysalis won’t fail you, my lord. You gave her a task to capture Canterlot and she will do it.”

“I’ll be surprised if she actually did succeed,” The being said in honesty, further confusing Sombra.

“You mean… you expect her to fail?”

“Yes Sombra. In fact, I’m counting on it.”

“Then… what was the point of it all?”

The evil Digimon gave Sombra a menacing glare. To see if the Unicorn was questioning his motives. The glare spooked Sombra before he recomposed himself.

Then the being explained himself.

“To answer your question, Sombra, the whole invasion was just a ploy to bring out that new Digimon in the open. To test to see if he truly was loyal to the ponies and their princesses. Even with the little power boost I gave to the Changelings, they would still be no match for a Digimon.”

Sombra was speechless. The being used Chrysalis and her Changelings, only to lure out the Digimon. Even though he knew they would fail.

“…Your brilliance knows no bounds,” Sombra said to complement the monster’s idea.

“Be sure not to tell them that when they get back,” The dark Digimon suggested.

Then just in time, Queen Chrysalis and her battered children entered the lair. All extremely worried of what the evil Digimon would do to them for failing.

“You’re back so soon?” The Digimon asked, acting as if his conversation with King Sombra had never happened.

Queen Chrysalis was terrified. Her voice was shaky from fear as she tried to speak.

“M…my…my master. I’m so sorry. We tried to take Canterlot but…”

The being interrupted her mid-sentence.

“Let me guess… you failed?”

After a fearful gulp, the hesitant Chrysalis spoke.

“…uhh……yes?”

What felt like the tensest moment in the queen’s life, the evil being spoke oddly casual.

“Oh well, you win some you lose some.”

The Changelings and their queen all had looks of sheer disbelief and complete confusion. King Sombra chuckled at their priceless expressions.

Unsure of what was reality, Chrysalis asked the being a question.

“Forgive me master, but… wouldn’t failure mean a painful punishment?”

“Normally, yes. Today, no. You and your subjects are still important to me, so I will let this slip by.”

Chrysalis couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Has the evil Digimon gone soft? Or was there another reason why? But any reason didn’t matter to her and her children. For they would get to keep their exoskeletons.

As the Changelings breathed out sighs of utter relief, the Digimon asked a question to the queen.

“Tell me Chrysalis, how did you fail?”

Chrysalis explained herself.

“It was by that Digimon you and Sombra forespoke of. He came and ruined everything. Me and my solders tried to fend him off, but we were no match for him. His eyes and his voice… they were so cold. He was like a savage as he fought.”

‘Savage? Then perhaps he’s not a true hero after all,’ King Sombra thought to himself.

“Is there anything else about this Digimon you like to share?” The evil beast asked.

“Yes master… I… I think I know his name.”

It was a response the evil Digimon was hoping for. Finally, he would get to know the Digimon’s identity. Both him and Sombra payed close attention to Chrysalis.

“His name?” The beast asked, almost sounding excited.

Then Chrysalis answered the question.

“Yes. I think Princess Luna called him by the name… BlackWarGreymon.”

While King Sombra was baffled at such a long name, the dark being’s eyes widened in astonishment and great fascination. The name was similar but yet different to the one he knew.

“Black…WarGreymon?” He said to himself.

“You know him, my lord?” Sombra asked, noting the being’s behaviour.

“Not exactly. Though I did fought against a Digimon named WarGreymon once. But I never knew there would be another of a different colour.”

“Are you sure he’s not the same one? But with a new name and a new lick of paint?” Sombra asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. This… BlackWarGreymon is new.”

The evil Digimon then had an idea.

“Chrysalis, did you face him in person?” He asked the Changeling queen.

“I certainly did.”

‘Yes. Yes! Perfect!!’ The Digimon thought to himself before turning to the dark stallion.

“Sombra, can you use a memory spell on Chrysalis?”

“Yes, I could. But whatever for?”

The evil Digimon grinned as he spoke.

“So that we can see who we’re up against.”

King Sombra too seemed keen on the idea. He was curious to see what other Digimon looked like. Using his magic, he scanned through the nervous Chrysalis’s mind and formed her memories into a shadowy ball, floating in the middle of the chamber.

Realising how close he was, the evil Digimon looked even closer at the misty orb of magic. At the moment, it all looked fuzzy. But as the image slowly focused itself, the dark being encouraged the Unicorn to complete the task.

“Now Sombra. Reveal to me BlackWarGreymon.”

As Sombra focused more on his spell, the image in the shadow orb became far more clearer. As the memory played to a specific point, it paused itself. Giving everyone a perfect view of Equestria’s newest defender.

“Yes! Yyeeeesss! There he is. BlackWarGreymon.”

The dark Digimon was so taken by the image, his hands even drew themselves closer to it. As if he was about to reach out and grab it.

Sombra however, wasn’t pleased.

“That’s him!? That’s the one who’s giving us trouble!? He’s barely the size of a dragon.”

“Don’t sell him short, Sombra. He’s definatly a Mega, just like me. Plus, he definatly isn’t the one I fought before. He even looks more savage than WarGreymon,” The dark Digimon said as he continued to marvel at the image.

‘Amazing. He greatly resembles WarGreymon perfectly. Seems other things had happened in the Digital World.’

“So we’ve seen him. What are we going to do about it?” Sombra asked.

“There is an old saying back in my world. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. He may resemble my foe, but his energy is much darker. I believe we could make use of him,” The evil Digimon explained.

“You plan to make him join us?” King Sombra asked.

“Yes, I do. Though his power is not on the same level as mine, he could be a great asset to our plans.”

“Easier said than done, my lord. From what I’ve seen, he’s very protective over the ponies. He even looked as though he would risk his own life for them,” Queen Chrysalis mentioned. But the evil Digimon had already thought of something around that.

“Then I believe we should create a ‘driving force’ that would put him off of that. Some kind of disaster that would drive him over the edge. And make him think that defending his pony friends would be a complete waste of his time.”

After a brief silence of thinking, King Sombra let out a chuckle. Gaining attention from the Digimon and Queen Chrysalis.

“I think I know just the disaster that would work.”
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Canterlot castle.

The night skies above Canterlot were finally calm as the fight ended quite a while ago. With the Changeling threat over, most of the citizens got to their beds by ten o’clock. Despite the number of enemies that terrorized the skies, amazingly no pony got hurt and the royal guards had just managed to last the fight before collapsing from exhaustion.

Inside the throne room of Canterlot castle, the heroes of the day, BlackWarGreymon, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, were all greeted by the Mane Six. Whom were all expressing how they felt after witnessing the thrilling climax of the fight.

“You…are…so…awesome!!” Rainbow Dash said to the Digimon, her voice almost squeaked in excitement.

She then continued.

“I mean that was the largest Changeling attack in history, and you totally kicked their butts! And when the princesses fought alongside you! That was like… twenty percent cooler than it was!”

“You don’t need to praise me. it wasn’t that big of a deal for me,” BlackWarGreymon said, slightly embarrassed from the blue mare’s words.

“Well maybe not for you, but it was certainly a big deal for us,” Rarity said before Pinkie Pie joined in.

“Yeah. I mean if you weren’t there, Canterlot would be history!”

“Speaking of which, how was Ponyville?” BlackWarGreymon asked Twilight.

“Well the town was hardly damaged at all. Those Changelings were only focused on Canterlot.”

“And when we stopped those Changelings, Twilight teleported us here,” Fluttershy added.

“Well it’s good to see none of you hurt.” BlackWarGreymon said, relieved to see his friends all well.

Then Applejack remembered something.

“Though… was it just me, or those Changelings had gotten stronger than last time?”

“It seemed so, Applejack. Even my royal guards had difficulty stopping them,” Celestia answered.

“But I don’t understand why the queen launched such a big attack,” Luna said with a hint of concern. Then Celestia reassured her.

“We may not know why, but at least we stopped her before she succeeded.”

Luna smiled along with her big sister.

“You’re right. Especially with BlackWarGreymon’s aid, and that new power of his.”

What the blue Alicorn said made the Mane Six freeze in place. Then the startled Twilight turned to BlackWarGreymon.

“What!? You unlocked another ability!?” She asked him.

“Yes. I somehow gained it while protecting Celestia and Luna. It’s called War Blaster,” The Digimon explained. Much to the amazement of his friends.

“Wow! That makes power number five to the big guy,” Rainbow Dash cheered.

Then to the confusion of the mares, the Artificial Digimon started to walk away. Towards the throne room doors.

“Hay. Where you going?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“I’m going to guard the city. Just in case any of those Changelings decide to come back,” BlackWarGreymon said before leaving the room. The girls amazed at what he said.

“Wow. He’s so protective over us,” Fluttershy said to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear.

Then the curious Twilight spoke to the royal sisters.

"So Celestia and Luna, how did it felt like fighting alongside BlackWarGreymon?”

Both the older Alicorns were confused at first. But since the two were the only ones who had done it, the question was understandable.

“Well… we felt safer around him. I was glad that he was able to join the fight,” Celestia replied.

Luna however felt slightly awkward at what she was about to say, but she was proud of it.

“I won’t lie. When we fought those Changelings by his side, it felt most exhilarating,” She said, letting out a small smile.

“And what about that final blast? How did that happen?” Twilight asked.

Both Celestia and Luna thought for a moment before answering.

“I don’t know, Twilight. But somehow our magic fused into his energy,” Celestia said.

Luna was silent. Remembering when her and her sister’s attack spells combined into BlackWarGreymon’s Terra Destroyer attack.

“Well I know one thing. The colours from the explosion looked simply divine,” Rarity mentioned, probably gaining more inspiration for her fashion line.
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Meanwhile, far away on a neighbouring mountain, King Sombra appeared. Standing tall and proud on the tip of the peak.

He smirked as he looked down at Canterlot below, knowing he would bring forth disaster.

“Hmhmhm. So… he can defend the city from Changelings. Let’s see if he could defend it from this!”

Bringing his plan in motion, Sombra fired a burst of dark magic into the night sky. It then collided into a cloud, turning it from grey to black. Finally, in control of the cloud, Sombra’s horn glowed green. Sending commands to the cloud. The magic caused the cloud to expand and swirl above the capital city.
…………………………………………………………………………………..........................................................

Far below, the Mane Six and the royal sisters had just left the throne room and stood upon one of the balconies. The view stretched for miles on end.

“It’s amazing that nopony was severely hurt during the attack,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Though it did seem that the Changelings were targeting me and my sister. The reason, I don’t know,” Luna added.

While the group tried to think of a possibility, Rainbow Dash spotted something odd.

“Uhh, your highness. Did you schedule a dark stormy night tonight?”

“No, I have not. Why?” Celestia asked the blue Pegasus. Whom showed a worried look on her face.

“Because of that,” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed her hoof at the sky above.

When the rest of the mares looked up, they too were all startled. High above Canterlot, was a giant mass of dark storm-like clouds. The clouds themselves looked strange, as if nothing about them was natural. Whistling noises could be heard, meaning stormy winds were fast approaching.

“Well that’s strange,” Applejack said as she raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

Then all of a sudden, a powerful gust came through form out of nowhere. Forcing the mares to stay low to prevent being flung around. Their manes and tails all swayed wildly as strong winds brushed against their bodies.

“More like totally bizarre!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Then joined by Rarity.

“Ohh, my mane will be ruined!”

Along with the rest of the group, the two looked out over the balcony.

It wasn’t just them. From the way it looked, all of Canterlot was being battered by the sudden storm. Leaves from plant life rustled loudly, street lights could be seen swaying slightly side to side. And any unfortunate pony whom were outside tried their best to keep their balance, but it wasn’t easy. Despite that hardly any storms were scheduled in Canterlot, the ponies did have the knowledge of what to do in such scenarios. Stay indoors, shut the windows and stay low. But because the storm was so sudden and unexpected, many citizens were still outside when it arrived.

Two Unicorn mares in the Canterlot gardens tried their best to stay close to the ground. But the winds were steadily increasing, causing the two to slide.

The two mares panicked as they tried to keep their grip on the path. But then suddenly found themselves come to a halt. Something behind them stopped the sliding. Turning their heads around, they saw BlackWarGreymon holding them in place.

“Don’t worry, I got you,” He said, ensuring the safety of the two mares. Whom were smiling in relief.

Back on the balcony, the princesses and the Mane Six were trying to come up with a plan of action.

“What do you mean I can’t fly out there!?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of frustration.

“Those winds are too strong for you, Rainbow. You’ll end up hurting yourself,” Twilight said, concerned for her friend.

“But we have to do somethin’. There could be stragglers out there.” Applejack said.

As they talked, the group became startled when BlackWarGreymon appeared on the ledge of the balcony. With the two Unicorn mares in his arms.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?” He asked the group.

Though he knew that Pegasi could control the weather, but he understood that they would never create such a dangerous storm.

“We don’t know. This storm just came out of nowhere,” Twilight answered.

BlackWarGreymon looked over his shoulder, back at the city.

“There are still ponies out there. I’ll bring them here for safety.”

Without saying another word, the Digimon placed the two mares on the balcony and flew back towards the city. The girls became impressed by another fact about him.

‘Wow. Even through a storm like this, he can still fly straight,’ Twilight thought to herself.

“He’s right. You two, take shelter in the main hall until the storm is over,” Celestia said to the two Unicorn mares.

“Thank you, princess,” The two said before bowing and following Luna to the main hall.

The rest of the group stayed ready, waiting for BlackWarGreymon to return. Which he did while bringing more stragglers along with him.
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Back at the top of the neighbouring mountain, King Sombra watched on in anger. He could see the little rescue operation happening before him.

“Damn, this is too easy for him. Time to kick things up a notch.”

He then pointed his glowing horn in the sky, causing the clouds to form into something else.
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As BlackWarGreymon completed his thirteenth run, Rainbow Dash spotted something happening in the sky.

“Look! Up there!”

The Digimon and the rest of the mares turned to see where the blue Pegasus was pointing. A mass of clouds was swirling high above. Then a funnel began to form beneath them.

“A tornado!” Fluttershy said while BlackWarGreymon spotted two more mares in the open area of the city.

“And those two are right beneath it!”

BlackWarGreymon immediately took off after them. The two mares were paralyzed in fear at the sight of the large tornado coming down on them. But moments before it scooped them up in the wind currents, BlackWarGreymon grabbed them just in time and out of harm’s way.

To prevent the tornado growing bigger, from the balcony Twilight fired a powerful burst of magic at the centre of the swirling vortex. And after a lot of effort, the tornado was dispelled.

“Wow! Well done, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash complemented, while Twilight tried to get her breath back.

To destroy such a large tornado meant that the purple Alicorn had to use a strong magic spell. One of which she wasn’t used to yet. After finally gaining her breath, she and the others were joined by BlackWarGreymon. Who had set the two mares down before they're lead inside the hall.

The black-armoured Digimon then looked back at the storm in thought.

‘They said that this storm isn’t scheduled and that outside the Everfree, only Pegasi can control the weather. But there aren’t any Pegasi around. So how is this happer…! Wait! I… I can sense something! Am energy source from somewhere else! Could that be the cause of this storm?’

His thoughts were interrupted by Rarity’s voice.

“Up there!”

Everyone looked up at the sky and to their horror, more clouds started to swirl in multiple areas. Then more funnels formed beneath them.

“More tornados!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“What can we do to stop them!?” Applejack asked in a panic.

While the mares started to worry about the amount of damage that would be caused, BlackWarGreymon turned to face the threat with a confident glare.

He knew what to do.

So, without saying a word, BlackWarGreymon leapt off the balcony and flew towards Canterlot’s tallest tower.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight shouted, being the only one who had seen him flew away.

After speeding through the sky up to a good altitude, the black Digimon landed on the very top of the tower. Standing tall as his yellow hair waved in the winds. As he looked over the city and the descending tornados, lightning crackled through the sky. Illuminating the air with blue lights.

They were about to be joined by a great red light. Because BlackWarGreymon started to form a large sphere in his hands.

“Terra Destroyer!”

He then threw the energy orb at one of the tornados, the following explosion cutting off the flow of the vortex and dispelling the tornado. He pressed on by throwing two more Terra Destroyer attacks, successfully getting rid of two more tornados.

The princesses and the Mane Six were impressed by the Digimon’s efforts. But then Twilight realised something.

“Wait! If he’s up there dealing with the tornados, then any stragglers that are still in the city are still at risk!”

“Then we must save them. It’s our duty as Alicorn Princesses,” Luna said, joined by Applejack.

“And we’ll help.”

With everypony in agreement, they left the safety of the tower and set out on their rescue mission. The mares without wings concentrated their efforts on the stragglers nearest to the castle, while the mares with wings scouted the rest of the city. But with the strong winds, flying wasn’t easy. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nearly crashed a couple of times and Twilight mostly relied on teleporting out of harm’s way.

But despite the difficulties, they had found stray groups of ponies.

“Come on everypony! We need to bring you inside!” Twilight said as she lead a small group back to the castle.

Then a faint green glow caught her vision. Looking up at the top of the tower, she could see BlackWarGreymon forming a green energy sphere in his hands.

“War Blaster!”

After the Digimon’s voice echoed through the area, he fired seven energy blasts. Each one striking at a group of tornados. Twilight was amazed at the sight.

‘So that’s War Blaster? Wow.’

As BlackWarGreymon kept on pressing his attacks, it seemed as though the tornados were all gone. However soon after, bolts of lightning began to go haywire. Striking across the sky. But then as one bolt was about to strike at a building, it suddenly changed direction and landed a hit on BlackWarGreymon!

The Digimon felt a brief jolt of pain as he was pushed back by the force of the lightning. But as if wore off, another bolt struck him from behind. He grunted in pain as he kept on being electrocuted. Thankfully he was a Mega level Digimon, otherwise he would really be in trouble.

‘Uhh! This lightning is attracted to my armour! Wait… that’s it!’

After forming an idea, BlackWarGreymon impaled his Dramon Destroyers into the roof of the tower and slid his arms free. He then immediately took his Brave Shield off and placed them on the roof of another tall tower. He then flew down, away from his armoured attire as they were continuously being struck by lightning.
………………………………………………………………………............................................................................

On the top of the mountain nearby, King Sombra couldn’t help but be impressed by BlackWarGreymon’s actions.

“He turned pieces of his armour into lightning conductors. Very cleaver, but it won’t be enough to save you.”

In desperation, the evil Unicorn fired a powerful magic beam into the Canterlot mountain. The explosion sending boulders raining down towards the city.
…………………………………………………………………………........................................................................

After rescuing another group of ponies, BlackWarGreymon heard Rainbow Dash shouting.

“AVALANCHE!!!”

Quickly turning towards the mountain that Canterlot rested upon, the Digimon too saw the oncoming rocks of various sizes. His eyes widened in horror at what would happen if he didn’t intervene.

“They’ll crush the city and everyone in it!”

BlackWarGreymon knew that he won’t be able to get all the boulders. But if Canterlot must survive with minimal damage, he would have to destroy the large boulders.

Flying at high speeds to become a streaking black blur, he targeted the nearest possible threat.

As one boulder was about to land on a lone pony, BlackWarGreymon collided straight through it. Turning the threat into countless pebbles.

As the pony fled to safety, he looked back in awe as the Digimon made short work of three more boulders. Even without his Dramon Destroyers, BlackWarGreymon could physically overpower the falling rocks. After punching a boulder into pieces, he threw a small Terra Destroyer sphere into another, completely obliterating it. The Digimon quickly followed up by kicking another boulder away.

As expected, some rocks did slip past BlackWarGreymon. But they were either too small to cause great damage, landed in unpopulated areas or simply fell past Canterlot completely.

Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle managed to destroy a stray boulder with a magical orb. She started to pant for breath from using too much of her powers.

“Huh, huh… I really need to know how BlackWarGreymon could keep this up.”

She was then startled when she heard a loud impact, quickly followed by another. Turning towards the mountain, the Alicorn gasped in horror at what she saw. A giant boulder, sixty feet tall and ninety feet wide, was tumbling down the mountain violently. Falling straight to the city below.

“Oh no! That’s too big to destroy quickly. We need a miracle.” She said, her voice showed that she almost lost hope.

Underneath the giant boulder, a lone mare struggled to get away. But even if she did, she couldn’t escape the gigantic rock. As it came closer, the pony closed her eyes with her hooves on her head. She didn’t want to see her end.

However, her end never came to get her. Had the rock miraculously stopped mid-flight? Opening her eyes, the confused mare looked up and gasped in astonishment.

BlackWarGreymon had saved her life. Before the boulder could crush her, the Digimon stood in-between the two and caught the rock. BlackWarGreymon could feel the tensed muscles in his arms and legs burn from the strain as he held the giant rock overhead. His eyes widened and his pupils became slits as he kept the rock at bay. Though secretly surprised that he could lift such a large rock at all.

“Quickly! Get out of here!!” He demanded, his voice showed the strain he was in from lifting the exceeded weight.

“I…I can’t! I’m stuck!!” The mare said, having one of her rear hooves wedged between two large stones.

Both the mare and the Digimon were in trouble. BlackWarGreymon would have to stay firm with the giant boulder as the pony tried to free herself.

But waiting for her to escape was the least of BlackWarGreymon’s problems. Because more and more large boulders began to pile on the giant one. Thereby increasing the weight limit.

With the weight of the load steadily increasing, the Digimon could feel his muscles tensing and burning up even more as he felt his body being pushed down. BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes as he tried to focus more of his strength, but his arms were lowering and his legs were bending from the ever-growing load.

It came to a point where the rock rested upon BlackWarGreymon’s shoulders, while the concrete ground he stood upon began to crack. The stranded mare became spooked when the Digimon’s feet caved in to the floor. The ground collapsing under the sheer weight.

But despite the predicament he was in, BlackWarGreymon refused to give up.

‘No…NO…NO! T-This can’t be happening! But I won’t let it end like this!! I WON’T!!! Just because things look bleak, it doesn’t mean I should give in! It means I should try harder! Because if I can’t protect the innocent lives, then who would!? My friends need me! This city needs me! No… all of Equestria needs me!! I...I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON MY FRIENDS!!!’
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From the distance, Twilight could tell that the giant boulder was being suspended off the ground. And she knew only one of her friends was capable of lifting such a load. But with more and more boulders piling on, she knew that even BlackWarGreymon couldn’t hold on forever. So, she ran towards the scene to help in any way she could.

The young princess gasped when she saw the stranded mare and BlackWarGreymon struggling to hold the load.

“Don’t worry! I’m here to he…!”

She halted her sentence and her movements altogether when to her amazement, a ball of red energy appeared in front of her out of nowhere. Floating in the air in front of her face.

As she stared at the orb, she sensed its energy. Though it was new to her, but it felt very familiar. Almost like… magic!

Then something flashed at the corner of her eye. Turning to her left, she spotted two more red orbs in the distance. Then she spotted the forth floating above her head, then finally two more on her right.

‘What’s going on!? What are these!?’

Then to her surprise, the orb of energy that was in front of her suddenly flew away from her… and towards BlackWarGreymon! What surprised her even more was when the red orb… merged into the Digimon’s body.

As she turned to the remaining five orbs of red light, one by one they flew towards BlackWarGreymon at high speeds. With his eyes tightly shut, BlackWarGreymon himself didn’t see or notice the unknown energy orbs being absorbed into his very being.

As the sixth and final orb fused into the jet-black dragon warrior, Twilight held back. Having no idea what was about to happen.

She then gasped when she saw something else new. It was quite faint, but she could definatly see it.

BlackWarGreymon’s body was emitting a faint red glow. Identical to the red energy orbs.

Despite having his eyes shut, the Mega suddenly felt a change.

“Wha…What’s this?”

Then Twilight too felt something else about BlackWarGreymon.

‘His body has stopped straining. And I… I can feel his power rising drastically! Has he… gotten stronger!?’

Twilight was about to get a major shock. Just as the Digimon’s faint red glow faded, BlackWarGreymon suddenly leapt high in the air with the entire load of boulders in his hands! Yelling as he felt his power flowing through his body.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

The sudden draft of wind from the lift blew the stones that held the mare away, freeing her in the process. All the while she and Twilight gawked at BlackWarGreymon’s sudden burst of strength.

As he got to a good height, the Digimon began to spin with dark energy surrounding him.

“BLACK TORNADO!!!”

Using his attack, he drilled straight through the giant boulders he carried. Shattering them while the black winds shredded the remains. After the attack, the motionless Digimon looked just as startled as the two mares below.

‘Ok, what just happened!!? One moment I was in trouble and the next the rocks weighed pretty much nothing!! That was no ordinary adrenaline rush! It felt as though my strength had suddenly increased to a whole new level! I never felt so strong before!’

He then calmed down from the excitement.

“Well whatever that was, or how it happened. I’m just glad it did.”

As he and everypony looked up at the sky, it seemed that the storm was ending. The tornados and the lightning stopped, the clouds all looked calm, the winds had died down and the rockslide had ended.

But just as BlackWarGreymon breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly heard cries of distress.

“HEEEELLLLP!!!”

BlackWarGreymon sharply turned his head towards the sounds before immediately taking off.
………………………………………………………………………………….........................................................

Down by the furthest edge of the city, an Earth Pony mare ran as fast as she could along the Canterlot river.

“Somepony please! Save her!!”

The reason why she was in a panic was because further down the river, her eight-year-old daughter was struggling to stay above the surface of the flowing water.

“Heeellp!”

Apparently, she fell in the river during the storm. The filly tried her hardest to swim against the flow of water. But the current was too strong. The reason, because she was heading towards the waterfall! Over the edge of the city was a massive drop, all the way down to the base of the mountain where the river continued.

If somepony were to go down the waterfall, there was a slim chance of survival.

Other ponies tried their best to follow her down to save her. But none of them were Pegasi and she was too far ahead.

Both the mother and daughter cried as it seemed there was no hope.

“NNNOOOOOO!!!”

“MUMMYYYY!!!”

Then to the horror of the onlooking ponies, the innocent little filly got swept by the strong current… and fell over the waterfall!

All the ponies stopped running in stunned silence. It was pointless to do so. All of them felt deep sadness and pain in their hearts.

But as they were about to weep in sorrow, they were startled when BlackWarGreymon flew over their heads and dived in after her!

Then the two vanished.

As seconds ticked on, everypony held their breath. Especially the mother. Then the Mane Six and the Alicorn sisters arrived and joined in the silence. Though Fluttershy did whispered a little.

“Did…did he make it?”

After a few more moments of silence, a black blur suddenly burst forth from the lip of the waterfall. Revealing to be BlackWarGreymon himself. After hovering above their heads, the tall Digimon slowly landed in front of the suspenseful crowd.

All the ponies stared at the Mega with anticipation, because it looked like he was holding something in his arms. BlackWarGreymon himself looked down at what he was holding, making the crowd even more concerned.

Then just as the suspense reached its peak, the little filly popped her head into view of the crowd. Slightly startled from her frightening experience. But seeing her well and alive was enough for the crowd to let go of their breath.

As BlackWarGreymon looked at the crowd, he saw one mare with tears in her eyes walking out of the group and slowly towards him.

Identifying her as the mother, BlackWarGreymon carefully knelt down and lowered his arms to the ground. Seeing the mother rushing towards her caused the filly to shed tears of joy as she jumped out of the Digimon’s hold.

“Darling!”

“Mummy!”

As the mother and daughter were reunited, they gave each other hugs of affection as they shed tears of happiness. As if they never wanted to be apart again. While the two continued embracing each other, the crowd of ponies were moved by the loving sight. As BlackWarGreymon stood back up, he too was touched.

He felt proud of himself for rescuing the little girl. If he hadn’t, then he would had never created such a moving loving moment.

As she continued hugging her daughter, the mother looked over the girl’s shoulder and at BlackWarGreymon. She smiled at what the saviour had done for her and her child.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for saving her!” She said as her eyes filled with tears.

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes softened as if he was smiling back. To the ponies, it seemed he was finally being recognized as their saviour and protector.
…………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................

Back at the top of the neighbouring mountain, King Sombra grunted in hatred at the failure of his plan.

“I don’t believe it! How is that possible!? That storm should have brought him to his knees, to his limits! How did it not work!?”

After more grunting, the evil Unicorn regained composure before departing.

“Very well. If you want to protect them so badly? Then here, a little parting gift,” He said as his horn glowed green.
……………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................

Back at Canterlot, the whole crowd gathered around BlackWarGreymon, praising their saviour for his heroic actions against the violent storm. At the back of the crowd, the Mane Six and the Royal Sisters couldn’t be prouder of him then they were before. The Digimon practically threw his life on the line, just to protect the city and everyone in it. In fact, if it weren’t for him, most of the city would’ve been destroyed and many lives would’ve been lost. But with his arrival, nopony got hurt and there were no fatalities.

But Twilight was puzzled on one thing. When BlackWarGreymon was on the verge of endangerment, an untold circumstance caused his strength and power to ascend even higher. She could’ve sworn that the red glowing energy orbs were magical, but she couldn’t be so sure yet.

However, the cheerful moment was shattered by someone shouting.

“Look! Over there!”

All eyes looked to where the stallion was pointing, and couldn’t believe what they saw. Falling past Canterlot was a colossal boulder. It not only looked huge, it looked as though the top of the mountain had fallen off! It was far bigger than the previous ones, about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter!

The Mane Six gasped as to know where the giant rock was falling towards to.

“That thing’s gonna crush Ponyville!!” Applejack shrieked.

As the crowd shared the frightening feeling, they were startled when BlackWarGreymon took off after it. Flying as fast as he could as to beat the rock to the bottom.

“Is he seriously going to try and stop THAT!!?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. But the idea was better than no idea at all.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Luna said as she and everyone else watched on.

As the Digimon flew beside the rock, he took a good look at it to see if there were any weaknesses.

“I can’t just simply destroy it with my powers, it will just break up into more large pieces. And it’s too late to slow it down. All I can do is deflect it from the bottom.”

As he flew to the furthest edge of the giant rock, he was shocked to see that he was already very close to Ponyville. Meaning he won’t have time to properly prepare himself.

“This is gonna hurt.”

From the ground, the citizens of Ponyville looked up in horror and panic as the largest boulder they had ever seen was practically on top of them.

But just before the colossal boulder could squash the town, BlackWarGreymon landed in the town centre, in-between the rock and his friends, with his right hand clenched into a tight fist. His body also giving off the same faint red glow as before.

Then with one mighty yell from the Artificial Mega level Digimon, he threw his right fist up and landed a solid punch on the rock’s surface.

As soon he made an impact, time suddenly felt as if it slowed down to an instant. As BlackWarGreymon smashed his fist into the rock, the impact could be heard as a loud boom. The force of the attack sent shockwaves throughout the entire body of the boulder, causing it to crack all-over from the area where it was punched. As time started to play again, the once terrifying lump of mountain fell apart. The aftershocks of the shockwave rattling the huge pieces into small stones that fell harmlessly to the ground.

Everypony who saw the scene were mentally blown away. Just one hard punch from BlackWarGreymon completely obliterated the gigantic rock into nothing!

However, the one who was most surprised of all was BlackWarGreymon himself. Who again didn’t notice the red glow before it faded away. He thought that the most amount of damage he could had done with the punch was break the boulder in half. But he totally destroyed it. As he lowered his clenched fist, he inspected it. Only to see no damage to his hand at all.

‘W…Wow. And it didn’t hurt at all. I really have grown stronger.’

He then started to make his way back to Canterlot. But before he could continue, he sensed it again. An energy source from somewhere else but still in the area.

“Hmm…?” He muttered as he turned his head to the right. Towards the tip of the mountain next to Canterlot.
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King Sombra was about to leave, thinking that his giant rock had crushed Ponyville. But a sudden boom caught him by surprise, and caused him to double check his handiwork. Only to see it fall apart by BlackWarGreymon. He was even left gawking at how his boulder was destroyed.

“How? How!? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!!? Are Digimon always this strong!?”

As he grunted, Sombra used a magnifying spell on his eyes to zoom in on BlackWarGreymon in the distance.

“This confirms it. You are the enemy. Prepare yourself, for you had just sealed your fate.”

But just before he could make his evil laugh, something about the Digimon had put him off. As the evil Unicorn zoomed in his magically enhanced vision onto the Digimon’s head, he received a brief scare.

He could not only see that BlackWarGreymon’s head was tilted more in his direction, but the Digimon’s piercing yellow predator eyes and slit-like pupils… were staring directly at King Sombra! Giving him a look that said, ‘I found you’.

“What! He…can see me!? But I’m so far away!! It’s not possible!! Unless he can sense me, that is. Well then, I better get out of here.”

With nothing left to do against the Digimon, King Sombra teleported away. Though BlackWarGreymon couldn't see who it was, but he saw a brief flash of light from the teleportation spell.

His eyes narrowed into a glare of hatred.

“There you are.”

Chapter 31: BlackWarGreymon’s Ascension

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Hidden lair, unknown location

King Sombra was sure. He was so certain of his idea, he didn’t foresee any miscalculations. He planned to create a dangerous storm to put pressure on BlackWarGreymon. Making him so concerned for the safety of his pony friends that he would make a dreadful mistake. Make him think that protecting the innocent would not be worth for all the trouble.

But what he underestimated, was BlackWarGreymon’s newfound loyalty to the ponies. The king didn’t know him in the way the Mane Six and the Royal Sisters did. Upon realising that the bond between the good and the Digital Monster couldn’t be shattered by his storm, Sombra retreated.

Back in the evil hideout with Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army, their dark master was not pleased.

“I trusted you, Sombra. You said you could do it, and I put my faith on it. And you failed me! So tell me, how is it that an experienced sorcerer like you, failed to perform one simple task?”

Though King Sombra tried to hide it, and once denied it, but even he was terrified of the evil Digimon. Especially when he gets angry.

“I’m sorry, my lord. I tried my best to create such a dreadful storm. But BlackWarGreymon… is unpredictable.”

Before he carried out his plan to create the storm, King Sombra believed that BlackWarGreymon was a weakling. But after seeing him bested his storm and, despite being so far away, giving him a fierce hate-filled glare of his yellow eyes, the Unicorn learned not to underestimate him.

But what the evil Digimon said next made Sombra on edge.

“Maybe it’s your motives we should be examining.”

“Wha… what do you mean!? I am loyal only to you, my lord. At least my storm had weakened BlackWarGreymon.”

But the Digimon didn’t agree to Sombra’s last statement.

“So, you hadn’t felt it then.”

“What do you mean? Felt what?” The confused Shadow King asked. With the dark being answered back to him.

“BlackWarGreymon’s surge of power. I felt it even from here. You said your storm had weakened him. But it was the exact opposite! All your storm had done was made him stronger!”

Sombra gawked at what he just heard. It even made him panic.

“It… IT DID!!? Uhh… I’m dreadfully sorry, my lord!! But rest assured, I will not fail you again!” He said as he bowed.

The dark being glared his frightening yellow eyes towards Sombra before speaking. His sinister smile hidden in the shadows as he planned to threaten the Lord of the Shadows as punishment.

“You better not, Sombra. Let’s not forget that it was I who gave you life.”

To Sombra’s confusion, the evil Digimon raised his huge open hand towards him. As it slowly grew closer, the Digimon’s index claw-like finger emitted a green glow. As it did, King Sombra suddenly felt as if his whole body was being pinched and crushed all at the same time. He felt like his insides were being both burned and caved in. As if his entire body just gave up on him. He even lost all feeling in his legs as he collapsed onto the floor, trying desperately to breathe. But he could feel his lungs practically failing!

Chrysalis and the Changelings watched on in horror as the Digimon’s glowing finger drew closer to the Unicorn, magnifying the pain of Sombra’s failing body.

He then continued to speak, almost like a growl.

“And I can take it away just as easy.”

As Sombra felt his body dying, the being asked him a question.

“Is that what you want? Is it?”

With the last of the air he had, the fearful Sombra gave his answer.

“N…n…no.”

As he almost lost consciousness, King Sombra no longer felt any pain. It just stopped. He quickly took deep breaths to get more oxygen in his system. His master’s finger had stopped glowing as he retracted his hand.

“Good boy.”

He then turned his back to the dark Unicorn as he continued.

“Now go pack your things. You’re going to the Crystal Empire.”

After he got his breath back, King Sombra rose back on his hooves as he gave is master a questionable look.

“For what reason, my lord?” He asked, feeling that it was too soon to start invading.

Then the evil Digimon explained.

“Digimon have far greater senses than ponies do, Sombra. It’s possible that during your little storm, BlackWarGreymon had sensed your presence. Undoubtedly he will inform his pony friends of your dark magic and they may suspect your existence. I reckon they will head off to the Crystal Empire to confirm it.”

Sombra understood what his master was saying.

“Ahh, I see. And you want me there to… say hello?”

“Precisely. But you may need some assistance.”

“Assistance?” King Sombra asked.

Then to the surprise of the Unicorn and the Changelings, the dark Digimon tapped his finger on a wall of the lair, creating a portal to another location.

“Master, is that…?” Chrysalis asked, feeling of what was on the other side of the portal.

“Yes. Tartarus.”

The dark being then told Sombra of the task at hand.

“Sombra. Deep within the vaults of Tartarus, are the dark spells that Princess Celestia had sealed away. For fear of the great damage they could do if they fell in the wrong hands. I want you to go to the volts and retrieve a spell that could help you.”

Sombra felt excited. He could get to use evil magic that even he may not know about. And there was more than one.

“So, which spell can I use?” He asked.

“I don’t care which one you use. It’s no matter. As long as it gets the job done.” The master responded.

The dark Unicorn felt like a kid in a candy shop. He could get to use any spell he wanted. After showing an insane grin, King Sombra changed into his shadow form and flew into the portal.
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Canterlot

With the threats of the storm and the rockslide long over, the citizens of Equestria’s capital finally settled down and left for their homes. If it hadn’t been for BlackWarGreymon’s timely rescue, the destruction would had been catastrophic, and many innocent lives would had been lost. All would sleep peacefully, knowing that they were under protection of their black-armoured saviour. Whom they were thankful for.

The only ones who remained near Canterlot’s edge were the Mane Six and the Alicorn Sisters. All waiting for BlackWarGreymon’s return from Ponyville.

All of them were shocked to the core when they saw the Digimon shattering a town-sized bolder with a single punch. As the environment around them calmed down, all of them questioned on how in Equestria it was possible for BlackWarGreymon to do something… so unreal.

All…except Princess Twilight Sparkle. Whom told them what she saw back during the storm. Something that may had triggered BlackWarGreymon’s burst of strength.

Their reactions were of great confusion.

“Woah, woah, Twilight. Could you repeat that one more time?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes Twilight, what… happened with BlackWarGreymon?” Celestia joined. Leaving Twilight to explain.

“I… I don’t exactly know myself. Or how it worked. Or how it even happened! It was so strange. Before I could help BlackWarGreymon lift that giant bolder, a red energy orb just appeared in front of me out of nowhere. And then several more appeared all around me. And then… somehow… they all fused into BlackWarGreymon’s body! I think that’s how he’s gotten stronger in an instant, because he then lifted that bolder up with total ease.”

“Amazing. Suppose you think that he’s gained a new ability?” Luna asked.

“I’m not very sure, Luna. Those energy orbs didn’t felt like they belonged to him. Call me crazy but, they felt more like magic,” Twilight answered, wondering if it was indeed so.

“Well, you did say that the magic of Equestria is making him stronger. Maybe it has something to do with that?” Rarity said.

“Well one thing is for sure. We’ll find out when he gets back,” Celestia said to the group. She too was curious on what was going on with BlackWarGreymon.

As luck would have it, BlackWarGreymon himself showed up just in time. Having flown all the way from Ponyville, he landed beside the smiling faces of his friends.

“I’m back. Ponyville is safe now,” He said, acknowledging his presence.

But as he looked at them, the mares were silent as they gave him warm loving smiles.

“What is it?” He asked, confused at their silence.

Even though the Mane Six and the Royal Sisters wanted to bring up the subject of the Digimon’s recent power boost, but just simply looking at him reminded them about how many lives BlackWarGreymon had saved. And when the threat was over, the being whom was created to destroy, had brought happiness to the citizens of Equestria.

Celestia was right to call him their saviour.

Then Twilight broke the silence.

“That was a very brave thing you did back there. Really it was.”

Her voice was as soft and warm as her eyes.

Then Rarity joined in.

“Even if it meant hurting yourself, you were so determined to keep us safe.”

“Ah bet ya can even move a mountain just to save us,” Applejack added, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy expressed their feelings by running up to hug the Digimon’s legs.

BlackWarGreymon felt a little stunned at how thankful his friends were. It may had been some of the nicest things they had ever said to him.

With his clawed gauntlets and his black shield still on the rooftops, BlackWarGreymon didn’t felt cumbersome as he knelt down to get closer to his friends.

“Of course, and I’ll keep on doing it. I’ll do anything to protect my friends.”

The mares’ eyes widened in delight. His words felt pure and true. They felt appreciated that he called them his friends. Something that was quite obvious from the moment they meet.

Then it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to speak. Though it was more like a praise.

“Dude…you…are…so…AWESOME!!! I mean, couldn’t you be any more awesome than you are now!? You were like…twenty percent cooler then you were half an hour ago! I mean, you totally kicked that storm’s butt! And to end it… you shattered the biggest bolder ever into pieces…WITH JUST A SINGLE PUNCH!!! I didn’t even know you were THAT strong! How did you even do that!?”

Without even knowing, the blue Pegasus had brought up the subject the other girls wanted to know. Then Twilight reinforced the question.

“Yeah, BlackWarGreymon. What happened back there?”

After getting over the embarrassment he felt from Rainbow Dash’s words, BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think the question over. But all he came across was confusion.

“I…I have no idea, Twilight. It never happened to me before. One moment I was fine, then the next I was like… nearly ten times stronger. I didn’t even know how it happened.”

“You mean you didn’t see the red energy orbs?” Luna asked, which caused the Digimon’s eyes to be widened as he looked at her in confusion.

“What red energy orbs?”

Then Fluttershy spoke up.

“Well… Twilight said she saw some orbs of light appearing out of nowhere, and that they all merged with your body.”

The shocked Digimon then turned to the purple Alicorn.

“W-What!? When did this happen, Twilight!?”

“It was when you held that giant bolder over your head. One moment you were struggling, then after those orbs merged into you, you suddenly had the strength to lift the bolder high off the ground. I think that’s where you got your sudden energy boost from.”

Then BlackWarGreymon was hit with realisation.

“Well…now that you mention it. While I was holding that bolder, I did felt something. It was like a sudden surge of energy flowing through my body. I must have had my eyes shut because I was too focused on saving that pony to notice these… energy orbs.”

As the group talked to each other, Princess Celestia was the only one who remained silent. Ever since she and the others discovered that the magic of their world was making BlackWarGreymon stronger, she became curious. But hearing about the mysterious energy orbs that enhanced his strength even further was the deciding factor. The Sun Princess really wanted to see what the Digimon was capable of. By putting him through a test she hadn’t used in a very long time.

But first, she wanted to see how she fairs against a powerful being like BlackWarGreymon.

“Everypony, stand out of the way.”

The Mane Six and Princess Luna looked over to Celestia in confusion. Her voice was stern and her expression was blank. Nevertheless, the ponies did what she said.

With the others out of the way, Celestia had a good view of BlackWarGreymon. Whom was twenty feet away from her.

“What’s wrong?” The Digimon asked, unsure why Celestia was acting so serious all the sudden.

But the White Alicorn answered his question with another question.

“BlackWarGreymon. How much do you trust me?”

The Mega was taken back slightly. There had to be a reason she was acting serious and a tad bit harsh. After regaining his composure, he answered.

“After everything we’ve been through since I got here, I trust you greatly. You are my friend after all.”

Then to BlackWarGreymon’s relief, Celestia smiled warmly at hearing his words. Twilight, Luna and the others also felt relieved.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from you. Because I want you to stay perfectly still for me.”

Again, BlackWarGreymon was confused at her choice of words.

“Come again? What do you mean ‘stay perfectly still’?”

Celestia answered his questions not by speaking, but by showing. After closing her eyes, her long horn glowed gold as she focused her magic into it. Her closed eyes clenched more as she summoned a powerful spell, solar energy flowing through her body.

Then to everyone’s confusion, a bright golden orb formed at the tip of Celestia’s horn. It grew bigger as she focused more of her energy.

“Celestia? Why are you summoning an attack spell!?” Twilight asked. Worried of what her mentor had in mind. Luna too felt conflicted at what was going on.

It indeed was an attack spell. But by continuously charging her magic, she wanted her spell to be the strongest possible. Even though it was still night-time. In the day, the sun would’ve given Celestia added power.

BlackWarGreymon knew the white Alicorn was about to launch an attack at him. But he didn’t know why. Or why he had to stay still. Or what did trust had to do with it.

But after a brief second, he figured out why. Celestia only wanted to test out his strength. Since a lot of recent things had happened that involved him.

As to not disappoint the white princess, the black Digimon raised his arms open to his sides. Making himself an easier target to hit.

“I know what you’re planning, Celestia. So I’ll do as you wish,” He said, causing the rest of the group to look at him in confusion.

To them, it seemed BlackWarGreymon was the only one who figured Celestia out.

Celestia herself smiled when she heard him. With the spell complete, she raised her head back. Preparing to fire.

“Sister! Just what are you doi…”

Luna’s voice was cut off when Celestia threw her head back down, firing a massive golden beam at BlackWarGreymon. With her magic derived from the sun itself, it was said that Celestia’s attacks were as hot as the sun’s surface. With heat intensity that matched her possible anger.

Despite all her years as her student, Twilight had never seen Celestia’s attack so large.

The Mane Six and Luna watched on in worry as the golden beam of solar energy collided into the awaiting BlackWarGreymon, exploding on impact. The explosion looked like a miniature sun as the ground shook for a brief moment.

As the explosion faded into nothing, all what’s left was a massive dust cloud. Along with the rest, even Celestia looked worried at the absent sounds of the Digimon. She even thought that she had over-done it.

But to their amazement in a collection of relieved gasps, when the dust faded, BlackWarGreymon was revealed. Standing in the exact same spot, completely unharmed while the smoke seeped from where he had been hit.

“I’m impressed, Celestia. That attack sure packed a punch,” He said, admitting that he had felt the power of the attack.

After collecting her thoughts, Celestia spoke up. Though slightly surprised that the armoured Digimon withstood her full power.

“It seems you have gotten stronger. Now to see what you’re capable of, I’m going to put you through a test.”

While the Digimon expected that the test had to involve combat, Luna and the Mane Six looked at the white Alicorn in confusion.

“What kind of test?” Twilight asked.

Instead of answering the question, Celestia turned around and was about to head back to the castle.

“All of you, follow me.”

Unsure of what Celestia had in mind, BlackWarGreymon, Luna and the Mane Six followed her towards the castle.

On the way to the palace, BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“Celestia, where are you taking us?”

After a brief moment of silent thinking, Celestia responded.

“I’m taking you to the old Canterlot training chamber.”

Luna’s eyes widened as she recognized the name.

“Oh yes. I’ve forgotten all about that.”

“Of course. I last used it over a thousand years ago,” Celestia added, mentioning that it was at the time before Luna became Nightmare Moon.

“Uhh…Celestia? What exactly is the Canterlot training chamber?” Twilight asked. She had been living in Canterlot most of her life, but she had never heard of the chamber.

Turning around to look at her former student, Celestia explained herself.

“The Canterlot training chamber is where I train the strongest of my royal guards. I put them through ten levels of my test, to see if they could over-come them. But nopony had ever succeeded in passing level nine. Eventually it became too dangerous, so one day I decided to abandon the test and stuck back to the traditional training.”

“Forgive me for intruding, Princess. But what do you mean by…dangerous?” Rarity asked. The others also seemed keen on the reason.

“The test pits one against copies of the most dangerous creatures throughout Equestria. Or duplicates if you will. But the duplicates of the creatures are just as vicious as the creatures in real life. And the danger anypony would go through would be very real. I thought by coming up with it would toughen up the guards. But it later became too risky, so I stopped it altogether,” Celestia explained.

BlackWarGreymon remained silent as he listened. To him, the test sounded exciting. The instincts of a warrior flowing back to him.

“And you chose me because you think I can hold out,” He said.

“In fact, I’m certain that you would not only hold out, BlackWarGreymon. You could be the first to pass it,” Celestia said, glad to see that the Digimon had taken interest.

Before the group entered the castle, BlackWarGreymon quickly recovered his Dramon Destroyer gauntlets and his Brave Shield.

As the group trekked deeper into Canterlot castle, going through passage ways where hardly anypony had ventured, they came across a large metal door with a magical seal on it. Being the only one who could break it, Celestia used her magic to break the seal.

However to everyone’s shock, mostly Celestia’s, when she opened the door, they found the familiar Draconequus sweeping the stone floor.

“Winter Wrap up, Winter Wrap…”

His singing was interrupted when he saw BlackWarGreymon, the Royal sisters and the Mane Six.

“Ohh! Hello there, everypony,” He said while waving.

Everyone just stared at him in confusion.

“Discord! How did you break through my seal!?” Celestia snapped.

Discord took offence to her outburst, but then smirked at her.

“Well it was rather easy really. I went through that quicker than you going through cakes.”

Celestia blushed in embarrassment when Discord mentioned her favourite food. Then Twilight spoke up.

“Ok. But what are you doing here?”

“Alright, alright. Don’t get your horn in a twist,” Discord said to calm her down. He then explained himself.

“You see. I was on my way here to see my dear friend Fluttershy. But then I overheard Celestia talking about some kind of ‘dangerous test’ for BlackWarGreymon here. So I decided to tag along, because I HAD to see this test for myself.”

As he finished, the Spirit of Chaos crossed his arms in victory while looking smug.

“Umm…princess. Is it alright for him to watch the test with us?" Fluttershy asked Celestia.

After some quick thought, Celestia gave her answer.

“I don’t see why not. So yes, he can join us,” She said with a smile.

“As long as he doesn’t cheat,” Applejack said, hinting about Discord’s powers of mischief.

“What! I never!” Discord retorted back.

As the group settled down, Celestia lit up her horn, and all the lights in the chamber lit up. Illuminating the once pitch-black chamber. All eyes stared in amazement, the chamber was gigantic! Big enough to keep a fully-grown hydra as a pet. While the whole room was completely circular, it had only one view port. It was where Celestia stood to witness the test while staying out of harm’s way. The view port itself was built into the wall high above the ground, giving a good view of above and below.

“Wow, Celestia. If you ever want to hire an interior decorator, I may know a guy,” Discord said, he too was in awe at the size of the room.

As he looked around his new surroundings, BlackWarGreymon had one thought crossed his mind.

‘Well, this is going to be fun.’
………………………………………………………………………………………...........................................................................

After remembering the procedure of her test, Celestia had BlackWarGreymon standing in the middle of the massive chamber. While she, Luna, Discord and the Mane Six all stood inside the view port.

“Celestia. Can you explain exactly what’s about to happen?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

High above him in the view port, Celestia explained how the test worked.

“Very well. You see those diamonds all over the ceiling?”

She then pointed her hoof towards the ceiling, showing the Digimon the countless diamond objects imbedded in the concrete.

“They are self-magically charged. When I give the command, it is those diamonds that create the duplicates. All you have to do is destroy the duplicates.”

“Ok, I got it,” The Digimon said, understanding how the system works.

Then Celestia turned her attention to the Draconequus.

“Good thing you’re here, Discord. Because I would like you to put reinforcement spells on the diamonds,” Celestia said. Believing by making the duplicates stronger, they could at least survive a single punch from BlackWarGreymon.

“Oh…very well,” Discord said as if he wasn’t bothered.

By putting a spell on the magical gems, the diamonds gave off an impressive glow. Lighting up the ceiling like glittering stars in the night sky.

“Ooohh! How fabulous!” Rarity said, liking the light show.

‘Background music’ ‘Shot in the Dark by Within Temptation’

“Ok, now we begin. Because of BlackWarGreymon’s strength, I’m going to combine levels one, two and three into one,” Celestia declared as her horn began to glow. After sending commands to the diamonds above, the magic filled gems summoned golden replicates of a manticore, a chimera and the Bugbear.

Not seeing the chimera before, BlackWarGreymon saw that the fake creature had three heads. One of a goat, one of a saber-toothed tiger and instead of a tail, it as a snake’s head.

The chimera charged first, and prepared to pounce on BlackWarGreymon head on. But as it leapt towards him, the Digimon caught it by the scruff of its tiger’s neck and threw it over-head behind him. When the chimera crashed into the wall, its body shattered into nothing.

As the Bugbear replica charged forth, BlackWarGreymon threw his right arm out. The fake beast was sliced in half by the Chrome Digizoid claws before disappearing from sight. Finally, when the manticore charged, BlackWarGreymon karate-chopped its head, sending it to the ground. He then finished it off with a quick stomp to the head.

‘This is like fighting Artificial Digimon,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself.

The spectators were in awe at the sight. Celestia was surprised how quickly BlackWarGreymon passed three stages at once. It’s as if Discord’s reinforcement spell hardly made any difference.

“Well done, BlackWarGreymon. Now to combine level four with level five,” Celestia said before giving another command to the magical diamonds.

Suddenly, all around the Digimon, a large group of teenage dragons and a small swarm of Changeling solders were summoned. All retained their golden appearance just like the three beasts before.

Ass all the fake monsters flew above BlackWarGreymon’s head, the Digimon gave out a small chuckle.

“Sorry Celestia, but this is too easy. Black Tornado!”

BlackWarGreymon immediately spun around with his arms pointing upwards while flying towards the horde of beasts. A vortex of black energy instantly formed around him as he got in close. The Changeling and dragon replicas tried to avoid the tornado, but most of them were caught among the currents. Their bodies popping like bubbles as the winds sliced through them.

After taking out two thirds of his opponents, BlackWarGreymon disengaged his attack, flew towards one of the fake dragons and slammed his left foot into it. The attack forces the dragon back into three more dragons, then all four of them shattered from the impact. After flying back up, one by one BlackWarGreymon slashed any duplicate that was in his way. He then performed his Dragon Crusher attack, the energy wave slowing down the approaching fake dragons, then a wave of intense fire vaporized them.

BlackWarGreymon then finished off the remaining bunch by throwing a Terra Destroyer sphere into the group, then firing several shots of his War Blaster at the others. The attacks made the duplicates disappear from existence.

Seeing how easily BlackWarGreymon made it through half-way her test, Celestia decided to again combine two stages into one.

After the Artificial Mega landed back on the ground, he turned to see his next opponents. Consisting of only four. By combining level six and seven together, the enemy replicas were three full grown dragons, and behind them was a wild version of an Ursa Minor. A young gigantic bear with stars on its forehead.

Twilight and her friends began to understand why Celestia abandoned the test. By involving replicas of huge deadly creatures, it was obvious.

The four huge beasts roared as they charged at their powerful foe, but BlackWarGreymon remained calm and still. When the first dragon replica tried to take the first bite, the Digimon reached out and grabbed the beast’s mouth and, to the amazement of his friends, tossed the giant dragon over his shoulder like a rag doll.

He then leapt forward and spun around as he got close to the second dragon. After timing his actions, the Digimon swung out his leg and slammed the back of his left heel into the dragon’s face. The force of the blow broke the dragon’s jaw and sent it flying into the wall. But enough damage was done, because the body of the fake dragon fell apart soon after.

“Mega Destroyer!” BlackWarGreymon said as he flew towards the third dragon, whom was airborne. The Digimon’s body ignited into mists of dark energy.

Before the dragon replica could react fast enough, BlackWarGreymon collided head-first into the belly of the beast. Both the energy and the physical attack destroyed the third dragon.

He then flew down towards the angry Ursa Minor, whom threw its left paw out to smack the Digimon. But the armoured being was too quick for the duplicate. First he ducked beneath the bear-like claws and impaled his right gauntlet with enough force to send his entire arm into the golden body.

Imitating as a real-life creature, the fake Ursa Minor roared out in anguish as its body disintegrated from the major internal damage.

The unstoppable BlackWarGreymon then turned to face the first dragon, who recovered from being thrown earlier. To start with, both the dragon and the Digimon charged at each other at the same time. But as they got in close, the flying Artificial Mega looked as though he just disappeared from sight. Moving extremely fast, he moved behind the golden dragon and grabbed the back of the fierce reptile’s head. Then with a forceful yank, he twisted the giant head in a way to snap the neck. The actions ended the duplicate dragon.

Again, Discord, the Royal sisters and the Mane Six were stunned at how easily BlackWarGreymon was progressing. It was as if he wasn’t even trying! Just shows how powerful he was compared to her guards. Seeing that combining stages had brought out the fighting spirit in her friend, Celestia again combined two levels into one. By including level nine, they were at the stage where so few had reached, but none had passed.

Level nine was dangerous enough, but with the addition of level eight, it would be even more dangerous. Probably fatal to an ordinary pony.

After landing and turning around, BlackWarGreymon saw three more beasts summoned into the fray.

The three golden duplicates were the giants of Equestria. An elder dragon hovered in the sky while bellowing its roar. A full grown saber-toothed Ursa Major and in front of it, an adult hydra, all roared out the moment they appeared.

The spectators couldn’t wait to see how their digital friend would face the giant three.

After silently staring at them, BlackWarGreymon leapt through the air at high speeds towards his first target. As he flew in-between the hydra’s four necks, his Digizoid claws sliced through one of them. Causing the head and the whole neck to burst apart.

As BlackWarGreymon left the recently three-headed hydra, he quickly flew behind the Ursa Major and performed his Black Tornado attack into its back. And like a drill, continued onwards. The giant bear-like replica roared in defiance as the spinning Digimon went straight through it and then burst out of its chest. He then immediately flew up to the unsuspecting dragon and slashed his right arm upwards.

To the amazement of the ponies and the Draconequus, a bright vertical line was briefly seen on the dragon’s body. As the dragon stayed motionless, one half of its body started to slide away from the other. With major damage done to their bodies, both the Ursa Major and the elder dragon disintegrated.

After flying high above the hydra’s three remaining heads, BlackWarGreymon quickly created a mighty fifty-foot-wide energy orb as he raised his arms above his head.

“Terra Destroyer!”

He then threw the giant red sphere directly at the hydra’s center, the collision and the blast eradicated the fake reptile in a near blinding light.

Though Celestia wasn’t entirely surprised, but she couldn’t help but be stunned. BlackWarGreymon had beaten the level that was near impossible for ponies in record-breaking time. He may be far younger then the Alicorn, but he fights like a true veteran.

“This is perfect. I always wanted to see what level ten was like.”

Celestia’s horn began to glow bright as she sent a new command to the magical diamonds.

“Now I’ll get to see what THIS creature looks like outside of my mind.”

All eyes looked at the white Alicorn in confusion.

“What creature is it exactly?” Twilight asked.

Celestia explained.

“An imaginary monster I came up with. It was my very first nightmare. It haunted my dreams when I was just a filly. The dream doesn’t bother me anymore because it doesn’t exist.”

Having been a filly at the time of the dream of the so called ‘monster’, it was a time before Luna was born. The reason why she had never heard of the nightmare.

“What is this creature called?” The confused Luna asked.

As golden light descended upon the ground, Celestia spoke of the name of her first nightmare.

“The Ursa Hydragon.”

On the ground below, BlackWarGreymon stared in fascination at the swirling cloud of golden magical energy. Soon merging together to create the embodiment of Celestia’s monster.

It was lucky that the room it was in was so huge, the fake monster measured nearly one hundred and forty feet tall! But if it reared up on its hind legs instead on all fours, it would’ve been two hundred feet tall! Its gigantic body looked almost identical to a Ursa Major, the same with its saber-toothed head. But it was the central head, because attached to its shoulders were a pair of long necks with heads of a hydra. On the back of the beast, were huge wings of a dragon. Also like a dragon, it had a long spiky tail and long razor-sharp claws on its bear paws.

BlackWarGreymon, Discord, the Royal sisters and the Mane Six all stared in awe at the fake hybrid monster. The fusion of an Ursa Major, a hydra and a dragon.

THE URSA HYDRAGON!!!

The moment its body gained physical form, the three-headed monstrosity bellowed its mighty roar.

“That is so cool!!” Rainbow Dash said as Fluttershy hid behind her. But with the others, she was watching the fight.

The monster made BlackWarGreymon look puny. But despite the creature’s fearsome appearance, its gigantic size and its frightening roar, the Digimon remained firm. Despite the obvious size difference, he was completely unafraid.

Plus, realising that it was the last stage of the test, he wanted to finish off with a ‘big bang’.

After taking in a deep breath, BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes and placed his hands close together. Concentrating the negative energy within him and the surrounding area to form a small Terra Destroyer sphere. As he focused more, the orb slowly grew in size.

The onlooking group were confused. They knew that the Digimon could create his signature attack much quicker and much bigger then what he was doing. Why was he doing it slowly?

Wanting to see what he was up to, Celestia commanded the Ursa Hydragon to stay put.

But she and her friends only became more confused. Because as the energy sphere reached six feet in diameter, BlackWarGreymon raised his arms above his head. With more room to grow as it was above the Digimon’s head, the red glowing orb quickly grew to ten feet, then to fifteen feet. As it grew in size, the Mega slowly moved his arms apart, causing the ball of energy to become twenty-five feet wide.

While still holding his attack, BlackWarGreymon began to levitate high off the ground. His actions caused the Terra Destroyer orb to expand much quicker. To the surprise of the group, it exceeded the fifty feet mark. But as the sphere reached just over sixty feet wide, its growth slowed to a near halt. His closed eyes could be seen squinting, trying to build up even more energy into his attack.

The group realised something wasn’t right. BlackWarGreymon had just formed the biggest attack he had ever done. But why hadn’t he thrown it yet? Why was he trying too hard?

‘What is he doing? Why is he holding back?’ The concerned Luna thought to herself. The others felt the same way.

While Discord was slightly calm, the mares began to feel worried. Concerned as to why their digital friend was delaying his attack.

But before they could do something, to their complete utter surprise, a ball of red energy suddenly formed in front of them. Twilight gasped when she saw it. It looked just the same as the ones before.

“Hay! It’s these orbs of light again!”

The whole group looked at the floating red ball in amazement and fascination. But then just as quickly it came to existence, it shot away from them and towards BlackWarGreymon. But unlike the first time, where it were only a few of the orbs, something new happened. All around them, throughout the entire training chamber, countless more of the orbs simultaneously formed out of thin air. Then one by one, they all flew through the air to merge with BlackWarGreymon.

“What’s going on!?” Fluttershy cried out. But everyone else stared silently at the spectacle.

Even Celestia, Luna and Discord were speechless. Throughout their long lives even they had never seen anything like it.

All of them were quiet, listening to the energetic whistling noises as more orbs formed randomly. All they knew was that all the energy orbs were being gathered, and then all converged to the Mega.

The group all stared at BlackWarGreymon in anticipation of what was about to happen. Seeing countless streams of energy all merging with his body. It looked as though he was… charging up for something. Twilight also had a weird feeling. If her friend became incredibly strong from absorbing just six orbs, just what would happen to him if he absorbed hundreds!?

Within seconds, the impressive light show ended. As the last of the energy orbs fused into his body, BlackWarGreymon hunched over slightly from feeling so much excess energy entering his very being. And to top it off, multiplying his already massive power level. Then as he quickly threw his body straight, he released a very loud yell. And as he did, all the energy within him exploded from his body in a blinding red light! Through the worried group had to shield their eyes from the light, they just saw what happened.

Due to the sudden energy rise, the Terra Destroyer sphere that BlackWarGreymon held doubled in size! Measuring up to a staggering one hundred and twenty feet wide! Also the appearance of the sphere had changed. Whereas before it was negative red, it took on a more fiery look. As if one would look into a lava filled volcano! Even the way it shined looked as though it became the sun itself!

The blinding light from BlackWarGreymon’s form kept his friends from looking at him. They were scared. But not from fright, but from a fact that what was happening had never happened before. It was all new!

Although they couldn’t see him, they could definatly hear him.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!!!!!!

But his screams were not of pain and agony, it was purely from the amount of power that was flowing through his body.

As the light dimmed enough to see, the mares and the Draconequus finally got the chance to see what happened to their friend from the Digital World. And they couldn’t believe what they saw.

Whereas before, Twilight saw a very faint red glow around BlackWarGreymon. But in front of her was the same coloured glow, but it engulfed around the Digimon in a form of a powerful aura. Waves of energy flew upwards as BlackWarGreymon’s new power was surging through and out his body. The unknown energy even caused his yellow hair to wave upwards. What was startling to those whom were watching was that his eyes were wide open. But his entire eye sockets were replaced by blinding light. Much like the times when he unlocked Dragon Crusher and War Blaster, except much brighter.

Then a brief shiver went through the whole group. But since Rarity, Twilight, Luna, Celestia and Discord were magic users, they were the only ones to sense the Digimon’s energy. They were shocked beyond belief at what they sensed. BlackWarGreymon’s power was rising in magnitudes!

As he continued to yell from what felt like the biggest adrenalin rush he ever had, BlackWarGreymon too could feel it. His power rising beyond even his comprehension. And all that power had super charged his Terra Destroyer attack. After he finally stopped screaming, the super Digimon glared down at the Ursa Hydragon. The one who was about to feel the power of his new form.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

With a mighty one-armed throw, BlackWarGreymon sent the colossal Terra Destroyer sphere directly at the Ursa Hydragon. The fake giant reared on its hind legs in an attempt to catch the energy orb almost half its size. But the searing heat of the attack melted straight through its clawed paws, and then pressed into the chest of the beast.

The beast tried to hold firm as the super Terra Destroyer attack continued deeper into its body. But the fake monster could only cry out in anger, pain and defiance.

As the sphere prepared to detonate, a blinding light could be seen shinning out of the gaping hole, the beast’s eyes and its maw. Then within very short moments, the super Terra Destroyer orb exploded within the Ursa Hydragon. The power of the explosion was so strong, that it not only obliterated the fake monster into nothing, the blast wave itself almost reached the viewport!

Seeing how close they were to the explosion, the surprised Celestia immediately put up a magical forcefield in front of the viewport, protecting her friends. Luna, Twilight and Discord reinforced the barrier by adding some of their own magic into it. But as the blast wave hit, the entire viewport was shaken as if it was going through an earthquake. But to their fright, the force of the blast had even caused their barrier to crack! Scorching light seeped through the cracks, causing burns on the ground wherever they touched.

Although trying their hardest to stand up straight, the group backed away from the barrier. In case if it shattered. The spell casters were feeling heavy strains from trying to hold the barrier together.

Luckily, the barrier held up enough for the light to die down and the violent earth shaking to stop. Even the force of the blast had suddenly died down.

Feeling that the unexpected danger was over, the three princesses and Discord dropped their barrier spell and went to the edge of the viewport to see what had truly happened.

All they saw was a slowly diming light near the ground. They knew that was where the Ursa Hydragon once stood. The powerful attack had left literally nothing of it! All what was there was a massive burning crater, and the left-over energy from the explosion. Slowly fading out of existence.

The stone floors were cracked and scorched all over, mostly where the golden beast was. The same could be said for the walls. Even the magical diamonds that were imbedded to the ceiling were all cracked and broken. Their shattered appearances prevented them from creating any more duplicates ever again.

But the group didn’t bother looking at their surroundings. Because as the left-over light from the explosion faded, a second light shinned brighter and brighter. Gaining the group’s attention while making them gawk in disbelief at what they were seeing.

Slowly descending towards the ground, was the red glowing form of BlackWarGreymon. Whom was left completely unharmed from the blast. Due to the immense energy coursing through his body, the Digimon’s eyes remained pale white as his yellow hair continued to wave. But to the group, the part of him that really got their interest was his red glowing aura. The aura remained wild like fire as it surged all over his body. Looking as if it transformed BlackWarGreymon into something new.

While the others marvelled at the Digimon’s display of power, it was the princesses whom were trying to figure out what had happened to him. It was like Twilight said, the red orbs that started it all appeared around BlackWarGreymon. Meaning that they weren’t originated from him. Also the energy they felt from the orbs and the aura was suspiciously very familiar to what they were used to. At first, they couldn’t figure out what it was, but soon they had a possible answer.

But it would have to wait for a moment, because BlackWarGreymon had landed firmly on the ground. He then stood still in silence, the only sound he was making was his fiery aura.

‘Song end’

“Celestia. You… feel that right?” Discord asked her as the two stared at the blank eyes of the super Digimon.

“Yes… I do.”

Feeling that the worst was over and that the ground was cool enough to walk on without getting burnt, the Alicorns teleported the group out of the viewport and onto the ground. As they approached the energized Digimon, the red glow around his body slowly faded away as he lowered his power. His glowing eyes faded away with it and his hair returned to normal.

After reverting back to his normal state, the Digimon was suddenly hit with fatigue as he collapsed onto one knee.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight said as she, Luna and the rest of the Mane Six rushed to his side. Celestia and Discord held back as they remained in thought.

“Are you feeling ok?” Fluttershy asked in concern. But her Digimon friend didn’t answer. He was taking in deep breaths as his eyes were widened in astonishment from what he felt before.

“Wow…unreal…”

“BlackWarGreymon?” Luna said, trying to get BlackWarGreymon to respond.

After he got his breath back, the black Digimon rose back up on his feet as he looked at his arms. Remembering the power he felt.

“I…I feel incredible! I never felt so strong!” He said, joy and amazement were hinted in his voice about the power he’d never felt before. His outburst briefly startled his friends.

“It happened again, BlackWarGreymon. Those weird energy orbs had done that to you again,” Twilight mentioned, with Rainbow Dash joining in.

“Yeah! I mean, I’m not an Alicorn, but even I felt that!”

Though he was glad that his friends were happy about his achievement, the Digimon was puzzled at the same subject that Twilight mentioned before. The red energy orbs.

“Yeah. But… I didn’t create those energy orbs like you said, Twilight. So…where did they come from? And what were they?”

His question was a good one, the Mane Six and Luna tried to think of what they could be.

Surprisingly, they were startled when Celestia spoke the answer.

“It was magic.”

All eyes stared at the white Alicorn in confusion. BlackWarGreymon and Twilight were the ones who were most confused.

“Wha…What do you mean?” The Digimon asked.

“How is that even possible?” Twilight added.

Though talking to BlackWarGreymon, Celestia answered both their questions.

“You said so before, BlackWarGreymon. The magic of our world is making you stronger. But what we saw…was probably the next stage. I don’t know how it was done. But somehow, the magic of Equestria fused with each other to take on a ‘physical’ form. Those spheres we saw… were pure magic. And all of them then merged with you, BlackWarGreymon. That’s why you are experiencing these changes.”

It may sounded hard to believe, but Twilight believed every word Celestia said. Being a much older Alicorn, she understood the properties of magic. No matter what form it took, she would definatly recognize that it was magic. Also as it relates to the fact that the digital warrior was gaining strength from the magic, he and the others believed her too.

Then Celestia had a stern look on her face.

“But one thing I don’t know, is WHY the magic of our world is affecting you like this in the first place,” Celestia said to BlackWarGreymon.

As he entered his trail of thought, the Digimon raised his right arm slightly and looked at his claws. Remembering the time when he first felt the magic entwining with his powers.

“I wish I had the answer, because I really would like to know myself.”

“Either way, it’s a good thing you’re getting stronger,” Luna said, then Rarity joined in.

“Yes. Especially for fighting off a storm like the one today.”

What the white Unicorn said caught Applejack’s attention.

“Now that ya mention it, Rarity. There was somthin’ strange about that storm.”

Twilight was next to join with the flow.

“Yeah, Applejack. In all the books I’ve read, I never heard about such a terrible storm.”

“That’s because it was created intentionally.”

The whole group stared at BlackWarGreymon in shock. Especially about the last word he used.

“Uhh…what do you mean ‘intentionally’?” Pinkie Pie asked. She and the whole group found the word quite suspicious.

“You mean, the storm was deliberately created by… somepony else?” Discord asked. Though he could be the one who was responsible, the group figured that it wasn’t his style. A type of storm he would create would be less life-threatening and more candy filled.

After some thought, all ears listened to what BlackWarGreymon had to say.

“During my time out there, while I was stopping the storm… I felt something. An energy that surrounded the city. It was definatly magic, but it was much darker than any I’ve ever felt.”

“Dark magic!?” Twilight gasped.

“Yes. And after I saved Ponyville, I saw a flicker of light in the distance. I’m certain that the light was a teleportation spell, very similar to that of a Unicorn,” BlackWarGreymon continued.

The whole group became silent as they took in the information. Trying to sum up the course of the storm, and who was responsible.

“A Unicorn…with dark magic. There is only one pony who could create such a storm,” Celestia said.

Luna and Twilight gasped as they looked over to Celestia in shock and disbelief.

“Are you sure, Sister!?”

“But it’s not possible! His body was destroyed!”

While Discord and the rest of the Mane Six looked at each other in concern (less so Discord) as they knew whom the princesses spoke of. BlackWarGreymon was puzzled.

“What? Who is it that you thought was destroyed?”

Celestia put on a serious look as she answered the Digimon’s question.

“The former ruler of the Crystal Empire. King Sombra.”

The Mane Six felt a brief shiver at hearing the name. Remembering the events that happened when they first went to the empire. After centuries of hiding, the crystal city emerged. But with Sombra along with it. Princess Cadence and Prince Shinning Armor were put in charge of the empire to protect it. But with the help of the Mane Six and with Sombra kept at bay, they found the artifact that ended Sombra and brought the empire to its former glory. The Crystal Heart.

It was the Crystal Heart’s power that destroyed the evil Unicorn for good. So to hear that he may had returned was unsettling. So Celestia had an idea.

“There is only one way to be sure if he is indeed alive again. Twilight, you and your friends must go to the Crystal Empire and investigate. And as an added measure, BlackWarGreymon will go with you.”

Despite the unnerving task, the Mane Six were excited to be going back to the empire once again.

“Celestia. What makes you think that King Sombra would be there?” BlackWarGreymon asked her.

“If Sombra plans on taking over Equestria, he would most likely start there. The empire was his home after all.”

She then turned to the Draconequus.

“Discord. I would like you to stay in Canterlot in case he comes back to try something else.”

“I suppose,” Discord replied. Not at all excited.

Meanwhile, outside the conversation, Luna’s face was serious while in thought. Long ago, it was she and her sister who fought against Sombra. And after a long battle, the evil stallion was banished. Sealed away in the icy tombs of the Frozen North.

However, her own thoughts turned its attention to BlackWarGreymon. Unlike Tirek or the dragons, whom relied on brute strength, Sombra was far more cunning. As powerful as he was, she was worried that BlackWarGreymon could fall victim to the Unicorn’s dark illusion spells, or even mind control.

Concerned for her friends, the Night Princess came to a decision.

“I’m going too.”

Although BlackWarGreymon was more than happy to have more of his friends with him, he and the mares looked at Luna with stunned eyes.

“You Luna?” Celestia asked. Then her younger sister explained.

“Well, although Twilight and her friends were the ones who defeated that tyrant, it was only you and I who faced him in a fight. If I go with them, my experience could prove useful. Also…”

Though Celestia understood that Luna was right about being the most experienced when against King Sombra, she was curious that her sister briefly paused before giving another explanation.

“Well… this will be BlackWarGreymon’s first time in the Crystal Empire, and the citizens there had never seen him before. So if they see me, one of the Alicorn sisters by his side, it could prevent any sort of panic. You see.”

The former explanation made perfect sense, but the latter was unusual to Celestia. There was a reason behind her suspicion. Princess Cadence was a very close friend of Princess Twilight, and Prince Shinning Armor was Twilight’s older brother. So if the crystal ponies saw the young princess beside the tall Digimon, then they would get the message that BlackWarGreymon was an ally. For he being a friend of the princesses. But to hear Luna say what she said, it almost sounded like only ‘she’ was up for the task. Not only that, while Luna mentioned about being ‘by his side’, Celestia could’ve sworn she saw a faint blush on the blue Alicorn’s face.

As a matter of fact, while Celestia was thinking about it, ever since Luna first met BlackWarGreymon, the younger Alicorn had been acting…out of the ordinary. The clues were there. Her long pauses whenever she talks about him, her jolting in surprise when he spoke to her, her concern for him even back when they were going through his memories. And the biggest clue however, was her dance with him at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Though Celestia ‘may’ had an idea about what was going on with Luna, to be sure, she agreed with her.

“Very well, Luna. You may go as well,” She said with a warm smile.

Admittingly, Luna was surprised. She thought that her older sister would be against the idea. But she was glad nonetheless.

“Thank you, sister. When will we be leaving?”

Luna’s question was answered, but not in the way she expected. After hearing collective yawns, Discord, Celestia, Luna and BlackWarGreymon turned to the Mane Six. All rubbing their eyes as they tried to stay awake.

“Sorry. But all the excitement from the Changelings and the storm kept us up so late,” Twilight said.

She was right. When the Changeling swarm attacked Canterlot, it was only just after sunset. All the commotion afterwards distracted the group from the time that passed.

“Maybe we’ll leave first thing in the morning,” BlackWarGreymon suggested.

“Now that’s a good idea, big guy,” Rainbow Dash said, trying not to drop out of the air.

With the whole group agreeing to set out for the Crystal Empire at sunrise, though Rarity wanted it to be at nine in the morning, they made their way out of the decimated training chamber.

Celestia didn’t mind though, she already wanted to turn the chamber into something else in the first place.

As the mares, Draconequus and the Digimon all walked across the hallway towards the bed chambers, Celestia was approached by a royal guard.

“Princess Celestia!” He called out.

“What’s the matter?” Celestia asked the guard as he bowed to her.

“Your highness, there have been startling reports of the castle shaking! All of Canterlot felt it! And all the Unicorn guards reported a massive power surge!”

While the guard seemed panicked, the group all knew what really happened. Then BlackWarGreymon confessed as he raised his left hand up.

“Sorry about that. That was me.”

“Nothing to worry about. You may stand down,” Luna said to the guard. Whom responded with a solute.

Before the guard carried on with his duties, he briefly stared at the Digimon in disbelief. All of Canterlot had felt something that HE done.

Then Applejack came clean.

“Alright, am I the only one who thought that was kinda’ scary. Ah mean, the whole city felt what BlackWarGreymon just did.”

What the orange Earth Pony said made the others realise it too. Then they all looked at their digital friend in disbelief.

“What? I didn’t know I was gonna be ‘that’ strong.”

Discord was alone in his thoughts about one subject.

‘He’s right. Just how strong is he really? And just how much stronger is he gonna be?’

He then had a brief shiver as a memory about a certain evil someone entered his mind.

‘I wonder if BlackWarGreymon’s stronger then him?’

As the group reached the end of the hallway, they went their separate ways.

“Ok everypony, time to get some sleep. You need to be ready for tomorrow,” Celestia said to the Mane Six as if she was their mother.

“Ok. See you in the morning,” Twilight said before letting out another yawn. Then she and her Ponyville friends retired into their selected bedrooms.

“I too must take my leave. With all the destruction the storm and the Changelings caused, I’m going to have a busy night,” Luna said as she walked down a different hallway. She also turned her head to smile back at her friends.

When she briefly looked at BlackWarGreymon, the Digimon nodded his head to her. Understanding her duties as the Night Princess. Luna felt her smile grew slightly bigger as she turned away.

“Well, I better skedaddle too,” Discord said as he prepared to disappear from view.

But before he did, Celestia stopped him.

“Hold on, Discord. We may need your help to clean up the damage outside.”

The spirit gawked at Celestia in disbelief. Like a disobedient child, he really wanted to avoid such a task. But knowing that the Sun Princess doesn’t give up so easily, the immature spirit sighed in defeat as he didn’t want to argue with her.

“Urhh… ok fine. But remember, I don’t do windows.”

As she watched Discord walking away, Celestia heard BlackWarGreymon talking to her.

“I would like to help as well.”

Celestia quickly stared at him in surprise. BlackWarGreymon had stopped a Changeling swarm, saved Canterlot from the worst storm in its history, and passed her test. And yet he remains active.

“It surprises me that you can still be standing, despite all that happened today.”

BlackWarGreymon chuckled at what Celestia said as he walked past her.

“Don’t worry about me. You need to get some rest though.”

The Digimon had a point. It was Celestia, not he, was the one who was worn out from everything that happened.

“Very well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

As the two parted ways, Celestia remembered something.

‘Oh, and I better write a letter to Cadence.’

Outside the main gates of Canterlot castle, Discord and BlackWarGreymon got a good look at the task at hand. Though most of the streets were ravaged by the Changelings and the storm, thanks to the Digimon the city was still standing.

“Oh this is going to be so boring,” Discord moaned. Then had an idea on how to become a tease.

“Oh I’ve seen this before, my digi pal. Empty streets, debris everywhere, not a soul in sight. We may be expecting some…ghostly visitors,” He said, trying to creep BlackWarGreymon out. But he wasn’t easily scared.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”

“Oh, we’ll see.”

As Discord clicked his fingers, he began to magically tidy up the streets. While BlackWarGreymon took a different street, he briefly saw a flash of blue at the corner of his eye. Turning to where the blue light came from, he looked upon one of the tall towers of Canterlot castle. The blue light came from the top balcony. The Digimon sensed that the light was Luna’s magic at work.

It was an effective system. While Celestia looked after the citizens during the day, Luna looked after them during the night through their dreams. And with the drama caused by the recent events, Luna had to work hard to cleanse all the nightmares.

As he continued to look at the high balcony, BlackWarGreymon got lost in his trail of thought. His mind focused on what the blue Alicorn said about the reasons why she wanted to go to the Crystal Empire. The first reason was believable, for she had battled King Sombra before. But for some reason he didn’t understand, the second explanation she said felt strange.

Both reasons were the truth, but with one was the true answer.
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The Crystal Empire

Far away at the Frozen North, stood the magnificent kingdom made entirely out of crystal.

Despite the dazzling beauty of the empire, it had a very dark history. Caused by the evil Unicorn, King Sombra. But at the current moment under the night sky, the kingdom was at peace.

Just like all the other cities of Equestria, rumors of BlackWarGreymon had also spread to the empire. Despite the rumors, the crystal ponies carried on their happy lives. Enjoying both day and night since the empire reappeared on the map.

Since there were no rulers to look after the kingdom, Princess Celestia sent Princess Cadence and Prince Shinning Armor to take over. Since day one, the crystal ponies preferred the two royals over their former tyrant king.

Even though the royal couple too had heard of the rumors, in their bed chamber, Shinning Armor was the one who took it seriously as he inspected the map of the empire.

“Ok. Maybe focus the guards at the main gate. And perhaps some patrols at the outskirts,” Shinning Armor said.

He was a white coated Unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail that had darkened stripes. Plus a cutiemark of a shield. He was also the older brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle and before he became a prince, he was the captain of the Canterlot royal guard.

As he looked over the map, he heard a voice calling to him.

“Shinning Armor, you need to calm down and relax,” Cadence said, urging him to stop.

She was a pink Alicorn with cream, pink and light purple mane and tail. She also had a cutiemark of a blue heart that looked like it was made of crystal. She was also the wife of Shinning Armor and a former foal sitter of Twilight. By marrying Twilight’s older brother, that made them sisters-in-law.

Fearing that he may be scaring her, Shinning Armor stopped and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Cadence. It’s just these rumors keep getting to me lately.”

Cadence spoke to him as she nuzzled his head.

“I understand, Shinning. But the rumors did say that this… being from another world is Equestria’s saviour. He was even thanked by Twilight, Luna and Celestia themselves.

Her soft words brought calm to the Unicorn. But he explains the true reason why he was on edge.

“I know that. But… just the thought of a being that could defeat Tirek so easily… and the fact that he is among us…is… kind of scary.”

Cadence smiled at her husband.

“I know it all sounds intimidating. But if the rumors are true, then this…BlackWarGreymon…is a friend, not a foe,” She then smiled when a little joke popped in her mind.

“And besides, I hear he’s kinda cute.”

Just as the chuckling Shinning Armor had left the room to get a refreshing drink, Cadence was startled when a scroll appeared right in front of her. As she looked at the levitating scroll, she recognised that it had a yellow royal Canterlot seal on it.

“It’s from Celestia,” She said to herself.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she used her magic to open the scroll and proceeded to read its contents. Some news made her smile, some made her frown in concern, but one made her gasp in fright.

Then Shinning Armor re-entered the room with a glass of water levitating by his side. He then saw Cadence with a scroll in front of her.

“Oh, another letter from Celestia? Or from Twilight?”

But his questions were unanswered. He then grew concerned of the Alicorn’s lack of response.

“What’s the matter, Cadence?”

After slowly turning around to face the stallion, the frightened princess spoke.

“C…Canterlot was attacked by a storm. And Celestia had reason to believe that it was caused by…K…King Sombra!”

The prince couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“WHAT!!? But… how is that possible? He was destroyed?”

Cadence then went back to double check the letter.

“I’m not sure. But Celestia will send Twilight and her friends to investigate. They will be here tomorrow.”

The prince sighed in relief.

“Well that’s good to hear. Knowing Twily, things will turn out alright,” He said, showing confidence in his little sister.

As Cadence continued reading the letter, something that was written caused her to raise an eyebrow.

“Strange.”

“What? What is it?” Shinning Armor asked.

“It’s said that Princess Luna will also be joining them,” Cadence answered.

The prince was slightly startled, knowing that the Night Princess rarely leaves Canterlot. Other than royal visits or through dreams.

“Oh, well it has been a while since we’ve seen her,” He said as he started to drink his water.

As Shinning Armor was drinking his water, Cadence looked back at the letter. Her eyes widened as she silently read the part that might stress out her husband. Then again, it might also be funny. So with a bit of hesitation, she spoke to him.

“And that’s not all, it also says that… BlackWarGreymon will be coming.”

After hearing the news, the stallion spat out his mouthful of water in shock and alarm. He then coughed to stop chocking himself with the leftover water. Cadence couldn’t help but snicker at his reaction.

“W-What was that!? BlackWarGreymon!? The saviour of Equestria himself!? Is coming here… tomorrow?!”

“Well that’s what the letter says,” Cadence said as Shinning Armor went in a panic.

“We…we better get things ready. We don’t want to get him mad or anything. I better tell the guards.”

“Don’t forget, dear. He’s our guest,” Cadence said as she watched Shinning Armor rushed towards the door.

She then looked back at the letter in thought.

‘Wow. BlackWarGreymon himself. I wonder what he’ll be like.’

But then, her attention was brought to the last part of the letter.

“…furthermore Cadence, ever since my sister met BlackWarGreymon, lately she has been acting strange. Though I have my suspicions, I would like you to keep an eye on Luna and see what you make of it…”

The love princess raised an eyebrow at what the letter said. Wondering what was going on with Luna.

Chapter 32: Welcome to the Crystal Empire

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Tartarus

To many, Tartarus was just a legend. But to those who studied hard enough, they would discover that Tartarus was in fact very real. Possibly created by rulers before Celestia or perhaps Celestia herself, the underground expanse served as an eternal prison for the ancient evil of Equestria. Guarded by a Unicorn simply called The Warden. The reason the likes of Discord or Chrysalis were never in such a prison was that they either were imprisoned by other means or they simply escaped before were held captive.

As well as prison inmates, Tartarus also housed deadly spells created by those who tried to either control or destroy Equestria. All contained in the dark corner known as the Vault of Tartarus.

Sent on a special mission from his master, King Sombra was on the search for the vault. In his shadow form, he was able to search Tartarus much faster. He even spotted Tirek on the way down. But he didn’t had time for small talk.

“Where is this damn vault!?” He asked himself, annoyed that he couldn’t find it yet.

But as he searched much deeper, he finally found it. Landing on the ground and regaining physical form, he stared at the vault door in satisfaction.

“Now. Let’s take a peek.”

Using his magic to break the lock, the Vault of Tartarus was opened. As the door opened wide, Sombra was awestricken. The inside of the vault was massive. All around the walls were scrolls and relics. Instruments of destruction and chaos.

“Wow,” Sombra said as he walked into the vault.

The tyrant was like a kid in a candy store. The awe was stuck on his face as he gazed at what he would call paradise. Eyeing the ancient relics and weapons which he would love to use. After a moment, he paused when his sights gazed upon a pair of swords held in a glass container. From the old books Sombra had read from his childhood, the swords were banished because they held the horns of Unicorns to enhance them with magic. The two swords had names. Soulrend and Iceflame.

Sombra whistled in amazement.

“I could use some of those.”

But his eyes then caught a glimpse of a black scroll. Moving towards it, he removed the scroll from its shelf and opened it up. Upon reading what the spell was, he grinned greatly. He had found what he was looking for.

“Yes. Yes! This spell practically has my name on it!”

With his chosen spell, Sombra reverted to his shadow form and fled the vault. Excited to use his new weapon for both his revenge and his return.
……………………………………………………………………………………..................................................................

Canterlot

A sunny morning had arrived at Equestria’s capital and it was time for the big trip to the Crystal Empire.

Thanks to the efforts of Discord and BlackWarGreymon, the streets of Canterlot were clean once again. Much to the relief of the citizens.

Down at the train station, the Royal Sisters, the Black Digimon and most of the Mane Six were waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive.

“Uhh… where is Applejack and Rarity!?” Rainbow Dash moaned as she tried to waste time by flying.

“There’s no rush, Rainbow. The train isn’t even here yet,” Fluttershy pointed out.

Then just in time, the orange Earth Pony and the white Unicorn arrived at the station and joined with the others.

“What took you two so long?” The impatient blue Pegasus asked.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Miss precious over here took forever,” Applejack said, hinting that the time waster was Rarity.

“Well it takes time to get your mane styled as beautifully as mine,” She said as she patted her purple mane.

Meanwhile, BlackWarGreymon and Pinkie Pie were talking amongst themselves.

“So is this Crystal Empire really as good as you say it is?”

“Oh yeah, you’re gonna love it! Everything there is made of crystal.”

“Interesting.”

“Oh, and you’ll get to meet Princess Cadence and Prince Shinning Armor.”

Overhearing what Pinkie Pie said, Twilight froze in shock. Introducing the Digimon to Princess Celestia was stressful enough, but next was her brother’s and sister-in-law’s turn. She gulped at the possible reactions.

“Oh…I totally forgot about that!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight. I already informed them about BlackWarGreymon and the mission,” Celestia said to reassure Twilight.

“Thank you, Celestia. But they have never met him before.”

“I’m sure everything will be just fine.”

Then Princess Luna caught everyone’s attention.

“The train is here.”

The group waited as the train came to a stop as it arrived at the station. When the doors of the carriages opened up, they were greeted by Spike.

“Hay guys!”

“Spike? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

“Well I’ve heard that you’re going to the Crystal Empire. So I decided to come with you.”

“Well that’s great, darling. I think that the crystal ponies will be thrilled to see you soon,” Rarity said, causing Spike to blush from flattery.

“ALL ABORD!! All aboard for the Crystal Empire!” The train conductor called out. Signalling that it was time to leave.

As most of the group boarded the carriage Spike was on, Celestia gave Luna a brief loving hug.

“Good luck, my little sister.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Especially with BlackWarGreymon by our side.”

Speaking of BlackWarGreymon, before Twilight entered the carriage, she noticed that he wasn’t moving.

“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, I wont fit in any of these carriages.”

Twilight paused when she realised that the Mega was right. The train they were with was a standard Ponyville train. All the carriages were made to accommodate pony-sized citizens.

“Oh…urrrhh…”

Twilight tried desperately to think of a solution. But BlackWarGreymon stopped her.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just fly alongside the train.”

“Are you sure? Because it’s a long way to the empire?” Twilight asked, unsure if the Digimon could fly such a great distance.

“I’ll manage.”

With everything decided, Twilight and Luna boarded the train. Afterwards, the train gave off a burst from its whistle before slowly departing from the platform.

“Good luck, everypony!” Celestia called out, wishing them a successful trip.

As the white Alicorn watched the train travelling down the mountain side, the black Digimon stood beside her.

“Celestia, you’ve faced King Sombra before. What was he like?” BlackWarGreymon asked with a serious tone in his voice.

The sun princess paused for a moment before answering.

“He was a cruel tyrant. He enslaved the entire empire for his personal amusement.”

The Digimon felt disgusted. Not even he would do such a thing if he was evil. The Control Spires not only gave him life, they gave him knowledge of the past. He knew about the likes of Devimon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters and the Digimon Emperor.

Enslaving the innocent to do their bidding. It had happened in the Digital World before, and he would hate it if the same happened in Equestria.

“I promise you this, Celestia. I will not let him enslave anymore innocent lives. I’ll be sure of it.”

After his bold statement, BlackWarGreymon ran towards the nearby waterfall and dived off the edge. As he fell down the side of the mountain, he took in the sights of the beautiful land. Its lush forests, its green grassland and the happy lives of the citizens. If Sombra had his way, all the beauty would be destroyed by his evil.

Ever since his arrival, BlackWarGreymon had been protecting that beauty. And he will continue to do so.

As he neared the mountain base, the Digimon levelled out and flew high above the ground like a missile. After spotting the train far ahead, BlackWarGreymon immediately gained speed to shoot past the train.

Everypony in the carriages, the Mane Six, Spike and Luna included, were amazed at the sight of the armoured Digimon speeding past the train nearly five times its speed.

“Woah, that’s so cool.” Rainbow Dash said, causing her friends to look at her in disbelief.

Realising what she just said and the tone she used, the Pegasus tried to correct herself.

“Uh.. I mean. Not impressed. I can do that too,” She said, pretending that she was calling out to BlackWarGreymon.

After circling around the train in a wide loop, the Digimon flew parallel to the carriages. Flying at the same speed to see his friends at the window.

Back at the Canterlot station, Princess Celestia smiled warmly as she watched the train and BlackWarGreymon travel beyond the horizon. She just couldn’t believe how much the Artificial Digimon had changed. He was surprisingly caring for not just his friends, but all of Equestria in fact.

Some time ago, when Luna told Celestia that BlackWarGreymon described their land as his new home, she was awestricken. It was because of the magic of friendship, that the once evil being believed that protecting Equestria and his new friends was his chosen destiny.

She could tell that he was far more happier in Equestria than he was back in the Digital World. It was because of his belief of his destiny, that he had protected the land from the recent threats that fell upon it. He had done so much for her kingdom, and for that his name would go down in legend. His strength, his powers, his battles of the past and battles of yet to come, even his story would be legendary.

Celestia thought of it for a while, but the Digimon’s actions had confirmed it. She must do something to tribute him.

And she knew just what to do.
………………………………………………………………………………………….................................................

Over an hour had passed as the train continued its journey. As it travelled north, the land had changed from forests and grass to snow covered mountains. It’s almost as if they had arrived into a completely different world.

While the occupants in one carriage, the Mane Six, Spike and Luna, looked at the land outside their window, Rarity decided to tease Twilight.

“So Twilight darling, are you looking forward to see ‘you know who’?” She asked while playfully nudging Twilight.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

Knowing who Rarity was talking about, Applejack joined in the tease.

“Ya know… that guy ya have a crush on. That Flash Sentry fella’.”

Finally knowing what the two were on about, Twilight’s face blushed heavily with embarrassment.

Truth be told, when she travelled to the human version of her world, Twilight had developed a crush on the human version of Flash Sentry. And upon returning to her world, she retained her feelings for her world’s version, who was a Pegasus. However, when she returned to the human world and took part in the Battle of the Bands, things didn’t go smoothly. Even though the human Flash Sentry only said those terrible things because he was under the Sirens’ spell, his words had hurt Twilight. Since then, the Alicorn had mixed feelings towards both him and his Pegasus counterpart. Though the Pegasus Flash Sentry had nothing to do with it, seeing him reminded the princess of those bad times.

It’s entirely possible that she wasn’t into him anymore. But that was a thing she hadn’t told her friends yet. Hence the teasing.

“Oh him… well… he’s just a friend. We hardly even see each other,” Twilight responded, hoping to end the teasing.

While the conversation went on, Luna was looking out the window daydreaming.

Yes, it was true that she wanted to join the group to take down King Sombra. But it was only the second reason. She hadn’t told a soul but… the reason she wanted to go, was to spend time with BlackWarGreymon. Because her royal duties came first, she hardly had the time to see the black Digimon other then special events of at time of great peril. Because that the two faced similar problems in the past, Luna felt that she had some… special connection with BlackWarGreymon. As if he was the only one to talk to if something was wrong. And on a personal note, Luna had definitely enjoyed the dance she shared with him at the Grand Galloping Gala. It was a great memorable feeling that Luna embraced. She didn’t exactly know what it was but, she wanted more of that feeling, and BlackWarGreymon was the source.

Therefore, by joining on the task to the Crystal Empire, Luna wouldn’t be distracted by her sister and her duties. Plus with a change of setting, she hoped that she could spend more time with BlackWarGreymon. Reinforcing their bond of friendship. Either out of desire or impulse, she didn’t know why she wanted to do it, she just wanted it to happen.

Speaking of BlackWarGreymon, as Luna looked out the window, she could no longer see him outside. Startled, she then looked at the next window. But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t there either.

“Is something wrong, Luna?” Twilight asked, she and her friends noticing how frantic the blue Alicorn suddenly became.

“Have… have any of you seen BlackWarGreymon?” Luna asked.

“You mean he’s not outside?” Spike asked as he peered out a window.

“I don’t know.”

Concerned on BlackWarGreymon’s whereabouts, the group searched the carriage. But upon remembering that he couldn’t fit in the type of carriage they’re on, it became more confusing of where he was.

“Hang on. I got an idea,” Rainbow Dash said as she opened one of the windows and flew out of the carriage.

As she got to a good height high above the train, the blue Pegasus had a birds-eye-view of the snow-covered land. But as she looked around, BlackWarGreymon was nowhere in sight.

“Wha…where the heck could he be?”

As she lowered down closer to the train, she finally managed to spot him. Rainbow Dash was confused, because it looked like BlackWarGreymon was lying down on the roof of the rear carriage. But the strangest thing was how relaxed he looked. His left leg was crossed over his raised right knee and his arms were crossed behind his head. It was almost similar to how Rainbow Dash herself relaxes.

“Did he learn that from me?”

Focusing her mind back on the subject, she flew down towards the train and landed on the carriage beside the rested Digimon.

Hearing the arrival of his friend, BlackWarGreymon opened one of his closed eyes and spotted the Pegasus.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash.”

“Hay, big guy. What are you doing up here?” The blue mare asked him.

“I’ve been flying for so long, I got bored. So I thought I could rest up on this carriage.”

“Rest up? You look like you’re relaxing up here.”

“Maybe. I do find in comfortable up here. But what are you doing here?” The Mega asked her.

“Well we couldn’t see you. So I went out to get a better look.”

“Oh.”

While BlackWarGreymon stared at the sky above, to his surprise he saw a magical rainbow trail. Flowing through the sky like the northern lights.

As he marvelled at the spectacle in the sky, BlackWarGreymon asked Rainbow Dash a question.

“Rainbow Dash? How far are we to the Crystal Empire?”

“We should be getting close soon. Ah, in fact there it is now!”

After looking to where Rainbow Dash was pointing at, BlackWarGreymon saw something so incredible that it caused him to quickly sit up straight and stare in amazement. Some distance away, was the Crystal Empire itself. Even from a long way, the Mega could tell that the kingdom was huge. At the centre of it all, dominating the empire was a giant tower-like castle. And at the top of its tallest spire were streams of the same rainbow energy that BlackWarGreymon saw earlier. All flowing out of the castle.

“So what do you think?” Rainbow Dash asked the Digimon.

“It’s… amazing.” BlackWarGreymon responded, he could see that all the buildings were entirely made of crystal.

As he continued to marvel at the sight, the train approached the train station and then came to a stop. As the train vented out steam, Rainbow Dash flew down to meet Twilight at the platform.

“Have you found him, Rainbow?” The lavender Alicorn asked.

“Yeah. He’s just chilling up on the roof.”

“Oh… well that’s a first.”

As Spike, Luna and the rest of the Mane Six walked onto the platform, the steam around them disappeared. Revealing Princess Cadence, Prince Shinning Armor and their escort, Flash Sentry at the other end of the platform.

As Twilight looked around, she eventually spotted Cadence. She gasped in excitement, happy to see her former foalsitter to greet her.

“Cadence!” She exclaimed as she rushed towards the older Alicorn.

“Twilight!” Cadence joined, then doing the same thing.

As the two got closer to each other, they instantly performed their usual greeting that they’ve done when they were little.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!

Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

The two Alicorns then shared their laughter soon afterwards. After they relived the old times, they were joined by the rest of the company. Minus the Digimon.

“Twily!” Shinning Armor said as he ran up to hug his younger sister.

“Shinning Armor! It’s been a while,” Twilight said as she pulled away from the hug.

As Twilight looked over to Flash Sentry, the Pegasus guard nodded to her to say hello, causing her to blush from awkwardness.

Cadence then approached the remainder of the group.

“How is everypony doing?”

“We’ve been doing great, thanks for asking,” Fluttershy said, with the rest of the Mane Six and Spike nodding in agreement.

“It’s also great to see you again, Princess Luna,” Cadence said as she and Shinning Armor bowed before her.

“Like wise,” Luna said as she bowed back.

After the reunion between friends of old had ended, Cadence drew her attention to Twilight on a subject about a certain someone.

“Well Twilight. Where is he? Is he here?” She asked as she looked around. Trying to spot something out of the ordinary on the platform.

With the moment she had been waiting for arrived, Twilight explained in a positive tone.

“Oh. Well he’s too big to fit in the carriage, so he flew here instead.”

Cadence, Shinning Armor and Flash Sentry all felt a cold shiver in their spines. Twilight had mentioned that the saviour could fly and was big.

“Uhh… how big is he exactly?” Shinning Armor asked. Secretly nervous.

“Oh you’ll see. Because…”

Twilight’s sentence was brought to a shocking halt when BlackWarGreymon leapt off the carriage roof and landed hard on the platform. Causing a loud stump sound, snow particles in the floorboards to rise to the air and surprised everypony around him.

Twilight Sparkle then felt the nerves returning to her. The same fear she felt when she introduced the Digimon to Princess Celestia for the first time. Worried of what her brother and sister-in-law would make of him, the young Alicorn nervously gulped before finishing with a worried tone in her voice.

“…he’s…here.”

“And did he have to make such a loud entrance?” Applejack whispered to Rarity.

All eyes were turned to the small cloud of snow. Some of glee and some of stunned suspense. Then BlackWarGreymon himself rose to his full height as the cloud settled around him. The ones whom hadn’t seen him before let out quiet gasps of astonishment. Including the royal couple. The tall Digimon then turned to see his friends, and by chance spotting some ponies he had never seen before.

As he saw that one of the ponies was wearing royal jewellery, the Mega recognised her as the Crystal Empire’s ruler. Both Cadence and Shinning Armor took a small step back as BlackWarGreymon walked towards them and their friends. The royal couple and Flash Sentry had heard the rumors. That the armoured being was dubbed as the Saviour of Equestria by Celestia herself. He was an ally and a defender. But as they looked at the Digimon in person, he was nothing like what they imagined. Also, something about him didn’t felt right.

Four reasons why; One, his clawed gauntlets were clearly weapons, meant that he was a fighter. Two, his black armour made him resemble a demon. Something they didn’t expect. Three, his yellow eyes looked cold and intimidating. And the fact that they looked as though they shouldn’t even exist to begin with. Finally, which was obvious to Unicorns and Alicorns. His power. Most normal beings would have to be huge to match the power they possessed. But in the case of BlackWarGreymon, his power was far greater than his body showed. He was only taller then an average teenage dragon, yet his power completely dwarfed their own.

Cadence and Shinning Armor didn’t want to admit it. But just being near BlackWarGreymon… made them felt vulnerable.

As BlackWarGreymon joined the group, he stopped six feet away from the prince and princess. Watching them all the while. But finally seeing the Digimon up close only increased the apparent fear in the couple.

“Well, here he is. The saviour, BlackWarGreymon,” Twilight said, almost cheering.

“Hello there,” He said to the two.

Cadence and Shinning Armor felt as if time had frozen around them. They were already secretly scared enough, but hearing the voice of BlackWarGreymon increased their fear tenfold. Therefore, the Digimon’s friendly greeting left the wrong impression.

“Hay? What’s the matter?” Twilight asked the two. Realising how still and silent they were.

“They’re afraid of me.”

Twilight turned to the Digimon the moment she heard his voice. Only to see him take one step closer towards the frightened two.

He then spoke to them as softly as possible.

“Listen, I understand that you’re scared of me, and I know perfectly why. But you need to understand that I’m only here to help you. I don’t wish ill will upon you or the empire. And I never will. If I was, then I wouldn’t be here with my friends.”

He then looked down at the Mane Six, Spike and Luna with a soft expression in his eyes. As Cadence and Shinning Armor followed his gaze to them, they were surprised at what he said, and was about to say.

“My concern for their safety is even higher then my own. I helped them in time of need, and in return, they trust me. All I ask is for you to do the same.”

BlackWarGreymon’s words had completely changed the way Cadence and Shinning Armor felt about him. They were surprised to hear such words from a being who could very easily takeover Equestria. But instead, to use that kind of power to protect others.

The Digimon’s tone of voice showed his concern and even love for his pony friends. Plus, with the fact that it included Twilight, the one whom they were so close to, it caused Cadence to slowly smile.

It seemed as though the Digimon’s friends from Ponyville and Canterlot were just as surprised to hear his words. Some even blushed in flattery.

“Wow. Even I didn’t expect to hear that so openly,” Rarity said, breaking the stunned silence.

“Awww. He loves us,” Pinkie Pie said as she hugged BlackWarGreymon’s left leg, causing him to feel embarrassed.

Seeing what happened confirmed it for the couple. BlackWarGreymon was not just an ally. He was an ally worth trusting.

Feeling that her brother and sister-in-law were starting to warm up to BlackWarGreymon, Twilight finished the introductions.

“BlackWarGreymon. I like to introduce you to Princess Cadence and Prince Shinning Armor.”

Sensing the warmth and the love that BlackWarGreymon had shown, Cadence was the first to respond.

“H…hello…BlackWarGreymon. And may I say that, what you said earlier was impressive. Even by my standards.”

Then Fluttershy reinforced the statement.

“See. Beneath his big scary appearance, he’s a real sweetheart,” She said as she hugged the Digimon’s right leg.

The couple were amazed. Even the normally timid Fluttershy was very comfortable around him.

Then the prince got comfortable enough to ask the saviour something.

“And uh… may I ask. How did you know we were afraid of you?”

Rainbow Dash also seemed interested on the subject.

“Yeah big guy, how did you know? Can you smell fear?”

“No. I sensed their fear.”

Then BlackWarGreymon explained himself. Both reminding some from their conversation before and informing those who didn’t know.

“Fear is a negative emotion, and my power consists of negative energy.”

He then turned his attention to the royal couple.

“Because of that, I can sense negative energy form everyone. And when you looked upon me, and when you heard me speak, I felt fear literally pouring out of you.”

Cadence and Shinning Armor were amazed. The Digimon’s ability to sense negative energy from negative emotions was extraordinary. But then they felt bad for their fear.

“Oh! Uhh… so sorry about that,” Cadence said in apology.

“It’s fine. I have that effect on nearly everyone.”

With things starting to go smoothly, Cadence felt that it was time to move things along.

“Well, how about we all head to the castle.”

“Yes lets,” Luna said before speaking to BlackWarGreymon.

“I understand that you would like to see what the empire is like.”

“Actually, I do,” He answered, making her smile.

Then the group made their way towards the Crystal Empire. The four royals were with the Digimon upfront with the rest of the Mane Six, Spike and Flash Sentry taking the rear.

“Well things are going well,” Fluttershy said.

“Well I can’t wait to try out the crystal spa again,” Rarity joined.

But there was one out of the group whom wasn’t in a good mood.

‘There’s something strange about this BlackWarGreymon guy. I don’t like it,’ Flash Sentry thought to himself, growing suspicious of the otherworldly guest.

Back up front, BlackWarGreymon had something on his mind.

“Twilight, mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“What’s with that song and dance thing you did back at the station?”

Twilight’s face froze as a blush of embarrassment formed on her face. Cadence and Shinning Armor chuckled at the sight.

“O-oh. You saw that?” She asked.

“Every second.”

Then Cadence spoke up.

“Well it’s a fun thing me and Twilight do when I used to foalsit her.”

‘Foalsit? Oh, she means babysit,’ The Digimon thought to himself.

“Yeah, my little sister always loves it when Cadence comes to visit,” Shinning Armor said. But what he said confused BlackWarGreymon as he turned to Twilight.

“Wait, sister?”

“Yeah, Shinning Armor is my older brother. And Cadence is also my sister-in-law,” Twilight informed him. But the last set of words she used only confused him more.

“Ok, and what do you mean by, ‘sister-in-law’?”

“You…don’t understand the concept of marriage?” Luna asked, joining the conversation.

“The concept of what?” He asked again.

“Wait. You don’t even know what marriage is!?” Cadence asked, almost shocked.

“What is that? Some kind of food?”

After a brief chuckle from BlackWarGreymon’s question, Cadence explained.

“No. You see BlackWarGreymon, when a mare and a stallion love each other very much, they go through marriage to prove their love for each other and to always be there for one another. They look out and protect each other. I should know, because my talent is to spread love wherever I go.”

After understanding where Cadence got her cutiemark from, the tall Digimon got back on the subject.

“Oh, so I take it that you and Shinning Armor had gone through this… marriage?”

Before he answered, the white stallion playfully nuzzled next to Cadence.

“That’s right. We were married not too long ago.”

‘Interesting. But why does this ‘marriage’ fascinate me?’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself. Unsure why he was so keen on the subject.

Before they knew it, the group arrived at the Crystal Empire. The light from the sun reflecting off the surfaces of the crystal buildings and the floors. It’s amazing how no one was blinded from the bright reflections. What was more amazing was the citizens of the empire themselves. The crystal ponies look very similar to Earth Ponies, except that their bodies were made literally out of crystal. Yet despite their near see-through appearances, they still had soft fur, manes and tails.

Their usual busy day was soon put on halt, because their beloved rulers had guests from Canterlot and Ponyville. Plus a very unusual guest.

The crystal ponies stared in awe at the sight of the black armoured Digimon. Though his dark appearance briefly reminded some of an evil king, but the fact that he’s with princesses, Twilight, Luna and Cadence reassured them that he was a friend. Plus, they also heard the recent rumors that were spreading all over Equestria. About a powerful warrior who had been saving the land time and time again. They were amazed that they got to see the very warrior in person.

As well as the crystal ponies, BlackWarGreymon was also fascinated in the buildings and even the ground. First time being surrounded in a crystal environment.

“So, what do you think of the empire, BlackWarGreymon?” Cadence asked him, seeing that he was looking around a lot.

“It’s magnificent. I doubt even the Digital World has a crystal area like this.”

Shinning Armor became intrigued that BlackWarGreymon mentioned a ‘world’.

“And…what is the Digital World?”

“It’s a world where I came from,” The Digimon answered.

“And since you’re from a different world, what are you exactly?” The prince asked.

“I’m a Digimon.”

Then Twilight spoke next.

“Well I’m glad that you like the Crystal Empire, BlackWarGreymon. It’s too bad that King Sombra wants to enslave it.”

The mention of the tyrant’s name reminded Cadence and Shinning Armor the whole reason why they’re at the empire to begin with.

“About that, Twilight. Is Sombra really back? And from that letter Celestia sent me, how was she sure that it was him?” She asked in concern.

“Just ask BlackWarGreymon,” Twilight said.

Cadence and Shinning Armor looked at the Digimon for conformation. Then he told them the truth.

“We’re not entirely sure if it’s him or not. But while I was protecting Canterlot from a storm, I felt a dark presence nearby. It turned out to be dark magic. And from her own experience, Celestia knew that only Sombra would be the one who would create such a storm.”

He then turned his attention to the night princess.

“Hay Luna, both you and Celestia had fought against him before. Just what is he capable of?”

After a brief silence of thinking, Luna answered.

“He’s not like either Lord Tirek or Queen Chrysalis. King Sombra is far more intelligent when it comes to magic. He is cunning and unpredictable. Even though he was up against two Alicorns, Celestia and I found it difficult to defeat him.”

She then looked over to BlackWarGreymon. To the Digimon’s surprise, the Alicorn looked worried. But she wasn’t worried about herself, she was worried about him.

“I have no doubts of your power and your will to fight. But if Sombra is alive, and should you ever face him… just be careful, ok.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

Away from the two, Cadence was startled at the tone Luna used.

‘Wow. She’s very concerned for his safety.’

Upon realising something, the pink Alicorn noticed that ever since they left the train station, Luna was the only one who walked beside BlackWarGreymon the whole time. Cadence then remembered what Celestia wrote in the letter. The part that Luna had been acting strange since she first met BlackWarGreymon. Though the younger Alicorn knew that the blue Alicorn cares for her subjects, but she rarely displays it openly. And despite that the Digimon’s power was greater than anyone else’s, Luna’s concern appeared to aim directly towards him.

Cadence then compared it to any possible scenarios as to what may cause it to happen. She then felt an unusual vibe when one particular answer occurred to her.

‘No way! It couldn’t be… could it?’

When the group neared the centre of the castle, BlackWarGreymon paused when he saw a statue that to him was most unusual.

“Uhh…is that Spike?”

“Yep. That’s me alright,” Spike said with pride.

Twilight then explained to him.

“You see, it was Spike who returned the Crystal Heart to the empire. Since then, he was praised as a hero to the crystal ponies.”

“Impressive. And what’s the…”

BlackWarGreymon cut his sentence short when a nearby blue glow caught the corner of his eyes. Turning in its direction, his eyes widen in fascination as he looked upon the source of the light. Floating in-between two crystal pillars underneath the crystal castle, was the Crystal Heart itself. What the Digimon found fascinating about the blue heart shaped gem, was that it contained a vast amount of energy. Which flowed through the tower and creating the rainbow streams in the sky.

BlackWarGreymon felt its power flowing from it as he walked closer to it. As he stared at the heart, Cadence walked up to him and explained.

“The Crystal Heart is a relic of the empire. When Spike retrieved it and was placed in its proper place, the love and happiness from the crystal ponies fuelled the Crystal Heart, and the awakened power within dispelled the evil and destroyed King Sombra.”

BlackWarGreymon was amazed by the tale. He wouldn’t had believed such a thing would had occurred otherwise.

“Impressive. And if Sombra is indeed back from the dead, he now has me to contend with,” He said, stating that he was willing to fight against the evil king.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon, are you really as powerful as the rumors say you are?” Shinning Armor asked him. Interested to see the Digimon’s power.

BlackWarGreymon responded with a chuckle, knowing what was coming next.
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A short time later, the group arrived in the newly built gymnasium. After the excitement of the Equestria Games, Cadence and Shinning Armor thought it was best to have one. Spike, Luna, Cadence and the Mane Six were all seated on the side-lines. Shinning Armor and a few guards whom were brave enough were positioned around BlackWarGreymon, who was standing in the middle. Flash Sentry too was with them, but he decided to observe the match.

“Now are you sure you want us to give it our all?” The prince asked, unsure if he and the others should go all out so soon.

“Yes. Use your full power,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

On the side-lines, Cadence was confident in her husband.

“Since Shinning Armor is going all out, this might be a tough fight.”

“I doubt that. Even three on one, we know who would win,” Luna said, causing Cadence to look at her in confusion.

“Alright! Guards go!” Shinning Armor commanded.

On the order, the first of the guards, armed with a long sword, charged forth and swung his weapon at the armoured Mega. But to is surprise, BlackWarGreymon evaded the quick attack with absolute ease. The crystal pony then went into a flurry of swinging attacks, hoping to land a hit. But the tall being dodged them all. Then the second guard armed with the same type of sword joined in. But despite the combined swings from both angles, BlackWarGreymon was too quick for them.

The ponies whom never seen him in action before all gawked at the Digimon’s speed.

“No way!” Shinning Armor said.

“How? He’s far bigger than the guards. How are they not able to land a hit? H-How is he able to dodge them all?” Cadence asked, shocked at what’s happening in front of her.

But before she could get an answer, the annoyed guards tried to attack from both sides at the same time. The way they were positioned prevented BlackWarGreymon from dodging. But instead, to their alarm, the Digimon blocked both attacks with his clawed gauntlets without even looking.

Seeing an opening, BlackWarGreymon performed a low sweeping kick on a three hundred and sixty degree angle with his right leg. The technique knocked the two guards clean off their hooves, then falling on the ground. After landing back on his feet, BlackWarGreymon crossed his arms in front of him and paused for a moment.

“Sorry guys.”

After throwing his arms outwards, the Digimon released a small burst of invisible negative energy. Though the blast was only minor, it still managed to blow the two guards away like a hurricane.

The weary guards tried to stand back up after their tumble, but were too weakened by the attack they fell back down.

“But you need to try harder,” BlackWarGreymon continued before recomposing himself.

Though the group who knew him weren’t very surprised, Cadence, Shinning Armor and Flash Sentry certainly were. The Digimon had beaten two of their best guards very easily.

“Ok……let’s see if you can dodge this,” The prince said before charging up his magic, and then fired three magic beams from his horn.

As the attack spells flew towards BlackWarGreymon, the prince noticed something unsettling.

“Wait. Why isn’t he moving?”

Instead of dodging or blocking, to Shinning Armor’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon allowed the attacks to strike him in the chest. Smoke followed the three explosions afterwards, covering the Digimon head to toe.

Shinning Armor and Cadence started to worry. Wondering if BlackWarGreymon was hurt and why he didn’t move out of the way.

But to their disbelief, when the smoke cleared, BlackWarGreymon was revealed, completely unharmed.

“Not bad, Shinning Armor. Though your attacks could still use some work,” The Digimon said.

“Wow, he is strong. I better keep an eye on him,” Flash Sentry said, remaining suspicious of the Digimon.

At the side-lines, Twilight and Luna giggled at the face Cadence was showing. Her mouth was hung open and her eyes were wide. She just couldn’t believe what she saw.

“T-that was Shinning’s best attack...and….and it didn’t do a thing.”

“So Cadence, what do you think of BlackWarGreymon’s performance?” Twilight asked.

At first, Cadence was speechless. The two other guards were almost as strong as her husband, and yet only a small energy burst from the saviour was all that was needed to defeat them. After getting over the shock, she answered Twilight’s question.

“T-Twilight, his power is overwhelming! And yet I can sense that it’s only a fraction compared to what he’s really capable of!”

“That makes sense. Considering that he was going easy on them the whole time,” Luna said, knowing that the Digimon was capable of so much more.

“Wait, he was!?” Cadence asked. Shocked to hear the apparent truth.

“Yeah. I mean, he destroyed a town sized boulder with just a single punch,” Rainbow Dash said, joining in on the conversation.

Cadence was once again speechless. She had no idea that BlackWarGreymon was so powerful. It even sounded as though he was stronger then the rumors said he was.

Back at the centre, the impressed Shinning Armor approached BlackWarGreymon.

“I’m impressed. You can clearly hold you own in a fight, that’s for sure.

However, before BlackWarGreymon could respond to the Unicorn, his yellow eyes widened in alarm when his senses picked up on something. Something dark.

Then to everyone’s surprise, all of them heard a sinister voice that sounded like it came from everywhere.

“Hmhmhm. I for one agree with you.”

Just as soon as the voice finished, the whole group, excluding the two guards, found that their bodies were glowing green. Then before they knew it, all of them were teleported out of the gymnasium.
…………………………………………………………………………………………........................................

When the green flash faded, the startled group found themselves in a large room high up in the crystal tower. The room was unknown, even to the royal couple. Crystal columns supported the ceiling and it had only one open window that had a good view of the land outside the empire.

“Wh-where are we?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this room before,” Cadence answered. Whom was joined by Rarity.

“Either way, this room is horrendous,” She said, noting that the walls didn’t looked as nice as the ones outside.

“But what was that voice?” Shinning Armor asked.

“It’s him.”

All eyes turned to Luna, who had the look of shock and horror on her face.

“It’s definitely him! I’ll never forget that voice.”

Then they heard the voice again.

“Good. Because it will forever be in your nightmares.”

All startled eyes turned to where the voice originated. Then to their shock, a black mist formed from the wall, then took shape of a Unicorn.

All the mares, stallions and dragon received the shock of their lives when the black mist took physical form. Revealing the tyrant king himself! Smirking at the frightened souls.

“KING SOMBRA!!!?”

While the group continued to gawk at the resurrected king, Twilight noticed that a certain someone was missing from their group.

“Wait! Where’s BlackWarGreymon!?”
…………………………………………………………………………………………................................

When the green flash of the teleportation spell faded, the confused Digimon quickly looked around his snowy surroundings.

“Wha-wait!? What? Where am I!? Where is everyone!?”

Wherever BlackWarGreymon was, he was alone. But as he looked around, he could see a very familiar sight in the distance.

“The Crystal Empire? How did I get way out here? And why?”

But as he tried to figure it out, he suddenly found himself inside a large shadow that kept on growing. He then heard thundering hoofsteps a great distance away, almost like a marching army.

When BlackWarGreymon turned around to look behind him, his eyes widened at the sight that would scare a pony to death.

“Well…this is new.”

Chapter 33: Legion, Army of the Shadows

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After what felt like a good day to introduce BlackWarGreymon to the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, Prince Shining Armor, Spike, Flash Sentry and the Mane Six found themselves in an unknown room in the crystal castle. But that was the least of their worries, because standing in front of them was the resurrected former ruler of the empire, King Sombra. And what was worse, their tall Digimon friend was missing.

Without the protection of BlackWarGreymon, some of the ponies felt vulnerable when facing the evil tyrant. But the Unicorn had been defeated before and he could be defeated again.

But one subject was on their minds for the moment.

“How? Your… we saw your body destroyed! How are you still alive!?” Cadence demanded. But Sombra chuckled in response to her shock.

“It’s very nice to see you again… Cadence was it?”

Sombra then brought his glare towards Spike. His eyes narrowing in vengeful rage.

“And you as well you little meddling lizard.”

His tone frightened the young dragon, to a point where he hid behind Twilight.

“Like Cadence said, how are you still here!?” Shining Armor demanded.

After letting out another amused chuckle, the King of the Shadows started to circle around the intimidated group. Like a predator stalking its prey.

“Why are all of you surprised to see me? Don’t you know that evil always finds a way to return? There is no end.”

“Imprisoned or banished, maybe. But we saw you destroyed by the Crystal Heart,” Twilight said while glaring back at him.

King Sombra took a good look at Twilight, and noticed something different about her from last time.

“Hmm. So, you have become the forth Alicorn. I expected a smart pony such as yourself to come here.”

“You were expecting us?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, I was.”

After he completed circling his enemies, Sombra glanced over to Princess Luna. Whom glared back angrily.

“Though I didn’t expect you to be here, Luna. Doesn’t matter now though, all of you will become my first victims.”

Hearing what Sombra said made Flash Sentry flare his wings out. Preparing to attack.

“You! No one threatens the princesses!”

With a flap of his wings, the Pegasus charged King Sombra head on. But the evil Unicorn was quick to react by firing a blast of dark magic at the guard. The attack spell sent Flash Sentry crashing into a wall, knocking him out cold.

“Flash!!” Twilight called out, but the guard was down and out.

King Sombra admittingly was surprised at how easily the Pegasus went down.

“Funny, I expected him to put up more of a fight. Oh well.”

“You’re a monster, King Sombra,” Cadence declared as she and the others glared at him in hate.

Again, Sombra chuckled at their attempts to act tough.

“I’m no monster. But speaking of monsters, I bet you’re wondering where your new friend is right now.”

The one’s whom hadn’t realised it yet looked around, and realised that he was right. BlackWarGreymon wasn’t among them.

“What have you done to him!?” Luna snapped at him.

“Don’t you worry princess, he’s perfectly fine.”

Sombra’s tone darkened as he continued.

“But by siding with you, that Digimon had sealed his fate!”

The group all gasped in shock and disbelief. But not by his threat, but by a particular word Sombra used.

“H…How did you know what he is!?” Rainbow Dash asked.

It was a question the others also wanted answering. King Sombra had never met BlackWarGreymon, and yet he knows the name of his very species. It was completely shocking to them.

But instead of directly answering, the king decided to tease them.

“Oh you’ll find out…eventually. And I reckon you’re all eager to find out what I have in store for BlackWarGreymon.”

The group again gasped after hearing him.

“You even know his name,” Twilight uttered, almost speechless.

Their shocked faces were enough to make Sombra grow a satisfying grin, revealing his large canines. He was craving their fear, he absolutely loved it.

In fact so much, he decided to reveal his show and tell.

“There. Look out the window, and tell me what you see,” The evil king said as he motioned towards the only open window on the far wall.

Though cautious if it was a trap, the timid group walked towards the window and took a good look. They then all gasped in horror at the sight, wishing that they hadn’t looked.

Far away from the Crystal Empire, though large enough to see, was a gigantic patch of black on the snowy ground. But what was strange was that it was moving towards the empire. Upon using a spell from the Alicorns to enhance their sight, the horrified group soon realised that the patch of black… was in fact an army! A large army!

The army consisted of what looked like demons that took pony form. And just like the ponies of Equestria, there were three types. Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi. What separated them from the real ponies, was that the demon-like ponies had razor-sharp teeth, pitch black exoskeleton-like armour, blood red featureless eyes, bat-like wings and curved horns similar to Sombra’s. They also had black smoke for their manes and tails, with similar smoke seeping out the sides of their mouths.

While the group of ponies and the dragon were frightened by their appearance, Luna was frightened by another reason. The creatures looked identical to the pictures she’d seen on a forbidden scroll.

“Sombra. You didn’t.”

The king smiled back at her with an amused smile.

“So you recognize them. And yes I did.”

While the group were near paralyzed with fear, Sombra explained himself.

“You see before I came here, I dropped by the deaths of Tartarus itself and found myself one of the forbidden spells that Princess Celestia had sealed away. And to prove my dominance, I retrieved one of the most frightening of all. An army of a thousand shadow ponies!”

He then shouted out the name of the forbidden spell.

“The Shadow Legion!!”

He then chuckled as he told the finale of the surprise.

“And here is the real treat. Your friend… BlackWarGreymon… is down there with them!”

“You… you beast! You fiend!” Rarity shouted.

“How could you!?” Fluttershy joined.

King Sombra laughed at their priceless reactions.

“And the best part of all my little ponies! All of you, and the whole empire will watch his demise as the legion tear him apart!!”

Sadistic joy was evident in his voice as he turned away from the group to marvel at his new army. The Shadow Legion were totally under his command.

“Watch him as he cowers in fear of the legion’s might! Watch him tremble in fright!”

However, as he paned his view onto the Digimon himself, his tone slowly changed from joy to confusion.

“Watch him… stand perfectly still… as he watched the approaching army with no fear or worry whatsoever? W-WHAT!!?”

While the group watched on in confusion of the king’s change of tone, Luna was the only one who secretly smiled.

When the others looked out, they saw why Sombra was surprised. BlackWarGreymon was indeed standing still, hundreds of feet away from the advancing shadow ponies, with no fear at all! Even from the back, he looked as though he was calm. As if he had faced the situation once before.

“He’s…… not afraid!?” Cadence asked.

Being the one who summoned the army, it was King Sombra who was the most surprised.

“How? I don’t get it! How is he not scared at all!?”

To his uncertainty, he heard the blue Alicorn chuckling to herself. Confused if she was laughing at him or not, Sombra turned to Luna in hatred.

“What? What’s so funny?”

As well as the tyrant, all other eyes turned to Luna. Even her closest were confused of what was going through the princess’s head.

“Tell me. How many shadow ponies were there again?” She asked the evil king. Almost as if she already knew the answer.

Confused as to what Luna was implying, Sombra answered the question regardless.

“One thousand exactly.”

Luna then closed her eyes as she let out an amused huff. Her actions were confusing her friends and angering the evil Unicorn.

After Sombra grunted in annoyance, Luna’s eyes remained shut as she spoke out.

“One thousand shadow ponies… against one Mega level Digimon. A thousand against one.”

Her eyes opened as she smiled with pride and confidence.

“I still think they're good odds.”

Everyone around her stuttered in surprise at what she’d just declared.

“Explain yourself, princess!” King Sombra demanded. Of which Luna obliged.

“To anypony else, the Shadow Legion are notoriously difficult to beat. Probably near impossible. But to BlackWarGreymon… they’re nothing!”

While Sombra gawked in surprise, the others were stunned as Luna continued.

“You may have numbers on your side, Sombra. But BlackWarGreymon’s strength is unparalleled! Even if you had a million solders, he would easily overpower them! BlackWarGreymon is far more powerful then either of us, even if our powers were combined!”

She then took her stance, as if she was about to charge into battle.

“You have no idea the true depths of BlackWarGreymon’s power!”

‘Wow, her faith in BlackWarGreymon is incredible,’ Cadence thought to herself as she and her friends listened to Luna’s confidence in the black Digimon.

“How can you be so sure that his power is enough to beat the might of the legion?” Sombra asked, interested in Luna’s speech.

“Because I have seen that power for myself. He had gone up against adversaries the likes that even the Shadow Legion could never hope to compare, and prevailed!”

As Luna continued, what she said next succeeded in intimidating the evil king.

“He won’t just beat your army, Sombra. He would utterly destroy them. And mark my words. Once he’s done with the legion, he will come for you.”

Her fiends looked at her in astonishment. They had never seen Luna acting so frightening. Sombra however understood the kind of tone the Alicorn was displaying. It was similar to the Luna he fought against long ago.

But the dark stallion wouldn’t let her get the best of him.

“Hmhm. Well we’ll soon see about that,” He said as he turned to the window. Witnessing what was about to happen.
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Far away from the Crystal Empire, the Shadow Legion continued to advance. All screeching out their calls like demons from hell. Far out-front hundreds of meters away, standing between the army and the empire, was the unmoved BlackWarGreymon.

Despite being outnumbered a thousand to one, the Digimon showed no fear to the oncoming legion. They didn’t scare him. To him, it wasn’t war…it was pest control.

But it was because of the vast numbers of enemies, that a long-forgotten feeling was building up inside BlackWarGreymon. He may had changed from evil to good, but deep down he was still a warrior. And what he was feeling, was the thrill of battle. His warrior side was fast returning. The last time he felt the same kind of thrill, it was when he fought against the herd of Mammothmon. But back then there were twenty, and in front of him were a thousand. Another reason he felt the thrill was because in truth, he had never fought an army before. He knew he had to protect the Crystal Empire, but he couldn’t help but feel… excited.

His excitement was evident in his half-crazed chuckle.

‘Background music’ ‘Ashes to Ashes by Blind Guardian’

At the empire, the crystal pony citizens also spotted the oncoming army. Seeing such a vast number of scary looking creatures advancing towards them scared the citizens to a point where they ran for cover. But there are some who watched on in anticipation. Because the warrior that they heard rumors of was right in their path.

The forefront of the Shadow Legion themselves soon spotted the distant Digimon. But were surprised by the fact that despite their marching, he was showing no signs if fear towards them. Deciding to start the attack, one shadow pony reared on its hind legs and released a loud roar. After sending the signal, the entire army began to charge at full speed. On land and in the air, they were quickly closing the gap between them and BlackWarGreymon.

Their attack caused a reaction to the awaiting Digimon. But not the one they expected in the slightest. In fact to them, the idea was suicidal. As BlackWarGreymon moved into a sprinting position, he dug his left foot in the ground so hard, the ground around his foot crumbled and gave way, almost caving in his foot. Then with a mighty push, he leapt off the ground and flew towards the legion at high speed. Yelling out while doing so.

Back at the castle, King Sombra and some of the others were shocked at BlackWarGreymon’s decision to engage the legion head on, alone.

“Seriously!? Is he really going to fight the whole army!?” The startled king asked, thinking that the Digimon was insane.

All the souls at the Crystal Empire could do was watch on as the hordes of demons and the jet-black dragon warrior closed the gap on each other at an alarming rate. Curved horns pointed forwards while Digizoid claws were brought to bear.

As the gaps closed, the two forces collided. A mass of the legion consumed the Digimon as they crossed paths. After a brief second, a series of three-clawed slashes were seen sliced through the air out of the group of shadow ponies. Then all at once, the mass of darkness was erased from existence. Revealing BlackWarGreymon in the heart of the advancing legion. While the army continued to run past him, BlackWarGreymon engaged those whom were in his way. As one leaped at him head-on, the black Digimon sliced it with a right uppercut. The defeated shadow pony disappeared into a puff of smoke. Then two more came at him. with his right arm still high, BlackWarGreymon swung it down in a three-clawed backhand, slicing the shadow pony. He then destroyed the second with a downward slash of his left arm. Then in a series of blows, the Mega performed another right-handed uppercut, spun around and lashed out his left arm. Destroying two more enemies in the process.

Then after a flurry of constant slashes on his Dramon Destroyers, BlackWarGreymon stomped his right foot on the ground. Releasing an invisible blast of negative energy so strong, it obliterated roughly thirty or more members of the Shadow Legion.
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Back at the castle, Sombra gawked in disbelief at the large patch of black smoke ascending towards the sky.

“How is he defeating the solders so easily?”

He turned his head around and saw the group that were his enemies. But what angered him was the mocking smirk on Luna’s face. Implying that she was correct from the start.

But Sombra wouldn’t allow it.

“You won’t be smiling for long,” King Sombra stated, before turning around and charged at the group. Ready to fight the royals, the Mane Six and the young dragon.
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Back on the battlefield, BlackWarGreymon used his Dragon Crusher attack on the legion. The wave of energy and the powerful wall of fire that followed completely incinerated any shadow ponies that stood in its path.

At first, it seemed the legion had got the Digimon surrounded. But the artificial warrior quickly took to the skies to engage the Pegasi legion. As he flew through the horde, his claws lashed out and took out more members. Within a few seconds in the air, the Digimon destroyed seven more shadow ponies.

Then as the airborne warrior faced towards the ground, he placed his claws to his front and charged up a glowing green sphere.

“War Blaster!”

As he swung his arms out, BlackWarGreymon fired five oval-shaped energy blasts at the legion below. As each one struck the ground, green light shined from the explosions upwards like water geysers.

The Unicorn shadow ponies decided to take action. A large group of them fired streams of green magic at the Digimon in the sky. But BlackWarGreymon was quick to react. As he flew high across the open air, dark magic beams trailed past him, missing their mark. He was too fast for the legion to aim. But a few of them decided to aim where BlackWarGreymon was going. Eventually the Digimon came to a stop as more energy beams flew in front of him.

With their opponent stationary, the dark Unicorns relentlessly fired beam after beam at the Digimon. At first, BlackWarGreymon dodged the blasts. But as the legion focused their fire, the Digimon had to block the attacks with his arms. The smooth surface of the Chrome Digizoid metal deflected the beams away. Some ricocheting to the ground and even destroying some of the shadow ponies themselves.

As the legion continued firing on the Digimon, four separate dark Unicorns fired a special kind of magic attack. Of which it could track the enemy and explode on impact. And that’s exactly what the grenade-like spells had done. After locking onto BlackWarGreymon, the attack spells flew towards him from all sides, and the four balls of magic exploded against him.

Upon seeing the large explosions, the Unicorn shadow ponies stopped firing and watched the plume of smoke. But as they thought that their opponent was destroyed, BlackWarGreymon rose up from the smoke cloud with a small red orb in his hands.

“Terra Destroyer!”

After causing the attack to grow in size as he raised his arms, BlackWarGreymon threw the fifty-foot wide sphere of destruction towards the ground. The shadow pony Unicorns tried to stop it or deflect it with their magical beams. But to no avail. The Terra Destroyer sphere exploded as it hit the ground, vaporizing a large portion of the army. Then BlackWarGreymon flew through the blinding light, ready to fight on.
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Back at the castle, with both their horns turned into sword-like beams of magic, Prince Shining Armor and King Sombra clashed. Pressing their horns onto each other in a wrestle of strength. At first it seemed even, but as Sombra started to advance forwards, Princess Cadence blasted him back with a magic beam to the chest.

Despite her attack being a direct hit, the evil Unicorn’s armour took the brunt of the attack. After regaining his footing, he glared at the royal couple.

“Don’t you two know who I am!? I’m a king! The rightful ruler of the Crys…”

His defiant speech was halted by Rainbow Dash’s outburst.

“Wow! Look at BlackWarGreymon go!!”

Then all eyes, even Sombra’s, turned to the window the lead to outside. And were all in awe at what they saw.

They could see at the heart of the army, emerged a gigantic black tornado! Both dominating and decimating the Shadow Legion. They could see the members of the army being swept off the ground and into the swirling black vortex. Some even popping out of existence by the energy-charged winds.

Then as the tornado faded, BlackWarGreymon was seen spinning at the heart of the vortex. Revealing that it was he who caused the tornado. After he stopped spinning, BlackWarGreymon drew his arms close together in front of him, creating a small red orb. Then as he raised his arms high, the Terra Destroyer sphere instantly expanded to eighty-feet wide! he then threw the colossal ball of energy down to earth, where a mass of legion were standing.

Even at the distance they were at, the ponies and the dragon could tell that the Digimon’s attack was gigantic. But what amazed them the most was when the attack exploded on the ground. The red light engulfed the mass of legion below in a hundred and fifty-foot-wide blast. Even from far away, they felt the vibrations.

The ones who knew him well were amazed. And the ones who only just met him, were left gawking in disbelief.

‘How in the world is he making the legion look like nothing!?’ Sombra thought to himself.

The king was so stricken by the sight of BlackWarGreymon’s power, that he didn’t notice Applejack running up to him and slammed her rear hooves up in his side. Sombra was taken by surprise as the kick sent him in the air. Then Rainbow Dash followed up by ramming him mid-air. The attack sent the dark Unicorn tumbling on the crystal ground as the blue Pegasus landed next to her orange Earth pony friend.

“What’s the matter? You looked scared!” Rainbow Dash said to mock the downed king.

As he rose back up, King Sombra glared at the two with hate.

“I’ll show you fear!”

While keeping his toothy snarl, Sombra charged at the two. Beside him he formed two shadowy clawed hands on either side of him. Throwing his head forward, he sent the shadow claws at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Grabbing the two girls and slammed them against the wall. When the hands faded, the two collapsed from the impact.

When the two tried to get back up, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were surprised to see King Sombra charging at them. But before he could get close, Twilight teleported in front of him and fired a blast of magic at the evil king. Sparks flew as purple magic collided into the king’s armour as it sent him stumbling back. As he recomposed himself, Sombra noticed a little gleam at the corner of his left eye. As he looked to its source, he saw that Shining Armor, Cadence and even Rarity firing beams of magic at him.

By reverting himself into his shadow form, the tree magic attacks flew harmlessly through his smoky body. While he remained untouchable, King Sombra fired a magic beam at the ground near the three, creating crystal pillars that shot out of the ground. Trying to separate Cadence, Shining Armor and Rarity from Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike.

Then to Sombra’s surprise, a blue beam flew out of nowhere and instead of passing through his smoky body, it froze part of it. Sombra roared in cold-filled agony before resorting back to his physical form. The ice shell that was on his previous form fell harmlessly to the ground. Separate from the evil king.

“Where did that attack came from?” He asked himself.

“Thou are getting old! You still use the same tactics!”

The angry Unicorn turned to the source of the voice, and saw Luna flying in the air.

Before he could respond, the Night Princess fired a thunderbolt spell at Sombra. The king quickly rolled out of the way as the bolt exploded on the ground. After quickly landing on his hooves, the king fired a shadow beam at the airborne Alicorn. Knowing she couldn’t dodge in time, Luna formed a magical force field around her. Though protected from harm, the power of Sombra’s attack forced her back slightly. Luna slightly strained from holding back the attack. It seemed the king had gotten stronger recently.

However, Sombra was too distracted to notice Twilight firing a purple magical orb right at him. her attack exploded when it struck Sombra’s back, throwing off his aim.

“Don’t forget about me!” The young Alicorn shouted.

Just as King Sombra snarled at Twilight, the two were joined by another voice.

“And me!”

Suddenly, Cadence fired a beam that landed in front of the dark king. Whom quickly backed away as more crystals formed out f the ground. Unlike Sombra’s dark quartz coloured crystals, the ones Cadence made were different shades of pink, purple and blue.

As he backed away, King Sombra quickly ducked to avoid a beam of magic from Shining Armor.

Thanks to their coordinated attacks, it looked as though the evil king was overwhelmed. He grunted in annoyance. He had to turn the tables in his favour.

“Enough!!”

As he slammed his front hooves on the ground, a gigantic crystal wall formed right underneath the heroes. It was a special kind of crystal combined with a trapping spell. Because when the wall finished climbing, the eight mares, the stallion and the dragon were trapped within it. Only their heads and some of their limbs remained exposed.

The amused king spoke as his captives tried to squirm free.

“Now stay put. I want to see how BlackWarGreymon is doing,” He said with a chuckle. But as he turned around to look out the window, his chuckling halted and replaced by a small gasp.

Things outside were going very badly. For him that was.

Outside, Sombra could see BlackWarGreymon flying in a loop in the sky, and then shot down towards the Shadow Legion below. Halfway down, the Digimon used his Mega Destroyer attack to engulf his body in dark energy. He then ploughed straight through the shadow troops, destroying them in the process and sending some flying. As his first attack finished, with one mighty slash of his right Dramon Destroyer, he sliced through a lot more of the army of darkness.

The Shadow King could easy tell that he had already lost a good amount of his shadow ponies. After a brief snarl, he pointed his curved horn at his army as it glowed green and purple. Sending a new command to the Shadow Legion.

As BlackWarGreymon prepared to attack again, the eyes of every single shadow pony lit up in a green glow. Then suddenly, their bodies dissolved into black clouds as they swirled around each other.

Although it was an action the legion hardly ever used, BlackWarGreymon could tell what was going on. They were combining themselves.

As one mass of cloud condensed, it took on a physical form. Its appearance was the same as before, but the only difference was its size. The new ‘Giant Pony’ was the same height as the black Digimon.

As BlackWarGreymon looked around, he could see more Giant Ponies forming. Hundreds of them. Then with a roar, the new giants charged at the Mega from all sides.

“Get bigger all you want, you still can’t defeat me,” BlackWarGreymon said before he immediately took to the skies.

Soon after, four giant Pegasi followed suit. Attempting to gain on their foe. But to their surprise, as well as the on-looking Sombra, BlackWarGreymon flew back towards the four shadow creatures. As he flew towards the first Pegasi, in a blink of an eye he slashed at the giant. Slicing of its wings, causing it to fall towards the ground. Then as he got close to the second, he grabbed its wings and literally ripped them off. The wingless shadow pony screamed as it fell. Approaching the third, BlackWarGreymon elbowed its head with his right arm. Then after an acrobatic
mid-air flip, he kicked the forth with his right foot.

His series of attacks had destroyed four giant shadow ponies with absolute ease.

“He’s destroying them just as quickly as before! How is that possible!?” King Sombra asked in disbelief. Gawking at his fallen soldiers.

After hearing Luna chuckling behind him, he turned to face her in mild annoyance.

“It matters not what they can do, the Shadow Legion are no match to the power of BlackWarGreymon.”

Even trapped in crystal, Luna’s faith in BlackWarGreymon remained unbroken. A fact that Cadence found rather odd for Luna to do. Since she normally shows the same kind of faith for Celestia.

Walking away from the open window, King Sombra was growing tired of hearing Luna’s voice.

“A bold statement. Of which I wouldn’t expect from you, Luna.”

As the battle raged on outside the castle, the Digimon remained in his prime as he chased down and destroyed three more giant shadow Pegasi. His actions had unintentionally brought him closer to the Crystal Empire.

Just as he turned to face the horde of evil, BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt that something wasn’t right.

“Wait! What’s this!?”

As he was closer to the empire then he was before, he could sense his friends in the castle. However, he also sensed that something dark was with them.

Turning his head around to look at the castle behind him, his vision zeroed in on the source of where his friends were. Even far away, he could see his friends through an open window. Plus a pony who was without a doubt King Sombra!

His eyes widened in alarm and realisation of what transpired.

“This army…was just a distraction!!?”

Seeing how such a tactic worked, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes narrowed in rage. He wanted nothing more then to save his friends and make Sombra pay. But he had the Shadow Legion to deal with. If he left them alone, they would attack the citizens. And the fact that he could still sense his friends from such a period of time, then it meant that they were holding their own against the tyrant.

But they could do nothing while imprisoned in crystal. He had to help them from the outside.

Placing his claws close together, BlackWarGreymon formed a tiny green sphere. After aiming with pin-point accuracy, he fired a single War Blaster burst towards the castle window. Afterwards, he resumed his attack on the legion.

Back at the castle, King Sombra continued to advance on his captives. Then Twilight spotted something outside heading straight towards them. Seeing that it was one of BlackWarGreymon’s attacks, she quickly alerted her friends.

“Incoming!”

As they followed Twilight’s gaze, the others too saw the War Blaster shot. They then shifted their heads as far as possible from where they expect the blast to hit. The centre of the crystal wall.

Confused at the actions of his captives, and knowing that if something was incoming it would be through the window, King Sombra quickly turned around. And was then surprised to see a green projectile heading towards him.

As the single War Blaster shot through the window, Sombra immediately ducked to avoid it. As the blast flew over his head, it collided with the crystal wall. The explosion that followed blew apart his trap.

Sombra shielded his eyes from the falling crystal shards. Afterwards, he opened his eyes and glared at the sight. Twilight, Luna, Shining Armor and Cadence were free, while the others remained trapped in balls of crystal.

“Give it up, Sombra!” Cadence shouted as her horn glowed bright. Followed by her husband, her aunt and her sister-in-law. Preparing to fire.

“Never!” Sombra shouted back as he too charged up his magic.

The king immediately fired a beam of dark magic towards the heroes. Of which the four responded by firing back at the same time.

As the beams collided, it gave way to a beam struggle. The sheer force from the combined magic shook the room and created gusts of wind that swayed their manes.

However, facing against four opponents at once was a loosing battle for King Sombra. As the combined magic from good was pushing his beam back. He could feel the strain form trying to hold them back.

‘This isn’t good! I know! I’ll use the power boost my lord gave me!’

By tapping into the depths of his power, Sombra successfully increased his magical power. To the heroes’ surprise, as well as his own, Sombra’s magic was slowly pushing back the good magic.

‘No! Sombra has gotten stronger!’ Shining Armor thought to himself as he, Twilight, Cadence and Luna tried desperately to hold on.

On the side-lines, the shocked Rarity could see the situation.

“They need our help!”

After looking around, the white Unicorn spotted a large chunk of crystal that was a fragment of the crystal wall. Using her levitation spell, she lifted the crystal fragment and sent it flying towards the evil king.

King Sombra was too distracted to notice the hurtling crystal. He roared in pain as the fragment shattered against his left rear leg. Loosing control of his magic.

Sensing that Sombra’s magic was thrown off, Luna gave the command to push forward.

“Now!!”

The prince and the tree princesses gave their all as they channelled more of their power into their spells. The sudden increase of power quickly pushed Sombra’s magic back towards him.

By the time the dark Unicorn turned his attention back to his assaulting opponents, the magic of his enemies had reached his head. What followed next was a loud explosion that blew Sombra off his hooves and skidding across the hard crystal floor.

He could feel pain throughout his body, but Sombra wasn’t the type to give up so easily. After grunting from the pain, Sombra looked at the fading light of the explosion and then at the faces of the four royals.

As they advanced on the fallen king, they failed to notice that his curved horn was glowing. Sending a new command to his army outside.
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Back outside, things had gone from bad to worse for the once mighty Shadow Legion. By combining their numbers to form Giant Ponies, they had decreased the total numbers of their army. Plus to make matters worse, BlackWarGreymon was showing no signs of exhaustion and was destroying them as quickly as before.

Bursting out of a pile of giant shadow ponies, the Digimon flew high while lifting a Giant Pony in each of his outstretched arms. After throwing them back towards the ground, he followed up his attack by throwing a small Terra Destroyer sphere. Through small, the attack had obliterated a small group of the legion.

After landing on the battered ground, BlackWarGreymon looked out at his opponents. There wasn’t much of the Shadow Legion left. If they remained in their smaller forms, he estimated that there would’ve been two hundred left. But by combining five of their members to grow into their giant forms, there were only forty giants left.

Just as he was about to declare victory, BlackWarGreymon noticed that the eyes of his enemies were glowing again. With five Giant Ponies standing in front of him, the Digimon watched as they again combined themselves to create a twenty-foot-tall ‘Goliath Pony’. Unlike the previous two forms, the Goliath Pony resembled an Alicorn.

Guessing that the others had done the same, BlackWarGreymon guessed that there were eight left in total.

Seeing the bored expression in the Digimon’s eyes angered the Goliath Pony. Whom was twice his size. After a bellowing screech, the giant dragged its hoof on the ground. A sign that it was about to charge.

‘I’ll give it three strikes,’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself. Planning to see what the giant could do.

The towering beast suddenly charged with no hesitation. Flapping its wings to propel itself faster. Then without warning, BlackWarGreymon too charged but was first to jump over the stampeding giant. As he did, his metal claws sliced through the creature’s wings.

‘Strike one,’ He thought to himself as he landed on his feet, listening to the pain-filled screeches of the Goliath Pony.

Turning around, the shadow pony roared as it threw its head sharply. Firing a black magic beam from its horn. The attack exploded against BlackWarGreymon’s back, throwing up magic-filled smoke.

The creature snarled in satisfaction, thinking that it destroyed its opponent. But then as fast as a blinking eye, a black blur flew out of the smoke and again passed over the giant. A loud slashing sound was heard, just as the Goliath Pony’s horn was sliced off.

The giant again roared in agony from feeling the piercing pain in its head. BlackWarGreymon could be seen standing behind it.

‘Strike two.’

As the Artificial Digimon turned to face his foe, the giant turned its head sharply at him. after giving him a death glare, the Goliath Pony roared in rage as it charged at full speed.

As he watched his fast approaching foe, BlackWarGreymon was disappointed. He thought that the wingless hornless fake Alicorn would’ve learnt that it was no match for him. The Shadow Legion reminded him of the other Control Spire Digimon. Mindless, obedient, and without mercy. They don’t even learn from their mistakes.

With his friends and the empire on the line, BlackWarGreymon would have to end the threat.

‘Strike three,’

As the charging Goliath Pony leapt off the ground like a pouncing cat, BlackWarGreymon reached out and grabbed the underside of its right front leg. As he was in the perfect position, he wasted no time in flipping the giant over his shoulder. Smashing its face to the ground.

With a firm hold on its leg, BlackWarGreymon spun the Goliath Pony round and flew times before throwing the beast high in the air. As he too leapt into the air, he used his Black Tornado attack to not only strike at its back, but drilled straight through it.

Before it disappeared, the Goliath Pony let out its final scream as the spiralling black winds and the Digimon burst out of its stomach.

With his opponent destroyed, BlackWarGreymon landed on the ground with his back to the remaining giants. Like the badass he was.

At the sight of one of their own in their strongest form, being easily destroyed right in front of their eyes, caused the last seven Goliath Ponies to feel something that they never felt before.

Fear.

For once in their existence, the Shadow Legion had learnt a lesson. But it was a lesson too late. The seven gawked and trembled in fear as they saw black mists of their fallen ally seeping from BlackWarGreymon’s gauntlets. As he turned around to give them a hate-filled glare, BlackWarGreymon charged forth at the remaining members, yelling all the while.

‘Song end.’
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King Sombra had locked horns with Princess Luna. The black and blue beams of magic slashing against one another. After a brief wrestle for strength, the Alicorn threw her head up, forcing Sombra away. She then slashed her magical blade across the Unicorns chest, causing sparks to fly as Sombra roared in pain.

Then using their combined magic, Twilight and Cadence lifted Sombra off his hooves and threw him into a wall.

With their backs to the open window, the three Alicorns were joined by Prince Shining Armor as they stared down at the fallen king.

On the side-lines, Flash Sentry had finally regained consciousness and surveyed the situation. Seeing some of his friends trapped in crystal, he hastily rushed over to free them.

“Don’t worry, I got you,” He said as he stomped his front hooves on the crystal trapping Spike.

After a couple of hard stumps, the crystal was shattered, and Spike was free. The Pegasus then moved onto the others whom were trapped.

Back at the scenes of battle, King Sombra rose back up on his hooves and stared angrily at the four royals.

“Don’t think that you had beaten me. You’re only delaying the inevitable. The crystal ponies will be my slaves! The Crystal Empire will be mine once more! And all o…of yo…”

The four royals became confused at Sombra’s fading voice. Plus even more so when they saw him gawking in fear at something which appears to be behind them. His body even showed signs of trembling.

Turning around to see what had got King Sombra so scared, Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor all saw in front of the large window, glaring down at the evil Unicorn with piercing yellow eyes, was BlackWarGreymon.

As King Sombra stared fearfully at the towering Digimon, seeing the yellow gleam from his enraged eyes, he could hear Luna’s words echoing in his head. Remembering what she said to him.

‘Once he’s done with the legion, he will come for you.’

Chapter 34: Test of the Digital Warrior’s loyalty

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King Sombra was known for many things. A cruel tyrant. A harsh king. A heartless sorcerer. The list goes on. But what he was hardly known for… was what he was afraid of.

His newest fear was in a form of a powerful Mega level Artificial Digimon.

In his attempt to conquer the Crystal Empire without taking on BlackWarGreymon himself, he separated them so his army, the Shadow Legion, could handle the saviour while he picked on his pony friends.

Unfortunately for him however, the four royals, Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor, had proven to be quite the handful. Even with the added power he gained from his master, the tenacious ponies were holding their own. But if that wasn’t bad enough, BlackWarGreymon himself had emerged on the scene. Glaring at the Unicorn with a hate-filled gleam of his soulless yellow eyes.

The Mega’s appearance on the other hand, had brought joy and relief among his pony friends.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Luna said with happiness in her voice.

“You’re ok!” Fluttershy joined as she and the other ponies ran up to meet him. All of them were glad that Luna was right about him all the long.

BlackWarGreymon looked down to see his dear friends smiling at him. Thankful for his return.

“Yes. I’m fine,” He responded, relieved to see that his friends weren’t badly hurt or worse.

His caring gaze dramatically changed to seriousness as he looked past them. Locking his hate-filled glare at King Sombra. The sight of his soulless yellow eyes alone sent a cold shiver in the dark Unicorn’s spine. Finally seeing the renegade Digimon up close, Sombra finally understood why he was told to be cautious of him.

“Now stand aside. I will deal with King Sombra,” BlackWarGreymon said as he narrowed his eyes at the king. Of which the others gladly obeyed.

“Oh, you’re in for it now Sombra! The big guy’s gonna mop the floor with you!” Rainbow Dash taunted.

“Are you sure he won’t need our help?” Shining Armor asked.

Before answering, Luna looked at King Sombra. The over at the towering Digimon.

“No. We would only get in his way.”

Then Twilight joined.

“And against BlackWarGreymon, this fight is over before it began.”

Flash Sentry too stayed back, curious to see what the Digital Warrior could do.

While staring at Sombra, BlackWarGreymon took the time to sense the Unicorn’s magic potential. He was displeased. The former king may be the strongest Unicorn he had faced so far, but he wasn’t as strong as Tirek. But he decided not to tell him. Instead, he wanted to teach Sombra the true meaning of fear. Giving him a reason to truly be afraid of him. And to make him pay for attacking his friends.

As the staring continued, Sombra broke the silence with uneasiness in his voice.

“How!? How did you survive!? And where did my legion go!?” He asked, unable to sense his army at all.

In response, BlackWarGreymon turned his head to look out at the open window.

“I wouldn’t worry about your army. You could say they’re… quite in ruins”

Unsure what the Digimon meant by, Sombra cautiously walked towards the window while keeping an eye on his foe. As he reached the window, Sombra looked out to its view… and gasped at what he saw.

BlackWarGreymon wasn’t joking. The once mighty Shadow Legion, all one thousand shadow ponies… were completely decimated by the Digimon’s power! The only thing he could see across the snow-covered battlefield were countless burn marks and smoking smoldering craters.

Far below him, the crystal ponies themselves were also in awe. The Shadow Legion were one of the most frightening sights they had ever seen since Sombra himself, and yet they were all defeated by one Digimon that the rumors foretold.

Rumors that weren’t rumors anymore.

‘Background music’ ‘Warriors by Imagine Dragons’

King Sombra continued to gawk at his destroyed army for a couple more seconds before averting his gaze back up to BlackWarGreymon. Seeing how close he was to such a powerful being caused the king to quickly back away in fright.

The other reason Sombra was retreating was because the Digimon himself had his slit-pupiled eyes on him. he then moved his three-horned head to keep watch on the startled king.

To keep his distance from him, the Unicorn resorted to teleport away from BlackWarGreymon. Reappearing in the centre of the room and in full view of the others.

“Don’t worry, you can always join those pests. Because if I recall, you were dead,” The Digimon said as he started to walk towards the king.

Not wanting to know what BlackWarGreymon had in mind for him, Sombra immediately created several crystal spears. All levitating in his magic.

“S-Stay back!!” Sombra demanded as he fired his spears at BlackWarGreymon. Only for them to be shattered by a mere backhand of the Digimon’s right arm. Swatting them away with no damage whatsoever.

Cadence, Shining Armor and Flash Sentry were just as surprised as King Sombra. BlackWarGreymon brushed aside the attack with no scratches at all.

Resorting to one of his attack spells, the evil Unicorn created a dark purple orb of magic on the tip of his horn.

“I’m warning you!!”

He then launched the orb at BlackWarGreymon, exploding as it made a direct hit to the chest. But the Digimon remained unaffected as he calmly walked through the smoke.

“Thanks for the warning,” He taunted.

King Sombra couldn’t believe that his attacks weren’t harming BlackWarGreymon. He had to call up the big guns. Stomping his hooves on the ground below him, he summoned a large green arcane ring around his horn while pointing it at the advancing Digimon.

Though his friends were caught by surprise by Sombra’s choice of spells, BlackWarGreymon remained unafraid.

Then without warning, countless green magic projectiles fired out of the arcane ring like a gatling gun. All landing direct hits upon BlackWarGreymon’s body, shrouding him in explosive smoke and shaking the ground.

The others could feel the power of Sombra’s spell. But to their amazement, the explosions that the beams landed upon seemed to be moving closer and closer to Sombra.

They could tell what was going on. As powerful as the attack was, BlackWarGreymon was walking through the energy blasts like they were nothing!

Sombra had his eyes shut while focusing on his attack. But as he opened them, they widened at how futile it was. Right in front of him, peering through the smoke, he could see the Digimon’s head. With his eye sockets glowing a piercing white. Then to his horror, the Unicorn saw BlackWarGreymon rearing his right arm back with his claws pointing at him.

Then as BlackWarGreymon thrusted his gauntlet forwards to destroy the arcane ring, the king immediately reverted into his shadow form. Leaving the Digizoid claws to go through him and impale the crystal floor.

He then quickly slithered underneath BlackWarGreymon and took physical form on the other side of the room. Then Sombra fired a beam of dark magic at the Digimon. But as BlackWarGreymon turned around, he used his left gauntlet to bat the attack spell away. Sending it to explode next to Sombra. Then the dragon warrior charged towards the king without fear. The white glow had never left his eyes. As he charged, he raised his right arm, intending to strike down the evil king. Sombra quickly summoned up a tall crystal pillar from the ground, hoping that it would slow down the Digimon. But to his dismay, his crystal pillar was shattered when BlackWarGreymon charged through. With no obstacles in his way, the black Digimon threw his readied claws down. But missed their mark when Sombra teleported away and reappearing on the other side of the room behind him.

While all eyes were in awe at the sight of the warring Unicorn and Digimon, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flash Sentry were both amazed and shocked. King Sombra was one of the most feared villains in Equestria’s history, and yet, BlackWarGreymon wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest. He was fighting the dark sorcerer as if he was just a common thug.

“He… he actually has Sombra on the ropes,” Shining Armor mentioned, with the others mentally agreeing.

Back at the duel, Sombra summoned up another crystal pillar from the ground. But the difference was that it had sharp spikes pointing at the slowly advancing BlackWarGreymon. Then with a yell and a telekinetic shove, the Unicorn sent the pillar straight towards the Digimon. However, BlackWarGreymon again swatted it aside. The claws on his left arm sliced the crystal in half before all collapsing behind him. The drafts from the impacts caused his yellow hair to briefly wave. His glowing gaze remained locked to the tyrant.

Annoyed at how resilient and persistent BlackWarGreymon was, Sombra tried a different tactic. With a stomp of his hoof, he summoned and sent a horizontal crystal pillar towards BlackWarGreymon. As it travelled under the ground, only the sharpened spikes stuck out of the surface, slicing the ground as it sped along.

The unusual attack was supposed to catch the Digimon by surprise. But instead, BlackWarGreymon knelt down and caught the underground weapon by its spikes. Effectively stopping it. Then to the king’s disbelief, BlackWarGreymon ripped the thing out of the ground as he jumped in the air. Then using it like a club, he swatted it down onto Sombra. But before it landed on him, Sombra teleported away just in time. Leaving the thirty-foot-long weapon to shatter against the floor.

The actions were so sudden, when Sombra reappeared away from the Digimon, he nearly stumbled over. After regaining his footing, Sombra growled in irritation as he pointed his horn at BlackWarGreymon. The began charging up an attack spell.

After seeing what the evil king was up to, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes returned to normal as he raised his left arm up to his chest. Soon after, a small red orb formed inches above the palm of his gauntlet.

The six element bearers, the three royals, the guard and the young dragon looked at the two. The ground around King Sombra quietly vibrated as he focused a lot of his magic into his horn. On the other hand, though BlackWarGreymon’s Terra Destroyer sphere grew by a couple of inches, it remained relatively small. It was almost like the Digimon was testing Sombra.

With a hate-filled yell, King Sombra threw his head down and fired a concentrated dark purple beam at his foe. At the same time, BlackWarGreymon tossed his own attack towards the Unicorn.

The ground shook and winds gusted as the two powers collided. Sparks of energy flew as dark magic held back the negative red orb. But shockingly, Sombra’s beam was being pushed back by the miniature Terra Destroyer. Drawing closer and closer to Sombra.

‘No! No! No!’ Sombra thought to himself as he closed his eyes. Concentrating as hard as he could on strengthening his attack spell.

But as the Terra Destroyer sphere was just inches from Sombra’s head, the red orb exploded. The king was sent flying from the blast.

Despite taking the blast to the face, after he skidded across the floor, Sombra stood up. After a stomp of his hoof, he summoned up a weapon he hadn’t used in a long time. It was his most favored when in close combat and itself was used to fight against the Royal Sisters themselves.

His crystal scythe.

Holding his weapon in his telekinetic grip, the angered king leapt forward and started to attack his armoured foe. Though surprised at the sudden appearance of the chosen weapon, BlackWarGreymon was quick to back off. Narrowly dodging the first swing.

Thinking that he had the advantage, King Sombra continued to lash out with his scythe. However to his annoyance, BlackWarGreymon dodged every swing while stepping back. Leaving Sombra to advance forward. After a couple of more dodges, the Digimon raised his right arm out and blocked the scythe. Sparks flew as crystal clashed onto Chrome Digizoid. But despite the sharpness of the blade, the black gauntlet took no damage.

Sombra continued to attack, of which BlackWarGreymon proceeded to block with his claws and even his shin guards. Sparks flew as the sounds of metal clanging filled the air.

After more successful blocking, BlackWarGreymon took to the air. By summoning a crystal pillar underneath himself, Sombra was lifted into the air to catch up to the Digimon. After two more clashes between the two, BlackWarGreymon lowered himself below Sombra and sliced the crystal pillar with his claws. Cut off from his base of support, Sombra fell off the falling pillar. However, by turning the lower parts of his legs into black smoke, the Unicorn was able to successfully levitate in to air while maintaining his physical form.

With the two airborne, King Sombra and BlackWarGreymon continued to clash. But since the Digimon had more experience fighting in the air, he was able to out-maneuver the Unicorn. Plus, strength and mobility were on his side. When they engaged head-on, BlackWarGreymon merely shoved Sombra aside. Other moments when they clashed, the Mega would kick at the Unicorn. Sending him through the air and taking him by surprise.

Below them, the others felt like they were on the edge of their seats. The fight was intense. But despite BlackWarGreymon’s strength advantage, Sombra had magic on his side.

As the Digimon swung his claws at him, Sombra pulled a dirty trick by teleporting BlackWarGreymon back to the ground.

As he slashed at the unexpecting open air, BlackWarGreymon stumbled as he became off-balanced.

“Wha…!?”

Both he and his startled friends had no idea such a tactic was possible, let alone Sombra had done it himself.

Although taken by surprise, BlackWarGreymon was quick to notice Sombra flying down towards him with his scythe at the ready. But to the shock of everypony, except Luna for she had seen it once before, BlackWarGreymon angled his head perfectly so his nose horn took the blow. Blocking Sombra’s scythe in a truly amazing way.

Then with a thrust of his head, BlackWarGreymon’s nose horn flung the scythe away. But it remained in Sombra’s magical grip, so the dark Unicorn swung the crystal weapon down upon the Digimon. Intending to slice him in two. But BlackWarGreymon raised his claws on his left arm up to catch the weapon. Sombra tried his might to push the blade further down, the weapon pressing hard on the base of the metal claws.

But his struggles were in vain, and the expression in the Digimon’s eyes showed it.

With one twist of his arm, BlackWarGreymon’s Dramon Destroyer snapped off the blade of Sombra’s scythe.

Time seemed to have slowed down around Sombra as he watched his most trusted weapon reduced to shards before his very eyes. The scythe itself was made from a crystal that was tougher then ordinary crystal weapons. So to see it fail made Sombra’s eyes widen in fright.

His eyes widened even more as he looked down. Because while BlackWarGreymon blocked the attack with his left arm, he was preparing a three-clawed uppercut with his right.

Sombra tried to make a forcefield beneath him. But before he could complete it, BlackWarGreymon swung his right arm up and shattered the incomplete barrier. The force from his destroyed spell sent the king hurtling through the air.

Before King Sombra had time to recover, BlackWarGreymon leapt off the ground and flew towards him. Positioning above Sombra, the Digimon elbowed the king in the stomach. Making him yell in pain. The force of the blow sent Sombra crashing to the ground. The impact made his body bounce before resting on the floor.

But it didn’t end there. As the disorientated Sombra tried to stand back up, BlackWarGreymon landed behind him with enough force to crack open the floor. One of the crystal shards from the floor flung the surprised Unicorn into the air. BlackWarGreymon followed up by slamming the back of his right arm into the king. The Digimon’s back-handed attack sent Sombra crashing into a crystal pillar that he summoned up earlier. Sombra gasped as he felt air escaping his body, the attack almost squashed him into the crystal. Then to his shock, BlackWarGreymon charged into him, destroying the crystal pillar in the process.

The collapsing crystals threw up a thick blanket of dust in the air, shrouding the two.

The impacts sent vibrations through the ground. It felt like the whole room was coming down. The Mane Six, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence, Spike and Flash Sentry felt like they should run and hide. But at the same time, they wanted to see if their digital friend was alright.

Then a sight sent a vibe straight through the group. It was not a vibe of fear, it was a vibe of awe. Rising from the dust cloud was BlackWarGreymon. He then raised his right arm up, revealing in his grip, the struggling King Sombra.

All gasped as they watched BlackWarGreymon holding Sombra up by the scruff of his neck. The king squirming, trying to break free, but the Digimon’s grip was like steel. Then turning around, BlackWarGreymon threw King Sombra across the room. Skidding across the crystal floor before slamming against the far wall.

‘Song end’

All was silent among the onlooking group. They could cut the tension of the atmosphere with a knife. They couldn’t believe that while it took a lot of effort from them to stop Sombra, both past and present, BlackWarGreymon bested him with ease.

Remaining still by the window, the black Digimon watched as the weary Unicorn struggled to rise back on his hooves.

“I’m disappointed Sombra. I thought you would be more formidable.”

While BlackWarGreymon merely stated a fact, to Sombra the sentence was mockery. Standing fully back up, the king felt furious from the apparent insult. He glared dangerously at his tall foe as his horn began to glow.

“Well then… try stopping this!”

Pouring all the boosted power into his magic, Sombra fired three huge magic blasts from his horn. The aim was more random then focused, because while the first blast exploded as it hit the floor in front of BlackWarGreymon, the second hit directly onto the armoured chest while the third collided into the upper frame of the window behind him.

King Sombra didn’t stop. He yelled as he continued to fire more and more green projectiles at BlackWarGreymon. Each one getting bigger than the last. Green trails streamed across the open air before landing in BlackWarGreymon’s vicinity. Either on the ground, the wall, or the Digimon himself, the attacks created smoke which completely engulfed the armoured warrior.

Sombra didn’t care anymore. He continued to rapid fire blindly at the cloud of smoke, most of which he guest had hit BlackWarGreymon. The explosions also sent violent vibrations through the ground. The others struggled to remain standing. Some of Sombra’s stray attacks destroyed the open window, causing a big hole in its place while some of the attacks flew out and onto the empire below. The terrified crystal ponies ran in terror as streaks of green rained down upon them.

As quickly as they came, the attacks stopped. Despite the ferociousness of the attacks, amazingly nopony got hurt. The attacks only caused property damage. All eyes looked up at the gaping hole on the side of the tall castle. From where the attacks came from.

Back at the castle, Sombra huffed after he finished attacking. Exhausted from overusing his magic. Him and the frightened heroes stared at the massive cloud of smoke where BlackWarGreymon stood.

While some were worried that BlackWarGreymon may had gotten himself hurt from the surprising large-scale attack, King Sombra started to grin. Then started to chuckle in satisfaction.

But just as he was about to roar in laughter, he suddenly felt a vibration through the ground, causing him to stop.

The others felt it too, then the vibration was followed by another. And another. Until it almost sounded like…footsteps.

“Wh…Wh…WHAAAAAA!!?” Sombra gawked in horror as he saw the Digimon’s silhouette through the smoke.

As he continued to advance on the frightened Shadow King, BlackWarGreymon emerged from the cloud with the same hate in his eyes as before. Despite that every inch of his body had been hit, and that smoke was seeping from the blasts on his armour, BlackWarGreymon remained unharmed!

“No way,” Flash Sentry said in mild horror. Thinking that the Digimon in front of him was invincible.

“Sombra just gave everything he had…” Shining Armor said. With Cadence finishing his sentence.

“And he didn’t get so much of a scratch.”

Meanwhile, the Mane Six, Spike and Luna all smiled in joy. Sombra’s attacks were like nothing to their otherworldly friend.

King Sombra started to back away in fright as his foe continued marching towards him. Not just because of the Digimon’s power or strength, it was from the thought of what he would do to him.

Unlike all the other foes he had faced in the past, whom were heroes, BlackWarGreymon was an anti-hero. Sombra knew that well. And since BlackWarGreymon hadn’t started out pure of good, he would not be merciful. Upon seeing how dangerously violent the Digimon was, plus the fact that Sombra was once dead, it’s entirely possible that BlackWarGreymon wouldn’t even hesitate to kill him. Riding Equestria of another one of its villains.

No. Sombra would not allow that. The king had endured over a thousand years of boredom from when he was sealed away. Then experience his first death by the power if the Crystal Heart. Only to have been resurrected by his master. He didn’t want to risk another failure. To succeed, he had to give it his all. No matter the odds, even if all of them were against him.

With his mind and his dark heart filled with rage, he channeled all his anger into his horn. Charging up a hate-filled attack. The ground slowly started to shake from the build up of energy. He snarled as he felt the strain from collecting up the deepest depths of his magic. While saving a few in case he needed to escape.

Those whom were watching from the sidelines were worried. They had never seen Sombra so furious before. Even Luna. And yet, BlackWarGreymon marched on towards him with no fear whatsoever.

As the Digimon got closer and closer, the evil Unicorn unleashed his fury.

“HAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

From out of his curved horn, King Sombra fired a powerful beam at BlackWarGreymon point blank! The huge river of green magic consumed the Digimon and continued to fire through the hole in the wall behind him. Launching outside in the distance.

The attack caused the ground to shake violently again. As it stopped, Sombra and the heroes looked to where the Digimon stood. The whole place shrouded in smoke.

“Come on. Surely that did the trick. There is no way that he could…!”

Sombra stopped mid-sentence when the smoke in front of him cleared. And to his horror, plus to the relief of the others, BlackWarGreymon was still standing. Glaring down at Sombra while smoke seeped from his armour.

Though relieved, the Digimon’s friends again were in awe. Even after an attack from Sombra at its fullest, he wasn’t hurt by it at all.

Sombra couldn’t move, frightened that his attacks failed one by one. BlackWarGreymon had a hint of amusement in his eyes upon sensing Sombra’s fear.

“A valiant effort, I’ll give you that. But Twilight was right,” The Digimon said as he quickly reached down and grabbed Sombra by his head. Then to the Unicorn’s surprise, he was being lifted off his hooves as BlackWarGreymon stood back up. Sombra struggled as he felt the iron grip squeezing his head.

“This fight was over before it began!” BlackWarGreymon continued before he spun around and threw the Unicorn across the room.

Sombra grunted in pain as he skidded across the hard floor, eventually coming to a stop. Not wanting to give up, Sombra painfully rose back on his hooves. Glaring at the tall Digimon with hate as he listened.

“Fool. Your attacks cannot hurt me. My power is too great! You cannot defeat me!”

“Oh yeah!?”

Trying to exploit the only weakness he could think of, Sombra teleported behind BlackWarGreymon and yet again fired an attack spell. Exploding at the back of the Digimon’s armoured head. However, all it did was made his yellow hair wave wildly. BlackWarGreymon proved the attacks’ ineffectiveness by turning his head so his slit-pupiled eye was staring directly at the Shadow King. Sending another chill of fear up his spine.

“You claim to know what fear truly is?” He asked, continuing after turning to face King Sombra.

“Compared to me, you know nothing.”

Some members of the group on the sidelines were confused as to what BlackWarGreymon was implying then what confused them even more, as well as BlackWarGreymon himself, Sombra started to chuckle.

As he snickered, the dark Unicorn spoke up.

“You know, if you were truly pure of heart… you would’ve never said those words.”

“What do you mean?” The Digimon asked, but had a feeling what the answer was.

“Oh, I believe you already know.”

Sombra paused before continuing.

“You were evil yourself, weren’t you?”

The three whom hadn’t known BlackWarGreymon for long gasped in shock. Knowing that what Sombra said about BlackWarGreymon’s words were true.

“Wa…was he…?” Cadence asked while her husband stared in disbelief.

“A bad guy!?” Flash Sentry uttered, realising why he felt uncomfortable around the Digimon in the first place.

The others grew concerned for the three. They hoped to either tell them later of avoid the subject entirely.

What they didn’t know, was that secretly it was one of Sombra’s tactics. A phycological attack. Trying to mess with his opponents’ heads so they may either doubt each other or turn against each other.

After a moment of guilt-filled silence, BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“Yes…I was. But that was who I was, not who I am.”

“Oh? And I suppose your friends didn’t know?” Sombra asked with a sinister grin, thinking that he had BlackWarGreymon’s quaking in fear.

Unfortunately, a response from Luna was not what he was expecting.

“We already know!”

King Sombra paused for what felt like an eternity. The veins in his head throbbing in stress and frustration. He then snapped his head to the group as he lost his calm demeanor.

“YOU WHAT!!?”

“Yeah, BlackWarGreymon told us on the day he arrived in Equestria. Heck, some of us had even seen his past.” Twilight mentioned, shocking Sombra, Cadence, Shining Armor and Flash Sentry.

Shocked to realise that the ponies and the dragon knew about it the whole time, Sombra slowly turned his attention back to BlackWarGreymon. Gawking at him as his attacks fail one by one.

“First my physical attacks, then my magic attacks, and now my phycological attacks. They all aren’t doing a thing! Wha…what are you!?”

If BlackWarGreymon had lips, he would be grinning at the sight of the fearful sorcerer. The only proof was in his eyes. After another frightening glare at the Unicorn, BlackWarGreymon spoke.

“Listen well Sombra, it may be the last thing you would ever hear. I may had done evil deeds in the past. I admit that. But do you know the true difference between you and I? You were born as a normal Unicorn, but you sold your soul to the darkness that made you who you are now. Me on the other hand… I was HANDCRAFTED from darkness! Created to destroy! My speed, my strength, my stamina, my power all rival…no…DWARF YOURS!”

BlackWarGreymon’s words were making Sombra quaking in fear. And what he said about being created from darkness were sending frightening vibes to some of his friends. Mostly the royal couple.

But the Digimon wasn’t finished.

“You may call yourself king, Sombra. But in comparison to you, I am a god!”

Without knowing, BlackWarGreymon’s brief anger caused him to release a pulse of invisible negative energy from his body. Blowing dust from the floor as well as slightly pushing Sombra back. The others too felt the pulse. To them which felt like a strong gust of wind as it blew through their manes.

“I can annihilate you in a blink of an eye! Don’t you forget it!” BlackWarGreymon finished.

After BlackWarGreymon’s performance, even his most trusted friends became nervous. Worried that the ‘old’ BlackWarGreymon was returning to the surface.

They hoped not.

Though intimidated, Sombra was admittingly impressed. He definatly detected a hint of malice in the Digimon’s voice.

Then a lightbulb lit up in his head. Formulating a cunning idea to turn the tables around. He grinned as he spoke up.

“It may not even come to that. You have great power BlackWarGreymon. A marvelous talent that even I envy for. Why not join me, instead of wasting such talent on helping the weak.”

The others couldn’t believe what Sombra had just said. Some even gasped in shock. But if BlackWarGreymon had gone so far into his friendship with them, they knew that their digital friend would refuse.

Lucky for them, BlackWarGreymon thought the same way.

“You’ve got to be kidding. I will never become evil ever again! And I would never join forces with you!”

Despite his loud outburst, the others breathed a sigh of relief as his choice. Twilight, Luna and even Cadence smiled at the Digimon’s decision.

While it seemed he’d lost a potentially powerful ally, King Sombra let out a toothy grin, then made his move!

As his eyes and his horn glowed green, he changed into his shadow form and charged full speed towards the Digimon before he could even react.

The surprised Digimon wasn’t prepared for what was next to come. As the black mists passed through his head, BlackWarGreymon yelled out an agonizing scream as pain struck into his mind.

All his friends let out gasps of horror at what was happening in front of them. Hoping that a horrible feeling they felt wouldn’t happen.

As he continued to scream, BlackWarGreymon became paralyzed as Sombra flew by and took physical form behind the Digimon. Grinning in triumphant.

“You have no choice.”

King Sombra then lit up his horn, increasing the effectiveness of his spell that he’d placed upon BlackWarGreymon. His actions caused even more pain to the black Digimon. Grabbing the sides of his head to control his thrashing. But to no avail.

What was happening was exactly what Luna feared. King Sombra was known for his mastery of magic. One of which… was mind control!

“Stop this, Sombra! You’re hurting him!” Cadence demanded, but Sombra didn’t listen.

“BlackWarGreymon! Snap out of it! Don’t let him control your mind!” Luna shouted to her friend in urgency.

“Yes BlackWarGreymon! Fight him!” Twilight joined while the others too urged on.

However, BlackWarGreymon was too in pain to listen. Stumbling around as he tried to regain his thoughts. Screaming all the while. Then thoughts of his past came flowing back into his mind. Reminding the Digimon of what he was. What he had done. What he was created for. BlackWarGreymon clenched his eyes shut, trying to force the thoughts out of his mind.

“BlackWarGreymon!! Don’t give in!!”

Then Luna’s voice quietened.

“Please. I beg of you.”

BlackWarGreymon kept on thrashing and screaming for a couple more moments as Sombra kept up his mind attack. The Digimon was literally at war with himself. Then all the sudden, all was quiet when he stopped thrashing. The Mega then lowered his arms away from his head, dropping down to his sides.

While King Sombra was unsure if his spell worked, the others became concerned from BlackWarGreymon’s lack of movement.

“BlackWarGreymon?” Fluttershy uttered, hoping that her friend would respond.

After a few more seconds of silence, all ears heard BlackWarGreymon… growling? Then as he raised his head, his eyes snapped open. Revealing an eerie green glow!

All his friends gasped in horror at the sight of him having his mind possessed. Sombra meanwhile seemed started.

“Wow it actually worked. …WOW IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!”

He then blurted out an evil laughter at his success. Then Twilight turned to him with anger in her voice.

“What did you do to him!?”

After he stopped laughing, Sombra happily answered.

“You see, the mind control spell I used is only ineffective to those pure of heart. Obviously, he is not pure of heart. So the spell worked and now your precious warrior is under my control!”

He then had an idea to prove it.

“To see if he serves me. BlackWarGreymon! Face your enemy!”

Sombra gave the command, to test if his spell really was working. At first, BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond. Then to the surprise of everyone, he turned to face whom he deemed were his enemies. His own friends!

The mares and stallions took a few frightening steps back. Staring into BlackWarGreymon’s glowing green eyes as faint purple mist escaped from them.

“BlackWarGreymon no,” Luna said in despair, already feeling a tear forming in her left eye.

Sombra meanwhile couldn’t be more happier.

‘This is brilliant! I can now redeem myself! If I take him back to the lair, my lord is sure to reward me! With him and BlackWarGreymon, nothing can stop us! Not even the mighty Alicorns.’

The evil Unicorn grinned at the fearful group, deciding that it was time to end it for good.

“I’d like to thank you all for bringing BlackWarGreymon to me. He would make a useful slave. But now it’s too late for you!”

Then to the horror of the group, Sombra turned to the Digimon with a new order.

“BlackWarGreymon! Destroy them!!”

The Mane Six, Luna, Spike, the royal couple and Flash Sentry began to quake in fear. BlackWarGreymon had defeated every opposition in his way. Unfortunately, they were next on the list. One thing on their mind was, how was he going to end them.

It didn’t took long. While glaring at the group, BlackWarGreymon lifted his right gauntlet with his palm faced up. As his arm reached beside his chest, the possessed Digimon formed a small Terra Destroyer sphere inches above his palm. The red glow glowing bright.

It was the one thing the group never expected. To be killed by their newest friend.

Powerless against someone like BlackWarGreymon, the Mane Six and Spike all huddled together with tears in their eyes. So even if the end comes, they wouldn’t be apart. Shining Armor cradled the trembling Cadence close, staying by her side no matter what. Flash Sentry stood in front of the couple in an effort to protect them. He too was terrified of what he thought was the upcoming end.

Princess Luna was the only one still standing. Although just as afraid as the others, the emotions she was experiencing the most was pain and sadness. Tears were flowing out of her eyes at the sight of her dear friend being controlled.

Desperate to get BlackWarGreymon back, Luna spoke to him once more.

“So is this what you want, BlackWarGreymon? To live your life being controlled? To become evil once more? You’re better than this, BlackWarGreymon! Didn’t our friendship mean anything to you!? Do you really want to throw away everything you accomplished, just to become Sombra’s puppet!? His slave!? The very thing you despised the most!?”

It seemed as though… Luna’s plea fell to deaf ears. BlackWarGreymon’s expression hadn’t changed, his eyes were still glowing green and the small Terra Destroyer orb remained in his grasp. Luna held her breath to see if the possessed Mega would respond in any way. But since he didn’t, Luna felt like to collapse and weep. But she couldn’t. She just didn’t know what to do.

The reason BlackWarGreymon hadn’t attacked yet was because King Sombra was mentally holding him back. He wanted to hear the grief and sadness from those who were friends of the Digimon. Thriving on their misery. He would do the same to the Crystal Empire once he would take control of it.

Once he felt satisfied, Sombra gave the command that terrified the group.

“DO IT!”

Everypony and the dragon all closed their eyes tight, not wanting to see their demise by BlackWarGreymon’s hand. Wishing that it was all a nightmare and that they needed to wake up.

A second went by. Then two more. Then five more. Over ten seconds went by… and nothing happened.

Slowly opening their fearful eyes, the mares, stallions and the young dragon turned to the possessed BlackWarGreymon in confusion. He didn’t move a muscle. He remained still with the same red orb above his palm.

“Why didn’t he attack?” Twilight asked with a shaky voice, scared that it might be a delayed death.

Sombra too looked at BlackWarGreymon in confusion. With the mix of surprise and anger that his minion didn’t obey an order.

“Did you hear me? I said do it! Destroy them!”

Though the group flinched, their Mega level Digimon friend remained still.

“Obey! You will obey me!!” Sombra shouted, enraged by BlackWarGreymon’s disobedience.

“Why?”

The Mane Six, the royal couple, Luna, Spike, Flash Sentry and even King Sombra were surprised to hear BlackWarGreymon’s voice. His glowing green eyes showed that he remained possessed. But yet, he spoke back to Sombra.

“What was that?” The king asked. But the Digimon repeated himself.

“Why?”

“Are you defying my orders!?”

“Why?”

Sombra then stomped his hoof in rage. He couldn’t simply not tolerate disobedience.

“Do you know who I am? I am King Sombra! I am your master! And you will obey me!”

“But…why?”

The group didn’t know what to feel. But since BlackWarGreymon was questioning the king’s orders, it must be a good sign. With no words to say, most of the group slowly smiled in hope. Thinking that the true BlackWarGreymon was fighting back.

‘Could he be… resisting my mind control?’ Sombra thought to himself. Bu then snarled in anger.

“You disobedient brat! You will follow my orders!”

His horn lit up in green magic. Trying to reinforce his spell on BlackWarGreymon. The Digimon twinged slightly from the sudden pain. But he remained still. The red orb in his palm was seen flickering as he tried to regain control of his powers.

Then all of a sudden… a miracle happened.

“I…take orders…FROM NO ONE!!!” The possessed BlackWarGreymon shouted as he quickly turned around and threw his attack at King Sombra.

The small Terra Destroyer sphere landed in front of the Unicorn, the explosion that followed blowing him away.

“Wh-What in the world!?” Sombra shouted as he recovered from the blast, stumbling while doing so.

The others stared at the Digimon in amazement. Though his eyes were still glowing green, it looked as though he regained some parts of his mind. Luckily, his tendency of being disobedient.

What he said next startled Luna. As if what she said before had reached into him after all.

“I…am not… your slave. I am no ones’ slave!” The Digimon shouted to King Sombra. Then clenched his hands on his head to try and get his mind back.

BlackWarGreymon grunted as he closed his eyes, trying to focus on regaining control. Trying to force Sombra out.

“Get…out…OF MY HEAD!!!”

After a few more moments of yelling, BlackWarGreymon calmed down. Then after taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes. The green glow only briefly seen before fading away completely, revealing his signature yellow eyes.

“I’m back,” He simply said, stating his return to normality.

The others were literally blown away at what they saw. Their friend had just got his mind back. A true feat since no one had ever resisted Sombra’s mind control spells all on their own. They suddenly cheered for BlackWarGreymon. Some were so happy, they felt like giving him hugs. But that would have to wait.

King Sombra slowly started to walk to his right, while BlackWarGreymon did the same. Circling each other while glaring hatred at one another. The others knew things weren’t going well for the Unicorn. They could see that he was slightly limping from BlackWarGreymon’s last attack, and that some could sense that his magic was running very low. The Digimon however had virtually no change whatsoever. He had plenty more energy and remained in his prime.

As the two continued to circle each other, Sombra found himself very near the whole in the wall that lead outside. The spot exactly where he wanted to be. He then stopped and grinned at BlackWarGreymon, taking a quick second to glance over to the Digimon’s friends.

“I’ll be back. You and your friends will be disposed of and the empire will be mine once again. But for now, I’ll leave you a little gift!”

With a mighty stomp of his forehooves, Sombra successfully summoned two shadow ponies in their ‘giant’ forms. Seeing the nightmarish creatures made the heroes on the sidelines gasp in fright.

BlackWarGreymon glared at Sombra in anger. He knew that the king would use them to aid in his escape. The Digimon had a choice. Ignore the shadow ponies and finish off Sombra, or protect his friends from the two members of the Shadow Legion.

BlackWarGreymon knew what he had to do, but it seemed Sombra predicted it.

With an outburst of evil laughter, King Sombra changed into his shadow form and escaped through the hole in the wall. He then fled to the mountains as fast as he could.

Back in the castle, BlackWarGreymon grunted in anger. One of the things he didn’t like the most, was letting his opponent escape. At least with the two giant shadow ponies, he had something to take his anger out on.

The two shadow ponies charged forth at BlackWarGreymon, with the Digimon himself doing the same. The mare, stallions and the dragon watched on in anticipation. They were getting to see some of the ways how their tall friend took out the shadow pony army.

The distance closed quickly as BlackWarGreymon charged towards the first shadow giant. The creature was first to attack, leaping towards BlackWarGreymon’s head. But the Digimon ducked down to avoid it. As the giant pony flew inches above his right shoulder, BlackWarGreymon immediately rose back up. Using his shoulder to push the shadow pony high in the air.

As the panicked shadow pony flailed in the air, BlackWarGreymon leapt into the air and twisted his body to face the creature. As he rose above it, the Digimon reared his right arm back. Claws pointing at his foe. As the two started to fall back down, BlackWarGreymon launched his arm forward. Impaling the shadow giant through its stomach area.

The two landed, metal claws remained imbedded in the shadow pony even after it faded from existence. Looking over his shoulder, BlackWarGreymon saw the second Giant Pony charging towards him. Quickly twirling around in an anti-clockwise angle, the Mega slashed his claws on his left gauntlet at the giant. Slicing it in two as it charged by.

Within seconds, both the giant shadow ponies had been destroyed. The peace in the Crystal Empire had been restored.

The others on the sidelines were in awe. Seeing how swiftly and efficiently BlackWarGreymon finished off the shadow ponies.

Sensing no more threats and that King Sombra was long gone, BlackWarGreymon lowered his arms and relaxed his body. Taking in a deep breath while doing so.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

The Digimon heard the voice behind him, quickly followed by a rush of hoofsteps approaching him.

While turning around, BlackWarGreymon spoke.

“Are all of you alri…!”

His words came to a startling halt when he felt something wrapped tight around his left leg. At first, he thought it was either Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy. But to his surprise, when he looked down, it turned out to be Princess Luna.

“For a second I thought we lost you!” She said, sounding both worried and happy at the same time.

BlackWarGreymon looked down at her in amazement. He had never seen Luna acted so emotionally. Then a thought occurred to him. When he was possessed by King Sombra, he definatly recalled hearing Luna calling out to him. Trying desperately to get through to him and draw him out. Since it was her voice, the Digimon understood why the blue Alicorn would be so relieved.

That’s what BlackWarGreymon liked about Luna. Even though his power was much greater then hers, she felt very concerned for his wellbeing. Even though it should be the other way around.

Upon seeing how much Luna cared for him, it caused BlackWarGreymon to feel odd again. The warmth in his chest, his increased heartrate, feeling almost breathless and in addition, a warm feeling in his cheeks. As if he was blushing deeply. That and how speechless he was.

Luna continued to embrace her tall friend. Until she heard a voice.

“Umm… princess?”

Upon hearing Applejack’s voice, Luna’s eyes snapped open in realisation as her face suddenly turned from blue to red. Embarrassed at what she had just done openly.

Quickly pulling herself away from BlackWarGreymon, Luna stuttered as she tried to think of something to say.

“Oh…ur…sorry. It’s… just from the excitement.”

While all ponies stared at her in confusion, Spike was the only one who seemed oblivious.

“Yeah, no kidding. I thought Sombra had you under his spell for a second.”

When Spike brought back the subject of the matter, all eyes turned to the tall Mega. Thinking of the same thing. Then Cadence briefly looked over to Luna, wondering about what she’d just seen.

“You’re ok, BlackWarGreymon?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. I’m fine now,” BlackWarGreymon said as he looked out to the hole in the wall that Sombra flew out off.

Though angry that the Unicorn got away, he knew that he would return with a vengeance.

Chapter 35: The Threat Deepens

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Hidden lair, unknown location

The one thing that King Sombra dreaded the most upon first meeting his new master, was to disappoint him. Unfortunately for the unicorn, the very thought became a reality. Sombra completely underestimated BlackWarGreymon. He thought that the Shadow Legion would be enough to destroy the Digimon, or at least wore him down. But no. Because of his carelessness, Sombra had lost the element of surprise. Not only he was proven to be alive, but the whole Crystal Empire would be aware of his revival.

Sombra himself stood firm in the dark chamber, trying to keep his confident composure. But failing two missions, he figured that his master wouldn’t be pleased. It was evident, since the evil Digimon had his back to the Unicorn with his arms crossed on his back. Queen Chrysalis and some of her Changelings stood aside. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of what might go down.

King Sombra nervously gulped, creeped out by the Digimon’s long pause. But then was startled when he spoke.

“Twice you failed me. I expected more from you, Sombra. But you’re becoming as useless as that Tirek.”

Sombra looked down in shame before speaking.

“I’m…I’m sorry my lord. I tried my best. But…he just toyed with me! My legion didn’t stood a chance. Even my mind control spell failed. In the end…I had to retreat.

Silence again filled the chamber. Chrysalis felt sorry for Sombra, knowing that he was the type who didn’t like feeling powerless.

The once proud Unicorn king then listened to what the evil Digimon had to say.

“You’re just lucky to be alive at all. BlackWarGreymon is a Mega. If he wanted you dead, he would’ve done so from the start.”

The former king felt a cold chill up his spine. Not realising that the Artificial Digimon could end his life so easily. He could only figure out that the reason why BlackWarGreymon hadn’t killed him was that, either he had gotten soft, or he wanted to strike terror in Sombra’s black heart. Hurting him slowly so he could feel the Digimon’s power.

But what his dark master said next was something Sombra dreaded most of all.

“Too bad he didn’t kill you though. He would’ve spared you the fate of being tortured by me for failure.”

The frightened Sombra knew his master was being serious. He could see the gleam in his piercing yellow eyes. The beast-like creature raised his huge arms above Sombra’s head, his claw-like finger ready to do their nasty work. Preparing to accept his punishment, the Unicorn stood still with his eyes shut tight. Not wanting to see what his master was about to do to him.

Just as the Digimon was about to inflict pain on Sombra, something odd caught his sights. Causing him to stop momentarily.

“Huh?”

Though Sombra remained having his eyes shut, he felt no pain on him. Confused as to why his master suddenly stopped, Sombra opened his eyes in confusion. Looking up to his master, only to see that he had a look of confusion of his own.

“My lord?” He asked.

“What is it, master?” Chrysalis joined, curious of what was going on.

“What’s that?” The Digimon asked as he lowered his arms.

Sombra knew that the question was aimed at him. He looked around to see if something was out of the ordinary. But found nothing.

“What’s what?” The Unicorn asked.

“There’s something stuck on your crown,” The Digimon pointed out as he reached his right arm down towards Sombra’s head.

The king flinched from having such large claws near his head. As the being reached towards the Unicorn’s crown, he plucked something free from it. Pulling his hand away, the Digimon, Sombra and Chrysalis got a good look at what was pinched in-between the finger and thumb of the monster.

“Is that…yellow hair?” The Changeling Queen asked as she eyed the hair-like substance.

“I must have got it from one of those mares,” Sombra mentioned, recalling his little scuffle with either Rainbow Dash or Applejack.

But the Digimon said otherwise as he brought the hair sample closer to his face. Analysing the yellow strands closer.

“No. This isn’t pony hair. This is… Digimon hair!” He said. To the confusion of the others, his voice had excitement in it.

“Of course. BlackWarGreymon’s hair must have been caught on my crown when I tried to mind control him,” Sombra said, recalling the time that in his shadow form, he phased through the Mega’s head.

It must have been true, since it was the only time Sombra came so close to BlackWarGreymon’s head. The king the brought his attention back to the tone of voice that his master used.

“But… what’s the big deal about some bit of hair? It’s not like its going to be useful.”

“Oh, but on the contrary Sombra, I will make good use of this. In fact… it’s perfect for what I just have in mind!”

He then turned towards Sombra.

“Congratulations. You had just redeemed yourself, Sombra.”

Though the Unicorn was glad that he was spared from his punishment, both he and Chrysalis were confused as to what the Digimon had in mind.

“But, what can you possibly make use of that hair for?” The Changeling Queen asked.

The dark being only chuckled before answering. A sinister smile forming on his face as he came up with a crazy idea on how to defeat BlackWarGreymon.

“Oh you will soon find out. Sombra, can you shape your black mist into any shape?”

“Of course, I can. I’m the master of the shadows after all.” The Unicorn said proudly.

Then the Digimon turned to the queen.

“Chrysalis, can your solders manipulate weather?”

“Well… we’ve never done that before. But I believe we can with our magic.” The royal Changeling answered.

The evil Digimon grinned even more as he looked at the samples of BlackWarGreymon’s hair.

“Good. Now we can begin the experiment!”
…………………………………………………………………………………….......................................................................

Castle of the Crystal Empire

Upon learning that the there was a hidden door, the Mane Six, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, Flash Sentry and Spike left the room they were trapped in and headed down a large staircase back to the main part of the castle. They were also followed by BlackWarGreymon, all the while engaging in conversation.

“Come on, admit it big guy. You were just pretending to be mind controlled, weren’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked, thinking that it was just a ploy to fool Sombra.

“Honestly I wasn’t. Sombra’s magic filled my mind with thoughts of violence and hate. But I eventually regained control,” BlackWarGreymon admitted.

Luna meanwhile secretly smiled. Feeling that it her words was in fact the catalyst of what started the Digimon rebelling against Sombra.

The Mega then felt guilty.

“I’m sorry if I frightened you all.”

“It’s ok, BlackWarGreymon. We’re just lucky that you came back just in time,” Twilight said with a smile.

Their conversation continued as they entered the main hall. Shining Armor talking to the tall Digimon.

“I still can’t believe that even King Sombra couldn’t beat you. And the way you took out those shadow ponies was amazing.”

Then Luna frowned from a fact she just realised.

“Yes. But those weren’t just shadow ponies. They were the Shadow Legion that I heard about a long time ago. Only my sister knows about them. But why would Sombra go great lengths to conquer the Crystal Empire? Especially with the Shadow Legion?”

As the others walked on, BlackWarGreymon stopped as he spoke up.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

His question made the group pause for a second. They then turned around to look at their friend. Only to see that his eyes looked serious.

“What is it?” Luna asked.

Before answering, BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes in thought.

“I thought if it for a while. But what happened today only confirmed it.”

“Confirmed what?” Cadence asked.

BlackWarGreymon then opened his eyes. The look of pain within them.

“That I won’t always be around to protect you.”

Most of the group felt frightened at the Digimon’s words. Some even sad. But it felt like the statement was true. The black Digimon then explained himself.

“Sombra deliberately placed his army outside, so that he could draw me away from the empire. Distracting me so that he could go after you.”

The group were shocked, but what he said in fact made sense.

“I see. That’s why you were teleported outside. And that’s why Sombra looked surprised when you arrived. Sombra wanted to get us, without facing you,” Twilight said, finally understanding Sombra’s plan.

The group then turned to BlackWarGreymon. Knowing that he had something else to say.

“That’s why you all need to train to fight. In case such things would happen again.”

“Train?” The Mane Six asked at the same time. Unsure what BlackWarGreymon had in mind for them.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..............................................................

After a short trip, the group found themselves back at the newly built gymnasium. BlackWarGreymon then explained what he wanted them to do.

“Ok. Since all of you managed to hold off Sombra long enough for me to arrive, then it must mean that you know how to defend yourselves. What we’re doing here is to see you all in action, then to focus on anything that needs improving."

After raising her hoof, Rainbow Dash asked a question.

“Umm… I already know how to fight. So what do I do?”

After a brief thought, BlackWarGreymon had an idea.

“Then you can teach the others to fight.”

“No problem.” The Pegasus said with pride in her voice.

“What about me?” Luna asked.

BlackWarGreymon momentarily looked at Luna. Like Celestia, she too had experience in combat during her long reign. He then looked over to Cadence. Though she was shorter and not as strong as Luna, the two Alicorns were roughly the same build.

“I would like you to pair up with Cadence. Teach her well,” He said as he made his decision.

“I will,” Luna said as she and Cadence smiled at each other.

The Digimon then turned towards Shining Armor.

“Though basic combat is good, it’s not good enough. Shining Armor, see if you can teach the other guards advanced combat.”

“I’ll do my best,” The prince said as he made a salute. He then widened his eyes in realisation.

‘Wait, why am I saluting him?’

After the Unicorn recomposed himself, the others were amazed. They had never seen BlackWarGreymon being so authoritative before. For even made Prince Shining Armor salute.

“And as for the rest of you, find something in the gym you could use, so I can see what you can do. If there’s anything that needs improving, I’ll let you know.”

“Right!” The rest of the group said. All seemed eager, except Fluttershy, who only nervously mumbled in response.

With that, the group parted to do their own things. Shining Armor and Flash Sentry left towards the second room to inform the guards whom weren’t on duty. Luna and Cadence went to the upper floor to train. The upper floor had a window that overlooked the others below. Although fairly strong, Applejack felt like running. So she started to use the treadmill to test her speed. At first Rarity was hesitant. Fearing that the sweat might mess up her look. But thanks to Pinkie Pie’s child-like motivation, she decided to try. Using a punching bag, the two mares took turns at hitting it. BlackWarGreymon was admittingly surprised to discover that the white fashionista had some deceit fighting techniques. Unsure where to start, Fluttershy only walked to the side wall and watched the others.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile joined BlackWarGreymon as they walked to Twilight.

“I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do,” The young Alicorn said.

“Well Celestia told me that you’re very talented with magic, so let’s see it.” BlackWarGreymon suggested. Just the mention of her talent made Twilight more eager to demonstrate it.

“With pleasure! So what’s first?”

Wanting to see the Alicorn’s attack power, BlackWarGreymon knelt down near Twilight and pointed out to a ready placed target on the other side of the gym.

“Ok. You see that target over there? Try to hit it in the middle.”

“Got it,” Twilight responded.

Taking a step back to give the Alicorn some room, BlackWarGreymon and Rainbow Dash began to observe Twilight.

“Ok, Twilight. When you’re ready, show me what you got.”

“Right,” Twilight said with a smile.

The lavender mare looked at the target with determination, ready to do her best. Closing her eyes, she focused on her magic within her as her horn glowed brightly. Then a magical purple orb formed at the tip, steadily growing bigger. As she threw her head down, she fired the orb at the target. As it flew through the air, it landed a direct hit on the target. A purple coloured explosion followed as the gym was shaken slightly.

After taking in a deep breath from using such a powerful attack spell, she looked over to BlackWarGreymon.

“So, what do you think?”

“Impressive. You not only scored a bullseye, you even managed to destroy it.”

Twilight was taken back by his words. She and Rainbow Dash then looked back at the fading cloud of smoke, only to see that the target had blown into bits and pieces.

“Wow! I didn’t know you had that in you, Twi!” The blue Pegasus said as she hovered over Twilight.

After she got over her own shock, the Alicorn turned her attention back to the Digimon to hear what he had to say.

“So it’s true about your talent with magic. What about combat?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Well I do know a thing or two.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked over to Twilight’s wings.

“And in the air?”

Twilight briefly paused before looking back at her wings. Flexing them as she pondered.

“Well…I’m slowly getting the hang of flying. And the only combat I used while flying was my magic,” She explained.

“I see,” BlackWarGreymon said before turning his head to speak to Rainbow Dash.

“You’re a talented flyer, Rainbow Dash. Could you teach her about aerial-combat?”

While hovering, the Pegasus smiled with pride as she crossed her forelegs together.

“No problem. Come on newbie,” She said to Twilight as she motioned her head upwards.

Ready to learn, Twilight flew off the ground and towards the blue Pegasus.

“Hey Rainbow. I’ve heard that you did a little combat with BlackWarGreymon yesterday. How did it go?” The young princess asked.

“Oh. Uhh…uhh…it went well. No problem whatsoever,” The startled Pegasus said, hiding the fact that she couldn’t land a decent hit on the Digimon.

Below them, BlackWarGreymon looked up at the two as if he was smiling. Proud that his friends agreed to go through the exercises. Though he had a feeling that the mares might even have fun.

The Digimon left the two so they could carry on. As he walked through the gym, he glimpsed over to the rest of his friends to see how they were doing. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had left countless dents in the punching bag. And if Applejack kept up her pace, the treadmill might overheat or explode.

He even noticed that Spike was getting in on the action. He watched the young dragon as he tried to lift a set of small dumbbells in his hands. Despite their size, to Spike the weights were quite heavy. But he was managing.

“So you’re working on your strength Spike?” BlackWarGreymon asked, despite that the answer was obvious.

“Yeah. I know I can breathe fire and all, but I think more strength could do me good,” Spike answered as he continued to lift.

‘I have to get stronger, if I have to protect Rarity,’ The young dragon thought to himself before his imagination kicked in.

He was daydreaming of a much muscular version of himself charging in with his lance, defeating King Sombra with a single swift blow, and rescuing Rarity from danger.

Without even knowing it, Spike had a goofy smile on his face. Much to the confusion of BlackWarGreymon.

Not paying it to mind, the Digimon walked on. Until he saw Fluttershy standing at the far wall on her own. Confused as to why she’s not participating, BlackWarGreymon walked up to her.

“Is something the matter?” He asked.

Startled by the sudden speech, Fluttershy responded back.

“Oh…sorry. It’s nothing really. It’s just that… I don’t think I could be of much use.”

BlackWarGreymon was himself startled by what the Pegasus said.

“Why would you think that?”

“Well… I'm not as strong as the others… and I’m not the strongest flier. I can’t do much in a fight.”

BlackWarGreymon could sense that Fluttershy was only letting herself down. He had to find another way of turning things around. After looking around for a solution, he came up with an idea.

“Follow me, Fluttershy,” He said as he walked away.

Confused as what the Digimon had in mind for her, the yellow Pegasus did what he said and followed. After a short walk, BlackWarGreymon lead Fluttershy to a spare punching bag.

“Have you ever thrown a punch before?” The Artificial being asked.

“Umm…no. I haven’t,” Fluttershy said. Leaving BlackWarGreymon to explain what was going to happen.

“Ok, pay attention Fluttershy. The true driving force in your punch is not just strength. It’s anger. To make an effective punch, you have to get angry.”

“O-ok,” Fluttershy responded, understanding every word.

BlackWarGreymon then continued.

“Good. Now picture something that you hate and take that anger out on this punching bag. Or to make it easier, picture the punching bag as something you hate. When you’re ready Fluttershy, throw your punch.”

“Umm, ok,” Fluttershy said as she walked up to the punching bag. And after a brief thought, she went ahead and punched the bag.

However, her punch was so light that the bag only moved by an inch.

“How’s that?” She asked.

BlackWarGreymon just stared in disbelief. A flick of his finger could do more damage then her punch. Knowing what Fluttershy did wrong, he turned to her and spoke.

“Fluttershy. You need to get angry. That punch was practically nothing.”

“I’m sorry, BlackWarGreymon. I just don’t feel angry. I’m not sure I can do this.”

BlackWarGreymon had to get a rise out of Fluttershy. He shouldn’t just give up on her. After some thinking, he spoke again.

“You need to learn to defend yourself, Fluttershy. Not just for yourself, but your friends too.”

Though Fluttershy seemed more encouraged, BlackWarGreymon knew it wasn’t enough. Then he had an idea.

“Remember when the Bugbear attacked your home the other day. Think of what would happen if I hadn’t arrived to help.”

The Pegasus remembered the Bugbear too well. She cringed at the thought if that beast had its way. It would’ve destroyed her home and probably eaten her animal friends.

She then realised what BlackWarGreymon was implying.

“Well when you put it that way, I guess that would make me mad. No, it would make me very angry.

BlackWarGreymon had done it, he had just heard the anger in Fluttershy’s voice. He then pressed on.

“If you had the chance, would you avenge your animal friends?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered. Anger building up in her body.

“Do you want to make that monster pay for the damage it caused you?”

“Yes!”

“Do you want to make it suffer!?”

“YES!!!”

After her sudden outburst, Fluttershy glared at the punching bag with hate and imagined it as the Bugbear.

“AAAAAHHH!!!”

As she shouted, Fluttershy leapt forward and punched the bag with a solid hit. The punch was so hard that the chain holding the bag broke off, leaving the bag to skid across the gym floor.

A stunned silence followed as all eyes turned to Fluttershy. It was so unusual for a Pegasus like her that even BlackWarGreymon was shocked.

“Oops,” Fluttershy said as she blushed in embarrassment. But to the Digimon, her cuteness was overshadowed by what he had just seen.

‘Guess the saying is true. Beware of the quiet ones,’ He thought to himself, felling slightly intimidated.

Chapter 36: Secrets Revealed

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Over an hour went by, and late afternoon became evening. Despite the extent of time, the training continued. The biggest development so far was that because Rainbow Dash was praising Fluttershy for her potential, she completely forgot that she was training Twilight. Correcting her error, BlackWarGreymon volunteered to train her himself. Teaching her combat moves that she could use while flying.

In the room above them, Cadence and Luna continued with training of their own. Turning their horns into magical blades, the two Alicorns clashed as if in a sword fight.

After a brief struggle of strength, the two parted. Panting heavily from their training as their horns returned to normal.

“Shall we take a break?” The pink princess asked.

“Very well,” The blue princess answered, sighing in relief as she took a break.

The two then walked over to a table to drink their bottles of water. Sitting down on benches to rest their legs.

“It has been a very long time since I trained like that. How about you, Cadence?” Luna asked as she looked across the table to Cadence. Only to see her not paying attention.

“Cadence?” Luna asked, trying to get her attention.

The younger pony looked back at Luna with a reassuring smile.

“Oh, sorry Luna. I was distracted,” Cadence said as she moved her gaze back to where it was.

“What’s got your interest?” The Night Princess asked as she followed suit, discovering what Cadence was looking at.

The table they sat at was right by the window that overlooked the gym below. Along with Cadence, Luna could see the Mane Six, Spike and BlackWarGreymon continuing their exercises

As she watched on, Luna heard the voice of Cadence.

“He’s amazing, isn’t he?”

In curiosity, Luna followed Cadence’s gaze more closely, and landing her own sights on one specific individual.

“BlackWarGreymon?” She asked her.

“Yes. I mean just look at him. He looks like the type who would be fighting all the time. And yet…”

Cadence paused as she saw the Digimon lifting the exhausted Twilight back on her hooves.

“…he’s surprisingly gentle.”

Luna understood perfectly what Cadence meant. She nodded in agreement while watching BlackWarGreymon with a smile.

“Yes he is. You’d be surprised at how much he cares for his friends.”

After a brief moment of silence, Luna noticed that the expression on the pink Alicorn’s face had changed to great concern. Wanting an answer, she turned to look at her aunt.

“Luna. Is what King Sombra said true? Was BlackWarGreymon once…evil?”

Luna was taken back by the question. She hoped that it would be a subject that was best avoided to either Cadence or Shining Armor. But thanks to Sombra, the truth was out. And she knew there was no way going back from it. Cadence would surely find out herself. But with Luna, she could get it out of the way without stirring up an alarm.

Sighing in defeat, Luna thought of the best way to explain the situation to Cadence.

“It’s too late to avert this. You might as well know now.”

Cadence gasped as she sat up straight. Her eyes widened in alarm as a cold chill went up her spine.

“S-So it is true!?”

Her alarm quickly changed to confusion as she saw Luna leaning closer to her. Her face was strangely serious with a hint of sadness.

“Cadence. What I’m about to show you… is what I’ve seen in BlackWarGreymon’s past. From start to finish. Everything.”

“His…his past?” Cadence asked.

“But I must warn you before I begin. What you are about to see isn’t very pleasant. You’re about to learn the terrible truth.”

It was all Luna said before she touched the tip of Cadence’s horn with her own. Channeling the memories for the younger Alicorn to see.

There, Princess Cadence saw it all. At first, the Digital World along with its Digimon. The she saw the birth of BlackWarGreymon. Him as a creation of evil intent. She saw his destructive nature and his disobedient attitude. She had seen the fights he was in. Both with his creators and with the heroes. The time when he became a great threat to his world by destroying the Destiny Stones. Then the meeting with Azulongmon, one of the four guardians of the Digital World.

The memories continued onward to when BlackWarGreymon was in the human world. Cadence was surprised to see a Digimon who was the golden version of him, plus their epic fight. She then saw the lessons of friendship BlackWarGreymon had learnt. And in turn, the choice he made.

Then as she saw the moment when BlackWarGreymon’s body collapsed from his sacrifice, the memory surge ended. Back to reality, the shocked Cadence breathed heavily from her experience. And was startled by the end. Realising what Luna meant by ‘the terrible truth’.

“…Oh wow. He… he actually died? And somehow ended up in Equestria?”

Cadence looked up at Luna, surprised to see the look of sadness in her eyes.

“Yes, BlackWarGreymon had experienced the kind of pain we could never comprehend. Even before then, his whole life was in pain. This is why I wished for him to be happy in Equestria. So that he is surrounded by loving friends, who could help him if he’s ever in pain. I hope that he would never feel the pain of loneliness that I felt while I was banished for a thousand years. He has suffered too much as it is.”

Cadence was stunned at Luna’s choice of words. She had no idea how much Luna was concerned for BlackWarGreymon. In fact, she had never seen that side of the blue Alicorn before. She could read Luna’s facial expressions as clear as day. Just the look in her eyes showed the extent at how much she cared for the Digimon’s wellbeing. Even Twilight hadn’t shown that amount of emotion and she was the first pony to make contact with him.

Cadence started to believe that what Celestia said about Luna in her letter was starting to become very evident. Plus from seeing Luna’s reaction at BlackWarGreymon resisting to Sombra’s mind control only reinforced her suspicions. Truth be told, Cadence would’ve felt the same way if Shining Armor resisted mind control.

Becoming more curious then ever, Cadence decided to test Luna.

“You know Luna, you have been talking about BlackWarGreymon a lot lately. In fact…”

Cadence started to smirk as she continued.

“…it sounds like you really care for him.”

Startled by her words, Luna stuttered while a blush started to form on her face. Unable to focus enough to speak properly.

“Re…Really!? Well…uhh…”

Luna kept on stuttering while her blush slowly deepened, realising that it was kind of true. In fact, it was true. Her eyes were also darting all over, trying to think straight.

Luna’s reactions were exactly what Cadence had predicted. Her suspicions were indeed coming true. Though stunned, Cadence couldn’t help but feel amazed. Very happy even. Her smile grew even bigger just the thought of it. She even giggled. Recognizing all the signs, the pink Alicorn knew exactly what was going on with Luna. Wanting to hear Luna say it, Cadence leaned closer while staring with amused eyes.

She then asked the question.

“Luna? Do…do you have a crush on BlackWarGreymon?”

After hearing the question, time seemed to have slowed down to a stop around Luna. Her eyes widened, and her face became even more red. True, she cared for BlackWarGreymon. But she could never… Could she? Was it possible? Could that explain her behaviour whenever she was around him? Why her smile brightened from the thought of him? Why her heart glowed from the sight of him? Why she felt happy from hearing the sound of his voice? Even when he was around, she felt…safe.

She then remembered the day when she first met him. After he saved her from the yellow dragon. It was there she first experienced the new feelings.

Then it dawned upon her. Ever since she was little, Luna always believed in love at first sight. Since she had never felt it before, could the feelings she felt that day, BE it? Could she really have feelings for BlackWarGreymon?

Despite the thoughts going through her head, Luna felt that she should deny it at first. Feeling embarrassed to talk about it to Cadence.

“W…Wh…What!? N-No I don’t!”

But Cadence wasn’t falling for it. Luna’s denial was in fact a positive sign to the younger Alicorn. Luna’s shaky voice and the sudden deep blush were also the correct signs she expected.

Seeing the truth however, only got Cadence in an uproar of excitement.

“Sweet Celestia, you do!! You totally do!!”

Luna’s red face couldn’t get any deeper as Cadence continued. Speaking as if in sync with her own feelings.

“Now that I think about it, you and him have a lot in common. Oh, how romantic! And to think that the one for you turns out to be from a different world altogether!”

The blue Alicorn’s embarrassment had reached its peak as she spoke out.

“C…Cadence. I…I’m not… in love with BlackWarGreymon.”

Luna’s sentence should had put an end to the situation. But unfortunately, it only escalated it. After all, she was dealing with the very pony who knows practically everything about love. She had the cutiemark to prove it.

“A-HA!! I said you have a crush on him. I never said anything about you in love with him.”

Busted.

Luna paused as she realised what Cadence said was true. She had just fallen into her trap. But still, she played the young Alicorn’s game.

“N…No I’m not!”

“You’re in denial Luna.”

“No I’m not!”

Wanting to see Luna being true with herself, Cadence came up with another test.

“Mm-hmm. Face it, Luna, you’ve fallen for someone who’s incredibly strong with black armour and green eyes.”

With her mind completely frazzled, Luna openly took the bait. Not thinking before speaking.

“N-No Cadence, his eyes are yellow.”

“Thank you for proving my point,” Cadence said as she grew a smug grin in victory.

Luna had just realised the error that she made. By correcting just one word, it meant that she was constantly thinking about every detail about BlackWarGreymon. She could even remember the amount of yellow cords on his Digizoid armour.

Sitting back down on her seat, Luna tried to deny it once more.

“Ok. I admit I like him. but I’m not in love with him.”

Cadence raised one eyebrow as her face became serious. The fun part was over with things becoming real.

“Who are you trying to convince, Luna? Me? Or you?”

It was a battle that Luna couldn’t win. And she knows it. Luna was stunned. From seeing the expression on the face of her niece caused her embarrassment to fade away. Her blush along with it. Wanting to take a minute to breathe, Luna got up from her bench and took a few steps away. All the while trying to comprehend not just her situation, but from her own feelings.

In her final attempt to avert the subject, Luna spoke up.

“Of…of course I would know of his eye colour. We all do. As strange as it sounds, the look of his eyes were as though they shouldn’t even exist. Plus while they’re mostly intimidating and serious, they were also calm, collected… and kind… and even caring. They’re also aligned and… focused, curious of the world around him.”

Cadence became in awe at Luna. As the blue Alicorn briefly paused as she thought about BlackWarGreymon’s eyes, the pink mare could see Luna rubbing her left leg with her right hoof. Clearly feeling touched. She could also see a faint blush in her cheeks, a tiny smile forming at the edges of her lips, and a loving expression in her aqua blue eyes. As if she was day dreaming of a romantic moment.

“In all my years of ruling Equestria with my sister… I had never seen such eyes.”

Luna’s attempt of deniability had unknowingly backfired on her. Cadence was in complete awe at Luna’s words. Her eyes were wide in amazement and her mouth was slightly agape. Even Luna’s voice was softer than before.

The Night Princess looked at her niece, startled and confused at her stare.

“What is it?”

After a brief pause, Cadence spoke up at what she had just seen.

“Wow. BlackWarGreymon must be very special… for you to have fallen for him.”

Luna again blushed. But not from embarrassment. But from…something. She didn’t know exactly what it was. But it could be from… accepting the truth.

As she looked away in thought, she could hear Cadence talking to her.

“You can’t hide your true feelings from me, Luna. I not only can spread the love to all my subjects, I can understand any kind of love that’s in front of me. Love is my talent after all.”

As Luna continued to rub her own leg, it seemed as though Cadence had finally got through to her. She was no longer denying it. Evident in her next choice of words.

“Hmm, sounds kind of silly don’t you think? I mean… a pony… in love with a Digimon.”

“I don’t think so. I mean, Twilight told me that Spike has a crush on Rarity. And he’s a dragon,” Cadence mentioned.

Although Luna was already aware of the fact about Spike, she felt that ‘her’ situation was more…unusual.

“True. But like me and Rarity, Spike is from Equestria. BlackWarGreymon…isn’t. He’s from a whole other world. In any other case, he and I shouldn’t have ever met.”

Sensing the identity of Luna’s problem, Cadence spoke to her a fact that she herself found amazing.

“Do you want to know the one thing I like about love the most?”

“What is it?” Luna asked, curiosity overwhelming her.

“Is that love… can come from unexpected places. It’s unpredictable. It can happen at anytime, anywhere. Most of all, love can take on any form. Be it from a pony, dragon or even Digimon. That’s why love is a wonderful thing. It can extend to whole other worlds. It’s everywhere.”

Luna was amazed. Cadence was right. No matter what world you’re from, love would always remain the same.

“Could it… be true? Am I… really in love with BlackWarGreymon?

Finally accepting the facts, Luna could feel her heart glowing even brighter than ever before. Cadence overheard her and asked a question of her own.

“The real question is Luna, does he feel the same way about you?”

Luna looked back at Cadence in astonishment, wondering if the fact was true. She had recalled that back at the Grand Galloping Gala, BlackWarGreymon looked speechless when he saw her in the dress she wore. He even complemented her and went as far as to admit that he enjoyed the times he’d spent with her. No matter how short they were.

She then remembered the dance at the Gala. She’d guessed that he deliberately took to the air with her to keep their dance going. He did it to please her. And when the dance ended, the two were motionless as they stared deeply into each other’s eyes. She could tell at that moment, BlackWarGreymon looked as amazed as she was.

She then remembered as far back as to their conversation after her trip in his memories. They had a heart to heart. Listening to each other’s problems. He even complimented her night just as he did for her. He said the night was as beautiful as she was. Plus on the trip back to Canterlot, instead of leaving her to fall from the sky from her injured wing, BlackWarGreymon caught her. Letting her rest on his back as he carried her back to the city of Canterlot.

All the memories Luna had with BlackWarGreymon were flowing through her mind. Believing them to be signs that he may actually hold affection for her. She smiled as she looked away from Cadence slightly.

“Do…do you really think…that it’s possible? That…he does?” Luna asked.

Cadence smiled in reassurance.

“If he really is a lot like you Luna, then I don’t see why not.”

Luna smiled back, glad that it was Cadence who knew of her little secret.

“Don’t tell anyone though. Just between you and me.”

Cadence briefly paused. The only reason she brought up the questions in the first place was because Celestia had suspicions and had asked her for her opinion. But Luna’s secret was just too precious, and Cadence was never known to break a promise.

“Ok, I promise.”

Knowing that the secret was bigger than she thought, Cadence would have to ask one more soul. BlackWarGreymon himself.

Then suddenly, to the surprise of the two princesses, the whole room started to shake slightly. Their bottles of water hopping on the table from the vibrations. As Luna and Cadence looked around in confusion, the two suddenly felt something through their flow of magic. A power surge.

“Wh…What was that!? You can feel it too, right?” Cadence asked Luna. The blue Alicorn gasped when she recognized the power surge.

“Yes I do! BlackWarGreymon!”

Cadence was startled when Luna rushed past her. But then followed suit.

“What do you mean!?” She called out.

As the two neared the entrance of the gym below, they could feel the vibrations in the floor getting stronger. When they arrived, they found its source.

Surrounded by the awed Mane Six and Spike, BlackWarGreymon grunted as he struggled to raise his power level as high as he could go. His eyes clenched shut as he tried to focus. The side effects of his energy charge was causing the tremors. As if the world itself was affected by his power.

As the two princesses were about to ponder what was going on, BlackWarGreymon quickly stopped grunting as his power dropped. Causing the tremors to stop as well. As his power returned to normal, the black Digimon took deep breaths to control the sudden exhaustion.

“Damn, not even close.” He whispered to himself, failing to achieve his goal.

“What’s going on here!?” Cadence asked.

“Yes, please to tell,” Luna joined.

After the group became briefly startled by the sudden appearance of the two older Alicorns, Twilight spoke up.

“Oh, BlackWarGreymon was trying to achieve his Ascended form.”

While Luna looked amazed, Cadence became confused.

“Wait, Ascended form?” She asked.

While being amazed, Luna was also curious of the name Twilight spoke of. Not paying attention to the confused Cadence.

“Ascended form? Is that the name you chose for that other form? And you were really trying to achieve it again!?”

“Yes. But for some reason I can’t reach that level of power like I did before!” He answered, frustrated that he may had lost the unique ability.

“Can’t you remember how you got it last time, darling?” Rarity asked.

BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes as he remembered the times when he became ascended.

“The first time was when I protected Canterlot. And the second was when I was charging up my most powerful attack.”

He continued as his eyes snapped open.

“But times of peril or demonstrating my abilities couldn’t really be the only times when I gain that power. It doesn’t feel right. I feel like I could gain it anytime. I just need to practice more.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it. Learning something new takes time. Believe me, I know the feeling,” Twilight said in reassurance.

“Yeah, and I never seen it. But the way the girls described it, I bet it looks awesome,” Spike mentioned.

“Ok. I’ll try again,” The Mega said.

But before anyone could move a muscle, Cadence spoke up.

“Hold on!”

Her outburst caused everyone to pause as they looked at her with startled eyes.

“Twilight, what do you mean by, ‘Ascended form’?” Cadence asked her little sister-in-law.

After nervously chuckling, Twilight confessed.

“Well…you may not believe this…but. Ever since BlackWarGreymon arrived in Equestria, the magic of our world is having an effect on his body.”

“An…effect?” Cadence asked as she looked at the Digimon. Wanting to hear him speak.

“It’s making me stronger, Cadence. And recently, I was able to harness the very magic of Equestria to enhance myself even further. Ascending me to an even higher level of power. Which is why I’m calling it my Ascended form.”

Cadence gasped in astonishment and shock at what she heard.

“You mean… you can become even stronger!? Wow. And I thought you were already strong enough.”

With the atmosphere calm, Applejack turned her attention to BlackWarGreymon.

“So you’re gonna try again, big fella?”

“I won’t rest until I master it.”

Half of the Mane Six nervously gulped, thinking that he was planning on to keep going all night. Luna held on her breath, believing that he could do it. Cadence felt intimidated. Just moments ago, she felt that his power had risen through the roof. But that was only his failed attempt. She couldn’t comprehend how powerful BlackWarGreymon could be if he had fully mastered his Ascended form.

Probably all of the Crystal Empire could feel his power.

As BlackWarGreymon got back to his original position, Luna, Cadence, Twilight and Rarity could already feel his power slowly rising as he began to concentrate. Unlike before, the Digimon kept his eyes open as he started to grunt from the strain.

His eyes narrowed as the strain continued. His pupils becoming slits like that of a cat. As his energy continued to rise, the mares and the dragon noticed that his yellow hair slowly began to flow upwards. Waving as if underwater. Then to their amazement, a soft faint red aura appeared around his body. Flowing upwards in a same pattern as his hair.

‘T-That energy… it’s not his energy! I-Its Equestria’s magic!’ Cadence thought to herself. Stunned at BlackWarGreymon’s steadily growing power.

“Come on, big guy! You can do it!” Rainbow Dash shouted in support.

Felling encouraged, Spike and the rest of the Mane Six cheered on with the blue Pegasus.

Feeling motivated, BlackWarGreymon continued. Grunting loudly.

Then to Cadence’s amazement, a small red orb of energy formed in front of her face. Briefly surprising her.

She then used her magic in her glowing horn to sense the type of energy the small ball had. And was amazed at how similar it felt to her own.

“You’re…you’re right! This is pure magic!”

Then to their delight, as well as the others, three more orbs formed in random places around the gym. Hovering in place.

“That’s it, BlackWarGreymon! You’re getting there!” Luna cheered, joining with the group whom were just as amazed as she was.

As BlackWarGreymon continued to gather his energy, the ground around him started to shake. After a few seconds, the tremors started to become violent. The group struggling to stay up as it felt like the whole castle was shaking.

The others started to notice that something was off. Even though the ground was shaking and BlackWarGreymon was building up his energy, the four energy orbs were the only ones that appeared. Them themselves were flickering like a candle in the wind.

As the Digimon clenched is eyes shut, his grunts turned into yells as the strain was getting to him. Then all the sudden, he stopped. His massive built up energy dropped dramatically. The tremors came to a sudden stop, his glowing aura vanished, and the four energy orbs faded out of existence.

Loosing so much energy at once had put a massive fatigue on BlackWarGreymon. Just seconds later he fell to his knees, struggling to stay up while gasping for air.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Luna shouted as she, Spike and the Mane Six rushed to his side. Worried for his condition. Cadence stayed back while watching, never in her life had she felt so much power.

“BlackWarGreymon, are you alright!?” Twilight asked.

“Please tell us!” Fluttershy joined, both had panic in their voices.

When the black Digimon spoke, there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Why? I don’t get it. I had reached a whole new level. Why can’t I do it again? Why can’t I ascend?”

“Maybe you’re just tired?”

All eyes looked at Rainbow Dash in confusion. Startled by their sudden gazes, the blue Pegasus explained herself.

“Well… I mean you haven’t been sleeping for two straight days. You saved Canterlot from the Changeling swarm and that big storm. You unlocked that new form for the first time. And today you defeated Sombra’s army and kicked his butt. Surely doing all that would’ve worn you down.”

While the others understood what Rainbow Dash meant by, BlackWarGreymon chose to deny it. He had lasted much longer without sleep. Days even. So that couldn’t be the cause.

“No. I won’t give up. I…I have to keep trying,” The Digimon said as he tried to stand back up. But fatigue hit him like a ton of bricks, causing him to collapse back on his knees.

Luna reacted by moving towards his face, giving him a defiant glare.

“No! You need to stop pushing yourself. Rainbow Dash is right, you need to rest.”

Seeing Luna’s concern for BlackWarGreymon caused Cadence to grow a smug grin behind her back. Implying that she was right all the long.

Raising his head slightly, BlackWarGreymon looked at Luna. He could see that she was worried. Worried that if he continued, he might end up hurting himself. For Luna, seeing the Digimon’s eyes so close caused her to slightly blush. But she brushed it aside due to her concern for his wellbeing.

Sighing in defeat, and not wanting Luna to worry even more, the tall Mega agreed to what they said.

“Ok. Ok, I’ll rest.”

“Very well. I’ll let Shining Armor know that you all will be staying at the castle for the night,” Cadence sad as she left the gym.

“Oh good, cause I could use some sleep after all that workout,” Spike said before letting out a long yawn.

“I think we all do,” Twilight mentioned after looking out the window. Night had arrived.

As the group left the gym, Luna looked at BlackWarGreymon. Worried about what he was going through.

“Are you ok?” The concerned princess asked the tall warrior.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

His tone wasn’t entirely reassuring. He never liked failing, especially if it involves something that he could use to protect his friends.

As the heroes were about to get some good earned rest, elsewhere things were restless.
…………………………………………………………………………………………......................................................................................

Hidden lair, unknown location.

Far away, high above the skylight of the lair, a large swarm of Changeling solders were flying around in circles. Encircling a large dark cloud, they used their combined magic to try and turn it into a large thunder cloud. By flying around it, the insect-like ponies could use their magic on every inch of the dark cloud. Making the lightning more frequent. While doing so, the soldiers had successfully moved the large cloud just above the lair. Awaiting inside was their evil master.

Overlooking the Changelings was Queen Chrysalis herself. Making sure that the evil Digimon’s experiment won’t go wrong.

Then a stray Changeling flew up to her. Exhausted from all the flying.

“W-With all due respect… my queen. Couldn’t we just wait… for a ‘real’ storm?”

The last thing Chrysalis needed, was to get on her master’s bad side.

“Save your breath, child. Faster!” She commanded, causing her child and the rest of the hive to speed up their flight patterns.

As they got to a good speed, a giant bolt of lightning struck down from the cloud and into the skylight below. Seeing the thunderbolt traveling down the tunnel towards him, the beast raised his right index finger and used it like a lightning rod. Absorbing the thunderbolt as all the electricity channelled through the tip of the claw.

After every single volt was absorbed, the evil Digimon inspected his finger. The finger itself was glowing a bright blue colour. Surging with the energy from the lightning.

“Ahh, there we have it,” He said, chuckling in victory.

Joined by King Sombra, the Digimon turned to him with the next phase of his experiment.

“Now Sombra, use your magic to create the body.”

Obeying his master, the Unicorn’s horn lit up and started to gather black magic. Then in front of him was a swirling pool of black smoke. After increasing its size, Sombra then manipulated the black smoke. Twisting and shaping its appearance.

The end result was the black smoke reaching just over ten feet tall from the floor. With a striking resemblance of BlackWarGreymon.

Satisfied with Sombra’s work, the evil Digimon held the strands of BlackWarGreymon’s hair within his left hand.

“Now, the hair.”

Reaching around the back of the BlackWarGreymon-shaped cloud, he placed the yellow hair in where the back of the head should be. The black mass absorbing the yellow strands.

Before he continued, he spoke to the evil Unicorn.

“Pay attention, Sombra. Because what you’re about to see, was how I resurrected you.”

Sombra remembered that day all too well. It was when he was brought back to life.

Wanting to see his master’s experiment unfold, the king watched on silently. Though nervous of what was about to happen.

“Now we just need the final ingredient,” The monster said as he raised his right hand above the shadow model. His energized finger only a few inches above its head.

“The spark of life!”

With no hesitation, the evil Digimon placed his electrified finger through the head. Releasing all the energy he gained from the thunderbolt. His unique energy and his own data along with it.

To Sombra’s shock, his modelized fake appeared to had… flinched!?

Inside the shadow model, the digital energy and data merged into the strands of BlackWarGreymon’s hair. The electricity stimulating its growth. Multiplying and replicating BlackWarGreymon’s data. The mixed data and energy began to rapidly spread throughout the whole body. Reaching towards the surface.

“Has…has my magic…COME ALIVE!!?” King Sombra asked in shock and a hint of terror. From the outside, he could see his model flinching and twitching. As its body was being built from the inside out.

The former king then let out a startled gasp from the sight of the model’s arms… moving on their own. Its three-clawed arms reaching and grasping its shadow head. As if a living being would experience a painful headache.

The evil Digimon chuckled as he watched his experiment coming to life.

To King Sombra’s horror, as the fake model continued to move, it let out a loud screech of pain.

His BlackWarGreymon-shaped cloud… had its own voice!

Then on parts of its body, the smoke began to solidify as data reached to its surface. Its skin was forming. And slowly but surely, the rest of the body began to take physical form. Forging its own Chrome Digizoid armour.

To Sombra, the most unnerving thing about it, was that its screech… slowly became a yell.

“ReeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Then shockingly, a blinding red glow emanated from its forming eye sockets. Then all of a sudden, the energy from the model exploded. Shrouding everyone in a blanket of smoke. Next came almost absolute silence.

“Sombra! Master!” Chrysalis shouted as she arrived on the scene.

To her left, she spotted her master standing still, unaffected by the thick smoke.

Then to her right, she spotted Sombra. Coughing to clear away the smoke in front of his face.

After clearing his throat, the Unicorn looked at the blanket of cloud in uncertainty.

“Did… did it work, my lord?”

The evil Digimon chuckled before responding to Sombra.

“Can’t you sense him? Of course, it worked. The experiment was a complete success!”

Sombra gawked at his master in disbelief. Then back at the cloud.

“Wait! HIM!!?”

After a second of silence, both Sombra and Chrysalis sensed it too. Something was in the centre of the cloud.

The startled king and queen could only think of one question.

What had they created?

After more silence followed, the group could hear something. It sounded like a soft chuckle. Which carried a hint of evil.

Then from the thickness of the cloud, a pair of glowing blood-red eyes snapped open to life. Followed by an insane outburst of laughter.

“AAHAHAHAAAAAHAAHAHAAAAAH!!!!!”

Chapter 37: The Spark of Something New

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Early morning had arrived at the Crystal Empire, and all the excitement from yesterdays events had died down. Despite the appearance of the Shadow Legion and the ferocity of King Sombra’s attacks, the empire received minimal damage. Aside from a few craters on the roads. But it was nothing compared to the damage that was done far outside the empire. Scorch marks and massive craters from BlackWarGreymon’s attacks had turned the once snowy field into a battlefield. Though he only did it to fight off the legion, just the thought of the being with the power of an army was very intimidating.

At the castle, Princess Luna looked out of her window to see the scorched landscape. The only pony out of the visiting group who was awake.

‘Wow. If BlackWarGreymon did this against an army of shadow ponies, imagine the damage if he was against someone else like him.’

Luna then chuckled to herself.

‘Like that’s ever going to happen.’

The Alicorn then brought her attention back in mind. The only reason she was awake was because when she attempted to visit BlackWarGreymon’s dreams, the door to his mind was gone. Meaning that by the time she’d arrived, the Digimon was already awake. She was then awoken by sounds from downstairs.

Knowing that it was BlackWarGreymon and the direction to where the noises were coming from meant only one thing.

‘He’s back in the gym training? Isn’t it a bit too early? And shouldn’t he be resting?’ She asked herself, remembering how exhausted he was from trying to reach his Ascended form.

Luna knew how much BlackWarGreymon hated not reaching his goals. He seemed hurt from not reaching his heightened form where as before he’d done it so easily.

Luna felt bad for him. She then thought that if the Digimon keeps pushing himself too far, he could end up hurting himself.

“I’m going to go and check up on him.”

After leaving her room, the blue princess proceeded in the direction of the gymnasium. As she walked, she realised a fact that just dawned upon her. By showing concern for BlackWarGreymon, even if it was nothing, it showed that she really cared for him. Thus, proving that Princess Cadence might be right all the long.

As well as a small blush in her cheeks, Luna could feel her heart growing ever warmer from the possible fact that… she really did have feelings for him.

Then she remembered what Cadence said.

‘The real question is Luna, does he feel the same way about you?’

The question kept echoing in her mind the moment she first heard it. Maybe, she could get her chance to find out.

As she neared the entrance to the gym, Luna could hear BlackWarGreymon grunting every few seconds. Meaning that he was lifting something heavy. After peeking through the open door, she was stunned at what she saw.

BlackWarGreymon was using a large barbell set that was specially built for any large visitors that the empire might had anticipated. Probably for any strong yacks from Yakyakistan. The Digimon was lying on the bench face up, and despite wearing his clawed gauntlets, he had a firm grip on the barbell. What was very impressive was the amount of weights BlackWarGreymon was lifting. Each end of the bar was filled to the tips with the largest weights the empire had. And yet, the black armoured warrior was having no problem lifting them up and down.

The onlooking Luna was impressed and amazed. The very bar of the barbell itself looked as though it was bent from the excessive weight. But it was not the amount of weight that's got all of Luna’s attention, it was BlackWarGreymon’s arms.

From lifting such a large amount of weight, the Digimon’s tensed biceps were fully shown at their max. Even though his body was made of data, his arms even showed that they had veins in them.

Luna was speechless. She had no idea how muscular BlackWarGreymon’s arms could be. She then felt her face heating up from a deep blush as her heart raced.

‘Oh wow.’

While oblivious of her blush, she could hear her friend counting as he lifted the barbell.

“Nine hundred and ninety-eight. Nine hundred and ninety-nine. One thousand!”

After his thousandth bench press, BlackWarGreymon rested the barbell back on its stand and took a moment to lie down and relax his buffed-up arms. It would’ve been easier if he took off his Dramon Destroyers before he started to reduce the weight. But he felt like leaving them on would help him get stronger.

Luna felt slightly awkward. She came by to check up on him and it turned out that he was coping fine. He must be exercising to take his mind off his failures at reaching his Ascended form. But from seeing his display of strength, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. She felt that she should leave him alone to continue, but one of the reasons she even wanted to go to the Crystal Empire was to spend more time with him.

She then formed an idea, to both spend time with him and gain more training.

Taking in a deep breath, she walked in and greeted BlackWarGreymon.

“Mm… good morning.”

Hearing Luna’s sudden voice made the Digimon jolt in surprise. He then turned his head and saw the face of the blue Alicorn.

“Oh…hello Luna.”

Though hesitant at first, Luna slowly spoke up.

“Um…BlackWarGreymon…can…can I ask you for a favour?”

Unsure of what the princess had in mind, the Digimon allowed her to answer.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Well… it’s something I had on my mind. Ever since you said that we need more training and all.”

“Well?”

Luna felt nervous, unsure if the warrior was too busy with his own training to go through with what she wanted to ask. But she asked anyway.

“Well…I… I would like you to train me. Please?”

BlackWarGreymon was confused by Luna’s request. Upon seeing her in action against the Changelings, he thought that she was more than prepared to fight.

After rising up from his bench, the dragon warrior became intrigued.

“You…want me to train you?”

Luna tried to explain herself.

“I know it’s a rather unusual request. Especially since I had my own share of battles. But…I like to be prepared for when the real fight comes. Or to face against a foe much bigger and stronger then myself. Also, I would like to know how you use your signature ability. Because to me, a concentrated ball of energy seems more powerful than a continues beam.”

BlackWarGreymon perfectly understood what Luna meant by. True, what she said was correct on the last part, but it only depended on the amount of power within an energy ball.

Then the Digimon gave his opinion.

“It’s not really that hard. All you have to do is instead of releasing your energy in a continues flow, just focus it all on one spot and build it up. I’ve seen Twilight done it. Maybe she could help yo…”

Knowing exactly what BlackWarGreymon was about to say, Luna objected before he could finish.

“No! I…I just want you to train me. I want you to see how much stronger I’ve become.”

The Mega was surprised that Luna only wanted him to help her. But at the same time, he felt glad that she chose him. Because he would get to spend more time with the blue Alicorn.

After standing up from his bench, he gave his honest answer.

“Ok Luna. I’ll train you.”

Luna smiled with glee, finally getting the chance she had been waiting for.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

After a short time later, Luna felt that she and BlackWarGreymon shouldn’t be disturbed by prying eyes. Using her magic to create a sign, she then placed it on the outside of the gym entrance. If she used a barrier of a seal on the door, others might find it suspicious. Sometimes the simplest way was the best way.

The sign read ‘Private lessons in session. Do not enter.’

BlackWarGreymon was unsure why Luna went through the trouble with the sign, but he didn’t question her. Maybe she was more comfortable of learning without being watched.

The Digimon stood next to the Alicorn. Both facing a target fifty foot away from them.

“Now remember Luna, concentrate your magic on the tip of your horn. Once you could feel the energy gathering, keep building up that energy and form it into a sphere. Then once you’re ready, fire it at the target,” BlackWarGreymon explained, admittingly surprised that despite Luna’s long life, she had never done an energy ball attack before. Luna herself was a little ashamed of herself for not learning the attack long before.

“Ok,” The princess said, understanding BlackWarGreymon’s teachings.

Luna closed her eyes and began to focus. Feeling the magical lunar energy flowing through her body. She concentrated a portion of it towards her horn. As her horn glowed white, a ball of magic formed at its tip. It was then Luna tried something different. Instead of releasing the energy, she contained it as more magic poured in.
The energy orb slowly grew, revealing a navy blue colour with a white core.

“That’s it, Luna. You got it,” BlackWarGreymon said, encouraging her to continue.

Luna started to feel the strain. Truth be told she had never powered up her own attack so much before.

As the orb grew to the same size as herself, the Alicorn felt ready. After rearing her head back, she threw her head down and fired the magical orb.

Luna looked on in glee as she and BlackWarGreymon watched the blue orb speeding across the room.

“I…I did it!”

However, Luna’s celebration was premature. As the attack only reached half way towards its target, the sphere collapsed and fell apart mid-air. All the magical energy depleting into nothing.

While BlackWarGreymon was mildly surprised, Luna was in shock of her failed attack. As well as a little frustrated.

“Wha…What happened!? What went wrong!?”

BlackWarGreymon then explained to the shocked Alicorn of what happened.

“Your execution was perfect. But you didn’t focus on containing the energy within the ball.”

“Ok, I’ll try again,” Luna said, understanding what went wrong.

After charging up for a second attempt, her magical sphere grew to the same size as the one before. But instead of firing it straight away, she focused on manipulating the flow of magic more within the blue sphere. Once she was ready, the princess fired it towards her target.

As the two watched the energy ball hurtling across the room, they noticed that portions of energy were escaping the sphere. It looked like electricity, crackling around and from the blue orb.

They also noticed that it lasted much longer than the first orb. It flew all the way towards the target. Unfortunately, the orb flew past the target. Completely missing it before exploding against the far wall.

Luna then looked over to BlackWarGreymon for his opinion.

“Much better. But you may need to work on your aim.”

After blushing from embarrassment, Luna asked him something regarding her second attempt.

“BlackWarGreymon, why was that orb… releasing energy like that?”

Knowing what the problem was, the tall Digimon answered.

“That is what is known as an ‘imperfect sphere’. When an energy orb isn’t fully concentrated, energy does happen to leak out of it. The problem with that is that the overall attack would become weaker. It takes time to master. And once you’re able to create a ‘perfect sphere’, the attack would be far more powerful.”

Luna then smirked at the Mega as she looked at him.

“That wasn’t a problem for you, you already mastered it on your first go.”

After the two shared a chuckle, Luna went back to training.

“Ok, I must keep practicing.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As time went on, Princess Luna kept on testing out her energy ball attack. Like BlackWarGreymon said before, her execution of the attack was spot on. She was having no problem of launching her attacks. As a plus, each time she summoned up an orb, the more perfect it became. Each new one becoming more powerful then the last. The only problem she was facing was her aim. She previously figured that since the attack itself was fairly large, the attack would hit her target regardless if it was aimed properly or not. However, she was wrong. All her orbs had missed their mark, all landing on either side of the target.

By the end of her twelfth shot, Luna huffed in exhaustion. She was not used to releasing so much magic. She looked on in annoyance at the target. The only damage she had done was several smoking craters around the target, which itself took no damage at all.

“Why? Why can’t I hit it?” The Alicorn asked while taking in deep breaths.

After a moment of thought, BlackWarGreymon thought of an idea.

“Maybe it’s because you’re facing the wrong type of target.”

“What do you mea…?”

Luna stopped mid-sentence when BlackWarGreymon walked past her. Wondering what he had in mind. After distancing himself by twenty-five feet, the Digimon turned to face her…with an unusual request.

“I’ll be your target.”

Luna was shocked at what the Digimon said. Does he really want to be on the receiving end of her attacks?

“What!? Are…are you sure about that?” She asked, unsure if it was the best idea.

BlackWarGreymon spoke back in reassurance.

“Don’t worry, Luna. Remember, I took a full blast from Celestia. So I’m sure I can handle your attacks. So I want you to hit me as hard as you can.”

He then raised his arms slightly to his sides, showing that he was prepared to take the hit.

“Besides, this way, I’ll get to feel how strong your attacks really are.”

Luna was amazed at what he said. His voice showed that he had complete trust in her. And was perfectly willing to be attacked by her just to test her strength.

Though hesitant at first, Luna remembered how tough BlackWarGreymon’s body was. If he was willing to take a blow full force from her, then he knew that it wouldn’t do any great harm to him.

With her trust in him reassured, Luna again formed a blue energy ball on her horn. Wanting to see how big of an impact it would do to BlackWarGreymon, Luna charged up her horn with magic even more. Causing the sphere to double in size. Though not a ‘perfect’ sphere, it was somewhat ‘semi-perfect’. Not much energy was escaping as was before.

Feeling confident, Luna then fired the energy ball twice her size at BlackWarGreymon. Then to her amazement and her shock, it scored a direct hit!

The blue sphere slammed against BlackWarGreymon’s Chrome Digizoid chest, causing it to explode on impact. Luna stared on in disbelief at the newly formed cloud of magical smoke, worried if she actually managed to hurt her friend.

Soon the Alicorn didn’t even know why she was so surprised. Because as the cloud faded, predictably, BlackWarGreymon remained standing. Unharmed with a patch of smoke seeping from his chest.

“Same as before, it didn’t had effect on you,” Luna said, it should’ve been obvious to her that her attacks couldn’t hurt BlackWarGreymon.

But what the digital warrior said was opposite of what Luna had thought. In fact, it shocked her to the core.

“Actually Luna, that attack did had an effect on me.”

He continued as he looked down by his feet.

“It may be too small to see, but you actually forced me back a couple of inches.”

Luna’s eyes widened in astonishment. To her, what the Digimon said was so unbelievable, she couldn’t think of any words to say. Then BlackWarGreymon spoke again.

“You may not look it, but you are incredibly powerful, Luna. In fact, more so then you realise. So don’t underestimate yourself.”

Luna smiled warmly at how supportive BlackWarGreymon was. It warmed her heart to see how caring he was.

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

As Luna and BlackWarGreymon continued to train, elsewhere in the castle the remaining group woke up from their slumber. Because of where they were sleeping, they couldn’t feel the vibrations from the gymnasium.

Princess Twilight felt groggy, as if she had woken up too early. Strange due to the fact that the sun was in the sky and it was mid-morning.

The Princess of Friendship entered the dinning hall with breakfast by her side. Sitting at the crystal table, she took a bite out of her fried egg sandwich before sighing in tiredness.

“Urrh… what a day yesterday.”

She then felt a twinge in her left wing, due to the strain she’d felt from the previous events.

“Oww. All that training really did a number on me. Maybe I should try out the crystal spa later.”

“Morning Twilight.”

Twilight flinched in surprise at the sudden voice. Turning around, the startled Alicorn smiled when it turned out to be Princess Cadence.

“Oh. Hi Cadence.” Twilight said before being greeted by a loving hug as Cadence wrapped her wing around her.

“So how’s my sister-in-law doing?” The pink Alicorn asked as she released her hug.

“Well I’m still a bit tired, but I’m doing fine,” Twilight answered.

“Probably from everything that happened yesterday,” Cadence said. Although knowing that it was true, she felt like making conversation.

“Yeah. And when King Sombra took over BlackWarGreymon’s mind, that was actually scary.”

Cadence then smiled at Twilight. Bringing up a subject she had in mind since she found out the truth.

“You were afraid that he would turn back evil. Weren’t you?”

Twilight flinched in response. True, what Cadence said was a fact, but the purple Alicorn was surprised at how calmly her sister-in-law was. Despite the truth about BlackWarGreymon being open.

“Well…yeah. But why are you…?”

Cadence chuckled in amusement, knowing what Twilight was trying to say.

“Calm about it? While we were training yesterday, Luna told me all about it.”

“Did she?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. She had even shown me his past. The time before he came to Equestria.”

Twilight suddenly felt uneasy when she heard her.

“Oh…so…you’re ok with him? Even after knowing the truth?” She asked.

“Of course I am. He’s our friend.” The older Alicorn said with a smile.

As Twilight sighed in relief, Cadence asked her something that she had on her mind all morning.

“Twilight, how did you first meet BlackWarGreymon to begin with?”

Twilight happily answered the question.

“Well it was on the day me and my friends were at the Everfree Clearing. The same time when Tirek came and attacked us.”

Cadence felt a little shaken from the mention of the evil centaur.

“Oh yes. I’ve heard about that. And…did the two actually fight?”

To her surprise, Twilight’s horn glowed with magic.

“How about I show you,” She suggested. Finding it easier then to explain every detail of the clash.

Cadence nodded in acceptance and, like she did with Luna on the day before, pressed the tip of her horn onto Twilights.

Sharing the memory in Twilight’s point of view, Cadence saw everything that happened on the day of BlackWarGreymon’s arrival. The Digimon appearing through the white portal in the sky, and Tirek attacking Twilight and her friends. Before the evil lord had his revenge, the black armoured warrior stood in his way. Followed by an epic fight that ended with BlackWarGreymon being victorious. Finally, the memory of when Twilight first spoke to the Digimon. Extending the magic of friendship onto him. And him accepting it.

Cadence was truly amazed. It was the time when BlackWarGreymon was new to their world. He knew nothing about Equestria at all. And yet, he knew that Tirek was evil, and protected those that he deemed were innocent.

She was left speechless when the flow of memories ended. Then Twilight spoke up.

“Yeah. If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t had believed that there was someone with power that could defeat Tirek without magic. And thanks to the magic of our world, BlackWarGreymon became even stronger since then.”

“Wow.”

It was all Cadence said. After hearing the rumours, she always wanted to see the moment of Tirek’s defeat by BlackWarGreymon’s claws. And finally, she got her wish.

She then moved onto the next question she had.

“Hay Twilight, I’m curious. How did he first meet Luna?”

After taking another bite of her breakfast, Twilight answered the question carefree.

“Oh…well you see at the time, Luna was taken by a giant dragon. And when we heard about it, BlackWarGreymon immediately acted and flew after her. I don’t know what happened but, in the end, he defeated the dragon and brought Luna back safely. I guess at that moment, they must’ve met at some point.”

Cadence smiled after hearing Twilight out. Thinking that saving her life might had been how the Control Spire Digimon had won Luna’s affection.

“Why the sudden interest?”

The pink pony was snapped out of her trance when she heard Twilight’s voice.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just curious.”

Then she realised something.

“Speaking of which, where is Luna anyway?”

Twilight paused for a brief thought before answering.

“Well…I did hear that she went to the gymnasium. But that was a little while ago.”

Cadence then grew suspicious. It was not like Luna to go down to the gym so early in the morning. Unless…there was a reason why.

“Thank you, Twilight. I’ll see if she’s there,” Cadence said before leaving Twilight to finish off her breakfast.

As she walked, the pink Alicorn revealed a cheeky smile.

‘Luna. She sure knows how to make it obvious.’
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Back in the gymnasium, BlackWarGreymon and Luna were about to do something different. Feeling that the princess was ready, the Digimon decided that another best way to see her true strength, was to see how she fairs against him.

Luna was unsure of the idea at first. But sparring with BlackWarGreymon would improve her fighting skills if she would encounter a huge enemy. Knowing how powerful he was compared to the princess, the Artificial Digimon decided to mainly go on the defensive while she goes on the offensive.

‘Background music’ ‘Salvation by Skillet’

Standing on opposite ends of the large room, BlackWarGreymon and Luna stared at each other with amused glares. With the Digimon knowing that she would do her best and the Alicorn trusting on his own capabilities, the two were going to enjoy the match.

“You’re ready for this?” Luna asked with a smile, showing complete faith in her friend.

“Ladies first,” BlackWarGreymon responded while raising his claws up, ready to fight.

Given the green light to go, Luna’s horn glowed. At her sides were four blue spears, formed of pure magic. Throwing her head down, she fired the levitating spears at the Digimon. As the pointed ends bared upon him, BlackWarGreymon ducked beneath the first spear. He then jumped to the side to avoid the second and third spears, narrowly hitting him. as his right arm was above the third spear, the Digimon slammed his gauntlet into it. Snapping the magical spear in half.

As the forth spear neared his head, the warrior quickly reached around and grabbed the spear with his left hand. The tip of the spear just inches from his face. Within seconds, the blue spear faded away. Its magic expiring.

Seeing how easily BlackWarGreymon handled her spears, Luna then formed several swords of the same magical energy. She then sent the flying swords towards the Digimon in a spiral pattern.

After crossing his arms in front of him, the Mega swung his arms out and smacked the swords away. Shattering them with ease.

Luna looked on as shards of blue magic fell beside her hooves. All the while smiling. She then glared at BlackWarGreymon as a large blue blade extended from her horn, reaching to a length almost as long as she was.

“Close combat. This should be interesting,” BlackWarGreymon said as he raised his Dramon Destroyers.

Then without warning, the two charged at each other. Blades at the ready. As she got closer and closer, Luna swung her head back and then back down. Attacking from her right. BlackWarGreymon immediately reacted by raising his left arm, blocking the attack.

Within close quarters, the Alicorn lashed out with her magical blade. Attacking from all angles. The black Digimon reacted by dodging, ducking and blocking with his armoured arms. The blue blade flashed every time it made contact with Chrome Digizoid.

After her attack was deflected by BlackWarGreymon’s right shin guard, Luna swung her blade straight up and then bared it down upon him. The Digimon raised his right arm above his head to counter the attack. As the saviour held in place, the princess pressed her blade down. Struggling with her strength to hold in place.

Looking to her right, Luna noticed that BlackWarGreymon’s left arm was about to strike. He purposely delayed his move for Luna to spot it.

Just as he was making his move, Luna quickly backed away with a flap of her wings. Gaining some distance from BlackWarGreymon. With her blade at the ready, the blue Alicorn leapt towards the Digimon’s face. But just as she got in close, she surprised him by teleporting away. He flinched in response, not expecting such a move. He then looked all around his surroundings to find Luna.

Then without warning, a blue magical blade bashed on top of his three-horned head. Surprising him and stunning him in a flash of light. After landing a hit on BlackWarGreymon, the amused Luna flew backwards away from him. As she landed, the magical blade on her horn faded away.

“Using a teleportation spell in a fight. Very clever.” The Digimon said to complement the princess.

“Thanks. But I’m still not holding back,” Luna said as her horn glowed. As did her hooves. By channelling her magic into her hooves, the spell gave her ten times the amount of strength she had.

Then as she charged, her energized hooves were causing loud thunderous steps. BlackWarGreymon could even feel the vibrations as she ran towards him.

Knowing that it’s going to be another close quarter fight, the black Digimon braced himself as he let Luna launch the first blow.

As she leapt up, the Alicorn threw her first punch. As BlackWarGreymon blocked with the back of his left gauntlet, he literally felt the force of the energized punch through his arm.

Using her wings to stay airborne, Luna kept on throwing punch after punch. All the while BlackWarGreymon blocked them all with his metal gauntlets. As Luna pressed on, the Digimon had to take a few steps back. Then in a bizarre twist, Luna flew back down on the ground, twisted around and slammed her energized rear hooves into BlackWarGreymon’s armoured gut.

The surprised Mega hunched over as a small portion of air left him from the blow. Despite it, he was proud of Luna. Amazed at how much of a fighter she was when she cuts loose.

After her kick, Luna again gained some distance away from BlackWarGreymon. As she faced him, she released three blasts of magic from her horn. The Digimon then crossed his arms in defence. His armour deflecting the beams towards the ground. After clouds of dust from the three impacts formed around him, BlackWarGreymon charged through them and towards Luna. With Luna doing the same.

As the Mega launched his left arm forward, Luna leapt towards him before teleporting out of harms way. Again, the Digimon was surprised. When it came to magic spells, the blue Alicorn knew what she was doing.

As he looked around to find her the second time, Luna suddenly greeted him by reappearing in front of his face, forcefully landing on his head and then leapt off. In effect, she pushed him back slightly. Despite the complicated manoeuvre, the princess was enjoying herself.

After landing away from him, Luna prepared her newly learned magical orb. Like before it was ‘imperfect’, but unlike before it grew three times her size. BlackWarGreymon turned around just in time to face the Alicorn. Ready to react when she attacks.

It didn’t took long. Without hesitation, Luna fired her blue sphere attack at the Digimon. Hoping to land a hit or him letting the attack hit. But to her surprise, BlackWarGreymon backhanded the sphere away. Sending it crashing into the wall behind him.

Luna was a little shocked. It was her biggest energy sphere yet, and BlackWarGreymon swatted it away like a beachball.

Then the Digimon formed a Terra Destroyer sphere the size of Luna herself, and then threw it at the Alicorn.

Luna leapt to the side to avoid the negative red sphere. After dodging it, Luna again launched another blue orb. Smaller then the first. By tilting his head left, BlackWarGreymon allowed Luna’s attack to fly past his face. Raising his left arm to the side, he then threw another small red orb at Luna. To which the Alicorn ducked to get out of its way.

The two spent several more seconds throwing energy spheres at each other. Not one landing a solid hit since they were either dodging or blocking. Through it didn’t look like it at first, but both the Alicorn and the Digimon were enjoying themselves.

After BlackWarGreymon deflected a small blue orb away, he decided to try something different. By bringing his claws close together in front of his chest, he formed a green energy ball. His War Blaster attack.

Seeing her friends’ change of tactics, Luna thought of doing something different as well. Her horn glowing bright as she charged up her magic. Then as the Digimon fired one blast of green energy, Luna fired a large thunderbolt shaped beam of magic.

The two attacks met at the centre. Luna could feel the strain from holding the attack back. after a few seconds of struggling, the War Blaster exploded. Causing Luna to stop her own attack.

As the energy-filled cloud faded, BlackWarGreymon started to run. With Luna in hot pursuit.

As the Alicorn flew above, she fired beams of magic at the sprinting Mega below. But as he ran, he dodged every shot Luna made. Even as he leapt on a wall, the princess kept on firing. But BlackWarGreymon jumped away to avoid the beams. Flying away and gaining altitude, the black armoured being turned around and faced the oncoming Luna. He noticed that she had a large blue sphere formed at the tip of her horn. Wanting to test its strength, he formed a small Terra Destroyer within his hands.

Then at the same time, both Luna and BlackWarGreymon launched their attacks. The large magical blue orb closed the distance with the small negative red orb.

Then the two spheres collided, releasing a purple clouded explosion that echoed throughout the room.

As the cloud filled the air, only BlackWarGreymon emerged through it. Looking around to see where Luna flew off to.

“Again cleaver. Using the cloud to hide your presence,” He said as he held still. After closing his eyes to clear his thoughts, he opened them again. But with an amused look.

“Too bad that I can still sense your energy.”

Soon after his speech, the Digimon immediately flew upwards. Narrowly dodging Luna as she came from behind with a kick.

After her failed surprise attack, the Alicorn spun around in a form of a kick. But the Mega turned and countered it by raising his shin guard. With her hooves reenergized with magic, Luna again pressed on with her attacks. But BlackWarGreymon seemed to have anticipated her every move. Then as she threw both her front hooves out, he moved his left arm in front of his chest. Blocking the attacks.

Then for a brief moment, Luna looked at BlackWarGreymon and smiled. The Digimon did the same, he too was amused.

As the two broke contact, Luna flew higher to gain some distance. But BlackWarGreymon was giving chase, following her every move. In times when he gained on her, the Alicorn would quickly change direction to shake him off. But as she flew, he wasn’t far behind.

They kept at it for several more seconds. If one could guess, the chase almost seemed like an aerial dance.

Then as she turned around, Luna threw her last magically charged punch. But again, BlackWarGreymon blocked it.

After their engagement, the two backed off and slowly descended back towards the ground. Keeping an eye on each other all the while.

‘Song end’

As the two landed, they took a moment to rest.

“I’m impressed, Luna. You can really handle yourself in a fight. Plus, your attacks are improving,” BlackWarGreymon said. Luna had definitely lasted longer than the royal guards.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon. And… I would like to try something else,” Luna said, forming an idea in her head.

“What’s that?” The Mega asked. Wondering what the princess had in mind.

Eager to test out her idea, Luna teleported to the far end of the gym and started to fly high off the ground. Almost reaching the ceiling. Then as she began to fly forward, BlackWarGreymon noticed that not only her horn was glowing, it was also leaving behind a trail of blue energy.

Feeling confident that she could pull it off, the Alicorn started to spin in a spiral. The blue energy from her horn formed a spiral-like cocoon around her body as she flew.

BlackWarGreymon recognized what Luna was doing. And it amazed him.

“Trying to imitate my Black Tornado attack. Impressive.”

Things were going well at first, but signs showed that the princess wasn’t used to spinning for a long period.

“Wha…WHa…WHHAAAA!!!” She exclaimed as she started to lose control of her momentum. Rapidly changing directions from trying to regain control.

“Don’t worry I got you!!” The concerned Digimon said as he rushed out to Luna. Intending to catch her.

However, as the out-of-control Luna kept shifting directions, she ended up colliding into BlackWarGreymon’s chest. The surprised actions caused the Mega to lose his footing. Causing him to fall backwards with Luna.

The two landed with a thud, then silent groaning followed. After rubbing her head from the bump she received, Luna slowly woke up. Only to stare back down with a developing blush on her face.

She was at a loss for words, for she was lying down on top of BlackWarGreymon’s armoured chest.

Then the Digimon himself woke back up and saw Luna. Unsure why she was staring at his chest like that.

“Luna?”

Hearing his voice snapped Luna back to attention. Looking at BlackWarGreymon in alarm.

“O-Oh!! I’m so sorry, BlackWarGreymon!” Luna apologized as she started to squirm.

“No, it’s ok. You couldn’t control it yet,” The Mega said as he lay still. Watching the Alicorn all the while.

She could’ve just flew off his chest or teleport away. But the blue princess was so flustered she couldn’t think straight. She tried to climb off BlackWarGreymon, but her royal horseshoes couldn’t gain any grip on the Chrome Digizoid armour.

But just as she finally stood up, her front hooves slipped. Causing her to slide forward slightly.

Then Luna completely froze. By sliding forwards, she found herself staring right into BlackWarGreymon’s eyes. In shock at how close her face was to his. Literally by inches.

BlackWarGreymon too was frozen as she stared up into Luna’s eyes. He had never seen her face so up close before. To him, her facial features were too fascinating to ignore.

Then the two felt something. Something that they felt before every time they met. But unlike before, the feeling felt so much stronger. Through he couldn’t blush, BlackWarGreymon could feel his face heating up. Luna’s was the same, shown by how brightly red her cheeks were. As time paused around them, they couldn’t breathe normally as it felt like their hearts had just skipped a beat. The rush of emotions was all new to the quiet two. The emotions were so bright and loving, and warm and inviting. Luna had never felt anything like it with anyone, even with her own sister. And because BlackWarGreymon had rarely experienced positive emotions before, it left him stunned right down to his Digicore.

As blue and yellow eyes continued to stare, only one thing was on their minds.

‘Her eyes. They burn with beauty.’

‘His eyes. I could just stare forever.’

As their thoughts crossed their minds, they felt something else. A tiny faint glimmer in their eyes. A spark? A zing? Whatever it was, they felt it. Almost in sync with one another.

Then they felt the urge. The same that they felt back at the Grand Galloping Gala. Luna’s eyes slowly closed until they were narrow, but still wide enough to see. She then slowly moved closer to BlackWarGreymon’s face. Her mouth slightly agape. The Digimon didn’t know what the urge was, but he felt like he should go with it. Feeling embraced by his new feelings, his eyes too slowly narrowed as he moved his head closer to Luna’s.

The gap between the two grew shorter. By inches. By centimeters. Until…

“Luna! BlackWarGreymon! Are you in here!?”

The sudden voice that called out their names had snapped the two out of their moment. Looking towards the door, the Digimon and the Alicorn knew who the voice belonged to.

“Cadence!”

Realising their current situation, Luna instantly teleported off BlackWarGreymon’s chest and reappeared next to him. Trying to recompose himself, the Mega quickly got to his feet, moments before Cadence entered the gym.

“Oh, there you are. Am I… interrupting something?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Silently noticing the blush on Luna’s face.

“N-No, you haven’t,” Luna said, her voice slightly shaky form the nerves.

“In fact, we’re just finished,” BlackWarGreymon added. He didn’t know why, but he felt awkward of the situation since Cadence arrived.

“I’ll just… leave you two alone,” He added as he walked past Cadence and out of the gym.

First the pink Alicorn followed her gaze on the Digimon, noticing that he was acting rather strange. She then looked back at Luna with a growing smirk on her face. Just seeing that smile got the blue Alicorn nervous. Knowing that Cadence was going to bring back the subject. She rubbed her hooves together in uncertainty.

As Cadence approached Luna, she spoke up.

“You just couldn’t keep yourself away from him, couldn’t you?”

“Cadence. I…It’s not what you think,” Luna objected. But the pink pony had proof of her theory.

“Isn’t it? Then what’s the deal with that sign on the door. You clearly wanted to be alone with him. Weren’t you?”

Luna blushed from realisation. How could she not realise that the sign was an obvious hint.

“Oh…uhh… I just wanted to learn a new technique. And he was the one to help me master it.”

“Why does that sound like an excuse?”

Luna realised that Cadence was right. Though she did want to learn from BlackWarGreymon, it was mostly because of her desire to spend more time with him.

Before they could continue, BlackWarGreymon came back to them. With the Mane Six and Spike joining him. Rainbow Dash was currently complaining to the Digimon.

“Aww. Why are you giving private lessons and not invite me?” She moaned. Acting defiant ever since she saw the sign on the door.

“Because Luna asked first, and she didn’t want to be disturbed,” BlackWarGreymon answered. With Pinkie Pie joining in.

“Yeah Dashie. I mean if he invited us to a private lesson, it wouldn’t be private. Am I right?”

Then Shinning Armor and Flash Sentry entered the gym. But weren’t prepared for what they saw.

“What the…! What happened to the gym?” The prince asked, noticing the damage to the large room.

Most of the damage was caused by the misfired energy spheres that Luna and BlackWarGreymon exchanged during their training.

“Oh…about that,” Luna said with a cheeky smile. Spike and the other mares couldn’t believe that they hadn’t realised the small destruction to the room.

Before more could be said in the group, a crystal guard pony rushed in the gym with panic on his face.

“Your highnesses! There’s been an emergency!”

Everyone looked at the guard in shock. Wondering if King Sombra had returned.

“What’s happened!?” Cadence asked, then the guard explained himself.

“Princess! The Crystal Empire was just attacked!”

A collection of frightful gasps came from the mares. Then Shinning Armor spoke up.

“Attacked!? By who!?”

“We don’t know, the attacker left just as quickly as he came. But eye witnesses described him as…”

The guard then saw the elephant in the room. In shock and disbelief, he pointed his hoof out.

“…HIM!!”

All eyes turned in the direction where the guard was pointing… all looking directly at BlackWarGreymon!

“What!? Me!?”

Chapter 38: Mistaken Identity

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All were stunned inside the gymnasium of the Crystal Empire. The news was that while the group were at the castle, the empire was recently attacked. And from hearing the words of one of the guards, he said that the attacker was BlackWarGreymon!

While the Digimon was left in shock at what he heard, his friends were confused.

“Guard! What do you mean that the attacker was described as BlackWarGreymon!?” Princess Luna demanded, feeling insulted by the news.

The guard became intimidated by the blue Alicorn’s sudden temper. But recomposed himself as he explained.

“W-Well your highness, the witnesses described the attacker to have three horns, had a dragon-like look, wearing armour and wearing clawed gauntlets. And all that fits BlackWarGreymon perfectly.”

“But it can’t have been me! I never even left the castle today!” The Digimon objected. Feeling victimized.

“Wait a second. When did the attack took place?” Prince Shining Armor asked the guard.

After quick thinking, the crystal pony answered.

“Not very long ago, sir.”

“Then it can’t be him because he was with me!” Luna said, desperate to prove the Digimon’s innocence.

“But BlackWarGreymon is the only one who fits the description,” Flash Sentry pointed out.

Then the crystal pony guard said something to the Digimon that startled the princesses.

“May I add, I too wish to believe that you weren’t the culprit BlackWarGreymon. I was one of the guards who witnessed your fight with the shadow ponies, and saved the empire.”

The Mega was taken back slightly. The guard just said that the culprit looked like him but believed that he wasn’t the one. Not only him, everyone else was amazed. The guard barely knew the Digimon and yet he believed that it wasn’t him. Despite the descriptions.

The pony then turned his attention to Princess Cadence.

“Princess, with your permission. I wish to go and gather more evidence.”

“Permission granted,” Cadence said with authority in her voice. The guard being dismissed.

Then the whole group brought their minds back to attention. Getting over from the sudden shock.

“This makes no sense. He was with me the whole time,” Luna said, reinforcing her previous statement.

“Maybe it’s an imposter. You know, someone posing as the big guy,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above the group.

“Yeah! There is no way our big friend would go back to his big scary meanie ways!” Pinkie Pie joined in. Knowing how far BlackWarGreymon had come on his friendship with the ponies.

Though BlackWarGreymon was silent, deep down he felt hurt. Was someone really pretending to be him, so everypony would think that the culprit was him? To him it seemed that way.

In curiosity, Princess Twilight turned to him with a question.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon. Besides WarGreymon, were there any other Digimon that looks like you?”

“No. There is only me and him. But he’s back in the Digital World, and I’m the only Digimon here. And even if he was here, he would never cause destruction out of spite,” He answered.

He then felt somepony hugging his left leg. Looking down, it turned out to be Fluttershy.

“Well I for one believe you.”

“We all do, darling,” Rarity joined. With the others nodding in agreement.

Wanting the crystal ponies safe, Shining Armor gave an order to Flash Sentry.

“Flash, I want you to double the patrols around the empire. It there is an imposter around, we have to find him before he strikes again.”

“Yes sir,” The Pegasus guard said with a solute.

As he watched the guard leave, BlackWarGreymon felt something stinging him. Even though he was innocent, that he had done nothing wrong, for some reason he felt guilty. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t done bad things in the past. He did start out evil the moment he was created. It was only by the carelessness of his creators that he had his own free will. But that aside, he still had done bad things. He believed that if he was still evil, he would’ve done the very same things that the supposed ‘imposter’ was doing.

He then felt concerned for the citizens. How was it that he couldn’t sense the danger outside? But because of the recent attack, the Crystal Ponies were scared. And because the attacker was said to had looked like him, he would be easily mistaken to be the attacker.

After some moments of thought, he came to a conclusion. There was only one thing he could do. But he cringed at the very thought of it. If anything, he absolutely hated it.

“Everyone, I have an idea. But I really hate it.”

All eyes turned to BlackWarGreymon in interest and confusion. What was the idea that he hated to do?

“What is it?” Spike asked.

The Digimon then spoke out after a moment of silence.

“To be sure that the citizens are truly safe, …I…I think it’s best if I’m restricted from leaving the castle.”

The group seemed startled at BlackWarGreymon’s suggestion. They had not expected for someone like him to say such a thing. It betrayed his character. Who he was.

“But you hate being restrained to one place. Maybe if…”

BlackWarGreymon interrupted Luna before she could finish.

“It’s the only way to be sure, Luna. Even though I’ve changed my ways, with my power I’m still technically a threat. I don’t want the citizens to go in a panic from just the sight of me.”

Everyone was moved by his words. BlackWarGreymon was willing to go as far as to do the things he despised, just to prevent any more panic. Cadence was for certain that he wasn’t the culprit. There was no way, especially after hearing him out.

The Digimon then asked Shining Armor something.

“Shining, is there some sort of dungeon for me to stay in?”

Everyone was again stunned and shocked at what he said. Some even let out small gasps of disbelief. Even the prince was a bit hesitant to speak before answering.

“Y…yes. We have unused prison cells at the bottom of the castle.”

Though he knew it was for the best, BlackWarGreymon felt as though he was torturing himself. His will tried to defy his reasons, but he didn’t want to cause the same level of panic that he once did back in his past life.

He would do anything for his friends.

“Good. Take me to them.”

“R…right.”

After more hesitating, Shining Armor lead the way out of the gym. Slowly, BlackWarGreymon followed. The others really wanted him to change his mind. Knowing that being contained was going to hurt him more then it seemed. But there was reason in his words, and it was true that his decision would prevent any panic.

Despite it all, they felt that it was wrong. But BlackWarGreymon knew it had to be done.

Wanting to help him, Twilight Sparkle spoke up.

“Don’t worry, BlackWarGreymon. We’ll find out what’s happening. And then it will be all over.”

BlackWarGreymon paused to take a glance over his shoulder. Happy to have such supportive friends like them.

“Thank you,” He said before leaving the gym. Following Shining Armor to the dungeons.

As he left, Luna felt a small pain in her heart. Seeing the Digimon in such a way was hurting her in a way she rarely ever felt. He was free from the imprisonment of doubt and misguidance that was his life in the past. The last thing she wanted was for him to be imprisoned again.

“So, what are we gonna do, ya’ll?” Applejack asked.

“The only thing we can do. Go out there and talk to those witnesses,” Twilight suggested, an idea in favored by everyone.

With the task at hand, the group left the castle and split up to talk to the crystal ponies. Princess Cadence and Princess Luna went to the area that was attacked. Luckily, the damage was minor and there were no casualties. Almost as if it was a hit-and-run attack. As the group began to ask questions, they were surprised at the amount of witnesses there were. But the responses they received from them weren’t good. They say that it all points out to BlackWarGreymon. But because of the rumors and the things he’d done for them, many believed that it wasn’t the Digimon who done it.

But while most of the responses were just repeats of the last, there were a few that were rather… odd.

“Wait just ah second! Grey? Not black?” Applejack asked a crystal shopkeeper. The mare was joined by Spike.

“Yes. Though it was too quick to be sure, but I did see that the attacker wore…grey armour. No doubt about it,” The crystal mare responded. Knowing truthy what she saw.

“But…BlackWarGreymon has black armour. I mean, it’s in his name after all,” Spike said as he turned a confused eye to Applejack.

Elsewhere, Rarity and Pinkie Pie received odd news of their own.

“What do you mean… a golden chest plate?” Rarity asked, unsure of what the crystal stallion meant by.

“That’s all I know, miss. The attacker had golden armour on his chest.”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at each other in confusion. Something was definitely off.

Same news happened with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

“Umm…sir…could you please give us a minute of your time?” Fluttershy asked politely. But the stallion remained frightened from his experience.

“Please… I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think of his frightening look, his cold glare, his silver hair and his deadly claws!” He said as he started to run off.

The annoyed Rainbow Dash tried to fly after him.

“Now wait a minute! We just want to…”

The Pegasus immediately paused upon realising something odd. She turned to Fluttershy with a questionable look.

“Silver…hair?”

The biggest revelation was one of the mares that Twilight Sparkle questioned.

“It’s ok, just tell me what happened,” The Alicorn said to calm down the mare.

The crystal pony was hesitant, but soon opened up.

“It…it happened so fast. I was enjoying myself, then everything just… fell apart. Then I… I heard…this insane laughing. I was so scared. And then… I saw his red glowing eyes…looking right at me.”

Though Twilight felt sorry for the mare, she couldn’t help but notice one odd detail in her story.

“Did…did you say that his eyes were…red?”

The pony began to quake in fear from remembering the moment that terrified her. As she spoke, she slowly lowered herself into a ball.

“Yes. They were crimson red. Al…almost like blood! Blood red eyes… full of evil and hate. They burned right through me. I thought that the eyes of King Sombra would bring nightmares. But those blood red eyes…they’re even worse!”

Twilight felt even more sorry for the mare. But at the same time, she felt frightened.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the mountain far from the Crystal Empire, King Sombra stood at its top. Glaring down at his former domain. He could feel the fear spreading across the empire. The attack that he orchestrated was a success. Brining the order into dismay and exploit the dark past of BlackWarGreymon. Making the citizens think that it was their digital friend who caused the damage. Making them fear him and make themselves vulnerable to another attack.

“Soon this will be all mine. It’s all going perfectly to plan,” Sombra said to himself.

Sombra’s ears twitched as he heard some several loud footsteps. Belonging to a tall being who walked up beside him.

“I still think that you called be off too soon. I was busy enjoying myself,” A voice said to the Unicorn, disappointed that he hadn’t had his fun.

The voice sounded very similar to BlackWarGreymon’s, except that it was of a slightly higher tone. Giving him an impression that he could snap and go crazy at any time.

After hearing him, Sombra turned to face his companion in mild annoyance.

“Need I remind you that the purpose of the task is for BlackWarGreymon to be accused for actions that you caused.”

“But all this hiding is really boring! I want to go back there and have fun, daddy.”

King Sombra flinched at the mention of his new nickname that the whining being gave him.

“I told you before, don’t call me that!”

“Come on. I know you like it,” The creature teased. Deliberately getting on Sombra’s nerves.

“You know perfectly well that I don’t! I’m not your father!”

“Oh, but you are. Sure, the boss gave me the energy, but it was you who shaped my body. Therefore, you’re my daddy.”

The dark Unicorn growled in anger. The reason how and why his creation turned out to be almost childish was beyond him.

“Never mind that! Now we wait here for the right moment to strike again. BlackWarGreymon is going to pay for humiliating me like that. Let’s see how he likes it when his friends all turn on him.”

As he chuckled, Sombra could hear the creature grunting in frustration. The thrill of unleashing his might was getting to him.

“I’m tired of waiting. I want to be out there,” He moaned.

His eyes then narrowed in determination.

“I want to cause more destruction.”

The annoyed Unicorn turned to him in anger.

“That’s enough! Why did the master create you with such an insane mind?”

The chaotic-driven being kept on grunting, until he had enough. He gave into his urge to destroy.

“Enough of this. I’m sick of standing around!”

Then without a moment’s notice, the being began to sprint down the snow-covered mountain and towards the empire.

Sombra was in shock at his creation’s disobedience. He was almost as bad as BlackWarGreymon. Wanting his plans to run smoothly, he chased after him.

“Get back here you brat! It’s too early to attack again!”

The dark king’s orders fell to deaf ears, he could hear his creation’s chuckling like an insane monster.

The newest edition to the forces of evil was untested. Sombra even hoped that he would avoid meeting BlackWarGreymon. If the two should meet…well, he didn’t want to think what would happen.

The Unicorn knew how strong BlackWarGreymon’s friendship was to his friends. So, by attacking the empire full on too early, there was a great risk that both he and his creation would be exposed.

Unfortunately, because of the creation’s impatient attitude, that prediction would happen sooner then he thought.

With his original plan falling apart, Sombra might as well role with the situation. As if he was the one who decided to make a full-on attack.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back at the Crystal Empire, the Mane Six, the royal couple, Luna, Spike and Flash Sentry all met up by the Crystal Heart. All discussing what they learnt.

“Grey armour… golden chest… silver hair… and red eyes? This doesn’t make any sense. BlackWarGreymon doesn’t have any of those,” Twilight said, puzzled by it all.

“Then why did the crystal ponies sat that the attacker looked like him?” Fluttershy asked.

“Then I was right! It is an imposter!” Rainbow Dash stated. In which Luna deeply agreed.

“Lady Rainbow Dash is right. Someone must be pretending to be him so that we would think it’s him.”

“But…why?” Spike asked.

Determined that there was someone posing as BlackWarGreymon, Shining Armor turned to Flash Sentry.

“Flash, did any of the patrols spot something out of the ordinary?”

“None so far,” The guard responded.

Then the group paused in thought, trying to figure out what was going on. The appearance matched BlackWarGreymon, but the specific details were completely off. And as far as they knew, he was the only Digimon in Equestria. Could it all be a hoax? Or a dragon impersonating him? Or…was something much bigger was going on?

Their list of questions and possibilities all came to a sudden halt when to their surprise, they all heard a loud explosion in the distance. As the group looked in its direction, they could see a plume of smoke rising above the rooftops.

“The attacker has returned!?” Rarity asked in a panic. All were shocked by the explosion.

“Then it’s not BlackWarGreymon! I just came from the dungeons where he’s staying!” Shining Armor pointed out, alarming the others.

“Then it is an imposter!” Luna stated. Relieved that BlackWarGreymon was proven innocent to the world.

The prince then gave Flash Sentry a strict order.

“Flash, go to the dungeons and get BlackWarGreymon up here. We have no idea who we’re facing, and we could use his help.”

“I’m on it!”

As the Pegasus guard entered the castle, the rest of the group ran and flew at full speed towards the smoke plume.

“I think its coming from the outer edge of the empire!” Cadence mentioned.

During their time reaching towards their destination, more explosions occurred. Increasing their concerns for any unfortunate citizens if they’re caught in the blasts.

When the group arrived on the scene, they were horrified at what they saw. Crystal buildings were shattered into pieces, the roads cracked, smoke pluming from the explosions and frightened crystal ponies running in fear.

“What’s going on here!? Who’s responsible for this?” Cadence demanded, angered from the sight of her terrified subjects.

They all then felt a very familiar chill up their spines from hearing a sinister chuckle. Then to their shock and anger, they saw King Sombra himself, walking through the smoke. Glaring at them in amusement.

“I’m back.”

Unlike before, the group were not alone. The recent explosions had also attracted most of the crystal guards. Armed with all sorts of weapons.

“Cease him!” Shining Armor ordered, in which the guards gladly obeyed.

Within moments, King Sombra was completely surrounded. All the swords and spears pointed at him with the tips very close to his body.

The group realised that something wasn’t right. They expected Sombra to fight back and retaliate. But he didn’t. He simply allowed the guards to surround him. As if he wanted to. Plus despite his predicament, his smirk had never left his face.

“I see some of you are eager to end me,” Sombra mentioned, seeing how close the weapons were to his face.

“Just what are you up to, Sombra!?” Luna demanded while the others glared at him in hate.

Sombra merely let out a chuckle before speaking.

“Focus on me all you want. But it’s not me you should be concerned of.”

The dark Unicorn then turned to his right, with the group following his gaze. At first, they were just staring at a large smoke cloud. Then they saw two silhouettes approaching.

The group braced themselves, knowing that they could be shadow ponies.

When the two creatures ran out of the smoke cloud and stood firm, the group were right to think that they’re Sombra’s minions. But something about the two had shocked the group and made the ones from Ponyville gasp.

One of them was a Pegasus that greatly resembled Rainbow Dash. And the other was an Earth Pony that looked like Applejack. The two let out snickering noises that sounded like hissing as they stared at the group.

“Hay, that one looks like me!” Rainbow Dash said as she saw her shadow duplicate.

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack said as she eyed her dark clone.

However, once the group got over their shock, they realised that there were only two of them. The two shadow ponies may look like their friends, but they’re heavily outnumbered.

Realising that a straight-out fight won’t go well for King Sombra, Twilight turned to him with a questionable look.

“Is this it? You want us to worry about some shadow ponies?”

King Sombra glared back at her. His smile seemed to be growing bigger.

“I wasn’t talking about them.”

After Sombra finished talking, all the Unicorns and Alicorns felt something. Something startling. They could feel a higher power nearby. Power that… was greater than Sombra’s!

‘Background music’ ‘10’s by Pantera’ (Broly’s theme)

On high alert, the whole group quickly turned back to the two shadow ponies. But it was the cloud of smoke behind the creatures that they were staring. They were unsure what Sombra was referring too. Or what his plan was. They just couldn’t think straight.

Then to their slowly rising shock, an eerie green glow was seen through the smoke. Then heavy footsteps followed. The group could both hear and feel them. They could also feel the power rising as the steps got louder. Something big was approaching them.

The group then all gasped in horror at the next thing they saw. In the heart of the green glow, was a large silhouette. Alarmingly, the new silhouette looked just like BlackWarGreymon! Walking slowly towards them through the smoke. Whatever was going on, what they were facing, could actually be another Digimon!

The shocked and confused group then realised something. The energy they were feeling felt like BlackWarGreymon’s! But at the same time, it didn’t! What was going on!?

As they silently watched the Digimon-shaped silhouette walking towards them, the group saw a pair of eyes briefly glowing bright red. They also heard what sounded like growling. As if it was primal in nature.

Most of the ponies took a small step back, fear already starting to grip them.

While completely shrouded in smoke, the new tall being stopped. Standing in-between the shadow versions of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Then the smoke started to fade by the feet, slowly revealing a pair of large black three-toed feet. On the legs, it wore black plated shin guards.

The group stuttered for a moment. The design of the shin guards were identical to BlackWarGreymon’s. But his were yellow plated, not black. Then they slowly averted their gaze upwards.

As more of the smoke cleared, the ponies and the dragon got a glimpse of the beings’ armoured waist. In places where there should be yellow, were replaced with grey.

Then the smoke cleared from the creatures’ arms. It wore the exact same set of Dramon Destroyers, but they were both dark grey instead of jet black. When more smoke cleared, the same could be said for its very own Brave Shield. Its skin however was the same shade of black as BlackWarGreymon’s skin.

As the appearance became more and more apparent, the expressions of the group showed complete disbelief. Grey armour. One of the descriptions of the attacker. It seemed the being standing in front of them was indeed the one. But why does it feel like that the being was BlackWarGreymon?

With their mouths slowly gaping open and their eyes growing wide as dinner plates, the group continued to stare up at the being as more of its appearance was revealed.

The fading cloud revealed its chest. The Chrome Digizoid armour plating was clad in the colour of gold. Gleaming in the sunlight.

Then the area near its spiked shoulders were revealed. Showing off the beings’ silver-grey hair.

Most of the group let out a fearful gasp as they recognized the parts that perfectly fit the descriptions. But nothing prepared them for what they were about to see.

As the smoke faded away completely, the being was fully revealed. Its body giving of surges of green electric-like energy. Its height and body didn’t just look like BlackWarGreymon, it was exactly the same. Showing the fact that the imposter, was a Digimon after all.

The group paused in suspenseful fright, looking at the Digimon’s face. Just like what the mare told Twilight, they could see the crimson red eyes staring back at them. The pupils were half slit. But even if they weren’t, the ponies and dragon could tell that there was hatred and malice in those eyes. But their expression was of amusement. As if the Digimon enjoyed seeing the fear in the hearts of others. Then with just a mere blink of the eyes, the group flinched in response. Seeing that the Digimon was truly alive.

The shadow clones of Rainbow Dash and Applejack chuckled in delight. They too liked to see fear. Then to the surprise of the group and the crystal guards, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a horde of shadow ponies. Identical to the Shadow Legion. Their sudden appearance caused the guards to back away from Sombra out of fear.

Despite seeing the twisted faces of the ponies of darkness, the group felt like that the new Digimon before them was the biggest threat. They turned back to stare at the tall being, only to see it tilt its head slightly. As if enjoying the moment.

As they continued to gawk in fear, the group heard Sombra’s voice as he too looked at the Digimon.

“So, what do you think? Not bad if I do say so myself.”

Luna slowly looked at the Unicorn in disbelief.

“You…you have something to do with this!?”

Sombra glared back at the Alicorn as he responded.

“You mean ‘him’?”

“But…how is this even possible? How did you do it?” Twilight asked but frightened to find out how it was done. It felt too advanced, even for King Sombra.

Then the evil Unicorn explained himself. But in a way to purposely not include his master.

“You see my little ponies, when I tried to mind control BlackWarGreymon, some strands of his hair got caught on my crown. They may not look much, but they possessed the specific codes on what his body was made up of. So by using my dark magic, I was able to tap into those codes and replicate them. While at the same time, crafting a whole new body!”

He continued as his smile grew bigger.

“In case you still don’t understand, by using my magic and BlackWarGreymon’s codes, I was able to create a BlackWarGreymon of my own! My own warrior who could match yours in every way!”

The group shivered in dread. They never thought possible that there could ever be a second BlackWarGreymon. An evil one too. But Luna also found it strange. There was no way that King Sombra would’ve figured it all out on his own. A Digimon’s body is entirely digital, and digital codes was way beyond Sombra. He must’ve had some help.

‘So that’s why his energy feels like BlackWarGreymon’s. Because he’s made out of his data,’ Twilight thought to herself.

“And I take it that you did the same with those two fakes!” Rainbow Dash said angrily as she pointed out the shadow versions of herself and Applejack.

Sombra briefly looked at his creations before looking back at the group.

“True. But they’re nothing compared to my magnificent warrior. Watch.”

Without warning, Sombra’s horn began to glow bright green. Then to the surprise of the group and the guards, all the shadow ponies that were surrounding them turned into mist. Then reformed together to create four Goliath Ponies. The same as the ones that fought BlackWarGreymon the day before.

As the giants towered over the intimidated group, King Sombra let out a burst of laughter before continuing.

“Even my Goliath Ponies pale in comparison to my latest and greatest creation!”

As the evil Unicorn continued to laugh, Twilight, Cadence and Luna suddenly felt a faint rise in energy from the BlackWarGreymon look-alike. Though he was still, his eye sockets glowed bright red as he released several soft growls. Then the ground beneath them started to tremble. Sombra stopped laughing as he looked at the ground in confusion.

Then all of the sudden, everyone was caught by surprise from hearing loud screeches of panic. When they all turned to its source, they saw that one of the Goliath Ponies was levitating off the ground. By seeing it thrashing its legs around, the levitation was against its will. Then the remaining three Goliaths followed. Screeching in panic as they felt their bodies being lifted off the ground.

Just like the group, King Sombra and the shadow versions of Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared up in surprise and horror. Then all eyes turned to the Digimon. Seeing his glowing eyes meant that it was all his doing.

‘Now what’s he up to?’ Sombra thought to himself.

Then as the Digimon growled slightly louder, the group suddenly heard even louder screeches from the Goliath Ponies. When they looked up, they saw that it looked like the giants were being pulled apart. Then after releasing their final screech, the Goliath Ponies popped like balloons, releasing black magic that was within them.

Before anyone could say anything, the black magic began to swirl above their heads. Then the energy began to channel themselves into the Digimon’s body. He was absorbing the energy from the Goliath Ponies and adding it into his own. The ground began to shake violently as the BlackWarGreymon copy grunted from feeling his energy rise. He also caused the wind to blow wildly at everything around him.

Everyone, even Sombra, couldn’t believe what was unfolding in front of them. The Digimon turned on his own allies, just to boost his own strength.

“Doesn’t Sombra even have control over him?” Twilight asked herself. Sensing that even the dark Unicorn was surprised by the actions of the Digimon clone.

Then as every last bit of energy got absorbed into his body, the Digimon breathed out a sigh to calm his energy. As his body stopped crackling with green energy and his eyes returned to normal, the ground stopped shaking as the gusts of wind died down. Then after a brief moment, he opened his cold red eyes and glared down at the fearful group. He then spoke to them, before letting out a crazed-filled chuckle.

“Hello there, my little ponies.”

‘Song end’

Chapter 39: Nightmare in Chrome Digizoid

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Things went from bad to worse at the Crystal Empire. King Sombra had returned with a vengeance, but with a powerful ally at his side.

It was he who was behind the recent attacks. The good news was that BlackWarGreymon was proven innocent. The bad news was that Sombra had created a BlackWarGreymon of his own!

The only thing that Sombra’s Digimon had in common with BlackWarGreymon was the skin. Almost black as night. But that’s where the similarities end. His body may have the same design as the saviour, but his colour scheme looked miss-matched. He had light grey armour on his shoulders while his Dramon Destroyers and his Brave Shield were a darker shade of grey. He also had a bright gold chest plate and had silver-grey hair. His three-horned helmet looked a lighter shade of silver then BlackWarGreymon’s and his crimson eyes looked as though they were coated in blood. Striking fear into the hearts of anyone who saw them.

But the one thing that may seem the most unnerving, was his voice. He sounded very similar to BlackWarGreymon, but the tone in his voice was higher. So when he chuckles or laughs, the voice gave him the impression that he was insane.

The Mane Six, Spike, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, the crystal guards… virtually everyone felt the wave of fear upon hearing his voice.

As the group stared fearfully at the BlackWarGreymon look-alike, Princesses Twilight and Luna heard whimpering at their side. When they turned around, they spotted a lone crystal pony. Backing away from the Digimon in fear as she spoke.

“It…It’s him! The one who attacked us before!”

Then without a moment’s notice, she ran away as fast as she could.

The two Alicorns stared back at the amused looking Digimon. Upon hearing his voice, the group figured that he was an individual. Not a mindless creation of black magic.

Knowing that he was an intelligent being, Princess Twilight tried to brush away her fear, and then spoke to the Digimon.

“W…what…are you? Who are you?”

Hearing her acknowledging him made the tall being glance over to Twilight. Briefly scaring the Alicorn with his gaze.

Then in a way the group never expected from a copy, he answered Twilight’s question.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m BlackWarGreymon.”

The group became confused as to what he was implying. But Rainbow Dash responded in sudden anger.

“You’re kidding me! There’s no way you’re BlackWarGreymon!”

After glancing over to the Pegasus, the Digimon spoke again. But what he said was unsettling.

“Well to be exact, I’m the embodiment of his dark side. Or as you call it, a dark incarnation.”

As expected, the group began to feel even more nervous. From sensing their fear, King Sombra and the shadow clones of Rainbow Dash and Applejack chuckled in delight.

“Dark…incarnation?” Luna asked, her voice shaken from the nerves.

Then the Digimon introduced himself.

“Yes. I’m a part of him come to life. A part of him who lusts for battles and violence. A part of him who craves for destruction and mayhem. A part of him who thrives on disorder and chaos!”

“I am… CHAOSBLACKWARGREYMON!!!”

The group took a step back in fear. If it was true what he said, then they’re in deep trouble. The violent side of BlackWarGreymon had finally gained a body of its own. And knowing how violent the original was back in his past, then the clone could be just as violent. Or perhaps even more so.

After he got his hype under control, the newly named ChaosBlackWarGreymon glared back at the group with a look that’s mixed of curiosity and boredom.

“But enough about me. I’m curious about you. You’re clearly not crystal ponies. So tell me, what town are you from?”

With her loyalty to her home unbroken, Rainbow Dash was the first to speak out in defiance.

“Yeah right! As if we would tell you!”

Unfortunately for the Pegasus, resistance was futile.

“You’re from Ponyville, aren’t you?”

All the non-crystal ponies gasped in disbelief. His guess was accurate. But if he was created just recently, how did he know about their home? Did Sombra tell him? Or was there something else involved? Either way, the group didn’t like it.

“How…how did you know about that!?” Twilight asked. Frightened to find out the truth to his knowledge.

But ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t listening to her. His mind was distracted by the image of the town. The things they had. And what he could do if he was there.

He then began to tease the group… but in a threatening way.

“Huh. From what I’ve seen, Ponyville doesn’t look too shabby. Maybe I should…stop by there once I’m done here.”

“You…you wouldn’t…” Applejack said, frightened at what the Mega would do if he was in Ponyville.

“Oh yes. You know…look at the sights, admire the view and REDUCE IT TO DUST!!!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s voice echoed through what felt like half of the empire. The group were startled by the sudden aggressive tone in his words. Even King Sombra and the two shadow pony clones were taken back by the Digimon’s outburst. It was almost as if for a split second, he had completely lost all his sanity. Or even just the mention of violence would bring him into a total frenzy. It revealed that his mental state was completely unbalanced.

Could BlackWarGreymon really had been like that if he was obsessed with destruction?

They were snapped out of their trance when they heard the copied Mega chuckling. He then spoke.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Forgive me if I’m not more composed. It’s just that when I think of causing great untold calamity and destroying lives, it brings me in a good mood. And I mean a really good mood. Who knows, if BlackWarGreymon wasn’t all goodie goodie, he might do the same.”

“No! Y-You’re lying! BlackWarGreymon would never do such thing, even if he was evil,” Cadence stated, showing her complete trust in the saviour.

“Yeah! And if you really are his clone, you should know that too!” Pinkie Pie joined.

The group thought that by twisting the facts, it would cause ChaosBlackWarGreymon to be confused. But to their surprise, the Digimon chuckled in amusement before he spoke.

“True, I am a part of BlackWarGreymon. But at the same time… I’m not!”

The group were confused at the meaning of the Digimon’s words. But then he had an idea to back up his words. A cruel idea to say the least.

“And to prove my point, how about a little demonstration. I will play as the god of destruction…”

He then raised his left gauntlet to his left and pointed at a distant building.

“…And them lot over there are my poor helpless prey.”

When the group looked to where the Digimon was pointing, most of them gasped at what the chosen building was. It was a school, and because of the recent attacks, the building was evacuated. However, the evacuation was still underway, and many children were in the area.

Then realisation dawned upon the group. Was ChaosBlackWarGreymon really planning to…?

“No. You… you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t dare!” Luna said in defiance. Hoping that it was just a bluff.

King Sombra too was unsure what the Digimon was up to. But even for an evil king like him, he didn’t like it.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled as he moved his left arm towards his chest with his palm facing upwards. Then after focusing, he formed an energy ball in his palm.

To the ponies, the orb felt like BlackWarGreymon’s Terra Destroyer attack. But at the same time, it felt vastly different. The colour of the orb was different too. Instead of it being negative red, the orb looked like it contained swirling black mist. As if a storm was brewing within the sphere. Also orbiting the sphere was a belt of green energy. Making it resemble a dark planet.

Then the group noticed that the sphere was growing larger and larger. Then to their alarm, they saw the evil gleam in his eyes. He wasn’t bluffing!

He then shouted the name of his attack.

“SHADOW DESTROYER!!!”

Then without orders or hesitation, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw the dark orb straight towards the school. Seeing the oncoming attack caused the kids to scream as they were paralyzed in fear.

Reacting as quick as they could, Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor used their magic to teleport everyone from the school away. Unfortunately leaving the school itself to be destroyed as the energy orb broke in and exploded from the inside.

All the children and their teachers reappeared beside the Alicorns. Watching in horror as crystal shards from the destroyed school rained down from the sky.

“You’re ok now. Now get out of here, quickly,” The stallion prince said to the school group. Allowing them to flee to the nearest evacuation point.

After they’re gone, the group stood shocked at what just happened.

“He…he wasn’t bluffing,” Twilight said, her voice filled with shock. Then Applejack and Cadence spoke up.

“He really gone and done it.”

“And if we hadn’t…”

The pink Alicorn was too in shock for words. The children and the teachers would’ve been actual victims to ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

As the group all turned to glare at the Digimon in fear and hate, it seemed as though King Sombra himself was just as shocked as they were. The two were arguing.

“You fool! Explain your actions!”

“Relax. I knew they would do that.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I want the crystal ponies alive. I need them to be my slaves.”

“Whatever.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s behaviour showed that he didn’t care for his actions. Seeing that even Sombra disliked such methods meant that the Digimon might be even more unpredictable then the king.

Uncertain of their predicament, the group received a shiver of fear as the cloned Mega turned his attention back to them.

“Now, where were we?”

After getting over their own shock, the shadow versions of Rainbow Dash and Applejack retook their positions. Standing either side of ChaosBlackWarGreymon and glaring at the group.

Trying to comprehend a comparison, Rainbow Dash spoke out in defiance.

“You know, there is no way you’re a part of BlackWarGreymon. Yeah, he may had done bad things in the past, but he was nowhere near as insane as you! You fake!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s reactions to Rainbow Dash’s words were shocking. After widening his red eyes and revealing his slit pupils in rage, he raised his right arm up and, without a sound, impaled his claws straight through shadow Rainbow Dash’s head and into the ground. The pony clone only let out a faint squeal as its life was ended by Chrome Digizoid blades. Then just as quick as it happened, the body of the fake mare burst into black smoke.

Everyone was so stunned by the actions, they couldn’t make a sound. Even King Sombra and shadow Applejack stepped back with wide eyes from witnessing one of the Unicorns’ creations turning on his own. Even though it was a fake pony, the recent scene was just plain heartless.

Most of the group knew what ChaosBlackWarGreymon was implying. If Rainbow Dash herself said that right at his face, he would’ve killed her on the spot!

After retracting his claws from the crystal covered ground, the shadow Digimon tilted his head in a threatening tease as his eyes looked half crazed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you begging for your demise.”

When it seemed that ChaosBlackWarGreymon couldn’t be any more frightening, that very thing happened. The group slowly began to feel terrified from witnessing the Digimon’s murderous streak. It was opposite to what they were hoping from a BlackWarGreymon clone. Completely opposite.

“Y…you really are serious… aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked, seeing how quickly the Digimon destroyed her shadow self shocked her to the core.

“Yes indeed, pony. In fact, I’m dead serious. So you all better not aggravate me. Because if you do, well…very bad things will happen to you. Here.”

After glancing down to his left, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached down and grabbed the Applejack clone by its back. The shadow pony began to flail and screech in panic as it felt both its body being lifted off the ground, and the Mega’s iron grip. It tried to shake its head and wave its legs like wild to try to get free. But to no avail.

The group were getting a bad feeling of what was about to go down. Even King Sombra watched on in mild shock. Truth be told that not even he could stop his creation.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then finished his sentence.

“Let me make an example!”

In one swift movement, the evil Digimon threw the shadow Earth Pony high through the air. The pony copy screeching in fright all the while. But things only got worse, because ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew after it at high speed. Then to the horror of the group below, he impaled his nose horn straight through the shadow pony. The smaller creature screeching in agony as the horn went through its stomach and out through its back. It then tried to push itself off by pressing its hooves on the Digimon’s head, but the pain was too much for its legs to move freely. As he watched it struggle, the Digimon laughed at it.

By hearing and seeing shadow Applejack actions, meant that it somewhat had its own free will. So by seeing it in such pain, actually made the group feel sorry for it. And from the look on Sombra’s gawking face, he had no idea that his Digimon would do such a thing.

With sadness building up, Pinkie Pie spoke out.

“But…that’s like… the worst thing possible!”

But ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s response was unexpected. Probably even uncalled for.

“Really? Sure it isn’t…THIS!?”

After he spoke, the cruel Mega quickly shifted his head back straight. His movements caused even more pain for the shadow pony as his nose horn moved while within it. Then to add in more pain to his captive, the Digimon jerked his head back and forth. Causing the pony clone to cry out in pain as the nose horn went deeper and deeper. The Digimon also playfully but cruelly spoke out while torturing the shadow pony.

“Or this? Or this? Or this? Or this…”

Even for a shadow pony, its screeches of pain were very unsettling to the group. While some stared on in horror, Rarity and Spike fainted, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie covered their ears while crying in fright, and Cadence couldn’t bare hearing it anymore.

“STOP IT!! Just stop it!”

Hearing the Alicorn’s plea was only getting the Digimon more excited. He only sped up the jerking of his head. Then with one last thrust, the shadow pony moved no more. Soon after, its body collapsed into a burst of smoke.

As he hovered in the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon glanced downwards to see the horrified looks of the ponies below.

“All done. I think I’ve proven my point.”

He then chuckled madly as he lowered himself back to the ground beside King Sombra. The king did not look pleased.

“……You do know that was my last shadow pony, right?”

“Who cares. You could just create more.”

“Yes, but it takes quite a lot of magic. So next time, don’t do it again.”

“You’re no fun.”

As the evil two argued, the group felt not just frightened, but vulnerable too. ChaosBlackWarGreymon showed that he takes jot out of being cruel. Probably more so then Sombra. Even the crystal guards were quaking in fear at the Digimon’s might.

Then the group felt a cold shiver as the Mega turned his sights onto them.

“You know, I think impalement is my favourite way of executing my foes.”

He then raised his arms with his claws pointing up. The blades glimmering in the sunlight. Showing off the fine edges.

“Want me to try it on you?”

The group were in deep trouble. They had to play their cards right. One wrong move and it would be all over for them. True that they received training the day before, but they were expecting to face off with King Sombra. Not a Digimon. They knew they were no match for ChaosBlackWarGreymon, and that BlackWarGreymon was their only hope. They had to find a way to bide their time until their friend arrives.

Being a clever pony, Twilight found a way to stall for time. But hoped that it worked.

“L-Listen. Obviously, we can’t do any great harm to you. But before you do what you will, I want to know something.”

To the young Alicorn’s amazement, ChaosBlackWarGreymon lowered his arms while giving her a questionable look. He was actually keen on hearing what she had to say.

But as it seemed her diversion was about to work, Sombra intervened.

“You dare question us?! You will know nothing! You have no ri…”

“QUIET!!!”

Everyone became startled from hearing the Digimon’s sudden outburst. But to their disbelief, it was all aimed at the king himself.

Sombra felt insulted. His own creation had shown hostility to him! Although he trembled a bit from the volume of the shout, he was also angry.

“How dare you! Let’s not forget that I’m in charge here!”

As he ignored King Sombra, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned his attention back to Twilight.

“Go on.”

“Well…um…how is it that you know what town we’re from?” Twilight asked him.

“Oh, that little thing? Well since all of you are doomed, I guess I can tell you.”

To the group’s confusion, the Digimon raised one arm up and tapped his claws on his head. Implying the very thing what he was about to explain.

“Everything BlackWarGreymon knows gets stored in his data. And because I was created from his data, I have all his knowledge and memories.”

The group gasped in astonishment, amazed by the startling fact.

“So everything he knows, you know?” Twilight asked, in which the Digimon answered.

“Exactly. Not only that, but BlackWarGreymon’s negative energy was also carried into the part of which I was created from.”

He then raised his arm again and formed a negative black energy ball within his palm. Identical to the one he used before.

“As well as his memories, I also possess all of BlackWarGreymon’s powers!”

Again, the group felt frightened. Shocked to know that the powers of BlackWarGreymon had passed over to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. After his energy ball vanished into nothing, the evil Digimon then revealed something else.

“But despite all that, I do have a trump card over your friend. Something that not even he has!”

He then raised both his arms apart to the sides. But just as he was about to perform his act, he stopped to think. It was true that he had something that his good counterpart could never have, but why waste it on revealing it so early. The group already seemed frightened from just the knowledge of it alone.

Deciding to save it for later, ChaosBlackWarGreymon retracted his arms and retook his stance.

“On second thought, I show it to you all later.”

As frightened as the group were, some felt as though they were left out. The evil Mega was about to show them something, but then decided against it. Only building up the tension in the group as they tried to figure out what he had that BlackWarGreymon doesn’t.

“Really?” Twilight asked. Almost sounding disappointed.

“Well it wouldn’t be very entertaining if I showed it to you here and now. That would just be spoilers,” The Digimon clone replied.

Then the conversation was interrupted by the voice of Rainbow Dash.

“Hay! Even of you do have this so-called trump card, there is still no way you can beat BlackWarGreymon!”

As the Pegasus continued, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at her with interest. Wanting to hear her out.

“Just you wait until he shows up! Then he’ll kick you to the next century!”

The Digimon let out a chuckle before speaking.

“Is he really? Well I for one do hope that he shows up. And I’m not gonna lie, I feel absolutely ecstatic. Because one he arrives here, he will not be returning to his dear beloved friends.”

His tone suddenly became darker.

“But a total… unadulterated… devastation.”

Again, the group felt fear from hearing his words. Then King Sombra intervened once more.

“And THAT is what I want to avoid.”

Again the Digimon taunted him.

“What’s the matter? Afraid that I might scratch your little crystals?”

Before the dark Unicorn could respond, the shadow Digimon continued.

“Speaking of which, do you want me to have fun with this little bunch?” He asked as he looked over to the pony group.

Sombra too looked over to them and thought for a moment, but decided that they were of no value. Much to their dismay.

“Go ahead. I don’t need them anyway,” He said as he took a few steps back, giving his creation some room.

“Good. Now let’s get down to business.”

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon faced the group, most of them took their stance. Ready to fight. Twilight hoped that their little diversion would’ve been enough to save their furs. But it didn’t seem like it.

However, the Digimon decided to make a game of the situation. He pointed his right arm out as he scanned the group.

“Hmm, lets see. Which one should I pick first?”

He then chuckled as he picked his first victim.

“Oh, how about you?”

All the eyes of the ponies followed the direction to where the claws were pointing at. Which revealed to be in the direction of Spike. The young dragon looked to his sides to see if the Mega was pointing at someone else. But then gasped when he realised that it wasn’t the case.

“That’s right. I’m singling you out, tiny.” The Digimon said to make himself clear.

“W…what? ME!?” Spike said in fear.

“Yes. Come here,” The clone Digimon said as he gestured Spike to walk over to him.

But seeing the young purple dragon being unresponsive made the Digimon almost loose his temper very quickly.

“I said. Come here!!”

Spike started to tremble. That was until a lavender coloured hoof stood in his path. Twilight protecting him.

“No way! You’re not laying a claw on Spike!”

Sombra however chuckled as he relished in seeing the meddling baby dragon quaking in fear.

“Why not. I would like to see where this goes.”

Then using his levitation spell, King Sombra grabbed a hold on Twilight and threw her aside. Causing her to crash into Cadence and Shining Armor. With Spike exposed, the dark Unicorn used the same spell to pull Spike towards the feet of ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Spike!” Rarity shouted, urging him to come back.

But the purple reptile was paralyzed in fear. Being so close made ChaosBlackWarGreymon look like a giant compared to him. He stared up fearfully as the Digimon glared back down at him.

“That’s more like it. But to make it fair for you, dragon, I’ll even let you attack first. Go ahead. Unleash your dragon fury upon me.”

The ponies were confused at the shadow Digimon’s request. Why does he want to be attacked by Spike when he can't be harmed by him?

But the answer was clear. It’s because he CAN’T be harmed by him. And he wanted to show it in his own way.

Given the green light to attack, Spike tried his best to push his fear aside and show the Mega what he got. Feeling ready, the dragon tried to breath fire at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But because of his fear, the only thing that left his mouth were only a few specks of flame.

As Spike began to worry, the Digimon showed a look of disappointment. But then he came up of an idea on how to put more fire in the dragon’s belly.

“You better try again, little dragon. Because if you can’t, then I’ll kill all your friends!”

Spike flinched from the threat. Then thoughts swarmed through his mind. Would ChaosBlackWarGreymon really do it? Would he really hurt others just to see what the young dragon was made of? Then more thoughts crossed his mind. What would happen if he didn’t? All the ponies he had come to love would all be gone. And he would join them or be all alone.

No. He wouldn’t allow it. Spike began to growl angrily as his eyes narrowed in hate. Then as the image of Twilight and Rarity entered his mind, wounded or killed, he suddenly snapped.

“No! I won’t let you!”

Then in an instant, Spike unleashed his rage in a form of a powerful stream of green fire. Engulfing the upper half of the Digimon.

The pony group were amazed. And the Mane Six had hardly ever seen Spike so angry. If not, ever.

Then as Spike finished his attack, he huffed in exhaustion. Smoke seeping out of his mouth and nostrils. Then as he looked up, he hoped that he had caused some sort of harm to the towering Digimon.

But as the fire and the smoke cleared, to his horror, ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained standing! Unmoved and completely unharmed!

Sombra too was startled. He never thought that his creation could resist dragon fire.

With disbelief washing over him, Spike began to tremble in fear. It didn’t help as the Digimon stared down at him with a disappointed look.

“Just as I expected from a baby. Baby breath.”

Then with no remorse, ChaosBlackWarGreymon kicked Spike. Though soft enough not to severally harm him, but hard enough to send him flying back to the group.

“Spike! Can you hear me!?” Twilight asked as she cradled her assistant.

Through grunting from the pain in his little body, Spike mustered enough willpower to look at his lifelong friend.

“Y…yeah. Loud and clear,” Spike said weakly.

However, their moment was broken by the chuckling Digimon.

“You’re a fool to think you can hurt me. BlackWarGreymon took a full blast from a giant adult dragon and walked out unscathed. And I was created from his data. So in short, you can’t hurt me.”

King Sombra smiled at what he saw. To him, Spike deserved it for helping to bring back the Crystal Heart. The group glared angrily at the Digimon. Wanting him to pay for hurting the young dragon.

However, it seemed as though the crystal guards were angrier then they were. It was Spike who helped save the empire from Sombra when the kingdom returned to Equestria. And even the one time at the Equestria Games. Spike saved the Crystal Empire twice. Since then, the young dragon was heavily praised and was known as Spike the Great and Glorious. The guards all treated him with respect, almost like royalty.

So to see their little saviour being humiliated and tossed around was getting the guards all riled up. For a split second, they didn’t care who ChaosBlackWarGreymon was or how powerful he claims to be. No matter what, they believed that the Digimon must pay!

“How dare you!” One guard spoke with hate.

Then without order and to the surprise of the group, one stallion guard ran full speed towards the towering being, jumped up as high as he could, and slammed his armoured hoof straight at the Digimon’s snout.

‘Background music’ ‘Break my Mind by DAGames’

The sound of the impact echoed slightly before the guard landed back on the ground.

To the guard’s surprise, his outburst not only left ChaosBlackWarGreymon unharmed, but the crystal-like armour on his hoof cracked and then broke apart. Then he started to feel numb from the hoof itself.

The Digimon chuckled in amusement as the guard glared back at him.

“Was that really all you guards can do!? You’re all pathetic!”

His insult struck a nerve in the guards. As they grunted angrily, they all suddenly roared out.

“LET’S GET HIM!!!”

“NO WAIT!!!”

But Cadence’s plea was unnoticed. All the guards around the group charged at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. All determined to make him pay.

The guards threw everything they had at the tall Digimon. Leaping in the air to tackle his chest. Jumping high to pound or give swinging kicks to his face. Or slamming their hind hooves into his legs. But despite their valiant efforts, ChaosBlackWarGreymon took every single blow without even moving an inch. He was like a stone statue to the crystal ponies.

Then one guard charged forth with a jousting lance in his mouth, and then swung it repeatedly at the Digimon’s face left and right. But again, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t even blink let alone flinch from the attacks.

Then as the guard swung his lance out again, the Mega quickly caught it with his right hand. Then while the guard was holding on, the evil being lifted both him and the weapon up above the ground.

“Lame!!” He shouted as he swung his arm to the side, taking out all the guards in front of him with the lance in his grip.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon dropped the lance, Prince Shining Armor grunted angrily. He couldn’t bare seeing his comrades being attacked in such a way.

“That does it!”

Joined by Cadence, the royal couple teleported either side of the Digimon. Next charging up their magical attacks. Then with no hesitation, the two fired beams of magic at him. Even with the attacks bearing down on him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained still.

Then the attacks collided into his sides. Exploding on impact and releasing a cloud of magical smoke.

“We…we got him!” Shining Armor said as he and Cadence teleported back to their friends.

But their triumphant moment was shattered by King Sombra chuckling and then talking.

“Oh yes you have,” He said as he looked back at the smoke cloud, showing off a sinister smile.

Worried of what Sombra was implying, the group turned their attention back to the cloud of smoke. Then to their shock as the smoke faded, ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained standing and unharmed. But then he started to chuckle loudly, which sounded like it belonged to an insane creature. Then he started to speak, but in a way that sounded like singing. Showing that the fighting was making him more psychotic every second.

“With my powers of the reckoning, I’ll bring forth all the sickening, now that you’re alone, I’LL SHREAD YOU TO THE BONE!!!”

As he charged forth, he recklessly attacked the crystal guards. It was a good thing that the ponies were wearing armour, otherwise they would’ve ended up far worse then hurt. The Digimon slashed his claws, giving them cuts. He swung his arms, sending them flying. He kicked them to shove them aside like ragdolls. He was dominating over the guards.

As he became surrounded, the Digimon channelled his negative energy into his claws. Then as he spun around, he slashed his claws out. Releasing blade-like energy waves that made contact with the guards. The crystal ponies all yelled and collapsed from pain as they felt their armour being almost sliced through. Luckily the guards were alive after such an attack.

For those whom were out of his reach, they were met with more physical blows. The Digimon laughing madly as he attacked. The sight of the carnage was getting to the group. They wanted nothing more then to stop it. Even if it meant that they joined in the fray.

“Leave them alone!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew at lightning speed at ChaosBlackWarGreymon and gave him an uppercut to the chin.

Although the Digimon raised his head from the force of the attack, it was the Pegasus who felt all the pain.

“EEOOOOWWWW!!!” Rainbow Dash cried as she backed off while cradling her right hoof. To her it felt as though she punched an armour plated boulder.

As she felt her hoof going numb and pain shooting up her leg, the Pegasus felt worried as she looked at the Digimon. Glaring back at her as he spoke.

“What a shame. Looks like you just signed your death warrant.”

Then to show off his greater speed, ChaosBlackWarGreymon vanished in front of Rainbow Dash and reappeared behind her.

Startled, the blue mare yelped in surprise as she turned and backed away from him. But he then performed the same trick on her again, frightening the pony as she tried to back away.

The process kept repeating itself until Rainbow Dash tried to fly higher. But before she could react, ChaosBlackWarGreymon appeared in front of her. Causing her to slam into his armoured chest. Fearing that the dazzled Rainbow Dash would be an easy target, Twilight quickly teleported the Pegasus back to her out of harms reach.

While chuckling, the Digimon landed as Applejack ran up to him.

“You leave her alone!!”

Within striking range, the orange Earth Pony turned around and slammed her rear hooves into the unarmoured part of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s right leg. As if she was kicking one of her apple trees.

But the Digimon’s leg was pure muscle, making it as solid as a rock. Like Rainbow Dash, Applejack’s attack caused more harm to her then it did to her foe. With shocking pain jolting up her rear legs, Applejack collapsed from the pain while yelling. Unable to stand, she looked up fearfully as the Mega raised his right claws above her. The sharp ends pointing directly at her head. But just before the clone Digimon could strike, the orange mare’s body was engulfed in blue light. Then teleported away just moments before the Chrome Digizoid claws impaled the crystal ground where she laid upon.

“Thanks princess,” Applejack said after reappearing beside Luna.

But she didn’t respond. She, Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor were all standing beside each other, glaring at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Seeing how close Applejack was to certain death got the four royals mad. The Digimon clone glared back at them as he pulled his right gauntlet free from the ground. Ready for what was coming next.

Without hesitation, the four royals randomly fired beams of magic at the Mega. Unleashing their attack spells in anger. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s reflexes were just as great as BlackWarGreymon’s. With his two gauntlets, he blocked and deflected every single one of the attacks.

Then as he brought his arms in a crossed position, he one again channelled his negative energy into his claws. Then as he threw his arms out, he launched an X-shaped blast at the four.

Luckily, Twilight was short enough for the attack to fly inches above her head. Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor had to duck to avoid the blast. Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw his left arm out, he fired a small Shadow Destroyer sphere. Weak, but strong enough to cause harm. Twilight responded back with a powerful purple beam from her horn.

The two powers collided briefly before, to Twilight’s fortune, exploded within seconds. Throwing up a massive cloud of smoke. As the cloud covered the area, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor rose back up onto their hooves. In front of them was Twilight, glaring angrily at their tormentor. In front of her was ChaosBlackWarGreymon, glaring back while his arm remained outstretched. After lowering his arm, the tall being proceeded to walk towards the four. Making them scared with every step he took.

Then the royals began to randomly fire their attacks again, hoping to slow down the Mega. Although all their spells landed direct hits, ChaosBlackWarGreymon walked straight through them with ease. Chuckling as the attacks exploded against his chest and shoulders. Also proving that, defensive or not, he cannot be harmed by their magic.

Seeing that their attacks weren’t slowing him down in the slightest, the four stopped firing their spells as the shadow Digimon continued to toy with them.

“Hahaha! Look out ponies, here I come!!”

As he flew forward at them with great speed, his purposely shoved his right gauntlet into the crystal ground. With the force of his momentum, his metal claws were cleaving through the ground like a hot knife through butter. The four royals jumped out of the way to avoid the charging Digimon. Shining Armor just narrowly evading the Chrome Digizoid claws.

Behind the four ponies, the out-of-control Mega stopped advancing and turned around. Both his hands holding small Shadow Destroyer orbs. He then started to launch them at the royals. The Alicorns and Unicorn had to keep dodging as the spheres flew past them or exploding against the ground.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon laughed as he kept on lobbing his cloned attacks. But he had to stop as he felt something hard smashed against the back of his head. To him it wasn’t painful, but it was annoying. Turning around, he saw that Rarity was loading up Pinkie Pie’s party cannon with the crystal shards from the destroyed buildings. And Pinkie Pie herself aiming the cannon at him.

Seeing their attempt to hurt him made ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckle loudly in amusement as he walked towards them. Seeing the advancing Digimon caused the two girls to panic and fire their loaded cannon.

The crystal shard shattered as it smashed into the Digimon’s face. Though it had smacked his face aside, he kept on chuckling as he continued to walk to them. Round after round the girls fired crystal shards at the armoured being. But no matter how many times he got shot in the face, he kept on chuckling as if the attacks were nothing. Scaring the two even more.

As he got very close to them, he quickly stomped on the party cannon. Crushing it underfoot.

“Why you…!” Rarity and Pinkie Pie cried out before attempting to charge at ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Beat it,” The Digimon said as he shoved the two aside with his arm.

He then heard loud hoof steps to his right and spotted Shining Armor charging at him. His horn engulfed with magic as a blade formed at its end. The prince then slashed his blade at the Digimon. But he blocked every swing with his arms. As the blade hit his left arm, ChaosBlackWarGreymon immediately rose it up. Lifting the blade and exposing a weakness on the stallion. Not wasting time, the Mega slammed his left knee into Shining Armor’s stomach. Causing him to feel pain as air escaped his lungs.

Seeing the airborne Cadence flying at him to his right, the Digimon clone reached out and grabbed the Alicorn by her neck. And then threw her into Shining Armor.

Dispatching the royal couple, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned to his next opponent. Twilight Sparkle fired a large purple orb at him, only for it to be battered away by a swing of his right Dramon Destroyer. He then swung out his left arm and fired another dark orb at the lavender princess. Twilight immediately took flight to avoid the attack. As she flew, the clone Digimon watched her movements. Seeing if she would try to attack again.

While being distracted, ChaosBlackWarGreymon felt an explosion at the back of his head. Somepony fired at him with a magic spell. Turning around, he saw that it was Luna. Glaring at him while preparing for another attack.

Throwing her head side to side, Luna fired blades of blue magic at the evil Digimon. Timing his movements, ChaosBlackWarGreymon slashed his claws out. Shattering the magical curved blades one by one.

But as Luna kept up her attack, the Mega didn’t. The blades ended up smacking back and forth across his face. But despite the beating, he didn’t seem hurt by it at all. Because while under fire, he formed another dark orb in one of his hands.

“Shadow Destroyer!” He shouted as he threw the attack at Luna.

Seeing the oncoming orb, the blue Alicorn quickly charged up and fired a concentrated beam of magic to intercept it.

The two attacks collided. Amazingly Luna slowly held the Digimon’s attack back. Seemed that training with BlackWarGreymon had payed off. But she still felt strained from the pressure of the pushing orb.

As Luna stared at the flashes of energy in-between the attacks escaping. She suddenly heard Twilight’s voice.

“LUNA!!! YOUR LEFT!!!”

Quickly glancing up to her left, she gasped at what she saw.

By holding back the dark orb, the straining Luna was left motionless. Becoming an easy target for ChaosBlackWarGreymon, whom was walking beside her beam and towards her!

To her horror as he got in close, the Digimon clone raised his right gauntlet up. Intending to impale the blur Alicorn where she stood. With complete faith in the speed of her magic, Luna immediately swapped her attack spell with her teleportation spell. Leaving ChaosBlackWarGreymon to stab his claws through the ground.

He then realised something. Since Luna stopped, who was holding back his Shadow Destroyer attack? Quickly turning to his left, he saw his own attack heading straight for him. But he easily deflected it with a swing of his left arm. The attack smashed at the ground, clouding the whole area in thick smoke.

Being the only one not in the fight, Fluttershy watched on at the side-lines. But with the thick smoke all around her, she found herself lost and alone. The frightened mare panicked as she looked all around her, trying to spot her friends.

“Hello!? Can anypony hear me? Where are you!?”

After a few seconds of looking around blindly, she suddenly came to a frightening stop. Right in front of her face, mere inches away pointing at her, were three Digizoid claws.

After a step forward, ChaosBlackWarGreymon emerged from the fading smoke. Staring down at her with sinister intent.

Fluttershy tried to back away from him, but the tall Digimon kept up his pace. With the claws on his right arm remaining close to her face.

To the Pegasus’s bad luck, she backed herself up against a crystal wall. She even tried to back up into the wall itself, but she wasn’t going anywhere. Seeing the three sharp blades just inches from her face was terrifying her. To a point where she started to cry in fear. Feeling that it was the end for her.

But as her eyes started to water, to add to her horror, ChaosBlackWarGreymon taunted her in a threatening tone.

“Ah ah, don’t cry. Or else, you will die.”

Fluttershy could almost see, at the very tip of his middle claw, was a tiny glimmer of green light. Possibly to show off the sharpness of his claws? Or something else.

The yellow Pegasus tried her best not to cry, but what was happening was too much for her to cope. Feeling that it was the end for her, she closed her eyes and started to whimper.

“Help me.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled quietly from the sight of her trembling form. But then his chuckling stopped as he felt a magical beam exploding against the back of his head. Turning around to look over his left shoulder, the angered Digimon spotted Twilight and Rarity. The white Unicorn’s horn was glowing blue, meaning that it was her who fired the beam.

“Get away from her, you brute!” Rarity shouted while Twilight’s horn glowed bright purple.

After seeing a brief flash of purple at the corner of his eye, the evil Mega turned back to Fluttershy. Only to see that she was gone.

Twilight had teleported her away.

Frustrated that he was deprived from gaining his first victim, the Digimon smashed his claws repeatedly into the ground where the Pegasus once stood to get his anger out. Then in a fit of rage, he roared out as his body began to glow green. Building up his negative energy.

Thinking that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was about to create an explosion, Twilight tapped into the deepest depths of her magic to find anypony who was around, and then teleported them and herself away.

Reappearing in a secluded ally, Twilight managed to bring with her Spike, her Ponyville friends, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor and two royal guards who weren’t knocked out. They were confused. They were just at another place a moment ago.

“What just happened?” Applejack asked.

After getting over her dizziness from overusing her spell, Twilight spoke up.

“It’s ok. I think we’ll be safe here.”

Then to her uncertainty, she heard Rainbow Dash’s fearful voice.

“You may need to recheck that!”

The group then understood what the blue Pegasus meant by. On the building in front of them, the group spotted that the wall was slowly glowing bright green. Then it started to crack up as shards floated up in the air at great speed.

Then with a burst of energy, the entire crystal building was shredded into shards. Caused by a powerful green aura. At its centre was ChaosBlackWarGreymon, laughing insanely as his body crackled with green electricity. While hovering above the ground, his energetic aura caused the ground to crack and break apart while causing huge gusts of winds.

As the group stared fearfully at the shadow Digimon, thinking if he was invincible, he stopped laughing as he looked down upon them. His blood red eyes revealing slit pupils as he spoke.

“There’s nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide!”

As his body was surging with green electricity, striking the ground and the nearby buildings, ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his right arm up. His claws pointing at the sky above. Then after channelling his electrical energy into his right arm, he fired a lightning bolt shaped beam into the sky high above the crystal towers. The beam then struck a small cloud, causing it to go dark. As the cloud was filled with negative energy from the Digimon clone, it began to swirl like a tornado as it quickly expanded across the sky. As the clouds swarmed across the once clear blue sky, they eventually blocked out the sun. Transforming the world around him in darkness that it hadn’t seen in a long time.

‘Song end’

The crystal ponies found it all frightening. Then they found it terrifying as green lightening bolted across the sky. Illuminating the empire in green flashes. Some of the citizens even decided to evacuate the empire. King Sombra meanwhile found the change pleasant. Reminding him of the days when he ruled the Crystal Empire. Seems he and ChaosBlackWarGreymon share the same tastes.

As most of the group below huddled together, Twilight noticed that ever since the Digimon clone was surrounded in that green energy, her horn briefly glowed every so often. She was unsure of the development, but it became slightly clear when she properly sensed ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s energy. Something was…off about it. It definitely was negative energy, but in her mind she couldn’t help but feel that… there was something else. Different, but at the same time, similar.

As green thunderbolts rained down around him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew higher as he turned his sights to the rest of the Crystal Empire. He then spoke out with a voice so loud, that it was al almost like the Royal Canterlot voice. As his voice echoed throughout the empire, the ponies whom were evacuating all paused and turned their gazes at the Digimon. All frightened of his words.

“Attention everypony! A violent storm has descended upon the Crystal Empire! It will shroud your world into darkness, as it will rage across Equestria!! And that storm…IS MEEEEE!!!”

As he roared, his body became enveloped in a bright glow. The energy within him violently surging all over his form in a powerful aura.

From the ground, the group could feel his power. It seemed to have no end whereas they were exhausted. The fight with the Mega level Digimon proved to be too much for them. There was only one being in Equestria who had the power to stop him.

“BlackWarGreymon. Please hurry,” Luna said while she and the others stared fearfully at the evil copy.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Crystal castle, Crystal dungeon exit

With BlackWarGreymon proven innocent, Flash Sentry escorted him out of the dungeon and made their way back to the castle.

Flash Sentry and the guards in the dungeons were the only ponies unaware of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s existence. And they were far too below the surface to feel the vibrations form the battle.

The Pegasus guard could clearly see that the tall Digimon was very annoyed. It was true that he didn’t like to be confined and contained. Especially since all the cells weren’t built for his size. So he decided to start a conversation.

“On behalf of all of us, we’re sorry about the whole ordeal.”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes were narrowed in annoyance. But he was glad to be out of that small cell.

“Just don’t mention it again. If there is an imposter, he’s gonna pay, and…!”

Suddenly, the Digimon came to a shocking halt as his yellow eyes widened in disbelief. Being higher to ground level, he could not only sense the darkness from above, but also a huge power level. It was far higher than anything he sensed in Equestria so far! In fact, it was almost on the same level as his own!

As Flash Sentry paused to look at the Artificial Mega, he was confused at the sight of his expression. It was of pure shock and disbelief.

“And what? What is it?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond at first. Not only he could sense the huge flow of power, he even recognised its type. It was digital!

“And what in the world am I sensing!? Is that… another Digimon?”

Then to his bewilderment, he found out that the digital energy was very similar to his own. Actually… it WAS his own.

“Is… Is that me!?”

Though Flash Sentry was confused at what BlackWarGreymon meant by that last sentence, he could see the Digimon’s expression change to anger as his muscles all of a sudden became very tensed.

The black Digimon had no idea how to feel. It was possible that he was sensing another him up on the surface of the empire. With his feelings all in a muddle from the startling revelation, he couldn’t even concentrate on what he was saying. Making his words sound like utter nonsense.

“Is that me pretending to be me!?”

Though greatly confused at what was going on at the surface, BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt burning rage within him. As if someone just violated his very being. Flash Sentry could practically see the fire in his eyes.

Then as BlackWarGreymon ran towards the exit at full speed, in his confused state, he said something that again brought confusion to the Pegasus. Something a little strange, bizarre and made absolutely no sense.

“I’M GONNA KILL ME!!!”

Chapter 40: Clash for the Crystal Empire

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Chaos had brought itself upon the Crystal Empire. But not the likes that even Discord would approve.

With the combination of King Sombra’s dark magic, his master’s energy, and BlackWarGreymon’s data, the forces of evil had created a Digimon of its own. One that was said to be the evil incarnation of BlackWarGreymon himself.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

An evil Mega was bad enough, but one that was born in Equestria was a nightmare in on itself. Given free access to his body’s energy, the clone was able to use BlackWarGreymon’s powers!

Equestria had become a whole lot more dangerous.

The first victims who felt ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s power was the citizens of the Crystal Empire. The crystal ponies evacuated as fast as they could as a storm brewed in the sky above. Created by the evil Digimon’s energy.

Despite his destructive ways, Sombra ordered him not to cause harm to the empire citizens. The only ones that were on his hit list, were the ones whom were not from the empire.

The group, who consisted of the Mane Six, Spike, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor and the two remaining crystal guards, remained still where they were. They could not hide from the grey-armoured Digimon, he could easily find them. They could not hold him off for long, he was too powerful. Fighting him was like an ant fighting a dinosaur. A mortal against a god.

‘Background music’ ‘Dragon Ball Super 46 soundtrack, Frieza is resurrected’

As the group stood in place, their visions were fixed on ChaosBlackWarGreymon as he turned to face them. He then let out insane laughter as he lowered himself towards the ground.

The way he talks. The way he fights. He was not a warrior… he was a monster.

King Sombra watched the fight on the side-lines. Admittingly impressed that his insane creation was doing his part perfectly. He would vanquish his foes without even getting his hooves dirty.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon lowered himself to the ground, Shining Armor spoke to Luna.

“So what do you think? If all of us team up, do you think we have a shot against him?”

But from witnessing BlackWarGreymon in action in the past, Luna gave the bad news.

“I’m sorry, but no. He maybe a clone, but his power is in a different league compared to our own. Even with my sister here, we’re not even close.”

Then Twilight joined in.

“Then BlackWarGreymon is our only chance. Lets hope that Flash Sentry gets to him on time.”

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed firmly on the crystal ground, he continued to stare the group down. Then the Digimon broke the silence.

“So Equestria’s valiant heroes aren’t going to advance? Fine, I’ll just take my time and pick you off one by one!”

Frustrated and irritated by the Digimon, the two remaining crystal guards yelled as they charged full speed at the Digimon.

“NO DON’T!!!” Twilight called out to them, knowing that they wouldn’t stand a chance. But it was too late.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon backhanded the first guard aside. Sending him skidding across the ground and against the wall. He then chuckled as he kicked the second guard. Sending him hurtling over the group and then crashed behind them.

Both guards were knocked out after the attacks.

The frightened group then turned back to the evil Digimon. All the available guards had been defeated, they were the only ones left whom were at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s mercy. The group hastily backed away as the Mega advanced towards them. Fear and panic written on their faces.

Then as the BlackWarGreymon clone stopped and looked at the unconscious guards, he turned back to the group with a questionable look.

“Now I don’t know what’s more broken. Those guards’ bodies or your spirits.”

With the feeling of helplessness overwhelming her, Fluttershy started to sob loudly as she hid behind Applejack. While the others felt sorry for the Pegasus, the Digimon was unmoved.

“Well it’s definitely spirits then,” He said as he raised his right arm out. Pointing his claws at the group while thinking about ending their lives.

‘Song end’

The princesses couldn’t believe how ChaosBlackWarGreymon was acting. It was like that he had no compassion, no remorse, no feelings. He was being too heartless for them to truly accept that it was true.

“Do…do you think this is all a game to you!?” Cadence asked, demanding an answer from the Digimon.

“Not really. If this was a game, I would be having fun.”

“That’s right, ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Now have your fun and finish them off!” Sombra shouted in an order-like fashion.

Then out of the blue, Princess Twilight asked the Digimon a question.

“But is this fun to you?”

“Hmm?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon muttered as his eyes widened slightly. Being both confused and intrigued at the Alicorn’s reasoning.

“Would killing us really satisfy you?” Twilight asked again. Her friends were unsure why she was asking the Digimon questions like the ones she uttered. But if it’s to give them more time to live, they would gladly take it.

“What are you talking about, princess? Of course it does,” The dark Unicorn intervened.

A suspenseful silence filled the air as all eyes looked at Twilight and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Waiting patiently for something to happen.

Then to the disbelief of everypony, the armoured Digimon lowered his arm back down. He then gave his answer.

“No. No it wouldn’t.”

The stallions, dragon and the mares looked at him and at each other in confusion. Unsure of what just transpired and if it was really happening.

Surprised at his disobedience, Sombra snapped.

“What!? What is the meaning of this!?”

Ignoring the king, the tall being spoke more about the questions that Twilight asked.

“Taking over the Crystal Empire…and killing you lot. That’s Sombra’s desire. Not mine.”

Sombra flinched at what his creation said.

“Then…what is it that you want?” Luna asked.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon briefly chuckled before answering.

“My desire you ask… is something far more satisfying. All I want… is to fight BlackWarGreymon.”

“To…fight him?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yes. I was created to be his rival after all.”

“And that would be something that WON’T happen. The damage you and BlackWarGreymon would do would be catastrophic.” Sombra said, angry at his Digimon’s attitude.

“Well of course it would. He and I are at the height of our powers. Besides, you created me with the sole purpose of destroying him. So why are you depriving me of my destiny?” He asked Sombra while looking at the group.

Sombra didn’t know what to say. It’s as if his own creation had rebelled against him. Most of the group were a little surprised. The amount of disobedience in ChaosBlackWarGreymon was in fact on the same level as BlackWarGreymon’s.

Then as the evil clone took a few steps forward, he chuckled at their frightened expressions. The group were worried. If he wasn’t going to kill them, then what did he had in mind for them?

Then all of a sudden, before anything bad happened, up in the green lightning-filled skies, a bright red thunderbolt appeared in the clouds.

A second great power had arrived on the scene.

While the group and Sombra stared up at the sky at the sudden red flash, ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his head slightly. Staring blankly as his eyes showed great amusement.

“Good. I was wondering when you would show up.” He said.

Hearing the evil Digimon’s voice brought the attention of the group and King Sombra. They then gasped at the sight of something else.

Slowly descending from the sky behind ChaosBlackWarGreymon… was BlackWarGreymon himself! Though glaring down at all of them, his attention focused primely on the clone. He then landed silently. His expression was of both anger and confusion. The evil Digimon faced away from the group and turned fully towards the new arrival.

Both yellow and crimson eyes became locked onto each other as the two WarGreymons stood fifty feet apart. Red and green lightning filled the dark skies above, as if the two were radiating their powers into the atmosphere.

To the group, the tension level was unbelievable. They could cut it with a knife. They then felt an uncomfortable vibe. As if they already knew that the confrontation would lead into a fight. But with the level of power the two Megas had, the fight would indeed be extremely dangerous.

With ChaosBlackWarGreymon distracted, the group sneaked away to safety. If there was safety to begin with. After gaining some distance, the group patiently waited as they watched the two Digimon. They had no idea what BlackWarGreymon was going through. To see a living hate-filled incarnation of himself.

King Sombra also sneaked away, but in an opposite direction. Having two powerful opposing beings meeting one another was something he dreaded. But then again, it would be a worthy test for his creation. And if he plays his cards right, he could even destroy BlackWarGreymon without any bad news to his master.

Unable to say a word, the group and the Unicorn king watched on at the confrontation of the century.

As BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon continued to stare at each other, it was the clone who broke the silence.

“Well BlackWarGreymon… aren’t you going to say hello?”

The black armoured dragon warrior couldn’t respond at first. His expression was a mix of horror and disbelief. He could sense his own data within the clone in front of him. And yet, he was so different.

“How? Just…what are you!?” He asked, sounded almost disgusted.

His clone almost took it as an offence.

“Now is that the way you talk to yourself?”

BlackWarGreymon became shocked at what his counterpart said.

“Who are you!? How do you have my data!? And how do you know who I am?”

His opponent chuckled before speaking.

“Ok then, a brief introduction is in order. I am ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The living embodiment of all the negative aspects of you.”

“Living embodiment? You mean… you’re a part of me!?”

The clone chuckled, confirming the statement.

Then Sombra intervened.

“Yes. I used your essence to create him. To rival you in every way.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at King Sombra in disbelief.

“You did what!? Do you have any idea what you had done!?”

“Indeed. I’ve created an instrument of your destruction!”

The black armoured Digimon then looked like he gave up on warning Sombra. It seemed pointless.

“You have no idea, don’t you?”

BlackWarGreymon then turned his attention back to ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“I take it that it was you who tried to frame me?”

“You guessed it. But pretending to be you was rather boring. So, I decided to play with your little friends.”

BlackWarGreymon looked over to his friends in concern. Though he was relieved that none of them were seriously hurt, but he felt the pain from their frightened expressions. It was there when he noticed something.

“And that’s another thing I’m curious about,” He said as he turned back towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

BlackWarGreymon then explained himself.

“You’re a clone of a Mega level Digimon. You have the power to annihilate anyone of my friends in an instant. But instead, you stalled for time.”

The clone chuckled in amusement.

“Oh, am I really that obvious?”

Upon realising what BlackWarGreymon was talking about, most of the group stuttered in shock. Sombra meanwhile took longer to figure it out.

“What do you mean!?”

His eyes widened when he realised it too. He then turned towards his creation in anger.

“You…you delayed my order to destroy them… on purpose!!?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon snickered as he looked over to the king.

“I did! I was created to fight BlackWarGreymon. Not to fight weak and pathetic creatures.”

As the evil two argued, BlackWarGreymon looked around at the destruction caused in his absence. Most of the buildings in the area had been damaged, some were even destroyed completely. The roads and pavements were dented and cracked. And many crystal royal guards were knocked out, twitching in pain.

When ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at his progenitor, BlackWarGreymon looked back at him. Burning rage building up inside the black Digimon.

“First you impersonate me, and then you dare hurt my friends!?”

His muscles all became tensed as he prepared himself for battle. He then continued to speak as he brought his claws at the ready.

“I know one thing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon… there is no way you’re a part of me. Because I’m not a heartless psycho who enjoys going around and destroying lives!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon spoke back to him, but also detailing of what would happen.

“That’s it. Good for you to bring up your fighting talk. But I must warn you, this fight would not only determine the fate of the Crystal Empire. But all of Equestria as well! So you better bring your A-game BlackWarGreymon. Because the stakes have never been higher.”

As BlackWarGreymon took his stance, his evil double remained in his neutral pose. As if he wasn’t prepared to fight at all. But the two were giving each other fierce glares.

Then ChaosBlackWarGreymon spoke after the suspenseful silence.

“Good thing your friends are watching this moment.”

He then thrashed his arms wide apart as he openly shouted.

“PREPARE YOURSELF, FOR THE GREATEST BATTLE, THIS MISERABLE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!!!”

Then without warning and in a blink of an eye, BlackWarGreymon rushed forward and gave ChaosBlackWarGreymon a solid hard punch to his face!

The shear force of the attack caused the evil Digimon to skid back while standing. His three toed feet causing grooves in the crystal ground. But shockingly, the power of the punch caused the crystal ground behind the clone to immediately crack open as the pulse went straight through him and onto the road.

BlackWarGreymon’s friends all gawked in shock. Even to Twilight and Luna, they had never seen the Digimon’s punch being so powerful. The kind of force behind it was enough to crush a pony into oblivion.

It had shown how strong BlackWarGreymon had become.

After he had received the punch to his left cheek, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes were shut as he twinged from the pain.

Then it dawned upon him. Ever since he was created, he had never felt pain before. The feeling and the stinging sensation were all new to him. That one punch hurt more then all of the ponies attacks combined. In fact, during his brawl with them, he only felt bumps from their attacks.

Feeling the pain for the first time was causing a reaction in ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He began to feel hype. His muscles twitched and tensed. He then felt excited. The fight with BlackWarGreymon was exactly what he was hoping for. It might be even better then he originally imagined. He could finally cut loose. Let loose the true extent of his strength that he held back since he arrived at the Crystal Empire.

He could finally fight like a true warrior. A true force of evil. A true Mega level Digimon!

‘Background music’ ‘Circus for a Psycho by Skillet’

As he twinged in pain, ChaosBlackWarGreymon let out an unnerving chuckle. Then with open red eyes, he looked at BlackWarGreymon without moving his head.

“Thank you, sir. May I have another?”

“Have the lot!!” BlackWarGreymon shouted as he flew forwards at great speed. First slamming into his clone and pushed him though the wall of a building behind him.

As the two Digimon disappeared into the wall, the group discussed of what to do.

“We should get to safety while they fight!” Luna advised.

“But are you sure BlackWarGreymon will be ok?” Cadence asked, concerned for their friend.

“Don’t worry, Cadence. You could say he’s the perfect one for this kind of fight,” Twilight answered to reassure her sister-in-law.

Then as King Sombra was about to surprise attack them, both he and the group became distracted by the sounds of explosive force. They could see that sections of the building burst apart. Parts of the walls exploding and shattering from within.

Then at the same time, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon came bursting out through the roof. Exchanging fierce blows as they ascended higher into the sky.

It was a clash to remember. For the first time in Equestria’s history, a Digimon would fight another Digimon. Though Twilight and Luna had seen their friend faced others of his kind, to the others, it was unlike anything they had ever seen.

Up in the skies, the two Megas continued to lash out their lightning fast combat skills at each other. In a form of jabs, punches and kicks. Then as they punched each other in the face at the same time, the blows sent them reeling back. Then as they stopped to give each other brief glares, BlackWarGreymon used one of his powers. With ChaosBlackWarGreymon replicating the same, but with a different name.

“DRAGON CRUSHER!!!”

“SHADOW FIRE!!!”

As the black armoured being unleashed a wave of red-purple fire, his clone unleashed his own wave of green flames. The two attacks exploded onto each other as they collided, creating a towering pillar of fire. Almost as tall as one of the crystal towers.

After realising that ChaosBlackWarGreymon has all his powers, BlackWarGreymon flew towards the tower of fire with his claws ready. His clone did the same, mimicking his every move.

The group below became startled by the sudden loud boom as a shockwave disburse the fire. Then sounds of metal clashing echoed as the two Digimon flew by each other. Repeatedly crossing each other as they flew away and quickly coming back. From where the group were standing, it looked like the two WarGreymons were doing a crisscross manoeuvre as they fight. As they ascend higher, then back down towards the ground.

As they came close to the ground, the two broke off their attacks. Slowly distancing themselves. Then in an instant, BlackWarGreymon brought his claws close to his chest and formed a green sphere of negative energy. Copying his foe, ChaosBlackWarGreymon did the same. Except his attack was red in colour and like before, had a different name.

“WAR BLASTER!!!”

“CHAOS CANNON!!!”

Then the two fired their seven-sphered attacks. Green and red energy exploded as they smashed into each other. Sending pulse waves around the blasts and causing the ground to crack up.

As they ceased their attacks, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged at each other and slammed their right wrists at one another. The impact sent a powerful shockwave, causing damage to the crystal environment around them. After a brie struggle of strength, the two broke apart. The evil Digimon prepared to attack first. But as he did, his new rival leapt back. Leaving his clone to slash downwards at thin air. After the failed attack, the grey armoured being chased after him. While backing off on the air, BlackWarGreymon landed on a crystal all behind him. Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon came on the attack, the black armoured Digimon leapt off the side of the building. Leaving his clone to slash at the building before pushing himself off to continue the chase.

As the group below saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon chasing after their friend. Flash Sentry finally managed to return.

“I’m sorry for being so late! Has BlackWarGreymon made it in time?”

Suddenly to his surprise, as well as all the souls around him, he saw a giant blast of energy within the cloudy sky. Catching everyone’s attention at its might.

“Well that answers that,” The stallion said, almost in shock.

High in the skies of the Crystal Empire, the two WarGreymons continued to clash. Flying through the air, they parted ways from the blast they left behind. Only to meet each other again to create another blast of energy from their collision. Across the skies they repeated their method of attack. After their sixth clash, the two flew away towards the opposite ends of the empire. Half way, their bodies were enveloped in negative energy.

Then as BlackWarGreymon landed on a wall of a building, he shouted out the name of his attack. With ChaosBlackWarGreymon doing all the same. Except his energy field was red instead of black, as well as a different name to the copied ability.

“MEGA DESTROYER!!!”

“NIGHTMARE MIST!!!”

Then like speeding comets, the two energized warriors flew back towards each other. Foreseeing a possible collision, Pinkie Pie alerted her friends.

“EVERYPONY DUCK!!!”

Following the pink mare, all the others around her also ducked low to the ground. In time to see BlackWarGreymon flying over their heads.

Even though at great speed, the two Digimon reacted enough to prepare an energized punch. As they came in close, they threw their attacks. One right armed gauntlet meeting the other.

As their attacks met, the combined energy from their glowing forms unleashed a massive pulse wave. The blast of black and red energy exploded outwards, nearly dominating everything around it.

It was then proven that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was pouring more energy then his rival did. Because the aftershocks of the blast sent BlackWarGreymon hurtling through the air and bouncing off the ground. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was after him, his body leaving a red energy trail as he flew.

After straightening his body, BlackWarGreymon landed on his feet. Skidding backwards quickly towards his friends. All the while holding his arms close, preparing for another attack.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight said as the Digimon came to a stop in front of her and the others.

The group then saw a green light. Coming from an orb of energy BlackWarGreymon had formed within his hands.

“War Blaster!”

After waiting for ChaosBlackWarGreymon to charge in closer, BlackWarGreymon threw his arms out and fired three green spheres point-blank at his clone’s chest.

As his attack sent the evil Digimon higher in the air, the black armoured Digimon prepared to use his Mega Destroyer attack. With his body surging with dark energy, BlackWarGreymon launched himself off the ground and slammed into the clone.

After a pain-filled yell from the energized tackle, ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave his foe a right-hand uppercut to send him flying. Going on the attack, the cloned Mega spun around in a vortex of green spiralling energy.

“CHAOS TORNADO!!!”

Seeing the oncoming attack, BlackWarGreymon quickly brought forth his Brave Shield and blocked it. Showers of sparks flew as energized winds made contact with Chrome Digizoid armour.

While blocking the attack, BlackWarGreymon kicked his clone at his centre. Forcing ChaosBlackWarGreymon out of his attack and again sending him hurtling higher in the sky. Quickly flying above him, the saviour dived down while using one of his attacks.

“BLACK TORNADO!!!”

Like a drill, he slammed into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s back. Again sparks flew as the spinning BlackWarGreymon pushed his clone into a distant building. Crashing through the roof.

From seeing the epic fight and determined to help out in anyway she could, Rainbow Dash took to the skies and flew towards where the warring Digimon were.

“Rainbow, what are you doing!?” Twilight called out.

“He may need help!” The Pegasus replied as she flew away.

But as she got close to the building, the whole roof exploded apart as BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew high in the air at high speed. At the stunned Rainbow Dash’s point of view, it looked like black and grey blurred missiles swirling around each other as they left behind a trail.

“Wow.”

High above every tower in the empire, the two WarGreymons were again in close combat. But unlike before, the two dodged every punch and kick they threw at each other. As if they predicted their every move.

It went on for a few seconds until BlackWarGreymon stopped the stalemate. He stunned ChaosBlackWarGreymon by catching both his clone’s arms with his hands. He then gave him a hard kangaroo kick to his chest.

The blow sent ChaosBlackWarGreymon straight through the open air, then straight into one of the crystal towers and then crashed into the foot of the castle.

With his foe temporarily out of the way, BlackWarGreymon quickly landed back on the ground. Surprised to see Rainbow Dash standing right beside him.

“What the…!? What are you doing here!?”

“What? I came to help.”

While the two were arguing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon quickly recovered and in a blur, shot himself off the ground and flew straight into the dark sky. Disappearing into the clouds above.

BlackWarGreymon sharply turned his gaze upwards as he sensed his clone. Realising the danger that Rainbow Dash had put herself in, the Digimon was on high alert for a possible attack.

“GET OUT OF HERE!!!”

Noticing how serious her friend was, the Pegasus obliged without hesitation.

“Don’t tell me twice!” She said as she bolted back towards her fellow Ponyville friends.

Sensing that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was fast approaching, BlackWarGreymon readied himself as he got one of his arms in position.

From the crystal ground, the black armoured Digimon saw his clone bursting from the clouds with his right arm reared back. Chuckling madly all the while. As he got in close, ChaosBlackWarGreymon swung his right arm out to attack. With perfect timing, BlackWarGreymon did the same with his right arm in defence.

As two Chrome Digizoid wrists slammed into each other, the massive impact not only created a sonic boom-like noise that could be heard for miles. It also created a shockwave so powerful, it caused the crystal ground beneath the Digimon to completely crack open. Forming a massive crater in the road.

Time seemed to have slowed down as the two made eye contact. ChaosBlackWarGreymon had sadistic joy, while BlackWarGreymon had anger and hate.

When Rainbow Dash made it back to her friends, they looked uneasy at how shocked the Pegasus looked.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow?” Applejack asked.

“Ok. He definitely doesn’t need my help,” She responded, her voice briefly stuttered from never seeing BlackWarGreymon acting so serious.

Then the group heard loud evil laugh. Turning around, they saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon flying towards them. Just when it seemed bad, BlackWarGreymon appeared from the side and slammed into the evil Digimon’s side.

As the clone crashed into the side of a building, BlackWarGreymon got into position with his arms raised above his head. He then formed a glowing red orb.

“Terra…”

But before he could finish, ChaosBlackWarGreymon launched himself out of the wall and tackled BlackWarGreymon. Stopping his attack while pushing him through a crystal tower. With his grip locked, the evil Digimon then slammed his foe straight into a building. Causing it to collapse.

Though the attack may be nothing to BlackWarGreymon, but the group didn’t feel like just standing around while the fight goes on. Though they could only offer a little help, it was better than no help at all. It was all because they realised that the clone was just as strong as their friend. Which meant that he would also have a chance at winning.

“I don’t care how powerful the enemy is, we need to help our friend,” Luna stated.

The others seemed just as determined as she was. Nodding in agreement, the group moved towards the scene of battle. King Sombra had every opportunity to attack the group. But just like them, he too was in awe at the fight between the two Digimon. With curiosity building up, he followed the group.

Bursting out of the rubble, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew up as he looked down at the grounded BlackWarGreymon. Seeing an opportunity to attack, he chose to take it.

“Shadow Destroyer!”

With no hesitation, the clone threw an attack twice his size down at his new rival. Though the destroyed building was empty, BlackWarGreymon felt as though he should protect what was left of it. Crossing his arms, the black armoured warrior blocked and held back the dark sphere. Then with a mighty thrust, he threw the attack back at its sender. Followed by a small red sphere of his own.

Dodging to his left, ChaosBlackWarGreymon avoided his deflected attack. Then dodging to his right, he did the same for the Terra Destroyer attack.

But then as he dodged to his left again, he unintentionally avoided a kick from the passing BlackWarGreymon. After the two looked behind at each other, knowing that one was there as the other, they swung their bodies around to use a kick. Their left shin guards slammed into each other, again releasing a sonic boom-like impact. Then in sync with each other, the two Digimon’s right fists collided as they punched. The same with their left kneecaps as they kicked.

Within the few passing seconds, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw their attacks. Only to meet with their own. Countless booms were made as punches and kicks were met with one another. As if one was fighting their own reflection.

After their right wrists and left kneecaps met with one another. The two WarGreymons broke apart and landed on the ground. Ending their locked combat. But the fight went on as the two charged at each other. A blinding explosion lit up as they met in the middle of the street.

Finally arriving on the scene of battle, the princesses and their friends, trailed by King Sombra, approached the entrance to the street. Completely in awe at what they were seeing.

At the street centre and surrounded by a bright glow of negative energy, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon wrestled for superior strength. As their Digizoid claws pressed against each other as they pushed, their three-horned heads were locked together. Struggling as they moved back and forth. The group also noticed that both their eye sockets were glowing. BlackWarGreymon’s was a blinding white, while ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s was a burning red.

Invisible energy flowed out of their bodies as the Digimon wrestled. Causing surges of electricity and sections of road and buildings to float above ground. Caught in the field of negative energy.

The two warriors kept on grunting as they struggled for dominance, but they were evenly matched. As they pulled themselves apart, it caused a wave of energy that shattered the crystal ground apart. Then they leapt to the sky. Whirling around each other as they flew high above the tallest towers. Even the castle itself.

As he got to a perfect height to unleash his might, BlackWarGreymon brought his claws close together and formed a red energy sphere. ChaosBlackWarGreymon did the exact same with his own attack.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

“SHADOW DESTROYER!!!”

With both attacks reaching a colossal size, almost one hundred feet wide, the two Digimon threw them at each other. It looked like two huge planets flying across the sky towards one another. One was negative red, and the other a smoky black.

Then as the two giant orbs slammed into each other, it resulted in a gigantic blinding explosion that completely dominated the sky. Shining brighter then any magic in Equestria. From the distance, the blast looked like a giant ball of light that was almost the size of the empire itself.

The light from the explosion could in fact be seen for miles.

'Song end.'
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Frozen North, Yakyakistan

Up north of the Crystal Empire laid a small town, populated by the yaks. It was recently when them and the ponies discovered each other. And on one eventful day, the yak chief would go to them for an important visit. If things went well, it would lead to an alliance.

On a snowy field, a lone young yak was making his way back home from playing with his friends. Then a sound of a very distant explosion caught his ears. Turning around, the young one’s sights became fixed on something new.

Far in the distance over the snowy fields and beyond the mountains, was a shining light. Even though it looked faint from where the young yak was standing, but he could tell that it was very bright. From the way the light broke through the clouds, it looked like a sunrise.

While the young one stared at the glimmering light, his father joined him. At first wondered why his son hadn’t come home. But soon realised why.

As the two looked, the young yak spoke to his father.

“Father. That isn’t the sun. What is that light?” He asked, feeling intimidated at how unnatural it looked.

His father took a moment to think. It was very rare for a fully grown yak to feel intimidated. But watching the light made him feel uneasy.

He then spoke up.

“I don’t know, my son. No yak had ever seen such light.”

He then realised where the light was coming from.

“It’s from the land of ponies. But that light is from a different power. Something big is happening over there.”

Father and son continued to stare at the light. Even up to the moment when it faded over the horizon.

Chapter 41: Curse of Magic

View Online

It was a dark day at the Crystal Empire as the fight between BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept on escalating. If the warrior from the Digital World hadn’t arrived on time, his clone would’ve had his way with his friends. Ordered by King Sombra or not.

The blinding light from the collision of Terra Destroyer and Shadow Destroyer spheres remained minutes after the explosion. Almost as if the attacks had transported the empire to a completely different world. The empire itself had suffered only wind damage as powerful gusts from the blast came through the streets.

As the light dimmed enough to see, the Mane Six, Princess Luna, the royal couple, Spike and Flash Sentry could all see one another. Glad that the winds had died down.

“Is everypony alright?” Princess Twilight asked.

“I…I think so,” Princess Cadence answered as the rest gathered close together. Not daring to separate themselves.

Everyone then looked back up at the sky. To where they last saw the two Digimon before the explosion.

“Wow. That was some display of power,” Prince Shining Armor said. Feeling afraid by the might of the digital warriors.

“Twilight and I had seen every battle BlackWarGreymon went through in his past. And not once had we seen his attack being so large,” Luna added. Truly amazed at how much stronger her friend had become.

King Sombra too was stunned on the sidelines. Blown away at the collision of power between the two Digimon. The same could be said for the citizens of the empire. The ones whom were outside were motionless from witnessing the powerful blast.

As the blinding light faded, it revealed a large patch of black smoke at its epicenter. Within moments, to the suspense of the ponies below, the smoke dissipated. And to their disbelief, both the Digimon remained intact. Levitating high in the sky, unmoved and unharmed, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon silently stared at one another. Waiting to see who would make the first move. All the while green and red lightning flashed across the dark stormy sky.

Though far below them, the group could see the two airborne Digimon.

“Oh my. Those two were the closest to that explosion,” Applejack noted with Rarity joining in.

“And they’re not even fazed.”

Fluttershy and Spike shivered in fear from the situation. Flash Sentry gulped from the nerves, glad that he wasn’t in the middle of the Digimon battle.

Then Rainbow Dash spoke to Twilight. Her tone made it sound like she was eager to know something.

“Hay Twi. A while back you said that you saw BlackWarGreymon fighting a Digimon who looked like him. Is this fight just like the other one?”

Twilight didn’t even need to think about comparing the fights.

“No Rainbow. This fight is completely different.”

“Huh?” The confused Pegasus asked.

As the whole group payed their attention to Twilight, they all heard what she had to say.

“The BlackWarGreymon we know is far stronger than he was when he fought WarGreymon.”

The lavender Alicorn continued as she looked up at BlackWarGreymon

“We still don’t know why, but he’s getting stronger because of the magic of Equestria. He even said so on the day he arrived. He’s now in a completely different league to what he once was.”

She then focused her sights on the enemy.

“And ChaosBlackWarGreymon was created from his data. Giving him the same amount of power BlackWarGreymon has.”

“So they… really are gods,” Shining Armor said. Admittingly frightened from Twilight’s words.

To describe the two Digimon as ‘gods’ was an overstatement. But with the amount of power they had compared to the ponies, one would assume so.

High in the sky, the two Megas continued to quietly glare at each other. The silence was broken by ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Enjoying yourself, best buddy?”

BlackWarGreymon twinged in annoyance at what he could guess was his new nickname. And then spoke back.

“What makes you think that I’m enjoying myself?”

The clone chuckled before giving his reason.

“There’s no point in hiding it from me, you know. You were going easy on me… because you didn’t want this fight to end. I’m clearly far stronger than any opponent you’ve faced in Equestria. So to a warrior like you, this fight is exhilarating. Am I wrong?”

BlackWarGreymon slowly looked down in shame. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was right. He was a warrior-type Mega level Digimon. Designed for war, built to fight and gain the thrill of battle. He wanted to protect his friends so badly, but he couldn’t help himself. He was at war with his clone and himself.

At that moment, he hated himself for it.

He then heard ChaosBlackWarGreymon talking again.

“Not that I blame you though. I too have been taking it easy on you. Holding back to savor the moment. You love to fight, and I wanted my first true battle to be with you. It’s a win win. It is fate for this to happen. You and I are supposed to fight!”

Before he could go on, BlackWarGreymon snapped.

“Enough with your nonsense!! I’m not here to have fun! I’m here to protect my friends, and correct Sombra’s mistake! No more games! I will defeat you! Even destroy you!”

“Even if you enjoy it?”

BlackWarGreymon was unfazed by his clone’s question.

“Yes.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon once again chuckled before speaking.

“As you wish. Time to get serious. No more fooling around.”

The moment he finished talking, both him and BlackWarGreymon immediately started to raise their power levels. Preparing for an intense fight.

Back on the ground, both the group and King Sombra were starting to get puzzled.

“Why are they just staying there? Aren’t they fighting?” Pinkie Pie asked, but no one answered.

‘Background music’ ‘Cry Thunder by Dragonforce’

Just as the group began to think that it was some kind of mutual respect, the images of the two Digimon suddenly vanished in an instant. Surprising the souls below.

“Wha…What happened!? Where did they go!?” Flash Sentry asked in alarm.

“Did they vanish?” Fluttershy asked.

Being the only one who understood the aspects of speed, the shocked Rainbow Dash explained what had happened.

“Sort of. But they done it with pure speed. Moving so fast that not everypony could see.”

Her friends looked at her in amazement. Then back at the sky.

“Just speed!? BlackWarGreymon had never that quick before. Just how much faster did he get?” Applejack asked.

Before their conversation could continue, they were suddenly startled by a series of loud booms. But they were happening so fast the group couldn’t see what was going on. They kept darting their heads in any direction to where they heard the noises but couldn’t see the fight.

After several intense seconds, all eyes of the Crystal Empire saw a series of impacts. Shockwaves from the booms darted across the skies like fireworks.

Again the ponies and dragon couldn’t exactly tell what was happening. But to their confusion, Rainbow Dash spoke up. In an oddly excited tone.

“I know this isn’t the best time to say this but… this is so awesome! The way they fight is almost like in a comic or a movie.”

“Wait! You can see them!?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. You just need to look carefully,”

The whole group looked back at the sky to try and see the Digimon. Even Sombra tried it out. At first, all they saw were the constant booms. But after more concentration, they saw them. Speeding black and grey blurs raced across the sky, creating loud booms when they collided with each other.

The fight had risen to a new extent. Beyond anypony’s imagination.

To their surprise, the two blurs suddenly got quite close to them. As they created a boom in front of them, the shockwave completely obliterated a nearby building.

“That was too close!” Fluttershy noted, she and the others felt the blast of wind that followed the boom.

The group continued to watch on as the two blurs brought their fight across the empire rooftops. They kept on slamming each other, causing more shockwaves, and inadvertently destroying more property. Then for a split second, the image of BlackWarGreymon blocking ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s punch was seen. Then the afterimage faded as they immediately split themselves apart. Then the black and grey blurs slammed at each other again. Smoke and rubble appeared from destroyed property from the resulting booms. After more intense collisions, another afterimage was seen. The evil clone was seen kicking the hero at his side while the latter was blocking it.

As the empire erupted around them, the two blurs flew high in the air and away from the group. After slowing down, the true forms of both BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon were revealed. They then resumed their duel.

Twilight and her friends, plus Sombra, looked at the sky to try and again spot the two Digimon. At first, it seemed they vanished without a trace. But then they heard more loud booms. But unlike before, the sounds were more centered at one place instead of all over.

After a brief moment, they found out why. Emerging from behind a tall building in the distance, floating in the air towards the right, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon were engaged in close combat. The difference in strength from before were evident. Because as the Digimon landed a successful blow, it released large shockwaves. Blasts of wind were visibly seen. But despite the seemly heavy blows, the two Megas shrugged them off as if they were just normal kicks and punches.

As the group watched the two Digimon fight, they felt a strange vibe flowing through their bodies. The vibe was of both awe and fear. The fight was unlike anything Equestria had ever seen.

“Wow. I’ve never seen BlackWarGreymon fight so seriously before,” Spike said as he and the others continue to stare.

King Sombra too was amazed at the duel of the WarGreymons.

“Yes. Yes! The experiment is a success. ChaosBlackWarGreymon fights just as perfectly as the master predicted.”

But then his mood turned sour.

“But at the same time, this is infuriating! I’m the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, but I can’t even hurt BlackWarGreymon! And yet, my creation is matching him blow to blow. Why don’t I have that strength!?”

Back at the fight, the two Megas were starting to move much faster to the right of the empire. Quickly bringing their match closer towards the ground. But they were too focused one their fight, that they payed no mind to it.

But it soon appeared that they were aware of the ground after all. When it seemed that the two crashed to the floor, throwing up a cloud of dust, the dueling Digimon sped back to the left. Fighting just a few feet off the ground. Even crashing through buildings didn’t avert their attention from each other.

Then the stalemate was finally broken. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon swung his left leg out in a kick, BlackWarGreymon caught it and threw the clone up in the sky. But then as he flew up to intercept him, the evil Mega swung both his arms down onto the good Mega. Sending him crashing back down to earth.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed back some distance away, BlackWarGreymon launched himself forward to throw a right-handed punch. The clone raised his left arm in front of his face to block the punch. The force of the attack sent a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath the clone. Then he responded by throwing a right-handed punch of his own. But BlackWarGreymon was quick to cross his arms to block the blow. Again, the force of the punch tore the crystal ground apart. The black armoured Mega then swung a left kick at his foe. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his right elbow to block it. Then the clone raised his left knee at BlackWarGreymon’s chest, but he blocked it with his right arm.

The two then proceeded to fight in close quarters. But as they fought on the spot, the area around them suffered great damage from the strength they had. The crystal structures around them cracked and crumbled.

They then took to the skies again, their bodies emitting black and red auras.

“Mega Destroyer!”

“Nightmare Mist!”

Then like before, the two Digimon proceeded to slam into each other like speeding colliding comets. But with their bodies energized, the resulting booms were louder and the shockwaves became more powerful. Flashes of black and red danced across the sky like fireworks.

Then taking ChaosBlackWarGreymon by surprise, BlackWarGreymon changed attacks.

“War Blaster!”

Several blasts of green negative energy were all that’s needed to knock the evil Digimon out of his Nightmare Mist attack. Temporally stunned, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was left open to attack. BlackWarGreymon flew in and gave several hard punches to the face. Quickly regaining focus, the grey Mega slammed his left knee into BlackWarGreymon’s gut. Then spinning around, he slammed his right foot into his chest. Sending the black armoured being into a tall building.

Knowing that his opponent was far from beaten, the clone threw his Shadow Destroyer attack towards him. Then suddenly, a Terra Destroyer sphere of the same size flew out of the hole in the wall and towards the copied attack.

However, both attacks missed each other by mere inches. Leaving the red orb to strike at ChaosBlackWarGreymon and the black orb to explode within the building.

As the clone recovered from the attack, BlackWarGreymon came bursting from the collapsing building. Then he and ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged at each other yet again.

As the two Digimon got close, BlackWarGreymon did a midair back flip. Causing his right foot to kick his grey armoured foe high in the air. Then as the saviour flew up to intercept him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon quickly righted himself and then threw another Shadow Destroyer orb the size of himself downwards.

Not prepared for the oncoming attack, BlackWarGreymon was tackled by the sphere and was then pushed back down towards earth. As he hit the ground, the attack exploded. Destroying several nearby buildings.

As the smoke seeped from the explosion, ChaosBlackWarGreymon laughed insanely. But while doing so, he failed to notice a giant slab of crystal being thrown towards him from the smoke. The hurtling slab smacked the clone in the head, causing him to become dazed.

While his opponent was stunned, BlackWarGreymon emerged from the smoke and flew above him. in his grasp was a huge section of a crystal pillar. He then raised it overhead like a giant club.

Just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon regained his sights, he was welcomed by a huge smack from the club. The blow sent him straight through the building below. Shattering on impact.

As he lay upon the countless crystal shards, the evil Digimon saw BlackWarGreymon heading straight towards him with his new weapon. After quickly looking around, he found another crystal pillar lying next to him. As he reached over and grabbed a firm hold on his own crystal weapon, he swung it upwards to counter BlackWarGreymon’s as he swung his down.

The force from the blow created a crater in the crystal ground. Then as the two warriors leapt out of the collapsing building and into the streets, they repeatedly swung their clubs at each other as if in a sword fight. The impacts from the clash caused walls to crack and glass to shatter.

Then catching BlackWarGreymon off guard, ChaosBlackWarGreymon swung his club low and at the legs of his foe. The sweeping attack knocked the saviour off his feet, causing him to fall on his back. Then with no hesitation, the evil Digimon smashed his club onto BlackWarGreymon. Squashing him into the ground. ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled as he raised his weapon over his head to swing it down on his enemy again. But before he could, BlackWarGreymon quickly sat up and swung his club into the grey Digimon’s side. Sending him flying into a large building.

Elsewhere, Twilight and her friends began to feel worried. It had been some time since they seen the two Digimon and the sound of crystal clashing and buildings collapsing were unsettling. But if the sounds of battle were continuing, then it meant that their digital friend was ok.

On another note, King Sombra looked around at the destroyed property that laid before him.

“This is just what I feared. Their fighting is causing damage to the empire. Oh well. I guess once I take over, I’ll get my slaves to rebuild them all.”

Then a distant flash caught their attention. Looking afar, the ponies and dragon saw the two Digimon ascending from the ground and higher into the air. As they flew, they kept swinging their crystal weapons at each other. Creating large shattering sounds from the clash.

The whole group got a brief scare as the dueling Mega’s brought their fight closer to where they were. Though they remained distant, the group felt the vibrations and the shockwaves from the smashing.

Up in the sky, BlackWarGreymon smashed his club into his clone’s body. Sending ChaosBlackWarGreymon hurtling across the sky before stopping midair. Then the two charged at each other once more. As they drew closer, they swung their clubs at one another. Then as the two crystal pillars smashed into each other with excessive force, they completely shattered into tiny fragments. Unable to hold out much longer.

With both their weapons reduced to shards, BlackWarGreymon tried to surprise the clone by wrapping his legs around him. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon thought of the same attack. It ended up with both their legs locked onto each other. The black armoured warrior then started to spin, but as his opponent done the same tactic, the motions caused the two Digimon to spin straight to the ground. Crashing into the crystal ground.

The group felt concerned. It seemed as though the fight might even end in a tie.

Then to their surprise, ChaosBlackWarGreymon launched himself out of the dusty crater. Quickly followed by BlackWarGreymon. As he caught up with him, the Artificial Digimon grabbed his clone’s right ankle, spun around and then slammed his foe against the roof of a nearby building. Even though only the roof was hit, the pure force behind the blow obliterated the building. Reducing it to crumbling pieces.

While holding onto his clone’s leg, BlackWarGreymon threw him down towards the ground. Before ChaosBlackWarGreymon had time to recover, he was slammed from behind by BlackWarGreymon’s feet. Pressed against the hard crystal ground as his body was being scraped against the surface. Leaving behind a long grove in the ground. As the two came to a stop, the grey armoured Digimon threw his left feet at BlackWarGreymon, forcing him off his back. Then after gaining a hold on both the black Digimon’s ankles, the clone got back up, spun around and threw the saviour across the air and into the wall of a tall building. Before he could recover, ChaosBlackWarGreymon slammed foot-first into BlackWarGreymon. Both Digimon smashing through the building and out through the other side.

Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw his right arm out to punch his foe, BlackWarGreymon caught his arm in a hold, turned around and threw him over his shoulder. Sending the clone crashing to the ground. But as he recovered, he flew back in the air and elbowed BlackWarGreymon in the chest. Forcing him back. Then the two continued to exchange blows. High in the air and in clear view of the whole empire. The booms and shockwaves echoed throughout the crystal city from the clash of the Digimon.

Then after secretly channeling their negative energy into their fists, BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw their punches. As their armoured fists collided with each other, a pulse of energy sent both of them hurtling back in opposite directions. Causing them to crash into two opposite buildings.

Then as the two yelled out their war cries, both the good and evil Digimon launched themselves out of the buildings and towards each other with their fists at the ready. As they drew ever closer to one another, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw out his left arm in a punch. With BlackWarGreymon doing the same with his right arm.

As time seemed to have slowed down, it looked as though the punches were about to collide with each other once more. But the claws missed each other by mere centimeters. Causing both their clawed fists to smash into each other’s faces. The shear force from the two punches caused the two buildings behind them to completely shatter into shards of crystal.

‘Song end’

The falling shards caused the group below to turn away and shield their eyes. Then as the shards stopped falling, Twilight turned to the others in concern.

“Is everypony ok?”

“Ah think so,” Applejack said, first to answer.

“In all my years, I’ve never seen a fight as intense as this,” Luna added. The scale of attacks from the two Digimon exceeded everything she had ever seen before.

“But what about BlackWarGreymon?” Shining Armor asked.

Afterwards, the group all looked up at the airborne Digimon. On the outskirts, Sombra did the same. The two Megas were completely motionless. Remaining still even with their claws in each other’s faces. They were quietly grunting in pain as they gave one-eyes stares at each other.

As they stood still, it was revealed that the fight had indeed escalated. Both the black and grey armour they wore had several small scratches along the surface. The first time BlackWarGreymon had taken damage since his new life began.

After a brief moment, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s expression in his eyes changed to amusement as he let out a snicker-like chuckle. BlackWarGreymon became confused as to what his clone found so funny. But he then heard him speaking.

“This fight… is exactly how I wanted it to be.”

After retracting their fists, the two Megas moved away from each other. Distancing themselves while not everting their gazes from one another.

Then ChaosBlackWarGreymon spoke again.

“Come on. Admit it, best buddy. You’re enjoying this fight as much as I do.”

BlackWarGreymon narrowed his eyes in response. Refusing to say it out loud.

The two continued to stare at each other silently. The only sounds that were heard was the great thunderstorm above. Twilight and her friends all held their breath. King Sombra waited impatiently for the Digimon to fight again. To him, the two Megas looked as though they were just sparring with one another. Probably even training with each other.

As the two armoured dragon-like beings continued to glare, BlackWarGreymon broke the silence.

“This fight is becoming pointless. We’re both evenly matched. This fight could go on for hours.”

“True. That is… if we keep going as it is.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at his clone in confusion.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll soon see.”

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon replied, he moved his arms slightly away from the sides of his body. He then let out an unnerving sinister chuckle.

“I guess it’s time for me to break the mold.”

Back on the ground, the group noticed the evil Digimon’s change of pose. Unsure of what his intensions were, Rarity and Pinkie Pie spoke up.

“Now what is that brute up to?”

“Yeah. Something is definitely fishy about him.”

Twilight Sparkle perfectly knew what the pink pony meant. To her, here was something strange about the energy ChaosBlackWarGreymon possessed. A part of it was exactly like BlackWarGreymon’s energy. But the other part was vastly different. But it was also very familiar. Not just that, his pose was identical to what he demonstrated before he first attacked them. And that was just moments after he declared that he has a ‘trump card’. Something that he clams that he had that BlackWarGreymon didn’t.

The young Alicorn took all she knew in consideration. Except the fact about his different, yet not so different energy. It was on the tip of her tongue. He definitely felt as though she had felt that energy before.

But then it clicked. She had indeed felt that energy before. She was so focused on ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s negative energy, she didn’t consider properly checking his other energy. It started to make sense. It was right there in front of her. It was the same energy that made a reaction to her horn before and… there was only one kind of energy that could do that.

Her purple eyes slowly grew wide in horror as she looked at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Feeling out his unique energy… and remembering where else she felt it before.

She felt it from King Sombra himself.

‘No. It… it can’t be. Th…there’s no way! True, Sombra’s magic was what created him, but… it’s impossible for him to…’

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw something that caught her off guard. Despite the distance between the two, Twilight saw… a faint green glimmer in ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes. Then immediately afterwards, her horn gave off a quick glow.

To the surprise of all her friends, Twilight let out a loud gasp of fear and disbelief. She had figured it out. The connections were true. But despite the revelation… the facts terrified her. Because it meant one thing. Causing her to breath heavily from fear.

“I…I don’t believe it. He…has it,” She said to herself, the fear in her voice making her talk in whisper.

“Twilight? What’s the matter!?” Cadence asked. Concerned on what made Twilight scared all of a sudden.

At first, Twilight didn’t say a word. Then within seconds, instead of replying to Cadence, she alerted her friend. He HAD to be warned.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!”

Her outburst had startled her friends and gained attention of the alerted BlackWarGreymon. Turning his head towards her, the Digimon received Twilight’s horrifying discovery.

“HE HAS MAGIC!!!!!”

The whole world froze as nearly all eyes stared at the Alicorn in shock and confusion.

“WHAT!!?” Everyone replied.

Before more could be said, the corner of BlackWarGreymon’s eye caught a glimpse of green light. Slowly turning to face his clone, his yellow eyes widened in shock.

“What!?”

‘Background music’ ‘Monster by Skillet’

And there it was. ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s trump card had been revealed. The amused-looking clone was hovering in place, with one small but big change. As he chuckled, all six of his Chrome Digizoid claws emitted a magical green glow. Identical to the glow of Sombra’s horn when he uses magic.

“It’s about time,” Sombra said. Smiling sinisterly.

BlackWarGreymon stared at the glow in horror and disbelief as his clone purposely showed off his new talent in dark magic.

“Sh-She’s right!”

Then before his very eyes, ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled more as he teleported away in a flash of green.

“T-teleportation!? He really does have magic!” He said again, his body paralyzed from the realisation.

Appearing behind his startled adversary, the evil Digimon teased him by whispering close behind his head.

“Peekaboo.”

With warrior instinct kicking in, BlackWarGreymon responded by turning around while swinging his arm out. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t there anymore.

The black armoured Digimon felt uneasy. Since the Mega was evil, he could use his Equestrian magic with terrible effect. Giving his foe an enormous advantage.

BlackWarGreymon backed away as he tried to spot his enemy. But then the evil Digimon reappeared behind him to tap him on the shoulder. The spooked Mega turned around, just in time to see ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleporting away again. Then as he reappeared behind BlackWarGreymon, he gave his good counterpart a hard shove. Purposely pushing him around before teleporting away.

“Stop that!!” BlackWarGreymon demanded in annoyance. But was not prepared for what was about to happen.

“As you wish.”

BlackWarGreymon turned to where he heard ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s voice. But as soon as he looked over his shoulder, he received a hard punch to the face. As he flailed across the sky, the grey armoured Digimon teleported behind him and gave him a hard kick to the back. He did the same when he teleported in front of him to give him a back-hand.

The group below watched in horror as BlackWarGreymon was being bashed around repeatedly like a ping-pong ball.

“This is bad. Very bad,” Twilight said. Even though she and the others wanted nothing more but to help him, but the question was, what could they do against a foe like ChaosBlackWarGreymon?

BlackWarGreymon was the only one with the strength and power to fight him. But he was at a disadvantage.

Elsewhere however, King Sombra was smiling with joy.

“That’s it! Keep it up! Crush him to the dirt!”

After his fifteenth punch, ChaosBlackWarGreymon grabbed BlackWarGreymon’s leg and threw him across the sky. The black armoured Mega stopped midflight and readied himself for the next attack. But as the grey armoured being flew towards him, he teleported the second he got close to him. Knowing the attack could come from behind, BlackWarGreymon turned around. But to his surprise, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reappeared above him with his body facing upwards. Then as he did a backflip, he slammed his right foot on top of BlackWarGreymon’s head. Sending him crashing back down to earth.

As the dust faded, he slowly rose back on his feet. Due to the unprepared beating he took, his body started to show more damage. His jet-black armour received more scratches then before.

As he grunted in anger, he spotted ChaosBlackWarGreymon hovering above the ground in front of him. He then charged forth to attack. But as he did, the clone’s body flash green. Then in an instant, he created copies of himself. All with shadowy transparent bodies, including himself.

Undeterred, BlackWarGreymon went on the attack. But as he lashed out, his metal claws fazed through the ghost-like body. Rendering his attack useless.

Despite the setback, he didn’t give up. Looking around, BlackWarGreymon found himself surrounded by the chuckling ChaosBlackWarGreymon copies as they circled around him. He then attacked once more. Again and again BlackWarGreymon lashed out at the circling clones, but all his physical attacks were causing no damage. Because of their magical ghost-like bodies, he couldn’t land a blow.

Then as he stopped to rest for a bit, the real ChaosBlackWarGreymon took physical form and kicked BlackWarGreymon from behind. Causing him to stumble as he tried to stay on his feet.

Turning around, BlackWarGreymon saw that all the ChaosBlackWarGreymon copies were charging at him. All ready to attack.

The good Mega raised his arms in defense as the first of the transparent copies threw a punch at him. But like an actual ghost, the copy went through BlackWarGreymon completely. Then more and more copies charged at him, causing the saviour to become spooked and confused as he went on a complete defensive.

He was so distracted by their numbers and their ghost-like bodies, that the real ChaosBlackWarGreymon found an opening and punched BlackWarGreymon in the face. As the black armoured being hurtled through the air, all the ChaosBlackWarGreymon copies vanished. Leaving the real one to teleport behind the good Mega with his left arm raised high. As BlackWarGreymon got within reach, a magical green orb packed with negative energy formed at the tip of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s claws, and then threw it down at his opponent’s chest. Pushed down by the orb, the good hearted Digimon crashed into the crystal road below. Exploding on impact.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed far away on the same road, waiting for something to happen. Then from the smoke, he saw BlackWarGreymon charging at him. With no hesitation, the evil Digimon threw another large green orb. The sphere flew all the way towards the Mega. But before it hit, BlackWarGreymon crossed his arms to block it. Smoke formed from the resulting explosion, but he kept on running with his arms crossed.

One by one ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw orbs of green magic, each one scoring hits on BlackWarGreymon as he charged through them. All the while getting closer and closer. But as he reached about fifteen feet in front of the clone, BlackWarGreymon’s charge drastically slowed to a halt. He felt as if the magical attacks had secretly drained his energy.

As the smoke cleared, more and more scratches were revealed on BlackWarGreymon’s body. But as he stood still, ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged forth with his left leg glowing green. Magic being used to enhance the strength of an upcoming kick that sent the good Mega hurtling back up to the sky.

BlackWarGreymon was unprepared for what came next. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon caught up with him, both his armoured fists looked as though they were shielded in green aura. Then with one energized punch to the face, the Artificial Digimon grunted in pain as he fell towards the ground. But then the cloned Digimon teleported below him to give him an uppercut to the back. Launching him back up. Then after he teleported above the flailing Mega, the evil Digimon’s right arm surged in energy. Then the glowing aura morphed itself into a giant three-clawed hand. Then as he slashed it at BlackWarGreymon, the magical blades caused showers of sparks as it scraped across Chrome Digizoid.

As he fell back towards the ground, BlackWarGreymon’s anger snapped. Ever since his clone started to use magic, he hadn’t got one decent hit on him. Everytime he tried, ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept teleporting away. He was being tossed around like trash, and all the ponies below were counting on him to protect them.

With the sudden urge to end the fight taking over his body, BlackWarGreymon immediately controlled his fall, and took flight high in the sky towards the surprised ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Despite moving out of the way, BlackWarGreymon’s claws managed to graze the clone. Sparks flew as he made contact and continued to ascend higher in the air above him. With adrenaline rushing through his body, the black armoured dragon warrior raised his arms above his head and formed a fifty-foot-wide Terra Destroyer sphere.

“ENOUGH!!!”

With his mind set, he threw the giant orb directly at his hated clone. Amazingly, the attack moved much quicker then it ever had been. Fast enough to reach ChaosBlackWarGreymon before he could dodge. The grey armoured Digimon let out a quiet chuckle moments before the attack hit. Exploding in a giant ball of super-heated light.

‘Song end’

The explosion caused tremors as the ponies below tried to stand up straight. Then as the light faded and the tremors stopped, the group looked back up at where the evil Digimon was last. Only to see a large patch of smoke in its place.

“Has…has BlackWarGreymon won?” Prince Shining Armor asked as they all continued to stare.

Up high, BlackWarGreymon was panting for breath. With the rush of adrenaline gone, he began to feel tired from the countless beatings he took. Though he didn’t want to admit it, but his fight with the dark incarnation of himself might possibly be his toughest yet.

He continued to pant as he looked at the cloud of smoke, believing that he had destroyed ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But then his expression changed to one of horror and disbelief.

As the smoke faded, it revealed the unharmed evil Digimon. Concealed in a ball of green energy!

“What!?” BlackWarGreymon uttered as his clone chuckled in delight.

“He can use defensive spells too!?” Twilight asked in disbelief. Just how much did ChaosBlackWarGreymon knew about the extent of magic? The thought of it left the group intimidated.

Though Sombra was thrilled that his creation knew what he was doing, he was puzzled about something.

“A forcefield spell? I don’t remember teaching him that.”

Back in that air, BlackWarGreymon could be heard grunting angrily as he watched ChaosBlackWarGreymon fly up to his level. After his forcefield faded, the evil Digimon began to fly in circles around him.

“What’s the matter? Afraid that I might be superior to you!?” He mocked, only stirring more anger in the good Mega.

As the clone circled, BlackWarGreymon kept a firm eye on him. Watching his every move. Then without warning, ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported out of sight. Then a few seconds later, a green flash caught the corner of his yellow eye. Knowing the attack was coming from behind, the black armoured warrior immediately flew up and avoided the charging clone.

He then decided to go in the attack. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon was distracted, BlackWarGreymon flew down towards him at full speed. By the time the clone turned around, he saw his foe rearing his right arm back. Yelling and ready to strike.

Then as the lightning flashed in the sky, his Digizoid claws went through his clone’s chest!

The atmosphere of the whole empire froze completely. Had BlackWarGreymon dealt a fatal blow to his new hated enemy?

The souls below thought so. All gasped in shock and disbelief at it looked as though the good had finally won.

But it wasn’t. Possessing the keenest eyesight out of the whole group, Rainbow Dash gawked in horror. Her eyes widened in terror.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Back up at the scene, it was BlackWarGreymon whom was more in shock then the Pegasus was. His eyes widened in an emotion he rarely ever felt in his life.

Horror.

His claws had gone straight through ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. But not in the way it was supposed to.

Being a creature whom was created by King Sombra’s magic, it meant that he inherited all his abilities. Like turning parts of his body into living shadow. Before BlackWarGreymon’s claws could impale him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned the centre of his own chest into dark smoke. Thereby allowing his opponent’s claws to go through his chest with no harm whatsoever.

The evil Mega could only laugh at BlackWarGreymon’s expression. Enjoying the sight of him experiencing fear.

“Now you know what it feels like to be afraid.”

Then further using his dark magic, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body too turned into black smoke before departing. Followed by the smoke gathering behind the stunned BlackWarGreymon and slowly retaking physical form.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon returned to normal, for a brief second BlackWarGreymon thought that the evil Mega was immortal. As he turned around, he was too in shock to respond as the clone repeatedly punched him in the face and upper chest.

As the beatings went on King Sombra was admittingly impressed at how much control his creation had over his magic.

Just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw his right arm for another punch, BlackWarGreymon successfully blocked it and slammed his right foot into the clone’s chest. Sending him back slightly.

The black armoured Digimon charged forth to go on the offensive. But as the clone raised his right arm to point at him, his claws glowed green in a magical aura.

Then just before he could reach his foe, BlackWarGreymon’s body paused as he was engulfed in the same green aura. Caught in a levitation spell.

“What the…! I…can’t move!” BlackWarGreymon uttered as he tried to move his arms. But to no avail.

“Now your mine,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he swung his arm to the side. Sending BlackWarGreymon straight into a building.

With a magical hold on his new captive, the evil Digimon swung his arm left and right, up and down, around in circles. All sending the captured Mega into anywhere he liked. Crashing into walls, smashing through roofs and even scraping him across the ground. Bringing destruction to the property and bringing harm to BlackWarGreymon.

Then with a mighty throw, the Artificial Digimon was sent crashing into the ground. Forming a large crater. But as he tried to get back up, ChaosBlackWarGreymon slammed his left foot full force against BlackWarGreymon’s chest. Making the crater grow bigger and making his enemy yell out in sudden pain as it felt like his chest was crushed.

After leaping off his foe, ChaosBlackWarGreymon pointed his left arm at him and used a different magic spell. After trapping BlackWarGreymon in a red magical sphere, the clone kicked him like a football high in the sky. Then teleporting behind him, the evil Digimon again kicked the captive Mega across the sky. The then did the same thing as he reappeared above him.

For the next few moments, ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept up the routine. Tossing BlackWarGreymon around like a ping-pong ball again. The group below held their breath fearfully. Hoping that their friend in trouble could somehow get himself out.

But before he could get a chance to do so, the evil clone kicked him straight down to the ground below. Exploding on impact.

“Next up, Shadow Destroyer!” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he threw his dark attack at his downed opponent.

With no time to react, BlackWarGreymon could only brace himself for the sphere to hit him. But it didn’t stop him from yelling as it exploded against him.

Most of the group gasped in horror at what they saw and heard. First time seeing BlackWarGreymon being in deep trouble. With fear and sadness slowly becoming more evident, Luna spoke quietly to herself.

“BlackWarGreymon no.”

As dust and smoke filled the air, all was quiet by the explosion’s sight. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon knew that his opponent survived. Pointing at the centre of the smoke cloud, he chuckled as he used a magic spell. Then lifting his arm up, me magically lifted the worn out BlackWarGreymon out of the smoke and rubble and high in the air.

“He’s ok,” Twilight said. She and her friends were relieved that their friend survived. But then Fluttershy grew worried.

“But what is that meanie going to do to him?”

As he got BlackWarGreymon high above ground, ChaosBlackWarGreymon used a restraining spell on him. Forcing his arms and legs wide apart and placing green magical rings around them, BlackWarGreymon became immobile.

“W-what is this!?” He shouted in defiance. He also tried to break free, but the only thing the Digimon could move was his head.

With his foe restrained in magical energy, the evil Digimon flew in close with no fear or worry of being attacked. Hovering a few meters in front of BlackWarGreymon, with the warrior glaring back at him in defiance.

“Try getting out of this!”

After his statement, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t waste time as he delivered a hard punch to BlackWarGreymon’s unprotected gut. Pain shot though him as he felt air escaping his body. He then received a hard lefthanded punch to the face as he yelled from the pain.

Then as he circled around the restrained BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon repeatedly threw many punches and kicks at every part of his body. Moving so quick that his arms and legs were blurred from the speed. Unable to protect himself, BlackWarGreymon grunted and cried in pain as his body received all the beatings. He again tried to struggle free but couldn’t do so.

On the ground, Twilight and her friends gawked in horror as their friend was being tortured. Ever since ChaosBlackWarGreymon used magic in the fight, he was not only not playing fair, he was being cruel.

Seeing BlackWarGreymon in pain however was also making Sombra literally jump in joy.

“Yes! Yes! Make him pay for humiliating me!”

After throwing quick but hard jabs into BlackWarGreymon’s chest, ChaosBlackWarGreymon backed off slightly with another idea of inflicting pain on him.

“Time to light things up!”

As the evil Digimon raised his arm at the dark sky, he summoned forth the green lightning from the stormy clouds. Focusing them into one spot as they travelled through the dark clouds. Then as he threw his arm down, a giant green lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck BlackWarGreymon from above.

The Digimon yelled loudly in pain as volts of electricity surged through his body. Again and again he tried to break free and tried to fight off the pain. But with the beatings he took previously, it was easier said then done. As he laughed insanely, ChaosBlackWarGreymon joined in by firing green thunderbolts from his claws. Further electrocuting his rival and causing great untold harm.

BlackWarGreymon’s screaming was starting to become too much for the mares below. Tears start to fall from their eyes at the sight and sounds. Unable to do anything but watch on.

The tearful Fluttershy cowered into a ball with her hooves over her ears. Unable to take it anymore.

“Make it stop! Please make it stop!”

As flashes of green continued in the skies above, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stopped his attacks as well as the lightning strikes. Even though the attacks stopped, BlackWarGreymon could feel the pain and aching through his whole scratched but dented and smoke covered body. Then the fatigue kicked in. Though restrained and losing all feeling in his arms and legs, his body fell forward with his head hung low.

The sight of it infuriated ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“You got to be kidding me. You’re down for the count already!? Wake up!!”

BlackWarGreymon felt more pain as his face took the hard punch from his clone. Letting out a brief yell before collapsing forward again.

“I said WAKE UP!!”

In his rage, the grey armoured Digimon continuously threw punches at BlackWarGreymon’s face. Left and right he punched, trying to force him to do something other than acting lifeless. But his opponent couldn’t do anything, except letting out grunts and yells every time he’d been hit.

Even after seeing his past, Twilight and Luna had never seen BlackWarGreymon being tortured in such a way. As the beatings continued, Princess Cadence snapped.

“Stop it!! Can’t you see he’s had enough!!?”

Sombra only laughed at her resolve.

“Go ahead and help if you want. But with my creation in such a frenzy, it would be your death sentence.”

Luna scoffed at Sombra before speaking.

“I knew you were low, Sombra. But creating a monster to fight your own battles, that’s disgraceful!”

Sombra looked back at the fight while smiling, ignoring the insults.

“But it’s working in my favour.”

It was true. Disgraceful it may be, but it was effective on his part. Following the king’s gaze, the group looked up at the two Digimon. Again hurt from the senseless beating BlackWarGreymon was taking.

The torture went on for so long, BlackWarGreymon no longer made a sound from the constant punches. Barely awake. ChaosBlackWarGreymon liked hearing pain. But with his foe’s condition, constantly punching him in the face became pointless.

Annoyed at how quick the fight lasted, the evil clone reached out his right arm and grabbed BlackWarGreymon by the throat. Then he raised his head to see his beaten face full of scratches and gashes.

“You call yourself a warrior? Pathetic. You’re a disgrace of a Mega.”

After he finished talking, ChaosBlackWarGreymon let go of BlackWarGreymon’s neck and turned off his restraining spell. With nothing holding him up, the battered Digimon’s body fell towards the ground. Crashing into the crystal road upon impact.

The dust and shards soon cleared, revealing BlackWarGreymon twitching on his back. Barely moving.

“Come on!” Luna said to her friends.

With him free from ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the group decided to rush over to the fallen Digimon and hope to heal him.

But as they were running, Twilight saw something in the sky that was shocking.

“No, get back!!”

Doing what the alarmed Alicorn said, the whole group stopped in time to see ChaosBlackWarGreymon dropping out of the sky at high speed. Then to their horror, he landed full force straight onto BlackWarGreymon.

Feeling his body being literally crushed into the hard crystal ground made BlackWarGreymon wail in shear agony. Screaming loudly for all to hear.

The group gasped at the sudden attack. It was unprovoked and out of nowhere. But hearing the screaming made the evil Digimon laugh insanely. He then done it again. Leaping high in the air and landing back on BlackWarGreymon with enough force to cause massive cracks in he ground. He then done it again. And again. Treating his screaming opponent like a trampoline.

‘He’s enjoying this too much,’ King Sombra thought to himself as he too watched on.

After crushing BlackWarGreymon once more, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stood beside him with sinister intent in his crimson eyes. He then slammed his left foot onto his face. Pressing him harder into the ground as he chuckled.

“Don’t think that I’ll let you off so soon,” The evil Mega said as he kept pressing down his leg. Squeezing BlackWarGreymon’s head.

Although she was scared, Luna slowly became frustrated, and then angry. She no longer cared if ChaosBlackWarGreymon was far stronger then she was. She would do whatever it took to make him pay for torturing someone she grew close to.

As she glared at him, Luna shocked her friends by firing a blue magical beam at the grey armoured Digimon. Exploding against the back of his silver haired head.

Though the attack didn’t hurt ChaosBlackWarGreymon, but it had got his attention. Turning around, he glared at the Alicorn, almost surprised.

“Got something to say, pony?” He asked.

“That’s enough!! Stop this senseless violence at once!!”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Wanting to put the blue Alicorn in her place, the evil Digimon started to march towards her. Briefly startling her. But then he felt something gripping his right leg. Looking back, he saw BlackWarGreymon glaring at him with his right hand on his ankle.

“No you don’t!” He shouted as he immediately mustered up a much strength as he could to get back on his feet and, while holding onto ChaosBlackWarGreymon, spun him around on the spot.

After spinning about twenty times, BlackWarGreymon loosened his grip. Sending his clone hurtling through the air.

But as he sailed across the sky, ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled as he teleported away, and then reappeared behind BlackWarGreymon. By using his body as a projectile, the hurtling Mega slammed into the battered warrior’s back. Knocking him back to the ground.

As BlackWarGreymon struggled to get back up, his clone snuck behind him and got him in the suplex position. The black armoured Digimon tried to struggle free, but in his weakened state, he didn’t have the strength to do so.

“Time to go for a ride!”

As soon as ChaosBlackWarGreymon finished his sentence, he immediately took off into the air while holding onto BlackWarGreymon. Ascending high in the sky above any crystal building. As he got to a good height, the evil Mega did a U-turn and then sped towards the ground at high speed. The black armoured Digimon continuously tried to wiggle free. Knowing what was about to happen next.

Back on the ground, the horrified Twilight also knew what was coming.

“No! BlackWarGreymon!”

“Finish him!” King Sombra said, smiling in triumphant.

As he continued to fall, it looked as though both the Digimon were going to crash into the ground together. But at the last second, the evil clone teleported away. Leaving only BlackWarGreymon to slam into the ground. Like a meteor, his impact threw up a big cloud of dust and shards while shockwaves shook the ground.

Reappearing in the sky, ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled insanely as he flew by. Looking at the cloud of dust below.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!” The group called out. Concerned for his life.

As the dust settled, the fallen Mega was revealed. Lying on his back, his armour was scratched, gashed and slightly dented in some places as his body was covered in crystal shards. Barely awake, BlackWarGreymon looked up at the sky to his new adversary. Looking back at him in satisfactory.

“Pity that the fight had to end like this. Just look at yourself. Ever since I used my magic in this fight, you barely kept up at all. Maybe I am superior to you after all! Your body, your powers, but with magic at my side, I’m better then ever! You’re pretty much obsolete.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon lowered down slightly as he continued.

“As the victor, I will now claim my prize…”

The evil Mega briefly paused mid-sentence as he pointed the claws of his right gauntlet at BlackWarGreymon. Slowly charging up with magic afterwards.

“…YOUR LIFE!!!”

The magic began to build up at the end of his claws, forming a glowing ball of green energy. BlackWarGreymon laid there defiantly. Giving his clone angered glares.

After hearing ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s words, the group decided that enough was enough. BlackWarGreymon was in a kind of trouble that not even he could get out of alone.

“It doesn’t matter how powerful they are, we need to help BlackWarGreymon!” Luna said proudly.

“Same here!” Twilight joined in.

“After all, friends stick together!” Cadence added.

With determination reaching new heights, the three Alicorns took off from the ground and flew higher and higher. Behind ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the princess reached high above him before joining the tips of their horns together. Sharing their magic and combining it into a bright orb. Glowing blue, purple and pink.

Oblivious to the three princesses, the evil Digimon continued charging up his attack while looking down at BlackWarGreymon.

“So any last words, BlackWarGreymon!? You know, besides ‘damn you’!?”

To his surprise however, it was Twilight who answered.

“Yeah!! Up here!!”

As the three princesses yelled loudly, they sent as much magic as they could into the glowing orb. Then throwing their heads forward, they fired a large blue, purple and pink beam directly towards the Digimon below.

“What!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked as he turned around. Just in time for the beam to slam against his body.

The girls kept on firing their combined attack. Slowly pushing the evil Digimon closer to the ground. The decent was slow because the Mega was holding back the attack.

Then to the confusion of the princess, they heard him talking as if... he’s struggling.

“Oh no! This power… it’s …it’s too much! I can’t hold it!!”

Then his eyes snapped open, revealing an amused expression.

“Just kidding!!”

With one strong push, ChaosBlackWarGreymon bounced the beam back towards its senders. The three girls were horrified to see their combined attack heading right back at them.

Luckily, Shining Armor teleported them out of the way. Moments before the energy continued flying upwards and into the stormy sky.

Reappearing beside the prince, the Alicorns were relived for his swift action.

“Thanks for saving us, big brother,” Twilight said as she gave him a quick hug. But was softly pushed away by him as he looked back at the sky.

“Don’t thank me yet.”

Following his gaze, the four and the rest of the group all saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon looking on them will ill intent.

“So you all want to play a game of hot magic potato? Then let me have a go!” He said as he launched a green sphere of dark magic towards the group.

Using their magic, the princesses teleported themselves and their friends away. Avoiding the attack that exploded on open ground.

Satisfied, the digital clone slowly turned back towards his fallen rival.

“There. Now with them out of the way, how about we tend to BlackWa…”

He paused midsentence. For when he turned around, BlackWarGreymon wasn’t on the ground anymore. He vanished without a trace.

“THE HELL DID HE GO!!!?”

Chapter 42: BlackWarGreymon’s Awakened Power and ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s Wrath

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Flying in the skies of the Crystal Empire, the dark incarnation of BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, was on the search for his new rival.

At the beginning of their epic fight, the two Mega level Digimon were evenly matched. Possessing all of BlackWarGreymon’s techniques and powers, the clone was able to match him blow to blow. But the moment he started the use dark magic in the fight, inherited from King Sombra, the battle instantly turned to his favour. With protection and teleportation spells, he was able to avoid and counter any attack BlackWarGreymon could throw at him. His advantage was that despite his experiences, the black armoured warrior had never fought a powerful foe that had magic.

With magic by his side, the grey armoured Digimon poured unrelenting pain on BlackWarGreymon. Pounding him, throwing him around, electrocuting him, he even neared enough crushed his body.

But when came the moment he was about to end BlackWarGreymon’s life, Princesses Twilight, Luna and Cadence interrupted him by attacking from behind. After he dispatched them, ChaosBlackWarGreymon found out that the Alicorn attack was just a diversion for their Digimon friend to escape.

Which actually happened.

As he flew above the crystal buildings, the evil Mega grunted at how he was deprived of not ending the fight quickly enough. To add to his annoyance, he had to look for BlackWarGreymon somewhere in the empire. He couldn’t sense him either because the good Digimon also suppressed his power level. Forcing the evil clone to constantly look left and right just to spot him.

‘Come on! He surely couldn’t had gone too far! Not after the beating I gave him. And him hiding his energy isn’t helping either.’

He then spotted a large group of buildings up ahead. Believing that BlackWarGreymon was most likely hiding there, he landed on a nearby roof of a tall building overlooking the area. Standing tall, the evil Digimon called out.

“Hay! Why are you hiding!? You’re scared because I almost took your life!? For a Mega, you sure act like a Rookie!”

Behind one of the buildings, the battered BlackWarGreymon was indeed hiding. But not by fear, by strategy. By carefully watching ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s every move, he would find a chance to take him by surprise. Also to see how patient his insane clone was. Overall, he had to be careful. If not, any mistake could cost him his life.

As his taunting appeared to didn’t work, the evil Digimon tried another tactic to lure BlackWarGreymon out.

“Oh boy! Sure do feel winded from our fight and trying to kill your pony friends! Sure would suck if you jumped me from out of nowhere! Since now I’m letting my guard down!”

He paused. Waiting to see if his pray took the bait.

Predictably, it hadn’t worked. BlackWarGreymon wasn’t that stupid to fall for an obvious ploy.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried saying something else.

“Oh no! Some dust in my eye! This is the worst!”

Again, his ploy didn’t work. He then glared at the buildings in anger. His patients was unbelievably thin.

“GET THE HELL OUT HERE!!!”

He then raised his arm and formed a Shadow Destroyer orb at the tip of his claws. If he couldn’t lure BlackWarGreymon out, then he would blast him out. He threw the orb aimlessly at one group of buildings. Seeing his chance, the black armoured warrior jumped from his hiding place and quickly back-handed the dark sphere. Sending it back.

Briefly startled, ChaosBlackWarGreymon ducked out of the way for the orb to fly over his head. With the danger over, he got up and spoke to his rival.

“Ha!! Nice try! I knew you would jump out to deflect my attacks in hopes to frighten me! But now you’re mine. All mine you…!”

His speech was interrupted when to his surprise, BlackWarGreymon instantly flew away at very high speed.

“Wha…HAY!!! Get back here, I wasn’t finished!!” The clone shouted as he chased after him.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back on the other side of the empire, Princess Twilight and all her friends confronted King Sombra.

“Just what do you hope to accomplish from all this!?” Princess Cadence asked him.

Despite the outbursts, the dark Unicorn King spoke calmly.

“I thought it’s rather simple. Taking complete control of the Crystal Empire. As it should be. Your BlackWarGreymon friend is an obstacle in my way. That’s why I created ChaosBlackWarGreymon. To dispose of him permanently.”

“But what makes you think he won’t turn against you?”

Sombra raised an eyebrow at Luna’s question.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Twilight explained, understanding what the older Alicorn meant by.

“Just like BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon has his own free will. We’ve seen that. Especially from the way you two argue.”

After getting the picture, Rainbow Dash joined in by taunting the king.

“Yeah. So who’s really in charge? You or him?”

King Sombra scoffed at what the mares were implying.

“Absurd! Of course, it’s me! I’m a king and he’s merely my monster. A monster who’s loyal to his master. Not some battle obsessed thug that he appears to be.”

Right on cue, ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed on a roof of a nearby building. After spotting him, Sombra gave him an order.

“Ahh, my creation. Forget BlackWarGreymon for now and eliminate these pests for me.”

The group felt a twinge of fear from Sombra’s order. But to their surprise, it wasn’t obeyed. Looking carefully at the Digimon, he appeared to be looking to his left and right as he searched. As if he wasn’t listening to begin with.

Not wanting to believe that the mares might’ve been right all the long, King Sombra glared angrily at his creation for ignoring him.

“Well? I know you can hear me!? I said destroy them!!”

Again, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was ignoring his creator. As if he was living in his own little world.

Then to everypony’s surprise, the evil Mega spoke out to what they could guess was BlackWarGreymon.

“This cat and mouse tactic of yours is really getting old! Now you get out here! And fight me blindly like a Digimon!”

Then all of a sudden, the roof he stood upon erupted from within. And to his surprise, BlackWarGreymon rose up in front of him.

“As you wish!” He shouted as he punched his evil clone in the face. Sending him crashing into the ground before he could react.

Not wasting his opportunity, the heroic Digimon flew down and repeatedly punched his rival in the face while he was down.

Unfortunately, his punches were weaker then they were before. Therefore, not dealing as much damage as he’d hoped. Sensing that, ChaosBlackWarGreymon blocked one punch and then threw one of his own directly at BlackWarGreymon’s face. The stronger punch made the black armoured Mega stumble and fall onto his back.

Seeing his opponent down, the evil Digimon rushed over to attack. But before he could, BlackWarGreymon reared his legs up to his chest, and then threw them forwards. Slamming his feet into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chin.

The surprise blow sent the clone stumbling back before quickly regaining himself. Moments after, he glared angrily at BlackWarGreymon as he slowly got back up.

“Why you!”

Using his dark magic, he trapped BlackWarGreymon in a levitation spell. Then after lifting him into the air, he threw him back down. Smashing his body against the crystal ground. He continued to smash the Mega into the pavement several times. Making a massive crater as shards of crystals flew everywhere from the impacts. Afterwards, he threw BlackWarGreymon back several meters before quickly drawing him back. As he came closer, ChaosBlackWarGreymon kicked him in the gut hard. Sending him crashing into a nearby building.

Again, BlackWarGreymon was out-matched by his clone’s magic. As he weakly emerged from the hole in the building, he briefly stumbled before falling on all fours. He breathed heavily as he felt his muscles burn form the heavy strain. BlackWarGreymon truly was on his last legs. On the brink of defeat.

“BlackWarGreymon no,” Luna whispered as she felt her heart ache from watching him being overwhelmed and trying to stay alive.

The others too watched on in horror. Unable to say a word.

As he tried to catch his breath, BlackWarGreymon heard footsteps approaching him. Then it stopped. Looking up, he saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon looking down on him in amusement.

“You’re definitely full of tricks. I give you that, BlackWarGreymon. But I’m afraid our little game ends here.”

Then raising his left arm, he formed a large Shadow Destroyer orb above his palm. Almost half the size of himself. BlackWarGreymon looked on defiantly at the dark sphere.

Then out of nowhere, a blue magic beam struck ChaosBlackWarGreymon at his raised arm. The attack left no damage to him, but he guessed who it belonged to. Looking over his left shoulder, he saw Princess Luna glaring angrily at him.

“Don’t you dare!” She shouted. Her voice carried desperation.

All her friends looked at her in surprise. Amazed by the fact that she was more protective of BlackWarGreymon then they were.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon stared at her in both amusement and annoyance. But he released a quick chuckle as he turned his sights back on BlackWarGreymon.

Not wanting her friend to suffer anymore, Luna charged towards him with her horn glowing bright. A move that even King Sombra was surprised at.

“No! I won’t let you!” She shouted, almost at her Canterlot voice level.

“Luna no!!” Twilight called out as the others held their breath.

“Luna,” The worn out BlackWarGreymon said weakly as he watched. He was surprised at how determined the blue Alicorn wanted to help him. Even if it meant putting her life in grave danger.

But his surprise expression turned into horror. Because ChaosBlackWarGreymon growled in annoyance as his angered eyes glared over to her.

“Don’t interfere you LITTLE BRAT!!!” He shouted as he turned around and threw the Shadow Destroyer sphere, intended for BlackWarGreymon, straight at Luna!

The night princess immediately stopped in her tracks as she frighteningly saw the ball of darkness came flying towards her. What had she done? She spared BlackWarGreymon several more moments of life, by risking her own.

“LUNA!!!”

Moving faster then he ever had before, BlackWarGreymon stood in front of the fearful princess, and took the full force of the attack.

The orb exploded on impact. A bright flash of green came before the plume of smoke. The ground also briefly shook as the shockwave followed.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was admittingly surprised, but he was satisfied that his attack had at least struck someone. The same could be said for King Sombra.

Twilight and her friends were stunned at what transpired. Plus hopped that both BlackWarGreymon and Luna were ok.

As the smoke faded, the blue Alicorn opened her eyes in astonishment as she looked over to the standing form of BlackWarGreymon. The Digimon successfully shielded her from the explosion. But at what cost?

As silence filled the air, the sounds of dripping caught Luna’s ears. Looking down to its source, she saw black fluid dripping down by BlackWarGreymon’s feet.

‘Oil?... OH NO!!!’

Alarm rang through her head as she realised what the fluid was. And who it belonged to. Rushing over to BlackWarGreymon’s front, extreme pain could be seen in the expression in his yellow eyes. But it wasn’t that what shocked her to the core. Though there was no fatal wound, she clearly saw large cracks across the centre of his chest. While it appeared to be ordinary armour damage, but BlackWarGreymon’s armour was a part of him. It was essentially his very body. So the damage to his armour would be more painful then it appears. Especially since black fluid was leaking from it.

Then to Luna’s surprise and shock, the centre crack suddenly got bigger. Covering across the Digimon’s centre chest plate and causing more drops of fluid to leak out.

“No! BlackWarGreymon!!” Luna cried out, but he couldn’t respond.

After seeing the damage he had done, ChaosBlackWarGreymon started to mock him.

“Ha! Serves you right for helping others!”

He then proceeded to laugh insanely. Meanwhile as Luna stared sadly at BlackWarGreymon, she saw something in his eyes. While it showed pain, it suddenly became mixed with anger as he stared at the ground. He then started to grunt. But not from pain, it was from rage.

“Oh what’s the matter now?” The evil Digimon asked mockingly, noticing the change.

Then in a rage-filled growl, BlackWarGreymon spoke up. Loud enough for his friends and his clone to hear.

“You…almost killed…my friend!”

But just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon was about to mock him some more, he suddenly flinched in shock and surprise. Something about BlackWarGreymon just became odd. Very odd.

‘Wait, that can’t be right. His power level is… Is it…rising!?’

Being the closest to BlackWarGreymon, Luna felt it too. As he grunted loudly, his muscles lowly became tensed as his eyes briefly flashed red. Sensing of what was about to happen, Luna teleported back to the others and watched on in amazement with them.

As the Digimon continued to grunt, a faint red aura began to form around his body as his hair slowly started to flow. Then the ground started to shake.

“No way. Is..is he…?” Rainbow Dash tried to ask, but her excitement was interfering with her voice.

“What…what is this?” Sombra asked. Finding the situation strange.

Then the angered Digimon spoke again, but louder.

“Torturing me wasn’t enough for you. You DARE try to kill my friends!!?”

Then to the surprise of the whole Crystal Empire, thousands of red magic orbs appeared instantly across the sky. Brightening up the area as if it were clear skies. Then all of them began to shoot down and converge towards BlackWarGreymon. The red lights merged with his body, making his glow brighter by the second.

“Wha…What’s with the light show!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked as he looked at the lit-up sky, and then at BlackWarGreymon. Panicked by sensing the Digimon’s power rising higher and higher.

“I swear… YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!”

After his speech, BlackWarGreymon crossed his arms and released a long loud echoing grunt. Letting all the energy orbs enter his body and becoming more and more energized. Even the crystal ground beneath him began to crack open and give way. His feet slowly buried within.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, he’s doing it!” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself. A shiver of awesomeness flowing through her spine.

“S-Seriously!? What is happening!?” the evil Digimon asked, his voice showed panic as BlackWarGreymon absorbed every last orb.

As his power reached its peak, BlackWarGreymon revealed it in a loud cry. Screaming at the heavens.

“YYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Throwing his arms apart, his entire body suddenly gave off a blinding red light that forced everyone to shield their eyes. The shear power of the blast of energy made everyone’s hair and tails flow wildly, the ground beneath him burst open from its source, and even dissipated the stormy clouds above. Giving the empire sunlight again.

Seeing the blue skies once more caught the attention of the evacuated crystal ponies. Wondering what caused the storm to go away so quickly. As they glanced up at the clear sky, some of them saw a glimmer of red at the corners of their eyes. Looking at its direction, and to their amazement, they saw something glowing in the distance.

Back at the scene, the gusts of wind died down and the tremors stopped. The bright light also died down enough for the group to see again. Looking to where their Digimon friend was standing, they were in complete awe at what they saw.

‘Background music’ ‘Last Man Standing by Hammerfall’

Though his body remained damaged from his fight, BlackWarGreymon was once again standing tall and in his prime. His whole body was surrounded by a bright fiery red aura that flowed from his feet to the top of his head. Giving off pulsing sounds for all to hear. His yellow hair flowed upwards along with the new energy. But the biggest change was the one that couldn’t be seen. His energy had skyrocketed to a much greater level than anything he had achieved so far.

While all his friends gawked in surprise. Shockingly, it was Fluttershy who was leaping in the air in excitement.

“Yeah!! He did it!! He finally did it!! Woohoo!!”

While in shock, some of the mares spoke up too.

“I don’t believe it. He actually did it!” Twilight said with happiness.

“Is this the power he was on about before? Is this… his Ascended form!?” Cadence asked, but the answer was clear.

Seeing the ascended BlackWarGreymon for the first time truly surprised the royal couple and Flash Sentry. But as for Luna, Spike and the Mane Six, they all cheered on. Knowing that with magic flowing through him, he had the power to defeat ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

While Sombra was in shock, his creation seemed to be the most surprised. Oddly, despite possessing all of BlackWarGreymon’s traits, he had no knowledge of his Ascended form.

“Woah… what’s with that glow? What’s with your hair? And…and what’s with your eyes!?”

Another change BlackWarGreymon went through was that his black pupils, were replaced with a bright white glow. Shining with the added energy within him.

“I don’t get it. I mean… he’s just staring at me. And I can’t stop trembling,” The clone said quietly to himself. Feeling his legs wobbling slightly.

Then BlackWarGreymon spoke to him. Briefly surprising him by the fact that his voice sounded slightly darker.

“Tell me, clone. Does a freak like yourself ever experience fear?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon regained his composure as he answered. Denying the fact that he should be scared despite possibly feeling it.

“W-what!? Of course not! Don’t be ridicul…AAAHH!!”

His sentence was cut short when BlackWarGreymon suddenly went forward and uppercut him in the face. Sending him hurting through the air.

“Let’s fix that shall we!” BlackWarGreymon said before he chased after his clone.

As he hurtled through the air, the shocked ChaosBlackWarGreymon instantly received a blow to the face by BlackWarGreymon’s right elbow. The before the clone could react fast enough, the ascended Digimon flew in and gave three punches to the face. And then sent him flying again by a left kick to the chest. Making him yell in pain.

Then BlackWarGreymon continued.

“Because when I’m through with you!!”

In a blink of an eye, BlackWarGreymon turned into a red blur and flew behind the flailing clone. He then rammed his head into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s back. Sending him flying in the opposite direction.

As the startled grey Mega turned around to control himself, he was met with another punch to the face. Then within a second, the ascended Mega followed up by a left kick to the face, a right punch to the chest, a left jab to the head, and another left kick to the face. After the second kick, he spun around and slammed his right foot into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. Once again sending the pain-filled clone flying uncontrollably.

With the clone unable to react fast enough and to fight back the pain from the attacks, it was very clear that BlackWarGreymon’s physical strength and speed had heightened to an even greater level than before.

Then the energized Digimon finished off his combo’s, after he finished his speech.

“YOU’LL NEVER SURVIVE!!!”

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon hurtled through the air and in full view of the ponies and dragon below, BlackWarGreymon flew underneath him and smashed his right foot into his gut with enough force to make cracks in his golden chest plate.

The evil Mega gagged as the air escaped forcefully from his body. The attack also sent him higher into the air, of which BlackWarGreymon responded by flying above him and elbowed him in the back. Then with a kick to the back of the head, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was sent crashing to the ground. Throwing up crystal shards from the impact.

With his clone down, the ascended BlackWarGreymon brought his arms close and charged up a bright green sphere.

“WAR BLASTER!!!”

Then with a thrust of his arms, he fired a hellfire of green blasts at the downed Digimon. His cries could be heard as the attacks smashed into him.

Twilight and her friends noticed something. Unlike before, where he could only fire several bursts of his War Blaster attack, his attack seems to continue without end. They guessed that because BlackWarGreymon became ascended, his energy attacks also had become heightened. Showing that they were stronger than ever.

After he fired somewhere near thirty bursts, BlackWarGreymon stopped firing and charged up his energy. Making the green sphere in his palm bigger. He then fired a single oversized blast that exploded upon striking ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

The green explosion created a plume of smoke as crystal shards fell from the sky. All eyes stared at the smoke, wondering if the clone was destroyed.

But then to their disbelief, ChaosBlackWarGreymon survived. Staggering out of the smoke cloud, his armour revealed scratches and cracks in the chest area. The group could even hear him breathing heavily.

Staring at the ground, the clone slowly began to speak.

“Ok…”

He then shot his head up towards BlackWarGreymon. Glaring at him in hate as he shouted in a rage filled voice.

“…WHAT…THE HELL!!!”

With anger inside of him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon launched off the ground with alarming speed and flew towards BlackWarGreymon. But as he came to throw the first punch, the black armoured Digimon levitated out of the way far quicker than he ever did.

High in the skies, ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to chase after his foe to punch and slash him. But because BlackWarGreymon became ascended, his speed dramatically increased. His glowing form evaded every attack thrown at him.

Then as the frustrated clone attempted to impale his enemy once more, in a blink of an eye, he instantly vanished.

“Wha…he’s so fast!”

Then to his surprise, the ascended BlackWarGreymon appeared behind him.

“And you’re too slow.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon yelled as he turned around to throw a punch. But to his shock, BlackWarGreymon was nowhere in sight.

“What!? Where did he…!?”

Quickly using his senses, the started clone turned around and looked down. Seeing BlackWarGreymon’s glowing form on the ground. Glaring back at him as he waited.

“It’s not so funny when you can’t touch me anymore, isn’t it?” He said to mess with ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

His mockery worked. The grey armoured Digimon growled angrily as he threw a fit.

“Grrr! DON’T YOU MOCK ME!!!”

Flying down at high speed, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw another punch at BlackWarGreymon. But in a brief flash, the ascended Mega vanished to avoid it and reappeared in front of a building. Again, the clone charged forth to throw a right-handed punch. But BlackWarGreymon merely tilted his head aside to avoid the punch. It instead impaled through the crystal wall.

Then the two entered a stalemate. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon advanced, he threw punches left and right at the head of the retreating BlackWarGreymon. But the latter kept moving his head side to side, avoiding every punch thrown. The onlooking ponies and dragon were truly amazed at BlackWarGreymon’s new found speed. While the evil Digimon started to get frustrated from not landing a single blow.

Then as the clone threw a right punch, in a blink of an eye, BlackWarGreymon threw his head forward and slammed into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s face. Briefly yelling in pain, the evil Mega stumbled back while grabbing onto his face.

He couldn’t believe that one headbutt caused him so much pain.

“What!?”

Then before he knew it, BlackWarGreymon rushed to him and gave him an uppercut. Sending him hurtling through the sky once more.

“WHAT!!?”

Just as he stabilized himself, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was greeted to a knee in a gut. He again yelled in pain.

Seeing his advantage, BlackWarGreymon wasted no time by repeatedly punching ChaosBlackWarGreymon in the face. The blows were so hard, the clone couldn’t focus on fighting back.

“Yeah BlackWarGreymon! Knock his block off!” Rainbow Dash said as she and the others cheered him on.

While most of the onlookers either stared in awe or cheering, King Sombra tried to get through his creation.

“What are you doing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon!? Throw a damn punch!!”

While under attack, the cloned Digimon managed to answer back.

“What…do you…think…I’m…trying…to do!!?”

The ascended BlackWarGreymon ended his combos by kicking ChaosBlackWarGreymon in the chest with his right leg. But then immediately threw his left leg to kick his foe in the side of his face. The attack caused the evil Digimon to crash back down on the ground.

As BlackWarGreymon landed softly on the ground, emerging from the crater, he saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Growling in pain, anger and defiance as he glared at the glowing Digimon.

“Alright…just for that…”

Bursting out of the crater, the clone ran full speed at the ascended Mega.

“…I’m not gonna take it easy on you anymoAAA!!”

He was silenced when BlackWarGreymon slapped him aside. Crashing into a building beside him.

“Wow,” Twilight simply said. She and her friends were in awe at how much stronger their Digimon friend had become.

Running out in the open, King Sombra glared at the heroic Mega with his horn glowing. Sensing dark magic behind him, BlackWarGreymon turned his glowing gaze onto the Unicorn.

Sombra was briefly startled as he looked at the Digimon’s eyes. With his pupils glowing white, it looked as though the king was staring into the light of good. He instantly shook it off before he spoke.

“How dare you defy me!” He shouted as he released countless beams of magic towards the Mega.

But before the attack spells could even touch BlackWarGreymon’s armour, his fiery aura dissipated the blasts. Rendering them useless as they faded away. What was happening was that BlackWarGreymon’s ascended energy was purifying Sombra’s dark magic.

Seeing his attacks fail completely, Sombra glared at the ascended Digimon defiantly.

“WHY WON’T YOU DIE!!?”

Before BlackWarGreymon could respond, ChaosBlackWarGreymon came bursting out of the rubble and got into position behind him.

“You dare turn your back on…!”

He instantly paused his sentence when he got his foe in the suplex position. The moment he touched BlackWarGreymon’s body, he started to scream in agony. Smoke was also seen on his body.

To everypony’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon’s fiery aura was burning ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

Unable to withstand the burning forever, the evil Digimon backed off while his chest and arms was releasing smoke.

“Why does his energy burn!?”

BlackWarGreymon then rushed up and slammed his foot into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. Sending him back flying into the same pile of rubble.

Then as he released a hate-filled yell, the evil clone launched himself out of the rubble and swung his right leg out to kick BlackWarGreymon in the face. But the ascended Digimon instantly caught the leg with his right hand. Then turning around, he threw ChaosBlackWarGreymon away. The clone’s body was sent skidding and hopping across the until he slammed into a building.

Knowing that the evil Digimon would bust out of the hole, BlackWarGreymon began to run towards him. Predictably, ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged out of the building and towards is foe. When the two Megas collided, they released a flash of light that temperately blinded all whom were watching.

As they regained their vision, they turned their sights back on the two in awe. Both Digimon had their claws locked onto each other as they wrestled. With his gauntlets being the only part that was touching his opponent, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was safe from being burned by the bright red aura. As they wrestled, the clone appeared to be trying much harder then the original. His posture was more horizontal, his muscles were very tensed and he was loudly grunting. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile was more vertical in posture and his muscles were the same as before. Showing that his strength had ascended beyond ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s.

Infuriated at how resilient his rival was, the evil Mega tried to slam his armoured knee into BlackWarGreymon’s cracked chest. But he couldn’t inflict anymore damage. Again and again he slammed his knee into him, but his foe’s defence was also heightened by his new power.

As he found an opening to attack, BlackWarGreymon slammed his own knee into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. The effects were reversed, the evil Digimon froze as he gawked in pain. The air escaping his body from the surprisingly hard blow.

With the clone stunned and his arms locked onto his own, the ascended BlackWarGreymon threw him up off the ground until he was just above him. then with a kick to the chest, he was sent crashing through the roof of the building behind him.

After recomposing himself, the black armoured Digimon turned around to see what his evil clone would do next.

‘Song end’

“NO!” King Sombra called out. But he was more concerned of his plan falling apart.

At first, silence filled the air. But it was shattered when ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged through the wall of the house. He then paused before glaring at BlackWarGreymon in anger and shock. Taking deep breaths all the while.

“How? How is this possible!? How have you become so much stronger!? How are you doing this!!?” He demanded. His questions left the glowing Digimon stunned.

“Strange. Being my clone, I thought you would’ve known about my Ascended form.”

The eyes of the evil Mega widened at what he heard.

“What!? Your… Ascended form!?”

He then took a moment to properly sense the type of energy that was flowing through BlackWarGreymon. Upon realising that it wasn’t negative energy, his eyes widened even more as he gasped in shock.

“I-Impossible!! You weren’t created in Equestria! How do you possess magic!!?”

Surprisingly, the glowing Digimon chuckled at the clone’s response.

“Sounds to me that you’re scared after all.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon growled in frustration. BlackWarGreymon was able to achieve something that he couldn’t. He then spoke out in a growl-like voice.

“How do you do it? Tell me how you ascended!?”

“And why should I tell you?”

BlackWarGreymon then gave ChaosBlackWarGreymon a glare that was half mocking and strangely half factual.

“Besides…even if I did, you will never be able to achieve this form.”

Out of the group, only Twilight sensed the hidden meaning in his words.

‘He…He now knows how to ascend!?’

The red eyed Digimon growled even louder in frustration.

“Why? Tell me!? Tell me why or I’ll beat it out of you!!”

After silence followed, BlackWarGreymon answered. But in a form of one single hum.

“Hmm.”

The clone took it as a sign. Of which it triggered him greatly.

“That’s it!! I’ll force you to tell me!!”

After channelling destructive magical energy into the claws of his right arm. ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw a large green orb directly at BlackWarGreymon. But to his shock, the ascended Mega merely backhanded it high over his shoulder. Leaving it to crash into the road behind him.

Then pointing his glowing claws at him, the evil Mega surrounded the saviour in a green magical hold.

“Now you’re mine!” He declared.

But again to his shock, also including the others, by raising only one arm, BlackWarGreymon broke the restraining spell.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon briefly stuttered as his favourite spell failed. He then used it again, but on the ground beneath BlackWarGreymon. Throwing his arms up and close together, the clone magically forced two sections of the crystal ground to sandwich the Mega.

But to his dismay, the ascended Digimon broke free with just one slash of his claws. Then with extreme speed, he charged forth to throw a punch. However, the clone teleported away just moments before the claws touched his face. Reappearing in the sky behind BlackWarGreymon, the evil Mega came in to kick him with his right magically charged leg.

Unbelievably without looking, BlackWarGreymon raised his right arm and blocked the kick. The shockwave from the impact caused the ground to rumble slightly.

Startled, ChaosBlackWarGreymon backed off while BlackWarGreymon turned to face him. But his determination to end his life was getting the better of the clone. As he charged once more, he instantly teleported away.

As first, it seemed as though BlackWarGreymon didn’t know where the doubleganger was. But when ChaosBlackWarGreymon reappeared behind him to attack, he immediately spun around and backhanded the clone in the face.

His friends gasped in amazement. It was as if he knew every move his evil double was about to do before he even done it.

As he hurtled through the air, he once again decided to use his body as a projectile. Teleporting away and reappearing beside BlackWarGreymon, he hoped that he would slam into him. But the black Digimon’s heightened senses kicked in and responded by spinning around to give ChaosBlackWarGreymon a hard kick.

After skidding across the ground, the clone landed on his feet while staring at BlackWarGreymon defiantly. Infuriated at how his magic wasn’t working.

“Nice try, but your magic tricks won’t work on me anymore,” The ascended Mega said, noting his clone’s futile attacks.

As it seemed he was admitting defeat, ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave a sneaky glare.

“Very well, I’ll just use my powers! SHADOW FIRE!!!”

Throwing his arms in the correct order, ChaosBlackWarGreymon unleashed a huge wave of green fire towards BlackWarGreymon. But to his shock, as well as Sombra’s, the ascended Digimon dispersed the attack with just a wave of his right arm.

“Grrr…CHAOS CANNON!!!”

After gathering his dark energy, the clone fired seven red bursts. The duplicate attack of BlackWarGreymon’s War Blaster. But instead of protecting himself, the black armoured warrior took every single attack. Exploding against his body with several plumes of smoke.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon thought that he had managed to damage BlackWarGreymon. But to his disbelief when the smoke cleared, the glowing Digimon was revealed unharmed.

The evil Digimon had to think of something. Two moves down, three more to go.

“NIGHTMARE MIST!!!”

Covering his body in dark red energy, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew at full speed with intent to tackle BlackWarGreymon. But as fast as he was, the ascended Digimon’s reactions were even faster. After he jumped in the air to avoid his clone, he immediately came back down again. He successfully stomped ChaosBlackWarGreymon into the ground.

After he jumped off, BlackWarGreymon landed fifteen feet away from the dust-covered crater he just made. Knowing that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was within.

Then the clone’s outburst was heard.

“CHAOS TORNADO!!!”

In a column of swirling green winds, the grey armoured warrior launched out of the crater before heading towards BlackWarGreymon like a torpedo.

But again, BlackWarGreymon’s newfound power was proven to be superior. Leaping in the air directly in front of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s tornado attack, he swung his right foot straight into the tornado’s side.

Amazingly with one kick, he knocked his evil clone out of his own attack.

As BlackWarGreymon landed back on the ground, he glanced up at ChaosBlackWarGreymon as he flailed in the air. After he controlled himself, he glared down at the ascended Mega with burning rage. His mind and body were stressed considerably at the sight of his powers failing before him. First his magic, then so did four of his five abilities. But he saved his best for last.

“That’s it!! No more messing around!! SHADOW DESTROYER!!!”

After creating a sixty-five-foot-wide ball of darkness, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw it down towards BlackWarGreymon. Shockingly, the black armoured Digimon hadn’t left his spot on the ground. All he did in response was simply raising his right gauntlet to cover his face.

The energy ball exploded upon impact. Blinding light and shockwaves could be seen and felt throughout the Crystal Empire. Ata a safe distance, King Sombra, Twilight and her friends all had to shield their eyes as they lay low to not fall over.

“What in Equestria is BlackWarGreymon thinking!?” Rarity shouted as blasts of wind whipped through the area.

“I hope he’s ok!” Fluttershy joined as both the winds and tremors died down.

As the light faded away, all was seen was a thick blanket of smoke from where BlackWarGreymon stood. Up in the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to chuckle. Thinking that he had won. On the ground, the group stared at the slowly fading cloud. Hoping that their friend was ok.

To their amazement, they saw a red glow shinning through the thick smoke. Bright and fiery as ever.

“I don’t believe it,” Shining Armor said as he and Cadence stared on in disbelief. The others meanwhile stared on in awe.

As the smoke faded away, the ascended BlackWarGreymon was standing in the heart of the rubble that lay around him. Though it destroyed the ground around him, the giant energy ball didn’t even make him flinch. He only reacted by lowering his arm back down to his side.

“He just took it as if it wasn’t a problem!” Rainbow Dash said, noting how calm BlackWarGreymon was.

The same couldn’t be said for ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“N…No way. This…this can’t be happening!”

“My turn,” BlackWarGreymon responded as he slowly reared his left arm back.

Within the palm of his hand, he formed a four-foot-wide Terra Destroyer sphere. Unlike its usual negative red appearance, the new energy changed it to resemble a fiery sun.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!” He shouted as he tossed the orange and yellow energy ball directly at his clone.

Unable to think straight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon only responded by bringing forth his grey shield. He had hoped that the attack would be deflected away.

But to his horror, it exploded on impact.

The Digimon clone screamed as his body was consumed in its blinding light. The blast was unusually large for such a small attack, even by BlackWarGreymon’s standards.

As the light faded, the evil Mega was revealed. And to Sombra’s dismay, the bottom half of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s shield was gone! What was left was the top half with molten patches at the bottom. Dripping down to the ground below. Also, parts of his body had suffered burns from the intense heat.

“Wow, that attack melted his shield,” Spike said as he looked over Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“That’s gotta hurt,” Applejack joined.

Trying to ignore the pain in his body, the grey armoured Digimon placed what was left of his shield back on his back. Then he glared down at the ascended BlackWarGreymon in disbelief.

“That attack was small…but it really hurt!” He said, his voice shaken.

“But do you want to know something?” BlackWarGreymon asked him.

“What!?”

The next thing the glowing Mega said shocked the clone to the core.

“As strong as I am now, this isn’t even my full power.”

Everyone who heard him all gawked in shock and disbelief. The whole fight BlackWarGreymon wasn’t being as serious as his words showed. He was just toying with ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

The clone could feel his eye twitching from the level of stress he was experiencing.

“You’re kidding me! You were holding back this entire time!?”

“That’s right! If I wanted to, I would’ve destroyed you in an instant.”

Though hovering in the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon slowly backed away in fear.

“But…but you didn’t. Why did you hesitate?”

All eyes looked over to BlackWarGreymon. Eager to know the truth themselves.

“To make you pay. To make you suffer for everything you’ve done to the empire and my friends. To make you regret the day you were created from me!”

BlackWarGreymon’s voice was dark and frightening. Almost filled with unbridled rage.

“Look if it’s all about the whole ‘me torturing you’ thing can’t you let it sl…”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s sentence was interrupted when BlackWarGreymon launched off the ground and punched him in the chest. While the evil clone was sent hurtling through the sky, the ascended Mega flew behind him with superior speed and kicked him higher. After the glowing Digimon flew past his flailing twin yet again, he dived down and tackled him from behind. The two then smashed through a roof of a building and, judging by the loud impact, crashed into the floor. The impact shook the ground as if a rock fell from space.

Then as quickly as it happened, the ascended BlackWarGreymon rose from the hole in the roof. Hovering in place in the sky as he looked down at his concealed counterpart.

Then with an angry grunt, ChaosBlackWarGreymon burst out of the roof and then hovered in place in front of the original. Though his body was damaged as much as his armour, like BlackWarGreymon he wasn’t the one to give up.

The stunned ponies and dragon all looked up in suspense. The evil Digimon was outmatched but he doesn’t know when to quit. As BlackWarGreymon stared silently with an angered expression in his eyes, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was painting for breath. He was also glaring back at him with anger. But as he spoke, he decided to use a mocking tone.

“Ok. I admit. When I dreamt of fighting you, I never expected this to happen. You gaining power through means of magic. I thought I was the only one who could do that. So what next?”

But BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond. He kept giving him the same angry expression. Almost as if he was no longer interested in the fight.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon spoke again, his mocking slowly started to show signs of anger.

“What’s the matter? Out of speeches? Cat got your tongue? No more words to gloat!?”

He then gave up on the mocking. BlackWarGreymon’s lack of response was causing his anger to boil. Evident in his next question.

“Just because you have this… so called Ascended form, you think you’re better than me!?”

Again, BlackWarGreymon was unmoved. In a rage, ChaosBlackWarGreymon answered his own question.

“WELL YOU’RE NOT!!! I know all your memories! I have all your powers! I am a part of you!! I AM YOU!!!”

Determined to even the odds, the clone thought of an idea.

“And if you can ascend, then so can I!!”

The group below held their breath. Despite what BlackWarGreymon said earlier, could ChaosBlackWarGreymon really ascend?

They were all about to find out.

Believing in his own words, the glowing Mega stayed put. Watching his clone and his attempt to ascend.

Attempting to use as much magic as he could, all six of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s claws were glowing bright in a surging green aura. Then channelling his dark magic through his body, the evil Digimon grunted as he felt all his muscles tensing up.

The Digimon continued to grunt loudly as the glow from his claws spread up to his Dramon Destroyers. Then with a mighty yell, his body completely shined in a green aura.

Feeling his strength and power increased, the clone started to gloat.

“See!! How do you like me now!?”

While it could’ve been a shocking discovery for the group below, the feeling they mostly felt was confusion.

Instead of BlackWarGreymon’s Ascended form, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s was different. His glowing aura looked more soft and eerie, instead of strong and fiery. There was also no glow in his eyes and his hair wasn’t flowing.

Though a tiny bit startled, BlackWarGreymon was otherwise calm. As if he already knew the truth.

“Yes! Now finish him off!!” King Sombra ordered.

“With pleasure!” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he charged forth with his increased speed.

“Take this!” He shouted as he prepared to throw a punch.

But just as the clone was mere inches away, BlackWarGreymon instantly vanished out of sight.

“What!?” He shouted as his punch hit nothing.

“Try again,” BlackWarGreymon taunted as he reappeared behind ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

The evil Digimon growled in anger as he turned around. But as he threw another punch, the ascended Mega backed away with much quicker speed.

Then across the sky, red and green blurs from the two Digimon were seen as they flew at high speeds. But despite ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s attempt to attack, BlackWarGreymon was one step ahead of him.

“Wait, is BlackWarGreymon still faster?” Rainbow Dash asked as she and her friends watched on.

Then all of a sudden, the glowing black armoured Digimon stopped and spun around. Kicking his glowing clone away and into a building. But as quickly as he came in, the evil Mega launched out of the building while yelling loudly.

Then without hesitation, ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave his foe a right-handed punch straight to the face.

Everything fell silent as the sounds of the punch echoed through the area. Freezing everyone in suspense.

Just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon was about to chuckle in delight, his voice stuttered as his eyes widened in terror.

Not only his punch didn’t harm BlackWarGreymon, but the ascended Digimon showed it by slowly pushing the clone’s arm back with his cheek. Looking back right at him.

“No way! He took it like it was nothing!” Shining Armor said while in shock.

“BlackWarGreymon’s still stronger,” Luna joined in, impressed and relieved.

“How is he doing this!?” Sombra asked as he gawked at the two air-borne Megas.

Sensing trouble, ChaosBlackWarGreymon instantly backed away as he looked at his right arm in disbelief.

“What the… That was my hardest punch…and it did nothing!”

His whole body began to shiver and tremble in fear.

“This…this can’t be happening!”

He then quickly looked at the ascended BlackWarGreymon.

“How come you’re still stronger!!? I’ve also reached a new level! I’ve also ascended!”

Then BlackWarGreymon finally spoke out. Explaining what was happening and in turn, the truth on how to ascend.

“You’re not ascended. You just believe that you are. All you’ve done was a little power boost.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon froze in place, for once interested in what BlackWarGreymon had to say. Sombra, Twilight and all her friends also remained quiet as they listened on.

“Yes, you used magic to increase your strength and speed. But the magic you used was your OWN magic. I ascended by absorbing the magic of Equestria itself. You can’t ascend because I have the one thing you don’t.”

All ears payed close attention even more. But it was both ChaosBlackWarGreymon and Twilight Sparkle who seemed to be the most intrigued of all.

“A pure heart. Once you have a pure heart, you’ll have the power to reach new heights. To ascend. I may not had started out with one, but after all the lessons I’ve learnt since coming to Equestria, I have one now. By rejecting my dark past, I began to appreciate for what this world is. For what I was given. And for what I have become.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked over to his stunned friends.

“I have my friends to thank for that.”

Hearing what the glowing Digimon said made the whole group smile proudly. He then glared back at his clone in anger.

“You however have no friends and your heart isn’t pure. That’s why you can’t ascend! That’s why you will never ascend!! YOU HAVE LOST CHAOSBLACKWARGREYMON!!!”

The information given was too much for the evil Digimon to accept. So much so that his enhancement spell wore off. BlackWarGreymon’s words were strong, but he didn’t want to believe it. But it did seem true. For out of the two of them, only the good-hearted Digimon was able to reach a greater power.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s mind began to strain as his body snapped. At first, he realised several quiet grunts. Then all of the sudden, he yelled out very loudly in defiance as his claws glowed bright green.

Then while he was yelling, he teleported out of sight. BlackWarGreymon was briefly startled as he looked around to find him. But he couldn’t see him anywhere and he couldn’t sense his power.

Could ChaosBlackWarGreymon had teleported out of his reach? Why? And for what?

The group below also looked at their surroundings to try and spot the evil Digimon. But with no success.

“Hay, where did he go?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I don’t know. He just vanished,” Princess Cadence answered.

“Well let’s hope that he stays away,” Flash Sentry said.

As the group looked left, right, up and down, Twilight saw a faint glimmer high in the open sky. It was also fast approaching.

After several moments of staring carefully, the purple Alicorn gasped in shock.

“BlackWarGreymon!! Above you!!”

The Artificial Digimon quickly looked at Twilight before glancing up to see his clone coming in at extremally high speeds.

Apparently after he teleported away, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reappeared so high in the sky it was impossible to be seen from the ground. Then by flying down fast, added by the gravity and his magic, he dive-bombed in hopes to strike BlackWarGreymon unprepared.

It worked. Just as BlackWarGreymon spotted the incoming glowing Mega, he received a punch so strong, it sent him crashing to the crystal ground. The impact caused the ground to shake, dust to rise and a crater in the middle of an open road.

Hovering above ground, ChaosBlackWarGreymon laughed in triumphant.

“HAHA!!! Who is stronger now!!?” He boasted.

But he soon wished he hadn’t. Because in response to the surprise attack, the ascended BlackWarGreymon instantly flew out of the dust filled crater, reached just above ChaosBlackWarGreymon, and gave him a kick that send him into the very same crater. Because of the ascended strength, the clone was sent even further into the crater and making the ground shake even more violently.

The group were shocked at how different the comparison was.

As the quakes ended and the dust settled, all what was revealed was a deep crater. But by hearing ChaosBlackWarGreymon groaning in pain, he was well within.

Though he couldn’t be seen, the group heard him talking in a pain-filled tone.

“Well…that’s…just…great.”

As BlackWarGreymon landed by his friends, to his surprise, Rainbow Dash started to chuckle. She then laughed, making everyone look at her in confusion.

As she spoke, she revealed what was funny to her.

“Well I guess that answers that! BlackWarGreymon is clearly stronger! That clone didn’t stand a chance!”

Believing that they had won, the blue Pegasus called out to the fallen Mega within the crater.

“Hay, you in there!! You better give up now while you’re ahead, phony! Unless you want to get your butt kicked again by someone you thought was weak!”

Then to the shock of everyone, in response to Rainbow Dash’s taunting and mocking, ChaosBlackWarGreymon released a rage-filled scream as the crater began to glow green. Seconds later, he unleashed an explosion from his body. Destroying the crystals he was entombed in and making the crater much wider.

As crystal shards rained down around him, the evil Digimon stood his ground. Huffing from pain and rage. Even King Sombra had never seen his creation so angry. It made him felt uneasy.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked up from the crater and at the others, he shouted at them in defiance.

“I will not stand for this!! Being beaten into a pulp is one thing! But I will not be humiliated by runts like you!!”

Everyone was silent from hearing the violent outburst. But believing that BlackWarGreymon could win the battle with ease, made Rainbow Dash cocky in her words.

“HA! Looks like somepony’s hit his chrome dome head too hard.”

Pinkie Pie snickered at the remark.

“He,he. Chrome dome.”

“Rainbow,” BlackWarGreymon said in protest as he looked at her. Knowing she was not helping.

Hearing the snickering and the mocking was slowly getting to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Traumatizing him as he clenched his eyes in frustration. Second by second, his growls were getting louder and louder. He wanted nothing more than to make his enemies pay. Even if it meant doing something reckless. In fact, his insane mind began to reach that limit. He no longer cared about going easy. He no longer cared about Sombra’s wishes and desires. Ultimately, he no longer cared about the plan. He just didn’t care anymore!

With his rage snapped, he shot his eyes open. Revealing perfectly slit pupils. He had enough of it all as his loud grunts turned into a roar.

“THAT’S IT!!! EVERYONE DIES!!!”

Then in a blink of an eye, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body erupted in a blinding green flash before he launched himself off the ground. Within seconds, he reached higher than the tallest tower in the empire. But the glow he was giving off could be seen from the ground.

Everyone on the ground were shocked at what transpired. Mostly at what the clone said. The volume of his outburst sent a dead cold shiver through their bodies. Even Sombra’s.

As he hovered in place, the enraged ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked down at the group below. His eyes burning with rage hotter than the sun. Determined to end it all.

“SAY GOODBYE TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!!!” He shouted as he placed his claws together. Ready to charge up his strongest attack.

The ponies and dragon all gasped in horror in response. Scared if the clone was serious in his words. Even BlackWarGreymon stuttered in shock.

“W…What!?”

Then out of the blue, King Sombra stepped forth and barked at his violent creation.

“No!! What do you think you’re doing!!? Have you forgotten our plan!? I need the empire to rule it!! I need it intact!!”

For once, the others agreed with the Unicorn king. But for different reasons. But the response the Mega gave not only shocked everyone even more, but sent dread in Sombra’s black heart.

“WELL THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM!!! I WILL GLADLY DESTROY THIS PLACE, AS LONG AS THEY ALL DIE WITH IT!!! SHADOW DESTROYER!!!”

After he raised his arms over his head, ChaosBlackWarGreymon formed his devastating black sphere. Measuring about one hundred feet wide.

“NO!!! Sombra shouted in command and defiance. But his voice fell to deaf ears. All the others, even BlackWarGreymon were stunned in silence.

Knowing his attack wouldn’t be enough, the evil Digimon said and done something truly shocking.

“Bigger!”

As he shouted, he accessed the deep depths of his power. Which caused his attack to double in size at an alarming rate. Reaching two hundred feet wide.

It was a big shock to everyone below. Too in shock to take in what they were seeing.

But to their horror, it wasn’t over.

“Bigger!!” The clone shouted again, pouring more power into his orb. Increasing its size to three hundred feet.

“BIGGER!!!”

Using every ounce of power he had, further enhanced by his magic, the sphere further increased to a staggering three hundred and fifty feet in diameter. Large enough to be described as a black sun.

‘Perfect,’ ChaosBlackWarGreymon thought to himself as he glanced up at his oversized attack. He then growled as he glared back down at those he hated the most.

“Sweet Celestia!!” Rarity shrieked as the others stared fearfully at the colossal sphere.

“That thing is gigantic!!” Shining Armor said, fear causing his legs to wobble.

Unlike the others, the ascended BlackWarGreymon stared on in disbelief. He knew ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t fooling around. For once, he was being very serious.

The evil clone displayed his seriousness through his outburst to his rival.

“LET’S SEE HOW YOU STAND TO EVERYTHING I GOT!!!”

With the largest attack Equestria had ever seen locked in his grasp, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reared back. Preparing to unleash hell.

“TAKE…MY…WRATH!!!”

With one mighty overhead throw, the giant destructive ball of darkness was released upon the empire. Due to its size, it looked slow as it descended. Making the threat all the more scary. The citizens who saw it all screamed and ran for their lives. Trying their best to survive the outcome.

Back at the scene, all eyes of the group stared in terror of the gigantic attack heading straight towards them.

“It will destroy the whole empire if that hits!!” Shining Armor said before Cadence moved closer to him. Sticking by his side no matter what.

“But what can we do!? There’s no way we can stop that thing!!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

Just as it seemed hopeless for the residents of Equestria, BlackWarGreymon stepped forward. Everyone looked surprised as he stared at the attack with determination.

Even in times of peril, he would stay true to his word. He would protect his friends no matter what.

“No!! I won’t let that happen!! I WILL SAVE YOU ALL!!!”

Suddenly, BlackWarGreymon’s red aura got brighter at his own words. Then to the shock of his friends, he took off into the air to intercept the giant Shadow Destroyer orb.

As the glowing Digimon flew closer, he crossed his arms in front of him. Using himself as a battering ram to push the orb away.

Then as the two powers collided, it released a bright flash of red as they made contact. As the flash faded, the ponies and dragon below, as well as the whole empire, all looked up to see what was happening.

It didn’t look good. Even with his ascended strength, BlackWarGreymon was being pushed back as he tried to hold back the giant orb. He grunted loudly as he tried to push back, but all he could do was slow down the orb.

“Come on, BlackWarGreymon!! You can do it!” Twilight called out to support him.

“Yes, don’t give in!!” Luna joined.

Hearing his friends calling to him made BlackWarGreymon glance over his shoulder in concern.

“ALL OF YOU!!! GET BACK!!!”

Hearing the urgency in the Digimon’s voice made the group oblige to his wish. Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor teleported themselves and all their friends some distance away. But kept their awed vision on their struggling friend. Sombra did the same but reappeared somewhere else.

Despite the struggles, BlackWarGreymon was being pushed back closer and closer to the ground. His mind raced with alarm when his feet touched the crystal ground.

“I mustn’t let it touch the ground!!”

With a firm grip on the ground, BlackWarGreymon’s muscles burned and ached as he held back the attack. Causing him immeasurable strain. The shear energy from the struggle caused gale-force winds to blow through the area. Forcing any pony within its way to keep low or hide.

Despite his reluctance, BlackWarGreymon could feel the giant attack trying to force him down even further. His legs slowly bending from the excess pressure forced onto his body. It even became too much for the crystal road to cope with. Slowly the ground beneath the Digimon’s feet cracked all over. But as the pressure continued, the floor gave way. Though his feet were buried, the ascended Mega continued to grunt as he tried his hardest not to give in.

Even though the group had fear on their faces and tears in their eyes from watching the ordeal, they never stopped cheering their friend on.

“Come on, BlackWarGreymon!!”

“You can do it!!”

“We know you can!!”

“Never give in!!”

High above the scene, ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on in joy and rage.

“GIVE IT UP, BLACKWARGREYMON!!! YOU DON’T STAND A CHANCE!!! I PUT ALL MY POWER IN THAT ATTACK!!! NOW PERISH, WITH THE REST OF YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS!!!”

As the struggle continued below, BlackWarGreymon’s mind was racing with thoughts.

If he gave up, the giant Shadow Destroyer attack would turn the Crystal Empire into a giant smoking crater. If he gave in, hundreds of innocent lives would die. Including all his friends. Despite the danger, they were all cheering him on. Not just for their survival, but for his own survival. They all wanted him to win. To see him pull through, no matter the odds. If he succumbs, he would let his friends down. He would let everyone in Equestria down. His new life would be taken away like before. And he would fail to fulfil his destiny. But worst of all, by the hands of a him of what could’ve been. An him that was on the path of evil.

BlackWarGreymon then felt as if his heart began to glow. Bristling with hope. Everything he just thought of might indeed happen. But he would be damned if that were to happen for real. No. He would NEVER let that happen. The lessons he learnt and the feelings he felt all came from his friendships he made in Equestria. And he would not let that die! They needed him as much as he needed them. He would fight on no matter what. For his life. For his friends. For everyone in the new world he called home!

As BlackWarGreymon felt the glow flowing though his very being, the fiery red aura around his body began to flare brighter then before. As his grunting slowly became louder, he found the strength to stand. Slowly pushing the giant dark orb back with his eyes closed to focus on his inner energy.

On the side-lines, all his friends stopped cheering and stared in silent awe. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. One second BlackWarGreymon was on the verge of being crushed, then the next he was not only standing, but he was slowly walking out of the hole he was in.

“No way,” Twilight said, almost speechless.

Though BlackWarGreymon was straining from holding the giant sphere back, he was advancing. Then amazingly, he started to levitate off the ground. Pushing the ball further away from the ground.

“I…Impossible,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he watched his attack being pushed back. His eyes widened in shock.

Then as BlackWarGreymon felt his ascended strength reaching its peak, he did something extraordinary. As he held the attack in place, he adjusted his arms so that his claws were imbedded inside the orb. Then with one mighty yell, he managed to successfully move the giant Shadow Destroyer sphere until it was held over his head. As if the attack was his own.

Then BlackWarGreymon did the impossible. With one echoing yell, he channelled the power of his Ascended form into the Shadow Destroyer sphere. Within moments, the back orb’s negative power and black magic were destroyed and replaced with ascended power. Transforming the black orb into a bright orange sphere with a white light at its core. BlackWarGreymon’s power also expanded its size even further! Measuring a colossal four hundred feet!

As all eyes stared on at the majesty of the new attack, BlackWarGreymon locked his sights on his clone, reared his arms back, and shouted the name of the new attack.

“ASCENDED…TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

With one mighty throw, BlackWarGreymon released the even bigger attack and sent it flying towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon at alarming speed.

The clone Digimon watched on in shock as what was once his own attack came hurtling towards him. But by manoeuvring to his right as quickly as he could, he narrowly avoided the giant sphere. Only suffering from a minor burn to his left shoulder. Then with the rest of the empire, the Digimon clone watched as the attack flew higher and higher into the open sky. Right up to a point when it exploded. The sky looked as though it was ignited by the ball of fire as it lit up the sky. The blast could be heard for miles, but it could be seen ever further beyond.

As seconds ticked by, the deafening explosion faded away as the sky dimmed back to normal. Everypony below then realised how close they were to complete annihilation.

“That…was…close,” Rainbow Dash said, almost lost for words.

BlackWarGreymon huffed and puffed for breath as he landed back on the ground. Exhausted from his ordeal. As his power dropped like a ton of bricks, his magnificent aura faded away. Reverting back to his regular form.

Seeing his accomplishment caused the Mane Six to rush up to him in shear joy. Completely overwhelmed.

“Dude, that was beyond awesome!!” The blue Pegasus cheered as she hovered above the Digimon.

“You said it, Rainbow! Truly amazing!” Rarity joined.

“You were incredible!” Fluttershy said, followed by Applejack.

“Ya had to be crazy brave to jump in and stop an attack like that.”

“And that was super-duper!!” Pinkie Pie cheered.

As the rest of the group joined in, Twilight and Luna noticed how tired BlackWarGreymon was. That and the fact he was no longer in his Ascended form.

“You’re ok?” Luna asked as she approached him. Joined by Twilight.

“What happened to all your strength?”

BlackWarGreymon briefly looked at his worn body before answering.

“I had to use a lot of my power for that attack. I guess… my Ascended form wore off.”

He then looked up at his clone.

“But I’m not the only one who’s low on energy.”

BlackWarGreymon was right. Creating such a large-scale attack in the first place, consumed much of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s energy. It left him in the same boat he was.

After staring at the spot in the sky where the attack exploded, the evil Digimon slowly turned his sights on BlackWarGreymon below. His crimson eyes driven in rage from being deprived of a kill.

“He hurt me. He mocked me. And now he bested me. That’s it… now I’m seeing this though to the end!”

Before he could move in to attack, a voice stopped him.

“STOP!!!”

Appearing in front of the Mega, was the enraged King Sombra. Floating in the air via dark magic. His sudden appearance startled the group below, wondering how it would play out.

“That’s enough, ChaosBlackWarGreymon!! What do you think you were doing!!?” The dark Unicorn demanded.

“What you said. To destroy BlackWarGreymon,” The clone answered back, not tearing his gaze away from the group below.

“By destroying the empire with him!?”

“Who cares!? It’s just an empire!”

Sombra gawked at what the cloned Digimon said.

“Just an empire!!? You disobedient brat! I need the empire! It’s my birth right!”

As he looked at him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon disgraced Sombra even more before looking away.

“I don’t care about your birth right! What matters here is my fight with BlackWarGreymon! The greatest battle Equestria had ever seen! Of course, you wouldn’t understand!”

The king’s rage snapped as he growled in frustration.

“How dare you!! Have you forgotten who I am!? I am your creator! I am a king! And you are my monster. You will obey me!!”

In his rage, Sombra failed to notice the Digimon’s eye twitching in anger. But not at BlackWarGreymon.

“Could you rephrase that? I didn’t hear clearly,” He said, his voice hiding sinister intent.

Sombra then spoke out.

“I said, I am you master!! AND YOU WILL DO AS I SA…AAAAAHHH!!!”

King Sombra’s sentence was immediately cut short when in a blink of an eye, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached out his right arm and grabbed the Unicorn’s throat.

He briefly gagged for breath as he fearfully looked at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s sinister eyes. Then the Digimon spoke.

“You miserable old fool.”

Then with his left gauntlet, the Mega sliced off Sombra’s horn! The king screamed in agony as a massive jolt of pain shot through his head.

The group below all gasped at what they saw. ChaosBlackWarGreymon had turned on his master. And by chopping off his horn, the former king was powerless. Left dangling by the neck as he squirmed in pain.

The evil Digimon gave him the look that showed he didn’t care.

“I don’t take orders from pathetic weaklings.”

Despite the pain, Sombra managed to speak to the Digimon.

“W…why?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then explained the reason why he turned against the Unicorn.

“Because you’ve been around for far too long. You’re a relic. Old and weak. It’s time for a new generation of evil to take root. You know what they say. ‘Out with the old, and in with the new’.”

As the clone Digimon spoke on, Sombra gawked in disbelief.

“You and I possess unique dark magic. But unlike you, my magic is stronger because its within a more powerful body. The moment you helped in my creation… you became expendable.”

“No. You lie!” Sombra shouted in defiance.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled in response before he said something shocking.

“Well that’s what the boss told me. He knows very well how powerful I am. That I can handle dealing with the ponies on my own. So why do you think that he sent you here with me?”

The king’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Puzzling together the horrible truth.

“He…He tricked me!”

“That’s right. Now that I’m here with your magic, he no longer needs you. He also said I can end you any time I want. And guess what? That time is now.” The Mega said as he raised his left arm up to reveal his sharp claws.

Fear began to grip Sombra. An emotion he rarely ever felt in his life. He couldn’t believe that his master had decided to dispose of him. And he knew very well that he wouldn’t get resurrected again.

For the very first time since he became king, he pleaded for his life.

“N…no. It can’t end like this. I…I gave you life. I created you. I helped shape your very body. Please… don’t do this. Let me live! Have mercy!”

“Mercy? I’m the dark incarnation of BlackWarGreymon,” The clone said. But then his eyes narrowed as his voice suddenly became cold.

“I have none.”

Then as fast s a thunderbolt, the Digimon slammed his right knee into Sombra’s gut with the force that he fought BlackWarGreymon with.

The Unicorn king gagged silently as he could not only feel the air leaving him, but as if the attack had done more hidden damage to him. the blow broke several of his ribs and very likely ruptured his insides. His body crippled as he lost a lot of feeling.

Just as he was about to fall, the Unicorn was held in place by ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s magic. The aura around his body was identical to the claws on the Digimon’s left arm. The next thing Sombra saw was the claws of the Digimon’s right arm pointing directly at his face.

He stuttered in fear, from what the Mega was about to do and from what he said to him.

“Goodbye, daddy.”

Then at the tips of his extended claws, formed a bright green sphere of dark magic. An attack spell intended for Sombra.

With his body paralyzed, he couldn’t defend himself physically. With his horn gone, he couldn’t defend himself magically. Feeling certain doom fast approaching him, all the once great King Sombra could do was yell in defiance.

“No! NO!!! NNOOOOOO…!!!”

A large blast of magic was all that was needed to silence the Unicorn king. The bright green light consuming the stallion’s body completely.

Then a stunned silence followed. As the magical light faded, all that was left was a small patch of black smoke. Which then faded away into nothing.

All eyes in the empire couldn’t believe what they just saw. The former ruler of the Crystal Empire, the tyrant Unicorn King Sombra, was no more.

Chapter 43: Tides of Battle

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A shocking development had occurred at the Crystal Empire. King Sombra, the tyrant that once ruled the kingdom, was dead once more.

No longer needing him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, his own creation turned on the Unicorn and destroyed his body. Vaporizing him into smoke. With the shadow ponies and the king gone, the evil Digimon was all that’s left.

The citizens of the empire all saw the scene with their very eyes and had no idea how to feel about it. Should they be happy that the evil Unicorn king was no more? Or frightened that his monster was the one who caused his death?

The Mane Six, Spike, Princess Luna, the royal couple and Flash Sentry all had the same feelings. Mostly disbelief.

“I don’t believe it! He killed Sombra!” Prince Shining Armor uttered.

“Seems we were right about ChaosBlackWarGreymon being independent,” Princess Cadence joined.

“Don’t suppose this means he’s on our side?” Flash Sentry asked. Curious about the development.

“Don’t be fooled, Flash. He is BlackWarGreymon’s evil incarnate,” Princess Twilight said, dismissing the guard’s claims.

“Yeah. He probably did it because he wanted to,” Rainbow Dash added.

As silence followed, the group all turned to BlackWarGreymon to see what he thought of it. What they saw startled them, the Mega remained silent as he stared at his clone in anger.

“BlackWarGreymon,” Princess Luna said, concerned about what was going through the Digimon’s mind.

High in the sky, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned his sights onto the group below and glared at them in hatred. He then began to slowly descend towards the ground. Moving closer to his enemies.

The ponies and dragon took several fearful steps back as the evil Digimon approached them. Seeing how easily he killed King Sombra took away a lot of their confidence. However, the only pony who didn’t back away was Luna. Instead, she moved closer to BlackWarGreymon. Knowing it was safer by his side.

Then ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused. Hovering thirty feet above the ground, he stared silently at BlackWarGreymon as he stared back.

By resorting to use his ultimate ability to get rid of a powerful city destroying attack, BlackWarGreymon lost his special power. His body reverted back from his Ascended form. ChaosBlackWarGreymon also had a massive loss of power by creating the said attack in the first place.

The two Megas were in the same boat. But despite loosing most of their strength, they would continue to fight to the bitter end.

But loosing power was the one thing that the evil clone hated the most. Even if he used his magic, he wouldn’t be able to defeat BlackWarGreymon very easily.

‘Grrr… this is ridicules! I need more power! But where…?’

Then a blue glimmer caught his eye. Looking in its direction, he saw the crystal castle to his right. But it wasn’t the castle itself that gained his interest, it was an energy source he sensed beneath it.

The Crystal Heart.

‘Ooooh,’

Princess Cadence noticed that the evil Digimon had his sights turned on something else. Looking at the same place he was, she immediately got a disturbing thought.

“No. He wouldn’t. Would he?” She asked quietly.

“MINE!!!” ChaosBlackWarGreymon shouted as he immediately flew towards the castle. Surprising the group.

“He’s after the Crystal Heart!!” Cadence shouted. Panicked that he would steal its power.

Not wanting another disaster to happen, BlackWarGreymon took off after him. Unlike ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s desire for power, the determination to protect the empire was fueling the black armoured Digimon’s speed. Gaining on him in an alarming rate.

The grey armoured Mega could be heard chuckling loudly as he closed the distance between him and the glowing heart shaped relic. Extending his arms as he prepared to grab it.

But before he could even get close, he was immediately tackled to the side by BlackWarGreymon.

After he flailed backwards, ChaosBlackWarGreymon growled angrily at his foe before diving down to fight. Within moments, the two Megas were once again locked in a duel of combat.

“Would…you…just…get…lost…already!!” The clone violently shouted as he and BlackWarGreymon launched punches and kicks at each other.

On the sidelines, Twilight and her friends watched on in awe.

“Ah can’t believe that despite everythin’ they been through, they’re still fightin’,” Applejack said.

Then Rarity became concerned.

“And with their energy reserves so low, you don’t suppose that…this is… a fight to the death!?”

The air around them suddenly became cold at the thought of the possibility. The image of the two Digimon destroying each other. They then looked back at the fight, hoping that BlackWarGreymon wouldn’t push himself too far.

As the duel continued, BlackWarGreymon found a brief opening and went for it. He gave ChaosBlackWarGreymon a punch to the face that sent him back several feet. The clone growled in anger and frustration at his rival before the two started to spin. Conjuring up their tornado attacks.

“CHAOS TORNADO!!!”

“BLACK TORNADO!!!”

Like missiles, the two columns of green and black winds flew up and prepared to collide into each other head on. Then as the two tips met, it created a powerful burst of wind and energy. The two Megas kept on spinning as they pressed on their attacks. Trying to force one another to back down.

But as they pressed on, the two horizontal tornados kept growing and growing. Causing the twin swirling vortexes to release powerful gusts through the streets of the empire. As the group kept low to the ground, trying not to be blown away, they saw something unsettling. The hurricane-force winds ripped several parts of buildings and roofs clean off. All being carried off in the currents.

“If they keep this up, it will shred the empire apart!!” Shining Armor said, realising the amount of damage that was being caused.

“We have to help! We must end this fight!” Cadence added. Then Twilight joined.

“But how!? Even if they’re at low power, we’re still outmatched!”

As blasts of winds kept blowing their manes wild, Luna realised that there was something she could do.

It was true that BlackWarGreymon trained the group to fight in response to the threat. But only to fight either King Sombra of his Shadow Legion. So to them, the arrival of ChaosBlackWarGreymon was unexpected. However, before Sombra reappeared, Luna had gone through special training with BlackWarGreymon himself. Though it was pretend, but she indeed fought him. And even surprised him a couple of times. The Night Princess realised that out of the whole group, she was the only one with experience of fighting Digimon.

Knowing exactly what she must do, Luna bravely stood up against the winds. Her wings flared out, prepared for flight.

“Luna, what are you doing!?” Twilight asked, she and the others were surprised by the Alicorn’s actions.

With her horn glowing bright, Luna teleported away. Reappearing high in the sky, she looked down to see that she was high above the two warring Digimon.

With her glowing horn ready for action, Luna dived down to the fight. A blue trail of magic escaping from her horn.

The group below all watched her with worry. Wondering what she was about to do. Or if it would work.

As the blue Alicorn continued to descend, she started to spin her body around. The blue trail slowly wrapping around her body as she spun faster and faster. Within moments, she transformed into a swirling blue tornado. Diving towards the Digimon like a torpedo.

The group stared in amazement, never seeing a pony performing such an attack. Of which was in fact a move Luna was experimenting before with their Digimon friend.

“Is she… replicating BlackWarGreymon’s tornado attack?” Twilight asked herself. Wondering if it was possible.

It seemed so. All the while she was aiming for ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

Then it happened. Luna’s magic attack slammed into the side of the green tornado. With the impact of the magical attack, as well as the unrelenting force of BlackWarGreymon’s attack, it forced ChaosBlackWarGreymon out of his attack and flailed wildly as he crashed into the ground.

Surprised, BlackWarGreymon immediately stopped his attack and turned to the blue light to his left. As the light faded, Luna was revealed. Rubbing her head from the impact she made.

“Ahh! That actually hurts,” She said as she tried to sooth the pain.

BlackWarGreymon was almost speechless before he spoke to her.

“Luna, what are you doing up here!? It’s too dangerous!”

“I had to do something. The empire is being torn apart.”

Hearing what the Alicorn said made the Artificial Digimon look down at the empire in concern. It was true. Nearly every building he saw was either damaged or heavily scratched up. The empire itself seemed to have lost the gleam it once had.

BlackWarGreymon started to feel guilty. Some of his actions had caused some of the damage. Showing that he was just as destructive as his clone was.

But one thing was clear. He was fighting to protect the empire, not destroy it. He then looked down to where ChaosBlackWarGreymon crashed. Seeing the dust cloud before he spoke.

“I understand now. This fight must end.”

“I’m fighting too.”

The Digimon was surprised to hear Luna’s response. He wasn’t expecting her to say that she wanted to join in what could be the most dangerous fight in Equestria’s history.

Before he could protect against her, BlackWarGreymon saw the determination in the Alicorn’s eyes. Enough to even make him startled.

“Y…you’re serious, aren’t you?”

Luna looked down at the dust cloud before speaking.

“Yes. I’m worried that this would turn into a fight to the death. I… I don’t want you to fight alone anymore. You got friends who can help you.”

Luna then turned towards BlackWarGreymon. Her voice and her eyes almost showed that she was pleading.

“Please! Let me fight alongside you!”

Again, BlackWarGreymon wanted to protest against it. Knowing that Luna would only put herself in grave danger. But seeing her expression prevented him from doing so. But as he thought about it, he remembered that the Alicorn was a decent fighter and the strongest pony of the group. Capable of holding her own in a fight. He also remembered that just hours ago, she was the only one who sparred with him. She even caught him by surprise on several occasions. But even so, ChaosBlackWarGreymon wouldn’t hold back even if she’s involved. But in his weakened state, Luna might have a chance to inflict damage to the clone. Plus she might be right that if he continued alone, it could very possibly end with a duel to the death.

He closed his eyes as his mind became conflicted. Should he fight alone and risk further damaging himself even more to a point of death? Or have Luna join him and risk getting herself hurt or worse?

But the turning point was that he knew Luna all too well. Even in dangerous situations, she won’t take no for an answer. It was one of her duties as princess.

After releasing a quiet reluctant sigh, he gave his answer.

“Ok Luna. But only if he’s focused on me.”

The princess gave him a determined smile.

“I understand.”

Back on the ground, Twilight and her friends watched BlackWarGreymon and Luna. Wondering what they were talking about. Then to their surprise, the two descended towards the ground. Then landing side by side while facing the downed ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Wait! Princess Luna’s joining in the fight!?” Flash Sentry asked in disbelief.

“What is she thinking? Has she forgotten how powerful ChaosBlackWarGreymon is?” Twilight asked in concern.

While the others felt worried for the Princess of the Night, Cadence watched on in awe. Luna wasn’t a fool. She knew clearly how powerful the evil Digimon was. And yet, she was willing to aid BlackWarGreymon in battle.

The pink Alicorn was surprised at how determined and how dedicated Luna was to help the black armoured Digimon. In fact, deep inside, it made her smile.

Back at the scene, ChaosBlackWarGreymon emerged from the crystal rubble. Pushing a slab out of his way. As he looked over to see that Luna was by BlackWarGreymon’s side, he realised that it was her who interfered. He then chuckled in psychotic delight.

“Huh. So the little bug has come to die,” He said as he bared his claws ready.

As the two hero’s glared at the evil Mega. BlackWarGreymon spoke to Luna.

“Be careful, Luna. He’s unlike any opponent you’ve ever faced.”

The princess smiled at him before responding.

“That’s not exactly true. I did face you earlier, haven’t I?”

BlackWarGreymon released a brief chuckle. Understanding the hint about their little match.

‘Background music’ ‘Awake and Alive by Skillet’

The three fighters all glared at each other as they prepared to charge. Negative yellow and aqua blue eyes staring at a pair of crimson red eyes. Then after seconds of stunned silence, the three charged. One side was the angered ChaosBlackWarGreymon, and on the other was the defiant BlackWarGreymon and Princess Luna.

As they got near, the cloned Digimon turned his sights onto the Alicorn.

“You’re first, pony!!”

As the cruel Mega was about to strike, Luna cleverly teleported out of the way. And in her place was BlackWarGreymon’s left Dramon Destroyer. He received a punch to the face that sent him hurtling back, but quickly regaining his footing. Then the good hearted Mega flew in close and dished out several more punches.

After his fifth punch to the face, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached out and caught both fists. With their claws locked together, the two began to wrestle for strength once more.

Then to the evil Digimon’s surprise, a blue bolt of magic smacked him in the face. He yelped in surprise as the light caused his vision to go blurry.

As BlackWarGreymon held him in place, it allowed Luna to attack from the air. After flying around, she again fired her thunder-shaped beam of magic. Crackling across ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body as sparks flew everywhere.

Realising what was going on, the evil Mega sent BlackWarGreymon flying by slamming his foot into his chest. With his rival out of the way, he looked up to see Luna and pointed the glowing claws of his left gauntlet at her. As the green glow surrounded the Alicorn, she found herself unable to move. Caught in a levitation spell.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon swung his arm down, he slammed the princess to the ground. Then just as she was about to stand back up, the Digimon charged in with his right gauntlet ready to strike. Chuckling insanely.

For a brief moment when Luna closed her eyes, she thought it was over for her. But then a sound of metal clashing caught her ears. Opening her eyes in amazement, she saw that the evil Digimon’s attack was intercepted by BlackWarGreymon’s claws on his left arm. The clone glaring at him in anger and surprise.

“Don’t you dare!!” The black armoured Mega said as he swung his right arm out and punched his clone in the face once again. Sending him stumbling back.

Using his Black Tornado attack, BlackWarGreymon tackled ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Pushing him back as he tried to drill into the Mega’s chest. The clone grunted, trying to ignore the pain. Then as the attack stopped, BlackWarGreymon sent his rival flying by giving him an uppercut. After taking off and flying behind him, the black armoured Mega spun around and kicked him in the side. Sending him crashing into the ground.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon recovered and was about to fly, he was surprised when Luna appeared with a large crystal slab in her magical grip. Which she used to swat him away and into a building.

With a loud grunt, the blue Alicorn sent the slab flying into where her opponent was. But the Digimon smacked in aside as he emerged. After glaring at her, he shouted as he flew towards her.

“You’re mine now!!”

But before ChaosBlackWarGreymon could even scratch her, Luna cleverly teleported out of the way. Leaving the Digimon to crash into a large building she deliberately stood in front of.

Reappearing behind him, Luna smirked at the evil Mega as he recovered. His eyes burning with rage as he charged out of the building.

“You’ll pay for th…!!”

He was interrupted when BlackWarGreymon appeared and slammed his shoulder into his side, sending the clone crashing and skidding across the crystal ground.

On the side-lines, the group gasped at what was happening in front of them. Their friends seem to be winning and Luna was causing damage to ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Wow. When it comes to strategy, Luna’s brilliant,” Twilight said, impressed by the Alicorn’s tactics.

“And ah thought no pony could hurt him,” Applejack added.

Back at the fight, BlackWarGreymon and Luna were briefly startled when ChaosBlackWarGreymon charged at them quicker than before.

“Tag team all you want, but you still can’t beat me!!”

With the treat approaching, Luna took to the air while BlackWarGreymon charged forth. As the two Megas closed in one another, the grey armoured Digimon teleported behind BlackWarGreymon and kicked him in the back. Causing him to stumble over.

Before ChaosBlackWarGreymon could continue, Luna fired an ice spell at his side. Freezing his right arm and leg in place.

“What the…!” He said as he looked at parts of his body encased in ice.

With his foe temporally pinned, it allowed BlackWarGreymon to recover and come flying in to slam into him feet first. He then quickly stomped on his clone as he was above him.

As her friend moved out of the way, Luna fired a magical blue orb at ChaosBlackWarGreymon and exploded on impact.

She was briefly startled by the fact at how near ‘perfect’ her orb was. Plus it was double her size.

Infuriated at how persistent the princess was, the evil Mega threw a Shadow Destroyer sphere at BlackWarGreymon first. The dark orb pushing him into a nearby building before exploding. With his rival out of the way, he quickly turned towards Luna before teleporting behind her. The Alicorn’s startled reaction caused her to teleport away, but ChaosBlackWarGreymon was one step behind her. Every time she teleported away, he did the same and reappearing behind her.

As their unusual chase carried on a few times more, Luna realised she had to break the pattern. After teleporting on the ground, she spun around and formed a forcefield around her for protection.

Shockingly it seemed ChaosBlackWarGreymon anticipated her actions. As he reappeared in front of her, he swung down his raised right arm for the first wave of one of his attacks.

“SHADOW…”

To Luna’s shock, the wave of energy shattered her barrier like glass. But to her horror, she knew what came next.

“…FIRE!!!”

As he threw his left arm up, he unleashed a wave of green fire upon the Alicorn.

At first it all went black for Luna. Closing her eyes so she wouldn’t see the cause of her demise. But as she thought the flames would get her, she felt something protecting her. Opening her eyes and to her amazement, it was BlackWarGreymon. Cradling her in his arms as he shielded her from the attack. The cost was his back and shield being terribly burnt.

‘BlackWarGreymon,’ Luna thought to herself. Amazed that he threw himself on the line to protect her.

Then as he spun around, BlackWarGreymon performed his own attack.

“DRAGON CRUSHER!!!”

The wave of red-purple fire engulfed the evil Digimon, burning the front of his body. As his opponent screamed in pain, the Artificial Digimon came in and threw several punches at him. At first the clone took the punches to the face. But was then quick enough to block the attacks.

Then as he found a brief opening, ChaosBlackWarGreymon shoved BlackWarGreymon back and then used a levitation spell to lift him up. Turning around, the clone threw him into a building.

As he had his back turned, a small blue sphere exploded against the back of his head. As he turned around, he saw Luna in the sky high above him. He was admittedly surprised at how tenacious the Alicorn was, despite the situation.

But his shock was quickly replaced by anger as he took off to the air to intercept her. Just as he was half-way towards the blue princess, a small Terra Destroyer attack flew past. Narrowly missing his right shoulder. After looking down to see BlackWarGreymon on the ground, ChaosBlackWarGreymon quickly flew down to fight him. But as he got closer, he was once again struck by a blue orb. He turned around to make the attacking Alicorn pay, but was once again distracted when a red orb struck him in the back. The rhythm went on for several moments.

The tactic what BlackWarGreymon and Luna were doing was by constantly making ChaosBlackWarGreymon move, his constant momentum would wear him down and be left vulnerable to attack.

At first it seemed to be working. But after an enraged yell, ChaosBlackWarGreymon ignored Luna completely even after being hit by her attack. He dived down and continued his fight with BlackWarGreymon.

As the two duelled with punches at one another, the right foot of the clone’s leg glowed green as he kicked his foe in the chest. The energized attack sent him flying. But as ChaosBlackWarGreymon was about to chuckle in some sort of victory, Luna came diving down yelling with all four of her hooves glowing blue. Throwing her first punch, the Alicorn slammed her left energized hoof onto the top of the Digimon’s head.

The surprise attack not only surprised him, it hurt him.

As he stumbled from the slight ringing in his head, he failed to notice Luna landing in front of him as she threw her energized rear legs at him. Kicking him straight to the stomach. The clone gagged briefly before stumbling back. Turning around, the blue princess hovered in the air as she threw energized punches left and right at the Digimon’s face.

The group on the side-lines were amazed and impressed that Luna knew such effective spells. Most of them rarely seen her in action.

Sensing that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was slowly recovering, Luna quickly flew back and out of his reach. Glaring angrily at the Alicorn for inflicting pain on him, he attempted to fly to catch her. But as soon as he left the ground, BlackWarGreymon appeared and grabbed the clone’s right leg. Then as he spun around in circles, he smashed the back of the evil Digimon’s head into every crystal structure that was around him.

After his tenth spin, BlackWarGreymon hurtled ChaosBlackWarGreymon through the air and towards the awaiting Luna. In which with a lot of effort, used her levitation spell to spin the Digimon around her and then threw him into an empty crystal building.

After landing beside her, BlackWarGreymon and Luna charged up their attacks. The Alicorn fired a large blue beam of destructive magic while the Digimon fired several bursts of his War Blaster attack.

As the two attacks flew into the hole where ChaosBlackWarGreymon was, they exploded on impact inside. The building destroyed as it was engulfed in blue and green light.

As the shockwave from the blast travelled through the ground beneath the onlooking group, the ponies and dragon struggled to stand. All the while amazed at how well BlackWarGreymon and Luna worked together. The way they fought alongside one another was astonishing.

As the two watched the light of the explosion fading away, the Alicorn and the Digimon looked at each other. Determination written on their faces.

“Are you ready, Luna?”

“Let’s finish this together.”

As if in sync with one another, the two took to the air. As he emerged from the rubble, ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused as he saw the two rising heroes. Their bodies glowing in blue and red as they readied themselves. On the side-lines, Twilight and her friends watched on in anticipation. Noticing orbs of energy forming on the tip of Luna’s horn and in-between BlackWarGreymon’s claws.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!” The black armoured Mega said as he raised his arms over his head. The small orb reaching fifty feet in diameter.

At the same time, when Luna reared her head back, she not only finally formed a perfect energy orb, but the orb itself drastically increased beyond any she made before. Measuring twenty feet in diameter, it was an impressive feat for a pony.

With the two attacks primed and ready, the two holders threw them down towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon below. The evil Digimon was about to move out of the way, but something happened which caused him to freeze.

As the two spheres flew towards him, Luna’s smaller blue sphere and BlackWarGreymon’s larger red sphere seemed to be merging together. As the two cores fused together, the two attacks combined to form a single large reddish-purple orb. With blue beams of light shining out from its surface.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon only had enough time to cross his arms for protection as the fused attack struck him. The burning power of the explosion caused the evil Mega to scream in pain and anguish.

Everyone in the area had to shield their eyes from the red and blue blast that shook the ground like earthquake. Almost blinding by its intense light.

‘Song end’

As the explosion slowly died down, BlackWarGreymon and Luna landed back on the ground. Both exhausted from their battle. It was the longest BlackWarGreymon had ever fought in, and for Luna it was definitely the toughest.

As they tried to catch their breath, they could hear cheering in the distance. Turning around, they saw the Mane Six, Spike the royal couple and Flash Sentry calling out to them in praise.

“Seems we finally did it,” Luna said to BlackWarGreymon. Giving him a warm smile.

The Digimon responded with a chuckle and a soft expression in his eyes.

As Twilight and her friends were about to rush over to them, they saw something moving in the rubble of the smouldering crater.

Alarm rang through the group when they realized who it was under the debris.

“Luna! BlackWarGreymon! Behind you!!” Princess Cadence called out.

Alarmed by the pink Alicorn’s warning, BlackWarGreymon and Luna quickly turned towards the crater. In time to see ChaosBlackWarGreymon climbing out of the rubble, pushing aside a crystal column out of his way.

As he stood in front of the rubble, the damage caused was evident. His body was in a complete state and parts of his armour were missing. Both his gauntlets were cracked, and he even had his own oil leaking and spurting out of his body. As he trembled in pain, the expression in his eyes were of pure hate. Grunting angrily as he became furious of what happened to him.

It wasn’t just the sight of his condition. What unnerved BlackWarGreymon and Luna was the fact that he survived the blast.

As it seemed he was glaring at both of the heroes, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was in fact staring at one of them. But not BlackWarGreymon!

He knew that if it wasn’t for Luna’s intervention, the fight would’ve played more in his favour. Also the fight would’ve been longer and in his part enjoyable. The fact that the blue Alicorn ruined his fight was getting the better of him. He wanted her to be out of his way… permanently.

Raising his right Dramon Destroyer at her, his middle claw glowed green as he used a lethal spell.

“Die.”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in horror, realising that it was aimed at Luna. Then within a second, a single green beam was fired.

Before the Alicorn could react, time seemed to have slowed down when BlackWarGreymon rushed aside and stood in front of her. Taking the hit to the side of his chest.

The Digimon briefly yelled in pain as the beam burned through his damaged armour. Leaving a black burnt patch where his skin was.

When it dawned on Luna of what just happened, she gasped in concern before seeing her friend collapse on one knee. Grunting in pain.

“No! BlackWarGreymon!” Luna cried out as she rushed to his side. Resting her hoof on him to comfort him.

Though she was deeply concerned for the Mega, she was once again amazed that he kept throwing himself in harms way to protect her. Even if it would hurt him instead.

Twilight and her friends grew ever worried for BlackWarGreymon. Afraid that he was pushing himself too much.

Then the sounds of heavy foot steps caught Luna’s attention. Looking at its source, she saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon taking a few staggering steps towards her. Glaring at her all the while with hatred.

As he stopped ten feet away from her and BlackWarGreymon, he growled in anger as he decided to end it once and for all.

“This is where you die.”

His body began to glow green as he charged up with destructive magic. Adding in a pinch of his negative energy.

As Luna began to feel fear overwhelm her, she felt BlackWarGreymon slowly rising up. His yellow eyes snapped open with determination.

With his energy reaching higher, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stretched his arms out as he released it all.

“AWAY WITH YOU!!!” He screamed as a massive pulse of green energy was released from his body. Both engulfing and disintegrating everything around him.

Luckily the group were outside its range. But to their horror, BlackWarGreymon and Luna were.

As the explosion faded, smoke filled the air while crystal shards rained down everywhere. The group felt a sharp pain in their hearts, thinking that their two friends had perished.

In the heart of it all, ChaosBlackWarGreymon huffed and puffed as he tried to get his breath back. Feeling deep satisfaction.

“That…should do it.”

He started to chuckle in delight. But as the smoke started to clear in front of him, he saw a faint blue glimmer.

“Huh?”

He then received a great shock. As the smoke faded, both BlackWarGreymon and Luna survived unscaved! With the Digimon’s Brave Shield and the Alicorn’s magical forcefield, they combined to form a powerful barrier.

As the blue dome faded away, BlackWarGreymon placed his shield back on his back. Then the two glared back at the clone defiantly.

The group, mostly Twilight, were impressed at how they withstood the blast. By using his shield, BlackWarGreymon was able to block the worst of the attack that was aimed directly at them. And Luna’s forcefield was used to both reinforce the shield and provide protection on the rest of the sides where the blast was less dangerous.

As he stared in disbelief, ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted in frustration and anger. With all six of his claws glowing bright, he pointed them at the two heroes with only one goal.

“DIE!!!”

Within a blink of an eye, a massive volley of energy blasts was fired randomly from the clawed blades like machine guns. All bearing down on BlackWarGreymon and Luna. Of which the two quickly leapt out of the way.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon continued firing his endless magic attacks. And both BlackWarGreymon and Luna kept dodging out of the way. But while the Artificial Digimon could take the hits with little problem, he knew Luna wouldn’t.

Glancing to his left, he could clearly see his Alicorn friend struggling to evade the green blasts.

“She can’t keep this up for long! I have to do something!”

As he looked down at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s out-stretched arms, he realised there was something he could do. But it would cause his clone the kind of pain he never felt before.

But it had to be done.

By landing quickly on the ground, BlackWarGreymon gained ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s attention. Causing him to point both his claws at him and fire. As he did, the black armoured warrior charged through with his right shoulder in front. Storming through the hellfire of green blasts with little effort.

The clone kept on firing as he shouted.

“Die! Die!! Why won’t you…!”

He paused his sentence when BlackWarGreymon came in very close. Within mere seconds, he raised ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s left gauntlet up with his right arm. And used his left claws to gain a firm lock on the clones’ right.

Then in one swift motion of his raised right gauntlet, using ultra hard force, he slammed his armoured arm straight onto the clone’s unprotected upper arm!

The blow caused ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s attacks to stop as his motions froze. Time itself froze for him as immeasurable pained flowed through his arm.

In fact, the pain was so severe, he hardly made a sound.

As the whole world went quiet, Luna, Twilight and the others watched the two Megas in confusion. The only thing that was unsettling was the evil Digimon’s eyes. They were incredibly wide and his pupils were extremely tiny.

One thing was certain, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was in tremendous pain. But they wondered what had BlackWarGreymon done to him?

To their discomfort, the damage was revealed. The moment BlackWarGreymon released his hold… ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s right arm dropped down. Lifeless as it became limp.

“Did he…broke his arm?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight’s ear. But the young Alicorn didn’t respond. Everyone silently gawked at the unbelievable sight. Spike meanwhile fainted in shock.

BlackWarGreymon took a few steps back, giving room for his clone. ChaosBlackWarGreymon felt his whole body trembling in shock as he grabbed his upper right arm with his left hand. Then after taking several staggering steps, he collapsed on his knees.

Unable to contain his pain anymore, the trembling clone cried out in anguish.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!!!!!”

As he continued to wail uncontrollably, he felt as if the pain suddenly got a lot worse after every breath. Causing him to yell and scream even more.

As everyone watched on in stunned silence, Twilight Sparkle saw something… different about ChaosBlackWarGreymon. A side of him she never thought he had. His crimson eyes, she could see them watering.

For a moment, the Princess of Friendship actually felt bad for ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He was crying. His eyes genuinely had real tears.

BlackWarGreymon then slowly levitated to the air, believing that his clone would attack soon. Despite his injury.

After he finished screaming, ChaosBlackWarGreymon breathed heavily as he tried to fight his pain and his feelings. His pain filled expression became mixed with rage as he slowly glanced up at the one who hurt him so.

“If you think breaking my arm is enough to defeat me,” He growled.

After he got back on his feet, with his broken arm dangling freely, he took off in the air to attack BlackWarGreymon. Surprising the pony group that even in his state, he continued to fight on.

“I’ll show you how wrong you really…!!”

His sentence was paused when he felt his legs froze in place. Looking down, he saw both his legs caught in Luna’s magical grip.

“What the…!?”

He was immediately interrupted when he heard Luna yelling as she appeared in front of him. After seeing the surprise look on his face, the Alicorn threw a magically charged punch directly at his left eye.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon yelled as he backed off. Covering his injured eye with his left hand.

“AHH!! MY EYE!! Why the ey…!!

He was again interrupted when BlackWarGreymon came in and repeatedly punched him in the face. Already feeling agonizing pain in his body, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was unable to defend himself.

The black armoured Digimon then sent his clone towards the ground with a blow on the top of his head. Then before his rival could hit the ground, BlackWarGreymon landed on the ground first. And then slammed his foot into the unprepared Digimon’s chest. The evil Mega was sent screaming into a crystal building. Crashing through the wall.

As BlackWarGreymon stood tall, Princess Luna landed by his side. And along with the group, the two waited patiently. Wondering what would happen next.

At first everything was quiet. But then the sounds of heavy footsteps and shattering crystals echoed through the air. Then, despite all the beatings he took, ChaosBlackWarGreymon emerged from the building. At first, it seemed he was preparing to fight on. But all of the sudden, his legs gave way from exhaustion. Resting on his knees, supported by his only working arm, he grunted in anger and frustration. Almost as if he was sad.

“No. It…can’t end like this. This can’t be real. I was created to destroy. Not being beaten! This is not the way… it ends! Damn it!!” He shouted as he punched the crystal ground. Making a fairly large crater.

Knowing that the fight had reached its conclusion, BlackWarGreymon spoke to his beaten rival.

“Just give up. This fight is becoming pointless. Your strength is gone. Your power is depleted. And your body is damaged. You can’t defeat me.”

“It would be wise to oblige,” Luna added, giving stern looks at the evil Mega.

But just as it seemed that the heroes had won, to their confusion, ChaosBlackWarGreymon started to chuckle. Slowly becoming louder by the second.

As he raised his head to look at his foes, he managed to speak up as he slowly rose to his feet.

“You think you have won? You’ve won nothing today.”

The clone then said something truly surprising.

“Just wait until the boss hears about this. Then you will be sorry.”

Time seemed to have frozen for the ponies. There was another who ChaosBlackWarGreymon served? But who? It couldn’t be Tirek because he was in Tartarus. It couldn’t be Discord because he was reformed. They hardly would believe that it was Queen Chrysalis. And if it was only King Sombra, then the evil Digimon wouldn’t had killed him in the first place.

If it wasn’t the four major villains that lived in Equestrian lands, could there be a fifth? Or was everything the Digimon said was a lie.

Either way, the group didn’t like it one bit. Luna meanwhile was curious.

“Wait. You mean you serve someone other than Sombra?”

“Yes. And if you all had difficulty beating me, then you all won’t stand a chance. I’m merely a love tap compared to him.”

The ponies and dragon became afraid. ChaosBlackWarGreymon claimed that his ‘boss’ was even stronger than him. BlackWarGreymon however was unfazed.

“It matters not who your so-called master is. Because whatever he may be, he won’t hear a word of this fight.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean? You plan on imprisoning me?” The clone asked in curiosity. But the answer he received was the kind he didn’t expect.

“No. I’m going to destroy you.”

Everyone looked at BlackWarGreymon in shock. Wondering if he wasn’t serious about taking the life of his own clone. Especially since the way he said it, it sounded that he would do it in cold blood. But few of them, ChaosBlackWarGreymon included, could tell he was serious by the look in his eyes. He was determined in his own words. So determined, it was scary.

“You don’t really mean that, do you?” The clone asked, trying to see if it was all a ploy just to frighten him. But by the sound of his voice, it worked in a way.

Then BlackWarGreymon explained his reasons. Hoping that his friends too would understand.

“I do. You’re a part of me that I hoped to forget. A part of me that should never exist in Equestria. You’re my dark incarnation. The version of me of what would happen if I embraced my evil ways. If not, you’re more evil then I ever was.”

He then summed up his conclusion.

“All of Equestria would be in danger if I let you live.”

Everyone around the two Digimon finally understood. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the embodiment of all of BlackWarGreymon’s rage and anger. Hate and malice. If their digital saviour wasn’t around, not a soul in Equestria could survive the cataclysm that the evil Digimon could bring. Not even the Alicorns. Not even Discord himself.

BlackWarGreymon spoke sense. Even if they didn’t like the sound of it, it was probably for the good of Equestria.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon must die.

Realising the truth in BlackWarGreymon’s words, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at his counterpart in disbelief. Trembling in the thought of his demise.

But aside from his fear of death, rage was burning through his body and mind. Blocking out all sense of remorse and reason. Just like his rival, the clone was defiant to the end.

His red eyes shifted to pure anger for his foes and frustration of the truth. He wanted nothing more then to erase his enemies from existence.

As he spoke, half way through his sentence he leapt into the air. Gaining distance from the ground below.

“No. No! NO! NO!! NO!!!”

The group below were surprised by the evil Mega’s defiance to accept his fate. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached to a good height, he raised his left working arm high in the air. And by combining what was left of his magic with what was left of his negative energy, from the tips of his claws he formed a glowing green sphere. Slowly growing larger as the clone channelled every last drop of power he had into his final last desperation attack. The sphere itself resembling a burning green sun.

“I WON’T ACCEPT THIS!!! I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS!!! I AM CHAOSBLACKWARGREYMON!!! I WILL NOT DIE!!! I CAN NOT DIE!!! NOT HERE!!! NOT NOW!!! NOT EVER!!!”

While BlackWarGreymon was startled by the size of the attack, reaching near one hundred feet in diameter, the rest of the group took steps back in fear. The clone was about to unleash his might upon them.

Then the moment of truth happened. ChaosBlackWarGreymon reared his arm back, preparing to throw.

“The one who dies here… IS YOU!!!”

Throwing his arm down, the evil Digimon sent the giant green sphere down towards the group below. While the group ran for their lives, BlackWarGreymon stood his ground. Bravely staring at the oncoming attack in defiance and determination.

Looking back, the ponies and dragon watched on in horror as the giant burning orb seemed to have slammed into their digital friend. Then slowly pressing itself into the crystal ground.

“BlackWarGreymon!!” They called out as the giant sphere pressed further into the ground. ChaosBlackWarGreymon however was laughing hysterically. Believing that he had won.

“Heha. Haha! Hahaha!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Just as the group were about to grieve over the apparent loss of their beloved friend, the whole ground began to quake unexpectedly. Then all of the sudden, the green orb seemed to be retreating. As if it was being pushed up.

“What!?” The mares asked, joined by ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Who stopped laughing as he sensed the change.

“What!!?”

Slowly the giant green orb rose out of its newly formed crater. Then amazingly, a bright red glow formed beneath it.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in horror as he realised what had just happened.

“NO!!! IMPOSSIBLE!!!”

As the sphere continued to rise off the ground, BlackWarGreymon was revealed to be the cause. Unexpectedly transformed into his Ascended form, he had the strength to lift the giant orb effortlessly and walked out of the crater.

All his friends gasped in astonishment and joy from the sight of him being strong once more and having survived such an attack.

“Y-You’re ok! You’re ok!!” Twilight called out in relief. The others could be heard cheering.

In the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stared on in horror. Gawking at the sight of his desperation attack being held in the grip of his foe. He was too in shock to speak or move.

Back on the ground, the Ascended BlackWarGreymon could see the fear in the eyes of his clone. With the attack firmly in place, the glowing Mega finally had the opportunity to end the battle once and for all.

“Is this attack yours, ChaosBlackWarGreymon!?” He spoke out for all to hear.

While his choice of words may sound confusing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon understood the meaning. He flinched in response. Then pointed his working arm at BlackWarGreymon in protest.

“No! You wouldn’t! You wouldn’t dare!! You don’t have the nerve!!”

The way the evil Digimon shouted caught the attention of the citizens of the Crystal Empire. With the feeling that the end of the fight was near its end, the crystal ponies came out of hiding in curiosity. Those in the area turned towards the scene of battle. Though surprised to see a giant glowing orb of mass destruction, they could tell that it was held by the one that was dubbed ‘the saviour’. With the evil clone shouting in the air.

As moments ticked by, Twilight and all her friends too understood what BlackWarGreymon said. Wondering if he would go through with it.

But when it seemed that it wouldn’t happen however, BlackWarGreymon shouted back.

“HERE!!! LET ME GIVE IT BACK TO YOU!!!”

To the surprise of the whole empire, the ascended Digimon threw his clone’s own attack back at him!

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s crimson eyes widened in surprise and pure horror from the sight of his own attack hurtling back towards him. With no magic, he couldn’t teleport away. With his power gone, he couldn’t block, counter or deflect it. With his body drained of energy, he couldn’t even move out of the way.

As the giant fiery green sphere drew ever closer to him, all ChaosBlackWarGreymon could do was shout out in fear and defiance.

“NonononoNONONONONONO...YYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!!!”

The great creation of evil screamed as his body became consumed in fiery light. Then silencing him.

What followed next was a colossal explosion that lit up the sky like a second sun. Blasts of air blew through the whole empire as most of the citizens hide for cover. BlackWarGreymon and his friends watched the blast in fascination.

As the bright green light faded into black smoke, fragments of grey Chrome Digizoid rained down from the sky above. With an unusually large piece crashing into a frozen lake on the outskirts of the empire.

BlackWarGreymon briefly chuckled as the last patch of smoke faded away. Victory. It seemed the living relic of his past, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, was finally destroyed.

“You…you did it!! You’ve won!!” Twilight cheered as all her friends joined in the celebration.

Just as BlackWarGreymon was about to respond, he immediately dropped out of his Ascended form the second he felt fatigue kicking in. With his body completely drained of energy, the tall Mega fell forward. Collapsing on the hard ground as he lost consciousness.

Gasping at the sight, Luna was first of the group to rush to his side in concern.

“BlackWarGreymon!! BlackWarGreymon, can you hear me!? Please say something!!”

But the Digimon merely responded with a quiet grunt of pain. His closed eyes could be seen squinting from the strain in his body.

As the blue Alicorn stared at the battered Digimon in sadness, a small cracking sound caught her attention. The moment she turned towards the source of the sound, she gasped at the sight of the large crack on his chest growing bigger. Even with him facing down, she could clearly see it from the side. It then grew slightly larger before her very eyes.

“Oh no, please hang on!!”

Luna then turned towards the rest of the group, all worried and wondering what was going on.

“He needs medical attention, quickly!!” Luna demanded, earning looks of surprise and horror from all her friends.

“Quick, let’s get him to the hospital!” Shining Armor said as he and the rest approached BlackWarGreymon’s side in concern.

“Right!” They all responded. Determined to help their friend.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire, over to where an object crashed through a frozen lake, its icy waters started to vent steam. As if something hot was brewing in the watery depths. As the ice around the lake started to melt at an alarming rate, the water started to boil and bubble.

Then all of a sudden, something burst out of the lake and shot straight through the air. Screaming in pain and burning rage.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!!!”

Back at the empire, all of BlackWarGreymon’s friends heard the screaming and quickly looked at the sky above. Then a horrible realisation dawned upon them.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was still alive!

At first the group thought that he would return to them for vengeance, but it seemed he had enough. Completely ignoring them, with pain and frustration in his long scream, he shot high over the empire and sped off in the distant horizon.

As the clone’s form disappeared over the snowy landscape, his screams became quieter. Until they were heard no more.

The group silently stared in the direction where the evil Digimon headed. Wondering where he was going.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Miles away from the Crystal Empire, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stopped screaming as he landed on top of a snowy hill. Breathing heavily, his entire body felt like he’d just been to hell and back.

Grunting angrily, he turned around back to the direction of the Crystal Empire. After grunting in hate, he shouted in rage. His voice echoing for miles.

“MARK MY WORDS, BLACKWARGREYMON!!! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!! YOU AND ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!!! I SWEAR IT!!!”

Chapter 44: Aftermath

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Peace was ensured at the Crystal Empire, and all the crystal ponies could finally sigh in relief.

The epic battle between BlackWarGreymon, and his dark counterpart ChaosBlackWarGreymon, was finally over.

While a few called the climax a tie, due to the fact that the evil Digimon survived and fled, most called it a victory. BlackWarGreymon had successfully protected the lives of the empire from the forces of darkness.

But the long battle took a massive tow on the Artificial Digimon. Deprived of necessary energy, he collapsed from exhaustion. Fearing for his wellbeing, all his friends took the unconscious Mega to a hospital to help him recover. After reaching the hospital, the doctors and nurses quickly prepared a room for the saviour. Resorting to push two beds together to form one large one for him to lie on.

Over an hour had passed since the end of the battle, and there was no change to BlackWarGreymon. But his friends understood that once rested, his body would heal itself in time. All they could do was make him comfortable and be patient.

There wasn’t a lot of room in the private ward where BlackWarGreymon was resting. So it was agreed that Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike should wait in the waiting room. While Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor remained by the Digimon’s side.

To their relief, it was revealed that BlackWarGreymon was showing signs of recovery. Most of the scratches and dents on his Chrome Digizoid armour had somehow managed to repair themselves. Along with the bruises and cuts on his skin. The deep cuts in his armour slowly became smaller. Some to a point where it looked as though the ponies couldn’t see them.

Though relieved that his body stopped leaking bodily oil, the injury that concerned the ponies the most was the massive crack across BlackWarGreymon’s chest. Because it was there where he received the most damage, the wound was deep. But within the hour, the crack was slowly closing as his body healed.

Despite the slowly improving changes, the group remained deeply concerned.

“How is he doctor?” Cadence asked the crystal pony who was also in the room.

But to an intelligent mind such as his, he found BlackWarGreymon remarkable. Acting more of a scientist then a doctor. As his mind was distracted from the question, he was carefully inspecting the Digimon’s cracked chest while speaking to himself.

“Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. This crack is smaller then it was when he came in. It’s as if his armour has self-regeneration properties.”

While Twilight would equally be fascinated, the wellbeing of her injured friend was far more important.

“Umm…doc?” She asked to gain his attention.

But the stallion was too excited to notice her call. Moving over to a nearby desk, he looked through a microscope. Examining a sample of BlackWarGreymon’s hair.

“Even his hair is different from anything I’ve ever seen. It looks like normal hair, but its structure is all new to me. it’s as if his entire body is completely artificial.”

“DOCTOR!” Luna shouted in annoyance. Surprising the crystal pony as he turned his attention to the royals.

“Oh! Forgive me your majesties! I was a little caught up on the patient,” He said as he gave an innocent smile.

“Yeah, we noticed,” Shining Armor responded.

“We’re asking you if BlackWarGreymon is going to be alright?” Cadence said. Reminding the doctor about the question in mind.

The response the medic gave was a positive one.

“Oh yes he is. Amazingly in fact! Even without medical help, his body seems to be healing nicely on its own. He’s just exhausted from all that fighting. Just give him some time to rest and he’ll be just fine.”

“Thank you for your help,” Cadence said as the doctor took his leave.

“Thank goodness for that. I hate to imagine if it was something worse,” Twilight said as she and the others looked over at BlackWarGreymon’s form.

They could hear the Digimon breathing. By the sound of it, he wasn’t in any sort of pain. Thankfully the worst had passed for the battle-hardened Mega.

After moments of silence passed, the pink Alicorn spoke up.

“We should leave now. Give him some time to rest.”

“Ok Cadence,” Twilight responded.

“Yeah, the big guy’s been through a lot,” Shining Armor added.

As Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor turned to leave, Luna remained still. Her gaze not leaving her worn out friend. Though it seemed best that BlackWarGreymon should be left alone, she didn’t have the heart to leave him. Especially after everything he had been through.

As Twilight and her brother left the room, Cadence noticed that the Moon Princess hadn’t moved. Surprised at how reluctant she was to leave.

“Luna?” She asked to gain her attention.

When the blue Alicorn turned to face her, Cadence was mentally stunned at the expression Luna had. She looked so concerned, her eyes full of sadness and remorse. It was unlike anything the pink Alicorn had ever seen on Luna. So rare that it was unlike the normal Luna.

It was almost like… ever since BlackWarGreymon entered her life, Luna was a completely different pony.

Then the blue princess spoke up. Her voice matching her expression.

“Sorry Cadence. Even if he is recovering, I can’t leave him like this. I’ll…stay here and keep him company.”

Halfway through her speech, Luna’s vision drifted back to the sleeping Digimon.

Cadence was speechless. Even through she knew Luna had feelings for BlackWarGreymon, she had no idea how strong those feelings were. The Alicorn was so dedicated. Protective even over the Mega. It was as if Luna would give up even her royalty to be by his side.

Plus she had seen first-hoof the times when BlackWarGreymon himself stepped in harms way when Luna’s life was in danger. Could it all be an act of friendship? Or was there much more to his actions than meets the eye.

Either way, it seemed that the bond the two shared for one another was unbreakable.

Cadence gave Luna a warm smile before she spoke.

“You know, if Shining Armor was in BlackWarGreymon’s position, I would’ve said those exact words too.”

Luna was slightly startled when she turned back around, only to see the younger Alicorn giving her a playful wink before leaving the room.

The blue princess paused in thought, noting that there was a hint hidden in the words Cadence spoke. Hinting that what Luna felt for BlackWarGreymon, wasn’t just a typical high school crush. No, it was something deeper.

With thoughts of countless possibilities flowing through her mind, Luna quietly walked up to the resting Digimon. Watching BlackWarGreymon sleep peacefully.

Luna couldn’t deny it, her feelings for him were incredibly strong. But she couldn’t help but wonder what BlackWarGreymon thought of her. She remembered the clash with ChaosBlackWarGreymon. When she entered the fray, her friend was always there to watch out for her. He even threw himself in line of fire to save her. Protecting her from attacks that could’ve ended her very life. Though he knew it would’ve caused him pain, he did it anyway. But the moment the Alicorn remembered the most, was when BlackWarGreymon took a powerful attack to the chest to protect her. It was the same attack that caused the massive crack. But it was also the same attack that sparked BlackWarGreymon into achieving his Ascended form. And as his body charged up with Equestria’s magic, Luna could never forget his words.

"You…almost killed…my friend!"

Though what BlackWarGreymon said later referenced all of his friends, but the whole centre of attention was aimed at Luna. She sensed it in his voice. She felt it in his energy. She knew in her heart that the Digimon would’ve done anything in his power to protect her life.

Speaking of her heart, Luna could feel it pounding as she continued to think about how protective BlackWarGreymon was towards her. She even gave the unconscious Mega a heart-warming smile as she sat on a chair beside him.

Determined to support him in anyway she could, the blue princess gently placed her left hoof on his arm. Reminding him that she was by his side no matter what.

‘Why didn’t I realise? Cadence was right. My feelings for him are pure. I wonder…if he feels the same way…for me.'
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Unknown location, mountain tops

Far away from the Crystal Empire, a pair of Changeling solders were on guard duty.

Though the lair of the evil Digimon was perfectly hidden, it did possess caves that act as access points. Very few knew of the whereabouts of the caves. But those who happened to discover them were never heard of again. Though confident that his lair could not be so easily found, the Digimon decided to make use of Queen Chrysalis’s children by having them patrolling the caves’ perimeters.

On top of a mountain, the pair of Changelings were looking around to spot anything suspicious. Although the mountain itself wasn’t covered in snow, cold winds were being blown from the Frozen North. Sending chills through the spines of the two occupancies.

“Brrr, it’s cold! Why would anypony try to sneak in the lair through out here?”

“You may never know what might be out here. It could be something dangerous.”

Just as the Changeling finished his sentence, a slow movement in the dense clouds caught his vision. Snapping his head towards its direction, he quickly alerted the other Changeling.

“Something’s here!”

“What?”

“Get ready.”

The two paused with their horns pointing in the same direction, preparing to fight. As they continued to stare silently, they could hear something big landing in front of them in the fog, and then slowly walking towards them.

As the Changelings started to get nervous, one of them called out.

“Hay! Who’s there!?”

The response they received not only caught them by surprise, but the tone used was definitely not a happy one.

“Who do you think!”

The Changelings recomposed themselves as they recognized the voice. As they watched on, the footsteps became louder as seconds went by. Then to their amazement through the fog, the being revealed to be ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself.

“What the…? What happened to you!?” One Changeling asked. Noting the amount of damage on the Digimon’s body.

Though the area was cloudy, the two changelings could see the condition of the digital clone. His walking was more like limping, with one of his feet mostly being dragged. His skin was certainly cut, burned and bruised. His grey Brave Shield was melted of its lower half. His Dramon Destroyers were heavily cracked. His Chrome Digizoid body was gashed, dented, and had several pieces missing. Plus his left eye was all bruised up. But what shocked the Changelings the most, was how he was holding his right arm. Suggesting that it was broken.

As the grey armoured Digimon staggered towards the Changelings, he paused to glare at the two in annoyance before speaking.

“Well, what are you waiting for!?”

Not wanting to get on ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s bad side, the two alarmed Changelings immediately sped off towards the entrance of the lair. A massive drop which lead to a large hole in the mountain. They then flew deeper into the cave to find their queen or their master.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Deep within the lair, Queen Chrysalis was once again complementing the evil Digimon for his recent actions.

“I still couldn’t believe you were able to create life! That’s… actually amazing. Even from you.”

The dark being looked at his claws in pride as he chuckled.

“Yes, isn’t it. You could say that it was a gift that was… given to me.”

Before their conversation could continue, the two Changelings arrived. Gaining their attention.

“My queen! Master!”

“Yes, what is it?” The evil being asked.

“It’s your creation! He has returned!”

Queen Chrysalis gave her two sons a confused look.

“Why is this such an alarm?”

Then one of the solders gave the bad news.

“Because he’s badly wounded!”

Though the Changeling Queen was surprised, the evil Digimon was startled.

“What!? Take me to him!!”

The two solders flew back towards where they came with their mother and their master following close behind. Unable to fly, the ground shook hard as the huge Digimon ran.

But as soon as the four reached the bottom of the large drop, sounds of impacts caught their hearing. Looking up, they saw the battered ChaosBlackWarGreymon dropping through the cavern. Smacking and smashing against several ledges as he fell. One time almost swore as he shouted, ‘Son of a…’.

The reason was because of the lack of energy, the clone simply dropped through the hole like a ragdoll. And as he fell, the surrounding Changelings squinted their eyes in discomfort. Finding his fall painful to watch.

Then with an echoing thud, the beaten Mega crashed into the ground hard. Throwing up a cloud of dust.

As the dust settled, all eyes stared at the wounded Digimon as he twinged in pain. Barely awake, ChaosBlackWarGreymon saw the looks of surprise and concern from the Changelings. And then the look of mild disbelief from his true creator.

“S-sorry boss. I… tried.” The clone uttered before he fell unconscious. His vision going black.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Back at the Crystal Empire hospital, time went on for a while since BlackWarGreymon was taken in. During his rest, much of his body had been healed. The only damage on his body that were visible were a few scratches and dents in his armour. Plus, the crack on his chest had reduced considerably. Again, impressing the doctors and nurses with his healing ability.

But just as his mind raced with thoughts, an image of his dark counterpart appeared from out of nowhere. With his claws, he slashed towards him.

Then as the image of the claws neared his vision, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes snapped open to reality as he gasped for breath. At first, his eyes were wide with shock. But as he stared at the crystal ceiling, he calmed down. Realising it was all in his mind.

After sighing in relief, he calmly closed his eyes as his head rested further into his oversized pillow.

“Good. It was all just a dream.”

As everything went quiet, he felt as if someone else was in the room with him. Turning his head to his left, he was surprised to see Princess Luna beside him.

With herself exhausted from the ordeal, as she sat on the chair, her upper body was resting on top of a nearby desk. Apparently asleep.

BlackWarGreymon silently stared at the sleeping Alicorn in amazement. Although he had no idea how long he was out, he was in awe that out of all his friends, it was Luna who remained by his side. The pony who he had grown so close to.

‘Wow. She looks so peaceful when she’s asleep.’

Although he didn’t want to disturb her slumber, he did want answers.

“Umm…Luna?”

Hearing BlackWarGreymon’s voice caused Luna to shift, due to the fact that she was only half-asleep. Slowly opening her eyes, at first her vision was blurry. Then as her eyes start to adjust, the blur became the Digimon she knew looking at her.

Seeing the Mega awake snapped Luna out of her sleepy state as she quickly rose from the desk.

“BlackWarGreymon! You’re awake!” She said, the feeling of relief and happiness in her voice.

“I am now,” He responded as he moved.

But as he tried to sit up, he felt a sharp pain in his body which caused him to grunt. Which made Luna rush to his bedside in concern.

“No! Lay back. You must rest,” She said as she pressed her hoof on the Digimon’s shoulder. Encouraging him to lay back on the bed. Which he then did.

After releasing a relaxed sigh, BlackWarGreymon looked at Luna with a questionable look.

“Wha…what happened? Where am I?”

“We’re still in the Crystal Empire. After you won the fight, you were exhausted and fell unconscious. You were also in pain, so we took you to this hospital as soon as we could.”

After experiencing a slight headache, BlackWarGreymon asked his next question.

“How long was I out?”

“Hours. I thought you wouldn’t wake up.”

BlackWarGreymon then looked around the room before asking again.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Twilight and the others are all in the waiting rooms.”

Then the next question appeared in the Digimon’s mind.

“Wait, how long have you been sitting here?”

Although a little surprised about the question, Luna spoke out nonetheless.

“Well…the same amount of time you’ve been in here. I never left your side for a second.”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in astonishment. He just couldn’t believe it. He believed that Luna knew very well about his healing factor. And that as long as he was alive, the damage to his body would’ve been repaired. But despite already knowing that knowledge, she chose to stay with him. A sign that she had great commitment to him. He started to feel a warm presence in his heart. He was touched at how caring and devoted Luna was to his wellbeing. He didn’t know why, but the warm feeling, he loved the way it felt.

“You’ve… waited here this long… for me?”

The astonished tone BlackWarGreymon used caused Luna to stutter while a blush appeared on her face. Plus the look in the Digimon’s eyes were a mix of amazed and impressed. The frazzled Alicorn kept trying to avert her eyes away. But BlackWarGreymon’s expression kept drawing her sights in.

“Well…umm…uhh…I was…worried. It was a tough battle we fought today.”

The Digimon’s expression changed to calm as he relaxed on his bed. His voice was also calm. But something he said was out of place.

“But it’s worth it. Now that ChaosBlackWarGreymon is destroyed, we are much closer to peace.”

Luna’s eyes widened as she gulped nervously. Apparently there was something he didn’t know about. Something that he needed to know.

“Well…about that.”

BlackWarGreymon sensed the uncertainty in Luna’s sentence. He looked at her in confusion.

“What is it?”

After a brief hesitation, the princess nervously spoke.

“Umm…you see…”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

At the hospital waiting room, the Mane Six, the royal couple and Spike all waited impatiently. So impatient that Rainbow Dash resorted to fly indoors to waste time. But even her usual hobby was starting to bore her.

“Uhh, it’s been hours! How long are we supposed to wait!?” She moaned. But then quietened by Prince Shining Armor.

“As long as it takes for BlackWarGreymon to recover.”

Not wanting to cause an argument, the Pegasus lowered herself back down to her chair.

“Well I hope he recovers soon. Seeing someone like him in a hospital, it doesn’t feel right at all,” Fluttershy said. Earning concerned looks from her friends.

“We’re all worried, Fluttershy. He just pushed himself… a little too far,” Pinkie Pie mentioned while resting her hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder. Reassuring her with a smile.

Twilight joined in on the conversation.

“That’s right, Pinkie. He reached his Ascended form twice in one fight. The battle was too much for him.”

“Yeah. And it’s awesome how he and Luna teamed up on that evil clone. She even gave him a black eye in the end,” Rainbow Dash said.

The words about the aforementioned princess caught Rarity’s attention.

“Speaking of which, Rainbow. Is Luna still with BlackWarGreymon? I mean, it’s been hours.”

Princess Cadence walked up to the white Unicorn before speaking.

“I checked a while ago. She is still with him.”

Rarity became confused. Other then Twilight and Celestia, Luna knew more about BlackWarGreymon then anypony.

“But surely she would know that he would recover in time. So why is she waiting in there instead of here with us?”

Cadence made a brief chuckle as she smiled playfully.

“Oh, I’m sure she has her reasons.”

Though the others were oblivious, Rarity noticed there was a small hint in what the Alicorn said. And her playful mood was something else. Almost as if she was teasing about something.

Surprisingly, even Twilight didn’t catch on to Cadence’s hint.

“I think it’s rather sweet of her. The first thing that BlackWarGreymon would see when he wakes up is her friendly smile.”

As everyone went quiet. Spike noticed that Applejack looked troubled.

“Hay, what’s the matter Applejack?”

The dragon’s question caught the attention of the others. All listening as the orange mare explained.

“Well…it’s just. We know that the evil guy survived the fight. But… does BlackWarGreymon know too?”

All eyes became wide then they realised the truth.

“No. I don’t think he does! He fell unconscious before ChaosBlackWarGreymon escaped!” Twilight said, her voice alarmed. Not wanting her digital friend to feel stressed. Especially after his big fight.

Spike raised his arm as he asked a question.

“You think we should tell him?”

Before anypony could answer him, they suddenly heard a very familiar voice. It was angry, and slowly became louder with every word.

“Damn it. Damn it! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!! DAMN IT!!!”

“I think he knows,” Rainbow Dash whispered to her friends as all eyes turned to the nearby door. Sounds of heavy footsteps were heard as they got louder and louder.

Thankfully the door was large. Otherwise it would’ve been smashed as BlackWarGreymon marched through the doorway. Surprising everyone around him.

“Woah! BlackWarGreymon calm down!” Twilight said as she and the others backed away. Creating room and not wanting to be in the way of an angry Mega.

Then Luna joined them and ran up to BlackWarGreymon’s side.

“No! You should be resting! You’ve not recovered yet!”

But BlackWarGreymon was too distracted to listen. His mind raced with doubt as he stood in place talking to himself.

“How could I let this happen!? Why didn’t I finish him off when I had the chance!?”

“It’s not your fault, darling. We all thought that brute was destroyed.” Rarity said.

Though BlackWarGreymon slowly became calm, he remained frustrated when he revealed the truth.

“I meant before that! When I first unlocked my Ascended form! That moment, I had the power to end ChaosBlackWarGreymon for good. But I let the power go to my head! And I held back to punish him for what he had done.”

He then looked down in sadness and disgrace.

“I became arrogant. I…I failed you all.”

Everyone felt deeply sorry for BlackWarGreymon. Feeling that he would think that he failed them as their protector. Then Cadence revealed to him that he was wrong.

“You didn’t fail us. If you hadn’t been here, the Crystal Empire would have been destroyed.”

But the Digimon wasn’t fully inspired.

“But as long as he lives, the whole world in in danger.”

Then Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“You’re missing the point, big guy. Yes, you may had gone a little power mad. Heck, I would too. But the fact is you hurt him more than he hurt you.”

“Rainbow’s right. With the amount of damage you’ve done to him, it would take a while for him to recover.” Applejack added.

“Yeah. Saving the empire isn’t too shabby, isn’t it?” Pinkie Pie asked.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to look at the faces of all his friends. They were all positive. Even though the dark incarnation of himself had got away, they were still smiling. Proud for what he had done for them.

The positive attitude from his friends had softened the expression in the Digimon’s eyes. Glad he was forgiven for his error.

“No. I guess it’s not too shabby,” He said, his voice showing slight joy for his friends.

As the group smiled in rejoice, Twilight Sparkle’s expression shifted to deep thought. Which caught everyone’s attention.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“There is still one thing I don’t understand about all of this. How is it that King Sombra could create someone like ChaosBlackWarGreymon?” The Alicorn asked.

Although it was a question to consider, Shining Armor thought it was simple.

“Well we saw how he created those Shadow Ponies. Maybe he did the same for him.”

But BlackWarGreymon dismissed the Unicorn’s theory.

“No. It’s much more complex than that.”

Caught by surprise, all eyes turned to the Digimon in wonder and curiosity.

“You…know something?” Twilight asked him. Eager to know if BlackWarGreymon had discovered something about his clone.

The black armoured Mega explained himself.

“Yes, Sombra did use magic to shape a body that resembled my own. But if it was his power alone, then like the Shadow Ponies, the clone’s body would’ve been very weak and fragile against me. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon was too perfect. He’s like a whole Digimon of his own.”

“What… What are you saying, BlackWarGreymon?” Luna asked. She and the others began to feel worried about the outcome in which the Digimon delivered.

“Yes, I sensed Sombra’s dark magic and my own data within ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But during my fight with him… I sensed something else.”

The group began to feel the cold shiver of fear in their spines. Some gulped from the nerves.

“What… What do you mean ‘something else’?” Twilight asked.

But what BlackWarGreymon said next was unsettling.

“A third energy source. I never encountered anything like it, but it was indeed powerful. And remember what ChaosBlackWarGreymon said? He mentioned he had a ‘boss’.”

The memory of the evil Digimon’s words echoed through the minds of the group.

"Just wait till my boss hears about this." "I’m merely a love tap compared to him."

BlackWarGreymon then finished his speech.

“Whoever or whatever this so called ‘boss’ is, he may very well be responsible… for ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s creation.”

His words sent a second wave of chills through his friends. Just the thought of a monster creating life for evil purposes was something not to think of. Even Celestia would be frightened.

Twilight then mentioned something that was relevant to the subject.

“And if ChaosBlackWarGreymon said was true, then does that mean…there’s something even stronger then him? Living somewhere in Equestria?”

The thought of such thing made Fluttershy whimper in fear as the others felt uncomfortable. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile looked down at his Dramon Destroyers in thought. He may had solved one of the mysteries about him since he came to Equestria.

“Could this be the reason why I had gained an Ascended form? So I would have the strength to fight this mysterious foe?”

His questions caught the attention of the whole group, believing he had a point. Because if it weren’t so, then ChaosBlackWarGreymon would had destroyed him during the fight.

“Nevertheless, I believe my sister needs to be informed of this at once,” Luna said. Of which the others agreed.

“Good idea,” Twilight said.

“You said it,” Applejack added.

Luna then turned her attention back to BlackWarGreymon. Concerned for his wellbeing.

“You sure you’re ok to travel?”

The Digimon looked at the princess with soft eyes.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Then Cadence spoke up.

“Ok. First lets get back to the castle to pick up your things and then we’ll go to the train station.”

“Right!” The Mane Six and Spike said at the same time.

Then the group headed off to the main doors of the hospital. Because he was recovering, BlackWarGreymon’s pace was slower then normal. With concern for the Digimon high on her list, Luna stayed beside him as they walked.

But nothing could prepare BlackWarGreymon for what he saw the moment he and his friends left the hospital building. Because he was primely focused on his fight with ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he hadn’t spared a moment to see the amount of damage that was brought upon the Crystal Empire. Though the empire wasn’t entirely destroyed, the damage was high. Crystal shards from blown up buildings littered the crater-filled roads. And many buildings received large cracks on the once smooth surface. It’s as if the empire had lost its special gleam.

The Digimon paused as he looked at the destruction around him. He was shocked. Speechless. Though he had caused devastation during his time in the Digital World, but not once had he thought of the impact it would have on the place he was protecting and the lives he had saved. Especially since the empire was a place his friends adored.

For the first time in his life, BlackWarGreymon felt guilty for his actions. He may be Equestria’s protector, but his powers remained destructive as ever.

The group stopped when they realised their tall friend came to a halt. As they turned around in confusion, they were surprised to see the look of horror in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes.

They then heard him speak.

“Oh no. I…I did this.”

At first it seemed as though his friends were unable to say anything. They thought that no matter what they said, it wouldn’t alter the Digimon’s trauma. Only Luna knew how he felt. After changing back from Nightmare Moon, she originally believed that she had caused too much damage to ever be forgiven.

And yet, she was forgiven. Could the same be said for BlackWarGreymon.

Fate revealed itself in a form of a stray voice.

“No you didn’t.”

Surprised by the unexpected voice, the group quickly turned towards its source. Knowing the sentence was aimed solely at him, BlackWarGreymon slowly raised his head in the same direction.

Standing in front of the group was a crystal pony stallion. His sparkling fur was ruffled and covered in dust spots. But he was smiling. In fact, proudly at the confused Digimon.

“What?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Both confused and curious.

Then the stallion explained himself.

“It was that monster you were fighting. He was the one who did this. Not you.”

Then all around the group, more crystal ponies appeared. All emerging from shelter and into the open. Like the stallion, they too were smiling.

“We should know. Because we were right here,” A younger stallion spoke out.

“We all saw how bravely you fought on to protect us all,” A mare added, joined by others.

“You gave it everything you got, and you won.”

“Yeah. You defeated that monster, and King Sombra is no more.”

“The fate of our home in spared thanks to you!”

To the amazement of BlackWarGreymon and his friends, it seemed the whole empire surrounded them. Staring at him with happiness and acceptance. Not one of them had any doubts at all.

The Mega level Digimon simply couldn’t understand. The forces of his clash with his clone shook the Crystal Empire to the core. The citizens should had been afraid of him and his power. But they weren’t. They viewed him as the terrific saviour they heard of before his arrival.

“You…forgive me?”

As most of the crystal ponies nodded their heads, a pair of crystal fillies ran up to BlackWarGreymon and greeted him by hugging his feet.

Just like the Digimon himself, all his friends were just as surprised. The citizens of the Crystal Empire had seen the full extent of BlackWarGreymon’s power and even more. And they didn’t mind the damage that he may or may not had done. They were just grateful that he was there to protect them.

“Don’t worry about the damage to our buildings. We can rebuild. And although you may not forgive yourself, remember that we forgive you,” An elder librarian mare spoke out in honest words.

Then one of the stallions in the crowd spoke to all his friends.

“Three cheers for our protector.”

“Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!! HIP HIP, HOORAY!!!” The whole empire cheered.

Then to the amazement to the visitors, the loving feelings from the cheering citizens reflected upon the empire itself. Beneath their feet and hooves, the crystal roads pulsed and glowed in a bright blue light. Traveling to the crystal castle and through the Crystal Heart. The amount of love and light the citizens showed for BlackWarGreymon caused the heart to spin wildly. Creating a powerful flow of rainbow magic to fire out of the centre tower of the castle. Atop of the rainbow beam became separated auras of rainbow light. Spreading across the sky as if they were dancing.

BlackWarGreymon and his friends were in complete awe. Both from the spectacle of the lights and from how the citizens reacted. Even though they had seen what the Digimon was capable of, and the amount of power he possessed, they continued to praise him as their saviour.

All of his friends looked at the stunned Digimon and smiled. They couldn’t be happier and prouder of their otherworldly friend.

BlackWarGreymon’s expression softened greatly from all the love he was receiving. As if he had a smile in his soul. Just like Canterlot and Ponyville, the Crystal Empire had accepted him.

“Thank you. Thank you all.”

As the group continued on their way towards the castle, Cadence looked over her shoulder to eye on BlackWarGreymon. And just as she expected, Luna was right there beside him. In fact, walking a little close to him. She was also smiling at him. And when BlackWarGreymon stared back, the expression in his eyes showed as if he was smiling back.

‘Yes, Luna definitely has feelings for him. But does BlackWarGreymon feel the same way for her? This might be my only chance to find out.'

Chapter 45: Stunning Changes

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Half an hour after the group arrived at the castle, Princess Twilight and her friends all got their things ready and prepared to depart to the train station. Well… almost all of them.

BlackWarGreymon remained in the castle and Spike was too busy hugging and praising the giant crystal statue of himself.

“Thank goodness you’re safe. I thought you were lost forever,” He said to the statue. Much to the confusion and slight discomfort of his pony friends.

“It’s still amazing how your statue is one of the few things in the empire that isn’t damaged,” Rarity said as she eyes the statue.

“Not even a scratch,” Spike said as he caressed the statue with his hands. Feeling the perfectly smooth surface.

Back inside the castle, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were talking amongst themselves as they walked through the hallway towards the main doors.

“Hay Cadence, I’m gonna quickly join Flash Sentry and see how the rest of the guards are holding up. I’ll see you at the train station,” The prince said as he walked towards one of the other doors.

“Ok, be back soon,” The pink Alicorn called out to her husband as he left the hallway.

Just as she walked around the corner of the hallway, Cadence spotted BlackWarGreymon walking towards the main doors. He was also alone.

Her mind raced. The opportunity she waited for had arrived perfectly on time. But not in the hallway, someone might interrupt.

With an idea in motion, Cadence played her cards as she called out to BlackWarGreymon.

“Umm, BlackWarGreymon.”

The sound of the Alicorn’s voice caught BlackWarGreymon’s attention. He stopped and turned around to see Cadence in the hallway.

“Hmm? What is it, Cadence?”

Unexpectedly, the princess felt hesitant on bringing up the subject. If it was any other pony, she would have no problem. But BlackWarGreymon wasn’t. He’s a strong warrior from another world with power that outclasses the mightiest of Alicorns. Speaking to a being like him about something so delicate was quite intimidating. But if she wanted to figure out was going in in the Digimon’s head, she had to be brave.

“Umm… can you come with me for a moment? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Though confused, the Digimon became curious.

“Ok.”

Turning away from the main doors, BlackWarGreymon followed Cadence out of the hallway and into a big round room. Which Pinkie Pie once said that it was known for its roundness.

Sensing that no one else was in the room, BlackWarGreymon questioned Cadence.

“What is it that you want to tell me?”

Once more, the pink Alicorn found it hard to speak. She had to think of what to say carefully. If she went straight to the point, it would only cause more confusion for BlackWarGreymon. She had to find another approach. Of which she soon found.

“BlackWarGreymon, I understand that you were once evil. But since you came to Equestria, you used your powers for good. So tell me. Are you happy with your new life?”

The Mega was baffled by the Alicorn’s words. She also sounded serious, which made him unsure of the motive behind her inquiry.

“What…what do you mean?”

Cadence both repeated the question and reassured him.

“I’m just curious about you, that’s all. So, are you happy here?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t took long to answer.

“Of course I’m happy. Apart from the villains of this world, everyone respects me and likes me. Even after knowing who I was before.”

He continued as he looked out the window. Looking at the happy citizens of the empire.

“All my life, I was searching for the purpose of my existence. My destiny. And by meeting Twilight and all her friends, making friends with them is bringing me closer to my destiny.”

Cadence was in awe at what BlackWarGreymon said. What she first thought was his simple new hobby, turned out to be something that truly had meaning. And he was embracing his decisions all the while.

“Wow. And what about the friendships you’ve made here? How do you feel about your friends from Ponyville?”

Before he answered the question, he briefly thought about the first six friends he made upon his first day in Equestria.

“Even if they were apart, alone they helped me in many ways. Twilight is probably the most accepting friend I’ve ever known. And she helped me gain understanding of Equestria and it’s history. Fluttershy taught me the value of kindness. Which is one of the ways of making more friends. Rainbow Dash is quite competitive. Constantly challenging my flight skills. But I deeply respect the loyalty she has to others. And when I’m bored, Applejack is there to always find a way to keep me busy. Rarity taught me manners and how to properly behave in a formal manner. And Pinkie Pie…she’s just fun to be around.”

“And about my aunt Celestia?” Cadence asked, purposely leaving her second aunt for last.

“Well I can see why Twilight looks up to her a lot. She’s wise and loving, the traits of a perfect ruler and to her subjects,” BlackWarGreymon replied, the compliments about the while Alicorn caused Cadence to smile proudly of her aunt.

Then came the part the pink princess waited for.

“And…what about Luna? What do you think of her?”

“Ahh, Luna…”

Cadence was taken by surprise. BlackWarGreymon’s mood completely changed from informative to relaxed. She could also see the soft expressions in his eyes before he closed them. As if he was glad to talk about Luna.

Despite her surprise, it was the reaction she was hoping for. His change of mood showed that the Digimon held some sort of affection to Luna. It was further proven when he continued.

“Strong, loyal, and brave enough to join in a fight with powerful foes, Luna… is amazing. Not just that even. Although Twilight was the first friend I made here, I feel a special connection with Luna. You would be amazed at how much she and I are alike.”

He then unknowingly spoke out what came to mind.

“You know, you could say that I... uhh…”

His mind froze. For some reason, BlackWarGreymon couldn’t finish his sentence. As if a certain word was missing from his mind.

Cadence could see the uncertainty in his eyes. To help him understand, she finished his sentence.

“Love her?”

BlackWarGreymon’s mind froze again as his eyes slightly widened to attention. Were the two words Cadence spoke of were the ones he tried to figure out to say? But like most other positive emotions, love was one of the few he never really understood. But the way Cadence said it, and the way it fits into his own sentence, he felt as if there was something very unique about what he felt for Luna.

Confused of the meaning of the word love, the confused Digimon looked back at Cadence.

“Well…in a way… I love all my friends.”

The princess felt a sweat drop from the fact that her friend hadn’t caught on her meaning.

“I can understand what you mean by that. But I mean a different kind of love.”

BlackWarGreymon felt baffled.

“Wait… so there’s more than one kind of love?”

Cadence was truly shocked. She had no idea that BlackWarGreymon knew so little about love. While it may had sounded like a ridicules question, the way he said it sounded genuine.

“Wow. Y…you really don’t know, don’t you?”

BlackWarGreymon looked at the ground in thought.

“Well… I don’t really know much about positive emotions,” He admitted.

Cadence could tell that in a way, BlackWarGreymon needed help. He might be experiencing an emotion and not even know it. To help him out, she explained what love is.

“You see, there are many kinds of love in the world. Love for your friends, family and even hobbies. But the kind that I’m talking about is the most precious of all. It’s called true love.”

“True…love?” The Digimon questioned, leaving the Alicorn to explain further.

“Yes. True love is when you know someone whom you deeply care for. Someone who you look up to. Someone who you share a special connection with, and who you would do anything to protect. But most importantly, someone who you want to share your life with. Take me for example. Although I love all my friends and subjects, it was true love that brought me to Shining Armor. I love him from the bottom of my heart. So much that it makes him and I strong.”

After a lone time of confusion, BlackWarGreymon was finally starting to get the idea of what true love was.

“I think I’m starting to understand now. But how do you know when you’re in love? Is there a meaning, or some kind of sign?”

Once more, Cadence explained herself.

“When you experience true love for the first time, it’s just the best feeling in the world. I can still remember the day when I first met Shining Armor. I kept staring into his eyes. I just couldn’t take mine off them. My body felt queasy from the nerves, but in a good way. My heart felt warm and loving as my heartbeat increased beyond my control. I was a little shy around him at first, because at the time I didn’t know what I was going through. But as I spent more time with him, I grew closer to him. and I began to embrace my new feelings for him. Even now, just the thought of him brightens my day.”

During the Alicorn’s explanation, BlackWarGreymon’s mind kicked in with thoughts. The signs that Cadence described, he felt as though he went through the same experience himself.

As he spoke to himself out loud, Cadence remained quiet to listen to him. She had got him right where she wanted him. To see him figuring it out for himself.

“Wait a minute. Staring into eyes. The body feeling queasy. The warm feeling in the heart. The increased heart rate. Being a little shy at times.”

As the Digimon paused in deep thought, Cadence was mentally screaming at him to discover the truth about himself. He then spoke up again.

“Strange. Those feelings you went through… they sound exactly the same as the feelings I felt since I first met…!”

BlackWarGreymon’s entire being froze completely before he mentioned her name. The one he felt special towards. The one who caused him to experience changes and feelings. The only one who he felt in a way he never felt about anyone.

His yellow eyes widened in shock from the sudden truth. Just as he mentioned a name in a stunned and quiet voice. Her name.

“……Luna.”

Beside him, Cadence smiled in triumphant. Her suspicions were coming to light as the truth was revealed both to her and to him.

The Digimon’s widened eyes started to tremble from the heavy weight of the truth. The feelings that Cadence felt for her husband, were indeed the exact same as the ones he went through for the Princess of the Night. It all began to make sense to him. The whole time he felt that way for her, and he never knew it. He then understood why he always felt happy whenever Luna was around. Because he cared for her, even more so then he cared for himself. The same could be said as to why he kept throwing himself in harm’s way to protect her.

In fact, in his eyes… Luna was the most beautiful being he had ever encountered. Because of that, her personality and how similar she was to him, he developed feelings he never had before.

Despite the truth being clear as day, the shocked BlackWarGreymon looked at Cadence for confirmation. Knowing that her special talent was love.

“Cadence. Am… am I… in love with Luna?”

Instead of answering directly, the pink Alicorn said something that kept him guessing.

“What do you think, BlackWarGreymon?”

The stunned Digimon looked at the ground in wonder.

“I…I don’t know. This is all new to me.”

Cadence then thought of a question that would help BlackWarGreymon’s judgement.

“Well… Does she make you happy? But in a way you never felt in your life?”

BlackWarGreymon paused in thought. Remembering the times when Luna was around him. Be it at the Tree of Harmony, the Grand Galloping Gala, or even when they were training. No matter where they were, while Luna was with him, he felt happy inside.

He then spoke out in response. His voice was considerably softer then it was mere moments before.

“Yes. She does make me happy. She is a life that’s worth protecting.”

Although he remained a little startled by his revelation, what he said next sounded happy. As if he had accepted his feelings.

“If this is what love feels like… then I welcome it.”

Cadence was mentally trying not to jump up in joy. Luna’s question had been answered. BlackWarGreymon did hold feelings towards Luna.

But what the Digimon said next snapped her out of her mental hype.

“But it would sure lead to disappointment.”

The shocked Alicorn looked at the Digimon. She could see the look of doubt in his eyes. As if he discovered a flaw about himself.

“What do you mean?” She asked. BlackWarGreymon looking back at her as he answered.

“I’m a being from an entirely different world. And what’s more is that I’m not even a real Digimon. I’m a product built for war. I doubt Luna or anyone would hold the same kind of affection towards something like me.”

Cadence felt hurt from hearing his words. Though Luna had shown BlackWarGreymon’s past life to her, but hearing it from the Digimon himself felt somewhat different. She was even saddened by him referring himself as a thing.

But thoughts of his past were outweighed by the truth she knew. The thought of a possible romance had returned Cadence to her usual mood. She let out a playful chuckle that purposely caught BlackWarGreymon’s attention.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” She said to him.

The Mega knew that her mood and sentence were hints to something. But since love was the main topic they were discussing, and the fact that he knew about Cadence’s talent, the hints peaked his interest. He mentally started to become excited as his mood changed to a positive one.

“You mean… she does!? But…how could I be sure?”

Cadence became thrilled by her next favourite topic. Something that involved a
certain celebration that was just around the corner.

“Well tomorrow is Hearts and Hooves day. You can give her a meaningful gift.”

BlackWarGreymon gave Cadence a questionable look.

“Hearts and Hooves day?”

“Yes. It’s a tradition that’s held once every year. Where one would bring a loving gift to someone who they cherish or have great affections for. It’s pretty much a day of love.”

‘Strange. That almost sounds like Valenti…! Ohh,’ The Digimon thought to himself as he understood the description of the special day.

Despite everything that was told to him, there was one thing BlackWarGreymon remained unsure about.

“Do… you really think that Luna… has feelings for me?”

“I’d love to help you, BlackWarGreymon. But that is a sort of thing you need to figure out on your own. Give her a special gift tomorrow, and I’m sure you would find your answer.”

Though her advice wasn’t entirely helpful, but Cadence believed that it would be better for BlackWarGreymon to find out alone. Let him discover the truth for himself.

“I…I will try,” BlackWarGreymon said. Knowing that he was stepping into unknown territory, there was a reason his voice was a little shaken.

Cadence smiled proudly. Already knowing that the Digimon was going to be just fine.

With nothing more to discuss, Cadence and BlackWarGreymon left the crystal castle and joined up with the others at the train station. Because he hadn’t recovered yet, the walk was long for the Digimon. But he eventually made it onto the platform with his friends.

But Applejack foresaw a problem.

“Uh, Princess Cadence. BlackWarGreymon flew here because he couldn’t fit in the train. How are we to get him back to Ponyville?”

The Earth Pony had a point. BlackWarGreymon was in no condition to fly such a long distance away.

It was a problem, until Cadence spoke up.

“Don’t worry, Applejack. I figured that and made some arrangements.”

Then not a moment too soon, the expected train had arrived at the station. Unlike the usual wooden trains from Ponyville and Canterlot, the new train was larger and made out of crystal. It’s streamlined appearance showed that the train was also much faster.

“All aboard!” The train conductor shouted to gain everyone’s attention.

“I’ll send a letter to Celestia to let her know that you all are returning.” Cadence said, gaining Twilight’s attention.

“I wish we could stay some more. Thank you for the train.”

“No. It’s we who should be thanking you.” Shining Armor said as he stood beside Cadence.

“Thanks to you and your friends, the Crystal Empire is saved from King Sombra and ChaosBlackWarGreymon.” The pink Alicorn said before she turned towards the tall Digimon.

“And BlackWarGreymon, we are forever grateful for your bravery,” She said as she gave a small bow to him.

“You’re very welcome,” BlackWarGreymon responded as he gave a small nod.

The loving moment was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“There’s just one more problem. How can the big guy fit in the train seats?”

The others realised the blue Pegasus had a point. Though the train was big enough for the Mega to fit inside, the seats remained built for anyone pony sized.

But BlackWarGreymon already found a solution.

“It’s ok. I’ll just ride in the back.”

There was logic behind his idea. Because of the amount of luggage ponies bring with them, the rear train cart was specially made to store them. With very few seats, it would provide more than enough room for him to lie-down and rest.

As BlackWarGreymon walked towards the rear cart, Luna noticed that the Digimon’s pace became slower than it was when they left the hospital.

“Are you feeling ok?” The concerned Alicorn asked, suspecting that the fatigue was catching up to him.

Looking over his shoulder, the armoured being saw the look of worry on Luna’s face. He then spoke back to reassure her.

“Don’t worry about me, Luna. This train ride would provide me all the rest I need.”

Luna smiled proudly at how strong BlackWarGreymon’s will was. Even when he was exhausted, he wouldn’t give up so easily.

“Hang tight, big guy,” Rainbow Dash said for moral support.

As he approached the cart, BlackWarGreymon knelt down to fit through the doorway. Luckily, he managed to enter it without damaging it.

“Hope he recovers soon,” Cadence said as the rest of the company entered the train.

“Thank you, Cadence. And I hope the empire will be back on its feet soon,” Twilight called back to her sister-in-law.

As soon as the group got on the train, its whistle blew loudly. Signalling its departure. As the train slowly left the station, Twilight and her friends waved back at Cadence and Shining Armor as they said their goodbyes.

“Goodbye brother! Goodbye Cadence!” Twilight called out.

“We hope to see you all soon!” Cadence responded back.

As the royal couple looked on as the train disappeared over the horizon, Shining Armor heard Cadence quietly snickering to herself.

“What’s so funny?” The prince asked.

“Can’t tell you yet,” The princess replied.

Shining Armor looked at her in confusion, she clearly knew something that he didn’t.
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Half an hour later and with the Crystal Empire behind them, the Mane Six and Spike were discussing the events that they all went through. Rainbow Dash was mostly enthusiastic about one particular subject.

“I know that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was evil and all, but you guys have to admit that battle was awesome.”

“It was like nothin’ I’ve ever seen before,” Applejack said.

“It made BlackWarGreymon’s fight with Tirek look like child’s play,” Rarity added. Then joined by Pinkie Pie.

“Speaking of play, that evil one wasn’t playing fair half of the fight. It was kind of scary.”

“Yeah. I mean, an evil Digimon with dark magic,” Spike said, believing the sort of thing to be stuff of nightmares.

When Twilight spoke up, she mostly talked about their digital friend.

“True. But what fascinated me the most, was BlackWarGreymon’s connection to the magic of Equestria.”

“What do you mean, Twilight? I thought you already know that he gets stronger every day,” Fluttershy mentioned.

“I know that but hear me out. He was from a world completely different from our own. And yet… he possesses the link to not only use Equestria’s magic to become stronger, but to reach a new level. To ascend.”

“Maybe he’s just lucky,” Pinkie Pie suggested, but Twilight disagreed.

“No. It feels much more then just luck. But it must be more than just him having a pure heart. There has to be something else.”

As soon as it all became quiet, Spike suddenly felt the urge to burp. Once he did, the green flame he spat out turned into a scroll.

While the others became startled by the sudden letter, Spike read the small label.

“It’s for you, Twilight. It’s from Princess Celestia.”

The young Alicorn quickly got a hold on the letter and opened it up. She then quickly read the letter to herself before speaking to her friends.

“She said that we must go to Canterlot to meet up with her.”

“So soon?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, to tell her about our task at the Crystal Empire. And she said she also has a little surprise for BlackWarGreymon in Canterlot.”

The group began to feel excited, wondering what the surprise could possibly be.

Meanwhile on her seat looking out the window, Luna was the only one not involved in the conversation. While it seemed like the princess was staring out at the passing scenery, she was in fact lost in her thoughts. The images in her head all revolved around the times she was with BlackWarGreymon. Everything they been through. Everything they faced together. Every time she was by his side, she felt her bond with him growing ever stronger. Though it all began on the day they first met, but what really kicked off her feelings for him was during their talk after witnessing his past life. And discovering how similar the two were to each other.

Through thick and thin, the times when she stood by his side… she felt deeply happy.

Then her thoughts changed onto the Digimon himself. But as it did, so did her concern. Though she perfectly understood that BlackWarGreymon would need to be alone to rest, but she felt as though he was being left out. She felt as though he may need company.

With her mind set, she got up from her seat and made her way towards the rear of the train cart. She was then noticed by Twilight.

“Luna? Where are you going?”

Slightly startled, Luna found it hard to speak when she turned towards Twilight. Then after regaining her composure, she answered.

“Oh…don’t mind me. I’m just going to see how BlackWarGreymon’s doing.”

The mare’s confidence in the Digimon made the group oblivious to the emotion that was in her sentence.

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be just fine,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, the big guy will be better in no time,” Rainbow Dash added.

Despite the reassurance, Luna remained concerned for her friend.

“I know he will pull through. But…along with Celestia and Twilight here, I’ve seen every battle BlackWarGreymon had with others of his kind. And his fight with his own clone is sure to be the toughest he had ever faced.”

Luna became quiet for a few seconds before speaking again.

“I’m going to see how he’s doing.” She said as she left the cart and into the next.

The group were left puzzled. Luna knew very well that BlackWarGreymon would recover fast, yet she wanted to see him. Some were confused at what the Alicorn said before she left.

“Uhh…Did she already said that?” Spike asked.
…………………………………………………………………………………………

As Luna walked through the carriages, she noticed that not many ponies were on board. In fact, the recent few were empty. It was more likely due to the battle at the Crystal Empire. The fight between the two Mega level Digimon had most certainly frightened the ponies enough to remain safe deep within their homes. But then again, the fighting would cause the ponies to evacuate the empire and take the trains towards safety. Therefore, the absence of the ponies would mean that the empire was safe once again.

Then as Luna went towards the rear carriage, she paused for a moment to take a deep breath. She felt nervous all of a sudden, as if butterflies were in her stomach.

As soon as she got over it, she entered through the door and into the rear carriage. Aside from herself, around her there were only a few bags of luggage. Plus one occupant.

What instantly caught Luna’s vision was the sleeping form of BlackWarGreymon. While resting on his back with his Brave Shield and Dramon Destroyers off, he was lying on the floor with his head resting against one of the soft chairs.

Luna couldn’t take her eyes off the sleeping Digimon. Stunned that even when asleep, he retained his fierce looks. With no one around to eavesdrop on her, she moved closer towards him. As she got closer, the Alicorn could see that the Mega was slowly recovering once more. Most of his body had been healed, aside from a few scratches and dents. And the crack on his chest remained evident.

‘You have definitely been through a lot. More so then we had.’

She then gave the sleeping Digimon a loving smile. But it soon faded into curiosity. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but… something felt off.

She then looked over to BlackWarGreymon’s face, seeing that her suspicions were true. Though they were shut, his eyelids could be seen squinting a lot. In fact, she could even hear him quietly grunting.

Seeing that they weren’t grunts of pain, Luna’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘Is he… having a nightmare!?’

She was then briefly startled as BlackWarGreymon turned his head to the opposite side. Tossing and turning was another sign of a bad dream.

As well as wondering what the nightmare was about, Luna was also determined to help her friend out. After all, banishing nightmares was her specialty.

Though the last time she entered his mind, she accidently went into his memories. Knowing of her previous mistake, the blue princess was sure to get it right.
………………………………………………………………………………………

BlackWarGreymon’s dream

The dream BlackWarGreymon was having was indeed a nightmare. And it wasn’t a pleasant one too.

The discovery of an actual evil clone of himself had an effect on the Artificial Digimon’s mind. If everything said was true, that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was a relic of his own past, then the battle at the Crystal Empire was like a war with himself. But what made matters worse, was that his clone had magic. Which gave him a huge advantage in battle. If BlackWarGreymon hadn’t achieved his Ascended form, he would’ve more likely been killed.

His dream looked simple, but to him it was a complex matter. In the middle of a desert wasteland, alone, weakened, beaten and up against ChaosBlackWarGreymon and his dark magic. Though the dream ended with BlackWarGreymon winning the day, the fact that he was overwhelmed by the evil version of himself was too much for him to accept.

Because of his reluctance to accept what happened, the dream kept repeating itself. In a constant loop with no end in sight.

After its thirteenth time, BlackWarGreymon’s nightmare began again. There he was, lying on his back on the rocky ground, his body damaged and his powers nearly gone. Against him, was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. In his prime, in the air and looking down on him.

The clone laughed manically before speaking.

“Just accept your fate, BlackWarGreymon! You can never defeat the darkness within you!”

BlackWarGreymon grunted as he slowly stood back up, weary from the fight. All the while glaring at his counterpart.

Then the evil Digimon spoke out again.

“Give up. Fight on. It matters not. Either way, all of your friends will suffer my wrath! The wrath that you created!!”

BlackWarGreymon clenched his fists in anger as he prepared himself.

“No. No! I won’t let that happen!!”

The clone chuckled sinisterly before responding.

“Playing the hero won’t hide the truth of who you really are. No matter what you do. No matter where you go. No matter how much you fight it. You will always be… a tool of destruction!”

After letting out a hate-filled war cry, the black Mega leapt forward, charging through the sky towards his hated enemy.

“Fool,” The grey Mega said as he flew down to intercept his foe.

As the two Digimon flew closer to each other, time itself slowed down as they prepared to attack one another. Within a split second, BlackWarGreymon noticed small cracks below ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. He believed it was his weakness.

The evil Mega attacked first, throwing his left arm out for a three-clawed punch. In a few split-second moments, the saviour tilted his head to avoid the punch. And then threw a left punch of his own. Aimed directly for the clones weakened chest.

As the attack landed a hit, BlackWarGreymon’s claws shattered the Chrome Digizoid and then drove into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body.

As time continued to slow, the clone gave off a loud scream of pain as he felt his body being impaled. As he stopped, he slowly looked to see the hate-filled gaze of BlackWarGreymon.

“I don’t care of you’re a part of me! I won’t…let you… GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!”

With a mighty thrust of his left arm, the Artificial Digimon threw his clone into the air. Doing so caused his claws to shatter more of the evil Digimon’s armour. From the open wound, cracks began to spread across ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body. As he felt his very being shattering, the evil Mega gave off a final scream in anger, pain and defiance before his body exploded.

The blast from the dead Digimon lit up the sky in green light. Which then faded as quickly as it appeared. Once there was calm, not a trace of ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained.

Though BlackWarGreymon was victorious, but to him it was a hollow victory. He knew that it was true. The evil Digimon was created from his own data. Making him truly a part of him. But forged from all the anger and hatred from his own chaotic past. The thirst for power had passed onto his clone.

They were like opposites. One was evil reformed, the other was evil refined.

Though King Sombra and a mysterious force created ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body, it was BlackWarGreymon who created his personality. He was an ingredient to help create the clone.

BlackWarGreymon was once more unease with himself. But before his personal nightmare could restart and begin again, out of the blue he heard a call of destress.

“BlackWarGreymon! Help me!”

The Digimon was startled at first. But as he looked around, behind him he saw a very familiar princess. But in the middle of the sand and tied to a pole.

“L…Luna!?”

“You did it! You defeated him! I tried to fight him, but he captured me. Can you help me out?” Luna asked as she struggled in her bonds.

After bringing himself to attention, the Digimon rushed over to the restrained mare.

“O-of course.”

As he got close to her, BlackWarGreymon felt a little shy when he saw Luna smiling at him. But he didn’t let it distract him as he knelt down to untie her.

But before his claws could snap the ropes, his motions suddenly paused. His eyes widened in realisation before narrowing in suspicion. He felt as though something was off as he stood back up.

“Wait a minute. This isn’t part of my dream,” He said out loud to himself.

He then looked down at Luna with a questionable look, in which the bound Alicorn responded with confusion. But the way her expression changed looked as though in was deliberate. Noticing it, the Mega gave her a suspicious glare. With an imitation of a raised eyebrow.

The Princess of the night closed her eyes and smiled. Knowing that BlackWarGreymon couldn’t be fooled so easily, she gave in.

“Ok, you got me.”

With a flash of her horn, all the ropes around her body faded away. Freed from the pole, she landed on her four hooves before looking back at her confused friend.

“So you’re the real Luna?” The Digimon asked her.

“Indeed I am. I was finally able to find my way through your mind and into your dream.” Luna answered.

BlackWarGreymon then became curious.

“So it seems. But why are you in my dream and… and why were you tied to a pole?” He asked, mostly wondering about the latter.

At first, Luna felt a little shy to answer. Embarrassed to admit that she wanted to check up on him. But after a deep breath, she answered his question.

“Well… back on the train, I…I just needed to see if you’re alright. And when I saw that you were having a nightmare, I just had to step in and help you.”

“I guess you’ve seen them, huh?” The Digimon asked, already knowing that Luna had seen his dreams.

Luna took a few steps closer to BlackWarGreymon as she spoke.

“I know how you feel. Really… I do,” She said as she placed her hoof on his leg in comfort. She then spoke up.

“In the past, at times… I’ve always feared that the Nightmare Moon within me would rise up once more. But thanks to my friends, I no longer have that fear. It was all behind me. And you need to realise that what happened at the Crystal Empire wasn’t your fault. It was Sombra’s fault for creating your clone. ChaosBlackWarGreymon may had been created from your data, but you’re not him. You were never like him and you never will be.”

As BlackWarGreymon listened, he realised that Luna was right. Though he was evil once, the things he had done weren’t in the same extent as ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s. And while the relic of his past had come back to haunt him, BlackWarGreymon, a changed Digimon, will be there to fight against it and to protect his friends.

He breathed a sigh of relief before he spoke to Luna.

“Thank you, Luna. I needed that.”

Luna paused at first. Although all her friends already knew about her fear of Nightmare Moon, she herself had never admitted it to anyone so openly. Not even her own sister. By revealing it to BlackWarGreymon it meant that he was indeed something special. Plus by using it to help him, it made her feel all the more better.

She then spoke again, giving the Digimon a friendly playful smirk.

“And to answer your other question, I just felt like playing along with your dream.”

BlackWarGreymon chuckled in response.

“Yeah, your little act was very convincing.”

Then Luna chuckled along with him. Laughter brought BlackWarGreymon back to his positive mood. No longer troubled by negative thoughts.

As the two stopped chuckling, they quietly stared at each other. Even in a dream world, the two were glad that they gave each other company.

After a moment of staring, the Mega spoke up.

“I guess… now that my nightmare is gone, you’ll be… leaving my dream?”

The Alicorn sensed something in the Digimon’s question. The tone he used sounded as if… he was disappointed.

Luckily, Luna found a way to spend more time with him.

“Actually… I’ve got a better idea.”

As Luna’s horn began to glow bright, the world around the two faded away. At first, BlackWarGreymon could see nothing but whiteness. But as the world rematerialized around him, he saw a massive change.

Instead of the wasteland, BlackWarGreymon found himself in the middle of the great hall in Canterlot. But with all the decorations in place, the Mega felt as if he had seen them before.

“Wait. Isn’t this… the Grand Galloping Gala?”

“Indeed, it is.”

Hearing Luna’s voice behind him caused BlackWarGreymon to turn around. But he froze on the spot the moment he saw her. It was indeed the same Alicorn he knew, but dressed in the same gown she wore at the gala itself. He simply paused in awe at the sight of her beauty.

The dressed princess smiled at the Digimon’s expression. With no other guests around her, she no longer felt embarrassed about any uncomfortable staring. It was just her and him.

“I can tell you like what you see,” She said as she purposely stroked her mane, showing off her formal looks.

BlackWarGreymon was at loss for words as he took in the sight before him. But then he suddenly felt a change to his body. Looking down, he was briefly startled that he found himself dressed back into the suit he wore at the gala.

Knowing that it was Luna’s doing, the Digimon looked back at her. Only to see her outstretching her right hoof towards him.

“Care to dance?” She asked while giving him a smile.

As BlackWarGreymon looked at her hoof, he realised what she was doing. Everything around him was Luna’s way of cheering him up from his destress. Not that he didn’t mind it. In fact, it was what he wanted. A good supportive friend who was looking out for him. To make him feel special. To make him feel loved.

His expression softened even more as he looked at Luna. Then reaching out his left hand and holding onto the Alicorn’s hoof. Accepting her invitation.

“I’ll be honoured.”

For the remainder of his dream, BlackWarGreymon spent his well-earned time dancing with Luna.
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Back in the real world, if one came to check up on the two, they would’ve seen an unbelievable sight.

While BlackWarGreymon was lying on the ground with his head resting on the soft chair, Luna was sleeping beside him with her head resting upon his chest.

From what was learnt, BlackWarGreymon’s body gave off heat, even through his armour. Therefore, Luna found her slumber very comfortable. Luna herself could’ve stayed awake when she entered his dream. But her body was exhausted from the long day they had.

As the two continued to sleep with their minds joined within the dream, BlackWarGreymon’s subconsciously placed his left arm over Luna. Placing his hand gently on her body. The sleeping Alicorn subconsciously reacted by a soft moan and snuggling against the Digimon. Softly nuzzling her smiling face on his armoured chest.

Chapter 46: Evil Clone’s Rampage

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As Queen Chrysalis walked through the chambers of the dark lair, she had a feeling that her master’s plans were falling apart. The Crystal Empire remained free from their control. ChaosBlackWarGreymon had been defeated. And from what she was told by her children, King Sombra was missing.

And to make matters worse, BlackWarGreymon seemed to be getting stronger after every victory. She had a bad feeling that soon enough, the black armoured Digimon would become stronger than even her master.

But her thoughts focused on the whereabouts of the dark Unicorn king. She knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t just disappear. Especially knowing how dangerous her master was. He wouldn’t tolerate insubordination.

As the Changeling queen approached the chamber where her master was told to be, she realised that it was a chamber she had never entered before. Even back in the days where she worked for him before. She felt an uncomfortable vibe flowing through her body. The chamber stank with his evil. She recalled that the evil Digimon ate virtually anything. But one time she heard rumours that he had been experimenting… with flesh.

Not wanting to find out about any possible unfortunate victims, Chrysalis took a deep breath and poked her head through the entrance of the chamber.

“Umm… master?” She called out, but received a little fright from a response.

“Yes, Chrysalis?”

After a stunned silence, the Changeling queen spoke up.

“Has Sombra returned yet? I’ve sent search parties to find him but found nothing.”

She then saw shifting in the darkness, barely seeing the silhouette of the evil Digimon. But his piercing yellow eyes could be seen staring back at her. Giving her a frightful chill up her spine.

“Call off the search parties, Chrysalis. There is no need.”

The stunned queen gave the beast a questionable look before speaking.

“But why? He hasn’t returned yet.”

The Digimon then said something that shocked her to the core.

“Haven’t you heard? Sombra is dead.”

Chrysalis gave out a frightful gasp from the shocking news. Aside from her children, Sombra was her closest ally. Even though he wasn’t a Changeling, she trusted him the most.

“W-what!?” She said as she took a few steps back. But it wasn’t the only piece of news her master shared.

“Yes. ChaosBlackWarGreymon killed him.”

Chrysalis stared fearfully at the Digimon as she spoke.

“I…I don’t understand. Why? He was our ally!”

“Why? Because he has outlived his usefulness, that’s why.”

Disturbed by the information, the Changeling queen silently stood still. Shocked that their creation turned on one of his creators. More so from the fact that her master seemed to be the one responsible for it all.

She was then snapped out of her state of shock when the Digimon asked her a rather odd question.

“Tell me, have you ever wondered how I first met Sombra?”

“U…umm… well, I was curious once,” She admitted. Listening to her master’s story.

“Sombra wasn’t always the lord of the shadows. In fact, the Unicorn was originally one of the brilliant minds of the Crystal Empire. He was very much like that Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. He liked to study and learn as much as he could about spells and magic. But it was never enough for Sombra. He wanted power. Power to rival the Alicorns. So one day, he left the empire on a quest to find that power.”

He then briefly paused as he remembered that one particular day. The day that stuck in his mind for over a thousand years.

“That was when I found him. He was one of the only few who wasn’t frightened by my appearance. Instead, he had a strong curious mind. He wanted to learn everything about me. And while he wanted to know who I was, I sensed darkness in his heart. With it, his growing thirst for power. So I made a proposition for him.”

“You…struck him a deal?” Chrysalis asked, intrigued by the story.

“Yes. I help him gain the power he wanted. And in return, he serves me and only me. In which he accepted. After searching through the deepest depths of Tartarus, I helped him find a forbidden spell book. The black magic within the book corrupted his mind and body. Turning him into the Unicorn you knew today. With the powers of darkness at his side, he took over the Crystal Empire and crowned himself king. And then…well…you already know the rest.”

Chrysalis was amazed. Truth be told she always wanted to know Sombra’s backstory. But she was confused about one thing.

“But, if Sombra was a valuable ally, then why did ChaosBlackWarGreymon kill him?”

The evil Digimon answered her question.

“When he was created, he inherited Sombra’s dark magic. And as you know, the stronger the user, the stronger the magic. The difference between the two is that ChaosBlackWarGreymon is far stronger and a much better fighter. So when he was created, Sombra became expendable.”

“You…replaced him?” The Changeling Queen asked, secretly horrified about her master’s actions.

“Exactly.”

The atmosphere around the two became silent. Letting the notion of Sombra's role in the grand plan to sink in to Chrysalis. But the Changeling queen was still surprised that even after helping the Unicorn king achieve his desires, the Digimon was quick to cast him out. Labelling him as weak. It was that mindset of the beast that made her fear for her own sake.

After a brief silence, Queen Chrysalis tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, how is he?”

Chrysalis became confused when the dark being gave her a suspicious look.

“Your Changelings are currently repairing him. But that’s the forth time you asked me that since he returned.”

“It…it was?” The queen asked, unsure if it was true. But she wasn’t the one counting.

The Digimon grew even more suspicious.

“Do you… hold some sort of connection with him?”

Chrysalis found it difficult to respond. She did had a connection with ChaosBlackWarGreymon, but not the kind one would expect.

“Well… when he was created, he was new to the world. Almost… like a child.”

The evil being perfectly understood what she was trying to say.

“So. You see him as if… he’s one of your own? Need I remind you that you were barely involved in his creation.”

The Digimon was right. While it seemed very confusing as to why Chrysalis sees someone like ChaosBlackWarGreymon as a son, she gave her reason. A reason that actually startled the evil being.

“I know that. But it’s the way he interacts with my Changelings. It’s like… he’s a part of the hive.”

The Digimon became very confused as to her meaning. And then demanded an explanation.

“What!? What do you mean?”

After quickly recovering from his sudden outburst, Chrysalis explained herself.

“Well… when he became influenced by you and Sombra, he became violent and chaotic. But when he isn’t, he was much calmer. I’ve even seen him being friendly to my Changelings.”

“Is that so?” The master said, thinking that it might cause trouble for him.

“Leave me, Chrysalis. I have things to think over,” He added as he retreated into the shadows. Leaving Chrysalis to walk back to where she came.

During her walk, she was thinking to herself. Her thoughts on ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

‘The master said that he was created from BlackWarGreymon’s dark side. But if that’s true, then how can he display such acts of… dare I say… kindness?’

Then another question entered her mind. An interesting one too.

‘Is ChaosBlackWarGreymon truly the embodiment of evil and hate? Or is it something that the master told him?’
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‘Background music’ ‘World on Fire by Les Friction’

Elsewhere in the lair, sitting on a rock in the middle of the chamber, was the injured form of ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Ever since he woke up, his crimson eyes were completely filled with hatred. His loss by BlackWarGreymon’s hand had affected him more than anyone could imagine. So much that he didn’t even spoke a word.

As he sat quietly, the Changeling solders swarmed around his surroundings. Each one giving magic to the Mega for him to heal. But it was a tall order. Because of the amount of power that ChaosBlackWarGreymon had, it took a lot of Changeling magic to heal just a scratch. But they had a whole body to cover.

As some flew to a specific spot, they channelled their magic to heal as much damage as possible. But they were nervous from hearing the steady growls from the Digimon clone. Who himself was trying to ignore the pain in his very being.

A group of twenty Changelings knew about the Digimon’s broken right arm and prepared a spell by combining all their magic.

As a green healing beam went into the arm, ChaosBlackWarGreymon screamed as he felt a sharp pain from his arm reconstructing itself. Upon fully healed, he smashed his claws into the ground. Causing tremors in the ground and frightening the Changelings.

It’s a known fact that Changeling magic wasn’t as efficient as Unicorn magic. Therefore, their healing spells were weak and primitive.

After they got over their shock, the Changelings were about to resume their healing. But as they got close, they heard a name being whispered.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

Looking up, the Changelings saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon breathing heavily. It turned out that it was him who spoke, for he spoke again. His voice quiet and full of hate.

“BlackWarGreymon. BlackWarGreymon. BlackWarGreymon.”

As the Digital clone stared blankly at open space, his mind was in a trance of his imagination.

There he was, standing strong and powerful on top of a hill, with the land of Equestria burning around him. the skies were deep red, and the grass were burnt orange. Buildings and mountains engulfed in fire and thick smoke blocking out the sun.

As he laughed maniacally, he looked down at a small settlement below. Raising his right arm aside, he formed a dark sphere half the size of himself. Then with no remorse and hesitation, he threw it down at the settlement. Vaporizing it entirely.

But just as he was about to bask in his destructive glory, he saw a bright light shining in from behind.

The light aggravated him, to a point where he growled in anger as he turned around to face it. He could see, stepping forth form the light, three Alicorn princesses, one Unicorn prince and the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They were all standing on a much bigger hill, glaring down on him.

But then, ChaosBlackWarGreymon saw something else. Emerging behind the group was BlackWarGreymon himself. As he glared down at the clone, he suddenly thrust his arms to his sides. He was then surrounded by a large pillar of bright red light that brightened the area like day. The column of light symbolizing that BlackWarGreymon was a beacon of hope to the ponies and him gaining his Ascended form.

Not wanting to see the end of his reign, ChaosBlackWarGreymon roared as he flew towards his rival. With BlackWarGreymon descending down to meet him.

What followed next was a fierce battle that shook the land around them. But in the end, it was BlackWarGreymon who triumphed. With his clone screaming in defiance as his body faded from existence from the blinding light.

The thoughts flowed through ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s mind so clear, that he felt as though it actually happened. Or that it would happen for real.

With his anger increasing, the Digimon’s words slowly got louder.

“BlackWarGreymon! BlackWarGreymon!”

While he remained in his hate-filled trance, the Changelings had nearly finished their job of healing him. But just as they thought the job was done, some spotted that they missed a spot.

The Digimon’s left black eye.

While some of the changelings were a little concerned of what would happen if they used healing magic on the eye, others grouped together and prepared another healing beam. They then fired it at the angered Digimon’s eye.

As the healing beam made contact, ChaosBlackWarGreymon felt a sharp pain in his eye. Causing him to suddenly stand back up while screaming in pain and rage. But while screaming, his rage went out of control. His whole body engulfed in negative red energy.

“Let’s get out of here!!” The Changelings said as they fled the chamber.

And not a moment too soon. Because the chamber itself started to erupt in the Digimon’s power. Shredding the walls and ripping apart the floors.

Outside of the lair, what came next was a large chunk of mountainside exploding and erupting in a fog of red energy. Then ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself emerged within his Nightmare Mist. Flying fast and in a unforgiving rage.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!!!”

Descending from the mountain and towards the forest below, all the animals could see the Digital Monster flying towards them. Seeing the rage of the being caused the animals to run or fly away in terror. Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew over the forest, the shear force from his passing uprooted trees, ripped apart the greenery and carved a long deep trench in the ground.

Then as he gained altitude, he once again screamed in rage as magic began to flow through his body. His six claws shining brightly with green magic.

He then vanished. Teleported somewhere far away. And after reappearing, his rage-filled gaze fell upon a distant city.
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Manehattan, one of the largest cities in Equestria, was experiencing one of its ‘quiet’ days. Despite the fact that the streets were always filled with ponies.

Down at the city centre, Babs Seed, cousin of the Apple family and a fellow Cutiemark Crusader, was lending a hand with two other fillies. After recently achieving her cutiemark, she decided to help others in finding their marks during her spare time.

But with no warning, nothing prepared them and the city for the destruction that laid ahead.

While shrouded in his red mist, ChaosBlackWarGreymon dived towards the city at great speed. As he spread his arms apart, giant magical three-clawed arms appeared in their place. Upon reaching the city, flying over many heads, the Digimon slashed his right claws into a skyscraper. Slicing it in half as he passed by.

The sounds of destruction were heard by most of the citizens, followed by screams of terror. Back at the city centre, the three fillies darted their heads around to see what was happening. Then they heard a pony’s voice.

“Up there!”

Turning to where the pony was pointing at, all eyes in the centre saw the attacker. Just as he sliced his second skyscraper with his left giant claws. More citizens ran away in terror as sections of the building came crumbling down to the ground. Concrete, bricks and debris littered everywhere.

“What is that thing!?” One of the fillies asked as the three caked away from the scene.

As they stared fearfully at the red covered monster, the glowing being grunted loudly before flying higher to the sky like a rocket. Leaving a red trail as he ascended higher in the atmosphere. To a point where he couldn’t be seen anymore.

Back on the ground, the frightened ponies all eyed at the sky to spot the attacker. They then heard voices of nearby police officers.

“Remain calm, citizens! The monster has left the city!”

While the announcement had calmed down few of the citizens, Babs Seed and her friends weren’t entirely convinced. They continued to stare where the attacker had vanished.

Their eyes then widened in fear as they saw something heading back towards them.

“It’s coming back!!” Babs Seed warned as she and her friends ran for cover.

As the ponies all looked up, they realised the filly was right.

With his body covered in red mist, the evil Digimon dived down like a meteor. Screaming as he prepared to attack. As he reached the city, he slammed his right arm into the pavement. Sending his Nightmare Mist energy through the concrete ground and into the nearby buildings. The damage caused by the attack made the buildings topple and crumble to the ground.

“Arrest him!” One of the officer stallions shouted. His comrades responding by dogpiling on the Digimon.

But as it seemed the officers were weighing him down, they were suddenly lifted as ChaosBlackWarGreymon jumped in the air. They were then blasted away by a magical pulse from the Digimon’s body.

No longer restrained, the armoured Mega flew through the streets. Citizens either ran or flew away in terror as the attacker moved above their heads.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked down at the fleeing crowd, he suddenly felt the urge to attack. As he reared his right arm back, he insanely chuckled as his claws began to glow green. Then as he thrust his arm out, a volley of green magic beams was fired.

All the beams exploded against the ground, scaring the ponies even more. The Digimon loved the sent of fear in the air. By deliberately aiming at the ground near the ponies, he exploited that fear. He then did the same by firing beams from his left gauntlet. Aiming at the ground and to the side of a nearby building.

His chuckling became louder and louder. Slowly turning into evil laughter.

But then his laughter echoed as he flew higher with his arms raised above his head. Forming a giant Shadow Destroyer orb in-between his claws. He then flew back towards the centre of the city. Dive bombing as his insane laughter became louder.

As he neared the ground, he slammed his giant sphere into the pavement. Creating a large explosion that engulfed buildings and blew away nearby citizens.

‘Song end’

From the distance, it looked as though a huge bomb went off in the city. And after the green light faded away with the blast, the city centre transformed into a giant plume of smoke. Despite the amount of destruction caused by the insane Digimon, there were no fatalities. The Mega was too much in a frenzy to focus his attacks properly. But his final attack had sent several ponies flying. Probably resulting in injuring some of them.

As for Babs Seed and her two friends, they were lucky to find an empty fruit cart moments before the explosion. Though the blast wave had thrown the cart about, it managed to land back on its wheels.

Poking their heads out of the cart, the three fillies were horrified at the sight around them. The city centre had been destroyed. Roads and pavements had been turned over. Buildings reduced to piles of rubble. Surrounded in smoke and small patches of fire.

“No way,” Babs Seed said quietly. Frightened of the ordeal.

Then one of her friends spotted something in the distance.

“Hay. Over there.”

As the three fillies looked in one direction, their fearful gazes stared upon the figure. It was their attacker. Standing on the ground and surrounded by the devastation he brought upon. The one thing the girls were frightened of more then his claws and his horns, were his eyes. Crimson red and full of hate.

They then heard him speaking. But not to them or anypony. It was as if he was talking to someone who wasn’t there at all.

“This destruction is on you, BlackWarGreymon! You will pay for defeating me in battle! And your pony friends will suffer for it!!”

After his outburst, ChaosBlackWarGreymon took to the skies and flew away. Leaving behind the destruction of his wrath and moving on to cause more of his rampage elsewhere.
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Back at the lair, the destruction of the cave had gained the attention of Queen Chrysalis and her master. By the time they arrived, they saw what the clone had done on his warpath. The walls and floors became giant piles of pebbles and the ceiling had an enormous hole. Sunlight seeping in.

The queen gasped when she saw one of her solders lying on the floor, almost unconscious.

“Solder! What happened here!?” The worried Chrysalis asked as she came to comfort her weary child.

“It’s…that other monster. We healed him… but then he suddenly went wild.”

The evil Digimon listened as he looked at the giant hole in the ceiling. In thought, he was surprised that ChaosBlackWarGreymon had a soft side to him. From what Chrysalis told him. But since his defeat at the Crystal Empire, it seemed as though his soft side was no more.

Queen Chrysalis then heard loud footsteps to her side. Turning around, she saw the evil beast walking away. Back towards the darkness of his lair.

“M-Master? Shouldn’t we need to call him back?”

The Digimon paused. The after only a second of silence, he gave her his answer.

“No. At least not yet.”

As he continued on his way, he gave Chrysalis a last-minute command.

“And get your Changelings to patch up that hole!”

The queen flinched at first, but then turned towards the massive hole in the ceiling. She could see that it would be a long task to fix.

As the Digimon moved deeper in his lair, he was alone in his thoughts.

‘Yes. I must keep ChaosBlackWarGreymon focused on destruction and mayhem. The last thing I need is him to rebel against me. I don’t tolerate traitors. Much like that good for nothing Discord.’

Then a thought entered his mind.

‘Wait, now it makes sense. ChaosBlackWarGreymon acting soft, he must had inherited that from BlackWarGreymon through his data. This will pose a problem if I don’t do something. But incase he does turn traitor on me… I guess it’s time to recruit more allies.’

Chapter 47: Prelude to War

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By using the newer train from the Crystal Empire, princess Twilight and her friends had returned to Canterlot at a much quicker time. As they arrived at the train station, it was almost late afternoon. The sky glowing orange from the sun slowly reaching towards the horizon.

As soon as the train came to a stop, the Mane Six and Spike made it onto the platform. Where they were greeted by a very familiar face.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said, always excited to see her favourite teacher.

“Twilight. It’s so good to see you and your friends back safely,” The white Alicorn replied as she gave Twilight a welcome hug.

Afterwards, the tall princess noticed that not everyone was among them.

“Wait, where’s Luna?”

She instantly received a response.

“I’m over here.”

Turning around, Princess Luna was seen walking towards the group with BlackWarGreymon following close behind.

“Sister. We have so much to tell you,” Luna added, excitement evident in her voice.

Celestia chuckled in response.

“I can imagine so. And how are you BlackWar…”

Celestia paused midsentence as she turned her gaze onto the Digimon. Startled from the sight of a large crack across his armoured chest. She could also sense that his energy was somewhat depleted.

Although the Sun Princess suspected that King Sombra had returned to the Crystal Empire, she wouldn’t had thought that the Unicorn would give BlackWarGreymon such a hard time. Something didn’t felt right.

“Wha…what happened to you!?” She asked in concern.

BlackWarGreymon looked down at his wound before speaking.

“Like Luna said, we have a lot to tell you. But I’m fine now.”

Though Celestia remained concerned for BlackWarGreymon, his words were enough to reassure her that he would be ok. But deep down, she was a little shocked that something in Equestria was able to hurt him.

She was snapped out of her trance when Twilight’s voice reached her ears.

“You said in your letter that you have a special surprise for BlackWarGreymon.”

“Oh yes. All of you follow me to the Canterlot gardens.”

Doing what she said, the group followed Celestia towards the gardens. During their walk, the White Alicorn glanced over to BlackWarGreymon. Wondering what he and the others had been through at the Crystal Empire. But she would ask them after her little surprise was out of the way.

Before she turned her head away, she saw that Luna was walking beside him. All the while glancing over to him with a smile with him responding with a glance of his own.

Then Celestia thought of something. While the group left the train, Luna didn’t appear to be on the same coach as the rest of the ponies. And by arriving alongside BlackWarGreymon at the same time, it was evident that she shared the same coach as him.

Celestia then faced back forward, hiding a small smile on her face.

‘Seems Princess Cadence was right in her letter.’

Ever since the Grand Galloping Gala, Celestia had suspicions that something was going on with her little sister. So when the group went to the Crystal Empire, Celestia secretly sent a task for Cadence to watch over Luna and see how she acts. Especially around BlackWarGreymon. And if anything ‘interesting’ happened, her niece would write back to her.

So when Cadence wrote back to Celestia about the group returning from the empire, she added in her findings. Of which the white Alicorn found interesting and confirming her suspicions.

But it was a matter to talk about on a later date. Since there were a few things to cover up first.

As the group entered the Canterlot sculpture gardens, Celestia spoke up.

“Also your timing couldn’t be more perfect. For it has just been finished.”

“What has?” Twilight asked.

After emerging around the bend in the hedges, the white princess revealed her surprise.

“That.”

The mares and dragon gasped in astonishment at what they saw, while BlackWarGreymon was simply left speechless.

Because standing in front of them, was a large statue of BlackWarGreymon himself. Measuring twenty feet tall and standing on a large dais. The posture of the sculpture was just him standing tall and strong. But just the look of it and the amount of detail put into it was enough to wow anyone who would look upon it.

Celestia chuckled from the looks on her friends’ faces.

“Well, what do you think?”

“Wow,” Twilight simply said.

“The big guy’s got his own statue,” Rainbow Dash added, slightly jealous that she wasn’t immortalized in stone.

“It’s… it’s impressive,” BlackWarGreymon said as he eyed the details on the sculpture.

“I take it that you had this made while we were away?” Luna asked her older sister.

“Yes. This is my way to thank BlackWarGreymon for what he has done for Equestria.”

She then turned towards the Digimon.

“This world would be in a very bad way if not for you.”

“I’m… I’m honoured. Really I am,” The Digimon said. And like the others, he wasn’t expecting the next piece of news from Celestia.

“And this is just half of my surprise.”

The group looked at the white Alicorn in surprise. Just what else did she have to honour BlackWarGreymon with?

“Really? What’s the other surprise?” Fluttershy asked her.

“Follow me to the Canterlot halls and I’ll show you.”

“I love surprises!” Pinkie Pie uttered as she and the others followed Celestia once more.

Before they left the gardens, Luna spared one moment to look back at the sculpture of Equestria’s newest protector.

‘Good. But not as good as the real thing.’

As the group entered the Canterlot hallway, they were once again greeted by the colourful stain glass windows. All showing the key events in Equestria’s long history. From Discord’s reign to Twilight Sparkle’s coronation. Although already familiar with the events, BlackWarGreymon took a good look at them as he walked past.

He then heard Celestia talking to him.

“As you know, BlackWarGreymon. Certain events in Equestria are reflected in these windows. Events for all to see.”

She then stopped walking. Seconds before she looked up at one particular window.

“And you arriving in our world…is certainly one of them.”

When the group followed Celestia’s gaze, they were stunned as the sight of the new stain glass window. The image showed BlackWarGreymon’s first day in Equestria. With him in the Everfree Clearing, glaring down at Tirek beneath him with his Terra Destroyer attack held above his head, while Twilight and her Ponyville friends were in the background. Protected by their defender.

“Th…that’s me!” BlackWarGreymon said. While in awe it was the only thing he could say.

“Indeed. Thanks to your timely arrival in our world, you were able to beat a mighty foe, and protect the magic of friendship in these six ponies. And your actions on that day, caused the magic of friendship to accept you,” Celestia said as she gave the Mega a heart-warming smile.

“Now you’re famous like us!” Pinkie Pie cheered.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” The Digimon said, but in truth he was honoured beyond his expectations.

“Trust me. You’ll get used to it,” Rainbow Dash said to the awe-stricken Digimon.

“And I think these gifts for BlackWarGreymon were very thoughtful of you,” Twilight said to Celestia. With Luna joining in.

“Indeed they are.”

As the group made their way towards the throne room, the white Alicorn once again took a quick but concerned glance over to BlackWarGreymon’s chest. Since they had returned, she wondered what could’ve caused the crack. Though the Digimon reassured her, she still found it off putting. Knowing that Chrome Digizoid armour was a part of his being, and that it was stronger than any metal they could make, then it would mean that a very powerful force must’ve dealt the damage. And from the look of it, it must’ve been painful for him.

As they approached the Celestia’s throne, she paused her advance as she spoke to the group.

“Now that the pleasantry is out of the way, it’s time to get back to the matter.”

When the group stood still, they had a feeling that Celestia would chance the subject towards their previous mission.

Celestia continued as she turned to face them.

“Though Princess Cadence wrote to me of your return, she neglected to include any unfortunate incidents. Please tell me… has anything happened at the Crystal Empire?”

Before Twilight, Luna or BlackWarGreymon could start, Rainbow Dash started it off in a less settling way.

“We… prepare yourself for a bit of a shock.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight said, disapproving her way of delivering bad news.

The white Alicorn felt a little uncertain of what she was about to hear.

“I’m listening.”

BlackWarGreymon was first to speak.

“Your suspicions were correct. The storm that attacked Canterlot the other day, was the work of the Unicorn named King Sombra.”

Celestia was startled by the news. But what Luna said next was even more startling.

“Not only that. But when we encountered him, he had the power to summon the Shadow Legion.”

The white princess gasped in shock and disbelief.

“But… that’s not possible. That spell was forbidden. Locked in the deepest depths of Tartarus.”

“Yes. But somehow King Sombra was able to obtain that spell. And used it for his own needs,” Luna said.

Then Twilight continued their story.

“After we arrived at the Crystal Empire, Sombra teleported us away and separated us from BlackWarGreymon. While we found ourselves in a secret room of the castle where Sombra waited for us, he sent BlackWarGreymon outside the empire. Where he faced a massive army of Shadow Ponies.”

“You…faced Sombra himself?” Celestia asked Twilight. With her and the others nodding to confirm her answer.

Then she looked over to the black armoured being.

“And you faced the Shadow Legion alone?”

“I did. Sombra plan was by separating me from my friends, he hoped that he would exact his revenge on them without facing me. And that I would be overwhelmed by the army’s numbers,” BlackWarGreymon answered.

“But to our amazement, not even the army of a thousand could stop him. BlackWarGreymon wiped out the legion and arrived in time to face Sombra himself,” Luna said.

As Twilight explained further, Celestia’s face grew wider and wider in amazement.

“Sombra tried every trick he had, but none of it worked on him.”

“Yeah, and after the fight, the big guy sent that Unicorn packing!” Rainbow Dash said. The group deciding not to mention the moment when the Digimon was nearly mind controlled.

“Impressive. So you’re strong enough to defeat Sombra,” Celestia said, amazed by the facts.

But her amazement changed to concern when the expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes darkened.

“But after his defeat, Sombra had done the unthinkable.”

“What did he do?”

“Well… during the fight, Sombra managed to gain samples of BlackWarGreymon’s hair,” Luna answered, followed by Twilight.

“And by combining BlackWarGreymon’s data with his dark magic, he… successfully created a Digimon of his own.”

Celestia gasped in shock at what she heard.

“What!? What do you mean!?”

“Using my data, Sombra created a clone of me. The living embodiment of all my negativity and hatred. And Sombra even dared to give him a name,” BlackWarGreymon said. Joined by Twilight.

“His name is ChaosBlackWarGreymon. And unlike our friend, his armour is grey, he has a golden chest plate and his eyes are as red as blood.”

“Not to mention that he was so terrible. I’ve never seen anyone acting so cruel and heartless,” Rarity added.

“Yeah, even more so then Sombra,” Spike joined in.

Celestia was almost speechless from the news. Just the thought of an evil Digimon in Equestria was just frightening.

“I…I’m aware of such cloning spells. But clones are said to be weaker than the originals.”

“That’s what we first thought. But when we met him, we were wrong,” Luna replied.

BlackWarGreymon then explained to Celestia the events that unfolded regarding his clone.

“At first, Sombra tried to use ChaosBlackWarGreymon to frame me for acts of violence. But later on that same day, the two decided to reveal themselves. Like what Luna said, I too thought that the clone was just a mere rip-off of me. But it turned out that he was every bit as strong as me. His speed, strength and power were all equal to my own. And when I arrived, I fought him head on. Our battle shook the Crystal Empire.”

The white Alicorn looked at BlackWarGreymon in disbelief. But was then confirmed by Luna.

“What he said is true, sister. With their level of power, the battle was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Even more so then his past battles.”

Celestia then looked back at the Mega as he continued the story.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon and I fought to a standstill. At first we were evenly matched, but then he revealed a deadly secret. Being a creation of Sombra, he inherited all of his dark magic.”

Celestia gasped in fright at what she heard.

“He…can use magic!?”

BlackWarGreymon gave her a glare as he spoke.

“How must you feel, if you faced someone with my kind of power, while possessing magic of an evil sorcerer.”

The white Alicorn slightly trembled at the thought of such a thing. The way BlackWarGreymon described it sounded as though ChaosBlackWarGreymon was an even bigger threat.

Twilight continued the story.

“The moment ChaosBlackWarGreymon started to use his magic, BlackWarGreymon couldn’t predict his movements and was overwhelmed.”

Fluttershy then began to shiver at a certain memory.

“And it was horrible to see him torturing our friend the way he did.”

Celestia then looked back at the crack on the Digimon’s chest.

“He… did that to you?”

BlackWarGreymon looked down at his chest before he responded.

“He did. But you should’ve seen the state I was in at the fight. But if it hadn’t been for Twilight, Luna and Cadence distracting him… I wouldn’t had survived.”

Celestia paused for a moment. Trying to bring her thoughts back in order.

“Then…then what happened?”

Then Luna spoke up, her tone changed to a positive one.

“Then a miracle happened. After BlackWarGreymon protected me from one of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s attacks, his anger suddenly exploded. And then he awakened his Ascended form.”

“A…Ascended form?” Celestia asked as she looked at BlackWarGreymon for answers.

“Remember when I took part in your test. My powers became infused with Equestria’s magic and my body glowed red.”

“Yes I remember now. Wait, that happened again?”

“Indeed. Because it makes me more powerful than before, I called it my Ascended form.”

Rainbow Dash then joined in.

“And when he went red, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t stood a chance against him! Even his magic couldn’t protect him.”

Celestia became amazed by the facts.

“Wow. That’s… impressive. So you used this… Ascended form of yours to defeat him?”

To Celestia’s confusion, BlackWarGreymon grew a disappointed frown.

“Not… exactly. Because of the amount of energy flowing through my body, I became mad with power. Instead of using it to finish off ChaosBlackWarGreymon for good, I just toyed with him. No matter what he did, he couldn’t hurt me. But that led him to go as far as to try and destroy the whole empire just to get rid of me. And at that moment, I realised that even my Ascended form has limits. So when he used such an attack, I had to use all my ascended powers to deflect it away.”

Again, Celestia was startled. But mostly by the actions of ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“He… nearly destroyed the Crystal Empire? But I doubt even Sombra would wish for that.”

Then Twilight spoke up.

“It wasn’t. Like BlackWarGreymon, he too had his own free will. Him and Sombra even argued with each other.”

Then it was Luna’s turn.

“After his attack failed, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned on him…and…he killed King Sombra.”

The white Alicorn gasped in shock. The fact that the once formidable Unicorn king suddenly became deceased was simply unbelievable.

“I…don’t believe it. Sombra… is really gone?”

The stricken Celestia looked back at BlackWarGreymon, eager to hear what happened next.

“By the time of Sombra’s death, ChaosBlackWarGreymon and I were at the very limit of our powers. Though drained of energy, we fought on nonetheless. And with the assistance of Luna, we were finally able to defeat him.”

“Then what happened?” Celestia asked. With Applejack answering.

“That no good clone got away, and BlackWarGreymon collapsed from exhaustion.”

As they finished, Celestia was beyond amazed at the story she heard. If it wasn’t from the friends she knew, she wouldn’t had believed them.

But as peace was among the group, BlackWarGreymon spoke with a dark expression in his eyes.

“But it’s not over yet. As long as ChaosBlackWarGreymon is still alive, every pony in Equestria is at great risk.”

“I see,” Celestia said as she felt sorry for the Digimon. Fighting your own clone was like fighting against yourself.

But she received another unsettling surprise from Luna.

“but I fear that’s not the worst of it. From what we heard from ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself, it seems that both he and Sombra were… conspiring with another evil force.”

“What!? They serve someone else!?” Celestia asked with shock and horror in her voice.

“Yes. And whoever or whatever this force is, we believe that it has power ever greater than ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s,” Twilight added.

Celestia was disturbed by their discovery. The thought of such a being living among them was simply terrifying.

“Very well, then I suggest we keep our eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. The last thing we need is another disaster.”

But then a split second later, a royal guard stallion charged through the main doors with concern on his face.

“Princess Celestia! I bring terrible news!” He said as he bowed to her.

His sudden arrival surprised the group.

“Yes?” Celestia asked, allowing the guard to speak up.

“It’s the city of Manehattan. It’s been attacked!”

The whole room gasped in shock and horror.

“Attacked!?” Rarity asked.

“Oh no, my cousin Babs Seed lives there!” Applejack said as she began to fear the worse.

“Yes, the centre of the city has been destroyed. But despite the damage, there were no fatalities. But some did receive medical attention,” The guard explained. Applejack sighed in relief that her young cousin was alright.

“Do you know the attacker?” Twilight asked him.

“Yes, your highness. Witnesses described him as a dragon warrior wearing armour.”

Most of the group received bad vibes from the description. Knowing who was more likely responsible.

“BlackWarGreymon. Is it him?” Luna asked him.

Hearing her sister caught Celestia’s attention. Looking over to the Digimon to see the anger in his eyes.

“No doubt about it. It’s ChaosBlackWarGreymon!”

“But why would he attack Manehattan?” Fluttershy asked.

“I say it’s his way of getting back at BlackWarGreymon for beating him,” Pinkie Pie guessed.

“If you’re certain that it’s him, then I believe you BlackWarGreymon,” Celestia said before turning back towards the guard.

“Where is he now?”

“We don’t know, your highness. He suddenly vanished as quickly as he came.”

Before more discussions were made, a second guard charged in the room.

“Your highness! There’s an emergency!”

“What is it?” Celestia asked. The others meanwhile received a bad feeling all of a sudden.

But what the guard said next was as shocking as it was surprising.

“The Kingdom of Griffinstone is under attack!”

“WHAT!!?” Twilight shouted in disbelief.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Far far away, the ancient Kingdom of Griffinstone, home to the griffins… was on fire. Due to the dry vegetation and the poor conditions of the buildings, small fires quickly turned into an inferno. Even the giant tree-like structure in the distance was engulfed in flames.

All the work… of an enraged Mega level Digimon.

Amidst the chaos, a familiar griffin named Gilda was navigating through the falling debris. Unable to fly straight up without risking getting her lungs full of smoke, she and the other griffins had to escape another way.

As Gilda flew by a destroyed shop, she heard a cry for help.

“Hay! Someone help me!!”

Following the sounds of plea, Gilda spotted another female griffin trapped under a large wooden beam.

“Don’t worry, I got ya!” Gilda said as she flew down to lift the beam.

At first the beam wouldn’t budge due to its weight. But with the danger around them and Gilda’s determination, she managed to lift the beam a couple of inches. Luckily the gap was just large enough for the trapped griffin to escape.

“Oh, thank you!” The griffin said as Gilda dropped the beam.

“Don’t thank me yet. Let’s get out of here.”

But just as the two were about to leave, they heard loud cracking sounds. Similar to wood splitting. When they turned towards the source of the sounds, they couldn’t believe what they saw.

In the distance, one of the giant branches of the large castle-like building could be seen snapping from the main building. As the fire weakened the bonds, the weight became too much. Resulting in the giant branch crashing towards the ground.

The sight was horrifying for the griffins. Resembling the fall of the kingdom itself. But the only thing more terrifying then the fall of a kingdom, was the sight of the being that caused it.

The two girls stared fearfully at something moving in the fire in front of the giant building. They then gasped when they saw him. Walking through the desolation he brought upon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon relished in the destruction. Evident in his sinister chuckle. To add in the fear, despite the red and orange glow from the fires, his crimson eyes were glowing bright.

Then Gilda and her friend saw three male griffins landing on the ground. Glaring angrily at the tall Digimon.

“How dare you destroy our homes, you monster!!”

“You will pay for this!!”

Before Gilda could protest, the three arrivals charged at the evil being. As the first griffin flew within range, ChaosBlackWarGreymon shifted to his left with his right arm raised. Then in one swift motion, he elbowed the griffin in the back. knocking him out cold. Before the second griffin could even get close to him, the Digimon leapt forward and slammed his left shin guard into his chest. With the air escaping his body, the second griffin fell to the ground unconscious.

The third griffin immediately stopped in his tracks. Seeing how easily his two friends were defeated filled his mind with fear.

After gawking at the strength of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he instantly turned around to escape. But the Digimon gave chase and grabbed his tail.

“Where do you think you’re going!!?” He shouted as he threw the griffin into a pile of rubble.

Knowing that it was hopeless to stop the evil being, Gilda and her friend fled the scene. Leaving the armoured Digimon to laugh insanely with fire both around him and in his eyes.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back at Canterlot, Twilight tried to get over her shock.

“No. Not Griffinstone.”

“Yes. The description of the attacker is similar to a dragon. But he wore grey armour. By the time I received the news, he disappeared,” The second guard explained further.

“What are your orders?” The first guard asked Celestia.

After trying her best to get over the shock, the white Alicorn came to a decision.

“I want you to send help and support to Manehattan and Griffinstone. We must not abandon those in need.”

The two guards gave her a solute before leaving the throne room.

After watching the guards leave, the mares and dragon heard sounds of grunting. Looking to its source, it turned out to be coming from BlackWarGreymon. His muscles tensed as his eyes showed a mix of shock and anger.

“He’s angry at me… but he’s taking it out on the innocent!”

Only a few of the group could understand what he was going through. Back in his past life, he had done the same thing to the Digital World. After he had reformed from his evil ways, he swore that such a thing would never happen to Equestria. But the fact that it was happening, and caused by someone with his own data, was starting to traumatize him.

In sympathy, Luna rested her hoof on his leg. Trying to comfort him.

“Don’t worry. He will pay for what he’s done.”

However, her words did little to sooth the pain in his mind.

“Celestia. I suggest that we mobilize the guards incase ChaosBlackWarGreymon should come this way,” Luna advised.

“Agreed.”

But before anything else could be said, a guard mare rushed in the throne room.

“Your highness, reports from one of the royal patrols!”

“Yes.”

“The patrol spotted some dragon-like creature flying at high speed. They tried to intercept him, but they couldn’t keep up. And in the direction of where he was going, they said he was heading towards the Wonderbolt Academy.”

While Spike and most of the mares were stunned, Rainbow Dash let out a surprised gasp.

“WHAT!!? No! Anything but that!”

“I’m afraid so, miss. Unless he changes course, the academy is the most likely place he’ll arrive at.”

The usually proud Pegasus almost collapsed from the weight of the news. Disbelief written on her face.

“No. Spitfire. Soarin. All my friends there. They’re all gonna be hurt. Or worse.”

While in his traumatized state, BlackWarGreymon heard everything and glanced over to Rainbow Dash. He knew her as a brave, proud friend. He always had. But seeing her so upset and grieving didn’t felt right to him. It wasn’t like her at all.

In truth, he hated it. He disliked seeing his friends in such grief. He would rather take immediate action and prevent such sadness from ever spreading.

He then spoke out his inner feelings. Which gained everyone’s attention.

“No. I won’t let that happen. I will not let him harm anyone else.”

Despite his bold statement, Rarity saw a flaw.

“But the academy is far away, darling. You’ll never make it in time.”

Not wanting to accept defeat, BlackWarGreymon shouted in sudden rage.

“No! I’ve had enough of this!”

All of a sudden, the throne room shook as the Digimon’s energy suddenly went haywire. Invisible energy whirled around the group like a cyclone. Then as the negative energy gathered towards the ceiling, it began to reveal itself. In a form of swirling black mist.

As more energy was gathered, the swirling object kept growing in size. As it grew thirty feet wide, Celestia, Luna and Twilight recognized what it was. An ability that BlackWarGreymon only used once back in his past life.

A black portal.

When the ponies and dragon all stared back at BlackWarGreymon, he made his statement in a rage-filled voice.

“I’m not a spectator… I’M A WARRIOR!!!”

Then without a second thought, he launched himself off the ground and shot straight through the portal.

As the portal began to close, Rainbow Dash placed together the pieces of the puzzle in her mind. BlackWarGreymon was intending to stop ChaosBlackWarGreymon at all costs. And she remembered that Twilight once said he had the ability to create portals to another part of the world. Though it would cost him a lot of his power.

Upon realising exactly where her friend went off to, and how much the Wonderbolts meant to her, she made a decision.

“Hay!” Rainbow Dash called out as she flew towards the closing portal.

“Rainbow, no!” Twilight called out, but the blue Pegasus disappeared through the portal seconds before it closed.

Though the portal was gone, all eyes stared at the ceiling in disbelief.

“Where…did they go?” Fluttershy asked.

“If I could guess… the Wonderbolt Academy,” Twilight answered, understanding Rainbow Dash’s intentions of following BlackWarGreymon.

Chapter 48: A Digimon’s Warpath

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Far away, high in the sky, was the famous Wonderbolt Academy. Sat atop on a giant plateau, it was an ideal location for the elite flyers of Equestria. The dense clouds provided perfect obstacle courses for when the Pegasi were training.

But all was not calm at the facility, as alarm bells could be heard all through out. The only time such an alarm would ring, was when there was a big emergency.

Shooting off the flight deck and ascending higher into the sky, a Wonderbolt squadron, led by Spitfire, were on a dangerous mission. News of attacks in Equestria spread like wildfire. And when one of their lookouts spotted something incoming at high speed, they only had a short amount of time to prepare themselves for the fight of their lives.

“Hay Spitfire, I was a little late for the team brief. What’s the situation?” Soarin asked.

“A monster is attacking the outskirts of the area. We have to provide assistance to the citizens and stop him before he reaches the academy,” Spitfire answered, the look of determination on her face.

“From what I read in the description, this monster sounds very similar to the saviour. Don’t suppose you think he’s turned against us?” One Wonderbolt member asked. Of which Spitfire denied.

“No. BlackWarGreymon would never turn against us. Me and Soarin met him at the Gala. He’s a close friend to the princesses, so the attacker couldn’t be him.”

Suddenly, the squad felt a very uncomfortable vibe. As if something evil was nearby.

“Did anypony else felt uncomfortable for a second there?” Soarin asked the group. But Spitfire answered.

“Of course. Because were near.”

The squadron then changed course, towards the distant sounds of screaming.

In a nearby village made of clouds, the Pegasi were fleeing in terror. One such family evacuated their home just moments before a black energy ball flew straight through it. Though the house of clouds didn’t explode, it was indeed destroyed. Which was enough to satisfy the attacker.

Hovering above the clouds, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked down on the fleeing crowd with a sinister glare. Chuckling like the Unicorn tyrant who created him.

Though he took his rage out on Manehattan, he wasn’t entirely satisfied. So his twisted mind commanded him to carry on his destructive rampage. Even though his attacks on Manehattan and Griffinstone shortened his already depleted power, his chaotic pride wanted something to make up for his defeat at the Crystal Empire. The end result was to cause as much cataclysm and mayhem as possible.

As he watched the Pegasi fly away, he laughed insanely at how terrifying he was to them.

His laughing stopped when he heard a mare shouting at him from behind.

“Hey you!!”

Though he didn’t turned around, the Digimon could tell she wasn’t alone. As the rest of the squad flew beside her, Spitfire spoke to him again.

“Stop your attacks and go back to where you came from! Or else!”

The response the Pegasus received was an amused chuckle from the dark Mega.

“Are you threatening me? If so it is most unwise. But go right ahead…”

He then looked over his left shoulder to glare at Spitfire.”

“… I could use some entertainment.”

It was when Spitfire realised it. The monster in front of her looked just like BlackWarGreymon. Except his colour scheme was different and his voice was of a higher tone. But it was his eyes that got to her. They looked as though they were glowing. Either from his inner power or just from his hate alone. She then felt a wave of fear as she looked at his crimson eyes. Paralyzing her speech.

Luckily Soarin was there to back her up.

“You heard her! Leave now or the Wonderbolts will beat you!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon briefly chuckled as he turned to face the Pegasi. His voice carrying a hint of laughter.

“You!?” Beat me!?”

Unable to contain it, the Digimon blurted out in insane laughter. Relishing in the ponies belief that they could stop him.

As the Mega continued to laugh, Soarin flew dangerously close to him.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said!?”

After he stopped laughing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon took in a deep breath as he secretly glared at the Pegasus.

“Ahhh… this is rich.”

Then without warning, he reached out his left arm and grabbed Soarin by the neck. The Pegasus let out a surprised gag as he was pulled towards the Digimon.

Hearing her comrades gasp in shock snapped Spitfire out of her trance as she too watched on.

As Soarin tried to struggle free, ChaosBlackWarGreymon used his thumb to raise the stallion’s head as he inspected him.

“So which one are you? The clown of the Wonderbolts?”

“Let go of him, you monster!” One Wonderbolt member demanded.

After giving the mare a blank stare, the armoured Digimon obliged.

“Ok.”

But instead of letting Soarin go, he purposely threw him into a nearby cloud. After pulling his head out of the cloud vapor, the stallion re-joined the group.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon only did it to stir up the anger in the Wonderbolts. Which worked from watching their angered expressions.

“Looks like we have no choice. Wonderbolts attack!!” Spitfire commanded.

The immediate response was the whole squad scrambling to every direction around ChaosBlackWarGreymon. While some circled or held back to find an opening, others flew in to attack. By working as a team, their flight patterns covered up some of their weaknesses while on the attack. They gave it everything they had, punching and kicking on every part of the foe’s body.

But while the attack pattern would work on most creatures, even adult dragons, they did little to nothing to the Mega level Digimon. He stood still as he allowed them to attack. While their attacks were hard and full of force, to him they felt more like weak playful slaps.

Being the only one not involved in the manoeuvre, Spitfire could see the reality of the situation. Frightened at how resilient ChaosBlackWarGreymon was.

But then with one backhand of the Digimon’s left gauntlet, he battered away five Pegasi.

“You call yourselves the best? This is more like child’s play!” He said as he swung his right leg out in a kick. Knocking more Pegasi away.

Knowing that he couldn’t be hurt physically, Spitfire came up with an idea.

“Wonderbolts! Tornado manoeuvre!”

Upon command, she and seven other Pegasi started to fly around ChaosBlackWarGreymon in a circle. As they sped up, they started to form a tornado.

Feeling that they trapped the Digimon in the growing whirling vortex, Spitfire spoke out in triumphant.

“Ha! Let’s see you get out of this!”

Looking to her left, she saw him. Though flying at high speed, she was shocked to see that the Digimon remained still. He didn’t even budge from the strong buffeting winds.

He then replied to what she said.

“Ok. Chaos Tornado!”

Spinning on the spot with his arms raised, he formed swirling green energy around his body. But with his motions accelerated by the Wonderbolts’ tornado, his tornado grew drastically. And from within, the tornado around him burst apart in a boom of wind. Sending more of the Pegasi flying.

Spitfire was the only one to recover quickly enough to see the green tornado. Which quickly shrank and faded away when ChaosBlackWarGreymon stopped spinning. Then glaring at her in amusement as she stared back in fear.

“How!? Just… how strong are you!?”

“You really want to know?”

Looking below him, the dark Digimon spotted a small empty plateau. He then decided to make an example of himself.

“Alright, let me show you!”

He then surprised Spitfire by flying straight down to the plateau. Then with a mighty yell, he smashed his right armoured fist straight into its top. The sudden force and vibrations from the impact traveled through solid rock. Causing it to crack and crumble. Then as the rocks gave way, the whole top section of the plateau fell down the rockface in a form of giant boulders.

The orange Pegasus was shocked at the amount of strength ChaosBlackWarGreymon had. The sight left her speechless.

As the evil Mega flew back up to her, he saw both her expression and the Wonderbolt Academy behind her in the distance.

“I take it that you’re impressed. But that’s nothing compared to what I’m about to do to your little base.”

Realising what he was talking about, Spitfire quickly looked at the academy and then back at the Mega. She could see in his eyes that he would destroy it with no hesitation.

“No. You… you can’t!”

“Oh, I can. And I will!”

Before he could carry on, a lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere and pushed ChaosBlackWarGreymon back. The two looked up and saw a large black cloud. With Soarin by its side.

“Don’t you dare you monster!” He said as he kicked the cloud once more. Launching more thunderbolts at the Digimon.

With ChaosBlackWarGreymon distracted, Spitfire quickly flew up to Soarin.

“Are you ok?” The stallion asked.

“I am. Impressive cover, but he’s going to destroy the academy!”

As the two looked down, they could see the armoured being glaring at the academy in the distance. Then with a slight chuckle, he proceeded to fly towards it.

“No! Let’s get him!” Spitfire said as she pushed the large cloud over the speeding Digimon.

While Spitfire moved the cloud, Soarin kicked it to fire more thunderbolts upon the Digimon below.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon swayed left and right to avoid the raining thunderbolts. Deciding that he had enough, he formed a tiny Shadow Destroyer orb within his right hand, faced up and threw it towards the pair.

The attack flew straight through the cloud, destroying it and the Ponies best hope for an attack.

“No!” Soarin said as Spitfire watched the Digimon once more. Shocked that he was closing in on the academy fast.

“Wonderbolts! Stop him!!” She ordered. Her voice made the command more like a desperate plea.

Ahead of the advancing Mega, only three Wonderbolt members were left. Charging towards their foe in an effort to protect their academy.

Though a brave and noble effort, it didn’t stop ChaosBlackWarGreymon from storming through them. He clothes-lined two of them, knocking them out. And then kicked the third high in the air, followed by a blast of green magic. Sending the Pegasus straight into a cloud.

With the academy exposed and undefended, and nearly all their comrades out of action, Spitfire and Soarin could only watch on as ChaosBlackWarGreymon prepared to undo all their hard work.

“No.” The Pegasus mare quietly said as she took her goggles off.

“CHAOS TORNADO!!!” The Digimon said as he performed his attack. Aiming straight for the base of the plateau.

Like a drill cranked up to max, the spinning Digimon drilled into the side of the rock face. Then came bursting out through the other side. After doing a U-turn, ChaosBlackWarGreymon drilled through the rock again. Making three holes in the plateau. But instead of emerging through the other side, the flight path of the academy cracked open, and the spinning form of the dark Mega came bursting through.

Then to the horror of the Pegasi, the unthinkable happened. As soon as he stopped spinning, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had his right arm raised high. And on the tips of his claws was a fairly large Shadow Destroyer orb. Then with a mighty yell, he threw the black orb down to the flight path and straight through the hole he came from.

What came next was a sound of a large explosion. Then a blast of green light shined through the holes and erupted from within the plateau itself. Every building and the entire top section of the plateau became engulfed in a green light. Huge chunks of rock and debris flew everywhere from the blast wave.

Spitfire and Soarin gawked on in horror at the destruction of the academy. They couldn’t believe that it was completely reduced to nothing.

“No. The…the academy…gone,” Spitfire quietly uttered. Mourning over the loss of the place she held so dear.

“Spitfire. I’m so sorry,” Soarin said as he tried to comfort her.

But their saddened moment was shattered by a crazed chuckle. They then turned to see ChaosBlackWarGreymon slowly levitating towards them. The two Pegasi tried to back away in response.
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Not too far away, a mass of swirling black energy began to take form. Then in a burst of power, it transformed into a portal. Soon after it appeared, BlackWarGreymon flew out of the portal. He then paused to take in deep breaths. Creating a portal to cover such a distance from Canterlot used up quite a lot of his energy.

“Right. Now where is…”

He was cut off when he heard sounds of panicking from the portal behind him. turning around in confusion, he recognized who the voice belonged to.

Then just as the portal closed, Rainbow Dash emerged out of it. Slightly disorientated from her trip.

“Woah… I’m dizzy.”

After she got her sights straightened, she saw BlackWarGreymon gazing at her in concern.

“Rainbow Dash!? Why did you follow me!? This is dangerous!”

“Sorry big guy, but the Wonderbolts mean a lot to me. I couldn’t just sit by and let your clone have his way.”

BlackWarGreymon was amazed. Rainbow Dash would even go as far as to risk her life to help something that she loves. Even if it meant standing up to a powerful foe.

But amazed as he was, he was deeply concerned for her safety.

“I appreciate the help. But you’ll get yourself killed if you don’t leave.”

“I’ll be careful. Besides, I’m here now. And if we don’t stop arguing, then ChaosBlackWarGreymon would continue to destroy. And I know you don’t want that.”

The black armoured Digimon paused in thought. Rainbow Dash was right. The more time they spend bickering, the less time there would be to save lives. Also he had little to no choice. If he created another portal to send her back to Canterlot, then he would have no energy left to fight. And it was very unlikely that he would convince her to leave otherwise. She was too determined.

After a brief moment of thought, BlackWarGreymon hesitantly gave in. It was no time for arguments.

“Alright. But be careful,” He said as he began to look around. Trying to sense the energy of his clone.
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Spitfire and Soarin hovered backwards in fear as ChaosBlackWarGreymon slowly advanced towards them. Glaring his crimson eyes at the two all the while.

Then all around them, the remaining members of the Wonderbolts all yelled as they charged at the dark Digimon. All engaging in a final assault.

Though his sights remained on Spitfire and Soarin, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened briefly as his claws began to glow green. Then out from his body, came a green magical forcefield. Unable to stop in time, the Wonderbolts bounced off the bubble the moment they crashed into it.

With their comrades flailing and crashing into clouds, Spitfire and Soarin again tried to back away. But unable to retreat any further with a giant cloud behind them.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon grew ever closer, he slowed down his approach. As soon as he did, the dark clone spoke.

“You know, despite my destructive rampage, I have not claimed any innocent lives yet.”

The pupils in his eyes slowly became slit as he showed off his claws to the fearful pair.

“Care to be the first of many?” He added in a dark intimidating tone. Sending even more fear into the two Pegasi.

The two began to slowly tremble. They gave it everything they had, but they couldn’t stop ChaosBlackWarGreymon from destroying the Wonderbolt Academy. And it looked as though they couldn’t stop him from claiming their lives.

Or so they thought.

Just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon reared his gauntlets back, a black three-toed foot smashed into his left cheek, as BlackWarGreymon came in for a kick.

The blow sent the evil counterpart flailing through the air and crashing into a large cloud. The pair were startled as they looked at their saviour.

“Your reign of destruction ends here, ChaosBlackWarGreymon!” BlackWarGreymon said to his hidden clone.

“Wow. There really is two of them,” Soarin said as he and Spitfire stared in awe.

Then they heard a familiar voice.

“Spitfire! Soarin!”

Averting their sights, the pair spotted Rainbow Dash flying up to them.

“Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire asked.

“Don’t worry. BlackWarGreymon’s here, and everything will be alright.”

All of a sudden, the three Pegasi received a bad vibe. Following BlackWarGreymon’s line of sight, they saw that a cloud was glowing green with dark magic. Then slowly ascending from the cloud, was the glowing form of ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The look of rage within his eyes.

Then as he hovered above the cloud, the dark Digimon turned his sights on his true rival. Then it hit him. His whole reason of attacking Equestria was all because of BlackWarGreymon. Just the sight of the black armoured Mega reminded him about the events at the Crystal Empire. Plus all the pain he felt during their fight.

He then snapped. All thoughts of reasoning, morality and compassion had been lost. Replaced with rage, hate and vengeance. With thoughts of negativity clouding his already chaotic mind, bringing him in a insane-like trance, it all devolved him into saying only a single word.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

Every muscle in his body began to grow tense. Readying himself for a rematch. His voice grunting in hate before he spoke.

“BlackWarGreymon!”

The three Pegasi began to feel worried. The evil Digimon looked as though he was getting more angrier by the second. Plus they could see his eyes becoming more predator-like. BlackWarGreymon meanwhile remained calm as he glared at his clone. Without fear and determined to end him and protect his friends.

The lack of response he was receiving only enraged ChaosBlackWarGreymon even more. Shown by his eyes glowing completely red and his violent outburst.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!!”

His voice shook the sky as it echoed through the air for all to hear. Even the clouds beneath him quickly parted from his voice alone. Ignoring the Pegasi completely, the clone charged at BlackWarGreymon in a blind rage. Then as he threw his right gauntlet out to form a punch, his foe blocked it with his left arm. Then responded with a kick to the chest. Sending him flying.

“Rainbow Dash! Look after the others! I’ll hold him off!” BlackWarGreymon said to his friend before he flew higher in the air. He then noticed that he was spotted by ChaosBlackWarGreymon as the clone charged at him once more.

‘I have to lead him away from the others’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself as he flew away with the evil Digimon in hot pursuit.

As the two Megas fight, Rainbow Dash inspected the two Wonderbolts.

“Are you guys alright?”

“I…think so,” Spitfire answered.

“What’s going on, Rainbow Dash? I thought there was only one of him,” Soarin joined as he pointed at BlackWarGreymon.

“At first. But an evil Unicorn king cloned him at the Crystal Empire,” The blue mare explained.

“A…A clone? No wonder why we couldn’t stop him,” Soarin replied.

Then as Rainbow Dash looked around, she noticed that something was missing.

“Hay, where’s the academy?”

Chapter 49: The Hero’s Inner Demon

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High in the skies, the two WarGreymons continued to clash. Because BlackWarGreymon used most of his energy to create the portal to reach the Wonderbolt Academy, he wasn’t at the height of his power. But because ChaosBlackWarGreymon expended most of his own energy by attacking cities, he was also in the same boat. However, they continued to fight nonetheless.

But the fight was more like a chase as the saviour was leading the clone away from his friends.

“Quit running and fight me!!” ChaosBlackWarGreymon demanded as he fired magic beams from his claws.

As he dodged the beams, BlackWarGreymon decided that he was far enough. Glancing back at his dark counterpart.

“Fine! Terra Destroyer!” He shouted as he turned around and threw a small red orb at his rival. Which exploded on impact.

At first, nothing moved in the fiery red light. Then to BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, ChaosBlackWarGreymon emerged as if nothing happened. Then the glowing red eyed Digimon slammed his right arm against his enemy’s neck. Clotheslining BlackWarGreymon into a stray plateau.

“Take this!” The clone shouted as he flew up and fired his Chaos Cannon attack on his foe.

As blasts of red rained down on BlackWarGreymon, he quickly leapt out of the line of fire. He then responded by throwing another red energy ball into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s face.
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Back with the Pegasi, Rainbow Dash questioned Spitfire once more.

“Guys. Where’s the academy?”

Soarin then stuck his hoof out.

“O…over there.”

As Rainbow Dash turned to follow Soarin’s gaze, to her confusion, she was looking at open sky. Not a cloud in sight.

“Wha…what do you mean? Nothing’s there.”

When she turned to face Spitfire, she learnt the terrible truth.

“Exactly. The academy WAS there. That monster… destroyed it.”

Horrified of the revelation, Rainbow Dash turned around once more with shock and despair on her face. The place she looked up to. Where she was trained by Spitfire herself. Where she would be once she became a Wonderbolt. She could picture it. Her mind showed her where the academy once stood. But reality was cruel. For it shattered both her hopes and dreams.

It was enough to even make her shed a tear.

“The… the academy……gone?”
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Back with the duelling Digimon, the two were exchanging jabs and kicks at one another. Again with their energy depleted, their attacks weren’t as painful as before.

As they clashed, BlackWarGreymon realised something was off.

‘Wait. This fight is different. ChaosBlackWarGreymon used to be devious and cunning. But now he’s just lashing out like mad. He’s not even using his tricks or his magic properly.’

Then as their claws met, the two Megas wrestled for strength. During which, BlackWarGreymon looked carefully at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes. Glowing completely red showed that the clone had lost all his senses.

‘Has his loss at the Crystal Empire…really affected him that much?’

BlackWarGreymon realised that it was an opportunity. With ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s mind unstable, he wouldn’t be able to think straight or plan strategically. Making him vulnerable to an attack that could destroy him.

“Yes. This could be it!” He said to himself.

Moving as quick as he could, BlackWarGreymon slammed his left knee into ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. Sending him back a couple of feet.

“This could be my chance to…!”

BlackWarGreymon’s sentence was interrupted when this evil clone rushed forward and kicked him in the side. The kick was then quickly followed by a hard punch to the face. The black armoured Mega was sent back quite far before slamming back-first into another plateau. He laid there imbedded in rock, he squinted in pain from the punch. But the pain only caused his anger to build. A different kind of anger. As he opened his eyes to angrily glare at his clone, he finished his sentence.

“…to end you for good.”

As he looked at the laughing form of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, BlackWarGreymon began to remember. The clone was an abominable creation of dark magic and his own data. A type of Digimon that shouldn’t even exist. Ever since his arrival, the clone Mega had caused nothing but misery and destruction. Two cities had witnessed the kind of calamity that not only they didn’t deserve but shouldn’t had happened in the first place. The Crystal Empire was nearly wiped off the map and if not for his intervention, his friends would’ve been casualties.

It was when BlackWarGreymon felt it. The anger he had been holding back was boiling up to the surface. But the kind of anger was different from before. It wasn’t like anything he ever felt before. The hatred he was feeling was more… vengeful. He remembered the pain he caused to both him and his friends. And if left to his own devises, he would carry on doing so. Just the thought of a look-a-like of him terrorizing Equestria was stirring up something nasty inside BlackWarGreymon.

As he freed himself out of the rock, the angered saviour stared fully at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. His muscles slightly bulked as his anger rose even higher. But the increase wasn’t like ascension like at the Crystal Empire. Instead… it felt more primal. His grunting sounded and felt more savage after every breath. Then as he spoke, his eyes started to glow pure white.

“There’s no place for you in this world. You’re better off gone. Slain… by my claws.”

To ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon suddenly vanished from view. Then before he could react, received a powerful blow to the gut. The black armoured Digimon appearing with his left foot connected to the clone. Then letting out an aggressive growl, BlackWarGreymon threw a hard-right punch to ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s face. Then did the same with a left punch. Followed by a hard punch to the gut again. Next with a sudden burst of negative energy, the digital clone was sent hurtling back into a bunch of clouds.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon recovered, baffled by his progenitor’s sudden change of attitude, he pointed his arms out and fired a volley of attack spells at the latter.

But as BlackWarGreymon was charging through the attacks, something started to happen. His whole body started to become shrouded in a faint white light as his eyes glowed brighter. His pupils barely visible to be seen.

“After what you had done… you deserve nothing less.”

Without him even knowing, BlackWarGreymon’s tone wasn’t the only thing that had darkened. His mind too shifted. Becoming filled with hate.

After charging through the attack spells like nothing, BlackWarGreymon headbutted ChaosBlackWarGreymon in the face. Giving of a loud metal clanking sound and sending the latter hurtling through the air.

Enraged at what was going on, the clone charged in to punch BlackWarGreymon in the face. But unlike before, his enemy wasn’t even fazed. BlackWarGreymon responded back with a punch of his own. With ChaosBlackWarGreymon temporarily stunned, the black armoured Mega flew up and bashed his gauntlets on top of his head. Sending him through some clouds below.

BlackWarGreymon then prepared a Terra Destroyer orb. But something was different. The shade of red in the energy sphere was much darker than usual.

“For the sake of my friends… and for the good of Equestria… you must die. Yes…you will die!”

As his biceps bulked up more, BlackWarGreymon threw his ‘dark’ Terra Destroyer at his clone down below. Of which ChaosBlackWarGreymon countered with a Shadow Destroyer orb. After the two attacks collided and explode in blazing light, BlackWarGreymon charged down to continue the fight.

The two Digimon clashed in the skies once more. Sounds of their struggle echoing through the air. Then as BlackWarGreymon chased ChaosBlackWarGreymon through the clouds, the clone Digimon gained enough sanity to notice that something was off.

‘What’s going on? Where is he getting this power from? Why is he glowing like that? And… is that chuckling I hear?’

He was right to be confused. He normally does the chuckling. As he looked back, he was in for a surprise. It turned out that it was BlackWarGreymon who was chuckling. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was then startled when he saw the glowing white eyes. The way they looked showed as if the good Mega… had somehow lost his forgiveness and mercy.

Then images flashed in ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s mind. All showing BlackWarGreymon in his past life. And those eyes were just like the ones from that past.

‘Impossible!’

Then in a sudden burst of speed, BlackWarGreymon flew beneath his clone and performed his Black Tornado attack. Flying straight up, the whirling black vortex slammed into ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Sending him hurtling higher in the sky. Then flying alongside him, BlackWarGreymon emerged from his spinning attack and slammed his right gauntlet on top of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s head. Then with his raised left arm, he threw a Terra Destroyer sphere into the clone. Instead of exploding on impact, the dark red orb sent the startled Mega into the top of a stray plateau. Of which it then exploded on, sending rocks flying everywhere.

“Yes! Now’s my chance!”

With thoughts on ending ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s life for good, BlackWarGreymon wasted no time and started to descend. Flying towards his downed opponent with his right arm ready. Preparing the final blow. And with ChaosBlackWarGreymon weakened from using too much energy, as well as the beating he took, the blow would also be fatal.

In the crater below, ChaosBlackWarGreymon slowly recovered form the attacks. Lying on the ground, his red eyes stopped glowing as he started to regain his sanity. The blow to the head had set his mind straight and snapped him out of his rage-filled state.

But as he looked up, he was shocked to see the incoming BlackWarGreymon. But not the same BlackWarGreymon he was created from. He could tell that his rival suddenly became more violent than usual. And his glowing white eyes showed, to his disbelief, that he had succumbed to his own hatred. Something that even the evil clone thought his good self would never do.

‘Yes! He must be destroyed! Erased! He must die! Die! Die!’

It was all what BlackWarGreymon’s mind was telling him as he approached ever closer to the plateau. His Chrome Digizoid claws gleaming as he had them ready.

“PREPARE TO DIE!!!”

With his outburst, BlackWarGreymon threw his right arm forward with his claws bearing down. Aiming straight for ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s head.

As time slowed down when he came within only a few feet from his clone, something sparked within BlackWarGreymon’s mind.

‘WAIT!!! WHAT AM I SAYING!!?’

Then the punch landed. Throwing up a mountain of stones and dust from the plateau. Sounds of the impact echoed for miles.

As most of the dust settled, the result was revealed.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon lied there completely still. With shock and fear in his eyes, and Digizoid claws imbedded in rock only a few inches beside his head.

Above him was the still form of BlackWarGreymon. The white glow from his eyes and body faded away as his muscles reduced to normal size. His berserk phase ended, and for a reason. His eyes stared blankly at the ground. Showing shock and disbelief. He deliberately changed the course of his attack, because he realised that something odd had happened to him.

Back at the Crystal Empire, he had wanted to destroy ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But at the time, all he truly wanted was to protect those he held dear. His friends were constantly on his mind. Reminding him to stay focused on what was important. But with his current fight, it seemed like it at first. But as the fight went on, his mind had pushed aside the thoughts of his friends and had grown another reason. And it was to outright kill his clone. Nothing else, just kill. But what put him off the most… was the way he spoke…the way he fought… and the way his mind thought.

It was almost like… he was turning into his old self! The BlackWarGreymon who had no friends! The BlackWarGreymon who was fresh from the Control Spires!

“BlackWarGreymon?”

The black armoured Mega snapped out of his trance when he heard ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s voice. When he looked at him, he was taken back by the expression in the clone’s eyes. Though mostly of shock, there was a hint of…concern. Normally the evil double would speak in a mocking or sinister tone. But when he spoke a question, he was genuinely curious. And the question he had was shocking to the reformed Digimon.

“Are you… enjoying this?”

The question was so shocking to BlackWarGreymon, he quickly pulled his arm free and backed away. Stopping a couple of feet, he looked at both his clawed gauntlets with worry.

“N-No. No! I… I shouldn’t be enjoying this! If I was, then I’m no better than you! No better than…who I was!”

Though it would’ve been the perfect moment for ChaosBlackWarGreymon to encourage BlackWarGreymon to embrace what he was created for, amazingly he chose not to. He was just as puzzled as he was.

“You had the chance to destroy me…but you didn’t. Why?” He asked as he slowly got back on his feet.

BlackWarGreymon looked as his foe with determination. Though he remained uncertain.

“Because I’m not a heartless killer. I was never one, and I’ll never be one.”

The two then spent a moment staring at each other. Both testing each other and trying to understand the situation. Then to BlackWarGreymon’s confusion, ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled softly before speaking.

“You know, I should thank you. Best buddy.”

Though BlackWarGreymon flinched at being called ‘best buddy’ from his dark counterpart, he was curious.

“Thank me? For what?”

“That blow to the head you gave me earlier had snapped me out of my fit.”

Then despite everything, he got ready to fight.

“And now that I’m back to normal, you will now regret for sparing me and…”

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon!”

The grey armoured Mega stopped the moment he heard his master’s voice. He then turned his head aside to listen. Only he could hear the voice, for BlackWarGreymon was giving him a questionable look as the clone looked as though he had spaced out for no reason.

The demonic voice spoke further.

“It’s time for you to return to the lair. Now stop whatever you’re doing and come home.”

After grunting in disappointment, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked over at the confused saviour.

“I’d love to stay and play with you for a bit longer, but now it’s time for me to go home. See ya next time.”

“No wait!”

But BlackWarGreymon was too late. In a flash of green light, ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported away. Leaving the black armoured Digimon alone. He also couldn’t sense his energy, meaning that the clone teleported far away from him.

After a moment of silence, he flew back to the Pegasi. Wanting to see how they were holding up. But when he arrived, he saw the look of disbelief on Rainbow Dash’s face.

“Rainbow. What’s wrong?”

When the rainbow maned pony spoke, her voice was quiet from the shock of the truth.

“He went and did it. He destroyed the academy.”

Hearing the loss of the academy startled BlackWarGreymon. But what hurt him the most was seeing the normally proud Pegasus so out of her character. He had never seen her so depressed.

The sight and mood made the Digimon lower his head in shame.

“I’m terribly sorry. We’ve come too late.”

Despite the loss, Spitfire tried to reassure the two.

“It’s ok guys. This whole thing isn’t your fault. What truly matters is that nopony got killed. It’s that what we have to thank you for.”

Then Soarin joined in.

“Yeah, you really saved our butts. And as for the academy, we can always rebuild it. And when we do, it will be bigger and better than ever.”

Though Rainbow Dash remained saddened at the loss of the academy, Soarin’s words had cheered her up a little.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

BlackWarGreymon silently nodded to show his support. But he felt troubled. Mostly from what he went through back at the fight.
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Back at the Canterlot throne room, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike all waited impatiently for the return of their friends.

“Ohh…they’ve been gone for quite a while,” Fluttershy said, feeling more nervous by the second.

“Am’ sure them two will be just fine. It is Rainbow Dash and BlackWarGreymon we’re talkin’ about,” Applejack said to comfort the timid Pegasus.

“I’m still amazed that he can create portals like that,” Rarity said.

Luna explained the details.

“Yes, BlackWarGreymon does possess the ability. But he told us that creating a portal uses up a lot of his energy. I hope he still has enough to fight.”

Celestia took a moment to notice her little sister. The blue Alicorn seemed to be just as worried as Fluttershy. But most of her concern was towards their Digimon friend.

Before more could be discussed, the group suddenly felt a strong breeze. Strange considering that there was no wind through the open windows. Then the sounds of whirling brought their attention to the ceiling. Of which a portal formed above their heads.

As the group took several steps back, Rainbow Dash was the first to leave the portal. Almost crash landing on the ground if she hadn’t landed on her hooves.

All her friends ran up to her in worry.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you alright!?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. I guess so.”

The group noticed the uneasiness in the blue mare’s voice.

“Why, whatever is the matter darling?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash then explained what happened.

“Well, I’m afraid by the time BlackWarGreymon and I reached to the other side of the portal… we were a little too late. Though no one got killed, ChaosBlackWarGreymon destroyed the academy.”

Her friends gasped in shock at what they heard, feeling deeply sorry for the blue Pegasus.

“I’m…so sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight said, with Applejack joining in.

“That place musta’ meant a lot to ya.”

“It’s ok guys, really. But…although Soarin and Spitfire said that they can rebuild the academy somewhere else, but…”

Rainbow Dash then surprised everyone by stomping her hoof hard on the ground in anger.

“…but I’m just so angry at that creep! I mean, what did the Wonderbolts have ever done to him!?”

Sounds from above caught the group’s attention back to the black portal. As the portal slowly began to close, BlackWarGreymon dropped out of it. Landing firmly on the ground.

The group were relieved to see their Digimon friend unharmed. Spike ran up to him.

“Hay, big guy! So, how did the fight go?”

Silence. Spike hadn’t received any sort of answer from the tall Mega. Which added to his confusion.

“Umm…did you win? He asked in a slight nervous tone.

But instead of acknowledging him, BlackWarGreymon quietly walked past Spike. All the mares watched in confusion as the Digimon walked past them too. Luna paused when she saw a glimpse of his eyes. They were neither caring nor fierce. To her surprise… they were blank. As if he had discovered something terrible.

“BlackWarGreymon?” She asked to gain his attention. But like Spike, received no reply.

The group continued to silently watch him walk past the large curtains and went out to the balcony outside.

“Wow. He looks so down,” Pinkie Pie said, saddened by the sight.

“What’s wrong with him, Rainbow?” Twilight asked the blue Pegasus.

“That’s just it, Twi. I don’t know. He’s been like that ever since he and I left the Wonderbolts. I’ve never seen the big guy so quiet.”

Then Spike spoke up.

“Now that you mentioned it. You were the first one to leave that portal. Then BlackWarGreymon took some time to follow.”

“Sounds like he was hesitant to come back to us,” Rarity noted, followed by Fluttershy.

“Do you think something happened to him?”

“Well he definitely wasn’t like that before he fought off ChaosBlackWarGreymon,” Rainbow Dash added.

Twilight then turned towards Celestia.

“Do you think we should… talk to him?”

Celestia had a look of uncertainty on her face.

“If only it were that simple, Twilight.”

She continued after looking at he curtains the Digimon walked through. She could just about see his silhouette through the light of the sunset.

“I have learnt many things about our saviour. One of which, is that he may be strong in body, but his mind isn’t. It’s surprisingly fragile… like glass. Put him in a wrong direction, or in a bad position, he could break.”

Everyone in the throne room, who either had been in BlackWarGreymon’s mind or not, had finally understood one of the Digimon’s problems. Despite everything he had been through since he arrived in Equestria, all the things he had done for them, he was still new to the concept of friendship. His mind tried to adjust to his new life after his experience with death itself. But running into an incarnation of his past must had disturbed the balance he made for himself. As if reminding him who he once was, and who he could’ve become.

The mares and dragon suddenly felt deeply sorry for BlackWarGreymon. They had no idea how much he was suffering since the events at the Crystal Empire. Half of the group even had tears forming in their eyes.

“As much as we want to help, but I feel that we shouldn’t rush it. Let him settle down first. Then when he’s ready, then we’ll talk.”

“Ah guess you’re right. The last thin’ we need is to make his issue worse,” Applejack said.

Believing that it was best to leave him alone for the time being until he was ready, the group began to leave the throne room.

But just as she was about to go through the main doors herself, Luna paused. Being at the back of the group, none of the others noticed that she stopped. Though she too thought that it was for the best to leave BlackWarGreymon undisturbed while in his current state, but deep down inside, it didn’t feel right at all. In fact, just the thought o fit made her heart ache. She paused because it started to hurt.

‘This…this is not right.’

She then turned around to look at BlackWarGreymon’s silhouette through the curtains. A single tear escaping her eye.

‘He’s in pain. I have to do something. He needs help.’
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Further up through the corridor, Twilight herself started to feel the exact same pain. Without the others noticing, she stopped in her tracks with a worried expression on her face. Though she believed in Celestia’s words, she didn’t felt like waiting. She really wanted to talk to BlackWarGreymon to see what was going on through his head. It could be her duty as Princess of Friendship calling to her.

After a brief hesitation, she decided to go for it.

‘I hope what he’s going through isn’t as bad as it seems,’ She thought to herself as she made her way back to the throne room.

As the purple Alicorn opened the main doors to the throne room, she briefly caught a glimpse of Luna’s tail moving through the balcony curtains.

‘Luna? What’s she doing here?’
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Out on the balcony, Luna slowly and quietly walked forward. In front of her, on the edge of the balcony looking out at the sunset, was the still form of BlackWarGreymon.

She felt nervous. Almost afraid. She had seen what he was like in the past, and what he had become since his arrival. From the times he was angry, to the times he was caring. But she had never seen him in such a state before. It was new for her to witness. Though BlackWarGreymon didn’t show it, but Luna could tell that he was stressed. She knew that Celestia was right. One wrong move could cause him to collapse. The risks were high. But deep in her heart, despite the risks, she wanted to help him no matter what.

Her attention was so focused on the Digimon, she didn’t realise that Twilight was silently watching her through the curtains. Not wanting to disturb the two and curious to see what Luna had in mind.

As Luna took more gentle steps towards the Mega, she softly spoke to him

“B…BlackWarGreymon?”

Though it seemed he wasn’t responding, he was well aware that Luna was behind him, He figured that one of his friends would try to talk to him.

Luna kept on walking until she was beside BlackWarGreymon. She dared not to look at his eyes, unsure what she might see. But as she looked out to the sunset, she tried to talk to him once more.

“Don’t think we haven’t noticed your change. I understand if you don’t want to talk. But if you continue to keep it to yourself, it will slowly destroy you. Or turn you into something you’re not. If you talk to us about it, then we’ll help you in the best way we can.”

She paused for a moment before she asked the questions. Her voice full of care and uncertainty.

“BlackWarGreymon, what happened out there? Did ChaosBlackWarGreymon done something to upset you?”

After a long pause, she received an answer.

“No.”

“What?” She asked again, of which BlackWarGreymon explained.

“The cause of my abnormality… it’s not ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s doing. But my own.”

Luna couldn’t take it anymore. The kind of answer she had received, made her want to look at him. Though she was startled from his words, but what started her the most was the expression in his yellow eyes. She had never seen his eyes so distraught before. But from her long experience as co-ruler, she knew what the expression was.

‘Is he… having a crisis?!’ She thought to herself.

Then to the surprise of Luna and the eavesdropping Twilight, BlackWarGreymon suddenly fell to his knees. His arms resting on the ground as he crouched forward. Almost in despair. Which was also evident in his voice.

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Am I a loyal protector… or a time bomb to destruction? Am I the saviour, or the destroyer!? What am I!? Just… what am I!?”

His words stunned all those who heard him. Luna had never seen him so distraught. It was so unlike him, it didn’t felt right. Something big must had happened to make him doubt himself and question his motives. Unless she does something, he could round up becoming violent once more. And becoming a threat to all.

Luna wouldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t allow it. In an attempt to show the Mega that she was caring and supportive, she walked closer to him and placed her hoof on his arm. Reaching out to him to show that no matter what happened, no matter how bad things seemed to be, she would always be there to support him when he needed it.

Feeling her touch snapped BlackWarGreymon out of his mental despair. Looking to his side, he saw Luna’s blue eyes and her caring smile. They were so full of deep concern and loving care, he was almost mesmerized by her gaze.

He was then further stunned by what she said.

“You are many things, BlackWarGreymon. And one of them is an incredible friend.”

The Digimon froze from her words. His eyes showing surprise and hope. As if he had seen the light. The Alicorn then tried to ask him again, believing that he might be in the mood to talk.

“Please tell me. What happened back there?”

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to summon up the courage to talk. He didn’t want to frighten Luna away. Not her. Not after everything they had been through. But he must trust in Luna’s words. Otherwise, she would’ve never had said them in the first place.

After collecting his thoughts, and a deep breath, he spoke what happened.

“It all happened back with my fight with ChaosBlackWarGreymon. His loss at the Crystal Empire had driven him insane. So when he saw me, he went into a rage-filled state. But his hatred for me had blinded his senses. It left him vulnerable.”

"I see. So you chose that moment to…end him?” Luna asked. Curious if the clone was no more.

But the reply she received was surprising.

“No. I couldn’t do it. Not in the state that I was in.”

“State? What do you mean?” Luna asked once more.

Behind her, Twilight too payed close attention to BlackWarGreymon’s story. Interested to find out herself.

Then the Artificial Digimon explained himself.

“Back when we first met ChaosBlackWarGreymon, I had you, my friends, and the whole empire to protect. It was the reason why he had to be destroyed, to protect you all from him. I couldn’t bare the thought of losing any of you. You all were constantly on my mind.”

As he continued, his expression darkened.

“But earlier, my fight with him was different. It seemed similar at first but… but then the thought of protecting all of you just… vanished. And in its place… I felt something else. Something that I haven’t felt since I arrived in Equestria. An…an urge that almost overtook my body.”

“What…what urge?” Luna questioned. But the answer she received was frightening.

“The urge… to kill.”

Luna almost gasped at what he said. Though it was understandable, considering what he was like before, but she had thought he had lost such desires since the beginning of his new life. So to hear it returning was startling.

Despite the uneasy feeling he had in his heart, BlackWarGreymon continued.

“Whereas before I had a reason, that time I had none. I just wanted to kill him because it felt like… I wanted to. And the worst of it… I felt as though I was enjoying the feeling. It’s like… the old me was returning. The monster that I was created to be. But just as I was about to deal the final blow, I came back to my senses. And instead of killing ChaosBlackWarGreymon, I showed him mercy. And then he got away.”

As BlackWarGreymon continued, Luna could sense the insecurity and the disbelief in his voice.

“I’m not sure if I had done the right thing or not. But I felt driven to destroy. Something that I shouldn’t be feeling here in this world. Am I not worthy of being the saviour? Am I supposed to turn out evil the entire time? Is my destiny…wrong?”

He then remembered. Back on the train to Canterlot, he had a nightmare. A nightmare of him fighting ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The things the clone said to him. He could remember every exact word.

‘Playing the hero won’t hide the truth of who you really are. No matter what you do. No matter where you go. No matter how much you fight it. You will always be… a tool of destruction!’

His eyes widened when one more belief entered his frightened mind.

“Am I… living a lie!?”

For once, Luna didn’t know what to say. BlackWarGreymon’s issue was becoming extreme. He was starting to be on a brink of collapse. As well as the fear of the Digimon having a mental breakdown, she was also saddened by his words. So shocked, her mind was on full alarm.

It was then she finally spoke up.

“No!! No you’re not!”

Her outburst gained the started BlackWarGreymon’s full attention. Momentarily stopping his meltdown. Then without any thought, Luna spoke what she saw was true.

From the heart.

“You may have doubts about yourself, but I certainly don’t have any. You need to understand. You are not the monster you think you are. You are so much more. In fact, even better than what we could possibly fathom. I just know that, deep in my heart, that your choice to help others was the best choice you could possibly make. The proof is all around you. Such as your bond with your friends. If it weren’t for that bond, you wouldn’t have been able to resist King Sombra’s mind control. And your connection with Equestria itself. The very land you sought out to protect. That connection is what lead you to become stronger and overcome the odds.”

BlackWarGreymon was amazed at how serious Luna was. He realised that she was absolutely right. He had become so much stronger and happier thanks to the friendships he had made. And despite the things he said, Luna continued to bring him hope.

“Don’t you see, BlackWarGreymon? You became so much better than you ever were since you came here. You even said so yourself. You’re still new to this world, but we can help you. That’s what friends are for. You are certainly not living a lie. And…you are worthy of saviour in my eyes.”

Luna gave of a little blush after realising what she had just said. But then explained the importance of one of BlackWarGreymon’s actions in his recent fight.

“And as for what you did for ChaosBlackWarGreymon…well… as evil as he is… I know that true courage doesn’t come from taking a life. But to spare one.”

Luna’s wise words opened BlackWarGreymon’s eyes. When he was inches from destroying ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he saw the fear and surprise in the clone’s eyes. Shown that even his dark counterpart never expected him to turn bad. But despite the uneasiness within him, the black Digimon felt incredibly relieved to hear Luna out. He was also glad that the blue Alicorn saw him as the saviour he was. She trusted him completely, with all her heart.

His expression softened considerably as he looked at her. A huge chunk of his stress leaving him.

“Thank you for believing in me. And I am glad to have met a friend as great as you, Luna.”

Luna blushed from the surprise complement. She even stuttered when she spoke.

“Ohh…uhh…y…you’re very welcome.”

Before BlackWarGreymon could stand back up, Luna made a stunning move. She surprised him by suddenly leaning on his arm. Resting her head against his left bicep. Reinforcing her concern and for what she was about to say to him.

“And don’t ever say such things, BlackWarGreymon. I was really worried about you.”

The Digimon was left speechless from the look that Luna gave him as she rested on his arm. It was both serious and caring. To him, both of which were kind of adorable.

“Hmm. Don’t worry. I won’t,” He replied, bringing back Luna’s smile.

Back by the curtains, Twilight saw the whole thing. And was truly amazed at what she saw. When BlackWarGreymon was panicking, she was about to step in. But hearing Luna’s heartfelt speech caused her to pause and listen. She had reason to believe that, despite herself being BlackWarGreymon’s first friend in Equestria, Luna seemed to be the one who truly understood him. If not, then the Moon Princess wouldn’t had brought the Mega back to his senses. Seems talking to the right pony was what he needed after all.

Twilight smiled at Luna’s success. But there was something else itching in the young Alicorn’s brain. The way the two interacted at the latter part of their conversation seemed to be in a… ‘more than a friend’ zone. Especially the way Luna surprised by leaning on his arm and admitting that she was very worried.

Twilight had rarely seen Luna showing such affections to others apart from Celestia. She seemed so close to BlackWarGreymon.

“Huh?” She uttered with a raised eyebrow.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, far away from any civilization, the dark being was making his way through the tunnels and towards one of the chambers deep within his lair. Though he never had anyone else in such part of his domain, he was joined by one Changeling solder. Following close behind the evil Digimon with his horn lit up to see. Showing that the larger being could see in the dark.

“Master, why have you only brought me down here?” He asked, slightly afraid from being so far away from Queen Chrysalis.

“You will find out soon enough,” The beast said, hiding his sinister grin.

After more moments of trekking through the tunnels, the two arrived in a chamber. the Changeling was scared, knowing that he was far deep within the lair. After looking around only to see nothing but his glowing horn, the solder looked back to his master with uncertainty.

“Master, why are we here?”

Slowly, the large Digimon turned around. Glaring over to the Changeling before speaking.

“Listen. Though Sombra was expendable, I am short of another ally. But if I am to conquer this world, I need my energy. So I need other means to recruit someone.”

“But…what’s that got to do with me?” The Changeling asked. But his question was answered by another question.

“Do you remember the energy boost I gave you some time ago?” The dark being asked as he pointed at the Changeling.

“Oh yes. Of which I am thankful for. I had never felt so fit in my life.”

“Yes. Yes,” The being responded with little interest in the Changeling. His tone carried a sinister vibe to it. He then continued.

“With your added energy, I will be able to go and recruit an ally without losing much of my power.”

The Changeling seemed eager on the idea.

“Oh, I get it now. I will gladly channel some of my magic to you…”

He was cut off when the monster raised his hand at him.

“That will not be necessary.”

“Huh?”

The Changeling felt a terrible vibe when he saw his master’s eyes. Seeing what looked like a gleam. Followed by them narrowing and the master’s face growing a toothy grin.

“I don’t want just magical energy, YOUR energy is required,” The Digimon said as he slowly reached his arms out towards the frightened Changeling. Who was slowly backing away.

“Wha…what do you mean? I’ve always been your loyal solder!”

But before the Changeling could make a run for it, he suddenly felt agonizing pain in his stomach. Forcing him to fall to the ground.

“Urrrggh…what’s…what’s happening!?” He asked as he tried to fight the pain. But to no avail.

Then as he looked at his master, he saw that his claw-like fingers were giving off a faint yellow glow. Showing that he was the one who was causing the pain.

“I’m so glad that you and the others volunteered to receive my energy. So good for you to hold on to it until I needed it.”

Then to the Changeling’s horror, his body began to glow yellow.

Then, his screams of horror and agony echoed through the tunnels. But with no one to hear them. The yellow light briefly flashed from the entrance of the chamber. And when it faded, the screaming stopped. Then was replaced by the Digimon’s evil chuckle.

Chapter 50: The Prophecy

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Deep in the dark depths of Tartarus, the former terror of Equestria, Lord Tirek, was moping in his cage. With barely any magic within him, he was too weak to break out. Even if he could, he wouldn’t have the strength to fight off Cerberus. The three-headed guard dog.

It was at that time of day again. Cerberus usually walks up the stairs to see if his prisoner was in place. And if so, the six-eyed dog would growl to intimidate him. as he growled at the Centaur, Tirek merely responded with a snarl.

As Cerberus resumed his guard duty, he was preparing for his little nap. But as soon as he started to lie down, he suddenly stood back up from sensing… something. Then to his surprise, a dark portal opened in front of him.

Cerberus growled at the portal. But then flinched in fright when he saw a pair of yellow eyes and demon horns. Threatened and intimidated by the being’s appearance and level of power, the three-headed dog began to whimper and back away. Then as he saw the figure move towards the portal, Cerberus yelped in fright and ran away.

As the warden of Tartarus appeared to check up on Tirek, he was shocked to see his pet Cerberus running past him. Yelping in fright.

The old Unicorn was truly surprised. Hardly anything could scare his pet.

“Boy, come back!! What in Equestria is the matte…!”

His voice lingered and then paused when he turned around, only to see a huge demon-like monster walking towards him. The warden stuttered in fright as he slowly backed off while the monster advanced.

“S-Stay back, beast! As warden of Tartarus, I have powerful magic!”

But just as the old stallion charged to attack, the huge monster swatted him away with a mere sweep of his left hand. The attack knocked the pony out cold.

“Such a weak, fragile race,” The being said as he climbed the stairs.

Back in his cage, Tirek looked towards the commotion he was hearing.

“What is going on down there?”

Then all of a sudden, he began to feel uncomfortable. As if a greater power had poked him on the shoulder. Then he heard loud footsteps.

Then to his shock, the beast revealed himself as he reached to his cage.

“M…M…Master!?”

“Long time no see, Tirek.”

“I… I don’t understand. What are you doing here? I thought you said you didn’t want to see me again.”

“Change of plan. Consider this an opportunity to redeem yourself. A lucky break.”

Though Tirek was relieved to know that he wouldn’t be spending the rest of his days in prison, he was confused about something.

“But I thought your decisions were final. I assumed you would’ve recruited the Changeling Queen to join you and King Sombra.”

“I did. Chrysalis and her children are currently at my lair. As for Sombra however, let’s just say that he suffered a fate worse than imprisonment.”

Tirek was shocked at the news. Truth be told at the times when they met, he and Sombra actually got along.

“Sombra’s…dead?”

“Yes. And I need you to take his place.”

The Centaur took a moment to think about the offer. Then something occurred to him.

“I take it that this has something to do with that no-good creature who defeated me?”

The huge Digimon turned around with his back to Tirek. Processing his thoughts before giving him the update.

“Yes. Since your defeat, I’ve learnt many things about him. Even his name.”

“You did?” Tirek asked, gaining interest.

“Mm-hmm. Tell me, Tirek.”

He paused for a moment to look over his right shoulder at the Centaur. Wanting to see is reaction from his upcoming question.

“How would you like to get revenge, on BlackWarGreymon?”

Tirek didn’t need a second opinion to decide for himself.

“As long as it gets me out of here, count me in,” He said with a grin.

Then to his surprise, the huge Digimon suddenly spun around and smashed the back of his right hand into the cage. Shattering the metal and leaving the surprised Centaur standing in the middle.

He was free once more.

“Glad that we understand each other,” The Digimon said to him.

Then Tirek looked at his tiny hands in thought.

“I am grateful for you freeing me, but it will take me time to regain my strength.”

“I figured you would say that,” The monster said as he raised his index finger.

After channelling his power through his hand, a tiny white orb appeared on the tip of his finger. Tirek looked at it in disappointment.

“Is that it?”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Tirek. It’s this or nothing.”

Tirek sighed in annoyance.

“Fine. I guess it’s a start.”

After the Digimon flicked the orb towards the Centaur’s gaping mouth, Tirek consumed it in one gulp. At first nothing happened. But then to his surprise, he felt his entire body trembling from within. He grunted as his form began to change. His horns grew larger and his skinny arms and chest began to bulk in muscle mass, enough for the metal cuffs around his wrists to shatter.

When the trembling stopped, he grew to the size of his master. His voice also had a deepened tone, evident when he spoke while looking at his hands.

“Incredible! It would’ve taken me months to reach this level!”

“Never underestimate my powers, Tirek. Now come, we’ve got work to do.” The evil being said as he walked down the stairs with Tirek following behind.

When the duo reached to the bottom of the stairs, the Centaur spotted the unconscious warden. Glaring at him in hatred.

“That pony had caused me misery.”

“He claimed to have powerful magic. Why don’t you prove him wrong,” The Digimon suggested. Of which Tirek obeyed with a chuckle.

“With pleasure,” He said before proceeding to absorb some magic.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back at the hidden lair, things had gotten tense. It had been some time since ChaosBlackWarGreymon had returned from his rampage. And he wasn’t himself since. He usually was loud, but since his return he was quiet. Alone in his thoughts of what happened with his progenitor.

‘I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Why did BlackWarGreymon let me live. He knows what I could do if I emerge once more. He could’ve spared Equestria from my wrath. But he chose not to. And what was with that look he had? He was almost like his old self. Just what is going on?’

As he sat alone on a rock, Chrysalis approached him in curiosity.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” She asked him, wondering if something was bothering him.

“I just have a lot on my mind. That’s all,” He replied. But then looked at the queen in curiosity.

“And why do you treat me like a child?”

Chrysalis paused from hearing the question. She already explained to her master that she saw the Digimon clone as one of her own. But she found it difficult to explain it to ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself.

“Umm…well…you are only a few days old. A…And you used to keep calling Sombra your father. So uhh…”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon slowly caught on what Chrysalis was trying to say.

“What? You want me to call you ‘mother’ or something?”

“Oh no, you don’t need to call me that. But perhaps you could… see me as one?”

The Digimon gave Chrysalis a confused glare, unsure what possessed her to suggest such a thing. But after a deep sigh, the queen explained herself.

“Well… I did help the master in creating you. And, I always wanted a child who was uniquely different from the rest of the hive. And when I saw you interacting with my children not long after your creation, you were like a part of the family.”

“Wait? I did that?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked, not remembering a thing of the matter. But for some reason, he felt as if it happened.

As the Mega was thinking about the subject, Chrysalis began to feel unsure about herself.

“Well… if it sounds strange to you, well…”

The clone interrupted her when he made up his mind.

“It would be a nice change around here. I’ll think about it.”

Chrysalis was stunned. Deep inside, she almost felt happy. She stuttered when she replied.

“Uhh…thank you.”

Before more could be said, the two felt a sudden rise in energy from one of the corridors. They knew full well who it was.

“The master must have returned with a new ally,” Chrysalis said as she walked towards the corridor. Slowly followed by ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

In the corridor, Tirek’s body stopped growing from absorbing the warden’s magic. Again, looking at his hands in awe as he followed his master out of the portal before it closed.

“It’s still amazing that a tiny amount of your power made me so strong.”

“But it will be the only time. I need the rest of my energy for when I rise.”

“And when will that time come?” Tirek asked.

The monster gave out a chuckle before answering.

“It won’t be long now.”

As the duo neared the exit of the corridor, they met up with the Changeling Queen. Who looked up at the Centaur with mild surprise.

“Oh, so the master decided to recruit you again, Lord Tirek.”

“Ah, Queen Chrysalis. It’s been quite a while since we last met.”

Before the conversation could continue, Tirek heard a voice unfamiliar to him.

“So who is it you brought home, boss!?”

When the evil centaur turned towards where he heard the voice, he gawked in shock and fright at who he saw. An armoured dragon-like being who he recognised.

His shock instantly changed into anger.

“YOU!! You will pay for what you did to me!” He shouted as he charged into the chamber. With his horns bearing down on someone he thought was BlackWarGreymon. Of which his master failed to inform him of.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon however found the situation exhilarating. The thought of an upcoming battle causing his warrior instincts to kick in.

“Tirek? Is that you? You want a fight?”

Then without hesitation, Tirek’s horns struck ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s shoulders. But while the attack would’ve impaled or sent him flying, it did nothing. The Centaur gawked in disbelief at the completely unmoved Digimon. Though the tips of his horns were pressed against the shoulders, they hadn’t left a scratch on the armour.

Tirek then felt a cold chill when he heard the Digimon’s sinister chuckle.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know we were starting. Here…”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his right arm up and grabbed Tirek’s left horn. The centaur tried to budge but couldn’t move. He then felt tension as his horn was slowly being moved against his will. Causing him pain.

“…allow me,” The Digimon continued as he done something shocking. With one swift move, he ripped Tirek’s left horn off.

Tirek screamed in agony as he grasped his stump. Trying to fight back the pain as he staggered around. Chrysalis and her Changelings were shocked at the sight. They had never seen someone like Tirek in such pain.

While in pain, Tirek looked at his assaulter in disbelief. He could see him waving the broken horn around to mock him.

“Looks like someone’s gonna be missing this,” The Digimon said as he tossed the horn in front of Tirek.

Tirek just stared at him in shock.

“W-What the…!? Since…! Since when had you become psychotic!?”

Then the centaur took a closer look. Noticing that the Digimon’s appearance was also different from what he remembered.

He then heard his master’s voice.

“Stay still.”

Then without warning, the beast stuck his clawed finger on Tirek’s stump. Instantly channelling a unique kind of energy into the stump. Then as Tirek took some steps away, he once more felt pain from his head. Then after releasing a pain-filled yell, a new horn quickly grew in its place. In the exact same shape as the previous one.

The dark lord huffed from his painful experience. Then franticly looked back and forth at the two Digimon.

“M…Master? What is he doing here!?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention. With my help, Sombra was able to create a clone of BlackWarGreymon.”

“A…a clone?” The shocked centaur asked as he turned back to the Digimon in question.

“I am ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The evil incarnation of BlackWarGreymon himself.”

As Tirek stared in awe, their master snapped at the clone.

“And don’t cause anymore harm to our forces! I don’t want to waste anymore of my powers!”

“Ok. Ok. But if I happen to do so, I could always just heal him myself,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as his claws glowed green. Showing off his magic.

The sight of it shocked Tirek even more.

“Huh? You have magic!?”

“Oh yes, a little something I inherited from Sombra.”

Tirek realised that the Mega was right. The kind of magic he had matched Sombra’s perfectly.

“If we are to rule the world, I need full cooperation from all of you,” The dark being said as he turned to walk away. But then briefly stopped to motion Tirek over to him. When the centaur walked up to him, his master gave him a warning.

“And be careful of ChaosBlackWarGreymon.”

“Why? I mean, he is on our side apparently,” Tirek said, but wasn’t expecting a certain kind of reply.

“Because it was HE who killed Sombra.”

The evil Digimon then walked away, leaving a startled Tirek behind him.

He was startled even more when ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported next to him. The Digimon eyeing the centaur horns.

“You know, that horn re-growing thing looked like it hurt a lot.”

Tirek knew what ChaosBlackWarGreymon was implying. He quickly took several steps away while holding onto his horns. Giving the Digimon a glare.

“Don’t you even think about it.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Canterlot

Before night fell, the Mane Six and Spike left Canterlot and went home back to Ponyville. While BlackWarGreymon decided to stay in the city for the night.

During their train ride, Princess Twilight told her friends all about what she saw the day before. They couldn’t believe what they heard. Amazed that it was Princess Luna who helped BlackWarGreymon and made him good again. They were very relieved that Luna done what very few could do. Glad to get their friend back from his distress.

After the train arrived in Ponyville, the group headed to their homes to get some sleep. They were exhausted from the events at the Crystal Empire and Canterlot. When morning arrived, Twilight sent a message to her five pony friends. Telling them to go to her castle for what she said as ‘a very important task’.

Back at Canterlot, feeling like himself again, BlackWarGreymon left the city and flew towards Ponyville. He was also enthusiastic, because he was in an upbeat mood.

“Wow. I hadn’t felt this good in a long time. I feel so refreshed. So much better. And it’s all because of her.”

His thoughts trailed off to what happened on the day before. Remembering the things that Luna said to him. And how worried she was. He felt as though it was a moment he should treasure. Never in his life had he met someone so supportive. BlackWarGreymon especially remembered when the blue Alicorn leaned on his arm. Her using physical contact on him in such a way, felt right to him. He didn’t know why but, he wouldn’t mind if she did that again on him.

Without him knowing, just the thought of that moment made him even happier as he let out a soft quiet chuckle.

“If it hadn’t been for her, I would probably still be in that state of shock. Or even worse. I don’t know if I could even get out of it on my own. She just…brings me happiness.”

BlackWarGreymon realised what he just said. But it was true. Whenever Luna was around, she always brought happiness to his life. But not the kind of happiness he felt from all his other friends. It felt… much stronger. Much deeper.

He then felt something inside him. A sudden warm feeling in his chest. He looked down at it as he placed his right hand to where his heart was.

“This feeling again. I never felt this way about anyone. Could Princess Cadence be correct? Could this feeling be…love?”

Then with sudden confidence surging through his very being as he thought of Luna once more, he came up with a big decision.

“I want to do something for her. But what?”

That question lingered on as he approached Ponyville.

“What should I do to repay her for what she’s done for me?” He asked himself as he flew over the rooftops.

He then stopped his flight when he noticed that the town looked different. On every building and through the streets bellow him, he could see decorations in shapes of love hearts. Carts selling love cards and the colour pink was pretty much everywhere.

“What’s going on down there? Wait. Didn’t Cadence mentioned some sort of event?”

After remembering back to his conversation with Cadence at the Crystal Empire, he realised what it was.

“That’s right. It must be Hearts and Hooves day.”

He then got an idea.

“That’s it! I’ll get a gift for Luna. Good timing too.”

As he was greeted by many ponies below and around him, BlackWarGreymon flew low as he scanned every shop and stall. Looking for the perfect gift.

What caught his eye the most was a sight of a Pegasus stallion giving a Pegasus mare a bouquet of roses. Which she accepted greatly as she smelt their scent with a loving smile on her face.

“Hmm, roses seem very traditional for today. Maybe I can give Luna some of those.”

But as he looed around, he began to have doubts.

“But roses are incredibly common, she would probably had gotten too used to them.”

He then thought of something. All the roses he’d seen were either red, light pink and dark pink. No other colours. He then thought of an idea of a type of rose that matched Luna best.

“Ok, I think I know what to get her. But all these stalls have red roses. I should try a flower shop.”

After landing to the nearest flower shop he could find, he looked at the range of flowers that were displayed. Seeing someone interested in her stock, a pale-yellow mare with a red mane and tail approached him. Her name ironically enough, was Rose.

“Oh, hello sir. Can I help you with anything?” She greeted. Although it was her first time talking to BlackWarGreymon, she already knew who he was and gradually accepted him as a friend.

The Digimon turned to her after hearing her greeting. Then as he took her offer of assistance, he made his request.

“Oh, yes. I’m looking for a gift for a friend. Do you have any… blue roses?”

Rose briefly looked baffled from the question before answering.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m afraid I don’t have any. Blue roses are incredibly rare to find and very few shops even sell them.”

After hearing the bad news, BlackWarGreymon became disappointed as it seemed his perfect gift wouldn’t come true.

“Oh……Ok.”

But before he could turn away, Rose caught his attention.

“But I do know where you can find some.”

“Where!?” BlackWarGreymon asked as he sharply turned towards Rose. Surprising the Earth Pony mare.

“Wow, you’re serious,” Rose said before calming down.

After looking left and right to be sure that nopony was spying on them, Rose motioned her hoof. Signalling BlackWarGreymon to kneel down. Which he done so, much to his confusion.

Then acting as if it were top secret, Rose explained the details.

“There are rumours, that there lies a single large shrub that grows perfectly blue roses. Deep in the Everfree Forest. Where only a few ponies throughout history ever reached. And legend had it that when raindrops land on the petals, they sparkle like stars in the night sky.”

BlackWarGreymon was amazed at what he was hearing. And the latter part made his idea of a gift all the more perfect.

“But the route is dangerous. It is the Everfree Forest after all,” Rose added to provide caution. But BlackWarGreymon didn’t mind it in the least.

“I’ve been in that forest before. I can handle what the forest can throw at me.”

Seeing how confident the Digimon was by the look in his eyes, Rose decided to help him some more. Reaching to a hidden compartment, she pulled out a scroll and handed it to him. Which he accepted with curiosity.

“Take this map. It’s my gift to you. It was made by my grandfather. He was also one of the few who even found the blue roses and made it back safely.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at the closed scroll within his grasp. Then looked at Rose with a questionable look.

“You had a map this whole time? Why don’t you use it?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare go into the Everfree Forest. And I'm giving this map to you to repay you for saving Ponyville a bunch of times,” Rose explained.

With the map his only gamble to find the blue roses, BlackWarGreymon turned away and prepared to leave.

“I’ll return your map when I’m done.”

“Thank you, and good luck.”

After their farewells, the black armoured Mega levitated high above the ground. As he got to a good height to see the dense forest in the distance, he opened the scroll and took note of where the end of the route might be.

“Wow, it’s even further then Celestia and Luna’s old castle,” He said out loud. Seeing that the route stretched past the picture of the castle.

After facing where he was going, BlackWarGreymon flew fast as he left Ponyville and entered the forest. Zooming past the tree canopy.

In fact, he flew so fast that he didn’t see that his pony friends were on a trek of their own.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

On the forest floor, Twilight and most of her friends were making their way through the plant life. Then a tree rustling sound caught the ears of Rainbow Dash. As if something just flew by overhead at high speed.

“Hay, did you guys hear that just now?”

“Hear what?” Applejack asked.

After looking up at the tree canopy, the blue Pegasus gave up.

“Nah… it’s probably just the wind.”

The two then turn back to the heart of the conversation. Of which Fluttershy found it amazing to believe.

“That’s incredible, Twilight. You mean the Tree of Harmony… actually spoke to him?”

“I found it hard to believe myself. But BlackWarGreymon did say that the voice he heard lead him to the tree.”

Twilight then felt a little guilty on one subject.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you all about it sooner, since it happened sometime ago. but so many things happened that I didn’t had the time to tell.”

“It’s alright sugar cube. A lot had happened recently,” Applejack said to cheer up Twilight.

“Twilight, you never said why Rarity isn’t joining us,” Spike whined, already missing his favourite Unicorn.

“Oh, sorry Spike. Because of the things that happened in the past few days, she became behind on her work. She’s just trying to make up for lost time.”

“Oh…ok,” Spike said, a little disappointed.

“Don’t worry, Spike. I’m sure Rarity will be done soon,” Pinkie Pie said before turning towards Twilight.

“And is the whole ‘talking Tree of Harmony’ thing is the reason why we’re out here?”

“Exactly. That’s why I need your help. We found the Elements of Harmony and we now represent the elements. Yet only BlackWarGreymon could hear a voice from the tree. It spoke only to him. and back at the Crystal Empire, Luna told me that he even thinks that it was the tree what brought him to Equestria,” Twilight explained.

“But how? That’s what I don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash mentioned.

“I don’t know. But I’m sure we could find clues when we get to the tree,” Twilight added.

Within minutes, the group arrived at the ancient ruins of the Alicorn’s old castle. They then entered the cave that lead to the Tree of Harmony. Once inside, they began to examine every detail of the tree and the cave around it. So far, they found nothing.

“Anything yet?” Rainbow Dash asked the group after briefly marvelling her own element.

“Afraid not, Rainbow,” Applejack replied as she looked at the cave wall.

“I haven’t found squat over here!” Pinkie Pie said as she stared at some rocks.

She then bounced in excitement.

“Oh! Oh! I have an idea!”

The pink mare rushed to the front of the tree, took a deep breath, and shouted at it.”

“HAY TREE!!! CAN YOU SPEAK TO US!!? PLEASE!!!”

Her vice echoed throughout the cave, almost deafening her friends. Then after a long silent pause, she turned to Fluttershy with a cheeky grin.

“Yep. Got nothing.”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked when the yellow Pegasus saw the uncertainty on the young Alicorn’s face.

“We need to keep searching. We need to find at least something that could connect the Tree of Harmony to BlackWarGreymon,” She said, reinforcing her resolve.

“This doesn't make any sense. Why doesn’t the tree talk to us at all? Why only BlackWarGreymon?” Twilight said quietly to herself.

While the girls were searching, Spike was lurking behind the great tree. Thinking that something was there. At first there was nothing, but then he caught a glimpse of something different on the crystal bark.

“Huh?”

After standing up straight, the young dragon looked up to see something odd on the surface of the tree. And it definitely wasn’t a symbol of any cutiemark.

“Hay girls! I think I’ve found something!”

After hearing their excited friend, the five mares rushed up to Spike behind the tree.

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked as she reached him.

“Look there,” Spike said as he pointed his claw at what he found.

Following his finger, Twilight and her friends were stunned at what they saw on the back of the tree. Twilight especially gasped. Because on the tree… was some writing! Writing that hadn't been seen by pony eyes for a very long time.

Pinkie Pie broke the stunned silence.

“Somepony’s vandalized the tree!”

Twilight instantly corrected her.

“No Pinkie! This isn’t vandalism! This is… something else. Something amazing!”

“Amazin’? Ah can’t understand what it says,” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

“What language is that?” Fluttershy asked.

After taking a closer look, Twilight recognized the dialect.

“I don’t believe it! This is Ancient Equestrian! I’ve learnt this from one of Celestia’s old books!”

While the others were interested, Rainbow Dash was baffled.

“Ancient Equestrian? We used to have a different language?”

Twilight kept staring in awe at the writing.

“The language may be ancient. But the way this was engraved, it must’ve been even older! This message must be thousands of years old! Possibly even older than any Alicorn!”

“Can you read it, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Well it’s been a while since I studied it, so I might be a little rusty,” The purple Alicorn admitted before she started to read the dialect.

After roughly scanning through half of the words, Twilight let out a stunned gasp which surprised the others.

“What is it, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“It’s the way these words are laid out! It sounds more like… a prophecy!”

Her friends were shocked at what they heard.

“A prophecy?” Fluttershy asked.

“Like…a prediction?” Spike asked, with a hint of worry.

“Or a message from the past that tells the future?” Pinkie Pie joined.

Rainbow Dash was at a point where she became too excited.

“Enough with the suspense, Twilight! Spill it! What does it say!?”

After looking back at the writing, Twilight finished translating the ancient words. And then spoke out what it said.

“When worlds collide, on the day of tragedy,
Equestria will face the Greatest Calamity.
To correct her mistake, she brings in another,
To spare the world from eternal suffer.
A hero shall rise, whose beginning brings irony,
He is the saviour, the Warrior of Harmony.”

The whole group were in awe at what Twilight said. Especially the final part of the prophecy.

“The Warrior of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ok. First the Elements of Harmony. Then the Tree of Harmony. And now the Warrior of Harmony?” Pinkie Pie mentioned.

“Um… what does this all mean?” Fluttershy asked.

She had a point. They had no idea what any of it meant. Twilight looked at the text again and carefully looked through each part. Trying to decipher what they meant.

“Hmm…when worlds collide. Could that mean Equestria…and the Digital World?”

While amazed, the others were confused.

“But what does this have to do with BlackWarGreymon’s world?” Spike asked while Applejack joined.

“And what in tarnation does it mean by, ‘A hero shall rise, whose beginning brings irony?”

Then after figuring out one piece to the puzzle, Twilight gasped in amazement as her eyes widened.

“BlackWarGreymon! That’s it!”

“Huh?” The group asked as they stared at Twilight in confusion. She then turned around to face them.

“Don’t you see? It says here, ‘whose beginning brings irony’. BlackWarGreymon was created to be evil, but he became a hero. Like here, ‘A hero shall rise’.”

She then continued.

“And the part here, ‘she brings in another’. BlackWarGreymon said that it was the tree that brought him here, and that the voice sounded female. This part must mean about the Tree of Harmony…summoning BlackWarGreymon.”

She then came to a conclusion.

“This may sound hard to believe… but I think this prophecy is about BlackWarGreymon. HE is the saviour the text is on about.”

Her friends took a step back in awe. They felt like they were witnessing a start of a legend. And that their friend WAS that legend.

“Wait. So. Are you saying that… BlackWarGreymon… is the Warrior of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Hmm… the name suits him well. Almost like a title,” Pinkie Pie said. Acting as if nicknames for her friend wasn’t new.”

But Applejack changed the subject.

“But what about the parts that sounded unsettlin’? Like the day of tragedy. The eternal suffer. And the…Greatest Calamity?”

“And what does it mean by, ‘To correct her mistake’?” Spike joined, just as worried as the orange Earth Pony.

Twilight looked back at the prophecy in thought.

“I don’t know. But what this prophecy says matches BlackWarGreymon perfectly. And whatever this ‘Greatest Calamity’ is… it sounds big. But more importantly… when will this calamity begin?”

Upon speaking out her own statement, Twilight had an uncomfortable feeling. If every disaster that Equestria had faced wasn’t the so-called calamity, then what will it be?”

And who would be evil enough to bring it?

Chapter 51: The Hunt for the Blue Rose

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As time slowly reached to the middle of the day, BlackWarGreymon was soaring high above the Everfree Forest. On a trip to find the perfect thank you gift for Princess Luna. Since it was also Hearts and Hooves day, it was the perfect opportunity. Seeing that roses are traditional on such a day, he thought of giving her a very special kind. The blue rose.

After his visit to a flower shop in Ponyville, he discovered that the plant he had in mind was incredibly rare. And Rose, the shop owner, was kind enough to let him borrow a map to where a full blue rose bush was last seen.

According to the map, the journey would’ve taken an average pony roughly a day to reach the spot. But because he was flying at high speed, BlackWarGreymon was making very good time. But one thought crossed his mind.

“Just how big is this forest!? I’ve been flying for fifteen minutes now.”

As he continued on his way, he took a look at the map in his left hand.

“Ok, soon I’ll see a giant petrified tree, then take a left.”

But as he wasn’t looking where he was going, by the time he moved the map aside, a giant form of a tree was directly in his flight path.

“WAAAHH!!”

Unable to move out of the way in time, BlackWarGreymon flew straight into the tree. Crashing through the old bark as it all snapped loose.

After recovering from his crash, the Digimon shook his head to shake off any twigs in his hair. And then looked back at what he crashed into. A giant tree with no leaves whatsoever.

“Wait, that’s the petrified tree. Now did the map say take a left?” He questioned as he looked at his left hand.

Only to see, to his shock, that the map was gone!

“WHAT!?”

Feeling that he dropped it during his crash, BlackWarGreymon hastily hovered around the tree to see if its stuck in the branches.

“No,no,no! Where is it!? It couldn’t have gone far!”

After several moments of frantic searching, he suddenly heard a series of gallops. As if a pony was running away. After looking through the canopy, he spotted something strange.

“A stallion? What’s a stallion doing way out here?”

The appearance of the stallion was strange too. He looked as though he belonged to a tribe of some sort. With bits of plants covering his body as well as holding a spear. The spear itself was just a long stick with a sharp stone at its end.

But it was something in the bag he was carrying that caught BlackWarGreymon’s attention.

“The map!”

Unfortunately, he couldn’t fly down and get it. The trees were incredibly dense together. So much that even he couldn’t move freely in. Only pony-sized creatures could. He grunted as he resorted to one option.

“I have no choice. I’ll have to follow him into a more open area.”

Of which he did so. While not loosing sight of the Earth Pony, BlackWarGreymon followed him from the air.

After a short while, the black armoured Digimon followed the stallion to what looked like ancient ruins. He paused as he took in the sight in front of him.

“What is this place?”

He then glanced down towards the stallion he had been tailing.

“He’s heading towards it. And I guess he isn’t alone.”

He then thought of something.

“They have never seen me before, so I’ll use violence as a last resort. I’m going to have to persuade their leader to return that map.”

He then moved to a more open part of the forest to land. Deciding to approach the ruins on foot.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Down by the foot of the ruins, the stallion ran up to the outside platform. Where his leader sat upon the throne.

On the throne, surrounded by more spear-wielding ponies, was a very unusual creature. With forelegs of an ape and rear legs of a canine, he was like a mix of a dog and a monkey. His head also resembled like a dog’s, but his eyes were very close to his snout. His monkey-like tail was ended with a third hand and his fur was both dark and light blue. He also wore jewellery around his neck, arms and one earing on one of his ears.

The mythical being was none other than the notorious nemesis of the hero Daring Do. Ahuizotl.

After approaching his side, the stallion bowed before speaking.

“Master, I’ve acquired more treasures for your collection.”

“Let me see,” Ahuizotl demanded.

Obeying without question, the stallion handed him the bag of treasures. After admiring the collected gems and gold, of which probably stolen, Ahuizotl picked up the opened scroll with his tail hand.

“And what is this?”

“I’ve just found that on my way back here. It appears to be a map that leads to some sort of treasure,” The stallion answered.

Ahuizotl took a look at the picture at the end of the trail on the map.

“Hmm…the blue rose. I bet its some sort of blue gem shaped like a rose!” He said, thinking that the flower was in fact a jewel.

“Master! Something’s coming from over there!” One guard said as he pointed his hoof in front of them. Alerting everyone.

Ahuizotl and his guards all stared at the edge of the forest. And were then stunned when something new emerged into the open. To them, what was walking towards them looked like a dragon wearing black armour.

“What’s a dragon doing here?” One guard asked.

“Well he’s not like any dragon I’ve ever seen. I don’t like that look in his eyes,” the second guard joined. Intimidated by BlackWarGreymon’s gaze.

While himself was surprised, Ahuizotl was also interested.

“I don’t know what he is, but he does have interesting armour.”

As he approached the ruins, BlackWarGreymon could not only see more ponies, but a bizarre looking being on the throne. His gaze remained locked on Ahuizotl as he stopped about ten meters from the throne. Feeling uneasy by his appearance, some of the guards held tight on their spears.

After making his entrance, BlackWarGreymon made his greetings.

“Hello there. I take it that you’re in charge here?”

Seeing that he was being addressed, the three-handed creature responded. Trying to act polite.

“I am indeed. I am the great Ahuizotl. Now what brings you here?”

Ahuizotl was slightly surprised when BlackWarGreymon’s expression changed from curious to serious. His speech was even more surprising.

“I came here to take back what’s rightfully mine.”

Ahuizotl was offended enough to stand up from his throne.

“What’s yours!? The jewels and gold belong to me, no one else!”

BlackWarGreymon gave him a questionable look.

“What? I’m not here for any of that.”

Ahuizotl flinched in response.

“You’re not? Then what do you want?”

The Digimon pointed his left gauntlet at the creature’s tail hand.

“In your hand. That map belongs to me. I dropped it and one of your ponies took it. I want it back now.”

Ahuizotl took a look at the map he rolled up. And then did a sinister grin at BlackWarGreymon.

“Is that so?”

He then jumped off his throne and landed in front of the visitor. As he stood back up, he turned out to be roughly the same height. While BlackWarGreymon remained unmoved, Ahuizotl took a good look at him while circling him. Every now and then tapping his fingers on the jet-black Chrome Digizoid.

After he stopped moving, Ahuizotl stood on front of the Digimon as he came to a decision.

“How about a trade? I’ll give you the map, but you give me something in return.”

He then snickered to himself.

‘Perfect! Now I can get his armour. Once it’s mine, hardly anything can stop me. not even Daring Do!’

Unfortunately, BlackWarGreymon saw through his scheme as clear as day.

‘He’s clearly interested in my armour. As if I would give it to him. Plus, the map is mine to begin with.’

He then thought of an idea. It might come off as being a bit cruel, but it was the best way to get the map back without fighting. A different kind of trade.

‘Oh, I’ll trade him something alright. Something he will never forget.’

Ahuizotl continued to snicker. Until BlackWarGreymon’s shadow loomed over him, causing him to stop.

“Very well.”

The creature didn’t know why, but he didn’t like the way BlackWarGreymon was looking at him.

Then without warning, the Digimon quickly grabbed a firm hold on Ahuizotl’s tail and flew high in the air. The only thing left on the ground were the stunned guards and the rolled-up map.

Ahuizotl screamed in shock and surprise as he was being lifted higher and higher into the air. High above the clouds.

As he reached a good height, BlackWarGreymon let go of the creature and briefly looked at him in the eye with mockery.

“Let’s discuss it.”

Unable to fly, Ahuizotl fell back towards the earth. Screaming in panic as he flailed his arms about to try and grab something. As he continued to fall, BlackWarGreymon appeared next to him. Though falling too, he was calm and with a mocking attitude, placed both his arms behind his head as if he was relaxing.

“I can certainly see your point. But what could I possibly give you in return? Hmm?” He said to the panicking creature.

Then Ahuizotl said something that very few would ever expect him to say.

“S-SAVE ME!!”

Part of BlackWarGreymon’s plan worked. But he continued to act to make his scheme more believable and be part of the trade.

“Save you? Well there’s a thought, yeah. But it doesn’t sound like much, I don’t want to cheat on our little deal or anything.”

With the ground fast approaching, Ahuizotl had very little choice. With the promise of his life being spared, he gave in.

“O-Ok! I’ll do it! I’ll do it! The map is yours!! JUST SAVE MEEE!!!”

Fearing his demise, Ahuizotl closed his eyes as he braced himself. But then he suddenly felt his tail being tugged, and then he came to a stop. Slowly opening his eyes, he could see the dirt covered ground mere inched from his face.

Above him was the hovering BlackWarGreymon. Who grabbed his tail before he could hit the ground.

“Ok, you win. Deal.”

He then loosened his grip, dropping Ahuizotl to the ground. The three-handed lay quietly on the ground, shaken from the experience. BlackWarGreymon landed next to him, picking up the map that was his to start with.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

As the Mega turned to walk away, he saw the fear the pony guards showed.

Then he stopped, making one more demand.

“Oh, and by the way. I know that all the gold you have is stolen. I want you to return them to their rightful owners.”

He then glanced over his shoulder, giving the thieves a glare of intimidation.

“Or it’s flying lessons for the lot of you!”

Scared out of their wits, Ahuizotl and his henchmen quickly ran back into the ruins. Not daring to anger BlackWarGreymon.

With the map back in his possession, the Mega took off to the skies and left the ruins behind. Unaware that he was being watched.

In a bush nearby, a Pegasus mare emerged out of hiding. She had a tannish-yellow coloured fur and her mane and tail were stripped with different shades of grey. The style of which was shockingly similar to Rainbow Dash. She wore a traveller's cap and a green top with many pockets. Her cutiemark was of a compass.

She was an author of her own books and a living idol of very few who knew she really was. Daring Do.

The mare was about to pounce on the unsuspecting Ahuizotl. Until she witnessed everything that happened in front of her eyes.

“Woah. Could that be the guy the rumours were about? He even made Ahuizotl scared.”

Then a thought entered her mind.

“Though he’s called the saviour, but he looks like a destroyer.”

All of a sudden, she just thought of a new title for one of her future novels. It was so new and fresh, she even took out her note pad and wrote it down with the other titles.

‘Daring do and the God of Destruction’
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back with BlackWarGreymon, he felt that the mood had changed. Although he had got the map back, he did it out of fear. It was something he didn’t like doing, especially since he wanted to do good. And not be the monster he once was. But what’s done has been done and no one got hurt. But he was annoyed at another fact that dawned on him.

“As easy as that was, it was a waste of time. It’s already afternoon.”

He had a point. His little detour with Ahuizotl took some time. But he was surprised about something when he took another look at the map.

“Wait! The trail passes the ruins!? The blue roses should be just further along now!”

Feeling excited that his journey would soon reach its end, BlackWarGreymon flew even faster to the spot that was recorded on paper.

After several more minutes of high-speed flying, the Digimon took a second to stop and look at the map. Then as he moved it aside, he found himself in a huge valley. Where the blue roses were last seen.

“This is definitely the place. I’m finally here! Now it’s got to be around here somewhere.”

From the air, BlackWarGreymon began to search every inch of the valley. It was trouble considering how big the valley was. Despite his best efforts, the search slowly took hours. The sun slowly moving towards the nearby hill in the distance. But he was determined to give Luna the perfect gift before the day ended. Too determined to give up.

His long efforts had payed off and were rewarded. In the distance, within many green bushes, he spotted specks of blue. Believing he had found what he was looking for, BlackWarGreymon flew over to it.

As he went closer, his speed slowed and then landed on the ground. Awe overwhelming him.

He had finally done it! He had found the shrub that grew perfectly blue roses!

As he slowly walked towards it, BlackWarGreymon stared deeply at the blue petals. He could tell that Luna would absolutely love them just by looking at them.

“I don’t believe it. They’re all here!”

BlackWarGreymon realised something. If he took all of them, then there would be none left in the entire forest. Ever. He didn’t want to ruin it for the next deep explorer.

“Ok. I’ll just take a few, get them wrapped up in some of that plastic wrapping. And then…they’ll be ready,” He said as he reached down to pluck some of the flowers.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After retrieving some of the blur roses, BlackWarGreymon bee-lined straight back to Ponyville. The return home was much quicker than the journey itself, due to no detours.

As he approached Ponyville, BlackWarGreymon tried his best to hide the blue roses from prying eyes. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself and lose them. After landing by the same flower shop, he walked up to Rose. Who was working behind the flower display.

When she saw the Digimon, she was slightly surprised to see him again so soon.

“Wow, you’re back a lot quicker than I thought.”

“I came here to return the map.”

As BlackWarGreymon handed back the map, he spoke again.

“And can you do me a favour?”

“What’s that?” The mare asked as she put the map back in its rightful place.

She was then surprised beyond belief when a bunch of blue roses were seen in BlackWarGreymon’s arms.

“You…you found them!?” She asked in disbelief. It had been a very long time since she last seen one. So deep down, she was incredibly happy.

“Yes, and I like them gift wrapped please,” BlackWarGreymon kindly said.

“Oh uh…of course,” Rose said, excited that she would get to handle such a rare plant.

Within moments, Rose wrapped the roses in a decorated plastic wrapper. The type that brought out the blue of the rose petals.

“Here you go.” She said as she handed the roses back to BlackWarGreymon. Whom greatly accepted.

“Perfect. I hope she likes these,” He said to himself. But Rose heard what he said.

“She? Wait? Are these for… a special somepony?” She asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

Unaware of what Rose really meant, BlackWarGreymon answered what came to mind.

“Well…you could say it’s for a special friend. Because out of all my friends, she’s the one who really makes me feel special.”

He then took a moment to compare his friends. And yet, the Night Princess completely stood above the rest.

“Well, I’m sure she will love these roses,” Rose said as BlackWarGreymon was about to take his leave.

“Thank you. And thank you for the map and everything,” He said as he took off to the sky. Heading towards the city of Canterlot.

As she watched him leave, one thought crossed Rose’s mind.

“Wow, I wonder who the lucky mare is?”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Canterlot, Luna’s tower

After hearing someone knocking on her door, Princess Luna walked up to it and opened the door. She was greeted by one of the royal guards. The Unicorn stallion had a bouquet of red roses in his possession.

“Y-your highness, I’ve brought these for you. For Hearts and Hooves day,” He nervously said as he offered the flowers.

Though Luna accepted his gift, her face showed no surprise or even joy. It was as if she had already anticipated such a thing.

Then the stallion continued.

“And with your permission, I w-would like to take you out somewhere,” He said, again slightly nervous.

Luna took a long look at the roses before she gave her answer.

“I’m…honoured by your invitation. But I’m afraid I must decline. Thank you for the gift,” She said, trying not to sound too blunt.

“Oh, very well your highness. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow,” The guard said as he turned to leave. Secretly disappointed that she didn’t say yes.

After closing the door to her room, Luna turned around and let out an annoyed sigh she had contained.

“Urrh, that’s the fifteenth time today,” She said as she placed the roses on her bed, which was filled with all the other roses from the other offers she had rejected.

In truth, ever since she became Princess Luna, Hearts and Hooves day was becoming annoying and very predictable.

“Every year it’s the same old thing. I’d wish for a change.”

But to her dismay, she once again heard someone knocking on the door.

After letting out another annoyed sigh, Luna went up to the door and prepared to open it.

“Yes, how can I help yo…!”

She paused mid-sentence after she opened the door. Stunned to see that instead of the royal guards, stood the familiar form of BlackWarGreymon.

She stuttered from the unexpected sight. But smiling afterwards.

“Oh Bl…BlackWarGreymon! What a… pleasant surprise.”

“Hi Luna. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Oh no. Not at all. So what brings you here?” She asked. Relieved to be talking to her favourite Digimon.

But before BlackWarGreymon could speak, his voice froze up. And then found it difficult to talk. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt shy from speaking what he wanted to say to her.

“Is something the matter?” The Alicorn asked, sensing an awkward pause from the Mega.

After hearing her voice, BlackWarGreymon snapped out of his trance and finally spoke to her.

“Oh, it’s nothing. But… well you see, Luna. I… I just want to thank you for being such a supportive friend. For what happened yesterday and at the Crystal Empire. I probably wouldn’t be myself again if it hadn’t been for you.”

Luna was touched by BlackWarGreymon’s kind words. She was almost silent in awe.

“Oh…wow. Thank you. That was very sweet of you to sa…!”

She was once again cut off when BlackWarGreymon presented his gift that he hid behind his back. Luna couldn’t believe it. He not only gave her a bouquet of roses, but the roses themselves were different from any she had seen before. They were blue!

As she silently stared at the beautiful flowers, a deep blush began to form on her face. And it wasn’t from embarrassment.

“These are for you. I hope you like them,” BlackWarGreymon said.

Luna continued to stare at the roses in amazement as she accepted them. Did BlackWarGreymon gave her the flowers to say thank you? Or was it because it was Hearts and Hooves day?

Either way, it didn’t matter. Luna felt her heart glowing as she took in the scent of the flowers.

“BlackWarGreymon… I… I don’t know what to say. These are so lovely,” She said as she began to smile even more.

Then a question appeared in the Digimon’s mind. A question unlike any he had ever asked. He found it strange at first. But seeing Luna’s smile was only urging him to ask.

“Oh, and Luna?”

It wasn’t just his words that gained Luna’s attention, it was the tone he used. His voice had a hint of awkwardness, as if he wanted to ask her something but was unsure to say it.

“Yes?” Luna asked as she looked at him in the eyes.

Seeing her beautiful gaze suddenly caused him to hesitate. But he had to fight it.

“Well…uh…I’m just asking…if you’re not…very busy…”

“Yes?” Luna asked again. The way BlackWarGreymon was speaking, and the kind of words he was using, she had a deep feeling of what he was about to ask her. Her heartbeat started to increase from the thought of the possibility.

BlackWarGreymon began to feel incredibly nervous. But he went ahead and finished his sentence.

“Well…Luna. I was wondering if… maybe… you and I would like to… go out sometime?”

The stunned Luna paused in surprise as her face blushed deeply. Did he really just ask her out!? Though she half expected the very question from BlackWarGreymon’s reactions, but to actually hear him ask the question right in front of her… she couldn’t be any more surprised.

Although he found her stunned expression cute, BlackWarGreymon found her long silence concerning.

“That is… if you want to go out with me of course.”

While stunned, Luna couldn’t help but ask one question.

“Y…Y…You mean… l…like a…date?”

BlackWarGreymon responded, unaware of the true meaning of the word ‘date’.

“Well if that’s what you call it? Then…yeah. It’s a date.”

In response, Luna half hid her face behind the bouquet of roses. Trying to hide how surprised she was.

‘Is this really happening!? Is he really asking me out on an actual date!? And on Hearts and Hooves day!? This is all so sudden!’

Then her thoughts of shock slowly turned into thoughts of hope. Which caused her to slowly smile.

‘Does this mean what I think it means? Could it be true? Does he… really have feelings for me? And as much…as I like him? It’s not like I hadn’t thought about it or anything.’

Again, seeing Luna’s lack of response caused BlackWarGreymon to doubt his actions.

“I…I understand if you don’t want to. I thought it would be nice but…I guess…”

“Yes.”

“What was I thinking of asking such a thing?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure you’re probably…wait what?”

BlackWarGreymon was so caught up in his drama, he only just heard Luna’s reply. With his mind clear, he focused on her. Surprised to see such a smile on the Alicorn’s face as she looked at him.

She then spoke in a highly positive tone.

“Yes, I would love to go out with you.”

The Mega level Digimon was mind-blown. He simply couldn’t believe that she actually said yes to him.

“Do…Do you mean that?”

When Luna answered, her smile seemed to have gotten brighter.

“Of course. It sounds wonderful.”

“Really!?” BlackWarGreymon said in an outburst of excitement. But then quickly tried to recompose himself by clearing his throat.

Luna already took note of his actions. Quietly giggling in response.

‘I still can’t believe she said yes! I didn’t think I’ll make it this far!’ BlackWarGreymon thought to himself.

But then focused his attention when Luna spoke up.

“So, where would you like to meet?”

‘Ok, I didn’t think I’ll make it THIS far. What should I say?’ The Digimon thought to himself.

He then suggested the first thing that popped in his head.

“Well…I was thinking we could… go for a walk in the gardens tonight.”

Despite his lack of understanding romances, it was the best suggestion BlackWarGreymon could think of. Though he then admitted it sounded plain and simple.

So plain, he didn’t expect Luna’s kind reply.

“I’d like that a lot.”

Again, he was stunned that the princess would agree to it.

“G-Great. So I’ll meet you at the garden entrance at nine o clock?”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Good. I’ll see you then.”

As they said their goodbyes, the two took in one more sight of each other before the door was closed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

In her bed chamber, Luna took several steps away from the door she just closed. When she stopped, she was silent. Her expression was just a simple smile.

Then in an alarming rate, Luna suddenly burst in a display of shear happiness. She laughed in joy as she flew around her room in circles. Much like a schoolgirl who had just been invited to a prom. All the while the roses were held in her hooves.

“He asked me out! He actually asked me out!”

Then as if she was embraced by an invisible force, Luna briefly hovered in place before falling onto her bed. Lying on her back while surrounded by the red roses, the princess stared at the ceiling. Daydreaming as she spoke.

“I can’t believe it. My very first date. And with him.”

As she daydreamed, her mind flowed with many thoughts of when she and BlackWarGreymon grew close. The day when she first met him after saving her life. Their heart to heart moment after journeying through his memories. Their first dance at the Grand Galloping Gala. Their frightening ordeal with King Sombra. Training with one another at the Crystal Empire. Even the time when she fought alongside him against ChaosBlackWarGreymon, she felt her connection with BlackWarGreymon grow stronger.

Plus the times when he was in doubt, both in body and mind, she was always there to support him in the way no one else could.

Her eyes slightly widened in realisation, not before remembering the things Princess Cadence said to her.

“Wow. I really am in love with him.”

Tilting her head up, her gaze fell upon the pile of red roses next to her head. She knew that if one was indeed in love with another, then he would have to impress her with a very meaningful gift. Something they would do to prove their love. But the roses before her were very common and could very easily be brought from a nearby shop.

Such a gift was only meant to flatter, not to truly prove one’s love.

She then looked down at the blue roses within her hooves. It had been a very long time since she last saw such flowers. In fact, she couldn’t remember if she had even seen them before.

Which meant that the blue roses were incredibly rare. So much that one would have to go out of their way or dedicate a lot of their time just to find them.

After comparing the gifts, alone question appeared in Luna’s mind.

“If BlackWarGreymon went though a lot of trouble just to get me this gift, then…could it mean…he loves me too?”

As she gently put the roses aside, she climbed of her bed and walked to her wardrobe.

‘Tonight could be my chance. Tonight… I will do something to ‘wow’ him. But I can’t wear the same dress I wore at the Gala, he’s already seen it.’

Upon deciding what to wear, she opened a draw she hadn’t opened in over a thousand years.

‘Good thing I got the perfect dress for such a night.’

She smiled at the dress. Already marvelling it before even wearing it.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Moments after Luna closed the door to her bedroom, BlackWarGreymon turned to walk away. His expression was a mix of feelings. Mostly shock, happiness and disbelief.

But then the shear excitement deep within him suddenly flow through. Causing his body to fly out the nearest open window and as a black blur, flew higher into the sky.

As he reached high above the city of Canterlot, he threw his right fist up to fist bump the air as he shouted un triumphant. Much like a schoolboy winning something on sports day.

“I DID IT!!!”

Then throwing his arms and legs wildly, the Digimon couldn’t help but express his excitement in an almost childish manner.

“I did it I did it I did it I did it I did it!!”

After laughing in joy, BlackWarGreymon took a deep breath to calm down. And then made his way towards Ponyville.

“I don’t believe it. A whole evening with Luna. We’re going to have such a great time.”

But then… a thought occurred to the Mega. And then he felt a great warmth in his chest.

“This feeling again. Could Cadence be right all the long? Am I... really in love?"

But then a different thought entered his mind. Of which made him felt a little panicked.

“Wait… What do I do on a date!?”

He had a point. Never in his life had he been out with someone. Should he behave himself like he did at the Gala? Should he wear something? Should he just be himself?

But then he had an idea.

“I may not know about this sort of thing. But I do know someone who does."
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Down at Carousel Boutique, Rarity was busy making dresses to catch up for lost time. Understanding the importance of her work, Twilight Sparkle agreed for the white Unicorn to stay while she and her friends venture to the Everfree Forest. Plus, with Sweetie Belle off with her fellow crusaders, Rarity was left undisturbed.

That was, until she heard a knock at her door. Luckily, she had just finished one of the dresses.

“Oh, who could that be?” She asked as she walked to the door.

Upon opening the door, she was a little surprised to see the Artificial Digimon.

“Oh, hello BlackWarGreymon. What brings you here?”

The Mega looked a little unsure but spoke nonetheless.

“Rarity, mind if I talk to you about something?”

“Well of course.”

Then using her newly learnt teleportation spell, Rarity teleported BlackWarGreymon into her workshop. The spell was one of many that Twilight taught her in ‘just in case’ scenarios.

“Well darling, what is it you want to talk about?” She questioned as she walked over to a pile of fabric on the floor.

“Well… I need advice. And since you helped me a lot at the Grand Galloping Gala, I figured you’re the right pony to talk to,” BlackWarGreymon explained.

Rarity was flattered that he chose her for advice. But was curious of what the advice was about.

“Why thank you darling. But what is it you need advice about?” she asked as she inspected a sheet of fabric by levitating it close to her.

And then… BlackWarGreymon spilled the beans.

“Well…I’ve got this date tonight, and I was wondering if you could give me some tips.”

After BlackWarGreymon spoke, Rarity’s magic instantly cancelled out with the fabric falling to the floor. She was completely still, her eyes were wide with shock.

Then in a lady-like manner, the Unicorn started to laugh. Thinking that the Digimon was pulling a prank. A very convincing one.

“S-sorry darling. But for a second there I thought you said you got a date tonight,” She said as she looked back at him to see if he was just joking around.

But his expression was of mild confusion, not understanding what was so funny.

“Well yeah, I did,” He said, with pure honesty in his voice.

Rarity’s expression was of both shock and disbelief.

“WHAT!!?”

Her sudden outburst not only could be heard from outside, it also surprised BlackWarGreymon. Who took a step back in uncertainty.

After taking deep breaths of shock, Rarity pointed her hoof at the confused Digimon.

“You got a date!?”

BlackWarGreymon didn’t know why, but he felt alarmed by her outburst.

“Could you keep it down! What’s so surprising about that?”

With her mind in a frizz, Rarity staggered and mumbled as she tried to figure it out. Her speech was just a miss-match of words.

“Rarity? Are you alright?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Unsure why the Unicorn was acting so strangely.

After trying to get over the shock, Rarity took some deep breaths before speaking.

“S-Sorry darling. It’s just…well…you are the only one of your kind here. So hearing you say that is rather… surprising.”

The Digimon began to feel unsure of himself.

“It is? So I guess you know what a date is?”

His sentence startled Rarity even more.

“And…you don’t?”

“Not really, no.”

The mare almost had a blank stare.

“Oh no, it worse than I thought.”

She then decided to explain it in the simplest way possible.

“You see. A date is when a boy and a girl, who have gown very close to, go out to have fun. Usually in the evening. They go to nice places, eat at restaurants, and all the while making the bond between the two much stronger.”

BlackWarGreymon understood her words.

“Really? It sounds just like hanging out with a good friend.”

“In a way, yes. And one of the things a boy could do for a girl is to impress her. And knowing you, you pretty much already done all that,” Rarity said, reinforcing the fact that the Digimon was Equestria’s saviour.

“Ok, I got that,” He said, understanding the tips.

Rarity continued.

“On most dates you would have to wear something smart. But the suit you wore at the Gala is still in Canterlot and I don’t think I could get one ready in time for tonight. So I guess the way you are will do. And my next advice darling is just… simply be yourself.”

“Be myself? Easy enough.”

“Oh, and one more thing. Try to do something romantic with her. Or take her somewhere romantic. Something that will make her always remember you.”

Romance was one of the topics that BlackWarGreymon knew very little about. But if he wanted his first date to be perfect, he had to learn fast.

“Something…romantic. Yes, I’m sure she would like that.”

The moment the Digimon uttered ‘she’, it instantly peaked Rarity’s interest. As she looked at him, she wondered who could possibly ask someone like BlackWarGreymon out on a date.

Feeling awkward from outright asking who it was, Rarity took a longer and more strategic approach.

“So BlackWarGreymon, about the mare whom you’re going out with. Tell me about her. What’s she like?”

As he tried to find the right words, BlackWarGreymon looked out the window and saw Canterlot in the distance. Even from Ponyville, he could see her tower. And when he spoke, he sounded like he was in a daydream.

“Well…she’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. She’s… very special to me. and when she’s there, I don’t fell so…alone. She even understands my problems. Probably more so than anyone.”

Rarity was awe-stricken from BlackWarGreymon’s words. He spoke as though the mare in question had experienced loneliness before and saw it in her digital friend. Plus, the way he looked showed that he was embraced just by talking about her.

Rarity had never seen the Digimon felt so…touched.

“Wow. So she’s…very important to you?”

“You could say that. She even makes me feel in a way I never felt before.”

His response almost made Rarity gasp in surprise. Luckily, she covered her mouth before she made a peep.

‘Is…is he…? No way. There’s no way he’s in love. Could he…? Well he’s certainly acting like it.’

As BlackWarGreymon kept looking out the window, Rarity became even more curious. And began testing him more.

“Tell me, do I know her?”

While in his state of bliss, he spoke without thinking.

“Yes. You and all the others know her.”

Rarity then continued.

“Is she…beautiful?”

“Mostly at night.”

“And…who is the lucky mare?”

“Princess Lu…!”

BlackWarGreymon instantly paused his speech as his mind came back to its senses. Alarmed that he may had said too much.

Rarity too paused. But not from alarm, it was from shock and surprise. She didn’t need him to finish his sentence to know what he was about to say.

“WHAT!!?”

Her second out burst again surprised BlackWarGreymon. She then started to hyperventilate. In which she began to breathe into a nearby paper bag. Again, the Digimon was unsure why Rarity was acting up. But he figured that it must be something big.

After getting her breath back, the white Unicorn stared at the Mega in disbelief.

“Y…You…got a date…with Princess Luna!?”

The awkward Digimon responded, baffled by the situation.

“Umm…yes?”

Rarity stood there with wide eyes and her mouth hung open. Her mind conflicted to comprehend what was going on.

Then without warning, she fainted from shock.

“Umm…Rarity?” BlackWarGreymon asked, trying to wake her up.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Far away, hidden lair

Down in the dark tunnels, Lord Tirek was approaching the surface.

Things had been a little shaky since he was recruited. Queen Chrysalis and some of her Changelings he already knew. And then made his presence known to those who didn’t knew him. However, there was a great mistrust between him and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The psychotic Digimon clone kept trying to either annoy him to no end or rip one of his horns off. To him, King Sombra must’ve been mad to help create him.

Tirek then decided to find his master. After questioning the Changelings, they told him that the evil Digimon was outside. Which was where he was going.

‘I’m not sure that his power is complete. Why is he outside?’ Tirek thought to himself. But would soon find out.

As he reached the exit of the cave, he found himself in a middle of a large mountain range. Himself standing on top of one of the peaks. The scenery was calm and clear, revealing the sun retreating over the horizon. Bringing forth an orange evening sky.

“Master?” The centaur called out as he strolled on top of the snowy peak.

After several minutes of searching, Tirek found his master. Standing alone and exposed, he was glad that he chose a place where no pony could find.

After reaching down to him, Tirek questioned him.

“Master, mind if I ask. What are you doing out here?”

His question was unanswered. But he noticed that the Digimon was staring at a neighbouring mountain. Which was being inhabited with numerous reptilian creatures.

Then to the centaur’s surprise, the evil being quickly threw his arms up high in the air. His fists clenched into a ball. Then using one of his abilities, which he grunted instead of shouting its name, he swung his fists down and struck the base of the mountain he stood upon.

The shear force from the attack created massive shockwaves up the mountain. Almost causing Tirek to stumble over. But the Digimon was in full control of his attack. The tremors split the ground apart in a massive earthquake. The large crack forming beneath them, traveling across the open land and then climbing up the neighbouring mountain. As cracks began to spread across the surface, large sections of the mountain began to crumble and fall. Creatures that had wings panicked and flew away before their home fell beneath their feet. But those who couldn’t fly could only wail in fear as their lives were snuffed out by crumbling rock.

In short, the Digimon’s attack split the mountain in half. And in doing so claimed numerous lives from the creatures.

Tirek gawked at the display of strength that far exceeded his own. As well as actively seeing his master commit mass murder without any regret.

As he got over the shock, he congratulated the evil Digimon.

“Uhh…most impressive, master. Well done. Yes, your strength knows no bounds.”

However, the evil Digimon let out deep breaths of unsatisfaction as he retreated his hands. He then placed his right hand on his left shoulder. Tapping it with his finger in thought.

“Not strong enough yet.”

But then started to grin.

“But I will soon enough. Until then…”

He then let out a sinister chuckle. And then said something that left Tirek uneasy.

“…I’ll let ChaosBlackWarGreymon have some fun.”

Chapter 52: The Date

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As the sun disappeared over the horizon, day gave way to night once more. The air was calm, and while it was mildly cloudy over Ponyville, the clouds were somewhat bigger over Canterlot.

Tonight, was a very special night for BlackWarGreymon. It was the night of his very first date…with Princess Luna.

As the Mega level Digimon flew towards Canterlot, he received a flashback of the events after Rarity fainted.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Flashback, Ponyville, Carousel Boutique

“I’m sorry about my little faint, darling. But…are you really going on a date with Luna tonight?” Rarity asked. Slightly distorted from her fainting.

“Yes, what I said is true. But what’s so surprising about it? Is it because she’s a princess?” BlackWarGreymon asked back.

“That’s only part of it. It’s just the times when others asked her, she…”

Rarity was cut off when BlackWarGreymon blurted out.

“What!? I’m not the only one who asked her!?” He asked, his voice carrying a slight hint of something he previously never felt. Jealousy.

The startled Unicorn tried to explain as best she could.

“Well…yes. Many stallions tried to ask her. Even long before you came here. But surprisingly… she refused all of them. Some of the stallions were even noble, and yet she never said yes to any of them.”

Her reply not only calmed down BlackWarGreymon, but also surprised him.

“She…never went out with any of them? But then…why did she pick me?”

His question also peaked Rarity’s curiosity.

“Yes…why did she?”

She then started to think out loud.

“Now that I think about it, you and Luna do have a lot in common. Given your past, you both share the same pain. Back at the Crystal Empire, she was very supportive to you. You two have spent some time together. And there was that dance at the Gala.”

After rubbing her chin in thought, she could only think of one possible reason. But the reason alone mentally surprised her.

“Darling, do you… have a crush on her?”

Unsure of the true meaning of the word ‘crush’, BlackWarGreymon spoke.

“I’m not sure. But you are the only one I told about this. So, can you keep it a secret?”

Rarity understood the Digimon’s insecurity.

“I shan’t breathe a word of it. You have my word.”

Then Rarity tried to think of some advice she could give.

“To tell you the truth, I’ve never given advice about dating royalty. So, it has to be very important.”

Then as best she could, Rarity gave BlackWarGreymon what he needed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….

After his flashback ended, the Digimon’s mind focused back to reality.

“Apart from the fact that most of her advice was similar to that at the Gala, the one thing I should do is keep Luna happy. No doubt this would he hard, but I’ll do my best.”

Within moments, BlackWarGreymon arrived in Canterlot.

“Right. The first thing I got to do is get my suit I wore at the Gala and meet Luna by the gardens at nine o’clock.”

At first, the plan seemed simple. But as he flew by a small clock tower in the city, he was shocked to discover what time it was.

“What!? It’s almost nine already!? I don’t have time to get the suit. Guess I’ll have to go as I am.”

Deciding what to do, BlackWarGreymon changed his flight path and flew towards the gardens by the castle grounds.

But as he neared his destination, he suddenly had an uneasy feeling in his gut. Which caused him to slow down.

“What? Why am I feeling so nervous all of a sudden? I’m just going out with Luna.”

The moment he said her name, he began to feel nervous even more. What if the night wouldn’t turn out like what he had in mind? What if she changed her mind? What if he did something that would make her regret her decision?

BlackWarGreymon shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was no time to get cold feet. He would not back down so easily. He felt a little silly. He was able to fight off a replica of himself to near death, yet he was afraid of a little date.

“No. I mustn’t think of such things. I can do this,” He said to motivate himself. Preparing to land in the garden.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Inside the castle however, it seemed all of the Digimon’s worries were for nothing.

Ever since BlackWarGreymon asked her out, Princess Luna was in an exceptionally good mood. It would be the night to see if their feelings for one another would be true. But despite her excitement, she was also extremely nervous. It had been an incredibly long time since she had been on a date. So long in fact she couldn’t even remember if she had one. Plus, she perfectly knew that the date would also be BlackWarGreymon’s first. She predicted that he would be nervous as well. But after knowing him so well, she knew he wouldn’t turn her down.

Trying to hide her nerves and think positive, she had a smile on her face as she strolled through the corridor. Wearing a gown that was one of her best. If not, the best one.

As she walked on, the blue Alicorn spotted a royal guard standing by one of the passageways.

Though she wanted to avoid any pony on her way out, considering the dress she wore, but she also wanted an opinion from someone else about her appearance.

After putting on a brave face, she walked up to the stallion and spoke up. But with authority.

“Attention guard.”

The stallion was almost startled from Luna’s sudden command. He then replied with a solute.

“Your highness. Is there a request you have for…”

His sentence came to a halt when he turned to look at Princess Luna. His eyes widened as his mind froze when he saw her wearing such a stunning dress.

As the guard gawked silently, Luna started to feel embarrassed. Truth be told, she wanted BlackWarGreymon to be the first one to see her in the dress. But she wanted to be sure for definite.

“In your opinion, how do I look?” She asked, trying to bring more authority to her voice.

But the guard said nothing. He was literally mind blown by her appearance. But the princess didn’t need words for an answer.

“Your expression is all I need,” She said with a smile, leaving the guard behind as she walked on.

While passing through the corridor, Luna smiled bigger in triumphant.

‘Yes! That’s the response I was looking for! He was practically speechless when he saw me. No doubt BlackWarGreymon would like this too.’

However, her thoughts were disturbed by a very familiar voice.

“Sister?”

Opening her eyes to reality, Luna looked up to see none other than Princess Celestia.

The blue Alicorn’s mind and body came to a sudden halt as she was mentally shocked and embarrassed. She had hoped that out of all ponies, her older sister would be the one to avoid. Considering that she would like to tease her into telling the truth. Especially from her change in appearance.

Luckily Celestia was too impressed with Luna’s look to even start thinking about teasing.

“Wow Luna. You look so stunning in that dress. I can’t remember the last time you wore it.”

The Night Princess was both pleased and embarrassed by her compliment. And thankful that she wasn’t asked certain questions.

“T-Thank you for your kind words sister,” Luna said as she walked pass Celestia.

The white Alicorn then became curious.

“Then I take it that you’re heading out tonight?”

“That’s right,” Luna answered without looking back.

“With…somepony may I add?”

Luna paused her movements as a deep blush formed on her face. The question was the reason why she wanted to avoid her sister. She then turned to face Celestia, trying her best to deny it.

“Uhh…no. I just wanted to take a night out. That’s all” She said, trying to hide her blush.

Celestia knew she was bluffing. There was no way that Luna would go out for an ordinary night while wearing such a dress. The way she looked, as well as restyling her mane, showed that she was looking to impress someone. Plus, the blush on her face showed that she was too embarrassed to admit the truth.

Instead of teasing further, Celestia instead gave Luna a loving smile.

“Very well, Luna. Have a fun night out.”

While surprised, Luna spoke back.

“Uhh…thank you sister. Good night and have pleasant dreams.”

The two then parted ways. Luna heading towards the exit to the gardens and Celestia walking through the corridors to her bed chambers.

With Luna gone, Celestia couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. It seemed that the letter that Princess Cadence secretly sent to her was starting to prove to be true.

“Wow, I’ve never seen Luna so happy. And so nervous. Not surprising, since this is her first date. And his first,” She said quietly to herself, knowing exactly who her little sister was going out with.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Outside the castle, BlackWarGreymon landed on the castle grounds. Standing in the middle of the pathway connecting the castle to the Canterlot gardens.

“Ok. It’s nearly nine o’clock. I’m on time. I’m in the right meeting place. Now, just stand here and wait. And she…will arrive any minute.”

BlackWarGreymon tried to fight against his nerves. But he couldn’t help it. The last time he was so nervous and shy was at the Grand Galloping Gala. The very same place where he danced with Luna for the first time.

Then it happened. The moment the image of Luna appeared in his mind, he felt a squeezing feeling in his stomach. If he had one, but retained the feeling. He even gulped that could be heard by others. Good thing he was alone. He cold also feel that his breathing had increased due to his nerves.

As his mind reflected every detail of Luna from the Gala, he remembered the dress that the Alicorn wore.

“Hmm, I wonder if she’s going to wear that same dress.”

His mind was so distracted, he failed to hear the sounds of approaching hoofsteps coming from behind.

Then there was a voice.

“Hi, BlackWarGreymon.”

Hearing such a familiar voice had both brought him to attention and increased his nerves somewhat. Jolting his head back in surprise, the Digimon began to turn and face her.

“Oh, you’re here Lu…!”

Time seemed to have slowed down as he looked at Luna. His eyes widened in awe at the sight of the blue Alicorn.

He was wrong. The dress that Luna wore was completely different from the one she wore at the Gala. And also, the kind he never expected. The dress draped over her back and ended at the back of her rear legs. Making it sorter than the one before. It also had holes for her wings and tail to poke out of. But what was truly eye-catching was the fabric of the dress itself. Not only it had stars of the night sky, the colours used on the dress looked more like a nebula. Almost like outer space. It looked as though someone plucked the night sky itself and used it to make the dress. The dress was attached to a silver collar around her neck and over her front. Which had a crescent moon and one attached beneath it like a bead. Also attached to the collar were four transparent blue fabrics that draped over her body. She also wore silver horseshoes and silver bands on her legs which also had a crescent moon on them. No doubt accessories that matched the dress. And the final touch to her outfit were a pair of crescent moon earrings.

Not just the dress, even Luna’s mane and tail were styled differently. Giving them a shorter and more attractive look. And with the sparkles of her hair and her dress, both give the Night Princess a more dazzling appearance.

BlackWarGreymon was speechless. He had never seen Luna in such beauty. Just as he thought she couldn’t get any prettier, she made herself even prettier than ever before.

The Alicorn stopped a couple of feet in front of the Digimon. Her eyes briefly meeting his own before looking down at her dress.

“Well, what do you think?” She asked him. Confidence started to flow through her body.

BlackWarGreymon finally managed to respond. His reply matched what was said in his mind.

“Wow… you’re beautiful.”

Luna blushed from the complement. Smiling in response.

“Thank you. I’m flattered. It has been so long since I wore this dress.”

“And I hope you don’t mind. I lost my track of time and I was too late to wear my suit.” BlackWarGreymon said, feeling slightly guilty.

But Luna thought otherwise.

“Oh, I don’t mind at all. I always preferred you the way you are.”

BlackWarGreymon was both surprised and relieved to hear Luna’s word. He thought he would have to wear something smart when going out with royalty. But the blue Alicorn liked him just the way he was.

“Uhh…thank you, Luna.”

“Well? Shall we start our date?” Luna asked with a smile as she walked up to BlackWarGreymon. Whom returned with an uplifted expression.

“Of course.”

With no thoughts of doubt or concern, BlackWarGreymon and Luna set out on their night walk through the gardens. Though the clouds blocked out the night sky, there was a gentle warm breeze. Which felt calm and inviting to the two as it blew by. Causing their hairs to sway in the wind.

At first, the two were silent as they walked through the night time scenery. Until BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“Umm, Luna?”

“Yes?” She asked as she looked at the Artificial Digimon. Wondering what he had on his mind.

But the subject was not the one she expected.

“Well…I recently learnt that…others had asked you out before me.”

Luna’s eyes widened in shock of the truth.

“Umm…well…”

She was too frazzled to think straight as the unwelcome feeling of awkwardness began to kick in. She even felt worried that BlackWarGreymon would begin to see her differently.

But what the Digimon said next dismissed that doubt.

“And yet… you refused all of them. Even the ones long before I arrived in this world. So…why? Why did you agree to go out with me?”

Though Luna was glad that her worry was for nothing, the Digimon’s question however made her just as awkward. She felt that it was too early to confess her true feelings. But she could at least give out some sort of hint. A hint which was true to how she felt.

“Well…it’s just that…you’re different from everypony else.”

As Luna continued, BlackWarGreymon listened on in interest.

“All the stallions and nobles may belong in the same world as I, but they don’t understand me. They only see me as a princess and expect me to treat them with authority. But with you, it’s completely different. Because we know each other very well, I don’t have to keep acting like a princess should. In short, when I’m with you, I…can finally be myself.”

The Digimon was touched by her kind words. But he had no idea that a role of a princess was so difficult.

“Really? So I take it that being a princess is not easy.”

“How Pinkie Pie would say it. It’s no piece of cake.”

The two continued to talk as they strolled through the gardens. Eventually reaching to the sculpture garden. The two then stopped for a moment on a stone bridge over a small river. Looking at the statue of BlackWarGreymon in the distance.

“I take it that you weren’t expecting Celestia to make you such a gift?” Luna asked, enquiring on the Digimon’s reactions.

“Not really. Being a protector of Equestria is one thing, but I had no idea that I would have a statue in my honour,” BlackWarGreymon replied.

Then to Luna’s wonderment, the tall Digimon turned around leaned on the ledge of the bridge. Staring at the reflection of himself in the calm water. His mind began to focus on his very first friend.

“I wonder if Agumon would’ve done the same,” He said, not realising that a seal which had turned into a memorial of him, was already made in the Digital World after his passing.

The name of the small Rookie level Digimon hadn’t been heard by Luna for quite some time. Hearing BlackWarGreymon’s sentence focused the Alicorn’s attention on the expression he had in his eyes. They looked…sad.

Luna then stood next to BlackWarGreymon. She too leaned on the stone ledge, to get a clearer view of the Digimon’s face.

“You miss him. Don’t you?” She asked with caring concern.

BlackWarGreymon kept staring at his reflection in the water. In his imagination, he saw the face of Agumon next to his. Staring back at him. Then it turned into the face of WarGreymon. And then it disappeared.

“I didn’t at first. But after understanding the true values of friendship, and how much it means to me, I do now. Back when I first met Agumon, I was evil. Bent on destruction. But even then, he saw that there was good in me. And because of that, despite my doubts and threats, he wanted to be my friend. He was very brave for a Rookie level Digimon. He wasn’t afraid of me in the slightest.”

Luna was amazed at what she heard, for BlackWarGreymon had learnt another lesson about friendship. Missing others when they’re not there.

BlackWarGreymon then continued as he looked at the cloudy sky.

“Although I decided to stay here and live in Equestria, it would be nice to one day visit the Digital World once more. And maybe, you and the others could also come.”

Then there was a brief moment of silence after the Mega finished talking. Letting the thoughts of what he said sinking in.

But then he heard a noise. Looking to his left, he could see that Luna was trying not to giggle so loud. Her right hoof covering her lips to muffle the sound of laughter.

“What? What is it?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Wondering what the princess found so funny.

Princess Luna answered back, but her voice carried the hint of laughter.

“S…sorry. I was just thinking of what would happen if Princess Twilight and her friends went there.”

Knowing what his pony friends were like, BlackWarGreymon understood what Luna meant by. He too started to chuckle from the thought of it.

“Oh yeah. I can imagine Pinkie Pie trying to throw them one of her wild parties.”

Imagining the pink mare and her hyperactive antics around the Digital Monsters made the blue Alicorn snicker more loudly.

“Do you think that Rarity would try to make them suits and dresses?” The Digimon added.

Though he was chuckling, he did love to see Luna trying to keep her laughter under control. But the image of Digimon wearing Rarity’s clothing made the Alicorn laugh louder.

“S-She most certainly would. Miss Dash would probably challenge one to a race. And Princess Twilight would ask them so many questions. She could write an article. Or even a book about them,” She said in response. The thoughts again spreading humour to the black armoured Digimon.

“Maybe if she took the time to stop asking and start writing.”

BlackWarGreymon’s remark not only made him almost laugh loudly but had done so to Luna. She tried to make her laugh more lady-like, but she was unable to do so. She was having too much fun to act like a princess and instead, was being herself.

Of course, the two meant no ill will to their friends, they just found the possibilities humorous.

The two continued to laugh for a few moments until BlackWarGreymon was first to stop. As his voice calmed, he looked over to Luna to see the fun and laughter on her face. To him, seeing her in such a way was making him happy. As if he would do anything to keep that smile from fading.

As Luna’s laughter faded down to a soft giggle, she glanced over to BlackWarGreymon and looked at his gaze. Luna couldn’t remember the last time she laughed in the way she had done. And from reading the expression in his yellow eyes, she could tell that he was happy to see her smile and laugh. She really was having a good time with BlackWarGreymon and she could see that he felt the same.

But a hint of her princess pride crept back in.

“F-Forgive me. it’s been a long while…since I laughed like that.”

BlackWarGreymon on the other hand didn’t see any problem with it.

“Don’t be. I think it’s rather lovely.”

Normally, Luna would’ve been startled and embarrassed by the complement. But instead, her smile seemed to have gotten brighter as a small blush of flattery appeared on her face. Instead of being shy, she felt embraced by his words. And seeing such a loving smile, BlackWarGreymon found it impossible to look away from it.

‘Background music’ ‘Rule the World by Take That’

For a few moments, the saviour and the princess continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Almost dreamily. The light reflected off the water could be seen gleaming in the Alicorn’s blue eyes. Almost like stars.

The eye contact was broken when Luna turned around and walked off the bridge. BlackWarGreymon then followed suit. But as soon as he left the bridge, he noticed that Luna’s pace seemed to have gotten quicker. Though confused, he started to walk quicker to catch up with her.

Luna looked back and without BlackWarGreymon noticing, her smile grew bigger. She had caught him in her little game.

As the Digimon got closer, Luna increased her pace to a small jog. Again, he was confused why the princess was moving quicker. But he quickened his own pace, his walking gaining longer and quicker strides. He almost felt like jogging.

But again, Luna moved away as she began a proper jog. But then BlackWarGreymon could hear her giggling in delight. He then understood what was going on.

‘Oh, I get it. She wants me to chase her for fun.’

After a brief chuckle, the Mega started to run. Luna looked over her shoulder to see the Digimon gaining on her. After letting out some laughter, Luna began to run. The two running through the gardens in a game of chase.

After seeing BlackWarGreymon running much faster to catch up with her, the blue princess had an idea.

“Thou can’t catch me,” She stated playfully as she began to flap her wings. Propelling herself forward for more momentum. Because her dress was shorter, she was able to move more freely.

Then as she looked back over her right shoulder, to her confusion BlackWarGreymon was gone. What she didn’t know was when she turned her head, the Digimon quickly levitated off the ground and flew to Luna’s left. Flying backwards to look at her.

As Luna turned her head around again, she smiled as she was greeted by the sudden fun-filled gaze of the black armoured Mega.

But by flying backwards, BlackWarGreymon wasn’t looking where he was going. And to his surprise, he slammed into a large tree.

As she came to a sudden halt, Luna turned around to see that her friend had smacked into a large apple tree. All the apples fell to the ground from the impact, at first completely covering BlackWarGreymon in the massive pile. Then after a quiet grunt, the Digimon popped his head out of the top of the pile.

Knowing that her friend wasn’t harmed, Luna couldn’t help but chuckle from the sight of him covered in apples. BlackWarGreymon would’ve been slightly annoyed. But the sounds of the Alicorn’s laughter took that negativity away in an instant. And made a slight chuckle instead.

As BlackWarGreymon rose back up on his feet, Luna walked up to him with something to say.

“Follow me. There’s something I want to show you.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Luna took to the sky and flew towards the clouds above. Wondering what the princess had in mind for him, BlackWarGreymon followed her up to the night sky.

As he flew higher in the air, the Digimon noticed how fast Luna was flying. It was as if she was in a hurry to show him something. As he got closer to the clouds, BlackWarGreymon looked back down at Canterlot below.

“Whoa.”

He was admittingly startled at how high he was in the air. The city looked like a large town from where he was. Then as he looked back up, he saw Luna disappearing into the dense clouds above.

“Wait, Luna,” He said as he flew in after her.

As he passed through the maze of clouds, BlackWarGreymon had lost sight of Luna. All he could see were large masses of clouds floating all around him. But all he knew, was to keep going up. Flying higher and higher as he maneuvered around the clouds.

And then, after reaching to the other side of the layer of clouds, BlackWarGreymon gasped at one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.

With all the clouds beneath him, the view of the spectacle around him was unobscured. High above him in the clear night sky, was a brilliant array of distant stars. Completely different to all the previous nights he had seen in Equestria. To the Digimon, he felt as though he was floating through the void. Gazing into deep space. As he hovered in place, BlackWarGreymon looked all around him. Nearly every inch of the night sky was decorated with twinkling lights.

The stunned Mega had seen many things. But not once he had seen something so breath-taking.

As BlackWarGreymon looked up at the heavens above, Luna approached him from behind.

“Well…what do you think?” She asked him.

But the armoured being was so taken by the sight, he almost stuttered.

“L…Luna. There… there are no words…to truly describe this. It’s… so beautiful.”

Luna smiled in delight at his response.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon. I rarely make nights like this. I only do so on…special occasions.”

After hearing Luna’s words, the Artificial Mega slowly turned around and looked at the hovering Alicorn in surprise and awe.

“You…made this night…for me?”

Judging by his tone, Luna could tell that BlackWarGreymon was touched. Knowing that he was happy from such a wonderful gift made her slightly shy. But she managed to summon up the courage to speak what her heart was telling her.

“I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for our world. To thank you…in my own way.”

Luna began to blush from what she was about to say next.

“You’re…very special to me. You’re like… my own personal star.”

Again, BlackWarGreymon was touched by Luna’s kind and loving words. At the moment she said that he was special to her, he could feel the warmth in his chest once more. The feeling in his heart felt strong. An emotion that he rarely felt but was only present when the blue Alicorn was involved.

BlackWarGreymon felt like he wanted to please her. To thank Luna for putting so much effort into making such a beautiful night just for him.

Then he thought of something playful.

To Luna’s confusion, BlackWarGreymon faced away from her. Then with his back to her, he flew backwards just beneath her.

“W-What are you doing?” The surprised Luna asked as her hooved briefly touched the Digimon’s shield as he stopped right beneath her.

BlackWarGreymon then glanced over his right shoulder. Giving Luna a playful glare.

“Sorry. I figured you would want to ride on your… personal star.”

At first, Luna was confused at BlackWarGreymon’s behaviour. Though he seemed to have apologized, his tone was more playful then genuine. Her confusion then gave way to an amused smile. She understood exactly what the Digimon truly meant. And decided to go with it.

The Alicorn rested herself upon BlackWarGreymon’s back and her forehooves gained a lock on the edges of his shield for grip.

“Hold on tight,” The amused Digimon said, with the princess doing so in reply.

Then to Luna’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon flew forwards in a sudden burst of speed.

At first, Luna had to keep low. But after she quickly got used to the speed, she began to smile in awe. Riding on her friend who flew far beyond her top speed and over the thick river of clouds.

BlackWarGreymon took one last look at the night sky before diving through the clouds. Then like a roller-coaster, he flew up and around the clouds. Flying side to side, up and down. And with so many clouds around them, it was hard to tell which was the way up. Which added to the experience. Though Luna couldn’t tell which was up or down, it didn’t stop her from laughing in joy. Embracing such an exhilarating moment.

Then as BlackWarGreymon began to level out, he slowed down as he flew above several patches of clouds. Looking down over his left shoulder, Luna let out a silent gasp at what she saw.

Through the large gap in the clouds, far below, was the city of Canterlot. With its streetlights and the scenery around it, the sight from such a height was stunning.

Throughout her long life, Luna had never seen Canterlot at such an angle before. And she had BlackWarGreymon to thank for that.

Luna then moved her sights over to the Digimon’s head. Only to see him glancing back at her with a happy expression in his eyes.

The princess smiled back as she went back to holding BlackWarGreymon tight. Letting the saviour to continue making her happy.

While high above Canterlot, BlackWarGreymon flew over the city. And then proceeded to dive down towards it. Luna had to stay low while he dived, pressing her face on his shield as she held on tight. But despite the rough ride, the smile never left her face.

As he continued to fall, the Mega flew past Canterlot and fell alongside the waterfall. Just like he done so on his second night in Equestria. Luna smiled in amazement as she looked at the stunning waterfall. Seeing how close she was to it.

Then as they reached the bottom, BlackWarGreymon levelled out and flew over the river. Only a few feet from the waterline. As he flew by, he placed the tips of his claws in the water’s surface. Creating ripples as he passed by.

As Luna looked over the Digimon’s shoulder once more, she saw the reflection of herself, riding on his back.

From seeing it at a different angle, the Alicorn simply couldn’t believe that she was really riding on BlackWarGreymon’s back. she was amazed at the reflection. In fact, because of the ride, she was able to see the usual sights of Canterlot from completely new angles. It felt bizarre, but she loved it.

Then as she went back to resting on his shield, Luna spoke to BlackWarGreymon. Her voice showed loving care and gratitude.

“Thank you, BlackWarGreymon. I really needed this.”

She was so moved by the new feeling, she rested her head on the Digimon’s back. Lying on top of him as he carried her on his back. BlackWarGreymon felt a great warm feeling in his chest from hearing her kind words. And when he looked back, he liked the sight of his favourite mare resting on him.

‘Song end’
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Not too far away, a second powerful being was closing in.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

As he flew through the night sky, he began to think back to what happened at the hidden lair. Upon receiving the order from his evil master, he left the lair to spread chaos and destruction once more.

But for the first time in his incredibly short life, ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t in the mood to do so. He didn’t feel like fighting or blowing stuff up. In fact, just the thought of it left his mind completely. He was too distracted from the events of the previous day.

Him and BlackWarGreymon were fighting once more. But something sparked within the saviour that briefly reverted him back to what he once was. A violent killing machine.

BlackWarGreymon had a huge opportunity to put an end to the clone for good. In his violent state or otherwise. But instead, the black armoured Mega showed him mercy. He spared his life.

‘I don’t understand. Why did you spare me, BlackWarGreymon? I’m the dark relic of your past. It shouldn’t matter if you destroyed me. In fact, you would welcome it. Then why?’

His thoughts were halted when he saw something he had never seen before. After he stopped to hover in place, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked up through a gap in the clouds and was stunned by the stars.

“Woah, what’s up with the sky? I don’t remember there ever been that many stars. That blue princess really had outdone herself.”

A split second later, his crimson eyes widened in shock at his own words.

“Did… did I just made a complement!?”

Not only that, it was a positive complement. Of which no one would ever expect to hear from him. even himself. ChaosBlackWarGreymon then looked at his claws in confusion. If he was the evil clone of BlackWarGreymon, then why for a brief moment he had a positive thought.

“What…what’s gotten over me?”

Then a light in the distance caught his eye. As he looked at its source, his sights fell upon Canterlot. It was there when he felt something.

“BlackWarGreymon is near that city. But…why is it that I can feel something else very close to him?”

He was confused. He could sense a second energy source, but it was indeed very close to BlackWarGreymon’s. Almost as if it was on top of him.

Yet despite his confusion and hate, ChaosBlackWarGreymon felt more like investigating then fighting.

“I must know. But I also have to be careful,” He said as he descended towards the ground.

By flying slow and close to the ground, ChaosBlackWarGreymon could minimize the amount of energy that he was using. And then by using an invisibility spell on himself, no eyes could see him.

The clone Digimon planned to slip by into Canterlot without anyone spotting him. And hoped that BlackWarGreymon would be too busy doing…whatever he was doing to notice.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back in the skies above Canterlot, BlackWarGreymon continued having a great time with Luna. Flying at a steady speed, the Digimon was cruising through the air as a gentle breeze blew past him.

Meanwhile on his back, Luna was resting on his shield. Despite being outdoors and in the air, the Alicorn felt surprisingly comfy. But she had to be careful not to doze off and loose grip. Admittingly at first, she thought that lying on armour would soon become uncomfortable. But it wasn’t like that. She felt at ease, as if lying on a carpet. Well, a flying carpet.

When Luna looked up, she noticed that she was very close to BlackWarGreymon’s hair. Then it hit her. She did recall hearing rumours about the touch of the black Digimon’s yellow hair. It then got her wondering.

‘Could rumours about his hair be true?’

Curious to find out for herself, Luna pulled herself forward towards the yellow locks of hair. She was then within distance to touch, but she needed to use her hooves to keep a hold on BlackWarGreymon’s shield.

The blue princess felt slightly nervous. With her hooves occupied, she only had one option.

Deciding to go through with it, Luna gently placed her nose in the warrior’s yellow hair. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief from its touch.

‘Wow! His hair… it’s…’

Unable to control herself, due to the comfort she was feeling, Luna gently pressed her face into the yellow hair. Nuzzling it while taking in its smell.

‘It’s so soft. And his scent, it’s nice too.’

However, her actions hadn’t gone unnoticed. BlackWarGreymon felt Luna’s every move and was a little startled when she nuzzled his hair. He could feel and hear her breath. And yet, he didn’t find it uncomfortable. In fact, he found it rather sweet of her to take such an interest in his hair. And feeling her nuzzling the back of his head actually felt soothing to him.

He decided to let her actions continue for a few moments longer. Until he decided to head back to Canterlot.

“I see you have taken a liking to my hair.”

Hearing his voice addressing her immediately caused Luna to snap out of her trance as she quickly pulled her head away. A bright blush formed on her face.

“OH!... Uhh…S-Sorry! I was…uhh…!”

She paused when she heard her friend chuckling.

“It’s ok, Luna. You have nothing to apologize for.”

As Luna smiled back, she noticed that they were descending towards a road that lead into the city. Though she wanted nothing more then to ride on his back all night long, they had to continue their date.

Luna then flew off BlackWarGreymon and landed on the firm ground. The Mega landed next to her, and after glancing at each other with smiles, the two headed towards the city centre.

Though it was night, the centre of the city was quite lively. As it was the night of Hearts and Hooves day, many ponies were out with their dates. Some who had been together for some time, and others that were recent. There were many attractions that the couple could use to impress one another or simply have a good time. A fair ground. Many restaurants, fancy and modern. Some local theatres. And in the field on the outskirts of the centre, a music festival that recently opened up for one night.

Back at the centre, one such recent pair had arrived. BlackWarGreymon, the saviour of Equestria. And Luna, the Princess of the Night. As the two made their entrance, they had drawn quite the attention from the crowd.

Normally, BlackWarGreymon and Luna would feel awkward at being watched. But for the first time, it didn’t bother them. In fact, they no longer cared. They didn’t care if they were being looked at. About the reactions from the others. From the questions they would ask. They didn’t care anymore. The two were simply having too much of a good time spending time with each other.

The reactions from the crowd were positive for a number of reasons. Some were the fact that they could get to see BlackWarGreymon in the city once more. And others, well mostly, was from the sight of Luna in such a stunning looking dress. Her beauty certainly had turned a few heads as well.

One moment when Luna spotted two stallions approaching her, she felt uneasy. But then the two stallions instantly retreated after they averted their sights above her. Turning her head around to look at BlackWarGreymon, she very briefly saw him giving the two an unfriendly glare.

A warm smile returned to her face when she realised what her friend had done. He scared them away, as if he wanted to keep her to himself. She didn’t hold it against him, for it was he who she wanted to be with tonight.

Despite it being Hearts and Hooves day, many citizens believed that the two were only around for an important visit. That Luna only dressed for the part and that BlackWarGreymon was her personal bodyguard. However, only a few of them had a feeling that something was going on between the two. They could tell by the way the princess smiled at the Digimon.

As the two walked through the city centre, Luna thought the first fun thing they could do was to take a picture in a photo booth. When they found one, the Alicorn encouraged BlackWarGreymon to go in with her. Though shy about it, he eventually agreed. It was a tight squeeze, since the booth was just large enough for him to fit through.

Four flashes later, the two got out of the booth. With Luna picking up the roll of four photos from it. One picture was shown too early. BlackWarGreymon tried to get comfortable in the cramped space. The second showed Luna pointing at the camera, showing that the Digimon should look at it. The third showed that Luna wasn’t ready. She blushed heavily from realising how close she was to BlackWarGreymon. The fourth and final picture was perfect. The two looking at the camera with calm and happy expressions.

“Definitely keeping this,” Luna said to herself before showing the photos to BlackWarGreymon.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Elsewhere in Canterlot, the invisible form of ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed in the city. But gently. The last thing he wanted was to cause a commotion when it was not necessary. Which he found puzzling as to why he should care. As he stood tall, he took note about the Heart and Hooves decorations all around him.

‘Did this place suddenly got a lot girlier?’ He thought to himself.

Due to his lack of understanding traditions, which was removed during his development, the Digimon clone looked confused as to what the ponies were doing.

‘I wonder what all the fuss is all about.’

As the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon strolled through the city, he suddenly picked up on BlackWarGreymon’s power. It was quite close to his location.

‘So best buddy is here after all. I wonder what he’s up to.’

After following BlackWarGreymon’s energy signature, the invisible ChaosBlackWarGreymon crept behind a corner of a building. Leaning his back against the wall and lowering his power to almost zero.

‘Ok, he’s just around this corner. Now let’s see.’

As he peered around the corner, at first he saw a huge shadow. Then BlackWarGreymon himself emerged.

‘There he is. Now what is he doing out here?’

Then, before he could think of a surprise attack, he spotted a second shadow following BlackWarGreymon. And then to ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s surprise, Luna showed herself. But what surprised him was the dress she was wearing.

‘Wow, guess that explains the sky.’

But it was there when he noticed something. Something very rare in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes when he looked at Luna. It was not just an expression, it was an expression he had never seen before. An expression he thought hadn’t even existed. Yet despite his collective memories from BlackWarGreymon, King Sombra and his dark master, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had no acknowledgement of what the expression was. But he did know what emotion was attached to it.

‘Wow. BlackWarGreymon he… he looks so… happy.’

Whatever thoughts of anger and vengeance ChaosBlackWarGreymon had on his mind, had vanished completely. Something about BlackWarGreymon’s expression had brought calm to the usually insane clone.

‘What is happening to me? What is this…feeling I have? BlackWarGreymon is right there! Why don’t I feel angry!?’

As thoughts of confusion flowed through his head, the clone saw his rival and Luna walking away. With his interest in fighting temporarily gone, the clone had no other reason for staying in Canterlot. But…

‘I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I should keep an eye on them while I’m here.’

Back with the pair, BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt a cold shiver. Which was noticed by Luna.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. But it feels like we’re being watched.”

“Well we are surrounded by ponies. Perhaps you’re still not used to being stared at yet.”

“Perhaps.” He replied, unsure if it was the reason at all.

BlackWarGreymon and Luna continued on towards the outskirts of the city centre. Oblivious to the invisible ChaosBlackWarGreymon following close behind.

With the clone’s attention fully on BlackWarGreymon, he failed to pay mind of a stallion tripping over his invisible toe. The confused pony looked around to see what he had tripped on.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After her little visit to her Canterlot boutique that recently opened up, Rarity walked through the streets. Taking in the sights of all the decorations.

“Wow, such lovely decorations. Perhaps the inspiration I need for next year’s fashion line.”

As she strolled through the street, the white Unicorn spotted a friend that she could easily recognize a mile away.

“What? BlackWarGreymon? What is he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be on his…!”

Both her voice and body instantly came to a halt when she saw Princess Luna. Fully dressed and by his side. Not wanting to be spotted, the startled Rarity hid behind a wall as she panted heavily from the shock.

“So… BlackWarGreymon wasn’t joking after all! He really is on a date! And…with Princess Luna.”

She then took a peek at them from around the corner. Eyeing the blue princess.

“I’ve never seen Luna wear that dress before. It’s so stunning. So beautiful. It suits her perfectly in every way.”

Rarity then thought of something.

“Wait. If Luna is wearing that, on Hearts and Hooves day, then she’s clearly in that dress… to impress BlackWarGreymon. I mean… it’s not like she’s…!”

Then realisation hit the Unicorn on the head. Shocked at the possibility.

“Wait! Is she…? Are…are those two…?”

It all began to make sense to her. She did find it odd that BlackWarGreymon wanted to keep his date a secret between him and her. And Twilight did tell her and her friends that she saw Luna bringing the Digimon’s senses back when he was in doubt. And that the blue princess stuck by his side when he was at the hospital in the Crystal Empire. And that she was brave enough to fight along side him against his clone. Plus, her faith in him against King Sombra. And the two together at the Grand Galloping Gala.

With all the evidence piling up to one conclusion, Rarity’s shock transformed into joyful awe.

“That… is adorable!”
……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back with the pair, Luna approached a small building before speaking to BlackWarGreymon.

“Umm…could you please wait here for a second. I need to…use the facilities.”

Though BlackWarGreymon didn’t know what the Alicorn was referring to, he agreed to her request.

“Ok, I’ll wait here.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

After he watched her enter the small building, BlackWarGreymon waited patiently for her return.

Then he heard a voice.

“Oh BlackWarGreymon.”

Following the voice, the Digimon saw the white Unicorn walking up to him. Acting as though she hadn’t seen the whole thing.

“Oh, hi Rarity. What brings you here?”

“Well I was just checking on my shop here in Canterlot.”

Rarity approached closer to him as she spoke to him. Her voice quietened for only him to hear.

“So? How is your date so far?” She asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“I’m enjoying it so far. Luna and I had a nice talk back at the gardens. Then she showed me her present. And then we decided to look around town.”

Rarity could tell by his tone that he really was enjoying himself. She then got curious at one of the things he said.

“That’s splendid to hear. But what is the present that you speak of?”

BlackWarGreymon looked up in response.

“Look carefully through the clouds and then you’ll see it.”

At first, all Rarity could see was clouds. But after a moment of intense focus, she saw a gap in the clouds. In awe at the night sky above.

“Oh my. The night sky looks so divine. I mean look at all those stars.”

“Yeah. Luna said that she only makes those skies on special occasions. This occasion is to thank me for all the things that I’ve done for Equestria. And to repay for her kindness, I had her resting on my back as I flew through the night sky.”

Rarity looked at BlackWarGreymon in surprise and awe.

“You…really did that?”

“I did. And Luna enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Rarity was amazed at what she heard. Not only Luna created such a beautiful sky to both thank and impress BlackWarGreymon, but he in return tried to impress her and make the night more enjoyable.

The white Unicorn tried to picture the blue Alicorn riding on the Digimon’s shied as he flew through the sky. She was then amazed at how moving it looked. And how moving it must had felt. Plus, she was surprised that it was BlackWarGreymon’s idea.

“Wow. I never knew you could be romantic at times.”

“Romantic?” The Mega asked in confusion.

As much as she wanted to explain it to him, Rarity knew that she couldn’t stand around for long. Luna would soon be back. And she thought it would be best for BlackWarGreymon to discover it on his own.

“Well…I shan’t keep you waiting. Enjoy yourself, I’ll see you soon.”

BlackWarGreymon stood there confused as Rarity took her leave. He then spotted Luna approaching his side.

“I’m back. Shall we continue?”

“Sure thing?”

Before the two continued on their way, Rarity spared a final glance at the two. Mostly at Luna. The white Unicorn could definitely tell that something was going on between them. She could tell by the way Luna was smiling at him.

“I don’t believe it. She’s…she’s really into him.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Soon BlackWarGreymon and Luna arrived at a field on the outskirts of the centre. With such a large number of ponies all around them, the two could tell that something was going on. Then to the Digimon’s confusion, he saw a well-built stage in the middle of a field.

“Luna, what’s going on here?” He asked.

Confused at first, Luna then remembered.

“Oh yes. I did recall there was going to be a music festival tonight. This must be the place.”

When she looked to her side, the Alicorn could see that her Digimon friend looked very interested. It was very clear to her that he had never been to a music festival. Plus, it had been a very long time since she attended to one. She was curious to see how much music had changed.

Then she had an idea.

“You want to go and watch?”

“If it’s ok with you,” BlackWarGreymon answered as he looked at Luna to see her approval.

A simple nod was all he needed to know that it was a yes.

The only way to enter the festival was to buy a ticket at the entrance. But since Luna was a princess, the ticket holder decided to let her in for free. And when the Alicorn said that BlackWarGreymon was with her, the ticker holder allowed him in too.

“Guess being royalty does have its perks,” The Digimon said. With Luna smiling with princess pride.

To gain less attention to themselves as much as possible, the pair stood at the back of the audience. Some of which had been waiting for nearly an hour in the crowd. Because the two were taller than average ponies they could see the stage from the back.

“When do you think it will start?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“I’m not sure. Probably any minute now,” Luna answered.

Then as lights started to flash on the stage, the crowd began to cheer. They then quietened down when the announcer approached the centre of the stage.

“Hello everypony! I am pleased to announce that the Canterlot music festival is about to begin!”

The crowd cheered in response. Then quietened as the announcer prepared to speak once more.

“And now to start off the festival with her latest hit. The one, the only… Countess Coloratura!!”

The moment the name of the pony of pop was announced, the crowd began to cheer like crazy. Then as some of the stage lights began to dim, the crowd waited impatiently for their favourite singer to arrive.

“Countess who?” BlackWarGreymon whispered to Luna.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of the name. but I guess she must be really popular to the citizens,” Luna replied. Taking note on the reactions of the ponies.

Then as the stage lights and music began to go in sync with each other, a famous Earth Pony mare arrived from the darkness of the stage with a group of backup dancers. She then performed one of her most famous songs.

Time for the spectacle
Time for the show
The lights are bright and the colours glow
I’m not just anypony
I think you know
The time is now, it’s about to blow!

Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it’s a spectacle
Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it’s a spectacle

Give me more
Razzle dazzle
Glitter eyes, big surprise
Lights, cameras
AAAAHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it’s a spectacle
Here the applause
Here to impress
Not just a pony, I am the Countess!

In response to her performance, the crowd once again cheered like crazy. Amazed at the effort the singer put on to entertain them. Luna and BlackWarGreymon meanwhile stood at the back silently. The Alicorn staring in surprise and the Digimon staring in awe.

“Wow. Music certainly has changed from what I remember.”

“That is so cool.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

About an hour and a half later, the music festival had finished performing. And soon enough, most of the audience had left. Some decided to stay to buy gifts from the provided stalls.

After they left the field and returned to the city centre, BlackWarGreymon and Luna were reminiscing their experience.

“The music lately had become very interesting. Did you enjoy it?” Luna asked her tall friend.

“Considering it was my first time in a music festival, I did enjoy it. Some of those singers were very good,” The Digimon replied.

Then without thinking, the excited Luna spoke up.

“I knew you would enjoy it, Blackie.”

After realising what she just said, Luna paused and quickly held her breath as her eyes widened in shock. Did she really call him that? And out loud!? BlackWarGreymon meanwhile looked at her in confusion as he stood beside her.

“Wait? Blackie?”

Realising there was no going back from it, Luna blushed as she spoke.

“S…sorry. It’s just… a little nickname… I wanted to call you by.”

“A nickname?” The Digimon asked.

“Yes. It’s short for your real name. and it’s recognizable,” The Alicorn explained further.

BlackWarGreymon then thought over it.

“Blackie… I think I like it.”

“Really!?” Luna asked, her voice showed a hint of excitement. Then the Mega turned towards her.

“Yeah. And what about you? Do you have a nickname?”

Luna began to think back to her younger years. After a brief moment, she remembered the nicknames she and Celestia had.

“Well…it was back when me and my sister were little. I used to call her, Tia.”

“And yours?” BlackWarGreymon asked, curious of Luna’s nickname.

Luna blushed in embarrassment from remembering her nickname. And she had to say it to BlackWarGreymon.

“Mmm…sister used to call me……Lulu.”

Luna looked away for a moment, hoping that her nickname didn’t sound too childish. Then to her amazement, she heard the Digimon chuckling in delight. Not bothered by the sound of the name.

“That’s a cute nickname you have.”

Luna looked back at him in astonishment and relief. The look in his eyes showed that he was honest. He found her nickname very suitable.

Then she realised something. Aside from her sister, Luna hadn’t told any other pony about her nickname. For fear of embarrassment. She never told a soul about it, but yet she told BlackWarGreymon. It’s as if she didn’t mind telling him her secrets. That was how much she trusted him.

However, their little moment was cut short when they heard a loud stomach growl. Unexpectedly, it came from the princess. Who blushed in embarrassment.

“Ohhh…sorry. All the excitement, made me forget to have dinner.” Luna said.

After remembering that he saw restaurants nearby, BlackWarGreymon had an idea.

“You want to go and have a bite to eat, Lulu?”

Startled at first, Luna slowly smiled at him for using her nickname in a respectful manner. Not as mockery.

“As long as you’re coming, Blackie.”

As the two went off to the find the nearest restaurant, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, who remained invisible, was close behind. But with one particular song stuck in his head.

“Razzle dazzle. Glitz and gla…uhh! Why did that song had to be so catchy?” He said to himself. But had to be quiet.

Back with the pair, BlackWarGreymon and Luna arrived at one of the recently opened restaurants. There they sat at a round table outside. What was unique about it was the type of bench it had. Not only was it strong enough to hold the Digimon’s weight, but it was shaped like a large ring that went around the table. Though he wasn’t as hungry as Luna, BlackWarGreymon was eager to eat with her. The Alicorn wasn’t in the mood for anything cooked or fancy, so she decided to have the restaurant special. A sponge cake with white icing, whipped cream and strawberries. The cake was just big enough for two.

The two talked before the cake arrived.

“The cake sounds nice. I take it that you really like cake?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“Well, it’s my sister who’s more into cake than myself,” Luna explained.

“Maybe we should save a piece for her,” The Digimon replied.

Knowing that he was joking, Luna chuckled lightly from what he said. Her thoughts of happiness were interrupted by another growl from her stomach.

‘Wow. Guess I really am hungry.’

After the waiter arrived, he placed the large plate of cake in front of the pair. While BlackWarGreymon looked at the dessert in fascination, Luna stared at it in hunger.

“Wow, it looks more delicious up close,” She whispered to herself.

The Mega used a claw on his left gauntlet to impale a small section of the cake and brought it closer to his face. He then tasted it after phasing it through his mouthpiece. His unusual way of consuming food.

“Mmm. Now I know why Celestia likes cakes,” He said, finding the flavour of the sponge enjoyable.

But instead of a reply, he heard an audible munching sound. Turning to his right, he briefly saw Luna gorging on the cake. In a very un-lady-like manner. Immediately realising what she had done, Luna instantly stood back up. Leaving a rather large bite in the cake and some whipped cream on her blushing face.

“S…sorry. I was…so hungry and…”

The Alicorn found it hard to speak, but BlackWarGreymon’s expression didn’t show any kind of uncertainty or disgust. Instead, he found it rather endearing.

“It’s ok, Luna. You couldn’t help it. I don’t mind.”

Luna was relieved to hear his words before she started to clean herself. Using a tissue to wipe some of the dessert off her face. But just as she thought she was completely clean, there was a small patch of cream on her face.

Then…without any thought about what he was doing, BlackWarGreymon offered.

“Here, let me.”

Reaching his right arm out, the Digimon used his thumb to wipe away the whipped cream from Luna’s left cheek.

Luna’s mind and body froze in an instant the moment she felt BlackWarGreymon’s touch. Her eyes widened in shock at how unexpected it was, and from how gentle it felt. Even though he was just cleaning up her face, she couldn’t help but blush deeply from the fact that… he was stroking her cheek.

The startled princess averted her gaze slightly towards him in shock and amazement.

“B…Blackie?”

It was BlackWarGreymon’s turn to realise what he had just done. His eyes widened in shock. His mind and speech stuttered as he quickly retracted his hand away from Luna’s face. Feeling ashamed for what he had done without permission.

“Uhh! I-I’m sorry, Luna! I didn’t realise what I was doing!”

BlackWarGreymon started to feel awkward. If it were an ordinary pony, it may had been ok. But Luna was of royalty and should be treated with more respect. Even if they were friends.

Then to his surprise, Luna spoke up calmly. And what she said was confusing to him.

“I…I didn’t say you can stop.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at Luna to read her expression. Though she tried to look stern and focused, her blush clearly showed that she wasn’t. But her blush wasn’t of embarrassment. Instead, it was more like…flattery. As if she liked being stroked on the cheek and wanted more.

But the black armoured warrior remained unsure.

“But…you don’t have any whipped cream on your face.”

In response to BlackWarGreymon’s reply, and to his confusion, Luna dipped her left hoof in the cake and purposely stuck it on her left cheek. Her face and expression remained the same as she turned her head slightly away.

‘Does she…want me to touch her cheek?’ He asked himself. Finding Luna’s actions…strange.

Unsure where his actions would lead him, BlackWarGreymon slowly reached out his right arm towards Luna. Without him noticing, Luna secretly curled her lips into a smile. Her friend took the bait that she laid for him.

Luna closed her eyes as BlackWarGreymon wiped the whipped cream off her left cheek. Then to his surprise as he finished, the princess leaned her head into his hand. Softly nuzzling her face against his palm.

The Digimon was speechless. Why was Luna nuzzling his hand? What came over her? And why…did it felt good? Though surprised, the Mega was amazed at how soft her fur was.

Then to add more to his surprise and confusion, Luna nudged on her seat and moved closer to BlackWarGreymon. She then was leaning against his side with her head resting on the side of his chest. Even though most of her friend’s body was armour, she found it comfortable and surprisingly warm.

‘Wow. His body is… so cozy.’

The startled Digimon looked down at Luna in amazement. Seeing her closed eyes and her loving smile showed that she was comfortable leaning on him. even with his armour, he could feel her warmth on his body. And could feel her nuzzling on his chest. He didn’t know why but…seeing her in such a way, and from what she was doing, made him feel in a way he rarely ever felt. But a feeling he only got from Luna.

His own expression softened as he felt a warm feeling in his heart. Luna had shown she really cared about him. So, it’s only fitting for him to return the favour.

Moving slowly and gently due to wearing his gauntlets, BlackWarGreymon moved his right arm and placed it around Luna’s side.

Luna was slightly startled when she felt the Digimon’s arm around her. But by believing that he really cared for her as much as she cared for him, the blue Alicorn surrendered in his embrace. With positive feelings nearly overwhelming him, BlackWarGreymon too closed his eyes as he welcomed the feeling.

Luna continued to nuzzle him as he held her close. Unaware that BlackWarGreymon’s invisible clone was watching.

Normally he would find the sight unsettling. But to his confusion, ChaosBlackWarGreymon found it intriguing. Amazed in fact, almost like he was mesmerized. He then tried to think back through BlackWarGreymon’s past, to see if there was any moment where the black armoured Mega was loved in such a way. But he found none. Seeing such a sight turned out to be a new experience for the grey armoured clone.

“I’ve…I’ve never seen him look so happy before.”

Like before, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t felt like fighting anymore. It was as if the heart-warming sight was making him calm and less violent.

Though BlackWarGreymon once broke his arm and nearly killed him twice, for some reason and to his confusion, the thought of ruining BlackWarGreymon’s moment with Luna felt…wrong.

He then came to a decision.

“Enjoy this moment as much as you can, BlackWarGreymon. Because soon this night will be your last,” He said to himself, as if talking to his rival.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned away, he slowly levitated off the ground and ascended higher into the sky. As he got to a point where no one could see or sense him, the Digital clone decloaked himself. His body visible to the outside world.

As he flew away from the city, one thought crossed his mind.

“What is going on with me? I’m his dark incarnation for goodness sake! Why did I hesitate? Why am I…feeling strange?”

Then something triggered in his mind.

“BlackWarGreymon. You are my progenitor. You gave me your memories. You gave me your powers. You gave me your image. And thanks to your data, you gave me life! What…What else have you given me!?”

His flight slowed as more questions were asked.

“Am I… not perfect? Am I contaminated!?” W-Why am I even asking this? I am you evil clone… aren’t I?”

Then just as he was about to leave Canterlot for good, ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly sensed something. The power was both new and yet familiar to him. He then turned to face it. But not at Canterlot or Ponyville. It came from the Everfree Forest.

“Wait. What…is this power I feel? Why…do I feel that I need to go to it?”

Then just as he was about to resist it, his curiosity got the better of him.

“Oh, what the hell.”

Turning around, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew away from Canterlot and over the Everfree Forest. Flying towards the source of the power.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back in Canterlot, Luna and BlackWarGreymon left the city centre and made their way back to the castle. After all the excitement that happened, the whole experience had left the blue princess tired. As much as she wanted to continue their date, her body wanted sleep. But overall, Luna would say that her very first date was a success.

As the two stopped by one of the doors to the castle, the Alicorn spoke up.

“Tonight was a beautiful night. I take it that you enjoyed yourself too?”

“I really did, Lulu. This date had been fun. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if we do this again some other time,” BlackWarGreymon replied, calling Luna by her nickname.

Hearing the good news made Luna smile. She then thought of something.

“Well…that actually bring me to something I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” The Mega asked.

Luna began to feel shy. Awkward to ask him such a question.

“Uhh…but first. Do you know the concept of…boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Confused at first, but BlackWarGreymon recalled hearing of such a subject.

“Well Twilight and Applejack did mention about it once, but they didn’t tell me what it actually was.”

Waning her friend to understand, Luna explained the subject to him.

“You see, it’s sort of similar to being an ordinary friend. But what makes it different is that…when a boy has a special connection to a girl, they develop a special feeling from that connection. They start to care for one another very deeply and in time, become known as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Though BlackWarGreymon understood every word, he couldn’t help but think that it all sounded very similar.

‘Strange, it all sounds similar to when Cadence talked to me about true love.’

He then suddenly felt as though an electric spark went through his head when he realised something.

‘Wait! Is Luna saying what I think she’s trying to say!?’

As Luna blushed from embarrassment from even thinking about such a question, she took in a deep breath, looked brave, and asked the question.

“What I’m trying to say is… well… would you……l…like to be my… secret boyfriend? My…special somepony?”

She finally asked him. Luna blushed deeply as she looked away. Not wanting to look at the Digimon head on.

BlackWarGreymon couldn’t help but pause in awe. Luna had actually asked him to be her boyfriend. At first, he was confused at the secret part. But after a brief thought, it sort of made sense. It would be strange if others were to hear of such things.

Nevertheless, he surprised her by agreeing to it.

“Well…as long as I keep having this much fun with you, then I’ll be honoured to be your boyfriend.”

Luna looked at him in amazement, shock and disbelief all rolled into one.

“Really!?”

“Yes. Because you see, whenever you are around, I do feel… a special connection between you and I,” The Digimon explained.

Luna quietly gasped in shock at what her tall friend said.

“Y-You do?” She asked.

“Yeah, I do,” He answered.

Hearing his words forced a question in Luna’s mind.

‘I don’t believe it! Does this mean…he really has feelings for me!?’

Ever since the events at the Crystal Empire, the bond between BlackWarGreymon and Luna had grown incredibly strong. Luna knew it and, after her talk with Princess Cadence, had come to terms with her feelings for him. But to find out that he could possibly hold the same feelings for her in return… it was almost unbelievable.

After she got over her shock, the Alicorn let out a smile before talking once more.

“Thank you, Blackie. For a wonderful time.”

BlackWarGreymon’s expression softened at seeing Luna’s smile.

“You are very welcome.”

Then as he turned to make his leave, Luna called out.

“Wait! Before you go, just…one more thing.”

The puzzled Mega looked at the princess in response.

“What is it?”

“Please…kneel down for me.”

Though puzzled by her request, BlackWarGreymon did what she said and knelt down on one knee. He then watched in wonder as Luna walked up to him. he could see her blush, probably from something she was about to do.

He then got his answer. To his shock and mental surprise, Luna leaned up to his face with her eyes closed…and gave him a soft kiss on his right cheek.

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes couldn’t be any wider. Though Fluttershy had already kissed him on the cheek, twice, the kiss from Luna felt entirely different. It was not just from kindness, the Digimon could feel all the love Luna had in that one kiss. He then felt the warmth in his heart growing hotter and hotter. As if his heart was on fire.

Then as Luna palled away, she gave him a warm, thoughtful smile before turning towards the castle doors. Leaving the stunned Digimon to stand back up staring at her in disbelief.

Just as Luna opened the door with her magic, she looked over her left shoulder for one last look at BlackWarGreymon.

“Goodnight, Blackie.”

The Digimon was too stunned to respond at first. But then mustered enough willpower to speak.

“Yeah…you too, Lulu.”

Luna grew one last smile at him before walking through the doorway to the castle, closing the door behind her.

Though the date had finished, and Luna was back home safely, BlackWarGreymon never felt so excited.

“Yes!!”

Out of sheer joy, he leapt off the ground and quickly took to the skies. Flying around the Canterlot towers before starting his flight back to Ponyville.

During his flight, he couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. To him, it was a very big hint that she had feelings for him. Especially since they agreed to be secret boyfriend and girlfriend.

That kiss would be one of a few moments in his life… that he would remember forever.

Chapter 53: False Destinies?

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After leaving Canterlot behind him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew high through the air over the vast land that was the Everfree Forest.

As he flew by, the Digimon clone’s thoughts reflected on the events that happened before he left. He was sent out of the lair by his master to cause more destruction and mayhem. Like he had done so before. But for the first time since his creation, he wasn’t in the mood to do so. His diversion from his usual self became apparent the second he decided to go to Canterlot while using an invisible spell on himself. If he were to destroy, he wouldn’t put in the effort to hide so well. Especially from the sights of BlackWarGreymon. He would’ve never done so otherwise.

But what startled him the most was seeing how happy BlackWarGreymon was. During his time with Princess Luna, the black armoured Mega looked as though he’d embraced every second with her. But what was the most shocking was that the sight of it made the clone feel…calm. It completely brought him out of his violent urges.

Then after deciding to leave the two alone and fly away, the grey armoured Digimon sensed something. An energy source that lead him to the Everfree in the first place.

While flying above the treetops, ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to comment on BlackWarGreymon. As well as a possible reason he was with Luna.

“Now that I think about it, I did sense something between those two back when they fought against me before. Huh, so best buddy finally had the guts to ask her out.”

Due to the knowledge he had gained from his master and King Sombra, ChaosBlackWarGreymon understood the concepts of dating far better than BlackWarGreymon.

But then the clone felt confused at what he just said. His sentence wasn’t in a way of mocking. With the tone he used, it almost showed that he was… proud.

He began to grunt in annoyance.

“Just what is going on with me!? Ever since yesterday, I feel…strange. But why?”

Then to his surprise, as well as to his relief, he heard some collective screaming somewhere in the forest. He was confused. There was no way that he could be seen through the forest canopy. So the screams must be about something else. Something frightening.

At first, he thought of ignoring the commotion and continue on his way. But with curiosity coursing through his mind, wondering what all the panic was about, he descended towards the noises.

“Well this I gotta see.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….

Down on the forest floor, a chase was on. The Cutiemark Crusaders were running in terror through the old dirt path. Running away from pairs of green illuminating eyes in the bushes that were following them.

“HELP!!! Somepony help us!!” Sweetie Belle shouted, hoping someone could hear.

“Why in Equestria did we thought this was a good idea!?” Applebloom asked, regretting the decision she and her friends had made.

“Girls! If we make it back, lets not tell our sisters that we tried to get cutiemarks in animal spotting in the Everfree!” Scootaloo suggested.

Then to their shock, a spin-chilling howl was heard from behind them. Followed by a series of growling and barking. Looking back, the three fillies saw their pursuers. Wolf-like creatures made from dead or dying vegetation. Timberwolves.

Though they resemble wolves and hunt in packs, Timberwolves were much more vicious. Their aggressive nature peaks either when it was Zap Apple season, or when they were disturbed in the Everfree Forest. The latter was done when one of the crusaders tripped over the leg of a sleeping Timberwolf. The cries of panic and the howling woke up the whole pack and then chased the fillies through the forest.

Seeing the pack chasing after them caused the three girls to scream in fear as they continued running for their lives.

In a small clearing ahead of the fillies, ChaosBlackWarGreymon made his landing. Standing firm as he looked around.

“Ok, now where’s the screaming?” He asked himself.

He sharply looked to his right when he heard the sounds of running. Then when the three fillies jumped out of a bush, in a panic all they saw was an outline of a friend they recognized.

“Girls, it’s BlackWarGreymon!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Scootaloo said in relief.

“Quick! Save us!” Applebloom said as she and her two friends ran around and hid behind the tall Digimon’s legs. Believing that it was BlackWarGreymon.

It was quite clear that their older sisters neglected to inform them about the digital clone.

The reason ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t move was because he was curious of what was chasing the fillies. Then to his dissatisfaction, a pack of Timberwolves emerged. The pack immediately halted when they saw the towering Digimon. Intimidated by his looks and power.

The crusaders peeked around the Digimon’s leg and saw the reactions of the Timberwolves.

“Did ya see that? They’re scared,” Applebloom mentioned.

“Of course. No one messes with BlackWarGreymon,” Scootaloo added.

Before Sweetie Belle could speak, she looked at the Digimon’s leg that was beside her. The young Unicorn noticed something that wasn’t right.

“Wait, aren’t these supposed to be yellow?” She asked as she looked at the cords attached to the armoured shin guard.

Her other two friends caught on what she said, and they too saw that it wasn’t only the cords, but the front plate of the shin guard wasn’t yellow. Instead, it was black.

Unsure what to make of it, the fillies slowly backed away as they looked up at the Digimon. And to their shock, the armour he wore wasn’t black. It was grey. And his hair was nowhere near the shade of yellow. Though he looked like their friend, but the three felt as though they were looking at a completely different Digimon.

“You’re… you’re not BlackWarGreymon. Are you?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice carrying her nerves.

“No…” The tall Mega said before looking over his right shoulder, glaring at the three with his gaze.

“…but I’m close enough.”

The Cutiemark Crusaders didn’t know how or what to feel from what was going on. The Digimon in front of them definitely wasn’t BlackWarGreymon. His voice was different, and his eyes were crimson red in colour. It was his eyes that sent an uncomfortable chill through the fillies. The way his eyes were coloured looked as though they were coated in blood.

“Ah got a bad feelin’ about this guy,” Applebloom said as she and her friends backed away in fear. To them, something about the new Digimon felt off. As if he was far worse than the Timberwolves.

The four were interrupted by a series of growls and barking. Looking back at the Timberwolves, ChaosBlackWarGreymon noticed that the carnivores shook of their fear of him and began to stalk closer. Bearing their wooden fangs to threaten the Mega.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon however wasn’t impressed.

“Wait, you seriously want to fight me? You look as though you crawled out of a compost heap.”

The three girls behind him couldn’t help but quietly snicker from what the Digimon said. It made sense, considering that the creatures were made of leaves and branches. Not to mention the smell.

The Timberwolves however weren’t happy about the remark. After snarling in aggression, most of the pack charged at the Digimon. Intending to rip him apart.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained unmoved, allowing the creatures to land on him as they tried to claw and bite his body.

The three fillies were amazed. Despite the attacks from the Timberwolves, the tall Digimon remained firm as he stood still. Unaffected by the biting and the scratching. Then to their confusion, they could hear him chuckling.

“How cute.”

Then ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly leapt into the air, forcing the Timberwolves off him as they were sent flying from the sudden motion. As some of the wooden creatures fell to the ground, their bodies snapped on impact from the fall. While some others looked up in surprise, they were frightened to see the Digimon falling back down.

As some backed away in time, two Timberwolves weren’t so lucky as the Mega landed on them. Crushing them under his feet.

The Cutiemark Crusaders watched on in amazement. Thinking that the Digimon could be just as strong as BlackWarGreymon.

As the digital clone rose back up to his full height, his sights fell upon the rest of the pack. Though the Timberwolves were nowhere near as strong as he was, to satisfy his sudden taste for combat, he had to at least fight something.

“Oh well, better than nothing.”

One Timberwolf tried its luck to pounce on him. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon jumped out of the way and slammed his raised right elbow into the creature’s side. The force of the blow shattered the wolf’s body into splinters. Then as he landed, he backhanded another Timberwolf as it leapt at him. he then kicked another as it tried to rush him.

The attacks of the Mega were overpowering to the Timberwolves. Just one blow from his attacks destroyed the pack one by one.

Then another Timberwolf charged at the Digimon from behind. Deciding to react differently, ChaosBlackWarGreymon resorted to his favourite trick.

As the wolf came close, the Digimon used his dark magic to teleport out of the way. Then after reappearing next to the confused creature, the armoured being decapitated it with one slash of his metal claws.

Though the actions were almost too fast for the fillies to see, Sweetie Belle saw the whole thing.

“Wait, did you see that!?”

“See what?” Scootaloo asked.

As the crusaders watched, they saw a bright green flash of magic as ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported behind another Timberwolf and kicked it away.

“That there! He just teleported!” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“What!? This guy had magic!?” Applebloom asked in disbelief.

But as they watched on, the answer was obvious. Using a series of teleportation spells, ChaosBlackWarGreymon appeared in front of one Timberwolf and destroyed it with a backhand. Then disappearing and reappearing behind another, he smashed his arms on top of it.

The next Timberwolf looked around in panic as the aggressor disappeared once more.

Reappearing behind it, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached down and picked up the Timberwolf. The wooden creature panicked as it was lifted by the neck and left hind leg. Being lifted overhead above the Digimon.

“Bye bye, twiggy,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he pulled his arms apart. Ripping the Timberwolf in half.

Just as it seemed it was over, the Digimon clone looked to his left and saw one last Timberwolf growling at him. The tall being looked unimpressed as he pointed his left arm at the creature.

“I’m bored of this fight,” He said before his middle claw glowed green with magic.

The Timberwolf found itself trapped in a large green sphere that appeared out of nowhere. Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his arm, he moved the trapped Timberwolf up above the ground. Then after adjusting his magic, the Mega caused the energy ball to shrink. The wooden creature briefly panicked before it was slowly crushed.

After throwing his arm down, the Digimon sent the orb crashing to the ground. Destroying what was left of the wolf.

The Cutiemark Crusaders were in awe. Impressed that the Digimon too on and defeated a whole pack of Timberwolves, and a little intimidated at how he destroyed some of them.

“Hmm. Too easy,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said, disappointed at how short the fight was.

Before he could turn away however, he and the fillies noticed that all the fallen parts of the Timberwolves started to glow green. Then as parts levitated off the ground, they all began to gather in front of the armoured being. All slowly combining into something much larger. Roughly three times bigger than the Digimon clone.

“Now that’s just adorable,” He said in response, giving the new threat an amused glare.

After completing itself, the giant Timberwolf roared loudly into the air. The sight terrorizing the fillies.

“I heard about pulling yourself together, but that’s ridiculous!” Scootaloo said as she and her friends huddles together in fear.

“Be careful mister!” Sweetie Belle said to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. In which he responded.

“Of what? That thing? That’s nothing.”

Despite being face to face with a growling giant Timberwolf, the grey armoured Digimon walked up to it with his right arm pointing at it. Getting into a playful mood.

“Now sit! Sit I say!” He commanded to the angry beast, greatly confusing the three fillies.

“This guy is either brave or downright crazy,” Applebloom said. Witnessing his odd behaviour further proved that he was different from BlackWarGreymon.

Growling in hate and annoyance, the giant Timberwolf roared once more as it swung its right paw at ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

But to the amazement of the fillies and the shock of the giant Timberwolf, the digital clone caught the oversized wooden limb before it could hit. The wolf could feel the Mega’s grip as his arms were wrapped around it.

Then the Digimon gave the Timberwolf an angered expression before he spoke.

“I said sit. Not paw!”

Then with one forceful yank, ChaosBlackWarGreymon ripped the limb off the giant Timberwolf’s body. The wolf wailed in pain as it limped on its remaining three legs. The crusaders were speechless. The Digimon was beating the giant Timberwolf just as easily as he fought the whole pack of regular ones.

As he tossed the disembodied limb aside, the crimson eyes being decided to put the Timberwolf down for good.

“Bad Dog. Now it’s time for you to play dead.”

The fillies held their breath, waiting to see what the Digimon was going to do.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then used one of his moves.

“SHADOW FIRE!!!”

Using the imitation of BlackWarGreymon’s Dragon Crusher attack, the clone unleashed a wave of green fire upon the giant Timberwolf. Turning the wailing wooden creature into ashes.

With the Timberwolf gone for good, the atmosphere cooled down as ChaosBlackWarGreymon relaxed himself. But then was brought to attention when he heard Sweetie Belle’s voice.

“Hay mister!”

Thinking that the Mane Six told the three fillies about him and what he had done back at the Crystal Empire, the Digimon slowly glared over his shoulder as he prepared himself. Turning around, just as he got his clawed gauntlets ready, he started to grunt angrily.

But as he turned around, he suddenly felt pressure on his feet. As if someone was holding onto him. As ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked down at his feet, to his shock and disbelief, the three fillies were giving him hugs of gratitude.

“H-Huh!!?” He uttered as his eyes widened at the sight. He then heard their voices.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Sweetie Belle said as she squeezed his left foot.

“Ya really saved our lives!” Applebloom said as she nuzzled his left ankle.

“You’re so awesome!” Scootaloo joined as she hung onto his right leg.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t know what to do. For the first time since his creation, he had no idea how to respond. He thought that such a sight would be displeasing to him and that it would only fuel his hate. But it wasn’t the case in the slightest. His mind was completely deprived of such violent or negative thoughts.

The digital clone was greatly confused. Bringing harm was something he was supposed to do. It was what he was created for. But… his body didn’t want to. HE didn’t want to. Even the thought of hurting the three fillies left his mind completely.

Granted something similar happened with the Changelings before the events at the Crystal Empire. But when they saw him for the first time after he was created, they were outright terrified of him. It was only after Queen Chrysalis told them to calm down where they started to warm up to him. But what was happening with the crusaders was entirely different. They had never seen him before, and they saw him in action for the first time. But they were not afraid of him at all. What’s more, it was the first time ever he received praise from someone. As well as being admired and being shown affection to.

His mind practically crashed as hie voice stuttered.

“U-Uh…uh…uhhh…w…w-what?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then began to feel…weird. He suddenly felt something. Deep in the darkest depths of his blackened heart, there was a tiny…warm feeling. He felt the warmth when he felt the comfort of the hugging embrace the fillies were showing him. But as he saw the three showing affection to a monster like him, the warm feeling started to burn. But yet… in a comfortable way.

‘Wha…what’s going on? What is this? This feeling inside me. what is it? Where had all my malice gone? Where’s my anger? My hate? What… is happening!?’

The expression of shock never left his eyes as the three crusaders released their hold on him before looking at him.

“Uhh…are ya alright?” Applebloom asked the Mega. Puzzled by the expression in his eyes.

Hearing himself being addressed snapped ChaosBlackWarGreymon out of his trance. He then looked at the three with uncertain eyes.

“Uhh…wha-what?”

The girls were once again startled and amazed by the Digimon’s voice. It sounded so similar and yet so different.

“Wow. You look a lot like BlackWarGreymon. But you’re different,” Scootaloo said, amazed that there was another Digimon in Equestria.

“Do you know him? Are you two friends or something?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Trying his best to ignore the warm feeling, the digital clone shook off the new sensation before trying to focus on what to do next. By the actions of the fillies, it was clear to him that they had no idea who he was. Deciding to keep it that way, he began to mess with their heads by fibbing.

“Uhh…yes. Yes I am.”

He continued as he began to act confident.

“You could say he’s a best buddy of mine.”

“Wow. I had no idea,” Scootaloo uttered.

“Probably because he doesn’t know that I’m here yet. You know, a little surprise for when I’ll say hello,” The Digimon said once more.

Then Sweetie Belle spoke up.

“Don’t mind me saying this but, we saw you using Equestrian magic. How do you even do that?”

It was a question Applebloom and Scootaloo wanted to know about as well. The three girls stared at the tall being as they waited for an answer.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon had to think quick. If he wanted to fool the crusaders, he would definitely not tell the truth. He had to make something up.

“Oh that? Just a special talent I have learnt. You could say I was gifted with it,” He replied. Acting as if it wasn’t an entirely big deal.

“Woah. A Digimon with Equestrian magic. That’s so cool,” Scootaloo said as she and her two friends stared at ChaosBlackWarGreymon in awe. Clearly warming up to the Mega.

Just as the Digimon felt a newfound pride seeping in from the compliments, he felt it again. The same energy signature that lead him in the Everfree Forest in the first place. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from.

“Hay? Is somethin’ wrong?” Applebloom asked, noticing the Digimon’s change of mood.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon spoke back as he turned his body around. Facing away from the fillies.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong. Now you three go on home. I have something to do.”

“Hay wait!”

But Sweetie Belle’s voice was ignored as the tall Mega leaped to the air and took off through the night sky. As he disappeared from view, the crusaders had so many questions they wanted to ask him. But they would have to wait.

Turning around, the three fillies talked as they headed back home to Ponyville.

“Ah can’t believe there really is another Digimon here! Should we tell the others?” Applebloom asked.

“Well not BlackWarGreymon. You heard what he said, he wanted it to be a surprise. But I guess we could at least tell our sisters,” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Maybe another time. I don’t know about you two, but I’m tired from all that running,” Scootaloo said after letting out aloud yawn.

Meanwhile, high above the treetops flying through the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was reminiscing of what just happened.

‘There it was again. I wasn’t as violent as I once was. Instead, I was joking around with those three. Something is just not right here. Why did I hesitate to hurt them in the way I did to their friends? And what was that feeling I felt when they hugged me? It’s definitely not a negative one. What emotion was it? Just what was it!?’

He began to think out loud. His voice carrying uncertainty and concern.

“What is happening to me!?”

He then payed attention to his flight as he passed over what looked like a large clearing. He then paused as he took in the sight of the ruins of an old castle.

“Wait. Is this the Alicorn’s old castle? Why is the energy I’m feeling much stronger here? And where is it coming from?”

As he looked down, he saw a cave at the bottom of the castle. A split-second later, he received a flashback. Not of his own, but BlackWarGreymon’s. He had seen the cave somewhere before. And then remembered what was inside.

“Of course.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew down into the small canyon and landed by the cave entrance. Feeling the power that lurked within it, he remembered what the cause of it was.

“The Tree of Harmony.”

Curious to see the great tree with his own eyes, the digital clone entered the cave. Ignoring the energy that was… surprisingly welcoming.

After a few moments of silent walking, the Mega saw the great crystal tree. He could see both it and the six elements that it held.

“There it is. The tree with all six elements. And the boss did say that he was looking for artifacts to absorb. He would be far stronger if he had this tree,” He said, realising that his master would reach full power instantly and might even reward him for finding the tree.

But as ChaosBlackWarGreymon took steps closer to the tree, he had an idea. A much better idea. Though it would involve a bit of treachery.

“No. Why would he have that… if I can have all this power for myself right now? With all this power, I can easily rival BlackWarGreymon,” He said out loud while slowly reaching his left arm out to touch the crystal tree.

But as his claws were mere inches away from the crystal bark, he heard an outburst.

“STOP!!!”

Startled by the sudden voice that screamed in his head, ChaosBlackWarGreymon quickly retracted his arm before looking behind him to see if someone was there.

“Wha-wait! What!?”

But no one was there.

He then saw a glow at the corner of his eye. Turning around back at the tree, he then saw a bright ball of light shining from the crystal trunk. The glow then became so intense, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had to shield his eyes. Grunting from the intensity.

As he opened his crimson eyes, he saw that the glow was gone. As well as the Tree of Harmony. And the cave. Then to his shock and confusion, he didn’t seem to be in Equestria at all! Looking around at his new surroundings, the Digimon found himself floating in an unknown void. A space-like realm.

“What the…! Where am I!? What is this place!?” He said, his voice echoing through the near emptiness.

Then to his alarm, he heard the same feminine voice.

“Relax. There is no need to fear.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned his head around sharply, trying to find the source of the voice. But could only find a vast blue expanse with twinkling lights in the distance.

Feeling as though he was being held captive, the clone started to become aggressive.

“Fear! I’ll show you fear!” He stated as he prepared to use a magic spell.

But to his shock, nothing happened. He looked at his claws in disbelief.

“Wha…what!? Nothing happened!?”

He tried again, but his magic failed to respond yet again.

“What’s happening!?”

Frustrated that he couldn’t use magic, ChaosBlackWarGreymon decided to try something else.

“Ok then. I’ll just use my own energy!”

The Mega brought his claws together to form a Shadow Destroyer sphere. But just like what happened with his magic. His energy attack failed to appear before him.

“What the…! Now what!?”

With anger building up, he relentlessly tried again and again to summon his energy attack. Only to completely fail in forming the smallest of orbs.

“What is happening!!?” He shouted in fury. Only to be caught off-guard from what the voice said.

“You will find using your abilities is impossible.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted in anger. Never before had he been deprived of using his powers. It was his first, and he already hated it. Then the voice said something that startled him. While also explained what was going on.

“In order for me to speak to you directly, I separated your mind from your physical body.”

“You what!?” The Mega snapped. Finding out that the reason he lacked his powers was because he lacked a body. His image was only a form of his subconscious. But the situation was quickly explained.

“Arguing will not help you. As soon as you calm down and listen, the sooner I’ll return you to your body.”

Understanding the logic of what the voice said, the chaotic Digimon hesitantly calmed down. As he did, a thought occurred to him.

“Fine. But why do I have a feeling that I’ve heard your voice before?”

His question lingered on in his mind. Then after a sudden flashback into BlackWarGreymon’s past, he remembered.

“Wait! You’re that voice BlackWarGreymon once heard! The one… from the Tree of Harmony!”

There was a moment of silence, before there was a reply.

“Correct.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly felt intimidated. It was the same voice that made BlackWarGreymon himself uneasy. But then shook it off when he spoke up.

“O…Ok then. So…who exactly are you?”

A long pause followed the question. Seeing that there was no reply, the Digimon spoke again.

“Not going to tell? Fine then, why did you bring me here? If this is about BlackWarGreymon, is this about his destiny?”

He then had a reply that took him off-guard once more.

“No.”

Then to his surprise, some specks of light around him began to gather in front of him. Merging together to form a figure. The bright figure resembled what looked like a Unicorn mare. Taller than Celestia but shorter than him.

“I want to talk about YOUR destiny.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was taken back by her words.

“M-My… destiny?”

He then shook his head violently before shouting in defiance.

“And why should we talk about that!? I already know where my destiny lies!”

The figure questioned his statement.

“Do you?”

“Absolutely.” The Digimon clone replied as he turned his back to the ethereal figure. But she asked him something nonetheless.

“And what destiny may that be?”

Before answering, ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his head high with personal pride.

“It’s simple. To cause destruction and mayhem wherever I go. Being the embodiment of chaos not even Discord could compare. My boss told me that himself.”

But as the figure replied, her voice carried a great hint of disappointment.

“Oh yes, the dark one. As manipulating as ever.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned his head around and looked at the figure in curiosity. At first, he was intrigued from the fact that the figure appeared to know who his master was. But the thought left his mind when she said the second part. It sounded as if the subject was aimed at him. He spoke up in wonder.

“Manipulating?”

“Yes. A modern way of saying it is…”

She was interrupted by the Digimon as he turned to face her.

“I know what it means! But I don’t like the way you phrase the word.”

“Oh? And why is that?” The mysterious being asked him.

“Because you make it sound like he’s…”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused when he realised what he was about to say. Since she brought up the manipulating subject right after their discussions about his destiny, to him it meant one thing. But the thought of it made him angry.

“You mean, that everything he said to me was… a lie? That he’s been playing me for a fool!?”

The figure began to clarify the reason for her choice of words.

“You claim that the path of violence is your destiny?”

“That’s right! It has to be!” ChaosBlackWarGreymon replied, confusion causing him to make his outburst.

But then the figure said something that widened the Digimon’s eyes in shock.

“But you have…doubts?”

The startled Digimon looked at the figure with uncertainty in his eyes. He then turned to face away from her while in thought. Looking down as he tried to think. In a way, he looked away to hide the expression in his eyes from the mysterious mare. But he felt as though she already figured him out. After a moment of silence, he gave his honest answer.

“I… I don’t know.”

Then the figure spoke up. Her tone was soft and caring.

“Ask yourself this. If you were destined to cause havoc and misery everyday of your life, then why hadn’t you been doing that today?”

The question struck ChaosBlackWarGreymon hard. She was right. He hadn’t done the very thing his master sent him out to do. Then the figure further explained the evidence, with him patiently listening while in thought.

“You had every opportunity to cause destruction. But you refused to do so. When you arrived in the city of Canterlot, you decided to conceal yourself instead of causing harm. And when you saw the saviour, you had every perfect moment to bring misery on his time with Princess Luna. But instead, you became fascinated at how happy he was. It was new to you. And instead of dismissing it, you learnt from it.”

As the voice continued, the eyes of ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept growing wider and wider. Everything she said about him was true. But how did she know about it all? How did she know what he was feeling?

Then the figure explained the recent events.

“Even before you entered the cave, you felt a great change. The three fillies you saved were the first to ever show love and admiration to you. And in response, you felt something within you. A deep warmth you never felt before. A feeling all new to you.”

The grey armoured Mega tilted his head up in thought as he responded.

“Ok. I admit that what you said is true. I have been feeling different recently. But what happened with those three girls really bugged me,” He admitted, unsure what the deep warmth he felt was.

Then the Unicorn figure answered his unspoken question.

“You want to know what that feeling was? The feeling you felt… was love.”

The digital clone turned his full attention to the mysterious being. His red eyes full of shock and doubt.

“What!? L…Love!?”

The figure explained herself.

“Yes. The fillies showed you love, and you felt it deep within you. And in return, you showed no hostilities towards them. It was that feeling that caused you to refrain from telling them the truth about you. Because deep down inside yourself, you wanted to keep that love.”

She then came to a conclusion.

“You may not want to admit it. But the signs show that you not only felt love, but for a brief moment, you embraced it.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked away from the figure in response. His eyes narrowed in disbelief and denial.

“I don’t feel love. My heart is as black as night and as cold as stone. I have no good within me.”

Silence filled the void before the voice said something that gained his attention once more.

“If that were true, then how is it possible for me to even speak to you?”

“Huh?” The Digimon uttered as he looked at the figure in confusion.

“Granted, I can speak like everypony else. But only in my physical form. In this form, and with minds separated from reality such as yourself, I can only communicate to those with goodness in their hearts. No matter what their background was.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon stared at the figure in disbelief. But before he could even doubt her words, the female voice told him a unique fact about herself.

“And if you must know, a part of me represents the Element of Honesty. Therefore… I cannot lie.”

After processing all the facts of what the figure said, the baffled Digimon looked down at the non-existent ground. Even he could tell that there was truth in her words. But he was greatly confused about one fact.

“I… I don’t understand. I’m the manifestation of all of BlackWarGreymon’s hate. The embodiment of all his negativity. I’m… I’m his dark incarnation!”

Then the voice said something that shocked him to his very core.

“Yet another one of the dark one’s lies.”

The Digimon nearly gasped in shock from what he heard. No longer gaining the grasp of what was real and what was an illusion. He began to panic.

“What!? What do you mean!? Please, tell me!!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon briefly paused at what he said. His mind felt vulnerable to the facts. So much, that he used the word 'please' for the very first time. Was he that desperate to know?

The figure once more explained her meaning.

“Yes, you were created from the essence of the saviour. But that doesn’t mean that you’re his evil incarnate. You wouldn’t be experiencing feelings otherwise.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon stared at the figure in complete shock. After sensing the truth in her words, the revelation left him traumatized.

“You mean… everything… was a lie? So… I’m just… a copy? A useless… worthless stupid copy!?”

Despite all his acts of villainy, the figure wanted to help him. She reassured the broken Mega by explaining a fact about him that even he may had forgotten about.

“No, you are not. You are far more than just a mere replica. It’s just like what happened with the creation of the saviour. Like him, you are unique. Completely different from the original. You have your very own mind and will. And with that, you decide things for yourself.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon remained silent as he took all the information in as the figure continued.

“Now do you understand what it means to find a destiny? A purpose in life isn’t the one that’s handed to you, it’s the one that you seek out and discover. You need to find your destiny for yourself.”

“You’re saying… even I could have a true purpose?” The Digimon asked.

“You are your own being. As long as you have a life, you have a purpose. Though I have no right to decide your fate, the choice of what your destiny lies is up to you and you alone. Only you can decide your future.”

The baffled but amazed ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned away from the figure in deep thought. Trying to understand everything he had learnt. While doing so, he suddenly remembered something. A memory flashed before his eyes. He remembered BlackWarGreymon, going though the exact same experience he went through. The black armoured warrior was given lessons of destiny from Azulongmon. One of the four mythical Digimon.

Though he had the same memories, but ChaosBlackWarGreymon had finally gained the same experience from the lesson.

“I guess me and him are not so different after all. If he was able to live a life of his own, then… could I do the same?”

Then a thought occurred to him. Addressing the mythical mare.

“Hay. A while back, BlackWarGreymon figured out that there was a link between him being in Equestria and the Tree of Harmony. And since you’re the voice of the tree, does that mean you had something to do with it?”

However, his question was unanswered.

“Uhh… hello.” He said as he turned around.

But as he looked back to where he last saw the mysterious Unicorn, he was staring at the Tree of Harmony. As he looked around, he was startled to find that he was back in the cave.

“Woah, I’m back? Guess she’s returned me to my body,” He said as he patted his hands on his chest. Seeing if he was back in reality.

He then looked at the crystal tree in deep thought. Deciding what to do since he had to return to the hidden lair in which he came from.

“There’s no way I can take the energy of this tree now. I still have questions for whoever that was. And I’ll certainly not tell the boss about this. Looks like this is my little secret.”

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned to walk away, one thought crossed his mind as he thought of everything he had learnt.

“If everything what that figure said is true, does that mean that the boss… gave me a… a false destiny?”

For a brief moment, ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly felt angry. Furious that he would be used and treated as a simple tool. But he quickly had to calm down. Despite what he had been told, he needed to discover the truth for himself. Unsure if he was living a lie or not, he still had to return. As he exited the cave, the digital clone took off to the night sky.

As he left the Everfree Forest behind him, the Mega heard a voice at the back of his mind. The same voice that belonged to the figure from the Tree of Harmony.

‘I can foresee a time. In the near future, a pony will also see the goodness in you. And once you accepted that goodness in return, she will become… your very first friend.’

Chapter 54: Stunning Surprises

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After returning to Twilight’s castle in Ponyville, BlackWarGreymon arrived as a happy Digimon.

As soon as his very first date with Princess Luna ended on a positive note, the emotions within the black armoured Mega soared to new heights. To him, it was a night he would remember forever. Every moment he spent with the blue Alicorn, to him was simply the best. Be it from carrying her on his back as he flew through the night sky, to the two just talking to each other. He enjoyed every minute of it.

But out of it all, only two moments with the Moon Princess stayed in his mind the most. The first moment was when Luna snuggled up to him at the restaurant. And the second was when she gave him a thank you kiss to his cheek.

Both those moments caused great reactions within BlackWarGreymon. Although they were strange and new to him, he didn’t feel conflicted or scared. Instead, he welcomed it. Embraced it. And even loved it.

As soon as he entered the castle, BlackWarGreymon made his way towards one of the bed chambers. Walking quietly as to not wake up the sleeping Twilight and Spike. But on his travels, he stopped by the bathroom and walked into it. Upon entry, he silently gazed at one of the mirrors. Moving towards it to get a clean view of his reflection. As he stared at his own face, he tried to picture what Luna liked about him. On the surface, he and her were two completely different species. Her being a pony while him being a Digital Monster. Yet despite the differences, the two had so much in common. Perhaps the old saying was true. Never judge a book by its cover. As well as, it is what’s inside that counts.

After quietly removing the gauntlet on his left hand, he brought it towards his face and gently touched the side of his right cheek. Remembering the spot where Luna kissed him.

“She’s incredible. To do something like that to me.”

He began to move his fingers across his face. Feeling the Chrome Digizoid against his skin.

“Could this mean… that… she really has feelings for me?”

As his mind drifted of into imagination, he wasn’t looking where his fingers were going. As he moved his hand towards the back of his jaw, he suddenly heard a loud clicking sound. The sound surprised him out of his thoughts as he looked at the mirror in shock.

“W-What was that!?”

After moving his head to the side where his hand was last, he began to inspect if something about his helmet had changed. The sound definitely came from that spot. Then as his eyes trailed to the back of the side of his face, he was stunned at what he saw. Just below his eye and in front the locks of his hair, was a part of his helmet that was circular shaped. He saw it countless times before whenever he saw his reflection. It was a part of the shape of his helmet. But something was off about it. The center part of the circle had been… pressed down. He touched it with his hands, feeling that the center part had indeed been pushed in.

“Is this… some kind of button?” He asked himself in uncertainty. It was something he had never seen before. And something he was completely unaware of. Was it always like that? Or was it recent? Had it something to do with the magic of Equestria? Those were among the questions that he had no answers for.

As curiosity overtook his mind, he shifted his head to the right. He looked at the left side of his face. And like all the times before, the circular part of his helmet looked the same as usual. Wanting to test something, he freed his right arm from his gauntlet and brought it close to his untouched left cheek. Then as he pressed the circular part with his index finger, the centre part of it was pressed down like a button. It too clicked in place within the helmet. Which caused BlackWarGreymon’s eyes to widen in surprise.

“What?”

Then as he moved his head, his raised arm brushed against the top of his head. But as it did, to his shock, his helmet shifted out of place! BlackWarGreymon immediately placed both his hands to the sides of his head to keep his helmet still. His eyes were wide with shock. For his helmet to move in the way it did, it meant that it was loose. As he started at his reflection, a single question appeared in his mind.

If it became loose, does that mean it can be… removed?

BlackWarGreymon’s arms trembled from the sudden surge of anxiety he was feeling. If his question was true, then it would mean that he was moments away from seeing something that he had ever seen before. Yet, was always there. Something that could possibly be… his true face.

Despite his sudden fear of the unknown, he really wanted to know. Slowly, he lifted the top part of hie helmet out of place. His eyes widened even more as his vision was being blocked out by the Chrome Digizoid metal. Then as he got his sights back, the helmet was lifted off his head. BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened so much more in shock as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He saw a face that was very new, but yet remarkably familiar.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….

Far beyond the lands that were recognized by pony eyes, ChaosBlackWarGreymon flew through the dark night sky. Making his way back to the hidden lair where his boss was waiting.

Due to the vast distance from the Everfree Forest to the lair, the journey took the Digimon clone a couple of hours to reach. But the time took longer due to his relatively slow pace. The reason for slowing down was because he was lost in thought. Thinking about everything that he had learnt from the Tree of Harmony. Or to be exact, the being that was part of the tree. But what puzzled the grey armoured Mega the most was the last thing she said to him. The voice echoing in his mind the moment he left the cave.

“My… first friend?”

He began to have doubts about the topic. Finding it ludicrous.

“Ridicules. I mean… me having my own destiny I believe. But somepony being my friend? After everything I’ve done? Impossible. It just can’t be done.”

He began to think back to the events before the Tree of Harmony. Back to when he saved Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo from the Timberwolves. Despite his actions of violence, he was praised by the little fillies. The three had no idea who he was, yet they didn’t care. They were simply happy from the fact that he saved their lives. No one dared to be friendly to him before. Plus, the interactions they had with him afterwards showed that they were very comfortable around him.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to doubt his own claim.

“But the way those girls acted. Could friendship with me… be even possible?”

The thoughts of friendship continued to linger in his mind as he continued to fly. Despite the dark world around him, night gave way to early morning. As he approached a distant mountain that lead to the hidden lair, he suddenly felt something. The feeling snapped him out of his thoughts as he stopped to turn around. Looking back to where he came with confused eyes.

“W-What was that just now? It felt like a disturbance in magic. But I never felt anything like it.”

He narrowed his eyes as he tried to focus.

“What is going on over there?”

He continued to ponder before receiving a mental summon from his creator. Calling him to return. ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked back at the mountain in annoyance.

“Fine. I’m on my way,” He said before moving towards the mountain. But not before looking back one more time.

But he had a very good reason to be suspicious of the strange phenomenon, because it was the work of someone else. But he wasn’t the only one to feel the strange power. From the realm where the Tree of Harmony led to, the mysterious Unicorn mare could feel the activity at play. Concerned at first, but she then grew a smile. She knew exactly what was going on.

“Well… this is new. Things are certainly getting interesting.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Deep within the early morning of the Everfree Forest, in the middle of the large clearing where the Mane Six first met BlackWarGreymon, a flash of purple light appeared. Brightening up the clearing with its magical shine. As the light continued to pulsate, it grew stable. Becoming a bright ball of purple energy. Then in a bright flash of light, the magical ball vanished away. But in its place, was a mysterious armoured clayed figure. Then with a second flash of purple light, the armour vanished from sight.

As smoke from the unknown spell filled the air, a silhouette of a pony could be seen. The height of the new arrival was roughly the same height as Princess Cadence. The figure possessed a ruffled mane and tail, tattered feather wings and a… horn?

The pony standing in the heart of the Everfree Clearing, was an unknown Alicorn! As she opened her purple eyes, she gasped at the world around her. Her voice shaken from what she saw.

“I… Incredible. The grass. The plants. The trees. Th-they’re still here!” She said, her shaken voice grew into excitement.

She then took a very deep breath of the oxygen rich air around her. Feeling her lungs inflating in response.

“The air… it’s so clean!”

Then with her horn glowing purple with magic, she could feel out the inhabitants of the world around her. She recognized a large majority of them. Which caused her lips to curl up into a smile. Then the smile turned into a grin. She then started to laugh. She was feeling something that she hadn’t felt for a very long time.

Joy. Pure joy.

“The ponies. M…My friends! My family! T-they’re here! They’re all here!!”

She then started to laugh even louder. Tears of joy flowing out of her eyes. The unknown Alicorn was celebrating.

“I made it!! I finally made it!!! It’s been so long! I’ve missed you so much!!”

While it looked like she was shouting at nothing and no one, she was actually calling out to Equestria itself. Finally, after what seemed to have been a truly arduous journey for her, she could finally smile again.

But her smile vanished when she sensed something strange. A powerful force that gained her full attention. She turned her head in the direction of where it came from.

“Ponyville.”

She then narrowed her eyes in deep thought. She knew exactly what kind of creature possessed such power. As well as what kind of energy it carried.

“I found you. Digimon,” She uttered before devising a plan of her introduction.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Unknown Location, Hidden Lair

Deep in the distant mountains far away, a mind conflict was occurring. The evil being closed his eyes in thought, trying to puzzle together what was going on.

On the previous night, he sent ChaosBlackWarGreymon out to cause widespread destruction. However, all night long he had not sensed any hint of fear and distress. There was no chaos in the air. And the Digital clone returned to the lair with all his energy intact. Which showed that he hadn’t been into any conflict.

His mind began to question. Was ChaosBlackWarGreymon slacking? Or was it something else? Something more?

The beast was more concerned about the latter question. If he’s not careful, then he would have to contend with not one, but two powerful foes. The thought of the outcome caused him to grunt in annoyance.

As his mind processed into finding the answer to his dilemma, his newest recruit approached him from behind.

“My master, you summoned me?” Tirek asked.

Without looking at the evil centaur, the evil Digimon spoke.

“Tirek. You recall a little plan I laid out for you?”

“Why yes. After gaining enough power, I will attack the Alicorns by next week. What about it?”

The Digimon answered as he turned to look at the dark lord.

“There’s been a change of plans. I want you to attack them tomorrow!”

Tirek was a little startled by the sudden news.

“T…Tomorrow!?”

The Digimon gave him a questionable look.

“Could that be a problem for you?”

Realising that the question was also a threat, Tirek quickly recomposed himself as he answered back.

“Uuhh… no. No, it won’t. It’s just that… I didn’t expect it to be so soon.”

Then the Digimon gave Tirek more news.

“And you won’t be alone. You will take ChaosBlackWarGreymon with you.”

Again, Tirek was startled.

“That cloned freak. Why? Even in my current state, I can take those ponies on.”

The monster faced away from Tirek as he responded.

“I’m aware of that. But recently, I felt a disturbance in my little creation.”

Tirek became confused.

“What do you mean… disturbance? You said he was a dark incarnation of BlackWarGreymon.”

The creature let out a small and very brief chuckle. Apparently amused by something. Tirek heard the chuckle and looked at his master in confusion.

The beast turned his head around to look at Tirek as he spoke.

“You want to know a little secret, Tirek? Something that I’ve never told anyone else. Something that you will take to the grave?”

Unsure of what the monster was about to say, Tirek agreed to keep the untold secret.

“Ok, I will. But what is this… secret?”

Then the beast explained as he turned to face the centaur.

“True, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was created from my energy and Sombra’s magic. Yet he’s also created from BlackWarGreymon’s data. But because of that, traits of the original had passed over to the clone. His powers. His memories. And unfortunately, his nature.”

Tirek slowly began to understand what his master was saying.

“You mean… he could betray us!?”

“Only if he’s pushed in the wrong direction. That’s why I want you to take him with you. To keep his mind in check so he could embrace the ways of being a destructive force of evil.”

Tirek finally understood the importance of his task.

“I get it now. But, what about the whole him being the dark incarnation thing?” He asked.

The beast was quiet at first, but then answered the question.

“That whole story… is merely what you call… motivation.”

Tirek’s eyes widened when he understood what his master meant.

“I knew creating ChaosBlackWarGreymon was a big risk. But I chose to take it. Now remember, only you and I know of this truth. No other must know.”

“Understood, master.”

As Tirek left the chamber, the beast was alone with his thoughts. The problem with ChaosBlackWarGreymon was in fact only half of the reason why he wanted to give Tirek reinforcements and to speed up the plan. What he hadn’t told Tirek was that there could be another obstacle to his plans. Something that he sensed earlier as soon as ChaosBlackWarGreymon returned to him.

‘That surge of energy. Someone else has arrived. It’s a magic wielder. Yet, I can sense digital data from it. Looks like things are starting to get complicated. However. Regardless of who’s the new player, I will destroy all those who get in my way. And win the game.’

As the Digimon was lost in thought, he was unaware that Queen Chrysalis was eavesdropping on him just around the corner. From the shocked expression on her face, it was clear she heard every word her master said.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ponyville

As hours ticked by, the sun had risen over the horizon to bring forth daylight. The light of the sun beaming all through out the land. Within Twilight’s castle, BlackWarGreymon was sitting quietly in the library. Being a Mega level Digimon, he hardly required sleep. But even if he wanted to lie down, he found himself unable to do so. From the excitement he had from his date with the Moon Princess and the shocking revelation he found when he got back. It was mostly the latter that kept him on alert. Being alone with his thoughts. He just couldn’t figure out what was going on. It was as if there were things about himself he hadn’t figured out yet.

He raised his left hand to gently touch the side of his helmet. Remembering what had happened.

“I just don’t understand. Did I change? Or was I… always like this?”

He was so caught up in his mental confusion, he didn’t hear Twilight and Spike entering the library. Spike especially holding up a large plate full of pancakes topped with maple syrup. As soon as the two entered, Twilight saw the Digimon facing away from her. She then happily gained his attention.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon. Good morning.”

Her sudden voice caused BlackWarGreymon to jolt in surprise. Quickly standing up before turning around to find that it was only his two friends. He then calmed down as he greeted back.

“Oh… Twilight. Spike. It’s you.”

The two were surprised to see the Digimon acting all alert so early in the morning.

“Woah, are you ok? You look jumpy,” Spike said before stuffing his face with one of his pancakes. Twilight sharing his concern.

“Did something happen?”

BlackWarGreymon was briefly silent as he tried to think of a response. Simply telling her what he had discovered last night might be something bizarre to mention. Especially since all his friends were quite used to seeing his helmet as his face.

“Oh… nothing happened. Sorry if I startled you.”

Twilight and Spike walked closer to the Digimon as the Alicorn spoke up.

“It’s alright. You just startled us, that’s all. Maybe you just didn’t get enough sleep.”

“It’s not that. I didn’t feel tired last night,” BlackWarGreymon said, correcting Twilight’s assumption.

Then Spike thought of another possibility.

“Maybe it’s something to do… with last night?” He asked, his voice slight muffled from his mouth being filled with his breakfast.

Twilight began to catch on too.

“That’s right.” She said as she turned back to BlackWarGreymon.

“You disappeared last night. Where were you?”

BlackWarGreymon was about to answer the question. But then remembered about what Luna said to him. Something about being her secret boyfriend. Since it was a secret, it meant that he shouldn’t really be telling anyone what had happened. While keeping the events a secret, he had to give the two an answer.

“Just… over at Canterlot. I felt like checking out the festivities.”

While Twilight smiled in response, Spike however nearly choked on his pancake. The Digimon and Alicorn stared at him as he cleared his throat. Then revealed what made him startled.

“What!? Hearts and Hooves day was yesterday!? Oh, how could I forget!” Spike moaned. He couldn’t believe that he forgot to get a gift to Rarity.

As BlackWarGreymon and Twilight quietly chuckled from the sight, the Digimon suddenly let out a quiet gasp as his eyes widened in alarm. He could sense something. Something new, yet familiar. He quickly turned his head in its direction. Staring intensely as he tried to figure it out.

Twilight and Spike looked at BlackWarGreymon in confusion and concern. Seeing the seriousness and uncertainty in his yellow eyes. Clearly something wasn’t right.

“What is it, BlackWarGreymon? Is something wrong?” Twilight asked. Hoping that it wasn’t bad.

Then to her confusion, BlackWarGreymon sharply turned to look at her. The look he gave her showed that he was incredibly puzzled. And then looked back again.

“What the…?” He uttered in uncertainty.

To the baffled Twilight, BlackWarGreymon kept looking back and forth at her and the thing he was sensing.

“How is that… possible?” He added.

Feeing that she somehow had something to do with it, Twilight started to question.

“Hay, what’s going on? Why do you keep looking at me? Is it something I’ve done?”

But rather than answering her questions, BlackWarGreymon looked at her with a question of his own.

“Do you have a sister?”

Twilight stared at the tall Digimon in complete bafflement. Never in her life had she been asked such a question.

“N-No, of course not. I only have my brother.”

From hearing her reply, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes only grew wider in confusion as he stared back at the direction of the odd feeling. Twilight began to feel scared at what was happening.

“W…What is it?”

As he continued to stare out in the distance, he explained what he was feeling.

“It’s strange. I can feel powerful magic happening at the Everfree Forest. However, its energy feels identical to yours, Twilight.”

Both Twilight and Spike gasped in shock at what BlackWarGreymon said. Finding the situation very hard to believe.

“But… how can that be!? It’s impossible!” Twilight uttered. With Spike guessing a scenario that to him seemed likely.

“Maybe it’s one of Sombra’s clones. Like ChaosBlackWarGreymon.”

To the surprise of the dragon and the princess, BlackWarGreymon disagreed.

“No, Spike. If it were, then the magic should be mixed with Sombra’s dark magic. But this is not like that. It feels genuine.”

Twilight began to be unnerved from the revelation.

“You mean… someone has my magic?”

After deciding on what cause of action to take place, BlackWarGreymon turned to Twilight and Spike. His voice carrying a serious tone.

“You two say here. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

With the intention to solve the mystery, BlackWarGreymon ran out of the library and eventually out of the main doors. As soon as he was outside, he immediately took to the skies and flew straight towards the Everfree Forest. Back in the castle, Spike stood still in shock as Twilight decided to take action. Quickly stuffing her saddle bag with papers and note pads.

“Spike! Where are my quills and ink!?” She asked his in an alarmed tone.

With her voice shaking the young dragon out of his trance, Spike answered the Alicorn’s question.

“Oh, it’s over by the table over there,” He said as he pointed his claw at the said table.

As he saw the Princess of Friendship rushing over to the ink and quill, Spike quickly pieced together what was going on.

“Wait! You want to find out what’s happening out in the Everfree Forest!?”

“Well of course it do! I want to know what exactly is going on. And why someone has my magic,” She answered. Her tone had elevated due to the situation. Since it involved her magic, she felt as if it was a personal matter.

“But BlackWarGreymon said tha…”

Before Spike could finish his sentence, Twilight gave him a very stern look. Showing that she was serious in what she was doing and not wanting to hear what the dragon had to say. She knew very well what Spike was about to utter and didn’t want to hear it. Her glare unnerved the purple dragon. He had hardly ever seen his lifelong friend acting so seriously. It was enough for him to decide not to argue with her.

“Ok, ok. We’ll go.” He said, changing his tone.

As soon as she was fully packed, Twilight ran out of the library and down the long crystal corridor. As Spike caught up with her, the Alicorn used her levitation magic to give the dragon a pencil and scroll.

“Take this, Spike!”

As Spike held the scroll and pencil in his hands, Twilight gave him her instructions.

“Send a message to Celestia and Luna. They need to know what’s happening and we may need their help.”

“Ok,” Spike said as he quickly wrote down the message on the scroll.

As soon as Twilight burst out of the main doors, Spike finished the message and with his signature green flame breath, the scroll was magically sent away.

“It’s done, Twilight. I’ve sent the message.”

Twilight smiled at Spike in response.

“Good.”

Then with a determined glare, she looked in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Then without warning, she immediately galloped towards it.

“Come on, Spike!”

As the little dragon ran after her, he asked her something else.

“But… shouldn’t we wait for the princesses!? Hay wait!”

Within moments, the two disappeared into the dense forest.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Canterlot Castle

Standing proud on her balcony, Celestia smiled as he finished raising the sun. With no clouds in the sky, it looked as though it was going to be a sunny day. After closing her eyes to feel the warmth of the sunlight on her fur, Celestia went back inside and out of her room.

As she walked down the corridors that would eventually lead her to the throne room, she spotted her sister Luna standing by a window. Looking out to Ponyville down below.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, the blue Alicorn saw her older sibling approaching her with a smile.

“Oh, good morning, sister. I trust that you had a pleasant night sleep.”

Celestia reassured her with a nod before replying. Inquiring the events of the night of Hearts and Hooves day.

“Yes I have, Luna. And did you have a nice time last night?”

As she looked back out the window, she answered without thinking first.

“You have no idea,” She said as her smile grew into a loving expression.

Celestia however caught on to Luna’s change of tone. Raising her eyebrow in playful suspicion.

“Oh?”

Realising what she had done, Luna blushed from embarrassment before quickly facing away from Celestia.

“Uhh! It’s nothing! Nothing at all. It was… a perfectly normal night.”

Celestia however was no fool. Whenever it was Hearts and Hooves day, she would normally find Luna either on her own or in a bad mood. The little sister finding the event an annoyance. Yet if that was the case, she would’ve never enjoyed the night out. Which she clearly shown that she had. Plus with the dress she wore, she was obviously intending on impressing someone.

Deciding to tease her sister some more, Celestia moved behind her and spoke with a playful smug on her face.

“Luna? Did something happen last night?”

Luna stuttered as her blush got brighter. Remembering what she had done with BlackWarGreymon as their date had ended. The moment where she gave him the kiss to his cheek. There was no way she would ever reveal something like that to anyone, let alone her big sister. Not that she was going to. She did agree with the Digimon to keep it a secret.

“Umm… well…” She uttered. Trying not to give in to her sister’s playful side.

But before more could be said, to the surprise of the Royal Sisters, a green flame appeared between the two. Revealing to be a scroll.

“Oh, it’s a message,” Celestia said as she used her magic to open the scroll. As she started to read, she found out who it was from.

“It’s from Twilight.”

Seeing that Celestia’s mind was taken off of the teasing, Luna breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness for that,” She whispered.

But her newfound calmness was taken away by hearing the sound of her sister gasping in shock. Which brought Luna’s full attention as she saw Celestia’s surprised expression.

“What is it, sister?”

After double checking the scroll, Celestia explained to Luna what she had read.

“There’s trouble in the Everfree Forest. Twilight said that there’s somepony over there that… possessed the same magic as her own!”

Luna was stunned from what she heard. No wonder it was a big surprise for Celestia.

“What!? But… how is that possible!? Did she say who it was!?”

After another quick look at the scroll, Celestia gave her answer.

“No. She said that it was BlackWarGreymon who picked up on it. And that as we speak, he’s on his way to investigate.”

Luna then began to feel nervous. If it was something that gained BlackWarGreymon’s full attention, then it was more likely a bad sign. But what unnerved her the most was that it was a being that possessed the same energy as one of their own. The last time they encountered something similar, it turned out to be a psychotic Digimon clone that nearly killed BlackWarGreymon and almost destroyed the Crystal Empire.

Fearing for BlackWarGreymon’s safety, Luna expressed her thoughts to Celestia.

“I have a bad feeling about this. We should investigate this immediately.”

Celestia smiled at Luna’s determination.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Determined to solve the mystery and to prevent any attempt of destruction, Celestia and Luna teleported out of the castle and flew through the skies at great speed. Heading straight towards the distant wild forest.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As soon as he entered the Everfree Forest, BlackWarGreymon sped through the wildlife under the canopy. Heading directly towards the source of the magical energy he was sensing. Weaving around the dense forest.

While the journey would be much quicker if he had flown from above, he imagined that by being exposed above the tree line, he would be an open target to any potential threat. Following his experience with ChaosBlackWarGreymon, a being who possessed the same energy as his own, the black armoured warrior was being more cautious. While his body had reached full recovery and that his energy was back in its prime, he wasn’t taking any chances.

‘I don’t get it. If it’s some sort of evil being, then why wouldn’t it reveal itself in a more populated area? And on that note, if it’s some sort of sneak attack, why would it bother revealing itself in the first place? It’s as if it wants me to find it.’

His eyes narrowed at a possible conclusion. But then had doubts.

‘It’s probably a trap. But the energy… I can’t sense any evil intent at all. But still… why in the world would it be identical to Twilight’s magic? No matter what happens… I need to be careful.’

His thoughts of confusion continued as he flew by. Unintendedly scaring away the animals that were nearby. But as he saw something in front of him, he decided to slow down. He could see a bright area through the trees. Then as he reached to the edge of the forest, his eyes widened in amazement from the sight before him. He found himself in a massive valley of grassland. To be exact, it was a giant clearing. As he stopped to hover in the open, he couldn’t believe it. It was the Everfree Clearing.

“This… this is the place where I first met my friends!?” He said as he looked around at his surroundings. Seeing that parts of the clearing still had the battle scars from his battle with Lord Tirek. All the fond memories he had came flooding back. Remembering what was essentially the biggest day of his new life.

It was where he sensed it again. Twilight’s magic. But the Alicorn herself was back in Ponyville. But what made it all the more alarming for the Digimon, was that the source of the energy was very close by. In the valley with him.

“It’s here.”

After moving towards the middle of the clearing, BlackWarGreymon landed firmly on the ground. Then with a stern glare, he looked all around him to see something out of the ordinary. But he could see nothing. He decided to take a big risk and announce himself.

“I know you’re out there somewhere! You want my attention, right!? Well, you’ve got it! So how about you show yourself!”

His voice echoed throughout the clearing, then silence followed. But just as it seemed that nothing was happening. BlackWarGreymon received a chilling reply.

“As you wish.”

BlackWarGreymon immediately snapped his head in the direction of the reply. But what spooked him was the fact that the voice sounded incredibly familiar. In his ears, it sounded almost exactly like Twilight!

“What!?”

But in place of the vast grassland, was a massive flash of purple light that engulfed nearly half of the clearing itself. Light so intense that BlackWarGreymon had to shield his eyes. Raising his Dramon Destroyers to block out the light. Then as the light finally dimmed to nothing, the Mega was able to see. Lowering his arms to see who was responsible. But as he finally got his answer, his eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Standing twenty feet away from him was an Alicorn. Her height slightly shorter than Cadence. She had lavender coloured fur and a purple mane and tail. Both of which were ruffled up. As if she went through a tough time. As well as her fur being slightly duller in colour. Plus from what BlackWarGreymon could see, she had one or two scars along her body. But what was shocking to the Digimon, was that he recognized her. She had the same purple eyes. The same cutiemark. The same voice, but slightly older. And from seeing the glow from her horn, the same magical glow.

As her horn finished glowing, the new Alicorn looked directly at BlackWarGreymon with a stern glare.

“I’ve been waiting for you. Digimon.”

“T-Twilight!?”

Chapter 55: Mystery of the Other Twilight

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Deep in the Everfree Forest, in the heart of the Everfree Clearing, a bizarre event had occurred. Sensing an unusual yet familiar presence, BlackWarGreymon traveled to the area to investigate. Only to discover a truly mind-bending sight he had not seen since meeting his own clone. Standing in front of him, was an Alicorn. But what was so surprising was that she looked almost like Twilight Sparkle. Yet, she’s not Twilight Sparkle. At least, the one he knew of.

After addressing her, BlackWarGreymon began to second guess himself. Unsure if it was her name.

“No. Wait. You… you’re not Twilight. Not the one I know.”

Confusion filled the Digimon’s mind. She looked different, yet she wasn’t a clone like ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Her magic was so much like Twilight’s to be different.

The unknown Alicorn closed her eyes in response to hearing the name. Smiling from remembering the days of her past.

“Hmm. Twilight. I haven’t used that name in such a long time.”

Confusion continued to rise in the Digimon from hearing her words.

“What? W-Who are you? Really? You ARE Twilight, right?”

When the Alicorn looked at the Digimon, he was surprised at the expression she had in her eyes. Filled with feelings of negativity to which he can detect. A look of someone that… went through something horrible. She then spoke up, answering the question and identifying herself.

“I once was. But that was the past. I’m far different from the princess I used to be. A pony that… no doubt you’re familiar with. I now go by another name. You can call me… Ayumi.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at her with a puzzled expression. Wondering why she changed her name and why she chose that of all names.

“A-Ayumi?”

But before the Mega could ask a question, the Alicorn Twilight, who renamed herself Ayumi spoke first. As if she knew what question the Mega was about to ask.

“Before you ask. No. This is the first time we’ve met.”

BlackWarGreymon began to make more enquiries.

“I don’t know what’s going on. If we’ve never met before, then how do you know who I am? How can you be here if the Twilight I know already exists?”

To his surprise, Ayumi didn’t answer any of his questions. A clear sign that she didn’t hold the same respect that the Twilight he knew had to him.

“If you mind, I’ll be the one asking the questions.”

BlackWarGreymon was taken back by her cold attitude. It was as if she doesn’t trust him in the slightest. A sharp contrast to the Princess of Friendship he was expecting.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….….…………….

Back in the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were charging through the thick vegetation. Using her magic to track BlackWarGreymon’s whereabouts, the young Alicorn was able to navigate her way through the forest as she closed in on her friend. The purple dragon however was beginning to low down in exhaustion.

“T…Twilight! Can we… take a break for a second!?” He asked. Taking deep breaths to draw in some much-needed air.

Looking over her shoulder, Twilight could see that her assistant was struggling to keep up. Despite the urgency of the matter, the wellbeing of her friend was more important. Lowing down for him to catch up.

“Alright Spike. Hop on my back,” She said as she came to a stop. Letting Spike jump onto her back for him to rest his legs

With Spike nestled, Twilight continued to walk towards BlackWarGreymon’s location. But with a fairly quick pace.

“Twilight. How much further do we have to go? We’ve been running through the forest for quite a while.”

Hearing Spike out, Twilight turned towards him with an answer.

“We shouldn’t be very far now. It seems BlackWarGreymon has stopped moving. I think he has found the source of what’s going on.” She answered before turning back towards the path laid ahead of her.

“You think it would be dangerous?” Spike asked. Unnerved from the whole ordeal.

“I don’t know.”

As they continued to walk on, Twilight began to recognize the trees around her. He felt as if she had seen them before.

“Um, Twilight? Are you alright?” Spike asked. Seeing her looking at her surroundings in curiosity.

“Yeah. It’s just that… I think I’ve been here before.”

After some thought, it clicked. She paused as she let out a surprised gasp of excitement.

“Yes. I have been here before!”

“Wh-What is it?” Spike asked, confused as to what perked the Alicorn up. To which she revealed.

“Up ahead is the Everfree Clearing. It’s the place where me and the others first met BlackWarGreymon!”

Spike was stunned. He was about to see the very place where his friends made first contact with the Digimon. But his excitement gave way to curiosity.

“Wait. Is that where he is now?”

“It seems so,” Twilight answered while using her magic to pinpoint BlackWarGreymon’s location once more.

But as she felt the Digimon’s energy, she felt something else very close to his location. It was a presence of magic that, much to her disbelief, was nearly identical to her own. Being much closer to the location, she was able to finally read out the energy for herself. And understand why BlackWarGreymon was so concerned. To him, it was like she was in two different places at once. She too felt that experience. It was like she was right there with BlackWarGreymon, yet she wasn’t.

When the two got to the edge of the forest, Twilight and Spike decided to take cover to not be spotted. Crawling closer to the bushes with the clearing on the other side. When they got there, the two slowly peeked over the hedge to see what was going on. As they looked, they spotted the tall BlackWarGreymon quite easily. But it was something standing close to him was what got their attention. They could see that the individual was a pony. Quite taller than the average pony. As they squinted their eyes to sharpen their focus. They each spoke out what they saw.

“I think… I can see a horn,” Twilight said. Followed by Spike.

“Really? Because I think I can see wings.”

The eyes of the two quickly grew wide from what they said. Their heads ducked behind the hedge as they looked at each other in disbelief.

“Twilight? Does that mean…?”

“Yes. That pony is an Alicorn!”

Spike was stunned form the revelation.

“But… but how can there be another Alicorn?”

As Twilight tried to get another look at the new Alicorn, she grunted from seeing how far away the conversation was form her. Then made a decision.

“We need to get closer. Let’s move along the hedge.”

Using the bushes as cover, Twilight and Spike began to sneak around the perimeter of the clearing. Trying to find a good spot to get a closer look. It took place while BlackWarGreymon and Ayumi continued to talk.

“You seem quite formidable. But are you really a Digimon?” The Alicorn asked the Digimon.

While confused at what was going on, the Artificial Mega answered nonetheless.

“Yes. I am.”

Ayumi then gave him a questionable look.

“I can sense your energy. And from I can see, it isn’t pleasant.”

BlackWarGreymon could easily tell what Ayumi was going on about. She could sense that he possessed negative energy. Something that only those with ill-intent would possess. Corrections must be made.

“Don’t let my appearance and energy deceive you. I know very well what you’re thinking. But I assure you that the truth is the opposite. I’m friends with the ponies here.”

Despite her suspicions, there was evidence that showed that he was correct.

“Hmm. That would explain how you come to know my former name. If you’re not here to cause trouble, then why are you here?”

BlackWarGreymon felt as though he was being tested. To see if his answers would be the ones that the Alicorn would be expecting. But as for the question that was laid out to him…

“I wish I had the answer for that myself. But I am not the villain here. I wouldn’t be called the Saviour of Equestria otherwise.”

Ayumi raised an eyebrow at what BlackWarGreymon said.

“The saviour? Quite the bold title. Earned it? Or do you call yourself that?”

The Digimon was becoming very uncomfortable of all the doubting.

“I earned it. Celestia dubbed me that herself.”

The moment BlackWarGreymon mentioned the White Alicorn, Ayumi flinched in response. The name triggered something within her.

“C…Celestia? She… she’s here?”

The Mega took note at the sudden change of tone from the Alicorn. It surprised him. It was the softest tone he heard from her since they met. She almost sounded… happy.

The former Twilight then whispered to herself.

“O-Of course she would be. Everypony would be. Thank goodness.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Over on the edges of the clearing, Twilight and Spike managed to get in position closer to the conversation without being spotted. The two breathed quite heavily from the suspense of what was transpiring.

“It think we’re in a good spot,” Twilight said before moving towards the hedge. Moments away from sticking her head in the foliage.

As he watched her head halfway through the bush, Spike was fiddling his fingers in anticipation. Eager to hear what Twilight could see.

“So, what is it? Who is it?”

Spike heard nothing but silence from the still Twilight. In fact, she was frighteningly still. But before he could speak up, he heard her voice.

“I…Impossible.”

When she pulled her head back to look at Spike, pure disbelief was written all over her face when she answered.

“I…It’s me.”

Spike stared at her in disbelief.

“What!? Let me see,” The dragon said as he and Twilight stuck their heads into the bush.

They could just see the pony who was speaking to BlackWarGreymon. Being closer than before, they could see more of her features.

“No way. You’re right. It is you.” Spike uttered in a harsh whisper. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“But how can that be? I’m right here,” Twilight replied in the same confused tone.

She briefly recalled seeing her future self appearing before her to deliver a warning. But realised that the experience was entirely different. For she became that very Twilight, delivering the very same message to the past. She could tell that the pony in front of BlackWarGreymon was very different. But unable to put her hoof down on what the cause was. Spike began to speak out loud.

“The same fur. Same mane. Same tail. Even the same cutiemark. But she looks a little older. And has a couple of scars on her.”

“What? What happened to her?” She uttered, also noting the untidy fur on the body.

As the concealed two continued to eavesdrop, they heard the new Alicorn’s question. Hearing her voice unnerved the hidden Twilight. It being very similar to her own.

“Never mind why you’re here. I’m now more interested in when you first arrived in Equestria. Care to tell me?”

Her question took the concealed Twilight by surprise.

“What? This me doesn’t know when BlackWarGreymon first arrived? Has she even met him before? Surely she must have.”

Further believing that the pony in front of him was truly different from the Twilight he knew, BlackWarGreymon answered Ayumi’s question.

“It wasn’t really that long ago. I arrived not that far from here. In fact, I first met Twilight and her friends in this very clearing.”

His answer caused Ayumi to ponder for a moment. Something about the clearing was causing her to remember. She’d only been to the Everfree Clearing once. Puzzled of what happened in her time and the one she’s in, she asked the Digimon a direct question.

“Wait? When you were in this clearing, was that the time when Tirek appeared and attacked?”

Her question caught the full attention of the spying Twilight. Seeing if the events she experienced was similar to the other Twilight’s.

The question was answered by the Digimon.

“Yes it was. But I was there to put a stop to him.”

It was Ayumi’s turn to have a look of surprise. Seeing where things had changed. She then whispered to herself.

“So… that’s the point in time when things changed for me.”

“What was that?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Barely hearing Ayumi’s words.

Ayumi quickly recomposed herself before answering.

“N-Nothing.”

BlackWarGreymon decided that it was time for him to start asking the questions. His tone took a strict vibe.

“Alright. I’ve done nothing but answer your questions. Now it’s your turn to answer mine.”

Ayumi heard the Digimon’s words but didn’t answered them. Instead, she was reading out BlackWarGreymon’s power.

‘It’s still strange to me that someone with such malicious energy would use his power for good. But if it’s true that he’s been here for quite some time, then he would’ve destroyed Equestria by now. He does have the power to do so unopposed. Yet, I can tell he speaks the truth. Maybe it because I’ve yet to meet a good Digimon. But still…’

She then spoke up another question.

“After you defeated Tirek, have you been in other conflict ever since?”

BlackWarGreymon slowly became agitated from the pony ignoring his question.

“Yes. I came across Equestria’s other evils since my arrival. But did you not hear my question?”

“Yes I have. And I will tell you what you want to know.”

BlackWarGreymon was puzzled by the sudden cooperation from Ayumi. But she then said something that left him puzzled.

“But before I do, I will need to be sure if what you say is really true.”

BlackWarGreymon grew an annoyed but uneasy expression from feeling that he was being tested again. To his confusion, words alone wasn’t enough to get through to the other Twilight. It seemed the mare had an idea of how to prove himself that his words were true.

“Alright. What do you have in mind?”

When Ayumi answered the question, she suggested the last thing that BlackWarGreymon would ever expect from the former Twilight.

“Fight me.”

The eavesdropping Twilight and Spike couldn’t believe their ears. And BlackWarGreymon took a step back in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Ayumi repeated herself in a much clearer tone.

“Fight me.”

BlackWarGreymon knew that he wasn’t imagining things. The other Twilight was asking to fight him. Something he truly never expected. The Twilight he knew would never in her life ask for a fight intentionally. She would do anything to avoid conflict and resolve things peacefully and only fight as a last resort. And knowing how powerful he was compared to a pony, he began to question Ayumi’s decision.

“Are you sure about that? You should know that…”

Ayumi interrupted his warning.

“I know very well what you are, Digimon. But I want you to fight me. It’s the best way to find out how strong you truly are. To see where your strength lies. And I promise that once our match ends, I’ll explain myself.”

BlackWarGreymon was puzzled at Ayumi. She even used the term ‘match’. As if the battle she wanted was in fact a sparring match. The Digimon took a second to feel out her energy. While it was much higher than Twilight’s, it still wasn’t high enough. He knew that she could sense how much stronger he was. Which begs the question. Why would she challenge him?

Curious as to where Ayumi’s ploy would go, BlackWarGreymon hesitantly decided to play along.

“Very well. As long as you keep your word.”

Over in the bushes, Twilight’s body was trembling in concern.

“Is she serious!? Can’t she tell how strong he is!? Even I wouldn’t want to fight him!” She uttered quietly to herself.

Her body fidgeted more from being indecisive. Should she watch or step in to stop it? It’s a different version of her for sure. She appeared much braver. Yet she couldn’t help but feel worried.

“What do I do? What do I do?”

“Twilight, calm down,” Spike uttered, seeing that the fidgeting pony was shaking the bush they were in.

Ayumi was about to prepare herself. But the sounds of rustling bushes caught her ear. But rather than looking towards the sounds, she used her magic to sense if someone else was nearby. Sure enough, she sensed a magical presence in the area other than herself. But was mentally surprised at how similar it was to her own.

“Hmm.” She exhaled. She knew exactly who it was.

As he looked down at his arms, BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think while gazing at his Dramon Destroyers. Seeing that Ayumi was not an enemy, he saw no reason to carry such lethal weapons. While keeping his sights on the Alicorn, the Digimon impaled his gauntlets into the ground. He then spoke up as he slid his arms free.

“This should make things more interesting.”

Hearing BlackWarGreymon’s words, Ayumi decided to put a pause on the fight before it could start. She then asked him a question afterwards.

“Hold on. Before we start, there’s one thing I like to ask you. The Twilight that you’re familiar with. What’s your opinion of her?”

Hidden in the bushes, Ayumi’s question caused Twilight to stop her fidgeting and stare in surprise. The other Twilight seemed to be interested in what her counterpart was like. As he stared at her in confusion, BlackWarGreymon answered what he saw was the truth.

“The Twilight I know… is the friendliest pony I have ever met. There’s no doubt about that. She was the first one to speak up to me when we first met. Despite seeing me in action against Tirek, she wanted to know everything about me. No one has ever done that for me. She is a pony that I’m proud to call a friend. And I’ll gladly go into any battle to protect her. And that goes the same for all her other friends, because they’re my friends too.”

As they listened, the two Twilights were taken back from BlackWarGreymon’s words for the exact same reason. Despite being from a completely different world, the Mega had shown complete trust in the Princess of Friendship. He truly valued her as a friend. And with his warrior nature, a friend worth fighting for. Twilight was touched from the Digimon’s speech. As for Ayumi, she had never thought that BlackWarGreymon would say the things he’d said. She initially thought that he was only being the hero for the perks and benefits. But it wasn’t the case at all. He genuinely cared for the ponies. Something she had not anticipated in the slightest upon first meeting him.

Despite not being the same Twilight, Ayumi almost felt flattered from the Mega level Digimon’s words.

BlackWarGreymon then said something that brought both their attention. Amazed at his own speech.

“Huh, I bet Twilight would’ve liked to hear that.”

After letting out a brief smirk from the truth, she spoke up.

“She did. Considering that she’s watching us,” She said as she turned her head towards the direction of the bushes.

After letting out a surprised yelp, Twilight ducked down as low as she could to the ground. Spike laying on the ground beside her.

“Busted,” He uttered before hearing the panicked Twilight.

“How did she know?”

Following Ayumi’s line of sight, the startled BlackWarGreymon spoke out in confusion.

“What!? What’s she doing here!?”

BlackWarGreymon grew concerned. Since he was unsure if Ayumi is a future Twilight or an alternate Twilight, he was scared that eye contact with each other would cause disastrous consequences. But from Ayumi’s sentence, it seemed that there was no danger of time and space collapsing.

“Come on out. We know you’re there.”

The hidden Twilight felt spooked. It was her own voice calling out to her. The sensation was so unreal, that such possibilities could only be done in a dream. That’s what it felt like to her. A dream.

But it wasn’t a dream. It was reality. The other Alicorn also sounded serious. The last thing she wanted was to make her other self angry. But then she looked over to the shaken Spike. The other princess only addressed her. Could it be that she didn’t know that Spike was there too?

“Stay here, Spike,” She whispered to the young dragon. Wanting him to stay safe from whatever that was going on.

Taking careful considerate steps, Twilight emerged from the bush and into the open. In plain view of BlackWarGreymon and Ayumi.

The two Alicorns locked gazes at each other. Their own thoughts coursing through their minds. Ayumi was mentally shaken from the approaching Twilight. It was the stage in her life that she once was. While not that much younger than herself, her appearance was a complete contrast to her own. Her feathers were neat. Her fur was smooth. And not a single scar on her body. She felt as though it had only been recent since she looked that young and pure. Only for it to be taken away. As for Twilight, the sight of Ayumi left her in awe. She truly did look like an older version of herself. Probably by a couple of years. But as she walked closer, more of her features became visible. She looked as though she had a very rough time from wherever she came from. Her mind was filled to the brim of questions.

As she stood still, Ayumi allowed Twilight to further inspect her as she circled around her form. The younger Alicorn quietly gasped from seeing the cutiemark up close. It was identical to her own.

“Incredible. You… you truly are me,” Twilight uttered as she paused beside BlackWarGreymon.

The Digimon then sharply turned his head towards Twilight in concern.

“I thought I told you to stay at the castle.”

“I’m sorry. But… but I just had to see.”

Ayumi took a moment to watch the two as they exchanged conversation. The experience again was different than from what she was expecting. The way Twilight and BlackWarGreymon interacted, it had shown that they were firm friends. Further proof that the bond between pony and Digimon indeed existed.

Ayumi was snapped out of her thoughts when Twilight spoke up to her.

“But… how can this be? You’re not just a future version of me, are you? Why are you here? H-how are you here? And…”

Twilight was silenced when Ayumi raised her hoof up. Signalling for the former to stop talking. But not without a stray thought crossing her mind.

‘I forgot how much I liked to talk.’

Then after giving her other self a stern look, Ayumi made her reply.

“As I said before, I will reveal myself after the duel.”

After looking at BlackWarGreymon with shock, she immediately knew what Ayumi was referring to. She snapped back at her other self in disbelief.

“Duel? You mean you’re really going to fight BlackWarGreymon!?”

“That’s the plan.”

Twilight couldn’t believe how insistent Ayumi was in her decision. Believing that the older mare had no idea what she was in for, she decided to warn her for her safety.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not a good idea. BlackWarGreymon has gone up against all sorts of odds. And prevailed.”

But rather than deter Ayumi from her decision, the opposite happened. She seemed even more keen on seeing BlackWarGreymon in action.

“Is that right?” She continued as she glanced over to BlackWarGreymon.

“You’re right, BlackWarGreymon. This should make things more interesting.”

BlackWarGreymon was more unnerved from how much Ayumi wanted to fight him. Though he failed to figure out why. Even if he held back, she wouldn’t last very long against him. But he was also unnerved from the fact that she knew his name. Despite claiming to have never met him before.

As she looked at both the Digimon and the older Alicorn, Twilight could tell that the two were serious at what they were about to do. And no words could sway their decision.

“O-Ok. Then we better get some cover.” Twilight said. Feeling nothing but anxiety of the situation.

But it was a single word that Twilight mentioned that caught Ayumi’s attention.

“Wait? We? You mean… you’re not alone?” She asked. Her voice carried both curiosity and uncertainty.

Twilight nodded a yes before turning away. Facing towards the bushes she was hiding in.

“It’s ok, Spike! You can come out now!”

Ayumi’s eyes widened considerably from hearing the name of the young purple dragon.

“S…Spike?”

Being just as careful as Twilight, the young dragon climbed out of the shrubbery and walked slowly towards the group. Nervous at meeting the new yet familiar pony.

“H…Hi,” The timid Spike uttered while giving a small wave.

“Spike. It turns out that this is…”

Twilight was silenced from the sight of the older Alicorn approaching the young dragon. Startled at how smoothly she walked towards Spike. In a manner as if not to frighten him by making sudden movements. To which caused her to be confused. BlackWarGreymon too watched Ayumi as she slowly walked up to Spike.

The young dragon paused as he and the mare stood mere inches from each other. Looking up, he could plainly see that she was much taller than both him and the Twilight he knew. But her face, he could see that she was also Twilight. But so much of her was different from the other. But it was her eyes that surprised him. From the distance, she always looked very stern and serious. But when she looked at him, her expression drastically changed. Not only she looked more caring, but her eyes… they were full of shock and amazement. He had no idea why she was looking at him like that.

“Uhh… Twilight?” He asked. Addressing the mare he guessed was his alternate friend.

As if from hearing his voice alone, much to his confusion, Ayumi raised her right hoof off the ground and gently placed it on the side of Spike’s face. Feeling his scales against her hoof like she had done many times before. The sight and actions of Ayumi caused Twilight and BlackWarGreymon to look at her in confusion.

“Spike?” Ayumi asked. Her voice taking on the most sincere and caring tone she ever had since arriving in Equestria.

“Uhh… yeah. That’s me…!”

Spike was unable to finish his sentence. Because much to his surprise, Ayumi went straight in and wrapped her hooves tightly around the young dragon. Giving him the biggest affectionate hug she could muster.

The sight caught Twilight and BlackWarGreymon completely off-guard. While she acted somewhat cold to the Digimon and neutral to her counterpart, she acted the complete opposite to Spike. For Twilight, she tried to remember the times when she too acted similar to what Ayumi was doing. While it was a rare occurrence, the ones she could think of were when she and Spike were separated for a long time. Or when the world was facing great peril and thinking that she wouldn’t ever see her number one assistant again. But from seeing the amount of affection Ayumi was showing, as well as the tone in her voice, she was looking at a pony who wanted more than anything to see him again. Which caused the younger Alicorn to think of a disturbing thought.

‘Does this mean… that something happened to her Spike? It must be something bad for her to act like this. I know I would.’

From his friendship with Twilight, BlackWarGreymon would know how she could act. Since Ayumi is basically another Twilight, he too had the same mental outcome as the Princess of Friendship. Which caused him to wonder where Ayumi truly came from.

As the confused Spike stood still as Ayumi embraced him in her hooves, he heard her spoke. The voice she used almost sounded identical to Twilight’s own.

“I’m so glad to see you alright.”

“Huh?” Spike uttered, wondering what the Alicorn was talking about.

By arriving in their world, Ayumi knew very well that all the others would be around. She was prepared for it. But seeing Spike in the flesh so soon after her arrival, it was something she wasn’t ready for. It was too much for her to hold back. Despite wanting her tough exterior to be dominant, she briefly allowed a single tear to escape her tightly closed eyes as she held him some more. BlackWarGreymon was the only one to had noticed the tear. The sight causing him to gain more questions that needed answering.

After for what felt like an eternity, Ayumi finally released Spike from her warm embrace. Leaving the young dragon to ask her about her identity.

“You… are Twilight? Are you?”

The pony gave him a warm smile before answering. Revealing her name to Spike and Twilight.

“Not the Twilight you know, I’m afraid. But to save the confusion, you can call me Ayumi,”

Twilight and Spike looked at the Alicorn in confusion. Both from the name change and the choice of the name.

“Ayumi?” Twilight asked. Then joined by Spike.

“Why did you change your name?”

Ayumi looked at both Twilight and Spike before answering.

“I’ll answer your questions in time. But right now, there’s something I want to do first,” She said as she turned to face BlackWarGreymon. To which the Digimon responded by glancing back at her.

“If you really want to fight me that badly, then fine. I’ll do it.”

Seeing that a clash was about to unfold in the Everfree Clearing once more, Twilight turned to Spike with concern.

“We should get clear, Spike.”

“R-Right.”

After seeing Twilight and Spike moving some distance away from them, BlackWarGreymon and Ayumi were left alone in the middle of the clearing. Staring each other while distancing themselves by twenty feet.

As he watched the alternate Twilight flaring up her tattered wings, readying herself for battle, BlackWarGreymon gave his final warning.

“I still question your judgement. I faced other ponies before in their training sessions. I even fought against King Sombra himself. And none of them could come close to match me in power. No offence, but you’re nowhere near my level.”

Ayumi was unfazed by the Digimon’s warning. In fact, she gave of a brief smirk as she responded.

“Maybe you should pay less attention to the others and focus on me. I think you’ll be surprised.”

BlackWarGreymon knew Ayumi had a point. Because of the second Twilight possibly being an anomaly, the Digimon was concerned for the wellbeing of all the souls in Ponyville. But by using his senses to check up on the ponies, he wasn’t paying full attention to the Alicorn in front of him.

Taking her advice, BlackWarGreymon focused his full attention on Ayumi alone. The second he sensed her power, his eyes widened in shock. It was beyond what he had anticipated.

‘What the…!? Wh…What is this!? Her level of magic is much greater than I guessed! She’s far stronger than any other pony I’ve ever met! How… how is this even possible!?’

On the side-lines, the other two took note of the yellow eyes of the Mega level Digimon.

“Is it me, or does he look spooked?” Spike asked.

“I think he can sense something we can’t,” Twilight replied. Unnerved by the Digimon’s reactions.

Seeing the shocked expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes caused Ayumi to smirk in response. Feeling that she had proven herself.

“Sense something?” She asked. Almost mocking him for doubting her abilities.

She then looked at her horn in curiosity.

“Maybe a little test to start with.”

After pointing her horn towards the baffled BlackWarGreymon, she began to concentrate her magic. Her horn glowing dark purple in response. Then without warning, she fired a thin purple beam straight towards the Digimon. To which BlackWarGreymon was able to block it with his wrist.

While it seemed little, Twilight and Spike were shocked at something they had just seen.

“That was just a common attack spell. And he blocked it,” Twilight uttered.

The reason for her shock was because she had seen BlackWarGreymon gone up against similar attack spells in the past. Yet, the Digimon took the blows without any issue. But against Ayumi, he chose to block the attack instead. Showing that the spell was much more potent than it appeared to be.

BlackWarGreymon himself shared the same shock factor. Speaking quietly to himself as he looked down at his right wrist to where he had been struck.

“So fast. I barely had time to react. This is just her normal attack. Yet, it packs quite a punch.”

As he looked ahead of him, BlackWarGreymon could see Ayumi recomposing herself. Standing tall with her wings flared up.

“Still think I’m not up to standard now? If we are to fight seriously, then I’m going to have to turn it up a notch.”

“What?” The Digimon uttered. Surprised by the Alicorn’s statement.

As Ayumi closed her eyes, she began to focus on the mixture of energy that dwelled within her. Upon doing so, her body was engulfed in a brilliant display of purple light. Shining brightly, it lit up the clearing. BlackWarGreymon had to squint his eyes as he felt her rise in power.

“S-Such power. What kind of magic is that?”

On the side-lines however, Twilight gasped from what she saw. The energy that her other self was harnessing, as well as the bright purple light, she was mind blown from realising what was happening.

“I don’t believe it.”

As she stared through the light, Twilight could see the body of Ayumi floating in the air. And on her chest, Twilight could see a symbol. To her disbelief, it greatly resembled a very familiar artefact. Something that she herself was very familiar with. Something… she once wielded to protect Equestria.

“The Element of Magic!?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Further away, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had just arrived on the edge of the Everfree Forest. After responding to a message from Twilight, the two sisters flew as quickly as they could to the area to provide assistance. But as soon as they started to fly across the forest canopy, the Alicorns paused in shock from sensing something powerful within the forest. They paused in surprise from its sudden power.

“What in Equestria!? Sister, can you sense that too!?” Luna asked.

While hovering in place, Celestia had the expression of disbelief on her face from recognizing the energy.

“I do, Luna. That magic… it feels like one of the Elements of Harmony! Almost like… the Element of Magic.”

Luna looked at her sister in confusion.

“Twilight’s element!? But how is that possible? All the elements are with the tree. It’s not like there are two of the same elements,” She continued as she stared of in the direction of the energy.

“Not to mention that you can’t use one element without the other five. Just how is this possible?”

Celestia continued to stare off in thought. Being that she once used the Element of magic herself, she could still feel its power. She could sense it with the others on the Tree of Harmony. Yet, she could feel that as if… there were two. The second one was not only active, but it seemed that it was currently being wielded by a pony. Someone that shared the same kind of magic as Twilight. Which caused her to think back to the letter.

“We need to get there, Luna. And fast!” Celestia said before she and her sister continued on their way towards their destination.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back at the clearing, Ayumi’s body continued to glow bright as the energy within her rose to the surface. But as he concentrated on sensing the Alicorn’s power, BlackWarGreymon’s eyes grew wide in disbelief. Something he had just noticed… but simply couldn’t believe.

‘Wait! Something’s wrong here! It’s not just magic I can sense! There’s something else! It’s… almost like…!’

He gasped in shock at the revelation. Uttering the name of the energy he was sensing.

“…Data!!?”

BlackWarGreymon was speechless. Beyond his understanding, he could sense the energy of Digimon within Ayumi. As her power grew higher, both the magical energy and digital energy enveloped her. Then as the light show made a sudden end, Ayumi landed back on the ground. Surprising BlackWarGreymon, Twilight and Spike with her change of appearance.

She still resembled an Alicorn, but quite a lot of her had changed. It was like she had transformed somehow. Her body was covered in armour of an unknown metal while wearing a helmet-like crown on her head. Her lavender purple fur changed to a dark midnight purple and her eyes and cutiemark possessed a deep purple glow. Further showing her exceptional rise in magical power. One of her startling changes was her wings. Her right tattered wing grew much larger and was black instead of purple. But her left wing was drastically different. While it too was black and bigger than normal, it did not resemble the wings of an Alicorn at all. It almost looked like a wing of a dragon! Her straight horn became curved and looked as though it was made of crystal, and black and royal purple smoke rolled off her body in several places. Appearing as if her body couldn’t contain all the power she was exuding.

“What… happened to her?” Spike asked as he and Twilight stared at Ayumi in shock. She looked more like a warrior than a princess.

BlackWarGreymon froze on the spot from sensing Ayumi’s power. In her transformed state, the digital energy within her became even more apparent. So much about her change had filled his mind to the brim of questions.

‘W…What just happened!? Her power has risen so much… it’s practically a third of my own! Was that a transformation? Or some kind of Digivolution!? How can she possess data!? Only Digimon possess that kind of energy! It’s almost as if… she had become a Digimon herself!! What is going on!!?’

BlackWarGreymon was almost horrified at the sight. Never in his wild imagination could he comprehend a pony possessing the power of Digimon. It was just as crazy as the idea of there being a clone of him with Equestrian magic.

As she stared at the baffled Digimon with a stern glare, Ayumi’s wings flared out as she squatted down. Preparing to be the first to attack.

“I hope you’re ready!” She shouted before charging forth. Baring down on the startled BlackWarGreymon.

Chapter 56: The Power of Ayumi

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Deep in the Everfree Forest, in the heart of the Everfree Clearing, a battle was about to take place. But unlike the battles before where it was against the forces of evil, the clash was itself a test. BlackWarGreymon was the test subject. His opponent, an Alicorn named Ayumi. Who in truth, was Twilight Sparkle from either another time or place.

After seemingly transforming into a different form, Ayumi was the one to make the first move. Due to her transformation, it increased her speed to a much higher level. So much so that it left BlackWarGreymon stunned from such display of speed. Seeing that the baffled Digimon left himself wide open, Ayumi charged in and with her right hoof outstretched, slammed it into BlackWarGreymon’s gut.

Due to the Alicorn’s increase of power and the Digimon not raising his defense properly, the blow shook his very being. His yellow eyes widened in shock and something he did not expect from fighting a pony… pain. He felt the stinging sensation as the blow not only knocked the wind out of him, but also sent the Mega hurtling back. The surprised Mega tried digging his hands and feet into the ground to slow down. But as soon as he came to a halt, Ayumi teleported right in front of him and swung both her front hooves down on his head. The surprisingly powerful blow again shook BlackWarGreymon to the core as his face smashed into the ground from the attack. Ayumi was then quick enough to fly around and slammed her rear legs into the Digimon’s side. The kick sent the baffled Mega tumbling across the field. After coming to a stop, BlackWarGreymon tried to get back up. But due to how shaken he was of Ayumi’s strength, his movements were slow. Much so that Ayumi used his disposition to her advantage. Once more teleporting in front of him, she wrapped her hooves around his outstretched arm and with a firm hold, she threw him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground. Then after spinning him around, she threw him aside but not before firing a blast of purple magic. The attack spell struck BlackWarGreymon in the chest and sent him crashing into a large boulder. Exploding on impact.

During the clash on the sidelines, Twilight and Spike were left speechless with their mouths and eyes as wide as they could be. They knew that Ayumi was a different version of Twilight, but the one thing they did not expect in the slightest, was the sight of BlackWarGreymon being beaten up by an Alicorn princess. Something that could only be thought of in dreams. But it was no dream. A pony was not only putting up a good fight against the Mega, but also giving him a run for his money. Just one of those blows would’ve sent any other pony to hospital for sure. They were so confused at what was going on that they were beginning to feel concerned for BlackWarGreymon. Having no idea what to expect next.

As the dust settled from the explosion, revealing piles of rock, Ayumi silently stood still as she watched. Waiting to see what her opponent would do next. After a brief moment, BlackWarGreymon was seen. Stumbling out of the rubble before falling to his knees. The sight caused Twilight and Spike to feel alarmed.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight called out.

“Why is he on his knees? Surely, he could get back up even after that,” Spike added. Remembering the ordeal the Mega went through at the Crystal Empire.

As BlackWarGreymon breathed heavily on his knees, his mind tried to process what had just happened. He wasn’t in pain. He was going though shock. He couldn’t believe that any version of Twilight, even one that was a few years older than the one he knew, would possess such immense strength. Even without looking at her, he could feel Ayumi’s energy. The mixture of Equestrian magic and Digital data deep within her. The fact that kept his mind conflicted on not just where the energy came from, but from what happened to Ayumi on how she attained it.

“How… is she like this?” He quietly asked himself.

But all those thoughts and questions faded away from hearing Ayumi’s words. Calling out to him.

“Was that all you got?”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened as he stared at the ground. His heavy breathing stopped. He remained still as Ayumi approached him, listening to what she had to say.

“You can clearly sense my energy. You’re probably confused as to how I got it. How I became this way. But does it really baffle you to a point where you become such an open target? Or are you holding back… because of who I once was?”

Her movements stopped when she was a few feet in front of the downed Digimon. Looking down at him in wonderment. But with it… came disappointment.

“I may have been the Twilight you know, but that’s the past. That side of me is gone. I’m much different now. Stronger. You shouldn’t restrain yourself for my sake. You shouldn’t need to.”

She continued as she lent down closer to BlackWarGreymon’s head. Even going so far as to say the things that mentally took him by surprise.

“I’m not the Princess of Friendship I once was. In fact, at this point… we’re not even friends.”

That was it. It was those words that struck something within BlackWarGreymon. If it were some random pony, he wouldn’t mind it much. But since the pony in mind was a version of Twilight, the pony who was first to be friends with him, the feeling felt… horrifying to him. What’s worse was that the voice of Ayumi was exactly like Twilight’s. It was like Twilight herself was saying those words.

The feeling he felt was something he had never felt before. Betrayal.

Ayumi continued on.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a Digimon. Nothing more. And if you carry on with your poor performance, how could you convince me that what you say is true. To show me where your strength lies.”

Silence filled the area. But Twilight couldn’t believe for a second what Ayumi just said. She felt awful. As if her other self not only didn’t trust Digimon, but disliked them as a whole. Feeling that Ayumi was trying to mentally bully her friend, Twilight was about to step in. But hearing BlackWarGreymon’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“You’re right.”

Twilight paused. Surprised that BlackWarGreymon was seemingly agreeing with Ayumi. The older Alicorn looked down at the Digimon with a raised eye. Curious as to what his reply would be.

“To you, I’m just a stranger. You may somehow know my name, but you don’t know me. You clearly don’t.”

BlackWarGreymon continued as he felt tension in his right arm. His energy starting to spike.

“But there is one thing you should know about me. It doesn’t matter if you think I’m good or not, but NEVER LOOK DOWN ON ME!”

With a sudden rush of energy, BlackWarGreymon formed a small Terra Destroyer sphere in his right hand and slammed it into Ayumi’s stomach. The attack sending the surprised Alicorn high in the air. After getting back on his feet, BlackWarGreymon brought his arms together and formed a green sphere in front of him.

“War Blaster!”

With a quick charge, the Artificial Digimon fired five green energy blasts towards the ascending Ayumi. Up in the sky, the Alicorn managed to push aside the Terra Destroyer sphere. Only to barely have the time to put up a forcefield to block the War Blaster attacks. Despite the magical barrier blocking the blasts, the attacks caused her shield to receive massive cracks. Much to her surprise. But as she used magic to disperse the clouds from the explosions, she was surprised to see that BlackWarGreymon was gone.

“Huh?”

Without knowing, BlackWarGreymon used the smoke as means of cover. So that by using his speed, he could get behind her before she could react. Which was what happened. After appearing behind her, the Digimon delivered a strong kick. Shattering Ayumi’s barrier and sending her plummeting towards the ground. But to the shock of the onlooking Twilight and Spike, Ayumi crashed into a large boulder in the ground. Shattering it to pieces.

Twilight held her breath from seeing a body of a pony smashing into solid rock. Not even putting up a safety barrier to cushion the fall. Causing her to think that BlackWarGreymon may had overdone it.

“BlackWarGreymon! She may be strong, but she’s still just a pony!” She called up to him. But to her confusion, BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond. He was just staring down at the dust cloud.

Then sounds of rubble moving caused the pony and dragon to turn back towards the rubble. Then after bright purple light shinned from the rocks, a pulse of magic blew the debris clear. As the light faded, Ayumi was revealed. To Twilight’s surprise, the older Alicorn was standing on her hooves. Apparently unharmed from the crash.

She let out a heavy breath before making a reply.

“That’s more like it.”

After looking up at her opponent, she could see BlackWarGreymon descending back to the ground. Not tearing his gaze away from hers.

“So, you finally got your act together?” She asked him. To which the Digimon replied.

“I have. I was just in shock at the power you possess. But that shock is now behind me. I won’t be so easily tossed around.”

As the two got back in their battle positions, a thought crossed Ayumi’s mind.

‘That was a strong forcefield spell and he was able to shatter it. He is strong, that’s for sure. But by how much?’

Then without warning, Ayumi was first to charge in again. Trying to deliver the same blow as before. But despite her speed, BlackWarGreymon was more than ready to counter. Raising his right wrist, he was able to block Ayumi’s hoof. A burst of air from the shockwave blew through the area. While the Digimon was again taken back from feeling the pony’s attacks, he didn’t let it get to his head like before. Instead, he chose to counterattack. Throwing his arm out to push Ayumi back before using one of his abilities.

“Mega Destroyer!”

After shrouding himself in dark energy, he tackled Ayumi. Pushing her back while his energy dealt damage to her. After feeling the stinging sensation from the energized attack, Ayumi teleported beneath the Digimon and delivered a hard kick to his gut. Knocking BlackWarGreymon out of his attack and into the air. Then after teleporting above him, she formed a purple ball of magic from her horn and threw it down at the Digimon. The blast sent him hurtling towards the ground. But seeing the approaching ground, BlackWarGreymon cushioned his fall by landing on his hands. Then he backflipped away before standing back up.

As he looked ahead of him, BlackWarGreymon could see Ayumi diving towards the ground before levelling off above the ground. Speeding towards the awaiting Mega who guessed what she was about to pull off next.

‘Is she going to teleport? If so, then she’s going to reappear…’

Just as he predicted, just as Ayumi was about to attack, a flash of purple light signalled the sign of teleportation. Prompting BlackWarGreymon to know immediately what was about to come next.

‘…behind me!’

Just moments after reappearing behind BlackWarGreymon, Ayumi’s surprise attack was met with a counter surprise attack. Just as she was about to strike her rear leg into the Digimon’s back, he sharply turned around and grabbed onto her outstretched leg. Much to the Alicorn’s surprise. Then after spinning around, the Mega flung her in the direction of the Everfree Forest. The Alicorn crashing through a couple of trees before disappearing into the darkness.

Twilight and Spike were amazed at what they had seen. It seemed that BlackWarGreymon was finally figuring out a strategy against opponents who can teleport. With BlackWarGreymon himself mentioning it.

“Good, it worked. I could use that against ChaosBlackWarGreymon once we fight again,” He said quietly to himself.

To his surprise however, a large purple beam of magic was fired from where Ayumi was sent to. Aiming directly towards the Artificial Mega. Seeing that more power was used in the attack, BlackWarGreymon was quick to bring forth his Brave Shield. Placing the slabs of metal together to block the attack. But while most of the beam was being reflected off the Chrome Digizoid, the force of the spell was enough to push him back. His feet clenched into the ground for grip.

Then as the attack ended, BlackWarGreymon placed his shield back on his back and then saw Ayumi flying out of the forest. Speeding towards him with incredible speed. But to his confusion, the speeding mare chose a different strategy. She started to fly in circles around him. The force of her speeding momentum causing winds to swirl around BlackWarGreymon. Picking up dirt from the ground. Within seconds, the Digimon was surrounded by a tornado. The buffeting winds caused powerful gusts of wind to blow through the clearing. Twilight and Spike had to stay low for cover.

While seeming trapped in the tornado, BlackWarGreymon stared at it in confusion. While he could feel the winds against his body, it wasn’t doing any damage to him. In fact, the winds were barely lifting his body at all. But just as he was about to call out to Ayumi to enquire her tactics, he was suddenly struck from the back of his right shoulder. Causing him to stumble forward as he received a jolt of pain. Looking behind him, all he could see was the cyclone. But then, from just seeing it from the corner of his eye, a purple blur suddenly emerged from the twister and struck him on the side of his head. The blow caused him to dazzle but not before seeing the purple blur going back into the cyclone. The same thing happened again, but striking the back of his left knee before retreating. As BlackWarGreymon fell to one knee from the blow, he figured out what Ayumi was going.

“So that’s it. She isn’t using the tornado to hurt me, she’s using it as cover!”

He was right. Due to the dirt and dust in the cyclone, he wouldn’t be able to see the Alicorn. And once he dropped his guard, she would briefly emerge to strike him in his vulnerable spots.

BlackWarGreymon tried to fire a blind Terra Destroyer sphere into the tornado. But it only flew straight through the twister and leaving himself open to another strike from Ayumi. Colliding into the back of his head.

The process continued on. Ayumi’s speed keeping the tornado moving while taking a brief second to strike at BlackWarGreymon. Causing him damage by hitting him hard and fast. But as it continued, BlackWarGreymon finally had enough of the hit and run tactics. With a loud grunt and thrusting his arms apart, he released an invisible pulse of negative energy. Dispersing the tornado entirely. As the winds died down, BlackWarGreymon looked at his surroundings to try and spot Ayumi. But when he did, he saw her flying towards him. Her speed increased immensely due to the effects of the tornado. Seeing that he had little time to react, he tried to counter her with another of his abilities.

“Dragon Crusher!”

With a swing of his arms, he unleashed a wall of fire fuelled by negative energy. But to his surprise, by surrounding herself in a small purple forcefield, Ayumi charged straight through the attack and tackled BlackWarGreymon. Colliding into his chest and pushing him off the ground. High into the air above the clearing.
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Not very far away, Celestia and Luna had pushed deeper into the Everfree Forest. Flying high above the treetops, using their magic to pinpoint all the energy spikes, the two Alicorns were making a beeline towards the clearing. That was until they spotted something that caused them to stop dead in their tracks. The sight of BlackWarGreymon in the distance, being hurtled through the air by a purple light.

“Wh-What’s going on?” Celestia asked.

But rather than replying, Luna simply stared at the sight with her sister in disbelief. After BlackWarGreymon managed to steady himself, he was seen moving and dodging what appeared to be a purple sphere. While the Digimon managed to gain a few hits on the orb, knocking it back, the latter was more of the aggressor. Dodging the Digimon’s attacks and landing a few blows back. To the princesses’ shock, the blows were effective against him.

“He’s… in a middle of a fight!” Luna answered. She couldn’t believe that there was something else in Equestria that can put up a fight against the Mega level Digimon.

Luna then gasped in shock from the sight of the purple light tackling BlackWarGreymon from behind. Pushing him back towards the clearing.

Back on the ground, Twilight and Spike were surprised from the sight of Ayumi slamming and grinding BlackWarGreymon into the ground. Her hooves forcing him further into the ground. Sensing the Digimon coming to a halt, Ayumi leapt off of him and landed some distance away. But just as she thought she dealt a heavy blow on the Digimon, a large Terra Destroyer sphere was launched from the dust cloud. The startled Alicorn formed a barrier just moments before the attack struck her. The orb detonating with a large explosion. The blast throwing up a mountain of dirt into the air.

Back in the skies above the clearing, Celestia and Luna could plainly see two large dust clouds down in the field.

“Just who is BlackWarGreymon fighting?” Celestia asked. With Luna making a suggestion.

“Let’s get down for a closer look.”

With Celestia in agreement, the Royal Sisters swiftly descended towards the ground. But not wanting to risk distracting BlackWarGreymon from the fight, the two landed behind some hedges. Hidden from view, the two Alicorns peered through the gap in the bushes to see what was going on. While they were looking, Luna spotted something before gaining her sister’s attention.

“Sister, look. Twilight and Spike are over there.”

Startled at what she heard, Celestia followed her sister’s gaze. Only to see that she was right. Twilight and Spike were seen standing on the edge of the clearing. Watching the fight.

The two looked back at the two large dust clouds to feel out the energy present. They could clearly tell that one of the was BlackWarGreymon. But it was the second energy that completely threw them off. It felt a lot like Twilight’s magic, but they saw the princess on the clearing edge. They knew that she couldn’t be in two places at once. What was going on?

Their questions were soon answered when the dust clouds settled. BlackWarGreymon was first to be seen. Rising back up while brushing the dirt off his shoulder. But when his opponent was revealed through the dust cloud, the two Alicorns couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“Is that… another Alicorn?” Luna asked. In shock from the discovery of an unknown princess.

But from what Celestia said next after a quiet gasp, the mysterious pony may not be entirely unknown.

“But her cutiemark. It looks like… Twilights!”

Luna looked at her older sibling in disbelief.

“What!? H-How is that possible!? How can there be two Twilights!?

“I…I don’t know.”

Celestia then remembered back when Twilight sent her the letter. Remembering that it mentioned of something that possessed the same magic as Twilight’s own. But looking back at the clearing, she couldn’t imagine that the anomaly was a pony who didn’t just looked like Twilight. But another pony who WAS Twilight. But if that wasn’t enough, a version of the princess who could hold her own against the likes of BlackWarGreymon.

The two hidden Alicorns stared on in stunned silence as they watched the two combatants. With Ayumi thinking to herself.

‘Though I was able to block that last attack, but it was much more powerful than I thought. He’s clearly holding back more power. Well then… it looks like I have to get serious from now on.’

To the confusion of everyone around her, Ayumi relaxed her wings as she stood up from her battle stance. She then spoke out to BlackWarGreymon. Her voice shocking Celestia from how similar it was to Twilight’s.

“I have to admit, you’re starting to become impressive. You’re clearly much stronger than I anticipated.”

While confused at the sudden compliment, BlackWarGreymon made his reply.

“It’s like I said earlier. You shouldn’t take me so lightly. You may not know this, but I’m a Mega level Digimon. And Megas are the most powerful form of Digimon.”

Celestia and Luna both were taken back by what BlackWarGreymon said.

“Wait. So, she doesn’t know about him?” Luna asked.

Ayumi closed her eyes in thought. Seeing that the Digimon still had vast amounts of power left unused, she made comparisons in her head. Then speaking out what she was thinking.

“Yes, you’re very powerful. Definitely more so than I am presently.”

BlackWarGreymon and the listening Twilight were taken back by what she said. If she knew that the Digimon was stronger than her, then why ask for a fight? And why being so calm about it? After listening carefully to Ayumi’s words, BlackWarGreymon was first to figure something out.

“Wait… you’re hiding something aren’t you?”

While having her eyes shut, Ayumi made a small smile in response to the question. Impressed that the Digimon was able to figure it out.

“Yes, I am.”

BlackWarGreymon readied himself. Having no idea what to expect. Then as Ayumi’s wings fanned out, she spoke out while giving her opponent a determined glare.

“I did used the word ‘presently’, didn’t I? So, let us see how well you fair against me going all out. And truth be told, I only ever did this once before.”

BlackWarGreymon felt slightly nervous. He was about to see something that Ayumi had hardly ever done before. As for the Alicorn, she closed her eyes as her curved horn lit up in bright purple light. As did her chest, revealing the symbol of her Element of Harmony. Twilight and the hidden Celestia and Luna all looked at her in amazement. She truly did possess her very own Element of Magic. BlackWarGreymon however felt uncertain of what was happening. He felt as though he had seen it before.

Then as Ayumi levitated off the ground, her energy exploded from her body. The blast of purple light surrounded the Alicorn’s form within a large energy sphere. But as soon as it happened, the flow of magic form her became overflowed with data. While the princesses could sense the change in energy, it was BlackWarGreymon who was the most in shocked. He HAD seen something familiar before. In fact, quite a lot of times back in the Digital World.

“Impossible! It’s almost like… she’s digivolving!”

The energy sphere briefly expanded as it descended back to the ground. Then as it vanished from sight, a brand new Ayumi was revealed to all. Much to the surprise of everyone.

She was still the same pony, but her appearance had changed drastically. She retained her pony features like her head and her mane. But that was where the similarities end. One major change was that she was standing upright, very similar to BlackWarGreymon’s stance. While her rear two legs kept her hooves, her front legs however changed into arms and her front hooves into hands. Her new height almost half the size of BlackWarGreymon. Her tail was longer with a resemblance of a dragon and both her dragon and Alicorn wings became larger. The armour she wore changed to better fit her new form while black and white flames sparked around her body. A sign that even in her transformed state, her body couldn’t contain the staggering amount of power.

“W-What happened to her?” Spike asked, he and Twilight staring at Ayumi’s change of appearance in confusion and awe.

“I…I don’t know, Spike. But her power is even greater than before. It almost doubled,” Twilight replied, also noting the increase of power.

BlackWarGreymon was almost shaken from sensing the shear amount of data radiating from Ayumi. For a second, he thought that she was on her way of becoming a true Digimon.

“H…How? How are you doing this?”

The transformed Ayumi stared blankly at him before talking back.

“That’s for me to know… and you to find out.”

Ayumi then began to process her thoughts.

‘He’s clearly disturbed by this power. Is he really that baffled at how I acquired the energy of his kind? Or have I become stronger than him?'

She then received a brief flashback. Recalling an event in time that happened in her own Equestria.

‘Either way, there is no way he’s stronger than that monster. He just can’t be.’

In a flash of both magic and data, armoured gauntlets appeared around her wrists. Thinking that her display of power was just to try to freak him out, BlackWarGreymon shook of his surprised expression and glared back. His fists clenched hard.

With a flap of her wings, Ayumi yelled as she charged forward. BlackWarGreymon done the same, the ground exploded as he took off. When the two met in the middle of the clearing, Ayumi’s right fist collided into BlackWarGreymon’s own. Creating a loud boom with a shockwave that rustled the surrounding trees. A clear sign of increased strength.

The two paused as their fists pressed against each other. They then parted before leaping into the air, moving at incredible speeds almost too quick to be seen. With the occasional boom from left to right as the two fought. It went on for several moments until the two fighters were seen in the air. Once more, Ayumi was the aggressor of the two with BlackWarGreymon on the defensive. Due to being nearly half his size, the Alicorn’s transformed state was far nimbler than the Digimon expected. Having trouble dodging her flurry of punches. Distracted at how vicious Ayumi was being, the latter managed to land a solid blow to the Digimon’s gut. Stunning him long enough to fly beside him and delivered a hard kick to the side of his head. Sending him crashing into the ground.

Hidden from view, Celestia and Luna were shocked that a pony was able strike back at BlackWarGreymon with such strong attacks. Transformed or not. After seeing a purple flash of light, the two looked back up to see Ayumi performing a magical spell. Raising her arms above her head, a bright purple orb formed within her palms. With a quick yell, she threw her arms down at the Digimon and fired countless beams of magic. All homing in on BlackWarGreymon’s location. Just before the black armoured Digimon got back up on his feet, he was suddenly bombarded with attacks that exploded both against him and all around him. Ayumi continuing her onslaught as to try to pin the Mega in place.

While being pressed down by his opponent’s attacks, BlackWarGreymon decided to fight back. Quickly rising back up and preparing to spin.

“Black Tornado!”

With swirling black winds engulfing his spinning form, BlackWarGreymon ploughed straight through the magical barrage and collided into Ayumi’s gut. The transformed Alicorn gagged in surprise while being knocked out of her attack. But after getting over her shock, she teleported out of BlackWarGreymon’s path. Reappearing just after the Digimon stopped his attack. Just as the two locked gazed once more, Ayumi began to teleport again. Appearing and disappearing all around BlackWarGreymon in an attempt to throw him off-guard. The Digimon however remained still.

“She’s just trying to spook me,” He said to himself. Remembering his past battle with ChaosBlackWarGreymon who was another magic user.

While remaining calm, he realised that Ayumi was about to attack him from behind. After letting her teleport behind him, BlackWarGreymon swung his arm out in an attempt to counterattack. But to his surprise, Ayumi was expecting him to expect her attack pattern. After ducking to avoid the swinging fist, she used her new tail to wrap tightly around BlackWarGreymon’s leg before proceeding to spin him around.

After gaining enough momentum, Ayumi released her hold and sent BlackWarGreymon shooting towards the ground. But before he could hit the ground, Ayumi teleported beneath him and swung her tail out. Swatting the Digimon back into the air. As he ascended through the air, he knew that Ayumi would reappear above him and try to use him as a ping-pong ball again. Anticipating the outcome, he formed a tiny red sphere in his right palm. Hidden from view.

Just as he predicted, Ayumi teleported above him and prepared to swing her tail down on top of his head. But just as she was about to swing down, BlackWarGreymon threw his arm up as the Terra Destroyer sphere grew bigger in his palm. When the unsuspecting Ayumi struck her tail against the orb, it triggered an explosion. The blast sent Ayumi hurtling through the air before coming to a stop. Looking down to inspect her tail, the transformed Alicorn was taken back at what she saw. Most of her tail was badly bruised from the attack.

“That… actually hurt,” She said quietly to herself. She felt as though something was off.

But her inspection of her tail had left her open to attack. To her surprise, BlackWarGreymon appeared behind her and grabbed the base of both her wings. Unable to move her wings, she briefly dropped down slightly. But being held up by her wings in the Digimon’s grip.

“H…Hay!” She shouted out in retort.

“Bet you didn’t expect this,” BlackWarGreymon said before raising both his legs up to his chest. Letting go of his grip just as he delivered a kangaroo-like kick to her back.

Ayumi yelled from both the attack and the surprise. But after using her wings to steady herself, she was about to fly up to engage in battle once more. Only to see that BlackWarGreymon was ready with an attack.

“Terra Destroyer!”

With one throw, BlackWarGreymon sent down a large red orb of negative energy down towards the startled Ayumi. The latter then countered the attack by firing a purple beam of magic towards the former. The beam collided into the large orb. But to her surprise, her powerful spell couldn’t push the Terra Destroyer attack back. If anything, it was herself that was being pushed back. Letting out a loud yell, she channelled more of her magic into her spell. Just as she was able to hold it back, the giant red orb detonated. A giant explosion lit up the clearing and the surrounding forest.

When the explosion died down, there was a brief moment when Ayumi felt uncertain. She was huffing for breath from using her counterattack. Yet when BlackWarGreymon was revealed from the dissipating smoke, he was unmoved.

“What?” She asked.

But she had to shake off her uncertainty due to the sight of BlackWarGreymon diving down towards her. Clearly wanting to continue the fight. With a strong beat of her wings, she ascended higher into the skies to fight on. While the Digimon got ready with his fists clenched, Ayumi tried something different. Channelling her magic into her fists, she used a spell to increase the strength of her physical abilities. Like before, their fists collided into one another. Releasing another pulse wave.

As the two paused in mid-air, Ayumi took a moment to look at the expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes. While he was putting up more effort, he wasn’t being pushed back. Something that she hadn’t anticipated. She then tried to outmanoeuvre the Digimon by teleporting to his side to land a punch to his face. Only for him to tilt his head back to dodge the attack. Both BlackWarGreymon and Ayumi then began to exchange blows to one another. Their arms and legs were nothing but blurs to the three Alicorns and dragon down below at the clearing.

“What’s going on, Twilight? Who’s winning?” Spike asked.

But from seeing how the fight was playing out, Twilight made an assumption.

“From the way it looks, it looks like BlackWarGreymon is keeping up with her.”

“I still don’t understand how there could be another Twilight. Let alone one with the power to fight on par with BlackWarGreymon,” Luna said, worried that her digital friend might get hurt from the battle.

“I don’t either, Luna. But I’m just as curious as you about the outcome of this fight. And why they’re fighting to begin with,” Celestia replied.

Back at the fight, Ayumi landed what seemed to be a successful blow to BlackWarGreymon’s face. But to her surprise, she saw the Digimon’s yellow eye glancing back at her. Showing that he was starting to become resilient. The Digimon countered by kicking her in the side. The blow forced her back before the two hovered in the air. Mentally processing the battle.

‘She may not be the Twilight I know, but she does share the same intelligence. I have to admit, she’s more impressive at fighting than I was expecting.’

But while BlackWarGreymon was mentally giving her praise, Ayumi however was quite opposite.

‘Something’s not right here. He shouldn’t be doing this well against me. He shouldn’t be!’

She then received the same flashback again. Recalling what happened back in her own world.

‘That monster. That... Digimon. Even he didn’t fight as well as this one! Is he…? No! It can’t be! He can’t possibly be stronger! There’s no way!’

Not wanting to believe what she thought was impossible, Ayumi’s horn shinned brighter than ever before. The magic causing her whole body to ignite in a magical purple aura as her eyes glowed bright white. She then glared at BlackWarGreymon with determination.

“This is it! No holding back!”

Surprised by her sudden determination, BlackWarGreymon had no time to counter what was to come. Charging forward, Ayumi slammed her fist in a form of an uppercut. Punching BlackWarGreymon with enough force to send him flying in the air. Then through a series of teleportation spells, the transformed Alicorn attacked at every part of BlackWarGreymon’s body with incredible speed. After what seems like an infinite beating, Ayumi smacked her tail across BlackWarGreymon’s face. Sending the Digimon spinning across the air. The former giving chase to continue with her unrelenting attacks.

But BlackWarGreymon was about to use his spinning momentum to his advantage. He started to spin faster as he raised his hands above his head. After forming a Black Tornado, the Digimon made a quick U-turn and flew straight towards Ayumi. While the Alicorn was able to avoid the worse of the hit, her armoured shoulder was grazed by the black winds.

After seeing BlackWarGreymon cancelling his attack, Ayumi charged in with a magically charged punch of her gauntlets. Despite dodging the punch, the Mega was surprised to see that the tip of the gauntlet caused a scratch against his chest. Showing that her strength was at a point where she could do significant damage to him. The two then exchanged blows once more. Ayumi was mentally surprised. Despite continuously putting more and more magic in her abilities, BlackWarGreymon kept coming back for more. Causing her to think.

‘With as much power I’m using, he surely must be at his limit. But just to be sure…’

To BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, his entire body suddenly froze on the spot. His form being surrounded in purple energy. Looking ahead, he could see that it was Ayumi using her levitation spell to stop the Digimon in his tracks. After throwing her arms down, she sent BlackWarGreymon crashing into the ground with a massive impact. With Ayumi teleporting back on the ground fifty feet away from him.

“Let’s see if you can handle THIS!!” She shouted. To the confusion of the others, her voice carried a hint of… anger.

Placing her open palms out in the direction of the fallen Digimon, Ayumi’s horn began to shine bright like a beckon. Lighting up the entire clearing in its purple coloured brilliance. Her transformed body soon followed suit as her cutiemark glowed just as bright. Within her palms, she channelled both the magic and data within her body. Pouring everything she had to create what was to be her strongest attack. She called out to the downed BlackWarGreymon as she continued to power up.

“What’s more, I only ever used this spell once! Not even you can get out of this without a scratch!”

But as a purple magical circle appeared on the ground beneath her, she whispered something under her breath.

‘From what I’ve done when I used this spell before, it will definitely do more than give you a scratch.’

Twilight and the two hidden Alicorn sisters began to suspect that Ayumi wasn’t bluffing. To their surprise, they could feel the power in the spell reaching to even higher levels. It completely eclipsed any spell they could muster. Luna began to fear that BlackWarGreymon might actually get hurt from the attack.

As he recovered, BlackWarGreymon looked over to Ayumi preparing her attack. Sensing the staggering amount of power that was building up.

“With all that magic and data, that’s clearly her final attack,” He said quietly to himself. But rather than moving out of the way, he decided to challenge Ayumi head on.

“We’ll see about that! Give me your best shot!” He said as he brought forth his Brave Shield. Preparing to take the direct hit of the upcoming attack.

As the two combatants stared each other down, Ayumi looked at BlackWarGreymon’s shield with uncertainty. She could clearly tell that the Chrome Digizoid shell would take the worst of the spell. Which was something she wasn’t looking for. Nor would allow.

Deciding to play a deadly game, to the surprise of everyone, when Ayumi’ spell was nearly finished, she used a teleportation spell. Transporting BlackWarGreymon’s Brave Shield out of his grasp and reappearing beside Twilight.

“What!?” The surprised Digimon said as he looked at his hands. Shocked to have his shield taken away so suddenly.

Believing that the Digimon was without any defence, Ayumi’s spell was finished. Shouting at him as if he was her enemy.

“Let’s see if you can survive this!” She said before letting out a loud energized scream. Giving her all by firing an almighty powerful beam of dark purple light. The energy within a mixture of elemental magic and chaotic data.

The beam of colossal proportions cleaved through the clearing and heading directly towards the surprised BlackWarGreymon. Almost afraid at the staggering amount of power within the blast.

“Damn it!” He shouted before crossing his arms with just seconds to spare. Without his shield, it was his only other form of defence.

Then the beam made contact. But it didn’t smash into the Digimon. It entirely consumed him. BlackWarGreymon’s body could briefly be seen as a silhouette before fading into the light. The beam continued on. Bursting across the forest canopy and into the open blue sky. No doubt that it could be seen by onlookers all-round.

As the attack carried on, the Alicorns and Spike noticed two things. Firstly, the attack kept on going, seeming more powerful by the second. Secondly, and most shockingly, was the expression on Ayumi’s face. She looked intense… almost rage filled. Opening the floodgates of her power, not holding anything back.

It could be just their imagination. But for a second, the four almost thought that Ayumi was intentionally trying to destroy BlackWarGreymon.

But just as it seemed that the attack could go on forever, the spell finally came to an end. The beam becoming weaker and smaller in size. When the spell was finished, Ayumi was left standing. Her arms visibly shaking from the strain of her attack. The transformed Alicorn took in deep breaths as she looked at what she had done. Aside from a massive grove in the ground, there was nothing but smoke.

“Where is he? Is he alright?” Luna asked. Concerned that her Digimon friend might actually had gotten himself hurt.

From using so much of her powers, Ayumi’s body glowed bright before her form started to shrink. Down to her first transformed state, then afterwards back into her original body. When the glow faded away, Celestia and Luna could see who the pony truly was. To their surprise, she looked even more like Twilight than before. With minor differences in her height and battered appearance. Ayumi felt as though her legs were going numb. Almost struggling to stand on her four hooves. While trying to catch her breath, she looked at the large smoke cloud. Puzzled if she actually destroyed the Mega by accident. She couldn’t sense his energy either. Within the smoke were magic particles that were left over from the attack. She stared on with uncertainty. She knew that if BlackWarGreymon perished or heavily injured, then it meant that she was stronger.

But if it were otherwise… it would mean that what she thought was impossible.

But with her wide eyes and an audible gasp, what she thought was impossible came true.

As the smoke faded away, BlackWarGreymon remained intact. Despite standing in the middle of the uprooted ground, he remained in his defensive stance. But he had suffered damage. His armour was scuffed with dirt and scratches and his bare arms had a couple of burns and bruises. What’s more, his entire body was venting smoke. Showing the sheer intensity of Ayumi’s attack.

As he slightly lowered his arms, BlackWarGreymon raised his head as he looked back at his stunned opponent.

“That was a close one,” He said to himself. Surprised at how powerful the attack was and how close he was to actually being in trouble.

He then took notice of her change of appearance.

“I see you powered down. I guess that means I’ve won this fight.”

As Ayumi stood still, she stared at BlackWarGreymon in shock and disbelief. In her mind, she felt as though the world had turned upside down. Her mind racing in confusion and questions.

‘He…He’s still standing!? A-After all that!? With barely any damage!? But how!? He should be lying on the ground! Knocked out even! How could he possibly endure!?’

Wanting answers, she spoke out to him. But with a stuttered voice.

“Y…You… you’re… unharmed? H-How?”

While replying back to her, BlackWarGreymon’s awe of Ayumi’s abilities made him blind to the fact that she was in shock.

“I have to say, that attack was far more powerful than I thought it would be. If I hadn’t raised my power to its fullest, I might actually have lost that battle.”

Ayumi’s eyes grew wider in shock. To which then changed to uncertainty.

“What!? You were holding back!? B-Buy how much?”

Twilight on the side-lines took note at her other self’s change of attitude. Before the battle, Ayumi was confident and unfazed by BlackWarGreymon’s powers. But to her confusion, after the battle, the older Alicorn almost seemed… afraid.

BlackWarGreymon took a moment to think of how to explain his answer.

“Well… if I have to put it in numbers. I guess before you used your final attack… I was at… roughly eighty percent. Maybe eighty-five?”

Despite BlackWarGreymon not being exactly accurate with his estimates, it was all what Ayumi needed to hear. To her, which meant the impossible. Which again caused her to think back to what happened in her version of Equestria.

‘No! It… it can’t be possible! It just can’t! That Digimon… he didn’t stand a chance against my final attack. It destroyed him completely. If what this Digimon said is true… then… it means…’

Her eyes couldn’t be any wider from the realisation. Staring at BlackWarGreymon in disbelief and… fear.

‘He’s… He’s even stronger!!?’

But from remembering what had happened in her past, she went into denial. Finding it very hard to believe that a Digimon with such immeasurable strength could be a ‘good’ Digimon.

“N-No. This has to be some sort of mistake. You can’t possibly be that strong.”

“I assure you, I am,” He replied. Then deciding to inform the Alicorn about something else. His eyes growing an amused expression.

“And what’s more, I can become even stronger than this.”

Ayumi took a step back in surprise form what BlackWarGreymon said. He clamed to grow even more powerful than he already was.

“W-What?”

BlackWarGreymon then explained himself. With Twilight, Spike and the hidden Celestia and Luna knowing what he was referring about.

“That’s right. I’ve found a way to break through my limits and attain an entirely new level of power.”

He then squatted down slightly with his arms to his sides. Readying himself.

“Since you showed me your fullest, it would be fitting if I showed you mine.”

The hidden Celestia turned to Luna in surprise.

“Luna? Is he going to do it?”

“Yes. He’s going into his Ascended form,” Luna answered, excitement in her voice.

Celestia looked back at BlackWarGreymon in fascination. Her being the only one who hadn’t been to the Crystal Empire to witness the transformation.

As BlackWarGreymon began to concentrate, he softly grunted as he tried to remember the feeling he experienced when he transformed. While all the Alicorns could feel it, Ayumi was the only one who quietly gasped.

“His power… is rising even higher.”

As BlackWarGreymon continued to concentrate, his yellow hair began to flow upwards. Soon after, a faint red glow began to form around his body. His rise in power causing the ground beneath his feet to shake. But the trembling ground was the last thing Ayumi paid her mind to. Her eyes were too focused on the Digimon’s form.

“That glow. That’s not his energy. What is…”

She was interrupted when she caught a glimpse of something red in the sky. Looking up, she could see a small red orb hovering in the air. Followed by a couple more. Materializing out of thin air. But just as she was about to enquire about them, another orb appeared right in front of her. Briefly surprising her.

But as Ayumi curiously stared at the red orb, she felt something deep within her. She could feel it. Her Element of Magic was reacting to it. Ayumi stared at the orb in disbelief and awe. For it to cause a reaction with her element, she knew exactly what the red orb was.

‘Wha… this orb. It’s… pure magic. Straight from Equestria itself.’

After the curious Alicorn looked back at BlackWarGreymon behind the orb, her purple eyes grew wider. The red glow around his body not only was the exact same colour, but it also had the exact same energy.

‘But… how can magic this pure… react with someone with such negative energy? How can magic even react to him at all!? He’s not even from this world! It’s… It’s…!’

Despite her thoughts, she could not deny what she was feeling. The magic of Equestria was being channelled into BlackWarGreymon’s very being. Increasing his power to levels she couldn’t even dream off. It was so otherworldly, yet right at home. As a couple more magical orbs popped into existence, she could feel the Digimon’s power rising with them. Which proved that what he was saying to her, was the truth from the very beginning.

Ayumi, the Twilight Sparkle from another realm, could only respond with a single word to what was unfolding right in front of her.

“Impossible.”

But as BlackWarGreymon tried to build his energy up further, the magical orbs stopped appearing. As well as the tremors becoming more violent. Shaking the Everfree Clearing. The Artificial Mega grunted very loudly as sparks of electricity began to form around his body. Twilight, Spike and Luna knew that something was wrong. They had seen very similar signs before back at the Crystal Empire.

Then in a sudden outburst, BlackWarGreymon’s power suddenly dropped. The rumbling ground stopped as the red orbs faded away. Strained from the amount of effort he put into his attempt of transforming, BlackWarGreymon collapsed onto his knees. Huffing for breath.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight called out as she and Spike ran up to the downed Digimon. With the hidden Luna resisting the temptation to join.

But the blue Alicorn was distracted when Celestia gave her a look of amazement.

“Luna. Was that the power you were talking about? It’s astounding!”

But Luna looked back at her with uncertainty.

“But he didn’t transform. That was only a failed attempt.”

“You ok, big guy?” Spike asked as he and Twilight walked up to BlackWarGreymon’s face. After getting his breath back, the Digimon reassured the two.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be ok.”

After hearing hoof steps approaching the three, they looked to see Ayumi slowly walking up to them. Staring at BlackWarGreymon in complete shock with a mind full of questions.

“How? How did you do that?” She asked. Her voice shaken from the experience.

BlackWarGreymon looked back at her with a response.

“To tell you the truth, I’m still not so sure myself.”

“What?” Ayumi asked in confusion. Watching the Mega standing back up as he explained himself.

“Ever since I arrived in this world, the magic of Equestria was having some effect on my powers. I felt as though it was making me stronger every day. But recently, I was able to find a way to draw even more magic into my very being. To ascend. But I was only able to successfully do so twice before.”

“But we believe it might have something to do with him having a pure heart,” Twilight added. Explaining one possibility to Ayumi.

“Strange. After the Crystal Empire, I thought you would’ve gotten the hang of it,” Spike mentioned. With BlackWarGreymon agreeing with the young dragon.

“I thought so too. But I think it’s because I’m still new to it.”

While the two were in conversation, Ayumi was lost in thought. Something what Twilight said kept repeating itself in her mind. Something about the Digimon that she never thought possible.

“A pure heart?”

She then used her magic to check on BlackWarGreymon’s energy. But like before, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. It was negative. Which caused her to second guess herself and what she believed in.

“But how? How can someone with such malicious energy have a pure heart? And why is the magic of Equestria giving you power?”

It was the last question that gained the attention of Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon. The three looking at her in puzzlement.

But to their surprise, they were joined by a voice. Followed by a second younger one.

“A good question indeed.”

“But one we may never get an answer for.”

The two voiced caught the four by surprise. But as Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon turned to see, Ayumi completely froze on the spot. She knew exactly who the voices belonged to. But couldn’t believe that they were right there. Just hours after she herself arrived.

She slowly turned her head to look. Her eyes wide with shock, but with amazement. She could see them. The royal sisters, Celestia and Luna, had emerged from hiding and walking through the clearing. Approaching the group.

“You made it,” Twilight said with joy as she and Spike approached the two older Alicorns.

“We’ve got your letter,” Celestia replied. Letting her former student know about the message that brought them to the forest.

Luna meanwhile looked over to BlackWarGreymon as he approached her. The sight of him caused her to smile warmly.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“I’m fine now. Just a couple of bruises.”

The Digimon referencing his battle damage caused the two princesses to remember about the elephant in the room. As their expressions changed to that of curiosity, Celestia and Luna turned to look at the other Alicorn. They were still surprised at how much she looked like the Twilight they knew. For it clearly was her, but an alternate her. The other three saw their change of expressions. Curious as to how the older Alicorns will react.

From seeing a pony who was Twilight but not the same Twilight, the two sisters skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point.

“Who are you? Are you Twilight or somepony else?” Celestia asked, joined by Luna.

“We would like an explanation,”

But the two Alicorns received no reply. But rather pressing on, the two took a moment to look at the other Alicorn’s expressions. They were puzzled at what they saw. The pony that looked like Twilight, she was looking directly at them. Her face showed a mix of emotions. Shock. Awe. Disbelief. Denial. Joy and sadness. All rolled into one silent stare.

Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon were curious as to why Ayumi was giving Celestia and Luna such a mixture of expressions. But snapped back to attention when the new Alicorn slowly walked up to the princess of the sun and moon. They remembered that it was similar to her reactions at seeing the young dragon.

Ayumi could feel her legs weakening as she got closer to Celestia and Luna. Going through so many emotions all at once. As she stopped just in front of them, she took a good look at both their faces. They looked just like they were before. Her voice matching her expression.

“C-Celestia? Luna? Is… is it… really you?”

The two sisters looked at each other in confusion before back at Ayumi.

“Of course, it’s us. Don’t you… recognize us?” Luna replied.

Ayumi’s mind was heavily against the uncertainties. She definitely recognized them. She never forgot them. The time before… it happened.

The group were then taken completely by surprise at what they saw next. Despite keeping her mixture of expressions, tears began to build up in Ayumi’s eyes. Tears that started to flow down her face to the bottom of her mouth. Her expression started to soften considerably. Taking on a more saddened expression. Seeing her two mentors was bringing back memories. Memories of her life with the two. The things they taught her. The love they shared. But with those happy memories, it also brought back the bad ones. The day when everything turned upside down. The day when life became a living hell for her. The day… when she lost everything.

Seeing Spike was one thing. But Celestia and Luna… right in front of her very eyes… it slowly became too much for her. She had prepared for their meeting. Yet it was all planned out in her head. Meeting them for real was a very different experience. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. All the brave act she had put on since her arrival was all breaking down. Her expressions changed further into sadness as more tears flooded out of her purple eyes. Finally letting her true feelings take over, she started to cry. Sobbing loudly as she hung her head low.

She may had been powerful mare. But deep down, she was frightened beyond belief.

It was something that the startled Celestia began to see. Despite the pony being visibly a different version of Twilight, she was still Twilight. And she was calling out for help. Help that the white Alicorn knew exactly how to give.

Walking up to the crying pony, Celestia gently placed her right hoof over Ayumi’s shoulder. With the upmost care, she pulled her in for a very affectionate hug.

“There there. It's ok,” Celestia softly said. Her voice soothing to the sobbing Alicorn.

Feeling the warm loving embrace of her former mentor, Ayumi wrapped her left hoof over Celestia’s own shoulder. Holding on to her for the mental fear of losing her again. The scene was enough to even urge Luna to join. The Moon Princess reached her left hoof over Ayumi with the latter returning the hug. As Ayumi’s crying was muffled by the caring embrace, Celestia and Luna looked at her with saddened curiosity. What happened to her? What did she go through to cause her to be this way?

While Twilight and Spike loved the emotional sight they were witnessing, BlackWarGreymon was curious. Though not to the same extent, her reactions were the same when she met the young dragon. It showed that Ayumi had deeply missed them very much. In his mind, he knew that something disastrous must’ve happened in her own version of Equestria. The likely answer was screaming at him in his conscience. It would also be the very likely reason she was in the current Equestria in the first place.

After taking a step forward to the three Alicorns, he spoke up to gain their attention. But with a softer tone to not take them out of the moment.

“Ayumi.”

Hearing the strange name caught the attention of Celestia and Luna. Confused as to what it meant. But were further confused when the other Twilight looked over her shoulder at the Digimon. Her being the one addressed.

BlackWarGreymon was almost taken back at seeing the teary-eyed Ayumi looking at him. She was after all, a version of Twilight who was deeply upset. But after pushing the feeling aside, he knelt down on one knee to get as close to her level as possible. Then spoke up with the same soft tone.

“It’s time. Time for you to explain yourself.”

While Celestia and Luna were confused at what BlackWarGreymon was talking about, Twilight and Spike were giving him a stern look. Thinking that he was ruining the moment. But after taking a step back from the Royal Sisters, Ayumi answered back.

“You’re right,” She said, her voice shaken from the sadness.

After using her hoof to wipe away her tears, she turned to face BlackWarGreymon as she continued.

“You’re right. I did promise you after all.”

“Promise what?” Luna asked her.

Ayumi looked at the two Alicorns. Then at Twilight and Spike. The former being who she once was. Then finally back at BlackWarGreymon. The Digimon that defied all her expectations.

“I’ve delayed it long enough. You deserve to know the truth. All of you. About where I’m from. And who I am.”

Chapter 57: The Truth Revealed

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The scenario of what was transpiring in the Everfree Clearing was almost identical to BlackWarGreymon’s first day in Equestria. Firstly there being a big fight that involved the Mega, followed by him and a group of ponies sitting in a circle talking about themselves. But the difference was that the center of attention was on the mysterious Alicorn that greatly resembled Twilight Sparkle. A look-a-like that went by the name Ayumi.

Sitting around each other, BlackWarGreymon, Spike, Twilight, Celestia and Luna all looked at Ayumi. Waiting for her to be ready to tell her story. As for the said Alicorn, she felt uneasy. She was just moments away from revealing to the group of who she was. And what happened to her. She found it difficult to recall the events of her past on an emotional level. Some of which clearly upset her even to the present day. She feared that digging up what she had mentally buried would cause her to start to shed tears again. But she had to keep her promise. She had her fight with BlackWarGreymon. So to stay true to her word, she had to tell the group the truth. No matter how horrific it was.

Not wanting to pressure Ayumi into discussing things she didn’t want to discuss, Twilight began to interject.

“Hey, if there’re things you don’t want to talk about, then…”

“No, Twilight. You all need to know. I don’t want to hide anything from you all.”

Celestia and Luna were mentally surprised. Ayumi spoke to Twilight as if she was a different pony. They thought she would treat her the same way she would to herself.

As the others patiently wait, Ayumi took a moment to breathe deeply. No doubt that her story would make her feel tense. But for her to gain trust with the others, especially after her fight, she needed to come clean. She started by introducing who she once was.

“As all of you might’ve guessed. Yes. I was once Twilight Sparkle.” She continued as she glanced over to Twilight. Effectively talking to her.

“Just like you, I was born the same. Taught the same. Even the friendships and the adventures I had were the same as yours.”

“Then… why are you so different?” Spike asked. Just like the others, he was eager to know where the differences started.

For the answer to the dragon’s question, Ayumi gave an interesting reply.

“Before the fight, as BlackWarGreymon and I were talking, I figured out where our times had changed.”

As the others gave her a questionable look, wondering what she meant by, Ayumi glanced over to Twilight once more and asked her a question of her own.

“Twilight. When Tirek attacked you and your friends in this clearing, do you remember what happened next?”

After giving her counterpart a confused expression, the younger Alicorn answered.

“Well… Tirek had us cornered. But just as he was about to strike, BlackWarGreymon appeared and got in his way. The two then ended up fighting with BlackWarGreymon winning.”

From hearing out Twilight’s memory of the events, Ayumi revealed to the group what she herself went through.

“Well that’s just the thing. Because that’s not how I remember that day.”

“What?” Celestia asked. She and the others startled at what the purple Alicorn said.

Ayumi then made herself clear on what she was implying.

“From what I recall, no one came to our rescue. We were completely at the mercy of Tirek. Some of us ended up hurt. But by sheer luck, we managed to escape and hide.”

The group were startled at what was said. But it was Twilight and BlackWarGreymon who were horrified. The thought of no one jumping in to help against the evil centaur was certainly an uncomfortable thought. But it led to a shocking discovery about where Ayumi really came from.

“Y… you mean… you’re me… from another timeline!?” Twilight asked. Joined by the equally baffled BlackWarGreymon.

“A time… where I never showed up?”

Ayumi answered the questions by reminding the Digimon what she said before the fight.

“Like I said, this is our first meeting.”

The group couldn’t believe it. The Alicorn was from an alternate reality where BlackWarGreymon never arrived in Equestria. But Ayumi’s appearance was questioned by the stuttering Twilight.

“But…but why do you look older than me?”

Ayumi looked over to Twilight with a reply.

“Because I’m you from a future timeline.”

Her answer had only filled the group with countless questions. Mainly why a Twilight from another timeline was in their own. As well as what the future was like.

“W-What?” The alarmed Spike asked.

“The… the future?” Twilight asked. Feeling uneasy from all the facts thrown at her.

“Settle down, everyone,” Celestia said with authority. Seeing that the revelation was making the group on edge.

When the group calmed down, Celestia turned towards Ayumi with a question of her own. Recalling to the warnings of Tirek before BlackWarGreymon’s arrival.

“Before the events of this clearing, I had reports that Tirek was on his way to Canterlot. But in your timeline, did that happen?”

Seeing that Celestia wanted the story to continue, Ayumi answered the question.

“Yes. After he gave up trying to find me and my friends, Tirek left the clearing and went straight for Canterlot. But by the time we got there, all the guards were beaten, and you and Luna were doing your best to hold off the Changelings.”

It was the last thing Ayumi said that got the group’s attention all the more.

“Wait, Changelings? I thought you said it was Tirek?” Luna asked. Leaving Ayumi to reveal what had truly happened.

“We thought so too. But it turned out that Tirek wasn’t alone. By the time he arrived, Canterlot was under attack from Chrysalis and her Changeling army. But if that wasn’t bad enough, things only got worse when King Sombra joined in.”

The group were horrified at what they heard. It seemed things kept going from bad to worse.

“What? Even Sombra?” Celestia asked. To which Ayumi confirmed by a simple nod.

The ponies felt a wave of fear from the thought of the possibility. Though it never happened to them, a team up of Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis was a very frightening possibility.

“So those three attacked you all at the same time?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Concern in his voice.

“Yeah, they did. You couldn’t imagine how terrified the citizens were as they fled their homes. Some of my friends even felt that it was too late to save the city.”

Before Ayumi continued of what happened, the others noticed she gave an ominous pause as she was in thought.

“But just as we thought that they would destroy the city, they suddenly stopped.”

The group looked at each other in confusion.

“They stopped? Just like that?” Spike asked.

“Yes. It turned out that the attack was just a scare. And a prelude to what was about to come.”

The group felt concerned from Ayumi’s choice of words. Uncertain of what she was about to tell them.

“If the villains weren’t there to destroy, then why did they go through all that trouble to go to Canterlot?” Twilight asked. Seeing no other reason for such powerful foes to appear in Equestria’s capital.

But before she could answer, Ayumi found it hard to talk. Remembering the events of what happened were already getting to her. Causing her to pause in thought. Celestia caught on to the Alicorn’s change of expression. Which caused her to be concerned. If the attack of Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis didn’t cause her to be unnerved, then what did?

With a stern but caring tone, Celestia addressed Ayumi and asked her a question. Even using the former Twilight’s new name.

“Ayumi? What happened on that day?”

The purple Alicorn looked at her former mentor in surprise. She never thought she would hear her use her new name. It was strange to hear it from her voice. But seeing that the white Alicorn really wanted to know what happened next, Ayumi took in a deep breath and answered. Her voice carrying a hint of fear.

“Well… all the villains started to gather around one spot in the city. But just as we went over to investigate what was going on… HE came.”

The group paused at what they heard. As well as the fear that was evident in Ayumi’s voice. The group all looked at each other in confusion. Wondering who she was talking about.

“He?” Celestia asked. Leaving Ayumi to explain further.

“Yes. Tirek, Sombra, Chrysalis, her Changelings… despite their reputations, it turned out that they were all merely solders themselves. All serving a higher power.”

“They were working for someone?” Twilight asked. To which Ayumi explained further. Detailing more about the individual.

“Yes. He… he was a monstrous… horrific… ferocious beast. A hideous being with unparalleled strength and power beyond anything we have ever seen before. Like the stuff of nightmares come to life.”

She then described her first reactions of the beast.

“When I saw that creature for the first time… he terrified me. I had never felt so afraid in my entire life. Nothing came close.”

The group felt unnerved from how Ayumi spoke about the monster. It looked as though just talking about him was making her afraid. Her expression continued to maintain its uneasiness as she continued.

“When that monster rose from the ground, we all thought that he was just out to take control of our land.”

Ayumi’s expression darkened as her voice carried a hint of sadness.

“Oh, how wrong we were.”

The group became even more concerned from the Alicorn’s change of mood. Causing Luna to ask.

“Why? What did he want?”

Ayumi surprised the group by looking at them with a look of sorrow. Then with a heavy heart, she revealed the truth.

“That freak… he wanted to create a world where only the strong would live. With him on top. But for those who were weak in his eyes, he… he destroyed.”

The group were all stunned at what the purple Alicorn had just said. A wave of shiver flowed up their spines. Even BlackWarGreymon had the look of horror in his eyes.

“Y-You mean he…?” Twilight asked. But unable to finish her sentence due to Ayumi already nodding in reply. To which the older Alicorn then continued. Her voice carried fear and sorrow.

“Yes. The moment he appeared, he began to rain terror on Canterlot. Destroying every building in sight, and… and killing every pony that got in his way. The guards. The nobles. The citizens. Families. Loved ones. It all didn’t matter to him. They were nothing in his eyes. No matter how hard they fought or run, he… he slaughtered them all.”

As she continued, she revealed something what could be the most shocking thing to the whole group.

“Even my friends weren’t spared. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Rarity. He’d thrown them off the city’s side. Rainbow Dash tried to save them. But he ripped her apart before she had the chance. Fluttershy was paralyzed with fear, but even she was taken away from us. And Spike…”

Ayumi instantly paused before she could say more. Looking over to the horrified dragon with sadness. Not wanting to reveal the details, she instead spoke a single sentence.

“You were very brave, Spike.”

Spike could feel his heart pause. Gripping his chest from the shock of the news. Twilight wrapped her hoof around him for comfort. The girl just as horrified from the story.

Celestia and Luna were speechless. While the villains they had delt with may had been power hungry, but not one of them was a mass murderer. It was unspeakable. A creature that wanted nothing but death and destruction. But despite their beliefs, they were curious about one thing.

“But… what about us?” Luna asked. Motioning her hoof to herself and Celestia.

After looking at the two sisters, Ayumi revealed the truth to them.

“No matter how hard we tried, our magic was useless against him. But despite that, you Celestia decided to stay in Canterlot to try and save as many ponies as you could. While you were doing so, me and Luna managed to escape.”

She then looked at the white Alicorn in sadness.

“That was the last time we ever saw you.”

The stunned Celestia knew very well what Ayumi was implying. By staying behind, it meant that she had fought against the monster. A fight that she couldn’t win. Despite the shock, Celestia felt somewhat proud. She would rather go out fighting than submitting to an evil dictator.

As he stood there silently the whole time, BlackWarGreymon took in every note that was being said. He was shocked beyond belief. He knew that something bad happened to Ayumi’s time of place. But he never thought it would be something go horrific and ghastly. It was a disaster that he could very easily evert. But due to his absence, it appeared that no other power was there to stop the monster. Though it wasn’t his fault, he felt awful for not being there to help. For such a heartless creature to perform such evil deeds while being all powerful, he suspected that the creature was not from Equestria at all. With his shock giving way to a determined look, BlackWarGreymon asked Ayumi a question.

“Ayumi. This creature. What was his name?”

The group were surprised at how stern the Digimon’s tone was. He sounded angry. While Ayumi was just as surprised, she eventually answered the question. But not what BlackWarGreymon entirely wanted.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t know his name. All I know was that he said that he was a Digimon.”

“He…He was a Digimon!?” Luna asked. She and the others shocked to discover that the monster was a being from the Digital World.

Despite the answer not what he wanted, BlackWarGreymon figured an alternate way of possibly identifying the evil Digimon. Much to the surprise of his friends.

“What did he look like? Did he have something that resembled an animal? Like a bat?”

Ayumi looked at BlackWarGreymon in confusion. Having no idea what he was going on about. But answered the question, nonetheless.

“N-No. Nothing like that. If anything, he looked more like a demon.”

BlackWarGreymon looked to the side in thought.

‘No? Then it couldn’t be MaloMyotismon.’

Seeing that no more questions were being asked, Ayumi continued with her story.

“After we fled, Luna and I were forced into hiding. No matter how much we’re against it, we were simply no match for him. By the time we escaped, Canterlot was lost. But it was far from over. Somehow, that evil Digimon started to spawn more horrific creatures. Within moments, he created his own army. To which they began to spread all over Equestria and beyond. Many towns and cities fell. All those lives lost. And we couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

The disheartened tone in Ayumi’s voice showed that at that moment, she had lost virtually all hope. She and Luna didn’t have the strength to stand up against the evil Digimon. But then she started to bring up a subject that caused confusion amongst the group.

“But I have heard, that not long after he started to spawn more monsters, he suddenly turned against his own followers. Chrysalis. Sombra. Tirek. They all tried to fight back to save their own lives. But even they failed.”

“So he only used them until they were no longer needed?” Spike asked. But the answer was already clear.

“So, what happened to you and Luna? Well… your Luna?” Twilight asked. Also trying to make sure not to confuse between the present Night Princess to the other version.

Ayumi took a moment to think before answering.

"After we went into hiding, we decided to change our names. It was Luna’s idea so that the evil Digimon wouldn’t pick us up as quickly as they would. Luna chose Night Star as her cover name. As for me, well… I’m sure you already know what it is.”

The group were stunned. It turned out that the name Ayumi was only a cover name to conceal her identity. But they found it strange that she would still use it after entering their version of Equestria.

“So then what happened?” Spike asked. With Ayumi answering.

“Without Celestia or my friends, we couldn’t use the Elements of Harmony. But Luna saw the reason why Celestia sent me away from harm’s way. I still had my natural talent with magic. So she had hoped that one day I would find a way to defeat that Digimon and save our world. But seeing that I wasn’t ready, Luna took me under her wing and began to train me. Not just on learning magic, she also trained me on how to fight. To use everything I have to the best of my abilities.”

“That certainly explains your fighting style,” BlackWarGreymon mentioned. Recalling how Ayumi fought in her first transformed state.

“Wow. So I taught you how to fight?” Luna asked. Amazed that she would do such a duty in honor of her sister.

“Yeah, you did,” Ayumi replied while being a little bashful. Deciding to conceal the fact that while training, she started to see her version of Luna as a mother figure. Much like how Celestia was in her younger years.

But as Ayumi continued on, her expression darkened once again. Which slowly grew sad when she revealed that her horrors were far from over.

“We’ve been at it for quite a long time. Years even. But despite our efforts, I still wasn’t ready to fight against that Digimon. Then came the day when his minions found us. Despite being weaker than their creator, they were still too powerful to fight back. That was when…”

The group took note of her long pause.

“When what?” Celestia asked.

While trying to fight against the uneasiness in her gut, Ayumi revealed what she was trying to say.

“When Luna made a decision. Like Celestia, she too knew that I was the only hope of Equestria. And so… she too sacrificed herself to buy me some time to escape.”

The group once more were stunned silent. Luna for the fact that she too was killed off in Ayumi’s world. And BlackWarGreymon for the fact that the pony he had come to respect the most, had her life taken away on a different version of Equestria. The more he heard that the lives of his friends kept being snubbed from the living, the more he felt sick to his stomach. He hated the feeling.

It was when Twilight realised something.

“Wait! But without Celestia and Luna, how will the sun and moon bring day and night?”

The Royal Sisters couldn’t believe that they overlooked something as important as that. Like Twilight, Spike and BlackWarGreymon, the two looked at Ayumi for an answer. While she had an answer, it wasn’t a good one.

“They don’t. The sun remained in one part of Equestria while the moon stayed in another. Without the usual day and night routine, my whole world turned upside down. To a point where some parts of Equestria became uninhabitable.”

Just as the group thought it couldn’t be worse for Ayumi, they received more bad news. The latter subject caused Luna to remember her talk with BlackWarGreymon after her trip in his memories. The details of what the Digimon thought of what would happen if the sun and moon stayed in one spot for too long. It seemed that the Mega’s theories weren’t too far-fetched.

“But… with all of them gone… were you… all alone?” Twilight asked her other self. To which the latter gave a sad reply while continuing the story of her past.

“I was. At that point, all my friends and family were gone. It was just me to do something about it. I figured that training alone would take too long. So I returned to the spot where it was my only hope of salvation. The Elements of Harmony.”

“But I thought you said that without the others, they wouldn’t work,” Spike mentioned. Leaving Ayumi to explain what she had done.

“That’s true, but I had no other options. After I retrieved the elements, I began to use my magic to experiment with them. To find a way to use their power with only me as the wielder. But after many attempts, it seemed impossible. That was, until something happened.”

The group looked at the Alicorn in curiosity.

“What is it? What happened?” Celestia asked.

“Well, one of the Digimon’s minions found me again. But as it attacked me while I was using my magic near my element, something bizarre happened. I’m still not sure how it happened. Probably an imbalance in my magic. But at that moment, the Element of Magic… merged into me. Becoming part of my being.”

Ayumi’s explanation left the group completely baffled.

“What? It fused into you!?” The startled Twilight asked.

But seeing that the Alicorn speaks the truth, Celestia and Luna began to think back to when they entered the Everfree Forest.

“So that explains it. The magic we felt, was your element at work,” Celestia said. Joined by Twilight.

“So you really do have you own Element of Magic with you?”

Ayumi decided to show rather than tell. Illuminating her horn with her magic, she was able to tap into the magic of the element within her. The symbol of her element could briefly be seen on her chest. Much to the amazement of the other Alicorns.

“So what happened afterwards?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

“When the Element of Magic became infused in me, it gave me a very strong boost in power. I felt it as though it was taking me to uncharted territories. Unlocking magic that I never thought possible. And the first thing I did with that power, was to fight back against the Digimon that attacked me. And to my surprise, I won.”

The group looked at her in astonishment.

“You mean you defeated it?” Spike asked. But the reaction the dragon received was a puzzled expression. To which Ayumi explained herself.

“Well, yes. That Digimon didn’t stood a chance against me. I was able to destroy it. But as soon as its body broke apart, something strange began to happen. The creature’s body broke down into some sort of particles. But then those particles just… flowed into me.”

The ponies and dragon looked at Ayumi in confusion.

“I’m sorry, what?” Twilight asked. Which was met with the same response from her other self.

“That’s the thing. To this day, I still have no idea what just happened.”

Then to Ayumi’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“I believe I know what happened.”

Ayumi’s mood perked up in curiosity of what the Mega had to say. Something about her new self that she had yet to understand was about to be discovered. The others too were curious as to what BlackWarGreymon knew. All eyes were on the Digimon when he explained the strange phenomena.

“For starters, those particles you describe is in fact data. Though it looks like we’re made of flesh and blood, every Digimon is made out of data. When a Digimon dies, the data disperses and scatters. Though I’ve personally never seen it done, but when a Digimon is slain by another, the victorious Digimon would be free to absorb the fallen Digimon’s data. By doing so, the added data would increase the Digimon’s power and makes it stronger.”

From hearing the details of the explanation, Ayumi pieced together what she felt from her experience.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Because I somehow gained extra power from that Digimon’s defeat.”

BlackWarGreymon continued.

“That’s what happened. Through you’re not a Digimon yourself, you have been unintentionally absorbing data from the defeated Digimon. Which actually explains your energy and your ability to transform.”

The others looked at Ayumi in amazement. Her body contained the data of the Digimon she defeated. Which explained how she was able to put up a fight against BlackWarGreymon.

As all eyes turned back to the alternate Alicorn, she continued about what happened next.

“Yeah. Like I said, after I destroyed that Digimon and absorbed it’s… data, I felt the power of the creature within me. Increasing my power exponentially. Afterwards, it made me realise that there was a way to save my world after all. The more of those minions I destroy, the more power I gain form absorbing their data. That’s when I began to fight back. I focused on attacking the weaker creatures first. And after I gained enough power from defeating them, I began to fight against the stronger creatures. During one of those clashes, that was when my body transformed for the first time. I was confused at first, but since it made me stronger, it didn’t matter. I just kept on going and going.”

As Ayumi paused, BlackWarGreymon figured out her strategy.

“I’m starting to get the picture. Your plan was to keep gathering energy to a point where you would be strong enough to fight against the Digimon who started it all.”

The others were shocked and amazed at Ayumi’s strategy. She had to constantly fight just to build enough strength she needed. To which the Alicorn confirmed it herself.

“That’s exactly what I did. Because one day, the fighting just stopped. Not one of those minions tried to track me down and attack me. I thought that it was because either they realised I was too strong to fight against, or that I had destroyed every last one of them. But yes. After I gathered enough power, I traveled back to what was left of Canterlot and confronted that monster.”

The other five became more intrigued as they listened. With Spike asking a question.

“So you fought against that evil Digimon head-on?”

“I did. But it wasn’t as easy as I hoped. Despite my newfound power, he seemed to have even more power than I thought. There was a moment where I thought that I was going to lose. But that’s when a miracle happened. Out of nowhere, I transformed again. Gaining a new body while it doubled my strength. The feeling felt… incredible.”

The group knew what she was talking about. The form she used against BlackWarGreymon during the last moments of their fight. When Ayumi continued, her tone made a significant change. Sounding more upbeat and positive.

“When I used that power against that evil Digimon, he was afraid. No matter what he could do. No matter how hard he tried to hit me. I hit back harder. And with the feeling that I was going to win, I decided to finally put an end to him. Using all the power I had within me, I fired an attack that engulfed his entire body. Within moments, he was vaporized.”

BlackWarGreymon then spoke up.

“That final attack. Would that happen to be the one you used against me at the end of our fight?”

“Actually, it is.”

While the others were amazed that they got to see an attack that ended the evil Digimon, Luna however was a little shaken. She recalled hearing BlackWarGreymon admitting that if he hadn’t raised his power to its fullest, he would’ve lost. It caused her to worry. Did he meant losing the battle… or his life? She also found it suspicious for Ayumi to teleport BlackWarGreymon’s shields away before firing the attack. She deliberately tried to bring the Mega to his most vulnerable state. It caused the blue princess to think. When Ayumi fired that final attack at BlackWarGreymon, what was she really trying to do?

With the group oblivious to Luna, Ayumi continued on. But her upbeat tone drastically changed to a more somber level.

“After many years of hiding, I finally destroyed that monster. But what it took to get there. Celestia. Luna. All my friends and family. Everypony I met and knew. They were all gone.”

The group felt sorry for Ayumi once more. Despite winning the battle, the aftermath left her all alone. As for how alone she was, they were about to find out.

“So then what happened?” Spike asked. To which Ayumi replied.

“Not long after I recovered from the battle, I took to the skies and flew. Seeing if there were any other pony left out there. But the devastation that the Digimon left behind was far greater that I imagined. I traveled to every corner of Equestria, but I couldn't find anypony at all. So I then traveled to lands far beyond Equestria. But no matter where I went, all I could find was destruction and decay. Griffins. Dragons. Yaks. Zebras. Everything. I even went as far as to find any Changeling survivors. But I found nothing.”

As Ayumi concluded the tale of her search, the group felt an uncomfortable shiver up their spines. Suspecting that the worst-case scenario had happened. To which, Ayumi confirmed.

“By the time I returned to Equestria, I came to realise that… the reason I find nopony else… because there was nopony else left. I was all alone. The only pony left in Equestria. And possibly the only one left alive… in the entire world.”

Her expression grew more depressed from the truth of which she was about to reveal.

“I may have won the battle. But in the end… it was HE who won the war. It was he who had the last laugh. He had fulfilled what he wanted to do. To destroy everything.”

The group had no words to describe how sorry they felt for Ayumi. She made tremendous progress in gaining the strength to avenge her friends and family. But the world she tried to save was already lost before the battle started.

Seeing that she had left the group silent, Ayumi spoke up.

“Now you’ll probably wondering how I got here.”

The group looked at the Alicorn in curiosity. They were indeed wondering how she was able to jump from her timeline into their own.

“If you care to explain,” Celestia replied. Letting the younger mare to give the detailed of what happened next.

“After I got back to Canterlot Castle, I tried to find the forbidden scrolls that explained the concepts of time travel. I thought that if I went back in time to destroy the evil Digimon when he first emerged, I could save the future. But it seemed that he already anticipated the attempt. Because when I got to the Canterlot vaults, all the time travel spells were destroyed. So I had no way of changing the past. But in my search, I have found something else. The Cross Dimensional Spell.”

The group looked baffled at what Ayumi said. But none more so than Celestia.

“Strange. I don’t remember such magic in the vaults.”

Ayumi explained what the spell was used for. To which she then continued her story.

“It’s a powerful spell that when used correctly, it would transport the user into an alternate reality. I was skeptical to use it at first, because it would mean going to a world that I might not recognize. But after realising that there was nothing left of my world, I decided to use it. When I cast the spell, I was sent through a time stream. It was there where I saw multiple versions of Equestria.”

“So that’s when you came to this world, right?” Twilight asked. To which Ayumi replied.

“Well… not at first. During my search for a new home, I wanted it to closely resemble as possible the world I once knew. Before that evil Digimon arrived. But while I found many, each of them suffered from disasters of their own. Either from Sombra’s take over to Tirek’s victory over pony kind. But after looking into countless realities, I found this one. A world that’s just like my own… but with one difference.”

She then looked over to what she was talking about. With the others following her line of sight, their eyes all fell upon BlackWarGreymon. To which the Mega spoke up.

“It’s me, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Instead of that evil Digimon, it was you. But because you’re a Digimon, I was hesitant of arriving in this world. But from what I’ve seen through the time streams, you were no where near as evil as the one that was in my world. It was also where I’ve learnt your name. So last night, I finally decided to leave the time streams and enter this world. I must’ve been searching for a long time, because I almost forgot how it feels to be standing on these grounds again.”

“So that’s why you wanted to fight BlackWarGreymon. To see if he wasn’t as bad as you thought he might be.” Twilight said. To which Ayumi answered back.

“That’s right. But there was one thing that I had not anticipated.”

She continued as she looked over to BlackWarGreymon.

“Your strength. When we started our fight, I knew you were strong. But I first thought that you wouldn’t be on the same level as that monster. Or anywhere close. But as we thought on, I began to doubt myself. And in the end, I just couldn’t believe it. You didn’t just have the power on par with that evil being. You surpassed him. And when you claimed that you can get stronger, I didn’t believe you. But when you did just that, and the fact that you can use the magic of Equestria itself to do so, I… I was speechless.”

She then approached BlackWarGreymon in curiosity.

“But are you sure you don’t know why you’re reacting to magic this way?”

The Artificial Mega was a little startled at the sudden attention Ayumi was showing onto him. To which he then replied.

“I already told you all I know. It’s a mystery I’m trying to uncover since day one.”

As the group stood still in silence, Twilight remembered something. Just the other day, she and her friends made a discovery that might explain the mystery surrounding BlackWarGreymon. The ancient prophecy that was discovered on the Tree of Harmony. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t told him yet. She was thinking of telling him right there and now. But with the discovery of an alternate version of herself, as well as the ordeals she had to endure, she thought that it would be best to tell him later after Ayumi settled down.

“Well… that’s pretty much it. My life turned upside down and I came here,” Ayumi said, summing up her entire explanation into a single sentence.

As the group looked at each other in wonderment, BlackWarGreymon spoke up. Asking an important question to Ayumi.

“So now that you’re here… what will you do now?”

Ayumi was about to reply. Only to pause before she could say anything. Uncertainty dawned on her as she tried to think.

“Actually… I don’t know. I honestly thought I would never find a world like this. I’ve been searching for so long, I didn’t think of what to do next.”

Most of the group too felt uncertain. That was until Celestia cracked a smile.

“I believe I know what you should do next.”

As the group looked at the white Alicorn in confusion, Celestia used her magic to summon up a quill and ink. To which she followed up with five empty scrolls. As Celestia wrote on the scrolls in silence, it was Twilight who was the first to figure out what her former mentor had in mind. Causing her to giggle in excitement.

As Celestia finished writing, she rolled up the scrolls and gave them to the confused Spike.

“Spike, can you send these out?” She asked.

Not wanting to delay a princess’s request, Spike blew his green fire on them. The five scrolls magically being sent to their destinations.

Ayumi too began to understand what Celestia was doing.

“Wait? Are you…?”

“Yes. It’s time for you to be reunited.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back in Ponyville, there was a bit of commotion going on with the residence of the town. At first, everything was normal. Then out of nowhere, the ponies saw a great purple beam shooting out of the Everfree Forest and into the distant sky high above their heads. Fortunately, the beam was high enough to be out of reach for the airborne Pegasi. But the fact that such power originated so close to their town was quite alarming. But since it only happened once, and that it had been quite some time since its first appearance, the town slowly settled down.

Unbeknownst to the townsfolk, they were about to receive a new resident.

Over by the edge of Ponyville, just on the boundaries of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy was first to arrive. Since she already lived near the forest. As she waited patiently, she suddenly heard a voice above her.

“Hay, Flutters. Up here.”

Looking up, the yellow Pegasus saw Rainbow Dash arriving in the area. To which she greeted her as she landed beside her.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash.”

“What are doing out here all by yourself?” The blue Pegasus asked.

“Well, Princess Celestia sent me this scroll telling me to meet her here,” Fluttershy answered before pulling out a scroll from under her wing. The sight of the scroll caused the blue mare to be confused.

“Strange. I got the same thing.”

“Really?” The puzzled Fluttershy asked.

Then to their surprise, they heard a very familiar voice calling out to them.

“Ah take it that ya’ll got Celestia’s note too?”

Following the direction of the voice, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were surprised to see not only Applejack, but Rarity and Pinkie Pie too. The three ponies joined the two Pegasi. They too were curious as to what was going on.

“This is strange. Why would Celestia ask us to all meet out here?” Rarity asked. Joined by Pinkie Pie.

“Maybe she’s planning a super big party. So big that she needs all of us to help plan it out.”

Applejack however dashed the excited Pony’s hopes.

“Ah don’t think so, Pinkie. Ah mean, where’s Twilight?”

“Surely she must’ve got the same letter as the rest of us,” Fluttershy added.

As the five mares stood around silently in thought, wondering why Twilight hadn’t joined them, they were surprised to hear the bushes rustling by the Everfree forest. Then to their delight, Celestia and Twilight emerged from the dense foliage. Along with Luna, Spike and BlackWarGreymon.

“Oh, everypony’s here,” Rarity commented as the second group approached them.

“Very good. I see that all of you responded to my messages,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Yeah. But what is this about?” Applejack asked. Joined by Rainbow Dash.

“Is there something so important that you need all of us to help out?”

Celestia smiled in response.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, there is.”

She continued as she looked back towards her group.

“There’s somepony who has longing to meet you all for the longest time.”

Following Celestia’s line of sight, the group were confused as to why they were looking at BlackWarGreymon. Only to see him looking down by his feet. After following his gaze, they could see that somepony was standing behind his left leg. Almost as if the pony was nervous of showing herself.

“Who’s that?” Fluttershy asked.

As the Digimon looked down, he could clearly see that the mare in question was nervous. To which, he understood why. Given what happened to her friends in her world and that it had been years since she had last seen them. He remembered how she acted when she met Celestia and Luna. Feeling that she would do the same again. But by coming into their world, she was bound to encounter them eventually anyway. He then spoke to her in an attempt to reassure her.

“You have no need to hide. You wanted this after all.”

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy were puzzled at BlackWarGreymon was talking about. But his words had stirred the stranger behind him. And that was when she revealed herself. First her face peered around the Digimon’s leg, before stepping out into the open. The five ponies silently gasped with wide eyes of surprise at the new pony. She not only greatly resembled Twilight but looked as though she was an older version of her.

“A-Another Twilight!?” Rainbow Dash asked while the others were speechless.

But what else surprised the group was that the mare’s expression matched their own. She too looked at them in stunned surprise as she slowly approached them. The Twilight lookalike couldn’t believe her eyes. All five of her friends that she’d lost were standing right in front of her. She almost thought that it was some kind of dream.

As she stopped a few feet in front of the group, Ayumi took a good look at each of them with the same stunned expression.

“Is it… really you?” She asked them.

The other five mares looked at each other in confusion. With Pinkie Pie answering back.

“Well yeah, it’s us. Who else could we be?”

Ayumi paused from hearing the pink Earth Pony’s words. That high pitched hyperactive voice. She’d missed it so much. As well as everypony else’s voices. And their looks. And their personalities. But most of all… the bond she shared with them all.

Ayumi began to feel her legs feeling weak as her emotions became apparent. All the happy memories she had with the Ponyville group came flooding back. Memories that she’d cherished. Hoping for them to become reality once more. And with the possibility becoming more true then ever, small tears started to form in her eyes.

“Y…You’re all here.”

Seeing that the taller pony was on the verge of crying, Fluttershy instantly saw it and rushed forward to comfort her.

“What’s wrong? Are you upset?”

The kindness from the caring Fluttershy, Ayumi missed that too.

Unable to hide her true feelings anymore, to Fluttershy’s surprise, Ayumi reached out and brought the smaller mare in an emotional hug. Wrapping her hooved around her in an embrace. The yellow Pegasus was surprised by the actions. But then turned to concern when she heard the Alicorn crying over her shoulder. What Fluttershy couldn’t see, the other four could. They were surprised to see tears flooding out of Ayumi’s eyes. But they weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of joy.

Being a pony who could read expressions down to the wire, Pinkie Pie could see that the look the Alicorn was showing, was a pony who deeply missed her friends. Wanting to give anything to see them again.

To which, Ayumi confirmed herself when she spoke out.

“I missed you so much. All of you.”

Despite having no idea why the Alicorn was acting up, it didn’t matter to the group. They were seeing a pony who desperately wanted comfort. Fluttershy was the first to see it. Her own expressions softening as she returned the hug. The others too decided to join in. Gathering towards the two to give hugs of their own. Upon being reunited with the five ponies that meant so much to her, Ayumi couldn’t be anymore happy despite her tears. Her sobbing giving way to something she hadn’t done in a very lone time. Laughter.

From the sidelines, it was a heartwarming sight. Spike, Twilight, Luna and Celestia smiling warmly. Proud to give Ayumi something she always wanted. BlackWarGreymon too had a satisfied expression in his eyes. Despite the alternate Twilight being different from the Twilight he knew, he could see that Ayumi still valued friendship above all else. Maybe she wasn’t too different after all.
………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………….

As the group settled down, the Ponyville group questioned who Ayumi was and why she looked so much like Twilight. To which she explained everything. The fact that she was indeed Twilight, but from another timeline. A world where BlackWarGreymon never arrived. A world where seemingly, it had an entirely different Digimon of its own. But one that brought nothing but destruction to everything in his path. Ayumi originally didn’t want to tell the group about what happened to them in her own time. But decided to do so for fear of her hiding the truth from them. Only for them to figure out for themselves. Once the group were informed, they were naturally horrified. That their lives were taken away along with the rest of alternate Equestria. Leaving Ayumi alone to find a way to survive and fight back. As well as changing her own name. To which she also revealed. And how she was able to leave her own timeline and into theirs.

After Ayumi told the group everything, they understood why she acted the way she did when they met. That despite going through hell, the thoughts of her friends and family always remained strong. To which, Rarity had an idea. After reaching a quick agreement with the rest of the group, they would spend a whole day with Ayumi. Reacquainting her with all the luxuries that was lost in her world. When they entered Ponyville, Ayumi was hit with so much nostalgia that she couldn’t protest against the idea. Of course, since she was essentially an alternate Twilight, she certainly gained confused looks from the other ponies. Rarity insisted that the first thing they should do was to go to the spa. The white Unicorn knew that her future friend definitely needed freshening up. Upon entering the spa, Ayumi never felt so relaxed. All the tension in her body finally unraveled and loosened up. She felt as though she could spend the whole day in there. But it was the first of many places to revisit.

By days end, the Mane Six had practically shown Ayumi everywhere. Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy’s cottage. All the lakes and woodland surrounding the town. Though not the most extravagant place in Equestria, to Ayumi it was paradise. Far better than the scorched wasteland that was in her timeline. By sunset, they were exploring Twilight’s castle. No longer would Ayumi see it as shattered remains of her old home. The beautiful crystal building continued to stand strong. With every room inside bringing back memories. Especially the library. Much to everyone’s amusement.

Inside the library, Ayumi had just put away one of her old favourite books. Recalling back to when she last read it.

“Good times.”

It was when Twilight entered the room. Ready to give her other self the good news.

“Well… since you’re staying, you’re more than welcome to live here in the castle with me.”

She continued while giggling to herself.

“This is going to be great.”

But Ayumi looked back at her with uncertainty in her eyes.

“Are you sure that’s ok? Wouldn’t it be strange to live with someone who’s essentially you?”

Twilight replied to her with a giggle.

“I wouldn’t mind. In a way, it’s like living with a big sister.”

Ayumi chuckled from the joke. But surprised at how well her younger self was taking the new development.

“Hmm. If you say so.”

As the two chuckled, Ayumi could sense that BlackWarGreymon was outside. Her chuckling stopped as she had a look of uncertainty. Again, she could feel the negative energy the Mega possessed. Yet, she was baffled at how benevolent he was. Even the citizens of Ponyville look up to him as a hero. She even saw the children playing around him without a single hint of fear.

Really wanting to understand the Mega more, Ayumi began to leave the library. Much to Twilight’s surprise.

“W-Where are you going?”

“Just out for a bit,” Ayumi replied, reassuring her.

Outside BlackWarGreymon was standing by himself. Looking out towards the direction of the Everfree Clearing in the distance. He was deep in thought. Remembering the story Ayumi told him and the others. He was still shaken at how one change can change the course of history.

“Just one change.”

He was then caught by surprise when Ayumi called out to him. Addressing him with a nickname she just thought of.

“Hay, Black.”

Turning around, he saw Ayumi approaching him.

“Ah, Ayumi. I thought you were still looking around.”

Ayumi gave her response as she walked up to him. Stopping beside him.

“I have. I just want to talk to you.”

As BlackWarGreymon looked at Ayumi in confusion, the two were unaware that they were being watched. Luna had followed Ayumi out of the castle to see what had got her interest. But it seemed she wanted a private conversation with the Digimon. Curious as to what the alternate Twilight wanted to talk about, the blue princess remained hidden from view as she listened in.

“Talk to me about what?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

After a brief pause and a deep breath, Ayumi spoke up.

“I… I just want to apologize.”

The Digimon looked at her in confusion.

“Apologize? For what?”

“The way I acted towards you. When we first met in that clearing. I may had come across as… hostile.”

But BlackWarGreymon payed no mind to her previous act.

“It’s not your fault. Since your world was destroyed by a Digimon, it should be natural for you to suspect me. I can understand that you don’t trust me.”

He then looked at her with a questionable look.

“But what about now?”

Ayumi seemed amazed as she looked at the Digimon. It seemed like he was testing her. Somewhat like how she tested him back in the clearing. But as she looked down at the ground, her mind was conflicted.

“Believe me, I want to trust you. But… I just don’t know anymore.”

She began to expose her inner thoughts.

“I knew that things would be different when I came to this world. But meeting you has really opened my eyes. I just can’t ignore the fact that you carry this… malicious energy. And what’s more, you’re even stronger that the Digimon that destroyed my world.”

She then looked at him with a look of pure confusion.

“But the ponies here like you. They don’t just see you as a hero, but as a true friend. Fluttershy even told me that on the day you arrived, when you fought Tirek, you protected her. Even though you have never met her at that point. Spike said that you even have a statue in the Canterlot gardens.”

She continued as she looked away.

“I know that good and evil exists everywhere. Even in your kind. But… I just don’t understand. Why would you be so heroic… while possessing such power? That’s the one thing I can’t figure out.”

BlackWarGreymon was stunned by Ayumi’s speech. Was his energy really that off-putting for her? After a moment of thought, he decided to come clean. Since she shared her story, it was only fair for him to share his.

“That’s probably because… I’m not even a true Digimon.”

Ayumi paused as she slowly turned to look at BlackWarGreymon in surprise. Unsure if she even heard him right.

“W-What?”

Hidden from view, Luna knew exactly what BlackWarGreymon was going to do. He was going to tell Ayumi about his own dark past. Despite already knowing the story, Luna stuck by. As for the purple Alicorn, she had a feeling that the Digimon was going to reveal who he truly was. To which after a deep breath, he began his story.

“I come from a place called the Digital World. But while peace is constantly strived for, much like Equestria, the world kept boiling down to war after war. Like you said, conflict between good and evil. At one time, the world was plagued by dark towers called Control Spires. Used to stop good Digimon from transforming into stronger forms to fight back. But an evil Digimon, named Arukenimon, found another use for them. Using her powers, she can transform the Control Spires into living breathing Digimon of her own. Artificial Digimon. Unlike true Digimon, they’re mindless slaves that obey Arukenimon’s will.”

While Ayumi listened in silence, she was surprised at what she heard. But more so from the fact that there were Digimon with the power to create life. The thought of an evil being spawning an army was reminiscent of what happened in her timeline. But it was what BlackWarGreymon said next was what gained her attention.

“But after being foiled by the heroes of the Digital World, she decided to do something similar, but different. In the past, she created Digimon with either one or ten Control Spires. But on that day for the only time, she decided to use one hundred Control Spires. Creating a Digimon that at one point, almost spelled doom to the Digital World.”

“W-Who was this Digimon?” Ayumi asked, curious but intimidated from the way the Mega spoke of the Digimon.

But as BlackWarGreymon turned to look at Ayumi, he gave her his answer.

“Me.”

Chapter 58: Dreams to Dream

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The hidden Luna was stunned at the stunt BlackWarGreymon was trying to do. Recalling Ayumi’s unfortunate history with an evil Digimon in her own timeline, she was surprised to hear the black armoured Digimon admit that he was once evil right in front of her. The blue Alicorn silently stared on. Worried about how the former Twilight would react.

Upon hearing BlackWarGreymon’s confession, Ayumi gawked at the Mega in disbelief. Even taking a single step back from intimidation. Her mind recalling back to the evil Digimon that destroyed the world she knew. She just couldn’t believe it. Her suspicions were correct from the start.

“You… you were evil?” She asked. A hint of shock and fear in her voice.

BlackWarGreymon didn’t need to look at the Alicorn to see what she was going through. He could tell that his words had shaken her to the core. Yet admitting that she was right to suspect him all along. He then gave his reply.

“In a manner of speaking. Yes, I was. I’m an Artificial Digimon.”

But while fear began to gain a grip on Ayumi, it also gave way to confusion. BlackWarGreymon described his kind being mindless and obedient. Yet the entire time she knew him, he wasn’t like that in the slightest. What was also confusing to her was his benevolent nature. He had the power that he claimed had almost doomed his whole world. Yet, he was kind and gentle. He had protected Equestria from numerous threats and never took advantage of it. Celestia even called him the saviour. But the biggest confusion for her was the Digimon’s connection to Equestria itself. She had seen it firsthand. BlackWarGreymon’s negative energy, entwining with the magic of the land. Which proved that he had good intentions. But what’s more, a sign of a being who had a pure heart.

She mentally asked herself. Why would someone who was created for evil, turn out to be so noble and kind?

Her confusion caused her to question BlackWarGreymon’s statement.

“But… I… I don’t understand. You say you’re evil. But…how…?”

Ayumi was lost for words. She hadn’t felt so confused since before her world ended. BlackWarGreymon could see the confusion on the Alicorn’s face. She was clearly struggling to understand what was going on. Not wanting to inadvertently turn Ayumi against him, he decided to explain himself.

“I’m different.”

“Huh?” Ayumi uttered as she glanced up to BlackWarGreymon. Seeing that he was trying to gain her attention. To which she saw the expression in his eyes. Showing that what he was about to say was in a sincere tone.

“When I was created, the data from all those Control Spires gave me more than life. It gave me my own self-awareness. A conscious. It gave me a mind of my own. While I may had performed acts of evil, I didn’t do it for fun or for the sake of being evil. I did it because it was all I know. Back then, I thought that friendship and kindness was weak. And that my only goal in life is to be the strongest. I thought it was my destiny.”

BlackWarGreymon paused. Remembering the rampage he caused back in his earlier days. He then heard Ayumi speaking up. Asking him a question in a curious tone.

“Was it though?”

BlackWarGreymon looked down at Ayumi. Seeing that she was questioning what he thought was his destiny. As he looked back out at the Everfree Forest, he gave his answer.

“No. I believe that was what my creator Arukenimon wanted. And all it took for me to stop was a little pep talk from a Digimon Guardian.”

“A…A guardian!?” Ayumi asked, admittingly amazed that Digimon even have such being of authority. BlackWarGreymon continued.

“Yes. He’s one of the four guardians named Azulongmon. He told me that as long as I have my own free will, only I get to decide what my destiny is. And that even my life has meaning.”

Ayumi slowly began to put together the pieces.

“So… is that when you began to change?”

“Not quite. But my way of thinking changed when I spoke with Agumon. He’s the first Digimon who tried to befriend me. It was he who told me the benefits of friendship. And while it is good to be strong, it is best to use that strength to help others rather than for self-gain. As well as having lemon pie… for some reason.”

Ayumi silently giggled from the last sentence BlackWarGreymon said. She could see that the one called Agumon was the kind who liked to eat and have fun. Similar to her friends from Ponyville. BlackWarGreymon quietly chuckled from seeing a genuine smile on Ayumi’s face. But what he was about to bring up next would surely take that smile away. Something that the eavesdropping Luna was bracing herself to hear.

“I left to think about what Agumon said. But before I could make up my mind, trouble came about. But with the enemy pulling the strings.”

“What enemy?” Ayumi asked. But when BlackWarGreymon answered, she sensed the hate in his voice.

“The master mind who provoked the war from the start. MaloMyotismon.”

As he continued, his tone began to lose its anger. And was replaced with something else entirely.

“By controlling one of his pawns, he attempted to kill an innocent life. But…”

“But what?” Ayumi asked, wondering why the Mega paused. To which he revealed.

“But I got in his way. And took the full force of that attack. I saved a life that day… by sacrificing my own.”

Ayumi paused from BlackWarGreymon’s choice of words. Wondering if she heard him correctly.

“What? Y-you don’t mean…?”

“Yes,” BlackWarGreymon said as he looked down at the Alicorn.

“That was the day I died.”

Ayumi was completely taken aback by what BlackWarGreymon said. The stunned Alicorn stared at him in complete disbelief. Shocked to find out that someone as strong as he had lost his life.

“Y-You died. For real?”

BlackWarGreymon could see the expression on Ayumi’s face. While surprised, he also saw that the mare had sympathy in her eyes. Feeling sorry for him for apparently getting himself killed. He answered back while looking at her.

“Yes. But in my final moments, I threw away my selfish ambitions for strength and power, and called the heroes my friends. I may had been born to be evil, but with my final act, I died a hero. At least that’s how the others saw it.”

Ayumi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But as she thought back to when she was telling the group about the Digimon who destroyed her world, she remembered BlackWarGreymon asking her a strange question that involved the evil Digimon’s identity. She decided to make her enquiry.

“Wait. Back when I was telling you about my past, you asked me a strange question that involved the Digimon’s appearance. You thought that the Digimon… was the same one that killed you, didn’t you?”

BlackWarGreymon looked to the ground as he answered.

“I had my suspicions, yes. Destroying lives is something MaloMyotismon would do. But my description of him didn’t match the Digimon that ruined your world. From what I recall, he had a vampire theme in his transformations.”

Then Ayumi remembered something.

“But wait. If you died, then… how are you here?”

BlackWarGreymon was admittingly surprised that Ayumi didn’t ask that question in the first place. But as he answered, he looked up into the sky. An orange hue illuminated by the sunset in the horizon.

“Honestly… I don’t know. After my death, I ended up in some place I’ve never seen before with my fatal wound completely healed. But as strange as it sounds, I later found out that the energy I felt from that realm, it matched perfectly to the Tree of Harmony.”

Ayumi once more paused in shock at what words entered her ears. Surprised to hear that a possible connection BlackWarGreymon had to Equestria had already formed much earlier than she expected.

“Th… the tree?”

She began to think, but what she thought she found impossible. It almost sounded like the Tree of Harmony itself had summoned BlackWarGreymon to Equestria. In her mind, it sounded farfetched. But since the Digimon had already defied all her expectations in their earlier battle, she didn’t know what do believe anymore.

Before BlackWarGreymon continued, he tilted his head downwards. Looking out to the Everfree Forest in the distance.

“Not long after that, I fell into a white portal, and ended up crashing into the forest over there. After I woke up, I started to sense trouble. And that was when I encountered Tirek.”

Ayumi froze from when the Mega mentioned the centaur. She knew exactly what he was talking about. The day when the timelines of their two worlds divided.

“You… saved them,” She quietly said. Already knowing what happened next.

As BlackWarGreymon carried on, Ayumi stared blankly at nothing in deep thought. Listening to every word the Digimon said.

“Tirek wanted me to be his ally, but I had none of that. My days of being a servant was over. We ended up battling in the clearing, with me being the winner. I thought that seeing me in action, Twilight and her friends would be frightened of me. But to my surprise, they praised my actions. They even summed up the courage to talk to me. To learn everything about me. So we sat down and talked. Then they took me to Ponyville and showed me around.”

BlackWarGreymon paused briefly as he thought back on his first day in Equestria.

“During my fight with Tirek, I made a promise to myself. I may had failed back in the Digital World, but it was something I began anew in this world. And that was to carry on being the good Digimon I can be. To protect this world from all threats. Even to my last breath. And that was what I’ve been doing since I got here. From then on, I’ve learnt many things about friendship and kindness. Formed bonds with those that I hold dear to. All the while, being their protector. And embracing my second chance at life. I guess… you can call it my destiny.”

He then began to think of the evils that Equestria threw at him.

“But it hadn’t all been sunshine and rainbows. I’ve had my fair share of incidents and conflicts. Some that the others had delt with before. Even ones that were… unexpected.”

BlackWarGreymon had neglected to inform Ayumi about ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But he did it with reason. He feared that if she found out about the existence of an evil Digimon, she would freak out. He thought that after her ordeal in her world, and after the heartwarming reunion of the friends she lost, an evil would be the last thing she wanted to hear. He would tell her eventually, but after she settled in.

“But no matter what happened, I was always able to prevail. Sometimes on my own. Other times with help from my friends. I wouldn’t be who I am if not for them. They helped me in more ways than one. And I don’t think I could ever repay them for that. Friendship has really changed me for the better. I couldn’t be happier to be here.”

Behind the two, the hidden Luna felt incredibly touched from BlackWarGreymon’s words. He was not only embracing his new life with them but was very grateful for what they had done for him. He truly was a very different Digimon to what he once was. In fact, he was different to the BlackWarGreymon she first met. As days went by, the once evil Mega grew more and more content with his new heroic life. Luna smiled at how much her Digimon friend had grown. She wanted nothing more than to tell him at how proud she was with him.

That was… until she noticed Ayumi. The younger Alicorn hadn’t spoken a word in a while. In fact, she hadn’t moved at all. Her head hung low. Her eyes hidden behind her mane. A sign that she was going through something that might had touched her nerve. It was something that BlackWarGreymon picked up. The Mega too took note of her lack of response.

“Uhh… Ayumi?”

Ayumi didn’t replied back. She didn’t even pay attention to him. The former Twilight was lost in her thoughts. Thinking back to the day when Tirek attacked then in the Everfree Clearing. She then whispered. BlackWarGreymon could just about hear what she said.

“Both our worlds turned out very differently. But… it was all caused by one change.”

To BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, he started to see tears running down Ayumi’s cheek. She was crying.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Concerned for her wellbeing.

But the Alicorn continued to be lost in thought. Her voice while saddened, was clearer than before. Even Luna could hear her words. And surprised at what she said.

“One change. That one… stupid change. It’s… it’s not fair. Why? Why were we the ones who had to suffer? Why did we have to go through that hell? I couldn’t save them. They all died… and I couldn’t do anything.”

BlackWarGreymon stared in silent horror at what Ayumi was saying. But more precisely, what she was going through. The only difference between their worlds was him being Equestria. His arrival was what changed the course of the current Equestria’s history.

Ayumi herself clearly understood the revelation too. The teary eyed Alicorn trying her best to keep herself from sobbing loudly. But when she spoke again, her tone took a drastic change. While it had sadness and guilt, it shockingly sounded… hostile.

“Where were you? Why weren’t you there?”

BlackWarGreymon was taken back by her tone. He could clearly sense that it was aimed directly at him. She was… angry at him.

Then… in an outburst of sadness and anger… Ayumi sharply turned to face the startled Mega. Her glaring eyes filled with tears. Giving him a question to which she would never get an answer for.

“WHERE WERE YOU WHEN WE NEEDED YOU!!?”

BlackWarGreymon took a step back in surprise by Ayumi’s outburst. Looking at the former Twilight in complete shock. He had nothing to say. It was as if she was accusing him of something that he was not involved of. It wasn’t his fault for not showing up in her timeline. It was something that he had no control of. All he could do was silently stare back at her. Her face covered in tears as she breathed heavily. As she stared back at him, Ayumi saw the disbelief in his eyes. But it wasn’t just disbelief she saw. She was looking at the eyes of a person who had been wrongly accused of something he didn’t do. That was when she realised something. BlackWarGreymon may be very powerful, but he had feelings too. She didn’t even lay a hoof on him, but she managed to succeed in hurting him. Her eyes grew wide in realisation from what she had done. She may not be the same Twilight as she once was, but she was still the Princess of Friendship. And she just lashed out at BlackWarGreymon… as if the disaster was HIS fault. That HE was to blame for the destruction of her old home.

Ayumi felt as though she had just betrayed herself. She may never get over her loss, but it was wrong for her to accuse others for what had happened. It wasn’t BlackWarGreymon’s fault for arriving in a different Equestria. Fate seemed to had plans for him. He had saved the present Equestria from a number of potential disasters, yet she was mad at him for seemingly abandoning hers. Which wasn’t the case in the slightest. He had no idea that there were multiple timelines of Equestria. What’s more, she was angry at a Digimon who had a first experience of death itself. Something that not even she went through. If fate turned the other way, then BlackWarGreymon may never had a second chance at life. While Ayumi went through trauma in the later years of her life, BlackWarGreymon’s life was nothing but trauma. Throughout his time in the Digital World, he was met with nothing but confusion and doubt. And when things finally turned around for him, his life was taken away in an instant.

Ayumi felt horrible. No. She felt disgusted with herself.

The Alicorn turned away from BlackWarGreymon. Looking down at the ground in guilt. But while BlackWarGreymon was surprised, he also felt bad for Ayumi. He had never experienced loss in the way she did. But he remembered what loss felt like. On the day of his death. Despite his body breaking apart into countless pieces of data, he could hear WarGreymon calling out to him. From remembering the tone the golden warrior used, it was a clear sign that he was experiencing loss. Losing a friend. It was the same as what Ayumi was going through. She was just upset that her friends weren’t around anymore. That from just one change in the timeline, the fates of two versions of Equestria changed drastically. But for a strange reason, BlackWarGreymon did felt guilty. If he was there in Ayumi’s timeline, even if he was a couple of minutes late, he would do anything in his power to save her friends. But it wasn’t meant to be. And he felt bad for it.

Wanting to give any sort of comfort to Ayumi, he spoke up.

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

But to his surprise, Ayumi spoke back.

“No, BlackWarGreymon. You have nothing to apologize for. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

She finally looked back at BlackWarGreymon. Her eyes full of guilt and sympathy.

“I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. It was never your fault. I’m sorry, BlackWarGreymon. Can you ever forgive me?”

To the Alicorn’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon knelt down on one knee. Lowering himself down to her level. Then with the upmost care, despite wearing his Dramon Destroyer gauntlet, he placed his right hand on Ayumi’s shoulder. The look of forgiveness in his yellow eyes.

“That’s what friends are for. Right?”

Ayumi was completely taken back. With no hesitation, BlackWarGreymon forgave her without a second thought. It truly was a sign that he had changed. A Digimon that had been reformed. Redemption and forgiveness were some of many things Ayumi thought Digimon were incapable of. Especially from one that was created to be evil. From her awe, the once broken Alicorn began to smile. Her tears changed from sadness to joy. She could definitely see why the other ponies look up to BlackWarGreymon so much. It wasn’t because he was very strong. It was from his genuine desire to help. Friendship was so strong, that it changed the Artificial Mega to be even better than what he was intended to be.

After many many years of hiding and fighting, the former Twilight had learned a friendship lesson. Friends can take countless forms. Even ones that you would least expect it.

BlackWarGreymon had shown Ayumi kindness and his statement of wanting to be her friend. To repay him, the Alicorn had done something that she thought would be the last thing she would ever do. She gave the Digimon a hug.

The black-armoured giant was mildly surprised when Ayumi reached up and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Pulling herself in to hug him. From this physical interaction, Ayumi began to notice something that she hadn’t during their battle. Despite wearing armour, BlackWarGreymon’s body was very warm.

“Thank you, Black. Thank you for looking after them.”

BlackWarGreymon’s expression softened from hearing her words. It seemed that she was not only grateful for him protecting Equestria, but also accepting him as a friend.

Hidden from the two, Luna was touched by the sight. She honestly thought that Ayumi would never warm up to BlackWarGreymon so quickly. If not, at all. After all, it was a Digimon that destroyed her world. But there was something else. While she was glad that the two had become friends, she felt a little… uneasy. While the sight was a heart-warming one, it also left her… uncomfortable. On edge even. Ayumi was an older version of Twilight, who had experience in fighting Digimon, had the power to almost match BlackWarGreymon’s… who was currently emotional… and embracing him in her hooves.

Could Luna have been bitten by the jealousy bug?

After seeing the two pulling away from their hug, Luna felt that it was time to emerge from hiding and show herself. Somewhat acting as if she had just arrived.

“There you two are.”

Hearing the sudden arrival of Luna caught BlackWarGreymon and Ayumi by surprise. The Digimon standing up to his full height before answering back.

“Oh, Luna. Is something the matter?”

Luna walked up to the Mega with a smile as she answered his question.

“No. It’s just that me and Celestia are heading back to Canterlot. It’s getting late. You should rest after that fight.”

Understanding that the blue princess was concerned for his wellbeing, BlackWarGreymon complied with her suggestion.

“Yeah, I probably should.”

Luna watched silently as BlackWarGreymon walked past her and towards Twilight’s castle. But just as Ayumi was about to follow suit, she was surprised when Luna stretched out her left wing directly in her path. Blocking her way forward.

“L-Luna?” The confused Ayumi asked. Wondering why the older Alicorn stopped her.

But she received no reply. Instead, Ayumi saw that Luna kept her sights on BlackWarGreymon. Curious as to what was going on, the younger Alicorn too looked at him. Then as the image of the Mega disappeared over a little ridge, Luna finally spoke up.

“He’s really something else, isn’t he?”

Upon realising that Luna was talking about BlackWarGreymon, Ayumi gave her honest thoughts. While remained puzzled as to why she was being questioned once the Digimon’s gone.

“He’s… incredible. On the night when I first arrived, after I sensed his energy, I never thought he would be so… interesting. I never imagined that he would be so complex.”

Ayumi paused in thought. She felt as though she was being tested by Luna. Strange, considering that she already explained everything that had happened to her as well as her reason for being in the current Equestria. She had nothing left to hide. At least, that was what she thought. She felt as though Luna was figuring out something about her that not even she had thought of. To which was why she struck up a conversation. From what it seems, something about BlackWarGreymon.

As Luna closed her eyes and smiled, she began to relate to Ayumi.

“He truly is fascinating. Despite the pain he goes through, he endures it and pushes forward. He’s an inspiration to us all. Which is why… I wish only for the best for him.”

Ayumi looked over to Luna in surprise. The way she spoke about the Digimon, it showed that she had high hopes for him. She held him on a high regard. Something that was entirely opposite to the Luna she once knew. In fact, her version of Luna may had hated the Digimon more that she herself did.

Then to her surprise, Luna shifter her attention onto her.

“You are a cleaver pony. When you first met BlackWarGreymon, surely even you could see what his intentions were. The fact that someone as powerful as he was amongst pony kind. Traveling to the clearing to see that something was amiss. All just to protect his friends.”

Ayumi was slightly unsure where Luna was leading to. But when she began to realise, Luna spoke to her in a shockingly stern tone.

“And yet, you chose to pick a fight with him.”

Ayumi looked over to Luna in surprise. And was startled to see Luna’s change of expression. Her face matched the tone in her voice. She clearly wasn’t pleased, let alone amused. Feeling as though she had upset Luna, Ayumi quickly explained her reason.

“Uhh… well…like I said… it was a challenge to see his strength. To see how powerful he was.”

To her surprise, her reply was met with skepticism from Luna. As if the Moon Princess was seeing a different picture to Ayumi’s reason to fight BlackWarGreymon.

“Is that a fact?”

Ayumi felt conflicted at what was happening. If it was a test, it clearly didn’t feel like one. She felt as though Luna could see a different reason for the battle. To which the older Alicorn announced as she turned to face the baffled Ayumi.

“During the climax of the fight, you looked as though you were really trying to accomplish a goal. And that final attack of yours. You said that you used it to destroy the evil Digimon. The same one you used against BlackWarGreymon. You even resorted to take away his shield to get a direct hit on him.”

From looking at Luna’s stern glare, as well as hearing out her suspicions, Ayumi quietly gasped when she realised what was happening. Luna was thinking that Ayumi’s intentions were not what they seem. As if, during the end of the battle, she was TRYING to destroy BlackWarGreymon. The alternate Twilight stuttered from the shock. This was something she had not prepared for in the slightest.

“Uhh… n…now… Luna. It’s… not like that. It’s never like that! Honest! I was just…”

Luna held up her hoof for Ayumi to stop talking. To which, the confused young Alicorn complied. Despite the words she used, Luna knew all too well that Ayumi was innocent. She was just trying to find out if her final attack could defeat BlackWarGreymon. Not destroy him. But that being said, there was one more thing that Luna would not abide to. To which she addressed.

“I know that you’re hurt from the loss of your world. I can understand that, and I wish to support you. But what concerns me is your resentment to Digimon kind. I do hope that you will not hold such negative thoughts towards BlackWarGreymon. After all what he’s done for us, it would be wise to treat him with respect.”

Ayumi finally understood what had got Luna so worked up. But remained intimidated at how stern she was towards her.

“O-of course. I would never doubt him. Not after today.”

While Luna’s expression softened, her tone remained stern when she told Ayumi one more thing.

“Good. But if such things do happen, you will answer to me. Do you understand?”

Ayumi felt very intimidated. Despite being the more powerful of the two, she was almost afraid of Luna. The last thing she would want was to upset the Moon Princess.

“I-I understand.”

With Ayumi complying to her request, Luna lost her stern look and replaced it with a smile. Then after giving her a friendly nod, the blue mare walked past Ayumi and towards Twilight’s castle. As the younger Alicorn followed suit, she couldn’t help but realize another difference between the present Luna and the one who trained her. The present Luna was far more intimidating. She was also surprised at how seemingly protective Luna was over BlackWarGreymon. Despite the obvious power gap between the two.

As she walked over the ridge, Luna was surprised to see BlackWarGreymon waiting on the other side. Apparently waiting for her. But from the fact that the Mega wasn’t really too far away, Luna began to suspect that he had overheard her talk with Ayumi.

“So, you heard?” She asked. To which BlackWarGreymon answered.

“I did. You didn’t need to be too hard on her.”

“I know. It’s just that… I don’t want you to feel like you’ve done something wrong when it clearly isn’t your fault.”

To Luna’s surprise, she heard him chuckling.

“What?” She asked. Wondering what the Mega found so amusing.

BlackWarGreymon then gave Luna a caring, yet playful expression when he replied.

“Nothing really. It’s just that the way you keep looking out for me, it’s rather cute of you to do.”

Luna began to blush deeply from being called cute. Seeing that her concerns for him he found endearing.

“Y-You think so?” She asked as the two chuckled some more.

Behind the two, Ayumi paused from the sight of Luna and BlackWarGreymon interacting. Though she didn’t hear what they said, she could see the expressions they were showing. They were clearly having a good time. In fact, they were enjoying each other’s company. Something of which she never thought she would ever see. The sight caused her to think back to what Celestia told her. The white Alicorn told her about how BlackWarGreymon and Luna first met. When he saved her from the giant yellow dragon. And that since then, the two had become firm friends.

But as Ayumi kept her sights on Luna and BlackWarGreymon, she noticed something. It was the way the two briefly looked at each other before departing. She couldn’t help but notice a certain sparkle in their eyes. As if… there was a special connection between the two.

“Huh?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After what felt like a very long day, night-time had finally arrived. After saying their farewells, Celestia and Luna returned to Canterlot. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy went back to their homes. Leaving BlackWarGreymon, Spike, Twilight and Ayumi in the crystal castle. To which the four went to their respective beds. Even the Digimon felt a little worn from his battle with Ayumi. Despite being offered to sleep in the same room, Ayumi felt that for the time being she would sleep in a room of her own. Since the castle was filled with many unused rooms, lack of space was non-existent.

After settling herself in, Ayumi could finally do something that she had been longing to do. Sleep in a bed. The comfort of the mattress. The softness of her pillow. The warm embrace of her covers. She deeply missed all that. Finally, after many years hiding from the enemy and being lost in the timestreams, she could at last sleep in peace.

That was… until she started to toss and turn. She desperately tried to fall asleep, but something kept causing her to stir and wake up. She lay still in her bed, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

‘What’s going on with me? This world’s at peace. This timeline is different to my own. So why? Why do I still feel… uneasy?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dream Realm

For Luna, it was just like any other night. Exploring the dream realm to dispel any nightmares that the citizens would go through. It was her duty.

That was, if there were any nightmares to begin with.

Luna had flowed through the dream realm for what felt like hours, yet she hardly came across any nightmares. Sure there were a few bad dreams, but nothing too severe. It was as if BlackWarGreymon’s presence in Equestria had triggered a ‘peace time’ amongst a large majority of the citizens. Mostly ones in Canterlot and Ponyville. Though it was a good sign, that everypony was going to have a very peaceful sleep, for Luna however, it was boring. With nothing to challenge and counter, all Luna could do was observe. But with the amount of dreams she already witnessed, they were becoming predictable.

But as Luna was about to leave the Ponyville area of the dream realm, her sights fell upon a very familiar sight. Amongst the doors to the minds of the ponies, was a large metal slap-like door with a symbol of a tower on it. It was the door to BlackWarGreymon’s mind.

Seeing the door in the dream realm meant only one thing, which caused the blue princess to smile. Though she hadn’t told anyone, Luna had recently looked forward to the days when BlackWarGreymon goes to sleep. For it meant that even when the two weren’t awake, Luna could still spend time with the Digimon through his mind. It was an idea she had ever since the trip back from the Crystal Empire.

With nothing better to do, Luna entered BlackWarGreymon’s mind. Upon entering, she found herself in the middle of a lush green field. She had entered a dream that the Mega was currently having. Being in an open area, it didn’t take long for her to spot her favourite Digimon. The large warrior was lying on the grass while looking up at the open sky. He clearly was having a very relaxed dream. Probably trying to unwind from his earlier battle with Ayumi.

As BlackWarGreymon calmly looked at the open blue sky, she was suddenly met with Luna’s face looking down at him with a friendly greeting.

“Nice dream you’re having.”

BlackWarGreymon was a little surprised from Luna’s sudden arrival. As she stood back slightly, she allowed the Digimon to sit back up as he turned to face her.

“Oh, Luna. This is a surprise,” He said, not expecting his favourite princess to appear. To which she explained herself.

“Well there aren’t many nightmares at all recently. But I noticed that your asleep, so I thought I’d drop by.”

The two began to mingle more in BlackWarGreymon’s mind. With the serenity of the Digimon’s dream, Luna began to surrender to the calmness that was all around her. Relaxing as she rested beside the Digimon. Even though it was all playing out in his mind, it didn’t stop BlackWarGreymon from enjoying Luna’s company. It almost made him wish that he could sleep more regular like any other lifeform. As the two talked, Luna then brought up something that caught BlackWarGreymon’s full attention.

“What? You tried to go into Ayumi’s mind?” The black armoured warrior asked. Surprised by what the princess said.

“I did. I figured that if I went in her mind, I would see into her memories. To see what kind of Digimon she had to fight against. But I was unable to do so. I believe it’s because she hadn’t gone to sleep fully yet.”

BlackWarGreymon looked away in thought.

“Still. I’m surprised it’s not MaloMyotismon.”

Hearing the name of BlackWarGreymon’s killer caused Luna to look at the Mega in concern. She knew that it would be difficult for him to mention the name without thinking of the day he died. The blue Alicorn even looked down at BlackWarGreymon’s chest. Where he received the lethal wound. She felt an uncomfortable chill up her spine from remembering the Digimon’s cries of agony as his body broke down into countless pieces of data. To distract herself, she continued the conversation.

“A-And you don’t know who was responsible?”

“No. I’m afraid not. I wish I did though.”

Silence followed. Seeing that the two were stuck, Luna spoke up.

“Then… perhaps a change of subject is needed.”

Her suggestion caught BlackWarGreymon’s interest. Him having an idea.

“Yes. Actually, there’s something that’s been on my mind for a while.”

“What is it?” Luna asked, keen on hearing the Digimon out.

Luna was surprised when BlackWarGreymon turned back to look at her. From just looking at his yellow eyes, she could tell that whatever the Digimon was about to say, he truly wanted something answered for. But BlackWarGreymon found it hard to speak up at first. He knew that the subject in mind would be personal to Luna. Probably something to not bring up. But he was too curious to let it slip by. Besides, he didn’t know when he would need his next sleep. The present moment could be his only chance in a while.

Letting his insecurities go, he spoke up.

“Luna? Do you remember the night after you went into my memories? The time when we… spoke about ourselves?”

Luna could tell that BlackWarGreymon was nervous about something. But she could see nothing wrong about the question.

“Of course. How could I forget?”

BlackWarGreymon then revealed what made him uncertain about the subject.

“Well… there was a moment in that talk when you said that… there was a time when you became a villain. When you became… Nightmare Moon was it?”

Luna flinched in surprise from the name of what she once became. But further surprised from the fact that BlackWarGreymon brought the subject up.

“Oh…yes. The time when I rebelled against my sister. Why you wish to talk about it?” She asked. While uncomfortable about the whole thing, she was curious as to why it was on the Mega’s mind.

To her surprise, BlackWarGreymon stood up on his feet. All the while keeping his sights on Luna. He then spoke up the reason why the subject was on his mind.

“If you want, I wish to see those events for myself.”

The startled Alicorn too stood back up, completely surprised by the Digimon’s request.

“What!? You mean… when I first became Nightmare Moon!?”

BlackWarGreymon replied with an honest, but firm answer.

“Yes.”

Luna felt baffled at what was happening. The shock was so sudden that it almost made her legs wobble. Was he serious? Did he really wanted to see what was essentially the worst decision she’d ever made on the worse day of her life? It was something that she really didn’t want to relive through. But after everything that BlackWarGreymon had done for her and Equestria, she found it very hard to deny him. Especially since he had never asked her for anything. She began to feel anxiety building up. She was afraid that if he saw her becoming Nightmare Moon, he would think less of her. Or worse, be put off of her as a whole. It was something she would never want to happen. In fact, she felt afraid of the possibility.

She began to think back to the date she had with him on Hearts and Hooves day. It was one of the best nights she’d had in a very long time. Even declaring that he would be her secret boyfriend. The bond she shared with him. The feelings that she was discovering towards him. The very idea of losing all that terrified her.

But her worries took a turn from seeing the Digimon in front of her being concerned for her lack of response.

“Luna? I know it’s a lot to ask. But if you don’t want to…”

Not wanting to hurt BlackWarGreymon in any way, Luna quickly perked up.

“N-No. It’s just… uhh.”

She then tried to think of a reason why the idea might not be a good one.

“Well… if I took you to that day, you might not like… what you see.”

From hearing Luna out, BlackWarGreymon responded with a very good point.

“Worse than what happened in my past life?”

The bewildered Luna looked at the Mega level Digimon. But before she could retort, she paused. BlackWarGreymon’s question made sense. She had witnessed the trauma that was the Mega’s traumatic past. Without permission at first even. It was only after his consent that she began to see more after the day he was created. Though she ended up imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years, at least she never experienced death like BlackWarGreymon had.

She had seen him at his lowest end. And all he was asking was to see hers. She began to think out loud.

“Well… when you put it like that. And after looking in your memories, it’s only fair.”

Sensing that Luna was going to cooperate, BlackWarGreymon spoke up.

“You mean… you’ll show me?”

After letting out a hesitant sigh, she answered back. She just didn’t have it in her to say no to him.

“Alright. I’ll show you. But… just prepare yourself for what you’re about to see.”

Even though he was the one to request it, BlackWarGreymon felt nervous. He was about to witness the day his favourite mare becoming a villain.

Using her magic, Luna transported herself and BlackWarGreymon out of the Digimon’s mind… and into her own.

After a bright flash of light, BlackWarGreymon found himself transported to an entirely different location. Looking at his surroundings, he found himself in a large throne room. But the layout was very much different to the one he saw in Canterlot. But he recalled that the Royal Sisters once lived in a castle in the Everfree Forest. Only he wasn’t surrounded by ruins and rubble.

“So, this is your first castle?” He asked.

But as he looked to his side, Luna was nowhere to be found. He was alone. At first, he assumed that she didn’t want to witness her past herself. But then another answer came to mind.

“Maybe… she wants me to watch without interruptions.”

Shortly afterwards, he heard hoofsteps approaching from the darkness. Turning towards the sounds, BlackWarGreymon saw Princess Celestia entering the throne room. Knowing full well that the white Alicorn he was seeing was her past self. But before she could enter the room fully, an echoing voice called out to her to stop. A voice that took BlackWarGreymon by surprise.

“Not another step!”

Facing towards the two thrones, BlackWarGreymon saw the past Luna emerging from hiding. Standing in front of her blue throne as she glared down at Celestia. The Digimon took note of the blue Alicorn’s posture. With her wings flared out and her spiteful expression, it was a clear sign to him that she was being defiant. Something that made him felt uncomfortable.

Luna then called out to Celestia once more.

“Did you really expect me to sit idly by, while they all bask in your precious light!?”

Turning around, BlackWarGreymon saw the look of shock and horror on Celestia’s face. The older Alicorn surprised at what her little sister just said. But the enraged Luna continued.

“There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess… WILL BE ME!!!” She shouted as she smashed her hooves onto a small balcony.

Using her magic, a shadow began to rise up against the wall behind her. The cause also made the wall crack up to the window above her head. Seconds later, the window and the surrounding frame burst into pieces. The sun shining bright through the hole. BlackWarGreymon was then surprised at what he witnessed next. As she rose into the air, Luna used her magic to move the moon into view. Proceeding to block out the sun, it triggered an eclipse. The whole world around them darkened as the sky changed from day to night.

But what happened next caught BlackWarGreymon completely off-guard. Due to the surging darkness within her, dark blue magic began to envelop Luna. Despite resisting it at first, the blue mare surrendered to it. Her body completely concealed in a black ball of energy. To which then it began to glow orange, which grew more intense by the second. From the way the image was shown, it reminded BlackWarGreymon of Digivolution. Which was an indicator of what he was about to witness.

Luna’s transformation.

The bright orange ball of energy started to dim as the orange light was concealed in many shades of blue. Then in an instant, the blue light revealed to be a mane and a tail. And the princess within made a startling change. Her fur became pitch black. Her regalia had altered in design. She had slit pupils and sharp teeth. And a blue helmet worn on her head. As she landed back on the ground, her transformation was complete. The Alicorn laughing manically at what she had become.

BlackWarGreymon was shocked at what happened to his friend. But before he could utter a word, the transformed mare began to display her newfound powers. Firing a blue beam of magic at the ceiling above her. The attack exploding on impact, sending rubble to fall to the floor. Despite it being a memory, it didn’t stop the surprised Digimon from stepping back to avoid the falling debris.

As a dust cloud filled the room, BlackWarGreymon was stunned at the sight of the transformed Luna walking away from the throne. Seemingly towards him. But turning around, he saw Celestia. The latter giving a disappointed look at her sister. The white Alicorn flew up towards the ceiling. Wanting to see how her sister would act. To which the blue Alicorn responded by firing a blew beam at her. Celestia swiftly dodged out of the way before landing back on the ground.

Wanting thing to go back to the way they were, Celestia pleaded with her sister.

“Luna! I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!”

But the transformed mare had other ideas. Even an idea of changing her very name.

“Luna? I am… Nightmare Moon!”

The onlooking BlackWarGreymon felt a slight chill from hearing that name.

“T-That’s Nightmare Moon?”

The Digimon was further startled from what Nightmare Moon declared next.

“I have but one royal duty now. TO DESTROY YOU!!!”

Then with a bright blue flash of her horn, Nightmare Moon fired another beam at Celestia. But the Sun Princess was quick to fly out of harms way. Leaving the beam to strike the ground where she once stood.

BlackWarGreymon was speechless at what he saw. Nightmare Moon was still Celestia’s sister. Yet, she had shown no hesitation at striking at her sibling. Not one bit of it at all.

From seeing Celestia escaping through the hole in the ceiling, Nightmare Moon gave chase.

“And where do you think you’re going!?”

Wanting to see the results of the clash between the two sisters, BlackWarGreymon flew after Nightmare Moon. Through the hole in the ceiling and into the night sky. In an attempt to shoot her sister out of the sky, Nightmare Moon fired another spell. But Celestia managed to narrowly evade the attack. Along with the second spell that struck one of the surrounding towers.

BlackWarGreymon paused as he watched the fight carry on. Celestia being relentlessly pursued by Nightmare Moon all around the castle grounds. But with every missed shot, the latter rained destruction upon the castle. Her attacks exploding against everything they touched. The Digimon was left horrified at the sight. The image of Luna trying to bring harm to her own family felt gut wrenching. He could see why Luna was hesitant on showing him her memories. He felt as though if he was there at the time, he would’ve stepped in to stop the fight.

But then as Nightmare Moon fired another blast of magic, it landed a direct hit on Celestia. The white princess screamed in pain as the attack struck her. She then fell back towards where she came from. Crashing back into the throne room. Concerned for her wellbeing, the speechless Digimon flew down after her. All the while hearing Nightmare Moon laughing in victory.

Upon landing beside the downed Alicorn, BlackWarGreymon could only stare in shock. Seeing the unconscious form of Celestia on the ground, knowing full well that it was the actions of Nightmare Moon, it caused an unpleasant feeling within him. Looking back at the hole in the ceiling, BlackWarGreymon looked to where he last saw the villain. He knew that even if Luna turned bad, she would never try to kill her sister. But when she transformed, she was like a completely different pony. One who’s personality was entirely different from the original.

Hidden in his gauntlets, BlackWarGreymon’s fist’s clenched hard as his eyes slightly narrowed. The unpleasant feeling within him slowly surging up.

But the sounds of movement beneath him snapped BlackWarGreymon out of his trance. Looking down, he was glad to see Celestia standing back up on her hooves. Looking up at the night sky with determination. The Mega could see it in her eyes. Celestia had a plan. To which she revealed.

“Oh, dear sister. I am sorry. But you have given me no choice… but to use these.”

Using her magic, she opened a hidden door in the floor. To which a large contraption rose from the floor. A large stone sphere sat upon a plinth. Attached to the plinth were five stone arms that swivelled around in position. On the ends of the arms were small platforms that each held an artefact that resembled gemstones. But while BlackWarGreymon didn’t recognize the shape, he did recognize the colours of the gems.

“Wait. Are those…?”

In answering his question, Celestia flew up to the stone sphere and began to use her magic. The five stones each had a golden aura around them, matching Celestia’s horn. Then levitating towards the white Alicorn. Then emerging from the stone sphere, was an artefact that BlackWarGreymon indeed recognized. The Element of Magic.

After obtaining the Elements of Harmony, the six elements began to spin around Celestia’s body. Moving so fast that they became a blur. Then to BlackWarGreymon’s amazement, Celestia’s body was engulfed in a bright rainbow light. The princess reenergized through the elements. The Digimon then realized that he had never seen the Elements of Harmony in action before. He was quite eager to see what they can do.

With the Elements of Harmony at her side, the confident Alicorn rose to the night skies once more. Determined to put an end to Nightmare Moon’s reign. BlackWarGreymon flying after her.

The two Alicorns faced each other once more. Nightmare Moon could clearly see Celestia using the elements but paid little mind to them. But she did respond to Celestia’s increase in power. With her horn glowing blue and her eyes glowing white, the dark mare was prepared to use the fullest of her powers. As well as a white light appearing beneath her hooves.

As she gave Nightmare Moon one last look, Celestia began to cry. She knew that by going through with her plan, it would mean losing her own sister. Both of them would be without company for many many years. But to protect her people, it had to be done. He had to do it.

As her horn glowed bright, she surrounded herself in a transparent barrier. Then after pointing her horn at Nightmare Moon, she placed the Element of Magic in front of her horn. The other five elements formed around the sixth.

Nightmare Moon fired first. Her blue beam of destructive magic heading straight for her sister. Celestia fired back. As beams of light from the other five elements channelled into the sixth, the white Alicorn fired back a spell. The rainbow energy filled with harmonious energy. The two beams clashed together. But it was clear that with the artifacts, Celestia was the stronger of the two. Her beam pushing back Nightmare Moon’s attack. It was only when the golden rainbow beam got ever closer to the blue armoured mare that she realised she had lost. After yelling out in defiance, Nightmare Moon’s body was consumed in Celestia’s spell. In which the spell carried on shooting into the night sky. Heading directly for the moon above. When the beam struck the moon, an image of an Alicorn appeared on the surface.

BlackWarGreymon knew exactly what had happened. Celestia used the elements to imprison Luna in the moon.

Then to his surprise, the memory ended. BlackWarGreymon was left speechless as he felt himself being drifted in the dream realm. He never imagined that Luna’s decent into evil would play out in the way he had seen. To him, it was almost sad.

As he remained still, Luna appeared behind him. She felt uncomfortable at how quiet BlackWarGreymon was being. Worried that he would be having second thoughts about her. Despite the two of them performing acts of evil sometime in their lives, there was one difference. BlackWarGreymon was born into villainy with no idea about life being good. Luna however had been a good pony for most of her life but then became evil. She feared that one difference might change the Digimon’s way of thinking about her.

But there was something else. During BlackWarGreymon’s viewing of her memory, Luna was secretly watching the Digimon. Seeing how he would react to the events shown. And there was one moment that left her scared. It was when BlackWarGreymon stood beside the unconscious Celestia. She saw him look up at the sky to where Nightmare Moon was. Though it wasn’t entirely shown, but Luna saw something in the Digimon’s yellow eyes. As he looked up at her past self, she saw unkindness. She saw antipathy.

She saw… hatred.

That was what terrified her. Was he angry at Nightmare Moon? Or was he angry… at her?

Luna truly didn’t know how to approach the situation. It was the reason why she hesitated. She didn’t want BlackWarGreymon to hate her. She feared the outcome. The two had been through so much since they first met. It would destroy her if he began to resent her for her actions. But just as she was lost for words. She heard BlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“What happened next?”

His question caught Luna completely by surprise. Not just his question even. It was his tone. There was no spitefulness. No resentment. Just… curiosity. He wanted to know what happened to her after her banishment.

He then spoke up again. His voice showing something that Luna didn’t expect. Sympathy.

“Luna? What happened after that?”

Secretly relieved that BlackWarGreymon didn’t took the sight in a negative way, Luna replied.

“What happened next was like I told you once before. I was banished to the moon for a thousand years. Then managed to make my return. Then Twilight and her friends used the elements to free me from what I became. I guess… even as Nightmare Moon… a part of me wanted to go back to the way things were.”

Her last statement made her think back to when she was restored from her Nightmare Moon self. Her reunion with her older sister. She had never been so happy to be back in the warm embrace of Celestia.

Luna then brought up her recent insecurities. Since BlackWarGreymon still had his back to her.

“From seeing how you reacted from my past actions, I thought that… you were angry.”

To Luna’s relief, BlackWarGreymon cleared the air.

“I’m not angry. I was just… surprised. When you told me about your past, I didn’t think it was anything like what I just saw.”

Luna took in a deep breath to ease her anxiety. Relieved that BlackWarGreymon was only reacting out of disbelief. He wasn’t angry at her. She began to feel silly. Since it happened so long ago, it would be pointless for the Digimon to be worked up about it.

But then BlackWarGreymon said something that gained Luna’s full attention.

“Hold on.”

Luna stared at the Digimon with his back to her. The tone in his voice carried uncertainty and… to her surprise… confusion. BlackWarGreymon was puzzled about something.

“W-What is it?” She asked, wondering what had got the Digimon worked up.

BlackWarGreymon began to think out loud. Luna hearing every word.

“You said that it was Twilight and her friends who freed you. So your return from the moon was fairly recent. But the events of you becoming Nightmare Moon… was that after your battles with the villains?”

Uncertain at what and why BlackWarGreymon was so concerned, Luna spoke up.

“Well… yes. The conflict with Discord, Sombra and Tirek all happened before the events of what you just witnessed.”

Upon realising that his confusion was confirmed by the princess, it left the Mega all the more puzzled.

“What? But… that doesn’t make any sense.”

Luna fent uneasy. It was as if BlackWarGreymon had figured out something that she had never realised before. Which only caused her to be all the more curious.

“What’s going on? What doesn’t make sense?” She asked, her voice carrying a hint of urgency.

BlackWarGreymon looked to his side in deep thought. Halfway at looking at the Alicorn behind him.

“Luna. Your conflicts with those villains, were they problematic?”

Luna looked baffled at the question presented to her. But the unsure princess answered nonetheless.

“Y-Yes, they were. Between Discord’s powers, Sombra’s curses and Tirek’s magic stealing abilities, the battles were hard fought.”

Her answer only reinforced the Digimon’s confusion.

“That’s what I don’t understand.”

Luna was left speechless. She had no idea what BlackWarGreymon was piecing together. But since it involved her, she felt uncertain. The Mega looked over his shoulder to look at Luna as he spoke. Explaining what he found puzzling.

“Before then, you and Celestia have been ruling Equestria for thousands of years. And after all those battles, surely the bond that you share with her would be the greatest of all. Unbreakable even.”

As he turned to face Luna fully, he asked her a question. Something that no soul had ever asked her.

“So why… after all that… you started to resent Celestia?”

Luna was about to respond back. Only to realise that she had nothing to say. In fact, the question caused her eyes to widen in shock as uncertainty dawned on her. BlackWarGreymon was right. After everything they went through in the past, she and Celestia should have been inseparable. For thousands of years, they looked out for one another. Protected each other. The white Alicorn even had to help raise her when she was but a filly. To teach her all she knew. She was always there for her and she was always there for Celestia. Then why did she suddenly rebel? Why after countless centuries of raising the moon, did she suddenly see a different side of her role? Why did she suddenly felt betrayed when the ponies sheltered themselves from the night? Surely that fact would’ve been something she’d noticed much earlier in her reign. Maybe she did notice but paid no mind to it. But why after all that time, did it bother her so?

But what made the revelation worse for Luna, was that she not once thought about it. The Alicorn began to experience both panic and confusion at the same time. Something had happened in her past, yet had no idea how it originally occurred. Something about her past… that she could not uncover.

“Y-You’re right. She and I should be close. So…why? W-What made me change? I…I…”

Luna couldn’t think straight. All she could puzzle together was that when she started to have negative thoughts about Celestia, the resentment was sudden. Almost out of nowhere.

Something caused her to feel that way. But what? And why?

But before Luna could try to figure out more about her past. She suddenly gasped in shock as her eyes widened in disbelief. Turning around to look at what looked like nothing. Much to BlackWarGreymon’s confusion.

“What is it?” He asked. To which he was surprised to hear Luna’s answer.

“It’s Celestia! Something’s wrong!”

Without a second thought, Luna immediately used her magic to transport herself out of BlackWarGreymon’s mind. Leaving the startled Digimon alone in his mind. But as his subconscious faded away, there was something that both he and Luna failed to spot.

Hidden in the confines of BlackWarGreymon’s mind, was a black swirling mist. It didn’t belong to the Mega, and its origins were unknown. Whatever it was, it was malicious. And slowly spreading.

As for what suddenly got Luna so worked up about Celestia, was that she was having a nightmare. She tried desperately to fight against the nightmare and force it out of her head. But she couldn’t, as if she was trapped. Unlike any other nightmare she had in the past, the one she was witnessing… was probably one of the most traumatizing she ever had in her long life.
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Celestia’s nightmare

Before the darkness clouded her dreams, Celestia was having one of her favourite dreams. Having a friendly picnic with her dear friends and sister. It’s especially her favourite since it involved cake. But as her thoughts reached its peak of happiness, the entire world around her suddenly went dark.

To her shock, she suddenly felt as though she was falling into a black abyss. With many faces of countless foes floating past her. Among the many faces of her past foes, she saw Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra and Lord Tirek. But as she looked down at the bottom of the pitch-black abyss, she saw something she had never seen before. But something truly threatening. A pair of yellow soulless piercing eyes stared back up at her as it released a terrifying growl.

Celestia felt frightened at what she was seeing. But it was only the start of her nightmare.

After everything went black, the whole world transformed into Canterlot. But not the same as before. The towers, the castle, the entire city was in ruins. Buildings had collapsed as smoke and ash filled the air. Darkening the once bright sky. But the worse thing possible, were the bodies of lifeless ponies. Littering the grounds of a once proud capital.

Princess Celestia ran through what was left of her beloved city. Her fur was dirty and ruffled with numerous scratches and cuts on her body. Her left wing was broken, and her horn was damaged. She panicked. Running through the rubble as if she were being chased by something.

Running out of breath, the white Alicorn stood on top of a downed column. As she looked around franticly, she called out to anyone who could hear her.

“Hello! Is anypony out there!? Please answer me!! PLEASE!!!”

Despite her desperate plea, it was left unanswered.

As she looked around once more, she saw yet another unpleasant sight. The shattered remains of what was once a black clawed gauntlet.

“No. BlackWarGreymon.”

Celestia was then startled by the sound of a loud footstep. Too heavy for it to be from a pony. But from hearing a frightening growl, she knew it was him. The monster she was running from. The monster that ruined everything.

She once tried to fight it off, but the creature’s strength was far greater than anything she could hope to achieve. It showed it by destroying Canterlot and slaughtering the citizens.

Knowing he was nearby, Celestia again tried to run from it. As she left, a large hand rested upon a slab of metal. Then as the beast passed by, his blade-like fingers scrapped across the surface. Sparks flew as he left behind five long gashes in the metal.

As she continued to run, the fearful Celestia occasionally paused to look behind her. Through she couldn’t see him, she knew he was following her. As the Alicorn reached to the furthest edge of Canterlot, the princess looked down at the cliffside.

There was nowhere to run. And with both her horn and wing damaged and broken, there was nowhere to hide.

Looking out to the distance, she saw one of the things she feared the most. Canterlot wasn’t the only place to be hit by the monster’s wrath. Ponyville was reduced to dust. Cloudsdale fell from the skies, and the mountains were engulfed in a sea of fire. As for the lands between the mountains and the settlements and beyond, there was nothing but ash and decay.

Equestria… the great land that she ruled and loved for thousands of years… was gone. Her beautiful home was no more.

Just as Celestia was about to weep from such a horrible sight, grieving for those who had lost their lives, a yellow energy blast shot straight past her from behind. She yelped in surprise as the shot narrowly missed her side.

Turning around to the source of the attack, Celestia saw the monstrous towering figure. Through his posture was slouched forward, his height was over fifteen feet tall. Much larger than the white Alicorn.

As the monster stared down at the terrified princess, he fired another blast of destructive energy. The attack struck the ground in front of Celestia, violently exploding on impact. The force of the explosion knocked the Alicorn off the cliff. She screamed in panic and pain as she tried to work her working wing. But she was falling down to the dark depths.

But she was briefly saved as she landed on a ledge sticking out of the cliff face. The impact of the fall stunned Celestia. Unable to move as she started to slide off the edge. But after regaining her senses, the princess quickly managed to grab a hold on the ledge. Stopping her decent.

Painting from exhaustion and fright, the once elegant princess looked down at the depths below. Frightened that the fall could’ve led to certain death. But then to her shock, she felt a large tremor from the ledge she was on. Meaning that something large had landed on it with her.

Looking back up, Celestia stared on in horror at the monster in front of her. With the dimming moon behind him, the Alicorn saw the monster’s silhouette. His huge shoulders, his long thin arms, his wide demon horns and his yellow piercing eyes.

After hearing his spine-chilling chuckle, the last thing Celestia saw was a bright flash of yellow.
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Before the end came to her, Celestia woke up screaming. After her outburst, the princess panted in shock as she sweated from stress. Not a moment too soon, Princess Luna burst through the doors frantically.

“Sister!! Are you alright!?” She asked as she ran up to Celestia’s side.

“Oh, Luna. I just had the most terrible dream! It was so awful,” She replied. Through fighting the urge to cry, she held her bed covers close in an attempt to comfort herself.

But she was about to receive the most terrible shock of her life.

“I’m afraid I sensed that it’s not just a nightmare sister.”

Before Luna could carry on, she was startled to see Celestia giving her a fearful stare before reaching out to grab her shoulders. She almost shook her sister frantically as she spoke. Her voice full of fear and desperation.

“No! Please Luna! Anything! Anything but a vision!!”

Luna paused. She had never seen such fear in Celestia’s eyes before. Though she hadn’t seen it herself, but something had scared her older sister right down to the core.

But she had to tell the truth.

“I’m sorry, sister. But it is a vision. But of what? Is it Tirek again?”

Luna waited patiently for her sister to answer. But was surprised further when Celestia got up and went in to hug her. The blue Alicorn could feel her sister’s body trembling in fear. And then heard her soft sobbing.

Celestia couldn’t fight it anymore. She began to cry. Tears forming out of her eyes as she spoke quietly.

“No Luna. It’s something worse. Much… much worse.”

Chapter 59: Plan of Revenge

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It was early hours in the morning, and all seemed peaceful and quiet in Ponyville. But in one of the bed chambers in Twilight’s castle, one soul was far from rested.

Ayumi, the Twilight Sparkle from an alternate reality, was having trouble of being rested. She struggled all through the night to get the kind of sleep she desperately longed for. Free from being hunted down and running for her life, a decent sleep was all she could crave for the moment. But she was unable to do so. Was it because that her body was so used to the restlessness and the threat of danger? Or was there something else? A foreboding of unfinished business?

All night she struggled. But all she could manage was a two-hour nap before she started to fidget again. Tossing and turning in her bed to try to get comfy. But feeling more awake than ever, Ayumi let out an annoyed sigh of defeat. Opening her eyes to stare blankly at the ceiling.

‘Why can’t I sleep?’

She turned her head to look out at the window. She could see that dawn was slowly upon the land. The sun could just barely be seen across the horizon. But despite the notion that she would be annoyed from lack of sleep, she looked at the slowly rising sunrise with a warm smile on her face. For her, it had been years since she had seen a sunrise. It was one of the many things she’d deeply missed. The way the light emerges from the darkness. To feel the warmth after the cold night. It was one of the simplest things that could easily be overlooked by many, if not everypony. But for her, after her horrendous ordeal, it was something that she always wanted to see again.

The sight caused Ayumi to be more awake than before. The Alicorn leaving her bed and towards the window. Slowly opening the glass frame to feel the cool breeze on her face. Her smile grew bigger from the sight that laid out before her. A lush green land. Ponyville standing strong. And Canterlot up on the side of the mountain. Not a pile of rubble and a land of scorched ash that she was so used to seeing. For her, the everyday sight was paradise. A world she had once lost, but finally got back.

But as she looked out to the land, her smile was replaced with a look of puzzlement. She turned her attention towards the Everfree Forest. Or more specifically, a land further beyond the forest. With the magic and data within her body, it caused her senses to be heightened. Much more so than an average Alicorn. And from what she was sensing, it wasn’t good.

“What’s going on over there?” She quietly asked herself. Sensing malicious energy in the distance.

The former Twilight was very curious about who or what was causing the abnormality. But the curiosity was causing her to grin. If she were like any other pony, she would be concerned. But she wasn’t like any other pony. Her magic had been infused with the Element of Magic from her timeline. Which then was further enhanced with the data from all the evil Digimon she had slain. Believing that the threat was one of Equestria’s villains, she was very confident that she had the power to overcome any threat. They wouldn’t know what hit them.

Deciding to tackle the situation head-on, Ayumi silently leaped out the window and took to the skies. Flying in the direction of the forest and towards the evil feeling.
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Far, far away. In lands where hardly anypony ever set hoof in, the evil Digimon was standing on top of a massive peak. Overlooking the world below him.

Being out in the open, he was fully exposed to the harsh conditions of the snowy mountain. Th wind blowing through his hair. But it didn’t matter to him. In fact, he could hardly even feel the cold. For he felt colder. It had been hours since he stood up on the tip of the mountain. At first it was to oversee Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon leaving the lair to carry out his plans. The two had long since vanished from sight, but the evil being remained. With dawn slowly rising up into view, the beast watched the sunlight illuminating the land.

That was when he saw it. It was very far away, but he can see it. From his point of view, all he could see over at the horizon was a small speck. But he knew exactly what it was. To which he grinned as he spoke up.

“Canterlot.”

He then looked down at his clawed hands. Clenching them into fists as he felt the evil energy coursing through his large body. He continued as he glared back at the sunrise.

“I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Almost as if the weather itself was afraid of him, the harsh winds slowed to a stop. The world around the Digimon became deathly silent. That was until he could hear the familiar sounds of buzzing. Turning around, he could see a lone Changeling approaching from the north. Given the frost on his exoskeleton and his heavy breathing, the insect-like creature looked exhausted.

As he landed, he paused for breath. As the Digimon turned around to face him, he spoke up in an annoyed tone.

“You are late,” He growled, revealing that he was waiting for the Changeling.

After getting his breath back, the Changeling quickly revealed the reason for his delay.

“I’m sorry, my lord. But the mission was much harder than it is.”

Being reminded of the task he secretly gave to the Changeling, it made him eager to know if it was successful.

“You have it then?”

Resting on the Changeling’s side was a slime sack. Their equivalent of a saddle pack. As it reached over to open it, the Changeling replied.

“I had to disguise myself to hide from the empire, but I got it.”

After facing back to the evil beast, the Changeling dropped what was in the sack. The object landed softly in the snow. The Digimon’s eyes beamed from the sight of it.

“Sombra’s horn.”

It indeed was so. Lying in the snow was the last physical remains of the Unicorn King Sombra. With the rest of his body being vaporized by ChaosBlackWarGreymon back at the Crystal Empire. As he reached down to grab it, the Digimon could feel the dark magic that lied within the severed horn. Despite the owner of the horn long dead, the black magic that enchanted the horn remained strong. The Digimon brought the horn up to his eye level. Eyeing the piece that was held between his finger and thumb.

As the Digimon inspected the severed horn, the Changeling solder spoke up.

“The queen told us that you brought him back once before. Is that why you wanted me to retrieve the horn? So that you can do it again?”

As he took a closer look at the horn, the Digimon gave his answer. Much to the surprise of the Changeling.

“No. I have no intentions on reviving him. Sombra is unworthy. Not worth the effort.”

The Changeling was puzzled. And somewhat disappointed. Despite King Sombra being a pony, the Changeling solder thought that the Unicorn was cool. His puzzlement formed itself into a question.

“Then… what do you want that horn for?”

The evil Mega gazed intently at the horn as he responded.

“I may have other ideas. Maybe something that could counter BlackWarGreymon’s newfound powers.”

As the Digimon got lost in thoughts of whatever plot he was conjuring up, the Changeling crept away silently. But before he could reach shelter…

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The Changeling froze from the monster calling out to him. Startled and puzzled, the Changeling quickly answered back.

“T-To take shelter and rest up. I’m exhausted from all the flying I did. I barely have enough strength as it is.”

The Digimon glanced over his shoulder to the Changeling. Eyeing his delicate wings. From years of experience with the species, whenever a Changeling overexert himself, their wings would flop to their sides. A sign that they won’t function properly.

Bearing the fact in mind, the Mega spoke up. Reminding the Changeling of what he had done for them.

“Back on the day when your queen allied herself to me, what was it that I have done for your kind?”

The Changeling was confused. But he indeed remembered what happened.

“Well… you gave us a sample of your energy. Making us stronger.”

“Except you.”

The Changeling froze on the spot from the Digimon’s statement. To which he continued.

“I noticed that you and a few others… refused my gift. Why?”

From seeing the intense glare the Digimon was giving him, the Changeling shivered. Both from the cold and the growing fear within him. But despite the fear, the last thing he wanted was to deceive the Mega. Just looking at him was enough, he didn’t want to know what he was like angry. He had to answer honestly.

“If you want the truth… you… you scare me.”

The Digimon remained silent as the Changeling continued. Further feeling the effects of the cold weather.

“M…mother tries to hide it… but I know she’s afraid of you. And I know it’s something y-you’ve done in the past. And… and I know it has something to do with your plans.”

The Changeling paused for a moment to think about what the Digimon’s endgame was. But as one guess made it to the surface, his eyes widened in shock in realisation. Gasping for breath from the shock. Seeing the reaction caused the Digimon to shift his large frame towards his direction. Remaining silent to hear what the smaller one had to say.

“Y…You! You’re going to do more than take over this world! Aren’t you!? You’re… you’re going to…”

The monster spoke up, interrupting the horrified Changeling.

“You look cold, Changeling. But what do you know about the cold? You weren’t the one who had to endure it for months on end.”

The frightened Changeling looked at the monster in confusion. Wondering what he was even talking about. But what he said next sent terror down his spine.

“How about experiencing it for yourself!?”

With no prier warning, the Digimon instantly stretched his left arm out and gabbed a firm hold on the stricken Changeling. Entrapping him within his large, clawed hand. The pony-like bug yelled out in panic as he was being forcefully lifted off the ground. Pleading for the Mega to wait. But the fear escalated when the beast motioned his arm towards the edge of the mountain. The petrified Changeling yelling louder in fear as he was being suspended in the air. Nothing but a white expanse laid beneath him. With his wings numbed from the cold and the exhaustion of his earlier mission, he had no means of flight. And with the massive drop below, falling would certainly lead to his doom. His yells turned into screams. His life literally hanging in the balance. He then heard the Digimon’s voice.

“You should’ve kept your mouth shut.”

With the Digimon threatening his life, the Changeling pleaded with the beast. Desperate to stay alive.

“NO!!! WAIT!!! I won’t say anything! PLEASE!!! JUST LET ME GO!!!”

The Digimon pondered for a second… before replying back with a sadistic smile.

“Alright. I’ll let you go.”

The Changeling’s eyes went wider. Realising that the beast had twisted his words.

Releasing his grasp, the Digimon dropped the Changeling. The unfortunate soul screaming as his body disappeared into the white expanse below. Followed by his fading screams.

As the Mega retracted his arm, he spoke out loud.

“Changelings. They claim to be different from ponies.”

He continued as he turned around. Retreating back into his lair with Sombra’s horn in hand.

“But they’re just as fragile.”
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Far away, on the furthest fringes of the Everfree Forest, an isolated village was under attack. The residence there tried to fight back but ended up having all their magic and energies stolen. The trademark of none other than Lord Tirek.

After leaving the village behind, the evil centaur felt the magic he’d taken fuelling his own. Which also caused his size to increase slightly. He looked down at his clenched fists as he marched on.

“Hmm. Not much, but better than nothing.”

Tirek then paused when he realised something. Blinking in confusion, he looked to his surroundings. Surprised to see that the Digimon clone, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, was not anywhere to be seen.

“Wha? Hay freak! Where are you!?”

He received no reply, much to his annoyance. He carried on walking through the forest as he kept his eye on his surroundings. Thinking that it was some sort of prank.

“Where is that idiot?”

Then… to Tirek’s surprise, a bright purple light shined brightly from the sky. Illuminating the early morning scenery and almost blinding the centaur. Out of panic and confusion, he put up a red barrier to shield himself from the intensity.

“W-What is this!!?” He asked. Demanding an explanation.

That was when he heard a voice. Familiar… but powerful.

“TIREK!!!”

The surprised Tirek tried to see through the intense light. Fortunately, it died down. But as he lowered his barrier, he was flabbergasted at who was responsible. Descending from the air and landing on the ground several feet away from him, was a familiar Alicorn.

“P-Princess Twilight!?”

Tirek stared at the Alicorn in confusion. Despite being the same pony, he could tell that something was different about her. Which was because, unbeknownst to him, she was in fact Ayumi.

“Whatever you’re planning, it ends now!”

Tirek was once more surprised. Not only the Alicorn’s voice was different, but she was far braver than he thought. The Twilight he encountered was always afraid of him. Yet the pony in front of him showed no fear whatsoever.

Despite that, Tirek began to grin. Not buying the threat that was presented to him.

“Or what? You’ll put me away in Tartarus again?”

But just as Tirek was about to scoff at the Alicorn, Ayumi replied with an answer that left the evil centaur speechless.

“No. Because there’s no point.”

Tirek was completely taken aback at what he heard. Leaving the centaur to silently listen as Ayumi continued. The former Twilight giving him a cold, almost heartless glare.

“I won’t be merciful to you. It’s clear to me that you are beyond redemption. And you’ll only just break out again to cause trouble. So I’m going to save Equestria the trouble and put you down myself.”

Despite being far larger of the two, Tirek admittingly felt intimidated by Ayumi. She openly threatened him. Something that the supposedly Princess of Friendship should never do. But despite finding it out of character, he felt the genuine tone in her voice. She was serious. But after looking around, he began to brush off her threat.

“And how are you going to do that? I don’t see that big friend of yours.”

Knowing that Tirek was talking about BlackWarGreymon, Ayumi replied. Grinning in response.

“As much as I like to see that, I don’t think I would need his help to fight you.”

Tirek was growing impatient from what he could guess was just all talk and brave face. Snarling in anger from Ayumi’s attitude before his horns began to charge up his magic. An orange sphere forming between them.

“Enough of this nonsense! Begone with you!”

Tirek then proceeded to fire a large orange beam of destructive magic at Ayumi. But the Alicorn stood firm. Letting the attack strike her, resulting in a large explosion.

As clouds of dust filled the air, Tirek stood still. He had struck the princess, yet he was more puzzled than joyous. The pony didn’t move out of the way. She didn’t teleport away. She didn’t even put up a magical barrier. She just stood there and took the hit. He wondered what she was even thinking.

But as the dust settled, Tirek gawked in surprise. The Alicorn was still standing. Despite the ground around her being uprooted by the attack, she herself was unaffected. Not even suffering a scratch.

Tirek stumbled his words as he tried to express his shock.

“W-What!? H…How did you…!?”

Ayumi gave Tirek a brief smirk before charging up her own magic. Then with a quick flick of her head, she fired a surprisingly large purple beam from her horn. The panicking Tirek quickly put up a barrier to shield himself. But when the river of magic slammed into him, the centaur could feel himself instantly being pushed back. But what was more shocking to him, his barrier began to crack. Then to his horror, Ayumi’s attack punched through the barrier. Striking Tirek in a massive blast.

As Ayumi cancelled her attack, she smiled at her handiwork. Ever since the Tirek of her world struck so much terror to her and her friends in the Everfree Clearing, one of the things she wanted was payback. Teaching the centaur a lesson. And in her mind, to hopefully strike fear into Tirek the same way her version did to her.

As the dust settled, Tirek was lying on his back. Disorientated and dumbfounded at what had happened. But after rolling back on his hooves, the baffled Centaur looked back at Ayumi in shock and fear.

“H…How is that possible!!?”

But rather than answering his question, Ayumi got into her battle stance. With only one thing to say.

“I’ve waited a long time for this.”

Then with no hesitation, the vengeful Ayumi charged towards the centaur. A determined smile plastered on her face.
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Canterlot

Morning had finally arrived in Canterlot. But for Princess Celestia, the day already hadn’t gone well for her.

Ever since her traumatic vision, the princess was so shaken from what she’d seen that she couldn’t go back to sleep. For fear that she would witness it again. Princess Luna, who had sensed her sister’s distress, stood by her side to comfort her. Through interested in what the vision was, Luna didn’t want to bring the subject up so soon. The last thing she wanted was to see the white Alicorn an even more nervous wreck than she already was.

But to her surprise, Celestia wanted to talk about it with her. When the two got around having breakfast, Luna spoke up in a form of an apology.

“I’m deeply sorry, sister. I sensed that you were troubled. But for some reason, I couldn’t enter your mind. It’s as if something was blocking me.”

Celestia, who hardly ate any of her food, replied to her younger sibling.

“It’s ok, Luna. Visions are usually hard to counter. But I wished it was something other than… that.”

Luna took a moment to give her older sister a concerned look. From seeing how upset and fearful she was the night before, something truly disastrous must’ve happened in her vision. Luna leaned closer to Celestia as she spoke up. Her voice carrying a soft tone.

“Sister. You said you wanted to talk about it. So please tell me. What happened in your vision? What did you see?” She asked.

At first, Celestia was afraid to explain the details. But if the vision was a foretelling of a possible future, then she must tell Luna. So after taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves, Celestia explained the details of the vision.

“Canterlot. Ponyville. All of Equestria… was in ruins.”

Luna quietly gasped in shock as Celestia continued.

“Everything was destroyed. Forests and lands were raised to the ground. Mountains engulfed in fire. And… and many… many bodies of ponies.”

Luna stared at Celestia in horror. Already the vision sounded far worse than the one with Tirek.

But then the white Alicorn said something that shocked Luna even more.

“And the one who caused it all… was something I had never seen before. A beast. A monster… no… a demon far worse than anything Tartarus ever had. A horrifying creature with tremendous power.”

Celestia briefly paused and shivered from the monster’s silhouette. Just seeing his appearance alone terrified her even more.

“He… he brought cataclysm to Equestria. Destroyed everything in his path. And… and slaughtered everypony in his way.”

Luna gulped in fear from what Celestia was saying. She could see that she was visibly shivering as she explained more about the monster form her vision.

“What… what did this… demon look like?” Luna asked.

Celestia tried to remember, but most of the monster’s body was concealed in shadow. But she did remember some details.

“He was huge. A giant compared to you and I. His arms were long and thin but ended with sharp blade-like claws. He had wide demon-like horns on the sides of his head. And his eyes… his eyes were more terrifying than any of King Sombra’s spells. They looked as though they could see into a pony’s soul.” Celestia explained, again a shiver went up her spine.

As Luna tried to picture the monster in her head, one thought just occurred to her. A very disturbing thought.

“Hold on.”

Celestia perked up when he heard the uncertainty in Luna’s tone as she continued.

“You said that it looked like a demon. But… isn’t that the same description of the creature that… destroyed Ayumi’s home?”

Celestia and Luna both looked at each other with looks of shock and fright. Realising the similarities.

“That’s right! The way she described what happened to her world, it looked just like what happened in the vision! And that… she said it was caused by a Digimon!”

Despite seeing the plausible connection, there was one fact that left Luna doubtful.

“But I thought the difference between the two Equestrias is that we have BlackWarGreymon instead of that monster. If that’s the case, then how can that vision even be possible?”

“I don’t know.”

The two calmed down as they tried to find an answer. With all the horrors and uncertainties surrounding her vision, Celestia began to feel frightened again. Clearly disturbed from all the confusion. And knowing what was real of not.

But before the fear could begin to get to her, Celestia decided to change the subject for the time being. Something that would cheer them up.

“O-Oh. And speaking of BlackWarGreymon, Twilight sent me letters of the things she had learnt from him. Did you know that it has been over four months since he was created?” She asked with a smile.

Though Luna knew that Celestia wanted to change the subject, she welcomed it. The uncertainties of the vision was also getting to her too. So, a brief reprieve was needed for the sake of their mentality. More so for Celestia. But she was admittingly a little startled from the true age of her favourite Mega.

“Only four months old? Guess we were so distracted from the events of his past, that we failed to take note on how long his life was.”

Then curiosity struck Luna’s mind.

“And… that’s something I’m curious about. Do Digimon… even age?”

Though on the surface it was a strange question, Celestia tried to think of an answer. But given at how different Digimon were to ponies, the Sun Princess could only guess.

“I’m not sure, Luna. Digimon are very different from ponies. Their bodies are made up of what they call data. And BlackWarGreymon was created artificially. So… I don’t think they even have a lifespan. As far as we know, BlackWarGreymon… could be immortal.”

Believing that what Celestia said was true, Luna’s mind was brimming with hope from a possible future. She then spoke quietly to herself.

“Does that mean… he and I… could spend eternity together?”

“What was that Luna?” The white Alicorn asked, not hearing Luna clearly enough.

The startled Luna quickly tried to recompose herself. Stuttering her words.

“Oh…uh, n-nothing.”

Celestia softly chuckled from seeing Luna’s reactions. She liked seeing her little sister happy. Especially when it involved their saviour.

Secretly, the Sun Princess grew a frown. She neglected to tell Luna that despite all his power, BlackWarGreymon might not be enough to combat the upcoming threat. Judging from seeing his destroyed gauntlet among the rubble.

Not wanting to break Luna’s heart, she decided not to tell her.
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Ponyville

Inside one of the corridors of Twilight’s castle, one of the bedroom doors opened up. Revealing to be Spike the dragon. With a great big yawn, it was a sign that he had just woken up. Then as he travelled down the stairs, he realised something. It was quiet. Very quiet. Usually, he would hear the sounds of Twilight rushing around to get breakfast over and done with so she could get on with the rest of the day. And with a new resident living with them in the form of Ayumi, she would more likely be even more hectic. But there was nothing. Nothing but total silence.

“Hello? Twilight? Ayumi? Are you here?” He called out. Unsure and a little intimidated from being alone in a large empty castle.

Fortunately for him as he reached down to the bottom of the stairs, he saw BlackWarGreymon. Walking towards the main doors that lead to the outside world.

“Hay. BlackWarGreymon,” Spike uttered. Addressing the Digimon.

Hearing his name being said, the Artificial Digimon glanced over to the young dragon.

“Oh, morning Spike.”

“What’s going on? Where is everyone?” Spike asked. Wondering where the two Alicorns had vanished to.

Fortunately for him, BlackWarGreymon was there to answer.

“Twilight left to meet the others over at Sweet Apple Acres. As for Ayumi, I’m not sure. She already left early in the morning.”

Spike then turned his attention to the Digimon himself.

“What about you? You look like you were about to head somewhere.”

“I am.”

BlackWarGreymon continued as he opened the doors.

“I’m going to the Tree of Harmony. I’ll be back soon.”

Spike was left surprised as BlackWarGreymon exited the castle. Leaving the young dragon to wonder.

‘Why is he being so serious? Maybe the others told him about the prophecy.’

But as he tried to ponder more, the purple dragon suddenly burped out a scroll. After he opened it up, he read its contents. After letting out a quick gasp, Spike ran out of the castle and straight through Ponyville.

“I need to find Twilight and fast!”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As the young dragon ran through the town, and the Digimon disappearing over the horizon of the Everfree Forest, a discussion was going on at Sweet Apple Acres. A discussion which involved three little fillies.

“Hay. Where’s Ayumi?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. To which the latter gave an uncertain reply.

“I don’t know, Fluttershy. She was gone before I even woke up,” She said, worried about the mental wellbeing of her alternate self.

After hearing the blue Pegasus letting out a loud yawn, the two focused back to the group. And the reason why they gathered at the apple farm.

“Ok AJ, why did you call all of us here?” Rainbow Dash as she rubbed her eyes. Hoping that most of her day would involve sleeping.

“And quite early,” Rarity added.

Applejack then revealed the reason for the unexpected meeting.

“Well ah’ think that ya’ll should know that these three trouble makers went into the Everfree Forest the other night,” The orange mare said as she looked over to the Cutiemark Crusaders. Apparently figuring out what happened on the night of Hearts and Hooves day.

The rest of the Mane Six gasped in shock at the news.

“The Everfree forest!? At night!? Alone!?” Fluttershy asked.

“That definitely doesn’t sound like fun,” Pinkie Pie added.

“Sweetie Belle! What in the world were you and your friends thinking!?” Rarity demanded.

“We’re really sorry,” Sweetie Belle said.

“We were just trying to find somthin’ in there to get our Cutiemarks,” Applebloom joined.

“Yeah. I mean it’s not like we ran into the Timberwolves on purpose,” Scootaloo added.

What the young Pegasus said shocked all the older mares.

“What!? You ran into Timberwolves!?” The shocked Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ya three didn’t tell me that part!” The equally shocked Applejack joined. Apparently, the fillies didn’t tell her about the Timberwolves incident.

“My goodness! Are you three hurt?” Fluttershy asked the three young ones.

Applebloom then spoke up to reassure the older mares.

“Yeah, we’re fine. But we would’ve been hurt if we hadn’t been saved.”

The older ponies all looked at the fillies in amazement.

“Somepony saved you? Well, who was it?” Twilight asked.

The others were more than eager to know the identity of someone brave enough to fight off an entire pack of Timberwolves. But they were not prepared for the answer Scootaloo was about to say.

“Well… you girls are not gonna believe this. But we were saved by somepony who looks exactly like BlackWarGreymon. But it wasn’t him.”

While the average pony would’ve been baffled at the sentence which was spoken, the Mane Six however felt very uncomfortable about its meaning. Mentally hoping that it wasn’t what they were thinking.

“Say what?” Applejack asked. Leaving the fillies to explain themselves.

“Yeah, the guy looked just like BlackWarGreymon. Except his armour was grey,” Applebloom said. Joined by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“Oh oh, and scary red eyes.”

“And he can even use magic! Can you believe that?”

“Yeah. A Digimon using magic. Now that’s awesome,” Scootaloo added.

As the crusaders reminisced on what happened in the Everfree, the Mane Six looked at them in shock and horror. The descriptions all matched perfectly to the only other Digimon they knew other than BlackWarGreymon.

“WHAT!!!?” The six shouted at the three. Surprising them by their outburst.

“Wha-what’s going on!? What did we do now?” Sweetie Belle asked.

When Twilight Sparkle spoke, what she said could’ve been in a form of a shout. But due to the shock, her voice was more of a harsh whisper.

“You met ChaosBlackWarGreymon!?”

Silence followed as the question filled the minds of the group. Creating uncomfortable suspense among them.

“Who?” Applebloom asked, breaking the silence.

Sweetie Belle then realised something.

“Ooh, that must be his name!”

“Kind of a mouthful don’t you think? I mean, ChaosWarGreymon is shorter. Or even just… Chaos for that matter,” Scootaloo joined.

Then the three fillies realised something else as they turned their attention to the older ponies.

“Wait? You all know him? How?” Applebloom asked.

Rainbow Dash answered, but the answer wasn’t what the fillies were hoping for.

“How? Probably because he caused what could be the greatest calamity of our lives!”

“What!?” The three fillies shrieked. Their turn to be surprised.

“I hear ya, Rainbow. That vermin is a no-good monster!” Applejack added.

The fillies were confused at their outbursts.

“Wha-What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“He’s BlackWarGreymon’s clone. An evil one too,” Applejack replied.

“That ruffian also nearly destroyed the Crystal Empire, half tore a city down, burned Griffinstone to the ground…”

Rarity was interrupted by an outburst from Rainbow Dash.

“And had the nerve to destroy the Wonderbolt Academy!!”

The fillies stood still in shock at what the digital clone had done.

“What!? He… he did all that!?” Scootaloo asked, also saddened about Rainbow Dash’s favourite academy.

Then more insight was given about the incident at the Crystal Empire.

“And if BlackWarGreymon hadn’t stepped in, he could’ve killed us at the Crystal Empire,” Fluttershy said with fear in her voice.

The Cutiemark Crusaders couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“Really!? But ah’ thought those two are friends,” Applebloom said.

“They’re definitely not. He even nearly killed BlackWarGreymon,” Rarity said.

“And the fight between the two almost tore the whole empire apart. It’s a miracle that BlackWarGreymon was able to win,” Applejack joined.

“And whatever he said to you three, they’re probably lies to mess with you,” Rainbow Dash added.

The truth hurt the three fillies. When they first met, they found ChaosBlackWarGreymon strange, but rather sweet. But there was one thing they were confused about.

“But… if what ya all said is true, then why did he save us from the Timberwolves?” Applebloom asked.

While most of the group were unsure, stunned silent, Rainbow Dash went straight to her conclusion.

“He probably done that just to fool you. A trick to mess with your heads.”

Meanwhile, Twilight was uncertain if Rainbow Dash’s statement was correct. She then thought of something. Approaching the three fillies.

“Girls, what did he do after he defeated the Timberwolves?”

While most of the girls looked at the Princess of Friendship in confusion, the crusaders looked at each other before answering.

“Well…we just talked. And then he flew away,” Sweetie Belle answered.

As Twilight looked amazed from the fact, Pinkie Pie said something that was smart of her to say.

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound like him at all.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” The highly doubtful Rainbow Dash asked the pink mare.

But to her surprise, Twilight backed Pinkie Pie up.

“No, Rainbow. She’s right.”

As all the surprised ponies looked at her, the lavender princess explained herself.

“The way you girls described what he did… it doesn’t sound like something he would do. From what little we know of him, all he knows is chaos and destruction. While you three were talking to him, he had every opportunity to cause harm. But he chose not to and then left you alone. But why?”

While the group were thinking, the crusaders were a little shaken. ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned out to be a very dangerous being. And while they were talking to the Digimon clone, he could had ended them very easily. The three really had dodged a bullet.

However, further thought on the matter had to be put on pause, because Spike came bursting through the barn doors. Quite a feat from such a small dragon. He painted heavily as he approached the group.

“Hay…Tw…Twilight!” Spike said, taking in deep breaths in-between words.

“Spike! What is it!?” Twilight asked as she rushed to him.

“A…An urgent letter… from Celestia,” Spike answered as he held up a scroll.

After taking the scroll off Spike’s grip, Twilight unrolled it and quickly and quietly read it. After a moment, she let out a gasp.

“What is it, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“We’re needed at Canterlot at once!”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile, far away on the fringes of the Everfree Forest. A skirmish was unfolding. After being flung through the air and crashing down on the ground, the weary Tirek struggled to stand back up. As he finally got back on his hooves, he stared in disbelief at Ayumi. Who was hovering in the air in front of him.

“You! You can’t possibly be Twilight!” He declared.

Ayumi however was unmoved by the centaur’s words.

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”

Then with a wave of her right hoof, the Alicorn threw a purple energy orb at Tirek. The evil lord stumbling in pain as it exploded against his body.

Ayumi glared at him some more. Despite the power he possessed, Tirek was no match for her even in her normal state. She didn’t even need to transform once.

“I can’t believe I used to be afraid of you,” She coldly said before charging towards Tirek.

Just as the centaur recovered, he received a solid blow right to the gut. Tirek gagged in pain as air escaped his lungs. Then flying up to his head, Ayumi spun around to deliver a double kick to the side of his face. The surprisingly strong blow sent the giant centaur tumbling across the land and crashing into some trees.

“How? How is this little pony this strong!?” He asked himself. Unable to comprehend the full extent of the Alicorn’s power.

As he weakly got back on his hooves, Tirek slowly became more afraid of the Alicorn. Seemingly unstoppable. That was when he decided to shout out.

“Hay! I could use some help right about now!”

Ayumi paused as he looked at the weary centaur in confusion. Surprised that Tirek apparently had backup.

“What? There somepony else?”

That was when she heard a voice behind her. A voice that was familiar, yet different at the same time.

“Well. Isn’t this a surprise.”

Ayumi’s eyes went wide in surprise. Slowly turning around, the alternate Twilight laid her sights on a recognizable sight.

“What? Black?” She asked.

But her surprise was joined by uncertainty and confusion. The individual hovering in front of her looked identical to BlackWarGreymon. But his armour was different. More grey than black. His hair too was grey, and his eyes were crimson red.

Unbeknownst to her, the individual was none other than ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“W-What?” The baffled Ayumi uttered as he looked over at the Digimon’s form. Confused as to why his colour scheme was different.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon however inspected her out of fascination as he slowly circled around her.

“Bizarre. You look like that purple pony, but you’re different. Stronger.”

The hurt Tirek began to shout out at the Digimon clone.

“About time you showed up! Where have you been!?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked over to Tirek in annoyance.

“Quit your whining!”

The still baffled Ayumi looked to both the Digimon and the centaur. Confusion only increased when it turned out that the Mega was the ally foretold.

“W-What’s going on? What is this!?” She asked as she faced back at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Looking at him was probably the most bizarre thing she’d seen since arriving in Equestria.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon locked his curious gaze back on Ayumi. As he did, he instantly sensed her energy. And was mentally surprised at what he discovered.

‘What!? There’s data within her! And it closely resembles the boss to a T!’

He then spoke out.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m afraid we don’t have the time.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his left arm out at Ayumi. Then the Alicorn gasped in surprise when she found herself ensnared in a levitation spell. Her body froze on the spot, unable to move.

“Wha!?”

As she looked back at the Digimon, she noticed that the three claws on his gauntlet were glowing green. It was very reminiscent to dark magic she had seen before. But that was when she realised something. Adding to her surprise even more.

“M-Magic!?” She shrieked in surprise.

With the surprised pony in his hold, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw his arm down. Sending the Alicorn crashing to the ground with a loud impact.

Ayumi struggled to stand back up. Not expecting such a strong move. But by the time she stood back on her hooves, she was too stunned from what she had discovered.

“That magic. T-That’s Sombra’s magic! H-How can a Digimon use magic like that!?”

But the situation only worsened. Using another magic spell, ChaosBlackWarGreymon summoned numerous shadow tendrils around Ayumi. The black appendages binding her body, wings and legs. Ayumi tried to break free, but was surprised that the strength of the spell was far greater than she expected.

“W-What is going on!!?” She demanded as the tendrils pinned her down to the ground. Struggling to get loose as she continued to try to comprehend what in the world was happening.

But before Ayumi could get the chance to transform, using her stronger form to break free, ChaosBlackWarGreymon threw down a green ball of energy. As it struck the ground in front of the Alicorn, it exploded into a cloud of green smoke. Ayumi tried to move her head away. But the more she struggled, more of the green smoke she breathed in. Nothing happened at first. But as she continued to breathe in the cloud, she started to feel drowsy as she coughed. Her struggling became much weaker by the second as her eyelids began to feel heavy. Her mind feeling foggy and blank. Ayumi had been hit with magical sleeping gas.

‘What’s… happening? I… can’t…’

As the former Twilight felt her strength rapidly giving way, she suddenly found that she could no longer fight back. After collapsing on the ground, she mentally cursed herself for being subdued so easily. If she had the chance to transform, even in her first transformed state, she would’ve fared better. But she let the confusion get to her. Almost like what happened with BlackWarGreymon when they first fought.

As she looked up, she could see the grey Digimon hovering over Tirek. She could see his other metal claws glowing in green magic, healing Tirek’s wounds. As she looked at the airborne Digimon, using what was left of her waking moment, she sensed his energy. Finding him to be a mismatch of more than one kind of power.

“H…He’s not BlackWarGreymon. But… I can sense his data in him. And… he has Sombra’s magic. But… th-there’s something else. A… another power. What… is it?”

Ayumi stared at the ChaosBlackWarGreymon more as he began to descend down towards her. As she looked into his blood-red eyes, she used what’s left of her power to identify the unknown energy within him. As her magic sensed him out, she was met with pure darkness. Briefly illuminated by a pair of piercing yellow eyes.

Ayumi’s eyes widened in complete fear and disbelief from the discovery. Gasping in fright. She knew exactly what energy that was. And worse still, whom it belonged to. Her fear almost caused her adrenaline to kick in. Struggling against the tendrils franticly from the discovery of the truth. A truth she never thought possible in the current timeline of Equestria.

‘HIM!!! IT’S HIM!!! H-HE’S HERE TOO!!!? But… but that can’t be! It’s impossible! I… I have to…’

By the time ChaosBlackWarGreymon landed in front of her, the effects of the sleeping gas kicked in. Unable to resist any longer, her blurry vision ended in darkness. Ayumi falling unconscious, and at the mercy of the villains.

As he loomed over the fallen Alicorn, ChaosBlackWarGreymon cancelled out his spell. The tendrils restraining the unconscious Ayumi dispersed from existence. As the alternate Twilight lay on the ground, the Digimon clone gave her a questionable look.

“She looks like the other one. But she’s not the same. But she’s not a clone either. She also has the boss’ data. But how?”

The Digimon felt like investigating. To which might be interrupted by a furious Tirek.

“Grrr! I’ll make that brat pay!”

“Wait!!”

Tirek paused his rampage from ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s command. As the confused centaur looked at the Mega, the latter glanced over his shoulder as he spoke up.

“Others may be nearby. Best if you checked the area.”

Understanding that it was possible for other ponies to be nearby, Tirek grunted as he walked away. Patrolling the area to see if there were any others watching them.

Left alone, ChaosBlackWarGreymon made sure that Tirek was gone. Which was why he lied. With his supreme senses of a Digimon, he knew that Ayumi came alone. The reason why he lied… was because of what he was about to do.

“I wonder…”

The Alicorn resembling the other was strange to him. But what got his attention was that she possessed data, the data of his master. Curious of who and what she truly was, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reached down with his right gauntlet pointing at the sleeping pony. The tip of his middle metal claw barely resting against Ayumi’s horn. Then the claw glowed green. A spell had activated.

Undisturbed, ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to read Ayumi’s mind. Looking through her memories. And what he found… was something that took him completely by surprise. The pony was Twilight. But… a different Twilight. From a world where BlackWarGreymon never arrived. But most shocking, a world where… there was no hope. No hope for all. And the one who destroyed hope.

With all the destruction and death flowing through his mind all at once, ChaosBlackWarGreymon screamed as he quickly retracted his arm. Cancelling the spell. As he stared at the sleeping girl, the Digimon felt his whole-body trembling as he breathed heavily. But not from who the Alicorn was. It was from the world where she came from. With what was her whole life flowing through his head, the aftereffects of the spell, the Digimon felt… fearful.

Fear… towards his creator.

“He…He did it. He…actually did it.”

Chapter 60: Vengeance

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Down in the depths of the hidden lair, surrounded by her Changeling army, Queen Chrysalis was anxiously waiting. Pondering if the mission Lord Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon were given could be completed. But the uncertainties kept clinging onto her. If the two could do the job, then conquest of Equestria would be guaranteed. Conquest that, for all her life, she knew that the master always wanted. But the one thing she never understood, was why. Why did he want to rule the world? And if he were to reign victorious, what would happen to her and her Changeling family? Would they continue to live, but under his shadow? Are they worthy enough for him to keep around?

Then her mind traced back to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. And remembering overhearing the private conversation between the evil Digimon and Tirek. It questioned her very belief of who or what the Digimon clone really was? If he’s not as evil as he was made up to be, that he was not the evil incarnation of BlackWarGreymon, then what was he? Her thoughts then went back to how ChaosBlackWarGreymon interacted with her Changeling brood. Back before he was even unleashed upon the Crystal Empire. He almost seemed… friendly to them.

It made her think. If he was not an evil incarnation, then was he an innocent soul being manipulated? Being used as nothing more than a tool of destruction? Chrysalis was known by pony-kind to be uncaring and heartless. But what she was feeling… she was showing sympathy to the clone.

But her trail of thought was interrupted by an outcry of one of her solders.

“QUEEN!!! COME HERE QUICK!!!”

Hearing the urgency of her children, the queen quickly flew over to the edge of the chamber. Joining many other Changelings who too heard the outcry. But as she reached to them, she was met with a look of distress. And a sight of something that horrified her.

In front of her were a pair of distressed Changeling solders. But it was something they were holding onto their backs that gained the attention of the entire hive. A frozen lifeless body of one of her own.

“W-What is this? What happened?” Chrysalis asked, her voice carrying sadness that she was trying very hard to hide.

One of the two Changelings answered. His voice too was filled with sorrow.

“We don’t know. We… we just found him outside like this.”

The entire Changeling hive were in an uproar. Discussing how one of their own had died just outside the lair. Some even guessed that he died to the cold. The chamber was somewhat close to the north. But the stunned Queen knew her children all too well. They wouldn’t be dumb enough to stay out in the cold. What’s more, if a Changeling goes outside, they would always be in pairs of two. For extra security. Yet only one body was found. Meaning that only one was outside. To which she never gave the command to do so.

Unless… someone else of high authority gave the order. Aside from her presence, there was only one other she knew.

Leaving the Changelings, Chrysalis stormed out of the chamber and into the caverns. As he marched on, tears began to fall from her eyes. Tears of sadness, loss, and anger. She knew exactly what happened to her child. And in hidden fury, wanted to confront him.

After a long trek, Chrysalis found him. The Digimon was patiently waiting in his chambers. She then called him out. Her voice enraged.

“You done it again! Haven’t you!?”

“Hmm? Whatever is the matter?” The Digimon uttered. His tone uninterested in what the Changeling queen had to say.

“One of my children. He was found dead outside in the cold!” She shouted at him. But again, the Mega sounded uninterested.

“Oh? Such a pity.”

Chrysalis snapped at him. For she was in no mood for games.

“I know it was you!! Why!? Why do you keep doing this!? Isn’t it bad enough for you to terrorize my family!?”

The Digimon slowly turned around, glaring at her with his glowing yellow eyes. Taking note of her anguish tone. To which she continued.

“WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE!!!?”

To her surprise, the Digimon lashed out his arm at her. His open palm grabbed her as she was forced onto the ground in a painful thud. Chrysalis cried out on pain as she felt a sharp grip around her neck. To which intensified as her body was being lifted off the hard ground. Her hind legs squirming as her forelegs tried to pry herself free from the iron grip. As the queen fearfully struggled, she heard the heavy footsteps of the Digimon who held her in his grasp. She stared at him in terror as he growled at her as he spoke.

“Don’t… lecture…me!!!”

As she was held up to his face, Chrysalis felt her entire body tremble in fear when the Mega breathed down her neck.

“It was that attitude that got your bother killed. You don’t order me around.”

The Changeling queen squirmed franticly by the Digimon’s threat. Fearing that she would suffer the same fate, tears fell from her eyes. But to her mental surprise, the Digimon’s tone slightly softened.

“But this isn’t the time for such things. Not with my power being so close to completion. Even you can feel the magnitude of my strength. Forget the past. You’re playing with the big boys now.”

Despite feeling his grip loosening, Chrysalis remained terrified by the Digimon. But out of spite, she made another jab at the Digimon.

“I’ve… overheard you… and Tirek. The other one. The clone. He’s not… truly evil. Isn’t he?”

The beast let out a growl of annoyance before dropping the fear-stricken Chrysalis down on the ground. He then turned around and prepared to leave the chamber. But not before leaving her a warning.

“I suggest you keep your mouth shut. If… you value your life. Know your place, bug.”

Left alone in the chamber, Queen Chrysalis began to fall into tears. To her, it was like her nightmares had come to life. No matter what she could try, no matter how hard she tried to hide, the evil beast who struck fear into the hearts of her kind, was always able to find her. And every time he found her, the stronger his power had grown. As time went on, it truly began to scare her. In her heart, she truly wanted a life away from him. Or a life with him no longer around.

She never even found out why he murdered one of her children.
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Canterlot

After receiving the summons to go to Canterlot, Princess Twilight used her experimental long distance teleportation spell to send herself and the other five element bearers to the city’s castle. Leaving Spike to look after the Cutiemark Crusaders back in Ponyville.

Reappearing in the castle, and after getting over her dizziness, Twilight lead the others towards the throne room. Upon reaching the room, standing in front of them was Princess Luna.

“Princess Luna! We came as fast as we could!” Twilight said as she and her friends approached the blue Alicorn.

“Thank you all for coming on short notice. But… where’s BlackWarGreymon? And Ayumi?” The Moon Princess asked.

Twilight looked back at the uncertain group before answering.

“Spike told us that BlackWarGreymon went to the Everfree Forest. And we don’t even know where Ayumi is. But… what’s going on? Where’s Princess Celestia?”

Despite feeling a little down about the absence of Ayumi and BlackWarGreymon, Luna spoke up.

“My sister will explain everything. As for her whereabouts, she’s currently using a spell to summon Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.”

The group were taken back by the news.

“Cadence and Shining Armor are coming too?” Twilight asked.

“But does having all the important ponies here mean that something big had happened?” Rarity asked.

“Indeed,” Luna replied.

Then after a bright flash of yellow light, to the sudden surprise of the Mane Six, the Royal Couple appeared beside the group.

“Brother! Cadence!” Twilight said as she ran up to give the two a warm hug.

“Hay Twily,” Shining Armor said back. joined by Cadence.

“It’s so good to see you again.”

“Did Celestia tell you what the meeting’s about?” Twilight asked as she pulled away. Looking at the two with curiosity. But received a different kind of answer.

“She didn’t. All she said was that we are to be summoned here for something urgent,” Cadence answered.

Without a moment notice, Celestia herself walked through the doors and towards the group. A stern expression on her face. Much to the uncertainty of the ponies.

“Princess, what is this all about?” Shining Armor asked the Sun Princess.

The white Alicorn was hesitant to answer. Fearing the news might be too much for her friends to take in. Luna noticed her reluctance. But not wanting for the efforts her sister pulled to go to waste, she spoke up to reassure her.

“Sister, you must tell them. They have the right to know.”

“Tell us what? What’s happening?” Twilight asked.

Understanding that Luna was right, Celestia tried to push aside her fear and spoke to her friends.

“Twilight. Cadence. All of you. I bring terrible news.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After a short while, Celestia explained to the others the vision she received the night before. Every single detail of it. Aside from Luna, all the others looked at the white Alicorn with horrified expressions. It was their faces of fright that Celestia wanted to avoid. But there was no denying that she herself was terrified to the bone.

“So, let me get this straight. Equestria will be attacked… by a monster much worse than Lord Tirek?” The prince asked.

“Yes, Shining Armor. A monster with evil and cruelty unlike any other. And he didn’t just attack Equestria. He destroyed it,” Celestia answered.

“I can’t believe such a monster like that even exists,” Cadence uttered, nearly heartbroken from the horrible news.

“And what’s more. It’s a creature we have never seen before,” Luna added.

While the older four ponies spoke amongst themselves, the Mane Six grouped together and spoke quietly to one another. Looks of distress on their faces.

“Hay. Ya don’t think that this monster is the same one what Ayumi told us about? Right?” Applejack asked. Much to the uncertainties of the rest of the group.

“Celestia described this creature as a demon. And that it destroyed Equestria. There are… similarities.” The nervous Twilight replied. Her voice afraid that it might be true.

“You mean that… that… thing, is among us this whole time!?” Rarity shrieked. Feeling very uncomfortable.

“We don’t know that. I mean, Ayumi’s timeline and ours are very different. It can’t be it. What’s more, BlackWarGreymon is the only Digimon to arrive here,” Rainbow Dash added. Believing that the vision might mean something else.

“But Celestia’s vision matched Ayumi’s story. How do we know for sure?” Pinkie Pie asked.

The group truly were lost for thought. If Ayumi was among them, she would figure it out for sure. After a brief moment of quiet thinking, Fluttershy thought of something. Leaving the huddled group, she spoke up her thoughts to everyone in the throne room.

“Umm, everypony. I think I have an idea.”

All eyes turned to the yellow Pegasus. Wondering what she had in mind.

“What is it?” Pinkie Pie asked. To which the usually shy pony answered.

“Umm…why don’t we ask Discord?”

Most of the group, mostly Rainbow Dash, looked at the yellow Pegasus in confusion.

“Discord? Really?”

Before more doubts on the idea were said, Twilight spoke up in excitement.

“Wait. That’s it! Good idea, Fluttershy!”

Surprised by her outburst, the group looked at the young Alicorn as she explained.

“Discord has powers that are beyond our understanding and completely defy the laws of physics. If this is something that we can’t figure out, then he surely would have the power to know for sure.”

Keen on the idea, Celestia spoke up.

“Well spoken, Twilight. I will summon him at once,” She said as she began a powerful spell.

As the white Alicorn worked her magic, the others held their breath. Some hoped that the Draconequus would have the answer they needed. Using the same spell she used to bring the Royal Couple to Canterlot, a bright flash appeared in the middle of the group. The Spirit of Chaos had been summoned.

But to their dismay, Discord was fast asleep. Wearing a sleeping cap on his head. Snoring peacefully as he laid in what he thought was his bed. But it was the floor.

“Hay, Discord! Wake up already!” Rainbow Dash shouted in an attempt to wake him up. Clearly not in the mood for his shenanigans.

But to her surprise, it didn’t work. Before she could shout again, Fluttershy tapped her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. Making her stop.

“Let me try,” She said to her rainbow-maned friend.

“Good luck.”

After approaching Discord’s sleeping head, Fluttershy knelt down and spoke in an incredibly soft gentle tone.

“Umm… Discord. It’s time to wake up.”

To the disbelief of her friends, it worked. Discord was yawning as he sluggishly stood up to stretch his arms and back.

He then spoke as he rubbed his eyes awake.

“Oh, Fluttershy. I had a very strange dream about being summoned while I was asleep. Surrounded by all my pony friends.”

After being fully awake, Discord looked around and, to his surprise, the very thing he dreamt about became a reality.

“Oh. Déjà vu, am I right?”

As no one answered his question or even let out a slight giggle, Discord gave up.

“Ok, why am I here?”

Twilight was the first to speak.

“Discord. We believe you may know information that we need.”

“Oh, I know a lot of things,” Discord replied as he summoned a book out of nowhere and then reading it, despite the book being upside down. The cover was titled ‘Discord’s life’.

He continued after he closed the book.

“So, what would you all like to know?”

“It concerns a vision my sister witnessed last night,” Luna answered. Motioning her head over to Celestia.

Discord seemed keen on listening.

“Oooh, another one of your visions,” The spirit said as he turned towards the Sun Princess. He then reopened his book before reading glasses appeared in front of his eyes.

“Do tell,” He said with a wave of his lion paw.

With the moment right, the white Alicorn told Discord about her vision.

“It goes like this. Equestria… will be attacked. And then destroyed by something terrible.”

Acting as if he wasn’t interested, believing he had heard the same story before, Discord kept turning pages in his book as he made a guess.

“Yeah, yeah, something terrible. It’s just Tirek, my dear. But don’t worry. I’ll handle it with no backstabbing this time.”

The other ponies glared at the spirit. For wanting him to take the situation seriously and for him reminding them of what he’d done in the past.

“That’s just it. It’s not Tirek. It’s something else. Something far worse,” Celestia spoke, gaining slight interest from Discord.

After he looked at her, he rolled his eyes in a joyful, joking manner.

“Pfft, like what? Some sort of demon or something?” He asked in a playful tone.

As he got back to his reading, he heard Celestia’s reply.

“Yes, Discord.”

Discord’s body froze as his eyes slightly widened. Then as he lifted his glasses with his eagle claw, he looked at the white Alicorn for confirmation.

“Come again?”

“Yes. The monster… it greatly resembled a demon. More so than our saviour could ever be,” Celestia added, comparing the beast to BlackWarGreymon.

Discord continued to silently stare at Celestia. Hearing the slight fear in her voice. Though it looked plain, hidden in his blank expression was shock and disbelief. While staring, he closed his book and threw it over his shoulder. Disappearing from sight.

And when he spoke, his voice sounded a little shaken.

“O…ok then. And you said that this… beast, destroyed all of Equestria?” He asked.

“Yes. Yes, he did. Nopony was spared.” Celestia replied.

As Discord’s usual mocking expression darkened, he began to feel anxious. Almost concerned. But in his mind, there was only one sure way of knowing the full details. To which he explained.

“Alright. Celestia, have you ever had your mind read by somepony else?”

With the rest of the group, Celestia was confused by the question. To which she gave an uncertain reply.

“Not… that I’m aware of. Why do you ask?”

“I’m the Spirit of Chaos, princess. I have the power to do many things. Mind reading is one of them. If you wish, I would like to see this vision myself.”

“You can do that?” Shining Armor asked.

“Of course. But there will be one tiny little snag.”

The group felt nervous from what Discord was admitting that there was one downside to his idea. To which he explained to Celestia.

“For me to see it, it would mean you would have to witness it again.”

Celestia felt very uncomfortable from the discovery. The last thing she wanted was to witness the horrors of the vision again. She began to doubt the plan.

“Oh. But… but I…I don’t want…”

Discord could clearly see the princess second guessing his idea. So the Draconequus tried to play the guilt game.

“Fine. I guess you don’t really need my help.” He said as he pouted. Turning around with his arms crossed.

Believing that Discord would disappear, Celestia immediately stopped him.

“Wait!”

The Spirit of Chaos glanced over his shoulder. Quite surprised to see the fear and desperation in the princess’s eyes. After taking in a deep breath, Celestia gave in.

“Ok. Please do it. We really need to know who’s behind all this.”

Seeing the genuine desire of knowledge in Celestia’s eyes, Discord turned around and faced her. Raising his eagle claw in the air as he extended his index finger.

“Alrighty then. Just hold still, and I’ll work my magic.”

The group looked at the two in anticipation. Curious to see if Discord’s idea of mind reading would give them the answers they needed.

Celestia however had one more question.

“Will his… hurt?”

But the answer she received from Discord was less than reassuring.

“No idea.”

Then without any warning, Discord placed his eagle claw on the tip of Celestia’s horn. Both their eyes as magic was being shared between the two. Discord’s magic was coursing through Celestia’s mind to find the vision to which she described. But when he finally found it, he was met with a disturbing scene of Equestria in ruins. Everything burnt to the ground. He then saw Celestia on the run. Being hunted by the monster that caused the destruction. Then… as the image of demon horns and piercing yellow eyes came into view. The connection was severed. Caused by Celestia screaming from envisioning the image again. Causing her to back off from Discord as she painted from fright.

“Sister! Are you alright!?” Luna asked as she rushed to her sister’s aid.

As the spooked Alicorn took in deep breaths to calm herself, she reassured her younger sibling.

“I-I’m alright. I just… didn’t like seeing that again.”

Twilight then walked over to Discord as she watched the two older Alicorns.

“Well Discord, do you have any ideas on what the monster is?”

But as she waited for a reply, there were none.

“Discord?” She asked as she and her friends all looked at the Draconequus. But something about him left them confused.

Discord stood still, as if he was turned to stone. Except for his arms, for they were slightly trembling in shock. The playful and usual gloating expression on his face was completely gone. Instead, he had the look of complete shock on his face. As if he had just discovered something so horrible he wanted nothing more than to forget it. Sweat began to drip from his head. The anxiety kicking in. Something he rarely ever felt in his existence. As well as his wide eyes and his slowly gapping mouth, his face was beginning to go pale. The colour of his face literally turning white.

“N…no way. It can’t be. Could it?” He said to himself. His voice was a whisper.

“What is it, Discord?” Cadence asked, she and the others barely heard what he said.

Despite the unwelcoming feeling within him, Discord didn’t want his friends to feel worried. Anything but from what he knows. So, he tried to call off the subject.

“Uhh… oh, it’s nothing. But you wouldn’t really need to pay mind to visions. They tend to exaggerate and stuff. Never as bad as it shows. And oh, would you look at the time. I have to get going.”

Despite his words, Fluttershy couldn’t help but think that Discord sounded a little… frightened.

“Are you alright?” She asked him.

“Oh yes! Fine, fine, don’t mind me! I have to go now! Bye-bye!”

“Discord wait!”

Fluttershy’s plea came too late. In a flash of light, Discord vanished. Leaving the ponies to look at each other in confusion.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Discord’s home

After arriving at his home, the Draconequus immediately materialized a paper bag and began breathing deeply into it. The bag inflating and deflating with every breath as his head kept sweating from stress.

As he then ate the paper bag, stress eating, Discord tried to comprehend on what was going on.

“This is bad! This is very, very bad! But it just can’t be! His power couldn’t possibly be near complete now! Could it?”

Discord then felt a sudden pain in his right arm. Grabbing a hold on his lion limb as he tried to make the pain go away.

It then dawned on him. It wasn’t his arm that was in pain. It was… the reminder.

Discord stared at his arm in shock as he began to remember what happened in his past.

“How could I ever forget that day?” He asked as he received a flashback.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

It all happened thousands of years in the past. Long before Discord’s reign over Equestria. The Spirit was merely lounging around as his mind was filled with ideas on pranks. Then one day, HE came. The being saw great evil potential in Discord and struck up a deal to forge an alliance. Promised that Equestria would be theirs for the taking, Discord agreed.

Though Discord wanted to call themselves partners, the evil beast preferred to be the one in charge. As the two occasionally argued, the monster started to find Discord’s presence incredibly annoying.

Discord even once tried to re-energize the beast. To bring him back to his full power. But failed to do so, as if the beast had some sort of curse upon him. But little by little, his strength grows by the day. Though he predicted that it would take him thousands of years to reach full power, Discord barely had the patience to wait.

But one day… everything changed.

Discord found out the truth behind the monster’s motives. But wouldn’t have any of it. In fact, the Spirit of Chaos was horrified at what he discovered. He had no idea that anyone would go to such extremes to conquer the world.

What set him off the most, was that the conquest of Equestria… involved mass slaughter!

Not even Discord ever dreamed of doing such things. True, he wanted to rule Equestria. But he would never do anything so cold hearted. He wanted to have fun, not kill.

Deciding that the monster was a great threat to the world, Discord openly defied him and stood up against him. Although the Draconequus was evil at the time, but even he would defend Equestria from the type of chaos that he would never bestow on the world.

Their argument resulted in a fight. A battle between two evil beings.

Discord had it all. The power to defy gravity. Breaking the laws of physics. Warp reality to his will. And even create portals to other dimensions. But he underestimated the genius of the beast, and the magnitude of his power. When it came to strength and raw power, the Digimon had Discord beat.

After receiving a critical hit, Discord was winded. Vulnerable. In the end, the Spirit of Chaos himself was overpowered and overwhelmed by the monster’s might.

It was there he lay. In the dark lair, quivering on the floor and against the wall. Discord’s body was greatly wounded. One of his wings broken, his fur and scales ripped and shredded, bruises and deep cuts covered his skin. He couldn’t focus on healing. His mind succumbed to the pain in his body and the fear that he might end up dead. All his life, he thought he was the most powerful. But he was proven wrong in the worst way possible.

With his body and pride broken, he watched on fearfully as the large Digimon approached him. Unaffected by the battle and flexing his blade-like fingers.

He could never forget the conversation he and the beast had at that moment of horror.

“Don’t worry, Discord. I’m not going to kill you. I just want to leave a little message, that’s all,” He said as he approached the broken Draconequus.

As the Digimon stood in front of Discord, he continued on.

“But I will spare you of that. If you reconsider and swear your loyalty to me and only me.”

As Discord tried to summon enough courage to look at the monster, he spoke in a weak, fearful voice. But his words were defiant.

“I… am many things. But… I’m not a killer. And I’ll never be one. And ponies called ME the monster.”

The monstrous Digimon growled at Discord, recognizing what he said as an insult.

“I won’t do it. I won’t do it!!” Discord shouted, rejecting the offer.

“NO!!?” The being shouted in Discord’s face. Slamming his right hand against the wall beside the spirit’s head. His fingers made a scrapping sound as they scratched the rock.

Discord briefly shivered in fright from having such a dangerous monster extremely close to him. But despite his fear, he continued to defy him.

“I…won’t do it.”

Deciding that Discord was useless to him, the Digimon grabbed him by the neck with his left hand and lifted him off the ground. While lifting him up, both the monster and spirit continued to be at eye level with each other.

Discord was helpless as the Mega tapped the spirit’s nose with his right finger. Deciding what to do next.

“Guess I’ll have to pass on that message myself. Won’t I, hmm?”

Without warning, the Digimon spun around and threw the battered Discord on the cold stone floor. As the painfilled Draconequus looked back fearfully, the Digimon spoke.

“You will never again mention my name. Nor to anyone. You better hope to never cross me again. And never mention my whereabouts or my plans. Because if you do, I’ll hunt you down… and kill you.”

“M…m…message received,” Discord said. Terrified of both the threat and the monster’s eyes.

But to his confusion, the beast started to chuckle as he raised his right arm up above his head. Discord did not like the way things were looking.

“That wasn’t the message, Discord.”

Then with a quick flick of his bendy wrist, the Digimon opened up his hands. His fingers acting like genuine blades.

“THIS IS!!!”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Just as the vision of the monster lashing out on him played out, Discord was napped out of his flashback as his arm felt the painful stinging again. As if knifes pierced deep into his flesh.

But the pain was just the reminder… of that message.

As Discord grasped his arm much firmer, he thought about what Celestia saw in her vision.

“Please, Celestia… for once… for the good of Equestria. I hope your vision is wrong."
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back in Canterlot, the ponies all stared at the spot where Discord vanished. Confused at how he was behaving before he left.

“Wow. I’ve never seen Discord act like that before,” Pinkie Pie pointed out.

“Yes, Pinkie. He almost sounded… like he was afraid,” Fluttershy mentioned. Knowing that she herself might act the same way.

“Afraid? Really? What could he be scared of? He’s the Spirit of Chaos,” Rainbow Dash said, finding the facts all too strange.

The others took a moment to think about the question. Worried that Discord might actually be scared of something after all.

“Though I’m a little surprised that he was able to read minds like that,” Twilight spoke up.

“Yes, Twilight. But from the way he reacted to my vision, I think… he might actually know who or what the monster is,” Celestia said, believing that Discord knew a lot more than he was letting on.

After a moment of silence, Applejack spoke up. Her expression was one of worry and concern.

“I’m not gonna lie y’all. Ah just wish BlackWarGreymon was here with us."

“I know what you mean, darling. We always felt much safer when he’s around,” Rarity added.

The words of the two mares sparked memories throughout the group. Mostly to Cadence and Shining Armor. Back at the Crystal Empire, when they were under threat from ChaosBlackWarGreymon, their combined might couldn’t leave a dent on him. They were lucky that BlackWarGreymon was there to even the odds.

As the thought of the black armoured dragon warrior rekindled in her mind, Luna’s eyes widened in astonishment when she realised something.

“BlackWarGreymon! That’s it!”

All the others looked at the blue Alicorn, briefly startled by her cheerful outburst.

“What is?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Luna then explained herself.

“BlackWarGreymon is the answer. Given how much stronger he has become, and with his Ascended form, he’s become the most powerful force in Equestria. The whole world perhaps! I don’t think there’s any doubt that he could beat this new threat.”

Most of the ponies began to feel more upbeat. Becoming just as optimistic as the blue Alicorn.

“You know, I think you’re right,” Twilight added.

While most of the group were convinced, Celestia however wasn’t so sure. Her face showed that she had doubts. Remnants of the Digimon’s black clawed gauntlet were seen in her vision. To her, it could mean that the weapon was damaged and then discarded. Or… in a worst case scenario, that the Digimon’s fate had been sealed. Concerned for BlackWarGreymon’s future.

Even though she didn’t want to tell her younger sister about it, fearing that it would break her heart, another thing she didn’t want was for Luna to have false hope. Because if disaster were to happen to BlackWarGreymon while Luna had that hope, it would completely shatter her. She would be broken in mind that cannot be fixed.

It was the last thing she wanted. Therefore… Celestia had to confess. Luna had to know the truth.

“Umm…Luna.”

Her voice gained Luna’s attention before continuing.

“There’s… there’s something else about the vision. Something that… I hadn’t told you yet.”

“What is it, sister?” Luna asked. Slightly worried by Celestia’s downbeat tone.

As the white Alicorn took a moment to breathe, she tried to speak.

“Well… it’s…”

But just as Celestia was about to reveal the truth, the outside wall of the throne room suddenly exploded. As if something charged straight through the wall. All the unprepared ponies inside barely had time to react as debris flew everywhere. Taken completely by surprise.

After coughing from the surrounding dust cloud, Celestia was first to stand.

“Wha-What’s happening!? Is everypony ok!?” Celestia called out. Hoping that no one was hurt.

But as she looked around, she saw something slowly rising from the thick blanket of dust. Something big. After seeing the silhouette, Celestia became startled by the figure’s recognizable traits. She recognized its three-horned helmet, its paladin-spiked shoulders, its three-clawed gauntlets and the shape of the shield on its back. She was startled even further when she sensed its energy. It was tremendous, just like BlackWarGreymon’s. And yet, the energy also felt different. It left her stunned as she stared at the being with wide eyes of shock.

Time seemed to have slowed down for the Sun Princess as she saw the silhouette rose up to its full height. With its back to her as it faced towards the others.

The remainder of the group gathered together as they coughed from the dist. Trying to figure out what was going on.

“What in the hay was that!?” Applejack asked.

“We’re under attack!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“But by what?” Rarity asked.

Even though they received a reply, the recognizable voice it belonged to sent a feeling of dread through the group.

“By me.”

The ponies paused as if the voice echoed through their minds.

“Wait. That sounded like…” Rainbow Dash uttered as she and her friends looked in the direction of the source of the voice.

As the surrounding dust cloud faded away, there stood the intruder. Standing in full view to be seen, the group were shocked and afraid that it was the terror of the Crystal Empire. The Digimon clone himself. Standing in front of them.

The ponies who were at the incident all shrieked his name.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon!!”

The BlackWarGreymon clone stood firm as gazed at the ponies whom he met before. With his back to Celestia. Upon learning his name, the white princess was stunned at seeing him for the first time.

‘This… is ChaosBlackWarGreymon!?’

As the ponies stared fearfully at the grey armoured Mega, they couldn’t believe that he had finally found them. Their nerves only got higher as the Digimon slowly approached them. His usual cocky and amused gaze was replaced with seriousness. With him, it was never a good sign. And when he spoke, his voice showed that he wasn’t pleased.

“Why are you all surprised to see me? Do you all honestly think I would let you get away after what you did to me?”

His threatening gaze moved towards the blue Alicorn.

“Especially after our last encounter, princess.”

“M-Me?” Princess Luna asked. Surprised that he was addressing her.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then gave a hint at what Luna had done to him.

“My eye is still sore.”

He then turned his focus to the rest of the group.

“But how nice it is that all of you are all gathered in one place. It makes my job so much easier.”

Then suddenly, everyone in the throne room heard a series of hoofsteps coming from one of the open hallways. Then around the corner, a group of royal guards emerged to investigate the disturbance. They were then shocked to see the intruder in the throne room.

“You! Stay where you are!” One demanded as the troops charged towards the room.

But before they could reach the room, ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his right arm to point his claws at them. He then used his magic to quickly close the doors to the corridor. Locking the guard ponies out and not being interrupted. Surprising the group from how quick he acted.

As the spell ended, Celestia took a good look at the Digimon’s glowing claws. The way they radiated with magical energy was very similar to that of a horn of a Unicorn and an Alicorn.

“Y-You really do have magic!” She uttered in disbelief.

Her outburst caused ChaosBlackWarGreymon to jolt his head back in surprise. But was then soon followed by his chuckling.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the lovely Princess Celestia,” He said as he looked over his shoulder to glare at the white Alicorn.

Celestia was startled by his gaze. His crimson red eyes gave her a cold chill through her spine. She then took a step back in fear as the Digimon turned to face her.

“How rude of me for not noticing you. I’ll spare you the introductions. Judging by your expressions, the others have already told you about me.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon started to walk towards her. His pace slow as to drive more fear into Celestia. Which was working. As he advanced, she retreated. Scared as the Digimon scanned over her.

The others understood why she was afraid. With all the things they told her about him, plus with his recent actions, who wouldn’t be afraid? After all, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the one who nearly killed BlackWarGreymon.

Despite being scared themselves, they didn’t want to see someone like Celestia to go through the same pain and fear they felt back at the Crystal Empire.

“Hay! Leave her alone!!” Princess Cadence demanded.

“Stay away from her!!” Luna joined.

Despite their outbursts, ChaosBlackWarGreymon ignored them. Only responding with an amused chuckle. He was far more powerful than everyone in the room, and yet they dare try to tell him what to do.

As Celestia continued to step back, trying to keep her distance from the Mega, she found herself with her back against the wall. Unable to retreat further, she felt her legs slowly tremble as ChaosBlackWarGreymon got closer and closer. The Sun Princess knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight the digital clone. Even without his magic, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was too powerful.

All she could do was hope. Hope that the Digimon clone hadn’t arrived in Canterlot to fight.

As the grey-armoured Mega stopped his advance, he stood only a couple of feet away from the fearful Alicorn. As he continued to stare her down, he spoke to her.

“For a very long time, you were always known as the strongest being to exist in Equestria. So tell me, princess…”

He paused as he knelt down closer to Celestia, his frightening gaze locked onto hers.

“…how does it feel… to be so powerless?”

His question burned through Celestia as she realised the truth in the Digimon’s words. In the past, because she was the eldest Alicorn, everyone in Equestria saw her as the most powerful magic caster. In truth, she was. Some ponies even saw her as a goddess.

But the truth was as such. Despite living for thousands of years, and her lifespan seemed infinite, she was no goddess. In the end, she was just a pony with great power.

When she was younger, she once believed that she was unbeatable herself. But by encountering adversaries, she learnt the truth the hard way. During the fall of the Crystal Empire, the power King Sombra had almost rivalled her own. And it was with the assistance from Luna that she was able to seal the Unicorn away. Then there was the reign of Discord, who’s reality warping powers countered both Celestia’s and Luna’s magic. But by discovering the Elements of Harmony, the Alicorns used their power to turn the spirit into stone. Next was the case of Queen Chrysalis. After absorbing the love from Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, the Changeling queen was able to overpower Celestia and defeat her. The business with Lord Tirek was somewhat a mixed bag. Though he had the ability to steal magic from others, Celestia was able to imprison him in Tartarus in their first meeting. But when he returned, he had absorbed enough power to surpass Celestia’s. And because of his brief alliance with Discord, it led to her, Luna and Cadence to surrender their magic to Twilight.

But those examples all happened long before the discovery and arrival of the Digimon. And since then, were completely overshadowed.

When Celestia first met BlackWarGreymon, the level of power she sensed within him frightened her to the core. As it surpassed all the others, the black-armoured warrior was the most powerful being the Alicorn ever encountered. Furthermore, his powers had become enhanced further from the magic of Equestria. She was very thankful that he turned out to be a good guy.

Seeing a being from another world opened Celestia’s eyes to the truth. That there were worlds beyond Equestria. Some which possessed being of extraordinary power. The Digital World was one of them. But what frightened her even more, was that there were other Digimon who were even more powerful than BlackWarGreymon himself.

One prime example was the one who killed him in his past life. MaloMyotismon.

After witnessing BlackWarGreymon’s past with Luna and Twilight, Celestia had come to face the fact that she was no longer the strongest. Equestria needed a new champion. Someone with the kind of power that she didn’t have. Since BlackWarGreymon had that power, and that he was eager to stay and live among the citizens of Equestria, the white princess dubbed him as the saviour. Giving him the role of defending their world.

Celestia truly thought BlackWarGreymon was one of a kind. That he was the only Digimon in Equestria. But after the others told her about the existence of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, and that he nearly killed the saviour, the Alicorn couldn’t believe her ears. It seemed whenever good gets a powerful ally, evil always gets one just as strong.

She knew that only BlackWarGreymon had the strength to fight the clone. But since he wasn’t with them, and staring into the eyes of the clone himself, Celestia indeed felt powerless. Though she didn’t answer ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s question, her expressions showed that she was experiencing the feeling.

Before she could be terrorized further, she and the clone heard an outburst.

“Hay you!!”

“Hmm?” The grey-armoured being uttered as he stood back up and turned towards the group.

He saw that nearly all of the ponies had shocked and surprised expressions on their faces. And were all looking at Rainbow Dash. Identifying her as the one who spoke up.

“Got something to say, pony?” The Digimon asked.

The expression the blue Pegasus had wasn’t one of fear. It was anger, slowly building up to rage.

“Yeah, I do! One of the places you destroyed! Do you have any idea what it was!?”

While her friends all knew what the blue mare was referring to, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t look interested.

“Should I care?” He asked back. Causing Rainbow Dash to snap at him.

“The Wonderbolt Academy! One of my favourite places in Equestria, and you took it away!!”

Even though the Pegasus learnt that the Wonderbolts would rebuild what was lost, she couldn’t just shake off the fact that the very place she’d been to was gone.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon decided to push her buttons.

“What does it matter? Those Pegasi are nothing but weak show-offs.” He uttered as he faced away with his eyes shut.

Seeing such disrespect caused Rainbow Dash’s rage to boil over.

“What did you just say!!?”

The Digimon looked back at her with a mocking expression.

“What’s wrong? Did I touch a nerve?”

Rainbow Dash could not contain her anger from the mocking.

“Oh, that’s it!!”

But just as she was about to leap off the ground, Pinkie Pie and Applejack quickly held her back. Struggling to keep a hold on Rainbow Dash.

“Big no no, Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Have ya’ forgotten who he is!?” Applejack added. Reminding the Pegasus who was standing in front of her.

Although Rainbow Dash knew perfectly who he was, she didn’t care. Squirming to get free to attack the Digimon. ChaosBlackWarGreymon however seemed to want the attack to happen.

“You shouldn’t do that you two. It isn’t healthy for a pony to not vent out her anger. You should let it all out.”

The three mares looked at the digital clone in confusion. But what he said next was deliberate in setting Rainbow Dash off.

“Come on, pony. Unleash your anger and rage upon me. Like I did to your precious academy.”

Rainbow Dash snapped in response.

“WHY YOU…!!!”

In a burst of rage, Rainbow Dash broke out of Pinkie Pie’s and Applejack’s hold and sped towards the Digimon. She screamed in anger as she reared her right hoof back, intending to punch ChaosBlackWarGreymon in the face.

As the cloned Digimon stood firm, he allowed the blue Pegasus to smash her hoof against the front of his snout. A loud echo from the blow travelled through the room.

Even though the attack was at full force, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was unmoved. The only pain Rainbow Dash inflicted was upon herself. She twinged as she retracted her aching limb. But despite it all, her anger drove her on. Assaulting all over him, the screaming Pegasus threw punches and kicks all over his body. The shear amount of attacks Rainbow Dash was dishing out would’ve injured any other pony and probably a teenage dragon. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t even flinch. As if he wasn’t even feeling her attacks. The others could only watch on, worried that ChaosBlackWarGreymon would strike back.

After unleashing countless attacks at her foe, Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. All four of her limbs felt numb from what felt like attacking a statue. But despite the pain she was in, the Pegasus glared daggers at the shadow Digimon.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave a brief chuckle as he saw the mare twinging in pain.

“Ha. Your attacks are useless against a superior being like me,” He said to taunt her.

His words snapped Rainbow Dash to attention before again screaming as she attacked him again. Mainly focusing on his face and chest. But like before, the Mega was unmoved.

“Rainbow! Please stop!” Twilight called out, seeing the attacks doing nothing.

After the second failed attempt to inflict pain on the Digimon, Rainbow Dash stopped as she panted from exhaustion. Pain stinging in her legs.

As she continued to glare at ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he gave her an unamused look.

“Are you done yet?” He asked. The mocking tone in his voice had gone.

As if just hearing his voice was enough to set her off, the mare again charged in to attack him all over. Despite her attacks becoming weaker and weaker. Although her friends were amazed at how brave Rainbow Dash was, they also knew that her attacks were doing nothing.

“Ok, seriously. Can you stop now?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked as he watched the Pegasus repeatedly punching him in the chest.

Not wanting to anger the Digimon, Twilight decided that enough was enough. Using her levitation spell, the young Alicorn pulled the exhausted Rainbow Dash back towards the safety of the group. Seeing the purple glow of Twilight’s horn gained the attention of ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The Digimon curiously looking at the princess as he began to think back to his encounter with Ayumi. As well as remembering the moment when he read her mind. Witnessing he horrors of her past life.

But remembering that the plan had to be enacted, his mind shifted back to being bad. As most of the ponies watched the blue mare fighting to stay awake, they heard ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“You all need to save your strength… for what’s about to happen next.”

All eyes looked back at him. Some fearful, and others with anger.

“And what’s that, you monster?” Shining Armor asked as Cadence nudged closer to him.

But the answer ChaosBlackWarGreymon had was as confusion as it was unsettling.

“You all want to play a game? Because I can think of a good one.”

Then without warning, everypony in the throne room had a green glow around their bodies. Then in a flash of light, ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported the ponies and himself out from the room.

When the group reappeared, they found themselves outside the castle. Looking around, they guessed that they were somewhere on the edge of the Everfree Forest. They could also see the city of Canterlot in the distance. Meaning they were sent quite a while away. But ChaosBlackWarGreymon was nowhere to be seen.

As most of the group tried to survey the situation, Twilight and Fluttershy went over to tend to Rainbow Dash.

“Are you alright?” The yellow Pegasus asked.

“I’ll… be fine,” The hurt Rainbow Dash replied as she inspected her hooves. Seeing how close they were from being chipped down to the bone.

“Rainbow, you should’ve known better than to outright attack him,” Twilight said as she used her magic to heal Rainbow Dash’s limbs.

“I’m sorry. I was just… so angry.”

“But…why did he brought us out here?” Applejack asked.

“And where is he?” Celestia joined.

But as soon as she spoke the question, the group heard his insane-like laughter. As if his voice was in their heads.

“I’m over here,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said, his voice sounded as if it came from everywhere.

As the frightened ponies franticly looked around, trying to find the Digimon, they saw trails of living shadows seeping through the trees. The twisted black tendrils all converging in one spot some distance away from the group.

‘That’s one of King Sombra’s spells. He really does have his dark magic.’ Celestia thought to herself, recognizing the type of magic used.

As all the shadow tendrils joined together to make a pool of darkness. It began to rise from the ground and took on a form of the magic user. After regaining his physical body, ChaosBlackWarGreymon revealed himself before speaking.

“While I am a little nettled that BlackWarGreymon gets a statue but not me, I’m going to let that slide for now.”

“What do you want from us, you fiend!?” Rarity demanded.

“Nothing really. I just want you to play my game,” The Mega replied.

He then revealed the name of the game that the ponies felt uncomfortable with.

“It’s called… who can last the longest.”

“That game doesn’t sound fun!” Pinkie Pie commented, while Rainbow Dash was comforting a trembling Fluttershy.

“Why in the world would we even play your game!?” Luna asked.

But the answer ChaosBlackWarGreymon provided left the group confused.

“Because you’re in luck. I’m not the one you would be fighting against.”

The ponies were puzzled at what the Digimon clone said. If it’s not him they’re facing, then who?

“So… who are we fighting then?” Cadence asked.

Then the group heard a reply from a different, but recognizable voice.

“That would be me!”

As soon as the voice spoke, the mares and stallion heard a series of heavy hoofsteps. They all felt another shiver from the thought of who the voice belonged to.

“No. It can’t be,” Celestia uttered in fear.

Then, emerging from the trees behind ChaosBlackWarGreymon, was Lord Tirek himself. Approaching the group before the centaur stood next to the Digimon, him being somewhat larger in size.

“Long time no see, princess,” He said to Celestia, smirking sinisterly at the ponies.

“So ponies. What do you think of your challenger?” The digital clone asked, knowing what their reactions would be.

Again the group felt incredibly frightened. Just Tirek on his own was bad enough, but knowing that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was involved, it made the feeling all the more hopeless.

“Everypony, I never normally say this, but… this is bad,” Rainbow Dash said.

“If he does join in the fight, do you think we can hold them back if we work together?” Celestia asked the group, for they had seen the Digimon in action before.

Twilight Sparkle spoke up after comparing the two villains.

“We may be lucky against Tirek. Even with his current power, we may stand a chance.”

But then the purple Alicorn looked over to the shorter of the two.

“But ChaosBlackWarGreymon is a whole different story. His power is not just greater, it’s in a league of its own. We can’t beat him.”

Then Luna joined in.

“I’m afraid it’s true, sister. Only BlackWarGreymon has the power to match him.”

Celestia became intimidated. She always believed that Tirek was the strongest villain in Equestria. But her friends all said that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was an even bigger threat. Just because he was a Mega level Digimon.

Then Shining Armor spoke out to the two.

“If we do have to fight, you said that only Tirek would fight?”

“Of course. It wouldn’t be fun if I joined in. You would all be completely annihilated,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon answered.

“Besides, I have a bone to pick with you lot. You and our prisoner,” Tirek joined.

While intimidated by the threat of vengeance, it was the latter of Tirek’s speech that confused the group.

“Wait? Prisoner?” Celestia asked. Unsure what the centaur was talking about.

Tirek looked down at ChaosBlackWarGreymon with an evil grin on his face.

“Show them.”

Complying to the centaur’s request, ChaosBlackWarGreymon used his magic to open up a black portal in the ground. Then, suspended in the Digimon’s levitation spell and trapped within a black transparent sphere, was their said prisoner. An Alicorn.

Most of the group let out gasps of shock at what they were seeing. While Cadence and Shining Armor were stunned, they were more so surprised at the resemblance of the prisoner.

“Wait. T-Twilight?” The prince asked as he looked to his little sister standing beside him.

The group were aghast at what they were seeing. Within the black sphere, was the unconscious form of Ayumi. The alternate Twilight. Which explained why she had disappeared earlier in the morning.

Already possessing a sister-like bond with her older self, Twilight snapped at the two villains.

“Let her go! Now!!”

Seeing Twilight stepping out, Tirek took a quick look at the unconscious Ayumi before turning back towards Twilight.

“She really does look like you! I don’t know what sort of trick this is, but it won’t work. I nearly lost a fight with this one.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon took a quick glance over at Tirek. The Digimon knew full well that there was no trick. He just didn’t bother telling the centaur of who Ayumi truly was.

“Release her!!” Twilight demanded as she stomped her front hoof.

The Royal Couple were surprised at Twilight. They hardly ever seen her so worked up before. While they still had their many questions as to how there were two Twilights, they felt that it wasn’t the time to ask. It was clear to them that all the other ponies in the group knew who the trapped pony was.

Tirek looked at Twilight with a half-smile before responding.

“Alright. I’ll release her.”

Taking command of the prison sphere, Tirek levitated the unconscious Ayumi in front of him. As soon as he did however…

“But first.”

With an evil grin, Lord Tirek faced Ayumi towards him and opened his mouth wide to inhale. Twilight immediately knew what he was about to do.

“No, don’t!!”

It was too late. Tirek already begun using his magic stealing ability. Despite being unconscious, Ayumi let out loud grunts of discomfort as her energy began to be forcefully drained from her body. Purple energy escaping her horn and into Tirek’s gaping maw. Cadence and Shining Armor felt deeply concerned. As well as looking like Twilight, the trapped Alicorn even sounded like her as she cried out. But most of the horrified group looked on in uncertainty. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon was watching with a wary eye. Because it’s not just Ayumi’s magic Tirek was draining. All the power of the Element of Magic within her was also being drained. But with it worse of all, was all the energy she had obtained from defeating the Digimon in her timeline. Without knowing, Tirek was also stealing data from Ayumi. Digital energy that had become entwined with her magic. The onlooking ponies couldn’t believe what they were seeing. With all that power flowing through the centaur, it would no doubt make him even more powerful than he ever was.

After Tirek absorbed every last drop of power from Ayumi, the latter’s cutiemark vanished. No longer needing her, Tirek dispelled the black sphere. Freeing the limp mare as she collapsed onto the ground. Not wasting a second, Twilight instantly teleported Ayumi over to her side. Twilight looked at her older self with sadness and remorse. The unconscious mare had only just got to their world to escape the torment and suffering. Only for her to endue it further. Making Twilight regret not telling her about ChaosBlackWarGreymon sooner. Believing that it was he who defeated her.

To her surprise, despite Ayumi being unconscious, Twilight could hear her quiet voice. As if she was talking to her.

“I-I’m… s…sorry.”

“Ayumi,” Twilight whispered softly. Wanting to comfort her. To reassure her that she was free and that she had done nothing wrong.

To the surprise of all the ponies, they all could hear Tirek grunting in pain. The centaur acting as if he was feeling a painful churn inside his stomach. Hunching forward while holding onto his gut. As if going through painful indigestion. Not surprising, considering that he had just consumed a mix of magic and data.

“Uhh!! What… is going on!?” Tirek asked as the pain lingered.

But just as the pain began to subside, Tirek’s body began to glow dark red. Then as the grunts of pain changed into grunts of excess energy, the centaur’s body began to grow rapidly. He could feel his energy multiplying to incredible heights as he grew ever larger.

“Yeeess! Yeeeesss!! The power! I can feel it! Flowing through me!!”

As Tirek’s body grew larger and larger, his ever-increasing shadow covered over the terrified looking ponies. They were shocked beyond belief at how quickly the evil lord was growing. To those who knew who Ayumi was, they could tell that it was the digital energy doing most of the work. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon was admittingly surprised at how much stronger Tirek was becoming. Already surpassing the strength of an Ultimate level Digimon.

“…uuuuuuUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YEESSS!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” Tirek roared as he almost reached the size he was when he absorbed all the magic of Equestria.

But despite that, Tirek could fell that he was far stronger than he ever was. Far beyond his own imagination! He felt that he could take on anyone. Even BlackWarGreymon!

“So! This is what’s like to have such power!” He said before laughing in triumphant. As if he had already won the battle.

As fear took away their voices, the pony group turned their gazes back to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Who was about to take his leave. Letting his game continue.

“Have fun. Play nice.”

Then in a flash of green, the digital clone teleported away. But beyond the knowledge of the ponies, even Tirek’s, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reappeared not very far away. Hiding behind a large tree to see all the action.

“I wonder how the ponies are going to get out of this one.”

Back at the centre of attention, Tirek took only one step towards the fearful ponies. His new size towered over them like a colossus.

“Now, where were we?” He asked with an evil grin.

Like the rest of the group, Luna could only think of one thing.

‘BlackWarGreymon. Wherever you are… please hurry.’
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Elsewhere, deep in the Everfree forest, BlackWarGreymon paid his second visit to the ancient ruins of the old castle. But it was the Tree of Harmony he wanted to visit.

As he stood there, facing the giant crystal tree, thoughts began to cross his mind. One of which, was the reason he wanted to see the tree. He thought of Ayumi. And the horrific tale she told that was her past life. How her timeline was so much different from the current one. All because that he wasn’t there.

Believing that it was the Tree of Harmony that brought him to Equestria, and that it appeared to talk to him, he figured that the tree would provide answers for him. Answers to the questions he spoke of. His voice carrying uncertainty and sadness.

“Tree of Harmony. I know you can hear me. I know that me being here… is somehow your doing. It has to be. Then why? Why hadn’t I… another me… arrived in her world? What happened to that BlackWarGreymon? Why was he… not chosen? Didn’t that Equestria…deserve my help? Or anyone’s help? So why… why did you brought me here? Why… am I here?”

As he repeated his last question, is tone became stern. Probably the most important question of his new life.

“Why am I here?”

To his surprise, as if in response to his question, the Tree of Harmony briefly illuminated brighter. The Mega could feel the great energy from the tree. Cradling his body as if it was holding him. His whole body felt warm. As if the energy of the tree became entwined with his own. Much to his surprise. As if the two became linked. But as the tree dimmed back to normal, BlackWarGreymon noticed that the back of the tree was still bright. And shifting. Believing that it was a sign, BlackWarGreymon moved closer to the enchanted tree and moved behind it. As he got behind it, to his surprise, he would see… words. Strange words on the crystal bark of the trunk. At first, the words were of a language he didn’t understand, it being ancient Equestrian. But to his surprise, as he kept looking at them… he began to understand them. As if the tree was granting him the gift of reading the ancient language on the crystal bark. In his mind, the symbols became a language he recognized.

With the surprise of the discovery subsiding, BlackWarGreymon began to read the message. As the message began to rhyme, the Mega was surprised to see that the message, was a prophecy. He kept on reading. He initially felt concerned about the ‘day of tragedy’ and the ‘Greatest Calamity’. But what intrigued him the most was the last thing the prophecy said.

“The…Warrior of Harmony?”

As he read through the ancient text the second time, he noticed something.

“Wait. To correct her mistake, she brings in another. Could she be… the voice I heard from the tree?” He asked, a very good question indeed.

Then to his surprise, he heard the same voice from the tree once more.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

The voice spoke within his head, echoing through his very being.

“Uh… it…it’s you again,” He said. Startled to hear the female voice so suddenly.

But before he could ask a single question, the voice said something that the Digimon felt concerning.

“There’s very little time to waste. You must return to Canterlot at once.”

“Huh?” The confused Mega uttered.

Then the voice said something that shocked him to the core.

“A familiar evil has risen once more. Your friends are in grave danger!”

“WHAT!!?” The shocked Digimon asked.

Then to his surprise, a bright circle of light appeared on the tree in front of BlackWarGreymon. Acting as a window to other places for others to see. At first, all he could see was pure whiteness. Then the next thing he saw were some trees and the city of Canterlot in the distance. But as the vision shifted, BlackWarGreymon laid eyes on the villain in question. The very first opponent he faced since arriving in Equestria.

“Tirek!? He’s back!?”

He began to notice something else. Tirek was far bigger than he remembered. Meaning that the dark lord had gained even more power. But as the vision shifted once more, BlackWarGreymon saw a sight that made his heart ache. All his pony friends were all staring fearfully at the towering centaur. The looks in their eyes shown that they had already lost all hope. And the sight of Ayumi’s unconscious drained body lying beside Twilight.

“No! My friends!”

And then to his shock, and thanks to the tree, BlackWarGreymon heard Luna’s thoughts.

‘BlackWarGreymon. Wherever you are… please hurry.’

Her thoughts echoed in the Digimon’s head, with his concern increasing dramatically.

Even though he wanted to know more about the prophecy and Ayumi’s timeline, since the tree was talking to him once more, his concern for his friends’ safety was far more important to him. He hoped that he would get his answers another time.

“I have to go and save them!” BlackWarGreymon said as he flew out of the cave to face Lord Tirek once more.

Before the glow of the Tree of Harmony faded back to normal, it spoke once more before falling silent.

“Tirek’s power has grown far beyond what it’s supposed to be. But let that not waver you. You must prevail. For you are needed… my warrior.”

Chapter 61: Dawn of an Unforeseen Power (Part 1)

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Disaster had struck on the outer edges of the Everfree Forest. After the unfortunate return of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the Royal Sisters, the royal couple, and the element bearers were teleported out from the safety of Canterlot castle and into great danger. But when they thought they were going to face the digital clone without BlackWarGreymon’s aid, they were shocked to discover that Lord Tirek himself had joined in the fray. On the side of ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

But problems only kept on escalating. After stealing all the magic from Ayumi, also unknowingly all the data she possessed, the evil magic stealing centaur grew gigantic and his power had risen to a level that not even he thought possible. Wanting to see the action unfold before him, the BlackWarGreymon clone teleported away and hid himself within the trees. From there, he had a good view of the action.

As the battle went on, things weren’t looking good for the ponies from the very beginning. Even with their combined strength, they were unable to stand up to Tirek’s newly enhanced power. Within moments, the centaur had absorbed the energies of Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Being drained, the only thing the four could do was comfort the unconscious Ayumi. Rainbow Dash foolishly tried to tackle the giant from the air. Because the second she came close to him, he froze her with a levitation spell and then absorbed her energy. Despite draining their power, it did little in terms of changing Tirek’s appearance or even increasing his power. But he’d done so, nonetheless. As the drained Pegasus fell from the sky, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence tried combining their attack spells on Tirek. While the attack itself was devastating in power, to Tirek’s new strength it felt more like a playful pinch. As the centaur leaned close towards the couple, Princess Celestia used a bright flash of solar energy to temporarily blind him. While he was disorientated, Princess Twilight and Princess Luna dived from above and bombarded him with a volley of magical attacks.

As Tirek’s face was covered in smoke, Shining Armor spoke up. Feeling that there was hope in their situation.

“We’re doing it!”

“Think again!” Tirek shouted before laughing as the smoke cloud faded. The remaining five who could fight felt intimidated once more.

As the battle raged on, ChaosBlackWarGreymon knew what was going on. The ponies knew that they were outmatched, but they were fighting nonetheless. The reason because they’re merely stalling for time. Distracting Tirek long enough for BlackWarGreymon to notice and arrive. The question was how long the ponies could last before their digital saviour would arrive to save them. The digital clone had found it odd that his progenitor was not among his pony friends. But with him absent, it was a perfect time to strike.

But then something happened. ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to feel odd again. Akin to his uncertainties over the past few days. After witnessing Twilight Sparkle having her magic stolen by Tirek, the clone felt something he had never felt before. A slight pinching sensation in his chest. It was as if the sight of the one-sided fight… had hurt him on the inside. To him, it seemed as though knowing the pain was there, was more startling than the pain itself. He looked down at his chest in uncertainty.

“These… weird feelings again. Why do I keep getting them? Why aren’t I relishing in this carnage? I should be enjoying this. Then why… why does it feel… wrong?” He asked himself. But no one was there to answer.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was then snapped out of his confusion when he sensed something. Someone powerful was fast approaching his location. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from.

“BlackWarGreymon’s coming.”

But before he could move, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had an idea. The original plan was for him to fight BlackWarGreymon while Tirek attacked the ponies. But with his mind conflicting with his beliefs, he really wanted a distraction. Something that would be humorous.

“Oh, I know. I’ll stay hidden and let him arrive. The look on Tirek’s face would be priceless,” The amused clone said as he lowered his energy. Therefore, he wouldn’t be spotted when BlackWarGreymon shows up.

Back at the fight, things were going bleak for the ponies. After being caught in his magical grip, Tirek proceeded to absorb the magic from Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor. Their magic extracted from their horns and into the centaur’s mouth. After their magic was stolen, the cutiemarks of the victims disappeared completely.

As Tirek grew slightly, Luna flew above the overgrown giant. Being the only one with magic left, the Moon Princess knew that it was all up to her to stall Tirek for as long as she could. She decided to give it her all.

Focusing her magic into the tip of her horn, Luna formed a twenty-foot wide energy ball above her head. From below, Celestia stared up at her little sister in amazement. Seeing the attack for the first time, she saw that it bared some similarities to one of BlackWarGreymon’s attacks.

With a mighty yell, the blue Alicorn threw the blue sphere down towards Tirek. The attack then exploded on the back of his head.

As the blue smoke cleared, the result was revealed. Although Tirek was largely unharmed from the attack, he was mildly surprised that he actually felt its punch. As he turned towards Luna, the centaur realised that even though he absorbed most of the energy from the group, he hadn’t got much bigger and his power was near enough the same as before. It was like eating a tiny gummy bear after a large dinner. Even Alicorn magic didn’t fill him much. He was too preoccupied with the fight to notice it earlier.

As he looked up at Luna as she hovered in the sky, Tirek smiled as he came to a decision.

“You want to know something, Princess? Even if I do take your magic, it won’t make a difference to my new power. I guess that means instead of wasting my efforts to take your power…”

His smile became more sinister as his horns glowed, forming an orange energy ball in-between them. As the sphere grew bigger, he finished his sentence.

“…I can just destroy you right here!!”

With no hesitation or even remorse, Tirek prepared to unleash his might as the orange sphere grew bigger.

“No!! Don’t!!” Celestia cried out.

But it was of no use, Tirek fired a large orange beam of destructive magic at the airborne Luna. The Alicorn paralyzed in fear as the speeding large-scale attack flew straight towards her.

She then closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come.

But before the attack could hit her, a black blur came out of nowhere and took her away. Leaving the beam to fly off into the sky.

The ponies and the centaur were briefly startled at what they saw, but then quickly realised who the black blur was.

Feeling that someone was cradling her, Luna opened her eyes to see who saved her from her demise. She gasped in astonishment at who it was.

“Blackie!”

Hearing her calling him by his nickname made BlackWarGreymon turn his attention to Luna in concern.

“Are you alright, Luna?”

Instead of answering, the blue princess nuzzled his chest out of sheer joy. Briefly surprising him in the process.

“You saved my life. Thank you.”

The Digimon’s expression softened as he flew back towards the scene while holding Luna in his arms. As he descended towards the ground, BlackWarGreymon felt unnerved.

“My friends. Why can’t I sense their energy?” He asked Luna.

“Because Tirek stole them,” The princess answered.

As the two looked down at their fallen friends, they then turned their attention to the giant centaur.

“So that’s what happens when he steals magic. It makes him bigger and stronger,” BlackWarGreymon said, his voice carried a hint of hate. He then turned back to his fallen friends. Surprised at one of them who fell victim to Tirek.

“Even Ayumi?”

“Yes. But she was already defeated before Tirek showed up. But we think it was ChaosBlackWarGreymon who stopped her,” Luna said to him. Informing him about the digital clone’s involvement.

“What? He’s here too?”

“Yes. But he vanished and hadn’t come back since.”

Luna was right. BlackWarGreymon was unable to pick up on ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s power. But at least he would face against one foe instead of two.

As the two descended from the sky, the ponies and the centaur spotted them.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Twilight cheered despite her weakened state.

“He’s here. And he saved Luna,” The weakened Celestia said, relieved for her sister’s safety.

“Why doesn’t he ever show up at the start of ah fight?” Applejack asked with a slight smile. Her question being rhetorical.

“Well, better late than never,” Rainbow Dash uttered. Both she and Applejack noting about the Digimon’s sense of timing.

Tirek meanwhile glared at the descending Mega. The sight of him reminded the centaur of their first confrontation. Tirek was beaten and humiliated by BlackWarGreymon’s strength. He wanted nothing more than to make him pay.

“It’s him. He’s back. But where is that clone of his? Shouldn’t he be here to fight him?” Tirek asked, wondering why ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t doing his part.

But the level of power he possessed clouded his judgement.

“Never mind. I can take him on all by myself now.”

Hidden behind a large tree, ChaosBlackWarGreymon silently watched BlackWarGreymon as he landed on the ground several feet away from the rest of the group.

After he made his landing, BlackWarGreymon placed Luna on the ground. Leaving her to stand by his side as he slowly turned towards the giant lord. As the two silently glared at each other, Tirek spoke up.

“So, we meet again. And you’ve gotten cuter.”

His mocking tone stated the obvious. With Tirek’s new size, BlackWarGreymon looked puny.

“And you’re even uglier than before,” The Digimon replied back before looking at his defeated friends.

Seeing his pony friends in their weakened state was starting to make the Mega’s anger boil. They didn’t deserve to be treated in such a way.

While containing his rage, BlackWarGreymon glared back at Tirek.

“Give back their energy, Tirek!”

“Now why would I do something like that?” Tirek asked, but his question was more of a statement. Showing that it was something he wouldn’t do.

In response, BlackWarGreymon grunted in anger as his muscles became tensed.

“Give them back, Tirek! I’m warning you! I have grown far stronger than when we first met.”

His friends knew he was right. BlackWarGreymon was much more powerful than he was when he first arrived in Equestria. But Tirek only chuckled in response.

“Hah! But guess what, tiny. So have I! But it was thanks to your friends.”

BlackWarGreymon felt his inner anger intensifying. His foe was mocking his friends even after they were down for the count. His eyes began to twitch. But before his anger could get ant higher, he mentally stopped himself. He found it strange. His pony friends had been in danger before. Yet… he felt much angrier than usual. Possibly due to his late arrival to help his friends when they needed him. But with the problem at hand, he shook it off. However, the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the only one who noticed. Slightly widening his eyes in puzzlement.

After another glance over to his weakened friends, BlackWarGreymon understood that talking was no use. He glared back at Lord Tirek after deciding what to do.

“I guess I have no choice. I’ll just have to beat it out of you.”

BlackWarGreymon readied himself as he prepared to fight Tirek once more. Because of the much larger size of his foe, the Digimon had to hit him hard. But after sensing all the power within the centaur, he knew the fight wouldn’t be easy.

As Tirek was about to respond, he glanced down at the ponies whose magic he absorbed. He then let out a grin, forming an idea to enrage BlackWarGreymon more.

“So be it. But your little friends are rather in the way,” He said before clicking his fingers. Surprising the weakened ponies by encasing each of them within magical bubbles.

BlackWarGreymon and Luna watched on in shock as the captives were taken high above the ground. Floating in the open air.

“Give our friends back, Tirek!” Luna demanded, in which the centaur responded with a chuckle before speaking.

“Why? They were in harm’s way. I was just thinking about their safety,” He said with a vert sadistic twisted grin.

Before Luna could press on, BlackWarGreymon stepped in. Gaining her attention.

“No, Luna.”

The Moon Princess looked at her Digimon friend in surprise.

“What? But…”

She was interrupted when BlackWarGreymon gave his reasons.

“You need to save your strength. If you go anywhere near him, he’ll take your magic. I don’t have magic, so he can’t absorb my powers. Just rest up and let me deal with him, ok?”

As much as she wanted to fight alongside him, she knew BlackWarGreymon was right. And when she looked at him, she saw the concern in his yellow eyes. After getting to know him so well, and so close, she knew that the sight of her magic being stolen from her would hurt him.

Seeing the logic in his reasoning, she reluctantly nodded in agreement.

“Alright. But be careful,” She said as she rushed to the trees for cover.

Tirek meanwhile was beginning to lose his patience.

“Are you ready to settle this or what!?”

BlackWarGreymon glared back at Tirek in response. His yellow eyes filled in anger as his negative energy began to build.

“I won’t let you win, Tirek.”

As his energy continued to rise, the ground started to shake. Then all the loose stones on the ground began to rise and float beside BlackWarGreymon.

“You failed before, and you’ll fail again!”

“You tell him, big guy! Kick his butt!” Rainbow Dash cheered, despite being imprisoned in the bubble.

She was joined by Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor and Applejack.

“Yeah, what she said. Beat that meanie!”

“Make Tirek pay for what he’s done!”

“Show that overgrown vermin who’s boss!!”

On the sidelines, the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon took note on BlackWarGreymon’s rising power.

“He’s serious. He looks as though he’s going to go all out. So he truly has fully recovered from our battle at the Crystal Empire.”

‘Background music’ ‘Rise by Skillet’

At first, BlackWarGreymon and Tirek stood still. Silently glaring at each other to see who would move first. Deciding to make his start, the Artificial Digimon jumped high in the air and flew towards the towering giant. Tirek responded with a grin as he threw his left fist out in a form of a punch. But the nimbler Mega avoided the fist, then spun around as he travelled up the centaur’s arm and as he got in close, gave Tirek a lefthanded punch to the face. The force from the blow caused Tirek to yell in pain as he stumbled backwards. His expression looked shocked as he covered his face.

‘I don’t believe it! Even with all this power, he’s still able to hurt me!’

He was then startled when BlackWarGreymon flew up to his face and started to throw a flurry of punches. But Tirek’s new power started to show. As sharp as the Chrome Digizoid blades were, they barely caused any cuts on Tirek. But the force behind the attacks was what hurt the centaur the most. The giant walking backwards as his small opponent kept on attacking. Tirek’s power had shown itself again as the evil lord quickly leapt back and threw up his right arm to block one of BlackWarGreymon’s punches.

While the Digimon was mentally surprised by Tirek’s newfound strength, the Centaur threw his arm out to shove BlackWarGreymon back. Then as he ran forward, Tirek threw his clenched left fist, the size of BlackWarGreymon himself, into the Mega. Sending him back some more. The blow was followed up by a downward punch of his right fist. Which sent the armoured saviour crashing to the ground. Throwing a mountain of dirt in the air.

“BlackWarGreymon!” The captured ponies shouted. Shocked at the turn of events.

But before Tirek could gloat, BlackWarGreymon shot himself out of his dirt-filled crater and raised his arms above his head. Within seconds, he formed a fifty-foot-wide energy ball. Tirek briefly flinched as he recognized the giant red sphere. The same attack that defeated him before.

“Remember this!? TERRA DESTROYER!!!” The Digimon shouted as he threw his signature attack.

The attack struck Tirek before he could retaliate. The centaur yelled as his body was consumed in bright red light. As his yelling died down with the aftershocks from the blast, the light faded into a large smoke cloud.

“There,” BlackWarGreymon said as he hovered in front of the cloud. Thinking that he dealt a good blow.

But just as the ponies all thought of the same thing, BlackWarGreymon flinched in surprise as he saw a flicker of orange light. Then to his shock, a large orange magical sphere five times his size came flying out of the smoke and straight towards him. The Mega blocked the attack with his arms. But because he wasn’t fully prepared for a counterattack, the ball of destructive magic pushed him into the Everfree Forest. The small section of the forest exploded in orange light as it hit the ground.

The ponies gasped at the sudden turn of events. But were even more shocked as Tirek roared out of the smoke and from in-between his horns, fired a beam of magic across the forest. Igniting everything the beam touched within powerful explosions. The sight so unsettling that even Luna began to feel worried.

As soon as Tirek stopped attacking, BlackWarGreymon launched himself out of the cloud of smoke in a form of a Black Tornado. Seeing the oncoming Digimon and recognizing the attack, the evil centaur crossed his arms and formed a magical forcefield around him. Sparks flew as BlackWarGreymon’s attack tried to drill through the barrier. But after an outward thrash of his arms and a mighty yell, Tirek’s forcefield quickly expanded. Deflecting BlackWarGreymon away. The Digimon briefly flailed in the air as he stopped his attack and recomposed himself. Afterwards he flew straight down with his left foot extended. Intending to stomp on the giant villain. Tirek however saw it coming and responded by throwing his left fist out in a punch.

The Mega’s foot collided into the centaur’s knuckles. The force from the impact created a shockwave that nearly tore apart the ground beneath them.

As the two departed, one thought crossed Tirek’s mind.

‘Wow, so this is what it’s like to have the strength on par with these… Digimon,’ He thought, genuinely impressed of his new strength.

As BlackWarGreymon rose back up in the air to attack, Tirek’s new strength and speed kicked in. The centaur jumped so quick and so high the Digimon paused in surprise. And with his foe off-guard, Tirek rose up in front of him and elbowed BlackWarGreymon down. Sending him crashing to the ground.

After landing beside the downed Digimon with an echoing thud, Tirek prepared to stomp his right front hoof on top of him. Knowing he didn’t have the time to escape, BlackWarGreymon raised his arms up and caught the hoof. Tirek felt the resistance and tried to push harder. The Mega felt the great pressure as he tried to push back. cracks in the ground formed under his feet.

“Time to squash you… like a bug you are!!” Tirek shouted as he suddenly mustered even more strength. Successfully overpowering BlackWarGreymon and seemingly crushing him under hoof.

The ponies gasped in horror as Tirek’s leg smashed into the ground, knowing that their friend was underneath.

But as Tirek started to chuckle, he suddenly felt his hoof vibrating. He felt as if something was spinning under his hoof. Then as he felt his hoof being lifted, he heard BlackWarGreymon’s voice.

“BLACK TORNADO!!!”

With the power of the swirling black winds, the attacking Digimon pushed the centaur’s leg back up in the air. So high that Tirek started to stumble on his rear hooves.

The Mega level Digimon took advantage by flying around and slamming his feet into Tirek’s face. The momentum of the actions caused the four-legged giant to fall on his back. The mares and stallion were amazed that despite Tirek’s new power, their saviour was able to knock him over.

But as BlackWarGreymon flew down to attack the downed centaur, Tirek’s horns began to glow. And the Digimon found himself caught in the magical grip. Tirek grinned, seeing that his foe was unable to move.

“Do you remember this!?” He shouted as he threw his left arm towards the ground, sending his captive crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

His two large horns continued to glow as the Centaur got back up. While BlackWarGreymon remained in his magical hold, the evil lord threw his right fist out. Levitating the Mega out of his crater and into some trees. As Tirek threw his arms around, he sent his captive crashing into more trees and some large boulders. BlackWarGreymon tried to break free but the constant bashing distracted him from doing so.

Then after doing a full turn, Tirek sent the Digimon scrapping against the grassland and then flung him into a large hill in the distance. The ground shook as he crashed into the hillside. But the ground shook even more when Tirek followed up with a large orange beam of destructive magic. The attack exploded in where his enemy laded and causing a landslide.

The Digimon’s friends stared fearfully as the attack seemed to have buried him under a mountain of dirt and mud. Tirek certainly thought so. But as he started to laugh again, the hill exploded from within. Surrounded in his Mega Destroyer attack, BlackWarGreymon yelled as he closed in on Tirek.

The giant lord didn’t had time to respond as the energized Mega slammed into his gut. Air forced out of Tirek’s body. After cancelling out his attack, BlackWarGreymon flew up to Tirek’s face and gave him a left-handed uppercut. After immediately spinning his body around, he followed up with a kick from his right foot. The combo sent the centaur stumbling back slightly, but the Digimon was quick to go on the attack.

After doing a series of flips towards Tirek’s face, BlackWarGreymon delivered a forceful slam of his left heel on top of the centaur’s head. Tirek held his head in pain as BlackWarGreymon flew up behind him. But as he dived down to attack, the evil lord sensed that the Digimon was fast approaching. And responded by sharply turning around and fire yet another beam of magic.

Despite being engulfed in the attack, the armoured Mega tried his best to push through the river of magic. And ignoring the pain he was feeling from being inside the powerful attack. But as it looked as though he was advancing, the push became too much for BlackWarGreymon to take. Thus, he was sent away with the attack. Soaring over the trees and exploded in the middle of the forest.

Feeling that he had bested his foe, Tirek started to laugh manically. Not noticing what was about to happen. BlackWarGreymon emerged from the canopy with a large broken tree within his grasp. Aiming for Tirek’s face, he threw it with all his might. The plant projectile soared across the sky and smashed stump first into the centaur’s face. Tirek yelled and stumbled backwards as he tried to fight off the pain and possible splinters. But as he saw BlackWarGreymon flying towards him, the giant lord quickly grabbed the broken tree and used it like a bat to swat the Digimon away.

BlackWarGreymon however landed on the side of another giant tree feet first. Then just as he was about to fly forward once more, the Mega quickly grabbed the tree and uprooted it. As he flew in to swing his wooden weapon, Tirek did the same with his own. The two wooden trees clashed with each other like clubs.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched the ongoing fight secretly, he recognized what BlackWarGreymon was doing. It was the same style of fighting the two had done before, but with crystal columns.

As the clash went on, Tirek was slowly gaining the advantage. Having much larger hands, it meant he could use one hand to hold the tree. While BlackWarGreymon resorted to using two. But despite the advantage, the two were evenly matched. Every time one swung in to attack, the other blocked it in defence.

After blocking another one of Tirek’s swings, BlackWarGreymon shoved it aside. With the centaur briefly exposed to attack, the Digimon flew in from the side and swung down his tree on top of Tirek’s head. The dark lord felt the tree being impaled to his horns. But a mere blast of his magic destroyed the imbedded tree.

Tirek then saw BlackWarGreymon landing on the ground in front of him. After raising his held weapon overhead, the centaur swung the tree down on top of his small foe. Unaware that he was about to counterattack.

“DRAGON CRUSHER!!!”

The first wave of energy sliced the end part of the wooded weapon in half. Then the second wave of negative powered fire turned the tree into dust. The fire then continued up Tirek’s right arm. The centaur roared in pain as his arm got burnt by the flames.

As Tirek held his injury with his left hand, he glared at BlackWarGreymon in both anger and wonderment.

“So I see you got new nasty tricks up your sleeve,” He said, not remembering the Digimon’s fire attack.

“You’ll be surprised. That’s just the first of many.” BlackWarGreymon responded, ready to fight on.

After letting out an angered grunt, Tirek fired another orange beam at BlackWarGreymon. But the Digimon saw the oncoming attack and leapt off the ground. Jumping over the beam and above Tirek. As the centaur looked up to follow him, the Mega had his clawed gauntlets joined together and formed a green sphere in-between them. To which the then opened fire.

“WAR BLASTER!!!”

Throwing his arms forward, the armoured being fired five blasts of green energy which rained down on Tirek. The centaur roared in pain as his body took every hit.

But just before BlackWarGreymon could land back on the ground, the enraged Tirek quickly spun around and grabbed a hold on the Digimon’s leg. The surprised Mega was then thrown across the land. Bouncing and scrapping against the ground as Tirek charged in to follow suit.

Before Tirek could crush the downed Mega with his giant hooves, BlackWarGreymon rolled out of the way. Being underneath the giant centaur, he decided to lash out at his four legs. Slashing and kicking them with force to try and topple Tirek over. All the while Tirek tried to stomp on the Digimon with all of his hooves. Walking around as to try to crush or even see him. In response, the Digimon had to keep moving while attacking.

The struggle seemed to have no end, until Tirek managed to flush out BlackWarGreymon and slammed his right hand on top of him. The ground shook from the enhanced slap.

Tirek grinned as he closed his hand, crushing the dirt beneath him. then as he raised his clenched hand, the centaur held it close to see what he held. As well as sections of falling dirt, BlackWarGreymon was held tightly in his grasp. His head and shoulders sticking out from the top while his feet poked out from the bottom.

“See how you like being held against your will,” The grinning Tirek said as he squeezed his iron grip. Trying to crush his captive.

Though the squeeze didn’t hurt him as much as it looked, it was incredibly uncomfortable for BlackWarGreymon. He tried to struggle free, but Tirek’s newly enhanced strength was making it easy said than done.

‘Song end.’

All the ponies watched on fearfully. Hoping that their black-armoured saviour could break free. But despite the Mega holding on strong, it didn’t stop Tirek from trying to squeeze him into submission.

Meanwhile, hiding behind a large tree, ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched the struggle in silence. But then broke silence when he looked at Tirek.

“Strange. I didn’t think that Tirek could become this strong.”

Then something happened. Something that was beyond his understanding. ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to feel agitated. But not at BlackWarGreymon. His sudden frustrations was towards Tirek. Even though he was technically his ally. But as he tried to figure out why he was feeling so nettled, he focused back to the struggle.

Back at the fight, BlackWarGreymon continued to grunt as he tried to fight against Tirek’s grip.

“Is this… all you got?” The Mega asked as he continued to fight back. Almost budging himself loose.

The response he received was rather strange from the likes of Lord Tirek. He was letting out a sinister cackle-like chuckle. Not just from evil, it was as if he had just discovered something he hadn’t realised before.

“What’s so funny?” BlackWarGreymon asked as he glared at Tirek.

It was a question that the onlooking ponies too wanted to hear.

Tirek’s smirk grew as he spoke to the Digimon within his grasp.

“I’m beginning to understand you now, BlackWarGreymon.”

BlackWarGreymon paused his struggles as he looked at Tirek in surprise. Taken back from the fact that he knew his name. But then focused back to Tirek himself.

“Wh… what does that mean?”

The giant lord explained himself.

“The reason why you like to fight. The thrill of it. The excitement! I hadn’t felt this exhilarated in all my life! No wonder why you love it!”

The Digimon was baffled by Tirek’s change of behaviour. Being granted with such power had caused him to feel like he was invincible. But then Tirek said something that truly shocked him to the core.

“To think that my strength is on par with you Digimon!”

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in shock from what he had just heard.

“You… you know the name of my kind? How!?”

Tirek chuckled in response. Like BlackWarGreymon, all the ponies stared at the centaur in disbelief. How could he know what their friend was?

But what Tirek said next was more unsettling than the last.

“Oh, you’ll be surprised at how much I know. Like the fact your psychotic clone wasn’t the one who told me.”

BlackWarGreymon paused in response. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the only other Digimon in Equestria he was aware of. And Tirek certainly didn’t have any friends of his own. So how could he know? But then he began to think back. on the day he faced his clone in the Crystal Empire. After ChaosBlackWarGreymon was beaten by both him and Luna, the grey-armoured being mentioned something shocking. Something that was horrifying to the ponies.

“Wait. ChaosBlackWarGreymon once said he has… a boss.”

His yellow eyes widened in shock as he faced Tirek.

“Don’t tell me…!”

Tirek grinned in response before talking.

“That’s right. His ‘boss’… was the one who told me. What’s more… he is my master.”

The centaur’s statement sent a frightening chill into the ponies. more so were the princesses.

“What!? Y-You serve somepony else!?” Celestia asked.

Tirek glared over to his white furred captive before answering.

“You mean something. And it’s not just me. King Sombra. Queen Chrysalis. We all serve a higher power.”

He then spoke on as he looked back at the startled BlackWarGreymon in his hands.

“You may think you’re all powerful. But him… my master… the dark one… his power is far greater. You and your friends don’t stand a chance against him! And he will bring calamity to Equestria!”

As Tirek finished his statement, it was the captured Twilight Sparkle who gasped in shock. Remembering back when she and some of her friends were at the Tree of Harmony.

“Wait. Calamity? Could he mean the Greatest Calamity from the prophecy?” She asked quietly to herself.

On the side-lines, Luna mentally had enough of Tirek. She could tell that his words were disturbing BlackWarGreymon. Trying to throw him off his game. She didn’t like Tirek’s words one bit. As she glared angrily at the giant centaur, her horn glowed bright as she prepared an attack. No longer wanting to hide.

Unaware of the angry Alicorn, Tirek continued to talk to BlackWarGreymon.

“You have no idea what’s coming. Too bad I have to destroy you before you can have a chance to meet him.”

Though his horns were glowing, he pondered on what to do with BlackWarGreymon. Should he crush him? Make him suffer slowly? Or obliterate him entirely?

Before he could make up his mind however, Tirek was suddenly struck on the back of the head by a large blue magical orb. He only briefly stumbled forwards from the blast before looking over his shoulder to see who dared attacked him.

“You leave him alone, Tirek!!” Luna demanded as he began to charge.

“Luna, no!!” BlackWarGreymon warned. The other captives too looked on in shock from the princess’ actions.

Tirek turned his head around to fire a blast of magic at Luna. But the blue Alicorn instantly teleported away before the orange beam could touch her. After reappearing in front of the centaur, the blue pony fired another blast of her magic into his face. Both stunning him and blinding him.

“She’s rather brave for a pony,” The hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon uttered. Admittingly impressed by Luna’s actions.

“Luna! You need to get back, now!” BlackWarGreymon demanded while remained held in Tirek’s grip.

“But I can’t leave you like this!” Luna replied, unaware that the villain had quickly recovered.

Then to BlackWarGreymon’s shock and Luna’s surprise, the Alicorn’s body was surrounded in an orange aura. Caught in Tirek’s magical grip, she was then flung away. The Moon princess let out a loud yell as she crashed to the ground hard.

Luna’s cry of pain instantly echoed within BlackWarGreymon’s mind the moment he heard it. His eyes widened in shock as he saw her on the ground. Struggling to stand back up.

In his mind, trauma began to kick in. Luna was the pony he grew so close to. She was his best and most supportive friend. And since their date a couple of nights ago, his secret girlfriend. One of the many things BlackWarGreymon disliked was seeing his friends in pain. Both mentally and physically. But to see Luna in pain… he outright hated it. She was the only one who truly understood him and the only one who made him feel in ways he never felt before. To see someone causing any sort of pain to her… it made him angry.

Very… very angry!

As Luna just managed to stand back up, she saw the sinister smirk on Tirek’s face as he loomed over her.

“You know something, princess. I was wrong before. You do have quite the powerful magic within you.”

The intimidated mare knew what Tirek was planning to do. Proven in his next sentence.

“Now I’ll add it to my own!”

But before he could start absorbing Luna’s magic, Tirek suddenly felt his clenched hand vibrating. Looking at his fist with a confused look, he was a little taken back at what he saw. BlackWarGreymon’s body seemed to be trembling. But not from fear, it was from rage. And the expression in his yellow eyes looked as though he was glaring daggers at Tirek. He was also letting out grunts as his pupils became perfect slits.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Tirek asked. He didn’t know why, but the sight of the enraged eyes of the Digimon felt unnerving.

Then to the surprise of Tirek, the ponies and the hidden digital clone, a trail of red magic appeared from the sky and flew into BlackWarGreymon’s shoulders. Then ten more orbs of red light appeared and merged with the Mega.

“Guys… I think it’s happening,” Rainbow Dash said to her other captured friends. Since the others had seen it before, they quietly looked on in awe. Princess Celestia especially felt a vibe up her spine at the sight.

Luna held her breath. Knowing full well what was happening to her friend.

As the tenth orb of light entered BlackWarGreymon’s body, Tirek began to feel uneasy.

“Ok, what was that just no…”

BlackWarGreymon interrupted Tirek by letting out a mighty yell. His body then let out a fiery red aura which to the centaur’s shock, was instantly burning his hand.

Tirek yelled in pain as he released the energized Digimon. Clenching his hand as he tried to fight the burning pain. The sudden increase in power had also affected the bubbles trapping the ponies. Unable to withstand the sheer amount of power, all of the bubbles burst from existence. Leaving the former captives to drop to the ground. The impact of the drop momentarily awoke the weary Ayumi. Though her eyes were barely open, she and the rest of the freed but weakened ponies looked at BlackWarGreymon as he landed on the ground. The aura around his body was quite faint, but they could defiantly see it surging around his body.

“Girls… is he…?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. I think he’s going to use his Ascended form!” Twilight replied, excitement in her voice.

“His… Ascended form?” Celestia asked in awe. Being the only one who hadn’t seen how the Mega fought back at the Crystal Empire.

Meanwhile ChaosBlackWarGreymon stared at his progenitor in awe and anger. Again, he witnessed what BlackWarGreymon could do that he couldn’t.

Tirek however looked at the glowing Mega in shock. Having no idea what his foe was about to go through.

“Wha… what is this!?” He asked, his voice a little shaken.

But instead of answering the question, BlackWarGreymon looked at Tirek in burning anger. And when he spoke, his voice sounded predatory.

“How… dare you! How dare you!!”

All of a sudden, hundreds of red orbs of light appeared all across the sky. Tirek was shocked to see them appearing all at once from seemingly out of nowhere. But was shocked further when they started to gather and merge with BlackWarGreymon.

As the lights entered his body, the black armoured Mega began to grunt as his energy began to rise higher and higher than before. His hair started to wave, and his eyes were giving off a flickering glow.

To Tirek’s surprise, the rise in power affected the environment around him. Clouds began to disperse, the winds started to pick up, and the ground began to shake like an earthquake.

But then something happened. A development that none of BlackWarGreymon’s friends had ever seen before. As the moment when Luna was in pain played out in his head once more, the Digimon felt his inner rage building up. However, the rage he felt… was entirely different from what he initially felt. It even affected his energy. Small black flames began to flicker around his body. But with his focus changing towards Tirek and the desire to save his friends, the black flames gave out just as suddenly as they came.

While confused about the black flames at first, the ponies put the thought aside from the hype of seeing BlackWarGreymon reaching his Ascended form. ChaosBlackWarGreymon however reacted differently. Being cloned from BlackWarGreymon himself, he understood the energy of a Digimon far better than the ponies do.

And what he felt was no magic. It was something else.

Something… that left him horrified.

Chapter 62: Dawn of an Unforeseen Power (Part 2)

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On the fringes of the Everfree Forest, BlackWarGreymon, enraged from seeing Princess Luna in pain from Lord Tirek’s actions, caused him to unlock the power that was granted by Equestria itself. Red trails from the hundreds of magical orbs descended from the skies. All merging into BlackWarGreymon’s body.

But while powering up, something new had happened. For a moment, black flames were seen within the powerful red aura of BlackWarGreymon. Being hyped for the Digimon’s transformation, the ponies thought nothing of the momentarily change. As for ChaosBlackWarGreymon, who was eavesdropping behind some trees, he was the one who paid full attention to the brief change. His crimson eyes widened in shock as he gasped at the sight and the feel of the change.

What he felt wasn’t magic. He sensed something different about BlackWarGreymon. Something different, yet familiar. Something that frightened him enough to take a step back.

‘No. I…Impossible! That spark! That… that was…data! He almost surged with data! But why?’

His mind ruled out one possibility.

‘He may be a Mega, but he’s still an Artificial Digimon. So, it can’t be an ascension to… the level above. It’s impossible. So, what was that!?’

Despite the scene playing out before him, the sudden but brief change was something ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept on thinking about.

Back on the scene, as the last of the magical orbs entered his body, BlackWarGreymon could feel the energy trying to burst forth from his body. As all his muscles clenched, the furious Mega glared once more at Tirek before speaking in a hateful tone. Wanting to avenge Luna for what Tirek had done to her.

“Don’t…you…dare…TOUCH HER!!!!!”

In an outburst of rage from his echoing voice, all the energy within the Digimon exploded in a massive display of fury and power. The glow was so intense that everyone had to shield their eyes. The sheer force from his ascended energy literally tore apart the ground around him. As if he was the centre of an earthquake.

As BlackWarGreymon continued to yell, all eyes turned their attention back to him. They could see that his red aura looked more ferocious than ever, meaning that the Digimon had become stronger than ever. Possibly even more so than back at the Crystal Empire. Celestia and Ayumi, being the only ones who had never seen the form in a fight, could only stare on in silent awe. Though the others had seen the form before, they remained just as speechless as the first time. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused in silence. Stunned at the level of strength BlackWarGreymon had reached.

Ayumi tried to muster a much strength she had to gaze at BlackWarGreymon’s true might. She remembered how strong he was when he was just trying to power up. But to actually see the true appearance of the transformation in it’s fullest, it was a whole new experience for her. Seeing a digital being and the magic of Equestria becoming one. She wished she’d still possessed her magic. Wanting to see how much stronger BlackWarGreymon had become. But it seemed that just seeing the form was all she currently wanted.

“So that’s it. The power he was talking about before. That’s… his Ascended form,” She uttered before her strength gave out. Slipping back to unconsciousness.

Although Luna was just as speechless, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat… influenced. It was in fact the second time her best friend unlocked his Ascended form for her sake. It was her in danger that drove BlackWarGreymon to break his limits and become greater than before.

Knowing that the fight had become even more dangerous, Luna retreated until she was behind a rock as the other ponies managed to get some cover behind the trees.

“Wha…what’s this!?” Tirek asked. Demanding an explanation.

‘Background music’ ‘Not Gonna Die by Skillet’

As Tirek stood silently, intimidated by the Digimon’s display, the powerful aura around BlackWarGreymon began to condense. Then as the energy huddled closer to his body, the super Digimon flew through the air towards Tirek at new frightening speeds. Before the giant centaur could react quick enough, the ascended Mega delivered an energized punch to the face.

With the blow backed up with tremendous energy, Tirek found himself skidding backwards as he yelled in pain. Despite his giant size, the attack was like being punched by another giant. Tirek stumbled as he came to a halt. Painfully grunting as he held onto his face. But his expression was more of shock.

“What the…!? How did he suddenly become so much stronger!?”

But as he tried to comprehend what was going on, the ascended BlackWarGreymon came in and dished out several more punches to the face. He ended the combo with a hard kick to his right cheek.

Tirek was again left stumbling and yelling. Almost toppling over. Was it possible that despite the size difference, BlackWarGreymon had become even stronger than him?

Not wanting to believe that the fact was true, Tirek roared as he threw his right fist to punch the smaller aggressor. But to his shock, BlackWarGreymon caught a firm hold on his giant wrist and then, to the surprise of the onlooking ponies, he threw the gigantic centaur over his shoulder. Similar to a judo flip. Then with his strength completely betraying his size, the ascended Mega smashed Tirek to the ground.

As the fallen lord tumbled across the ground, the super Digimon sent him further away after throwing a quick combo of punches and kicks. But then afterwards he grabbed a hold on one of Tirek’s rear hooves and spun around to throw him back to where the fight started.

The giant centaur uncontrollably rolled across the ground before coming to a halt. But before he had any time to recover, the ascended BlackWarGreymon appeared behind him and grabbed a hold on his tail. Then to the shock of Tirek and the onlooking witnesses, the super Mega had the strength to spin the evil lord around by his tail as Tirek yelled out in surprise!

As the momentum sped up to shocking speeds, BlackWarGreymon wasted no time in tossing Tirek high into the air. With the flailing centaur high above him, BlackWarGreymon yelled as he flew up to him like a speeding red comet. What came next was an earth-shattering blow as the ascended Mega smashed into Tirek’s back. Causing the giant to roar out in agony. Then using his heightened speed to move faster then the eye could see, BlackWarGreymon briefly disappeared from underneath Tirek and reappeared above him. He then swung his right leg out to kick Tirek’s shoulder. Sending him higher into the air. The glowing Digimon repeated the pattern again. Swiping him with his foot and bashing him with his heels. And then ended it by ramming his right elbow into Tirek’s giant chest.

The combo of attacks left Tirek stunned as he fell back to the ground. Throwing up a mountain of dirt as he crashed.

“What… in Equestria… is going on!?” He roared as he felt parts of his body aching. Still dumbfounded from being beaten up by a foe so much smaller than he was.

BlackWarGreymon roared as he dived down towards the recovering Tirek with his left foot out to stomp on him. Tirek tried to counter it with his left fist to punch the Digimon away. But with the Mega in his Ascended form, Tirek took the full force of the blow. Yelling as if his hand was either heavily sprained or even broken.

BlackWarGreymon then surprised Tirek even more by flying up to grab one of his giant horns. Then after a mighty yell and a forceful toss, he threw the colossal centaur overhead and into the air. He then landed on his back as he fell back to the ground.

The ponies were amazed at the sight of their friend besting the giant centaur. Even the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon was stunned form witnessing how much stronger BlackWarGreymon had become.

After he got up on his hooves, the enraged Tirek used his magic to levitate several large boulders from the ground. Finally on the attack, he launched them to his advancing foe. But as the ascended BlackWarGreymon sped towards the evil lord, he proceeded to smash through every giant rock in his way with little to no effort. Seeing his attack fail caused Tirek to briefly panic as he threw a right-handed punch to knock the Digimon away.

But to his shock and surprise, his fist seemed to have passed through BlackWarGreymon before the image of him faded. But just as he realised that it was an afterimage, the real BlackWarGreymon came in behind to slam his left armoured knee into the back of Tirek’s head.

Tirek stumbled from the blow and tried to retaliate by turning around to throw another punch. But the ascended Mega dodged it, spun around and slammed his right elbow into the side of the centaur’s face.

As he held onto his face, the frustration kept on building up for Tirek. Ever since BlackWarGreymon’s ascension, Tirek was unable to land a single blow on him. Not even with all the power he had stolen. After getting fed up with being on the receiving end of the attacks, Tirek swung his arms down aimlessly. Managing to knock BlackWarGreymon to the ground. Tirek then proceeded to relentlessly punch the downed Digimon into the dirt. Dust flew as the crater grew bigger after every blow.

After several beatings, Tirek began to feel his knuckles burning from making constant contact with BlackWarGreymon’s aura. Thus, decided to fire a blast of magic from his horns to the downed Mega. But as soon as there was an explosion from the blast, the unscaved BlackWarGreymon leapt high up to Tirek’s head and grabbed a hold on the centaur’s left horn. Then using his own momentum, the glowing Mega swung around the horn and slammed both his feet into Tirek’s face.

As Tirek stumbled back from the attack, BlackWarGreymon decided to use one of his enhanced powers before his enemy could recover.

Performing his Dragon Crusher attack, the super Digimon threw his right arm down to release a wave of energy that forced Tirek back. But instead of raising his left arm up to release the fire and end the attack, BlackWarGreymon threw the arm down and created another wave of energy. Confusing the ponies, the Mega repeated it three more times.

With the centaur held back by five energy waves, both BlackWarGreymon’s arms were thrown upwards. Releasing not one, but two waves of negative fire.

The fire ignited the energy waves, causing the whole front of the giant centaur’s body to burst into flames.

As Tirek wailed as his body was being burnt, the ponies couldn’t help but stare in shock. It seemed in his Ascended form, all his attacks had been upgraded.

It was further evidenced when BlackWarGreymon flew up high behind the slowly recovering Tirek. As he got to a good height, the Digimon began to spin on the spot with his arms raised. But as his Black Tornado began to form, the group were surprised to see two more Black Tornado’s appearing either side of the spinning super Mega.

The attack was so unlike the previous version, it even had a new name in which BlackWarGreymon himself uttered.

“ULTRA TORNADO!!!”

As the spinning BlackWarGreymon dived down towards Tirek’s back, the two smaller tornados began to spiral around the central one. As Tirek turned around to see the triple threat, he only had enough time to cross his arms for protection. But despite his defence, the giant lord grunted loudly in pain as the spiral drill-like attack made contact with his skin. Pushing Tirek back while drilling against his bare arms.

Within a matter of seconds, the central tornado faded as the ascended BlackWarGreymon stopped spinning and flew back. But with the two smaller tornados present, the Digimon engulfed his metal claws in negative fire. Then by touching the whirling black winds, the fire ignited them. The trail of fire travelled downwards and then set fire to Tirek’s front once more.

The onlooking group were stunned silent. BlackWarGreymon was going all out with his attacks. And the sight of him combining two attacks into one was an amazing sight to behold.

As Tirek tried to fight back the burning pain on his body, he saw the ascended BlackWarGreymon preparing another attack. His two clawed gauntlets joined together as a green energy sphere began to take form. Knowing what was coming, he crossed his arms once more but then formed an orange forcefield around his body.

Not that it did him any good. Because as the Digimon fired a hellfire of his War Blaster attack, the green projectiles smashed against the magical barrier. Causing cracks along the surface. Unable to withstand the barrage of relentless attacks, the forcefield was eventually shattered. And the giant centaur was left defenceless as his body was being bombarded by the attacks. Stumbling back and screaming in pain as his huge body took every single pounding hit.

After nearly stumbling over, Tirek regained his footing. BlackWarGreymon stopped his energy attack and charged down at the centaur once more. However, as he flew, he failed to notice that something about himself was off. He was so caught up in his fight with Tirek, he failed to realise that his magnificent glowing aura… started to dim.

As the ascended Digimon threw in a kick, Tirek raised his left arm to block it. A loud boom was sounded from the impact. But to Tirek’s surprise, nothing more.

As BlackWarGreymon retreated, a thought crossed Tirek’s mind.

‘Strange. That attack wasn’t as strong as the last ones.’

Feeling that he might even stand a chance, Tirek charged in and began throwing punches. In which BlackWarGreymon was forced to dodge and block. As the giant centaur attacked, the ascended Mega took advantage of any openings. Scoring hits on the evil lord.

Even though her digital friend had hurt Tirek more, Twilight started to feel that something was off.

“Wait. Something’s not right here.”

Most of the group looked to Twilight in confusion.

“What is it Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

The lavender Alicorn spoke out her concerns as she watched the battle unfold.

“Just look at Tirek. He’s starting to resist BlackWarGreymon’s attacks and fighting back.”

Rarity then spoke up in uncertainty.

“But how can that be? It’s not like Tirek can get stronger without absorbing our magic.”

But as Twilight paid closer attention to the warring two, her eyes widened in shock and realisation.

“It’s not Tirek. It’s BlackWarGreymon!”

Her expressions darkened more from realising what was happening.

“His attacks… they’re getting weaker!”

The other ponies all looked at her in disbelief. And then at the Digimon in shock. For some of the ponies, they could see that Twilight was right. BlackWarGreymon’s attacks didn’t seem to be causing as much damage to Tirek as before.

“But… how can that be? He’s in his Ascended form,” Princess Cadence spoke out.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Luna started to grow concerned. She could see that BlackWarGreymon’s fiery aura… wasn’t as fiery as it was before. Being the only pony of the group to still have her magic, she started to sense the Digimon’s power. Only to gasp in shock from what she sensed about him.

“His power… it’s starting to drop!”

Unaware of his situation, BlackWarGreymon broke contact with Tirek and flew high in the sky. After forming an energy sphere in-between his hands, the Mega raised it above his head. As the group saw the orb growing larger, they saw that because of his Ascended form, the sphere itself greatly resembled a bright red and orange sun. Reaching eighty feet wide.

“TERRA DESTROYER!!!”

Tirek slightly gasped in shock from the sight of BlackWarGreymon throwing the burning red orb at him. Not wanting to feel the attack upon him, Tirek charged up as much magic as he could and then fired a giant thirty-foot wide orange beam towards the energy ball.

The whole world turned orange as the two powers clashed. The orange river of magic struggling to hold back the might of the Digimon’s attack.

But as Tirek felt massive strain from his counterattack being slowly forced back, he suddenly felt a drop in power. But it didn’t come from him. To his confusion, he felt it coming from BlackWarGreymon!

Using his discovery to his advantage, Tirek poured more power into his attack. His beam attack successfully pushing the energy ball back.

Seeing his attack coming back towards him briefly startled BlackWarGreymon. But then dived down towards it with his arms crossed in front of him. Like a battering ram, he collided into his own attack. The Digimon used his strength to push the ball down while the giant centaur used his energy beam to push the ball up.

The ponies held their breath from the unique struggle. Hoping that their friend would win.

Then as he found the strength to end the struggle, the ascended Mega forcefully kicked his own attack. The force behind it caused the Terra Destroyer sphere to plough through Tirek’s energy beam. Which was then followed by a blinding explosion and the painfilled yelling from Tirek.

‘Song end.’

As the massive smoke cloud filled the air from the blast, the glowing form of BlackWarGreymon landed back on the ground. But all his friends noticed that something else wasn’t right about him. Not only his glowing aura had shrunken, but they could see him panting for breath.

“Is… is he exhausted?” Prince Shining Armor asked.

“N-No way! There’s no way he could be tired out so quickly! He’s in his Ascended form!” Rainbow Dash protested. Disbelief written on the faces of her and the others.

But as Twilight looked carefully at BlackWarGreymon, she could still see him breathing heavily. Then as he tried to recompose himself and stand up straight, his body seemed to be strained as his legs slightly trembled.

Then a shocking thought occurred to Twilight.

‘Maybe… it’s the form itself. Maybe that is what’s causing it.’

As the smoke cloud cleared, Tirek seemed to have fallen. But after a few seconds of silence, the dirt covered centaur rose back up on his four hooves. And then turned to face BlackWarGreymon. After he took a good look at his smaller foe, Tirek began to grin.

“So that’s what’s going on.”

He began to scoff at the Digimon.

“Hah! It seems that I’m going to win this battle and take my revenge after all.”

Like the ponies, BlackWarGreymon was taken by surprise. True, Tirek was standing. But his body was battered and worn. Not to mention burnt in several places as well as scorched. Yet, he claimed that he would be the one who would come out on top.

“What makes you think that would happen!? I can still fight!” BlackWarGreymon stated as he readied himself. Not even realising that he almost stumbled by his feet.

Lord Tirek then explained BlackWarGreymon’s situation.

“True. But just look at yourself. You’re so worn out, you can barely stand up.”

The ascended Digimon looked at Tirek in surprise.

“What!?”

He then looked down at his body. To his disbelief, Tirek was right. He could see his legs almost buckling from the stress. With his focus moved onto himself, he could even fell his legs trembling. In fact, his whole body felt very worn down. He tried to clench his concealed fists but found little to no strength behind them. With those signs, as well as his heavy breathing, he DID appear to be very tired. Much to the confusion of himself and his pony friends.

“But… why!? How did…?”

Tirek then spoke up. Detailing exactly what was wrong with his foe.

“Whatever power you used to make yourself stronger, it’s clearly right now draining your stamina. It seems someone hasn’t fully understood his powers.”

His grin grew bigger.

“Or perhaps, there’s a flaw in that power.”

BlackWarGreymon wanted to deny Tirek’s claims, but the mockery carried a painful truth. But while the cause was still unknown to him, he realised that he only achieved his Ascended form only three times. All of which came forth only on accident or when enraged. On his own, with his own efforts, he never once achieved the transformation. And because the form itself was still new to him, and how limited he became ascended, he had little to no understanding of the form. How it works or how to use it properly.

In short, he wasn’t fully prepared to use the Ascended form, despite it saving him in the past. BlackWarGreymon grunted in anger as he looked down in shame. The onlooking ponies shocked to see that Tirek’s words, as well as their own theories, were true all the long.

“I… don’t believe it.” BlackWarGreymon said. Angry with himself.

With the fight seemingly paused, Tirek became more intrigued with the Digimon’s glowing aura. After taking a moment to actually sense the energy of the Digimon’s form, he was taken back at the shocking discovery.

‘That power! T…That’s magic! Equestrian magic! Just how did…!?’

Tirek paused. A cruel idea formed in his mind.

“Wait a minute.”

On the side-lines, the ponies were frightened by the sudden evil smile on Tirek’s face. As if he had just discovered something that they hadn’t noticed yet.

Their fears came true when the giant centaur spoke to the smaller Digimon.

“Now I know how you were able to do this. You used the very magic of Equestria to achieve this.”

His evil grin only grew bigger as he finished.

“If the magic from your pony friends can make me stronger, than the same goes for you now!”

Then in a blink of an eye, Tirek used a levitation spell on BlackWarGreymon. Lifting up the surprised mega high in the air. But before the Digimon could react, the centaur wasted no time and opened his mouth. Beginning to use his formidable magic stealing ability.

At the first instance, nothing happened. But then suddenly, BlackWarGreymon felt a powerful suction throughout his entire body. He briefly yelled out, as if something was tearing his body apart from the inside. He painfully grunted, trying to keep his ascended energy from leaving his form.

But with his body strained and worn from the battle, streams of energy slipped from BlackWarGreymon’s grasp! Slowly being consumed by Tirek.

The mares and stallion all stared and gasped at the shocking site. They couldn’t believe that Tirek’s idea was actually working on BlackWarGreymon. But since the Ascended form was magic based, it was likely. They all felt a painful sting in their hearts as more streams of magic left the Digimon’s body. Signs that he was losing his grip.

As he consumed the ascended magic, Tirek’s mind was bristling with excitement.

‘I don’t believe it! This kind of magic tastes even greater than I ever imagined! It’s so sweet and ripe! Fresh from the land itself! It’s so irresistible! I must have it all!!’

Seeing her friend in deep trouble, Luna tried to interfere by firing blasts of her magic at Tirek. But with the new power growing inside of him, the giant hardly felt her attacks.

Seeing that her magic was becoming more and more useless against the evil lord, the blue Alicorn looked up at BlackWarGreymon in sadness and horror. She could tell that he was losing too much energy. His struggles were becoming weaker and weaker. And for once, there was nothing she could do to help him.

“No. Not BlackWarGreymon. Not him,” Luna said quietly as tears started to form in her eyes. Because she knew that if BlackWarGreymon falls, so does the hopes of Equestria.
………………………………………………………………………………………....................................

On the side-lines, ChaosBlackWarGreymon stood motionless. Ever since BlackWarGreymon used his Ascended form, and throughout the entire battle, the digital clone was in a state of shock and…awe. He stared blankly as his mind raced. Wondering how his progenitor became so much stronger than he was.

But while he was trying to find a possible answer, beyond his control memories came to him. The day when BlackWarGreymon chose to spare his life instead of taking it. The night when he defeated the Timberwolves, saving the Cutiemark Crusaders. But most importantly, a time when he spoke to the Tree of Harmony sparked to life. Reminding ChaosBlackWarGreymon of the conversation he had with the mysterious figure. And about his possible destiny.

His crimson eyes went wide in realisation when he pieces slowly came together.

“I understand now.”

He looked at the ground as he collected his thoughts.

“Sombra wanted me to destroy his enemies, but that was his desire. The boss wanted me to destroy everything in my wake, but that is also what he wants. But no. Not me. Not anymore. What I want… is what my desire is. And now I know what I want.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon lifted his head up, looking at the only other Digimon in the area.

“It was right there the whole time. I was created from BlackWarGreymon’s data. So the path to my desire, must be linked to him. Wherever it is to fight him to see who’s the strongest. Or to uncover and understand the secrets to his strength. I don’t know which one it is, but BlackWarGreymon is the key. If he was able to become so strong despite going against his creator’s wishes, then… surely the same could apply to me. I can find out what I want in this life. To find my own calling.”

His red eyes went even wider as he reached his conclusion.

“BlackWarGreymon… is the key to my destiny!!”

As his hype reached its peak, ChaosBlackWarGreymon realised something. If BlackWarGreymon would fall to Tirek, then his hopes of the exciting future would never come to fruition. Once Tirek gets his chance, he would most probably kill the black armoured Digimon. And once he does, then the digital clone would lose all his chances to discover himself. Either to become stronger than BlackWarGreymon, or even something else that didn’t revolve around his master. Regardless of what his future would be, he believed that BlackWarGreymon was the only one who would lead him to his destiny. There was no other in Equestria like him.

Seeing that his desired future was at great risk, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned his sights on the giant centaur. His crimson eyes narrowing in a glare of hate.

“And no one will stand in my way!” He said, his cold voice sounded more like a growl.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..........................................

Back on the scene, BlackWarGreymon was in serious trouble. As Lord Tirek absorbed more and more of the Digimon’s magic-enhanced energy, his body began to feel weaker and weaker. Soon enough, he could barely move his arms as he continued to grunt loudly in pain. His aura fading more as seconds passed by.

‘No! I… can’t hold out… much longer! My energy is almost gone!’

On the ground, Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor and the Mane Six all rushed out into the open. Leaving the unconscious Ayumi by a large tree for safety. Huddling together, they desperately tried to come up with a plan.

“We can’t just stand here! We need to help him!” Twilight declared.

“But how!? Luna is the only one with any magic left!” Cadence pointed out, then joined by Celestia.

“And I’m afraid my sister’s magic is now not strong enough to even hurt Tirek!”

“And I’m sorry to say that we’re too weak to fight, darling,” Rarity said, reminding the others that their energies were all stolen by Tirek himself.

“Then what can we do!? This…this can’t be it. Could it?” Rainbow Dash asked, her voice shaken by fear that the end had finally come.

To most of the group, it looked as though there was no hope of salvation. Some began to huddle close to their friends. Fearing the end.

But Princess Twilight Sparkle felt differently. Being the most defiant she had even been.

“No! If that prophecy is true, then this can’t be the end. There’s always a way. There must be!”

As Twilight finished her bold speech, she suddenly felt a build-up of massive power fast approaching from behind. Then parts of the land around her and her friends seemed to be glowing green.

Then to the complete shock and surprise of the whole group, a giant sphere of darkness flew over their heads. Flying straight towards the giant centaur. Then before Tirek could notice it, the dark energy orb exploded against his face.

Surprised and in pain by the sudden attack, Tirek lost his concentration to his magic stealing ability and lost his grip on BlackWarGreymon. As Tirek stumbled back, the near drained Digimon fell to the ground.

Although glad that their friend was free, one question lingered in all the minds of the ponies.

“Where in tarnation did that come from!!?” Applejack asked.

“Is that part of BlackWarGreymon’s new power?” Celestia asked, being the only one new to witness the Digimon’s Ascended form.

Out of the surprised group, Twilight was having a brain wave.

“No, Celestia. That attack is not one of BlackWarGreymon’s. It looked… almost like…”

The young Alicorn then received a flashback. She saw images. On the battlefield at the Crystal Empire, the duel between BlackWarGreymon and his clone. She then received an image of one of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s attacks. His version of the Terra Destroyer attack. Shadow Destroyer.

It then clicked in her head. Both the cloned technique and the sudden energy ball… looked exactly the same! Even the feel from the thing felt identical.

Twilight’s eyes widened as disbelief plastered across her face. She then turned around to where the attack came from. Staring into the distant field of trees.

“There’s no way,” The startled Alicorn uttered. Her mind conflicted if it was true.

Deep within the trees, ChaosBlackWarGreymon hid himself once more. Levitating behind a tree. After quickly lowering his power again, he looked over to the downed Digimon in the field.

“Come on, BlackWarGreymon. Get up. You can’t lose to this bum. Don’t make me come over there,” He said quietly, so he wouldn’t be heard.

After she got over her shock from the sight of the Digimon freed, Luna tried to rush over to help BlackWarGreymon. Who appeared to have completely lost his Ascended form. But before she could reach him, a bright glow from her right caught her vision. Then like the other ponies, the blue princess looked to see where the glow came from. And were all horrified at what they saw.

With the magic he had absorbed from BlackWarGreymon’s Ascended form, Tirek completely ignored the surprise attack as he began to grow even bigger. Yelling as his power reached even higher than it ever did. Strangely however, as he reached a certain height, his growth stopped. Showing that his size had certain limitations. Yet despite the pause in size, his power continued to grow higher.

As the glowing stopped, so did Tirek’s growth in power. The evil centaur became more than gigantic. He was a colossus! Reaching almost the same height as one of Canterlot’s towers. Plus, his power had reached an all-time high.

As he laughed madly, he decided to test out his new power by firing a beam of magic at a random hill in the distance. With all the added power, it swirled around the river of magic. Spiralling around the beam. Soon the spiral beam exploded against the large hill, completely annihilating it. Much to Tirek’s satisfaction.

“YYEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!! I NOW HAVE THE ULTIMATE POWER!!! BOW DOWN TO YOUR NEW OVERLORD!!!”

As he looked down at his clenched fists, a thought entered his mind.

‘I never felt so strong! With this power, I might be able to overthrow my master! Yes! He’ll be the one to obey me!’

As Tirek continued to declare his apparent victory, the weakened BlackWarGreymon struggled to stand back up. But despite the new threat that Tirek posed, only one thought was on the Digimon’s mind.

“L…Luna. I’m sorry. But I must fight on. Even… if it costs me my life,” He said as he slowly stood back on his feet. Only to fall back down on his face.

Not too far away, Luna grew deeply concerned as she saw BlackWarGreymon struggling to get back up. Tirek had literally sucked out all the fight from the Mega. But the main factor that made her so concerned was BlackWarGreymon’s stubborn determination. She understood that no matter what pain he was in, he would continue to fight. But in his present state he was in, the fight could cost him more than his warrior pride. She feared for his life. In her mind, BlackWarGreymon could die!

Princess Luna had begun to realise the one thing she feared the most, it was to see BlackWarGreymon lose his life before her very eyes. So at that moment, she would give anything to help him.

As he finished marvelling himself, Tirek gazed down at the weakened BlackWarGreymon. Grinning in satisfaction.

“This is quite a turn, isn’t it? To have your strongest asset used against you. I honestly didn’t think I would ever become this strong.”

As he laid on the ground, BlackWarGreymon glared angrily at the towering giant. Grunting loudly as he tried to push himself off the ground. Tirek continued.

“I should thank you, BlackWarGreymon. And in return, I shall grant you a quick… painless death.”

BlackWarGreymon tried to muster a response. But to his confusion, he heard hoof steps approaching him from the side. As he turned his head, he was shocked to see Luna. Glaring up at Tirek as she stood beside his head.

“Luna?” BlackWarGreymon uttered.

All the ponies on the side-lines froze in suspense. Both silent and frightened of what the blue Alicorn was going to do. As for the towering Tirek, he glared down with a raised eyebrow of confusion. It was then Luna spoke. Using her Royal Canterlot voice.

“YOU WILL NOT HURT HIM ANYMORE!!!”

Luna reinforced her statement by flaring out her wings. Almost shielding BlackWarGreymon behind her. Her horn surging in blue light from her magic. The sight and actions of the Moon Princess caught the onlooking group completely by surprise. Even the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

Tirek however shrugged her off.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to threaten me. But if you want to suffer for his sake, then go ahead. I dare you!”

“Luna. Don’t do it,” BlackWarGreymon said to the Alicorn. Almost pleading her to stop.

But to his surprise, Luna didn’t reply back. And to his shock, Luna took to the skies. Surprising even Tirek, who didn’t think she would really go through with her idea of defiance.

“Luna! No!” The Digimon shouted as he watched the blue Alicorn flew higher towards Tirek. Her horn glowing bright blue.

As well as forming a barrier around her body, Luna prepared to fire the strongest spell she could think off. As she done so, Tirek prepared to retaliate. An orange ball of magic forming between his giant horns.

BlackWarGreymon and the ponies all watched on in fright as Luna edged nearer to the giant centaur. Then with a mighty yell, she fired a powerful blue beam of magic. Aiming straight for Tirek’s head. The giant centaur fought back by firing his orange magical beam.

The area lit up when the two energy beams collided into each other. But as Luna was having massive difficulties trying to push forward, Tirek was the opposite. He grinned, knowing full well that he was holding back on purpose.

“YOU FOOL!!!” He shouted as he suddenly increased his magic. Causing his beam to overpower Luna’s almost instantly.

When the orange magical beam struck Luna’s blue barrier, it resulted in a massive explosion that lit up the whole area. But the most horrific thing was that they all didn’t even hear a scream. Fearing that the Princess of the Moon had been vaporized.

However, as the explosion turned into a smoke cloud, Luna was seen. Fortunately, her barrier blocked out the worst of the blast. But it left her knock out as her limp body fell from the sky. The blue Alicorn let out a brief, but loud yell as she crashed to the ground close to the other ponies. The group all rushed up to her. With a frightened Celestia being the first to reach her.

“Luna!! Luna!! Please say something! Anything!” The drained Sun Princess pleaded. But receiving no response from her battered sister.

However. The sight of Luna’s defeat was all caught in the sights of BlackWarGreymon. He stared at the fallen mare in complete horror as he gasped at her fallen body. She was badly hurt. But with his energy near enough gone, he couldn’t sense energy as much as before. But he could feel nothing from Luna. With his mind becoming conflicted with so many emotions at once, he couldn’t tell if the princess survived. For all he know, from his line of sight of her limp form, she may had lost her life.

Much like what WarGreymon felt on the day of his death, the new feeling that BlackWarGreymon was experiencing… was loss. The feeling of losing someone. But the worst thought of all… was that he wasn’t able to save her.

As he kept his sights on her, his eyes full of distraught, he felt something. Deep within his mind, something snapped. Causing his black pupils to narrow in slits, for him to breath heavily and a strange shiver to run up his spine. He could even feel his hair standing on ends. His anger began to boil over in a rapid rate.

He began to feel it again. The rage within his very being reaching to the surface. But a kind of rage he had never experienced before. Or… had he? Had he experienced such rage before? Or was it from one of his left-over programs? He was too into his trauma to even think rationally. All that was on his mind was the sight of Luna’s fall. And the foe who caused it.

As he felt his newfound rage surging throughout his body, his yellow eyes shifted towards the towering Tirek. His head then began to follow. As his breathing began to grow louder and more vicious, his anger started to become vengeful. He wanted to make Tirek pay for what he had done. That and tenfold. As if fuelled by his own rage, BlackWarGreymon began to move. Standing up on his two legs, despite not having the strength to do so just seconds ago. As he stood up, his muscles began to bulk in size. He then started to feel his energy. All the energy he had lost started to surge back into existence. He was unsure why, but he didn’t care. He could feel the power being more primal as his breaths became growls. As he done so, his eyes began to shine in a bright white.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the first to notice BlackWarGreymon. And stared on in shock at what he was seeing. Especially when he saw the glowing eyes.

“Wait. That look again. I’ve seen it before!”

He began to think back when he and BlackWarGreymon clashed after he destroyed the Wonderbolt Academy. Back when the hero, suddenly went wild.

“It was when we fought the second time. But…why is he…!”

He paused as his crimson red eyes went wide in fear. There was one likely reason for BlackWarGreymon’s sudden change. Something that all Digimon fear. But after a moment, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had second thoughts.

“N-No. It’s… it’s impossible. There’s no way. He was created from Control Spires. There’s no way he could do that.”

Despite his doubts however, ChaosBlackWarGreymon couldn’t help but feel intimidated at what was happening to BlackWarGreymon. He kept his sights on him.

To where the ponies were, Celestia made a thorough examination on Luna. She then breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. She’s still alive.”

Then as most of the group looked over to BlackWarGreymon, they were surprised that the heavily drained Mega was back on his feet.

“Hay! He’s back up!” Rainbow Dash cheered. She and the others were amazed at the Digimon’s determination.

Then as all eyes looked at the black armoured being, Rarity began to notice something.

“And… he’s glowing.”

The mare’s tone was rightfully confused. Because when the rest of the ponies took a closer look, she was telling the truth. BlackWarGreymon was starting to glow. A faint aura was forming around the Digimon’s body. But unlike the glow of his Ascended form, the glow wasn’t red. It was a faint white glow. The same could be said for his eyes. Slowly glowing brighter.

But as Tirek looked down at the Digimon, he paid no mind to the changes and started to make fun of him.

“Oh, what’s the matter? Are you getting mad?”

As BlackWarGreymon kept staring at Tirek, he began to feel his entire body trembling from within. What’s more, the Mega could feel his mind shifting dramatically. Slowly being filled with nothing but hate. As he spoke to the centaur, his voice began to take a darker tone. With his pupils growing ever narrower.

“Ti…! Ti…rek!”

Tirek wasn’t the only one who felt a little unnerved from BlackWarGreymon’s more aggressive voice. The onlooking ponies too were puzzled.

But everyone was then blown away at his sudden outburst, as he roared at the heavens.

“TIIIIIIIIIIRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!”

Upon screaming Tirek’s name in such a hateful volume, it caused the land around him to tremble and shake. Everyone around him were startled and almost stumbling from the vibrations in the ground. Caused by BlackWarGreymon’s voice alone. Furthermore, the skies above them began to darken as clouds began to gather. Sparks of thunder began to take form in the skies above. All the ponies looked at their digital friend in deep concern. They could see that he was the cause of all the sudden abnormalities.

As his echoing voice died down, the trembling world thankfully subsided. But then as BlackWarGreymon glared back at Tirek. From his outburst, he could feel his energy fast returning. Something within him was triggering his energy to replenish. And then ascend much further. BlackWarGreymon could feel a new kind of energy surging within his digital body. New… yet familiar. Causing his faint white aura to grow more visible.

He began to talk to Tirek. His voice almost sounding predatory.

“You knew you would win against her. Yet…yet you still hurt her.”

BlackWarGreymon took one step back. But due to what his body was going through. It was like his entire body was moving from the inside. Then as he spoke to Tirek, small black flames began to appear again. Dancing around the Digimon’s body as his rage continued to grow.

“What you have done… won’t be forgiven. I… I will make you pay!”

The hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon flinched as he saw the black flames again. It was clearly a sign of something bad to come. He could somehow tell. As for the ponies, they too noticed the flames flickering around BlackWarGreymon. But unlike last time, they were very curious as to what was causing them. As seconds went by, more and more flames began to appear. The flames themselves even becoming much bigger.

Then as BlackWarGreymon could feel his negative energy reaching its bursting point, he spoke one more thing to Tirek.

“I swear… I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!!!”

With his latest verbal threat, BlackWarGreymon could no longer hold it in. Letting out a mighty roar to the heavens, all the black flames around his body all ignited into a massive aura of black light. Surging all around the Digimon as the sudden increase in power caused a powerful gust of wind to blow through the whole area. All the ponies had to duck down to avoid the worst of the winds. Even Tirek felt as though he was being pushed back from the gusts. Much to his confusion. All the trees rustled loudly as ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to fight back the winds. Some trees being blown over around him.

The digital clone looked over to BlackWarGreymon. He could see it in his eyes. Feel it in his energy. Hear it in his screaming voice. BlackWarGreymon was going through a change. Something that he denied at first, was becoming truer by the second. Much to the grey armoured Digimon’s horror.

“Impossible! It’s… really happening!”

“RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” BlackWarGreymon screamed as he was surrounded by his black surging aura. His negative energy surging out of control.

“W-What’s going on!?” Celestia asked as she held onto the unconscious Luna.

“I don’t know! This has never happened before!” Twilight replied. Leaving one eye open to see what was happening to her friend.

But then, part of BlackWarGreymon’s mind tried to fight back. The Artificial Digimon wailed out as he tried to resist the new feeling. Thrashing his head about as he held his right hand against the side of his head. Grunting very loudly as he tried his hardest. But as he paused his thrashing, his sights were fixed squarely on the confused Tirek. Seeing the centaur caused BlackWarGreymon’s rage to reach heights it never reached before. In response to his change, his yellow eyes completely faded away. Replaced by a piercing blinding white light.

Then with one last roar of rage and malice, BlackWarGreymon had surrendered himself to his hatred. His black aura began to morph itself. Wrapping itself around the Digimon’s body to form a black sphere. While the winds died down and the tremors stopped, all eyes were locked on the newly formed black orb. Knowing that their friend was hidden inside.

In the city of Canterlot, the side effects of BlackWarGreymon’s change was taking a severe effect. At first, all the streetlights began to flicker on and off on their own. Only to then have their lightbulbs blown. Scaring the citizens with each glass pop. For homes that had microwaves, toasters, lights and anything electrical, it all began to go haywire. Either malfunctioning or exploding from the digital energy overload. The same was happening in Ponyville. But since the town was much further away from BlackWarGreymon, the effects weren’t as destructive. But all manner of machinery were still playing up.

“Wha…What’s going on with all the lights!?” Applebloom asked as she, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Spike were hanging out at Sweet Apple Acres. All scared at how all the light bulbs were turning on and off.

Back on the scene, all the mares and stallion stared at the large orb in confusion and concern. For Celestia, she couldn’t help but feel that she had seen something similar before. It was when Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon. She too was concealed within a dark energy sphere during her change. A memory that haunted the Sun Princess.

Then to their surprise, the black sphere began to expand. Growing almost twice as large as it was before.
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BlackWarGreymon’s change was even felt from another realm of existence. Within the Harmonium Nexus, the figure that resides in it gasped in horror. She could sense the amount of hostile energy being emitted from Equestria. But worse still, it came from BlackWarGreymon.

“No! Not my warrior!”
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As the eyes of the ponies, Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon all kept their sights on the much larger ball of black energy, they were surprised to see that it was starting to crack. Beams of white light escaped from the cracks that continued to spread all across the sphere.

That was when they all heard his voice. It sounded like their friend, but it sounded far more hostile. Carrying a predatory growl.

“BLACKWARGREYMON…… BERSERK MODE!!!”

Upon saying those words, the black sphere suddenly exploded. Briefly lighting up the area in a blinding white light. Carrying a force that felt like the whole world was being torn apart.

As all eyes recovered from near blindness, all heads turned towards where BlackWarGreymon last stood. Wondering what in the world had happened. It was there where they saw him. Revealing himself in an entirely new form!

The black armoured dragon warrior had grown taller. His new height reaching up to fifteen feet. Towering over all the ponies. His armour had a much darker shade of black as the faint while aura continued to flow around his body. His legs were near enough the same as before, but there were some changes. The feet of the Digimon had changed to resemble more draconic. His claw-like toes even became sharper, almost like talons. And his knee spikes on his shin guards became slightly larger and pointier. His muscles also had growth. Bulking up to a point where veins could be seen. It was there where similarities ended. One of the most striking changes were his Dramon Destroyers. Rather than being single shelled-like, the new gauntlets were more streamlined and refined. The black armour completely surrounded his wrists and even ended in what looked like an armoured glove. On the end of his gauntlets were his new and more horrifying weapons. Instead of the three clawed static look, each hand was ended with long razer-sharp blades on his fingers and thumbs. With his new razer finger-style armoured gloves, gleaming in the daylight, he looked more like a slasher villain than a warrior. Another startling change was that he no longer had his Brave Shield. Symbolizing that his new form sacrificed his defence for his offensive abilities. His spikey yellow hair had become longer and wilder. Reaching down to the middle of his armoured back and even draping over his shoulders. His new look resembled more like a wild beast than anything else. Another startling change was his head. His overall helmet looked narrower. The ends of the two horns on the side of his head were angled more to the side than pointing straight up. The same could be said for his nose horn. The whole thing angled more forward. The entire eye sockets of his helmet were completely void of any features. Nothing but pure white light. But one of the most shocking sights was that the mouth guard of his helmet was gone. Revealing for the first time to the ponies, his mouth. A mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. Snarling in hate as the Digimon growled.

All the ponies stared at the Mega in shock and disbelief. Wondering what had happened to him. But the one most in shock was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. His body froze in shock as his eyes widened even further. His pupils almost shrunk away completely. Being a creature created from the essence of his master and BlackWarGreymon himself, he knew full well what had happened to his progenitor. Though it was a Mode Change, it still belonged to the same category of Digimon evolution. A power awakened through pure uncontrollable rage. Something that left him gawking in fear and intimidation. To him, BlackWarGreymon’s new look was so overwhelming, he fell to his knees.

As he stared on in terror, he spoke up. Revealing a name of the transformation.

“Th…That was… D…Dark Digivolution!”

Chapter 63: The Awakened Berserker (Part 1)

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Far away, deep in the caverns in the furthest reaches of Equestria, the evil Digimon stood firm. Awaiting the return of Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Regardless of they succeeded in their mission or not. As he stood still, he could feel what was going on far away in Canterlot. Almost envisioning how the battle went on as if he was there himself.

But then he felt something. Something that not even he had anticipated. He grunted in curiosity. His eyes snapped open as he looked in the direction of the source of the power. The energy he felt was massive, and it belonged to a Digimon. But what he found the most intriguing of all, was how evil it felt. What surprised him the most was that it didn’t belonged to any of his minions. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the only Digimon in his forces, yet the energy didn’t belong to him.

Seeing his change of posture, Queen Chrysalis approached him in confusion.

“W-What’s going on?” She inquired.

Before he replied, the evil Digimon finally figured out what was going on in Canterlot. Grinning in satisfaction, he spoke a sentence that got the Changeling Queen concerned.

“Well… it looks like he’s going to do the work for me.”
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Back on the outskirts of Canterlot, all eyes were on BlackWarGreymon. Whom had been reborn from the verge of defeat at Tirek’s hands. Hidden in the dense trees, ChaosBlackWarGreymon got back on his feet as he stared at BlackWarGreymon’s new transformation in horror. Knowing full well the dangers of Dark Digivolution.

“This is bad! This is very, very bad!! He… Dark Digivolved!!” He stated. Remained dumbfounded that such a thing could happen to his progenitor.

As for the ponies, they were all staring at their friend in confusion. Unsure what to make of his Berserk Mode form. All completely unaware the true nature of what BlackWarGreymon went through.

“What in tarnation just happened?” Applejack asked. But the other ponies were just as puzzled.

“I have no idea. We’ve never seen this before,” Twilight answered. She and Celestia stared at the Mega in fascination.

“Did… magic do this?” Celestia asked as she held the unconscious Luna close. With all their magic stolen by Tirek, she and no other magic user could sense the type of energy within the Digimon. And how malicious it really was.

“He… he looks even more dangerous than before,” Shining Armor added. Intimidated by the Digimon’s new appearance. Mostly from his new metal claws.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile felt the opposite.

“He… looks…SO…COOL!!”

“And he has a mouth now!” Pinkie Pie added. Joined by a distressed Rarity.

“But his hair is such a mess!”

While the rest of the group all watched the new Digimon in awe and fascination, Cadence and Fluttershy were the ones who felt differently. There was something... off about their digital friend. Their sights mainly focused on BlackWarGreymon’s head as he stared blankly at nothing. With his blank white eyes and snarling teeth of his new mouth, he looked more ferocious than he was earlier. They remembered how furious he was prier to transforming. Wondering if that wrath had passed on to his new look.

‘Background Music’ ‘Bury the Light – Vergil’s battle theme from Devil May Cry 5’

Lord Tirek looked down at the Digimon in confusion. But then began to laugh out loud. Tirek took note on BlackWarGreymon’s newfound power and was amused. His power had only risen back to how he was in his Ascended form. Not that much stronger in fact. And with all that power he absorbed, the centaur believed that the Mega was no threat to him. His outburst caught the attention of the ponies below. He then began to mock at the Digimon.

“And what’s this supposed to be!? So what if had grown a couple of feet, you’re still just a puny weakling!”

Unbeknownst to Tirek, BlackWarGreymon began to snarl in response.

“With all the power I absorbed from you before, you don’t stand a chance against me!” Tirek continued.

To the surprise of the ponies, they all saw BlackWarGreymon briefly flex his new finger blades. Then out of nowhere…

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!”

The berserker Digimon roared his new toothy maw at the heavens above. The sheer volume of his outburst of fury didn’t just cause the world around him to tremble and bursts of wind to howl, but even caused the ground beneath his very feet to split open. Forming a hollow crater around him. The ponies ducked down from the winds and held onto their ears from the sudden scream. Even Tirek was taken by surprise by the sudden power surge. Crossing his arms to block out the winds. All in a display of BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode’s power being mightier than it appeared.

As his echoing roar died down, so did the winds and the trembling ground. The ponies recovered as they looked at BlackWarGreymon in surprise. After looking up in the air, the enraged Mega glared towards the surprised Tirek. The sight of the giant centaur caused the Digimon’s wrath to quickly intensify. And when he spoke, his voice was distorted from anger. Possessing deep growls as he spoke the centaur’s name.

“Tiii…reeeek!”

He then began to walk out of the crater he created. The faint white glow surrounding his body. But when he began to set foot on the grass, something strange happened that surprised the onlooking ponies. When BlackWarGreymon’s right foot stepped on the grass, the plant-life began to change. While still green, the appearance of the grass became faded. Almost pixilated. Then as the Mega’s foot was lifted from the patch of pixilated grass, the whole patch burst into countless pieces, then into nothing. Leaving behind a patch of earth in the shape of the Digimon’s foot. The same happened with his left foot. The group couldn’t believe their eyes. The very touch of BlackWarGreymon’s new form was digitizing the ground. Celestia and Twilight couldn’t help but remember BlackWarGreymon’s past. When he destroyed other Control Spire Digimon, their bodies faded away in the same manner.

Tirek was a little startled. He was at the most ultimate peak of power, yet his foe was marching towards him. Nothing but rage in his white featureless eyes as he addressed him again. His tone more malicious than the last.

“Tiiii…RREEEEEEK!!”

Feeling that the Mega had lost his mind, Tirek deemed him a mild nuisance.

“Huh, as if I should be afraid of you. Here, taste my power… and die!” He said as a bright orange orb of magic formed in-between his giant horns. Then firing a massive ball of destructive magic at the awaiting Digimon.

But to the surprise of the ponies, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode kept marching on. Even as Tirek’s attack was quickly bearing down on him. Then to their shock, the attack slammed into the Digimon. He was sent hurtling back while being pushed by the giant attack and into the ground. Then as the ball of magic reached towards the trees, it detonated. Creating a massive explosion of orange light.

As the light and tremors form the blast died down, the group couldn’t believe what had happened.

“What in the world is he thinking!?” Rarity asked. Joined by Rainbow Dash.

“Why would he take the hit like that? That looked like it hurt.”

As for Tirek, the centaur was smiling in satisfaction. Thinking that the blast was all he needed to destroy BlackWarGreymon. But his satisfaction was replaced by surprise when the smoke cleared. The group were just as stunned at what they saw. BlackWarGreymon was still there. Lying face up in the middle of the overturned scorching crater. The look of anger remained on his face.

Then to the surprise of the onlookers, the muscles in BlackWarGreymon’s upper body suddenly bulked up before retracting back. The same for his leg muscles as he began to sit back up. The veins clearly visible as they pulsed. Then as he stood back to his full height, no damage was seen on him. Despite recieving such a powerful attack, it left him unscaved.

While the abnormality was strange to the ponies, to ChaosBlackWarGreymon it was something very different. The big change wasn’t in BlackWarGreymon’s body, it was what lied beneath.

“His… his power just jumped!”

Tirek was slightly taken back by the sight. Stunned that the Digimon could stand back up so quickly. But so consumed in his desire to end the Mega, he failed to sense that BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode’s power had sharply risen. He displayed his arrogance by scoffing the situation.

“So, you want some more, do you? Well, here’s seconds!”

After throwing his head forward, he fired another ball of magic. Identical to the last one he used. But like before, BlackWarGreymon remained unmoved as the attack sped towards him. But suddenly, the Digimon raised his left hand up… and caught the giant eighty-foot-wide ball of magic!

“HUH!?” The ponies gasped. Joined by the very surprised Tirek.

“What the…!?”

Tirek was aghast. His second attack had the exact same power as the first one. Yet whereas the first one smacked BlackWarGreymon back, the berserker Digimon caught the second one with total ease. His body wasn’t even in the right posture to catch such an attack. Especially while using a single arm. As he let out a growl, BlackWarGreymon clenched his hand. His new claws dug into the ball of magic. Then, just like with the grass, the energy ball soon altered in appearance. The abnormality spreading all over the ball, before bursting apart into specks of data. The giant attack being digitized. The sight left everyone almost unnerved.

Then as BlackWarGreymon lowered his left arm, he raised his right arm up to his side. His shiny metal finger claws gleaming in the light. Then suddenly, the claws began to emit a blue flame-like glow.

As well as his body, his transformation meant he also had new abilities. He demonstrated one as reared his arm back. Stretching his fingers wide as the blue flames grew bigger.

“NEGATIVE CLAW!!!”

As he slashed his arm forward, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode unleashed waves of dark blue energy. The attacks sliced through the air and towards Tirek. Believing in his newfound resilience, Tirek crossed is arms for protection. The attacks struck. And Tirek cringed in pain.

Surprised that he felt the attack, Tirek looked down at his left arm and, to his surprise, found a big gash. The Digimon’s attack had penetrated his magically enhanced flesh and caused blood to slowly drip from the wound.

“Huh?” He uttered before glaring back at the Mega Level Digimon.

“A new attack!?” Twilight exclaimed. Surprised to see a new ability.

All eyes were on BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode as he lowered his arm back down. After landing a hit on Tirek, the Digimon felt the urge to go on. To attack again. As his breathing became erratic, he suddenly screamed into the air once more. Causing the world around him to tremble.

“RRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!”

Tirek was then surprised when BlackWarGreymon suddenly began to sprint. Roaring in fury as he stormed towards the giant centaur. After closing the distance, BlackWarGreymon leapt to the air towards the giant with shocking speed. His right arm ready with his fingers spread. As he flew past Tirek’s right shoulder, the Digimon slashed his arm against the centaur. Tirek let out a brief cry of pain as Chrome Digizoid sliced into his shoulder. Leaving behind a bloody slash marks. As Tirek tried to turn and face his foe, BlackWarGreymon turned back around and slapped his left hand against Tirek’s face. The blow caused the centaur to stumble while small cuts formed on his face. His cheek just caught by the Digimon’s claws.

“Grr! Why you…!” Tirek shouted as he tried to use his left hand to throw a punch.

However, the enraged Mega vanished from sight before he could get hit. Confused at first, Tirek suddenly received an attack from his left. BlackWarGreymon appearing and slamming his foot against the giant’s shoulder. The sudden impact caused Tirek to stumble forward. But before he could let his foe escape from his reach, Tirek swung his left arm out and successfully whacked BlackWarGreymon away. The attack caused the Digimon to seemingly spiral out of control as he was hurtling through the air. But as his spinning slowed down, he was already in the process of fighting back. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode suddenly formed a black fire ball within his right palm. Then as his spinning brought him facing away from Tirek, he spoke up.

“BLACK NOVA!!!”

Swinging his arm out, BlackWarGreymon launched the small ball of black fire down towards Tirek. The evil lord merely grinned at what he saw.

“And what’s that supposed to be!?” He shouted before firing a ball of magic to counter. Assuming he was going to be superior.

But as his attack struck BlackWarGreymon’s, the true nature of the Black Nova attack bared fruit. The small ball of black fire instantly exploded. A colossal sphere of black fire erupted from the blast like tones of napalm. Tirek panicked as he raised his arm up, trying to protect himself from the sudden intense heat from the blast. Even the ponies were surprised at how big the explosion was from such a tiny attack.

As the flames began to dissipate, Tirek stood there. Eyeing on the Digimon whom remained in the air. Then to his surprise, the Digimon vanished from sight. The next thing he felt was a powerful impact to his side. The centaur gagged as he felt air escaping his body. BlackWarGreymon was then seen again. His right foot in contact with Tirek’s side. Tirek glanced down at the Digimon as he looked back at him. His new mouth taking on a form that resembled a grin. Angered by the Digimon, Tirek fired a beam from his horns to blast the Digimon away. But the berserker Digimon leaped away and charged in to attack again. Despite his finger razors getting in the way, it didn’t stop BlackWarGreymon from trying to form a fist. Folding his fingers down his palm and resting his thumb across them. With his fist ready, he landed a punch on Tirek’s forehead. The blow caused the centaur to stagger back.

With Tirek distracted, BlackWarGreymon got ready to continue his assault. Blue flames ignited on his left hand.

“Negative Claw!”

With a wave of his clawed hand, the Mega sent waves of blue energy towards Tirek. However, the centaur recovered just in time and crossed his arms to form a magical barrier. The energy waves struck the barrier. But to Tirek’s shock, the attacks had damaged his barrier. Slash marks were seen, almost as if they almost got through.

After grunting in frustration, Tirek dropped his barrier and fired his new spiral magical beam. The attack struck BlackWarGreymon and blasted him over the horizon. An explosion soon followed in the distant forest. But just as quickly as he was sent away, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode flew straight back at frightening speeds. As he flew, his right clawed hand grabbed a hold on Tirek’s right horn. The centaur let out a surprised gasp as he felt his head being yanked back. As he pulled Tirek by the horn, BlackWarGreymon flew down towards the ground. Pulling the centaur back and toppling him down on his back with an echoing thud.

The onlooking ponies were astonished at what they were seeing. BlackWarGreymon was on the verge of defeat a moment ago. But in his new form, the battle seemed more even. Despite all the magic Tirek had stolen.

After toppling over Tirek, BlackWarGreymon flew up with both his claws ignited in dark blue flames. As he roared out, he swung his claws. Sending down his Negative Claw energy blades down upon Tirek. Seeing the oncoming attacks and remembering what they could do, Tirek frantically turned himself over to get back on his hooves. While avoiding the first set of attacks, he was struck on his shoulder. Causing another gash on his body. Looking up, the angered centaur saw BlackWarGreymon diving down to attack again. But using his levitation spell, Tirek managed to catch the Digimon in a magical grip. Then with a wave of his arms, he sent the Mega crashing to the ground.

The group were shocked at the sight. The violent impact of the tumbling Digimon looked very painful. But as his body was violently tearing up the ground, BlackWarGreymon suddenly righted himself up and dug his talons and claws into the ground to slow himself down. Leaving behind deep grooves in the ground. He finally came to a stop in between a pair of trees, his muscles briefly bulked before retracting. Then within the groove in the ground, all the grass within became digitized and disappeared into the air. Much like before, since the ground came in contact with BlackWarGreymon’s body. The concerned ponies kept wondering to themselves. Why was BlackWarGreymon doing it? Does he even know that he was doing it? Was it caused by the paint white aura around his body? Or was it simply from his very touch?

BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode further demonstrated the odd ability when he reached out his arms to dig his claws into the trees either side of him. Within seconds, the tress were being digitized. The pixilating effect spreading from the Mega’s hands and all across the tree. Even down to the last leaf. Soon after, the two trees burst into countless pieces of data. Then BlackWarGreymon rose up, snarling at Tirek with rage and white featureless eyes.

Then just like Cadence and Fluttershy, Celestia and Twilight too began to feel that something was not right. Giving looks of worry as they looked at the angry Mega. The way he looked… and the way he was fighting… it was almost like he was a beast.

The fact that was reinforced when in a fit of primal rage, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode let out a furious roar at Tirek. His echoing outburst causing the ground to tremble and winds to blow wildly through the area. His mane-like hair waving from the winds. If the ponies had to be honest, the sight was almost frightening to them. He was their friend, yet he was acting more like a ravenous beast.

Afterwards, BlackWarGreymon launched himself off the ground and flew straight towards Tirek much quicker than before. Slamming his right elbow into the centaur’s gut. Tirek gagged loudly from the shockingly powerful attack. Almost hunching over. With his enemy stunned, the vengeful Mega flew up beside his face, spun around and slammed his armoured shin against the bridge of Tirek’s nose. The evil lord yelled out in pain as he staggered back while grabbing a hold on his face. Infuriated, Tirek fired another beam at BlackWarGreymon. Knocking him out of the sky. But as soon as he hit the ground, the berserker immediately jumped back to his feet and launched back towards the centaur. To which the Digimon slammed his feet against the giant’s chest. But then digging his sharp talons for grip.

“What are you…!?” Tirek uttered in confusion as he twinged in pain from the sharp talons. Only to wish that he should act faster.

Because with his grip on Tirek, BlackWarGreymon began to do something horrific. With his finger razors, he began to slash and impale. His Chrome Digizoid claws cleaving into Tirek’s skin. Creating more cuts and gashes. Tirek himself yelled out in pain. Despite being far larger, the metal claws still felt very painful as felt like being cut open. In reaction to the attack, Tirek quickly used his left hand to grab onto BlackWarGreymon and pull him off his chest. Holding the Digimon up to get a look at him, Tirek glared angrily at him for what he had done. As for the Mega, despite being grappled, his left arm was still free. To which he quickly used to impale his claws into Tirek’s thumb. The centaur roared in pain as he threw the Digimon aside, before clenching onto his injured thumb.

The ponies saw the whole thing transpire and were left mostly shaken.

“Ah don’t remember seeing him fight like that before,” Applejack commentated. Joined by Rarity.

“A bit too violent. Don’t you think?”

Rainbow Dash however was more upbeat about what was happening.

“He’s totally kicking Tirek’s butt! This is so awesome!”

Among a few others, Twilight looked uncertain. She then looked over at BlackWarGreymon in the sky above. More specifically, his claws. At first, they were stained in Tirek’s blood. But just like what happened before with the two trees, the blood was then digitized into nothing. Twilight then looked up at her digital friend’s head. She couldn’t properly tell before, but seeing his expressions confirmed it. He became vengeful, but with no signs of calming down. If anything, BlackWarGreymon seemed to be getting angrier and angrier.

“Something… something is not right here,” She quietly uttered as she looked at BlackWarGreymon in concern. Without knowing, her concerns were joined by the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Just what do you think you’re doing!?” Tirek shouted at BlackWarGreymon in anger while holding onto his injured thumb. Not expecting such a vicious attack.

But rather than replying, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode dived down to attack once more. But feeling that he would be slashing him again, Tirek caught the Mega in a levitation spell. Freezing him in place. With his magical hold on him, Tirek swung his arms around. Sending the Digimon crashing into everything around him. Scrapping against the ground. Crashing into trees. And smashing into stray rocks. Tirek finished his string of attacks by bringing BlackWarGreymon close to him. And with a solid punch, sent the Mega crashing into the ground. Just a couple of meters in front of the pony group.

Things seemed to be quiet as the dirt and dust filled the crater. But just as the ponies were about to approach him to see if he was alright, BlackWarGreymon’s hand launched from the cloud and into the ground. His hand almost as big as an average pony. But with those claws, it made his hands look even bigger. The ponies all paused as they saw the imposing giant rising from the dirt. With his new size, his long yellow hair, his featureless eyes and his glaring sharp teeth, BlackWarGreymon actually looked much scarier up close. For a second, it looked like he was looking at his pony friends. But because of the ever-burning rage within, he couldn’t see them. Then as he got back on his feet, his muscles bulking briefly, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode let out a loud roar at the heavens above. His outburst sent a wave of shiver in the ponies as they all retreated back to avoid the noise and winds.

“So loud!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she tried to over her ears.

After his outburst, BlackWarGreymon vanished from sight. The next time he was seen, was when he delivered a kick to Tirek’s face. The impact caused Tirek to almost stumble over. But just as he was about to retaliate, the Digimon vanished from sight again. Moving so fast that he could be barely seen. This was proved when Tirek suddenly felt a very sharp pain on his rear left leg. Looking over his shoulder, he could see a big gash on his leg.

It was when Tirek realized something. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was using his speed and his claws to his advantage.

Seconds later, Tirek felt another sharp pain. A red cut appearing on his front left leg. The centaur tried to spot the Digimon in the air, as well as the onlooking ponies, but he couldn’t be seen. BlackWarGreymon was flying at speeds Equestria had hardly ever seen. Swarming around Tirek. Then another gash was made. Forming on Tirek’s side. The centaur began to panic. He thrashed his arms about, threw an odd kick and firing his destructive beam in the air to try and hit back. But every attempt failed. Resulting more and more cuts forming all around Tirek’s giant body.

As seconds ticked by, Tirek’s movements slowed. His giant body constantly stinging from all the cuts and gashes he received. But eventually he had enough. Roaring in anger, Tirek formed a protective forcefield around his body. He then heard an impact. Looking to his left, he received a brief scare from the sight of BlackWarGreymon. Despite being outside the barrier, his right clawed hand managed to break through.

“Tirreeek!” BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode shouted as he thrashed his hand across. Ripping open Tirek’s barrier as he tried to force himself in.

But before he could proceed, Tirek took his chance and caught BlackWarGreymon in his levitation spell again. After dropping his barrier, he focused more of his magic in containing the out-of-control Digimon.

“Got you now!”

Tirek’s smile vanished when to his surprise, BlackWarGreymon’s body suddenly surged in black energy. Drawing in all the negative energy from the atmosphere, the Mega formed a barrier of sorts of his own. But everyone would soon see that the barrier was not for defence.

“NEGATIVE BURST!!!”

With his vocal outburst, BlackWarGreymon released a pulse of negative energy from his body. Being freed in the process. The energy slammed against Tirek, blasting him back while inflicting damage on his front. The centaur roared in pain as he staggered back. The pain made more worse due to the cuts and bruises on his body.

But before Tirek could recover, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode vanished from sight. Then as Tirek opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that his foe was gone.

“Wha… where are you!?” Tirek demanded. Darting his head around.

Then to the centaur’s surprise, the digital berserker suddenly came from behind and smashed his right foot into the back of Tirek’s giant head. The evil lord could feel his eyes bulging out as he felt the earth-shattering blow. BlackWarGreymon then leapt back with his hands raised up. Then as he fell back down, he landed on Tirek’s back. Using his fall to his advantage, he dug both his talons and metal claws into the giant’s back. Tirek screamed out as he felt a very sharp pain sliding down his back. Him rearing back in response to what felt like many tiny sharp knives.

Then as he came to a stop while holding onto Tirek, BlackWarGreymon’s body began to glow black again. The same black barrier formed around him.

“Negative Burst!”

Releasing a second blast wave of negative energy, Tirek wailed in agony as pain filled him from virtually every part of his body. After the attack wore off, the furious Tirek roared in anger before thrashing his body around to try and loosen the Digimon’s grip. After some effort, he managed to elbow the Mega off his back. Which sent him crashing to the ground. As he turned to face him, Tirek fired another spiral beam at the Digimon. Unlike his previous attacks, the new beam was much narrower. More focused. But as the Mega stood back up, he took the blast to the chest. But while Tirek tried to press on his attack, all he was doing was pushing BlackWarGreymon back. His feet digging into the ground, leaving behind grooves in the dirt. The onlooking ponies were amazed. Despite the effort Tirek was unfolding, their digital friend was slowly becoming resilient. Tanking Tirek’s beam without taking any damage.

But with Tirek distracted, he failed to notice that BlackWarGreymon’s left hand was glowing blue again.

“Negative Claw!” He shouted as he swung his hand beside Tirek’s magical attack. The waves of blue energy sliced through the air beside the beam and carving through the ground.

Unable to see the attack coming, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode’s attack struck Tirek’s right front leg. The giant centaur screamed from the sharp pain from his skin being sliced from the attack. Causing him to stop his own and almost knelling down from the sudden shock. But BlackWarGreymon did not slow down. With Tirek stunned, a black ball of fire appeared in his right hand.

“Black Nova!” He shouted as he threw the attack. The ball of black fire flying towards the downed Tirek.

Startled from the sudden combo, Tirek tried to protect himself by forming a wall of magic in the Black Nova’s path. While the barrier protected him from the blast, the intense heat from the explosion scorched the centaur’s body. While the attack itself wasn’t very powerful, the fire and heat more than made up for it.

After lowering his barrier as the attack subsided, Tirek looked over to BlackWarGreymon in concern. The centaur was beginning to feel unnerved. Almost scared.

‘What’s going on? Ever since he became… that, he’s like a completely different creature.’

But BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode had no patience. Roaring in fury before charging towards Tirek. Seeing the Digimon running towards him, Tirek put aside his nerves and charged back. Keen on using his oversized hooves to crush the small Digimon into the dirt. But as it looked like he managed to squash the Digimon, the latter dodged to the side and found himself right under the oversized centaur.

It was where Tirek realized that he had made a big mistake. For him to be so big, spotting a tiny opponent who could hide underneath him was incredibly challenging. It made his situation worse when he remembered what weapons the Digimon had.

Tirek suddenly felt very sharp pains from below. Yelling in response. Underneath him, BlackWarGreymon was having a field day. Slashing and clawing the centaur’s legs with little to no resistance. Literally cutting him up. Wanting to reverse the situation, Tirek tried to keep his legs moving while trying to stomp on the Digimon. But able to see him, Tirek could only guess where his foe was. And where he missed, BlackWarGreymon would be free to attack.

Just as Tirek could feel his legs weakening from the constant slashing, he just spotted BlackWarGreymon in front of him. Tirek then wasted no time by rearing on his hind legs and then smashing his forelegs on top of the Digimon. Dirt being thrown in the air from the impact.

“BlackWarGreymon!!” Twilight called out. Worried that he actually took severe damage from being crushed underhoof by a giant centaur.

But as Tirek tried to put more force down on his hooves, something didn’t feel right to him. Then to his surprise, as well as the onlooking ponies, BlackWarGreymon was alright. Despite all the weight Tirek was putting on his right leg, the berserker Digimon was amazingly holding his own. While lying on his back, his hands grappled on Tirek’s hoof. Slowly pushing the leg back up with his continuously rising strength.

“Die. Die! Why won’t you die!?” Tirek shouted as he tried to push down further.

But with his strength becoming stronger than ever, BlackWarGreymon was starting to show less effort in pushing back. The veins in his arms pulsing with surges of adrenaline pumping in his muscles. He then done something shocking. With a secure hold on Tirek, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode released his right hand… and impaled his Digizoid claws into Tirek’s hoof. Then he done the same with his left hand. Tirek grunted loudly in pain as he felt a new kind of stinging pain in his hoof. He tried to fight back the pain as he shouted.

“Why won’t you just die!!?”

BlackWarGreymon then made his reply. In a form of an attack.

“BLACK NOVA!!!”

To the surprise of everyone, a shocking tactic was displayed. Upon using his ability, black flames erupted from BlackWarGreymon’s armoured hands. The flames quickly engulfing Tirek’s right leg. The centaur roared in agony as his leg was being burned by the flames. He tried to retreat to escape from the pain, but with the Digimon locked onto his hooves, it did little to help. The giant lord tried to shake his leg to pry the Digimon loose, but that too failed. The onlooking ponies were shocked at what they saw. Surprised that the Mega would do something that was basically torture.

Then as Tirek tried to squash the Digimon to the ground, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode quickly shifted his body so his feet landed back on the ground. As soon as he did, he launched off the ground with enough lift to push Tirek’s leg up. The actions caused the centaur’s front to be raised into the air, making the giant stumble on his rear legs. Then with enough force while freeing himself, BlackWarGreymon managed to push Tirek over. The injured centaur falling onto his back. His crash sent tremors through the ground as the Digimon ascended higher into the air.

Taking advantage of his downed opponent, and seeing how big of a target he was, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode then done something truly shocking. After watching Tirek roll to his left, the vengeful Mega dived down with his right foot ready. Then… with a force of a falling meteor… BlackWarGreymon smashed into Tirek’s left rear leg. But with the earth-shattering force behind his speed and strength, the impact did more than just hurt the centaur. Loud cracks echoed with the booming impact. Followed by Tirek wailing in sheer agony as he felt what was the biggest pain in his life. The ponies on the side-lines were stunned silent from shock. Almost cringing from the sight and sounds.

BlackWarGreymon had just shattered Tirek’s rear leg.

And as for the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he felt an extremely uncomfortable shiver. Remembering the time when BlackWarGreymon in his normal state broke his arm. But never as violent as what he had done to Tirek.

“I…I knew it. He’s showing no mercy.”

As BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode retreated back in the air, the pain filled Tirek limped back on his three working hooves. As he stood back up, he looked back at his broken leg in horror. The Digimon had virtually shattered every bone in his leg.

“WHA…!!?”

The shaken centaur then snapped his gaze back up at the airborne Digimon and saw something that made his spine shudder in fear. BlackWarGreymon was grinning. As if he was satisfied with what he had done.

“W-What in Equestria!?” He uttered. His voice briefly trembled.

Tirek wasn’t the only one who saw BlackWarGreymon’s toothy grin.

‘Is he… smiling?’ Twilight thought to herself. Worried if her friend was happy for doing something horrific.

Tirek could feel his body beginning to tremble. His foe was being very violent since his transformation. Much more so than he was comfortable with. In fact, just standing was causing massive strain on his broken leg as he tried to keep it off the ground. Plus with the loss of one of his limbs, and another severely burned, his mobility had been severely reduced. To which the Mega was about to take advantage off.

“Black Nova!” The berserker Mega shouted as he launched another black fireball downed at Tirek.

After feeling the black flames first-hand, seeing it heading towards him caused him to panic. Resorting to put up another magical barrier for protection. Like before when the Black Nova struck the barrier, it exploded in a massive fireball of black flames. The intense heat greatly effecting the injured centaur. But as the flames began to dissipate, Tirek gasped in shock from seeing the Digimon dive bombing straight towards him. Shattering through his barrier, BlackWarGreymon slammed his hands onto Tirek’s forehead. The sudden impact and force of his momentum, as well as Tirek only having three workable legs, the Mega successfully pushed the giant centaur onto his back with a trembling thud. As he opened his eyes to recover, Tirek could see that the smaller Digimon was standing on top of his head. His white featureless eyes staring down at him with anger and vengeance. Then with a mighty roar of rage, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode began smashing his fists on to the centaur’s head. Tirek screaming in pain with each shattering blow smashed his head into the ground. Dirt being thrown into the air with blow after blow.

“Aaahhh!! Aggh! St…! Stop it!! Uggh!! STOP IT!!!” Tirek demanded. But the Digimon simply roared in anger as he kept smashing down on the centaur’s head. The ground cracking with each thundering impact.

But while the ponies wanted Tirek to pay for everything he had done to them and their home, some of them felt that BlackWarGreymon was going a bit too far. They had never seen him fight and act in such a manner. He was not even letting Tirek have a chance to fight back.

With the Digimon not letting go of his punches, Tirek finally managed to fight back. A quick burst of his magical beam blasted BlackWarGreymon into the air. But the surprise attack didn’t slow the Mega down. Immediately fighting back by dive bombing down towards the downed centaur’s body. He then smashed his right elbow right into the stomach of Tirek’s lower body. Tirek roared on pain as the impact threw up a mountain of dirt and dust into the air. Completely covering the two combatants.

Everything fell silent for a brief moment. Until BlackWarGreymon was flung from the cloud and crashed into the ground several meters beside the ponies.

The sudden impact caused the unconscious Luna to stir. As she let out a quiet grumble, she slowly opened her eyes to see that her vision was blurred. But as it cleared out, Luna could see that she was being cradled in Celestia’s hooves.

“S…sister?” She weakly uttered.

Though quiet, it was more than enough to gain Celestia’s attention. Looking down, Celestia’s face was plastered with relief from seeing her younger sister’s blue eyes again. Almost crying in joy.

“Luna! Thank goodness you’re alright!” She said as she nuzzled her sibling affectionately. The commotion was noticed by all the other ponies. They too smiled at the sight.

“I-I’m fine, sister. Really, I am,” Luna replied. Feeling embarrassed from the affection displayed in front of the others.

As she tried to get up, Luna turned towards her sister with a look of concern.

“But what happened? Has Tirek…?”

She was interrupted when she and the other ponies all heard a loud rumble from across the field. All eyes turned towards the massive dust cloud. And a silhouette of a horned giant rose from the ground. Then as the cloud faded, the injured form of Tirek was seen. Huffing for breath as he rested one of his hands onto his hips for support. His body covered in cuts and gashes. One of his front hooves burned. And one of his rear legs shattered.

Luna was speechless at what she was seeing. The last time she saw the evil centaur, he was the strongest he had ever been. Yet there he was. Struggling to stand up.

“What… in the world did I miss?” Luna asked. Shocked at Tirek’s condition.

“It was BlackWarGreymon. He did all that,” Shining Armor answered. Keeping his eye on the evil lord.

“BlackWarGreymon?” Luna uttered in confusion. The last time she saw the Mega, he had all the energy of his Ascended form stolen from him by Tirek.

It was then she remembered what happened before. Tirek had left her best friend weakened and unable to fight. The deeply concerned princess turned to her friends and family with looks of worry.

“Wait!? Where’s BlackWarGreymon!?”

But before the other ponies could answer, the answer revealed itself for her. Hearing the ground rumbling to their left, all the ponies turned to the second cloud of dust and dirt. Then another silhouette rose up from the ground. Luna could see that it was the Digimon, but was confused as it was shaped slightly differently.

But with a burst of his invisible negative energy, the dust cloud was blown away. Upon the reveal, Luna let out a quiet gasp of fright at what she was seeing. In her eyes, BlackWarGreymon had drastically changed. Gone were his Brave Shield and his usual gauntlets. Replaced with horrific looking claws that gleamed in the light. His long yellow hair looked akin of a wild beast. His body surging with a faint white glow. The veins pulsing in his arms and legs. His horns aligned differently. His eyes completely void of any emotion, yet she could tell they were filled with nothing but rage. And for the first time, seeing his snarling toothy maw.

Luna couldn’t believe her eyes. In fact, she was horrified. It was her friend she was looking at. The same Digimon she went out on a date with on Hearts and Hooves Day. The being that she had grown so close to. Yet at the same time, he was like a completely different Digimon. Something violent. Something… dangerous. Extremely dangerous.

“W-What happened to him!?” She uttered.

Oblivious to what Luna was feeling, Rarity replied.

“We don’t know, princess. He’s been like this since…”

“Since he saw ya got hurt,” Applejack finished.

Luna stared at the Unicorn and Earth Pony in surprise. She then turned back to her Digimon friend. Just like with his Ascended form, she felt like she was involved with BlackWarGreymon’s change. But unlike his first transformation, his new one was very opposite. The Ascended form she associated as a beckon of hope for Equestria. A powerful warrior radiating in elegance and strength used for good. But his Berserk Mode was completely opposite. It felt very primal. Very violent and hostile. Being the only one of the ponies who still had her magic, Luna could sense the energy within BlackWarGreymon’s new form. It too made her horrified. She thought that magic had been involved. But there wasn’t a trace of it. Not in the slightest. In fact, it was entirely BlackWarGreymon’s own. It was his negative energy, but far more intense. Practically leaking from his very body.

But she was so shaken at what she was seeing and feeling, it left her silent. Celestia looked down at Luna. And was surprised at how frightened her little sister looked. Especially since she was staring at BlackWarGreymon.

“Luna?”

Wanting to reassure the growling Digimon that Luna had recovered, the cheery Pinkie Pie spoke out to him. Since he was within hearing range.

“Hay, BlackWarGreymon! It’s alright now! Luna is fine! Everything is fine now!”

But to her surprise, BlackWarGreymon didn’t respond to her. As if he wasn’t even paying attention to her. Confused by his lack of response, Pinkie Pie called him out again.

“Umm, BlackWarGreymon? Did you hear me? I said that Lu…!”

The pink party pony was interrupted when the Digimon grunted loudly. Only to then roar out at the heavens above. Then with a thrash of his arms, his faint white glow around his body suddenly exploded in a black transparent aura that surged all around him. His roar echoed through the valley as powerful gusts of wind blew through the area. His increase in energy had forced the ponies to take cover by huddling close to the ground.

Despite the strong buffeting winds, Luna forced herself to open one eye to look at the wrath-filled Mega as he roared at the sky. Screaming in complete rage as his energy soared to new heights. The sight made more terrifying with his new toothy maw. The sight made her scared as much as it made her sad.

‘Blackie! What’s happened to you!?’

Hiding within the trees, ChaosBlackWarGreymon too became frightened by his progenitor’s power.

‘His power just keeps on climbing!’

Then something new happened. The digital clone became concerned for the world around him.

‘If he keeps this up, then… then Equestria is done for!’

As he stopped roaring, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode glared his featureless eyes at the towering Tirek. The centaur however was starting to feel frightened. Despite his power and size, he was clearly at a disadvantage. He had taken a lot of damage, yet his foe stayed the same. Not even a scratch on his body.

“I’m… I’m still not giving up, you know! You’re… only delaying the inevitable! You hear me!”

Even if BlackWarGreymon was in his normal state, he wouldn’t be moved. Tirek’s threats were becoming empty. The evil lord would try to deny it, but he was slowly believing that he was going to lose the battle. With his black aura surging around his body, the Mega readied himself before leaping to the air to fight once again.

Wanting to keep his distance from BlackWarGreymon, Tirek panicked as he threw his right fist to punch him away. But with his speed increasing as well as his strength, BlackWarGreymon evaded the fist by flying beneath it. Then as he flew, he raised his right hand up against Tirek’s giant arm. The blades of his claws leaving behind a long gash across the centaur’s flesh. As the Digimon flew by, he left Tirek roaring in pain as he inspected his arm. Seeing that the underside of his arm received an awfully long cut. Turning around, the enraged Tirek saw the berserker hovering in the air. As he roared, Tirek fired a beam towards his foe. But BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode dived down towards the attack. The magical attack missed its mark. But as it did, the Digimon stuck his right hand within the beam. Diving down towards the centaur. Then as he finished his attack, the evil lord was surprised when his smaller foe was seen with the red pool of magic within his metal claws. To which the Digimon then smacked the energy against Tirek’s head. Resulting in a small explosion that dazzled the giant.

After recovering, Tirek turned around and spotted the Digimon hovering several feet in front of him. BlackWarGreymon was motionless. Almost as if he was tempting Tirek to hit him. Having no other option but to fight back, Tirek reared his left fist back before throwing a mighty punch. The giant fist landed a blow. The shockwaves from the impact travelled through the area. Causing the nearby plant life to rustle and shake. However, to Tirek’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon wasn’t sent flying. His body was still against Tirek’s fist. Using his own left arm to successfully block the punch. His muscles once again bulked before receding.

“WHAT!!?” Tirek shrieked in disbelief.

After growling in response, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode used his free right hand to impale his claws into Tirek’s fingers. The giant screamed in pain as he quickly retracted his hand. But while distracted, Tirek suddenly received a massive slap in the face from BlackWarGreymon. However, the blow was far stronger than before. The impact viciously knocked Tirek’s head aside as he stumbled back. Then as the enraged Digimon moved in to kick the side of Tirek’s face, the same result happened. The centaur stumbled to his other side almost to a point where he would topple over.

The onlooking ponies were stunned at what they were seeing. Despite the size difference, it seemed that the much smaller BlackWarGreymon had become so strong that the oversized Tirek was being knocked around like a ragdoll. But as the battle went on, Luna took note of how BlackWarGreymon fought. It was unlike anything she had ever seen him done. He was simply lashing out at Tirek like a wild animal. Even roaring out like one. The scene made her feel uncomfortable. BlackWarGreymon was her friend, yet he was acting so different.

As BlackWarGreymon continued his assault, Tirek’s face as getting more and more cuts from the Digimon’s claws. But the impact of his attacks felt like they came from another giant. To a point where he couldn’t focus enough to even fight back.

‘His attacks…!! They’re becoming harder and harder!!’

Then to Tirek’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon stopped attacking him. Instead, the Digimon flew towards his giant face and latched onto the left side of his head. His claws and talons digging into Tirek’s skin for grip.

“What are you…!?”

Before he could continue, he suddenly felt a painful pressure on his ear. To his horror, BlackWarGreymon was using his new mouth to bite onto his ear. Even the ponies gasped in surprise at the sudden attack. They never thought that their friend would do something so animalistic. Tirek roared in pain as the berserker Digimon munched on his ear. After panicking, Tirek managed to grab a hold on the Digimon with his left hand. He tried to pull his foe away but might run the risk of having part of his ear torn off. Fortunately for him after their struggle, BlackWarGreymon loosened his grip. Enabling Tirek to pull him away before throwing him down to the ground hard. BlackWarGreymon crashed to the ground. But as his body bounced, he surprisingly righted himself and landed on his feet. Skidding to a halt several yards from the pony group. His black aura returned to its faint white glow.

All eyes then turned towards Tirek as he roared in pain while clenching onto his bitten ear. Then as he glared down at the digital berserker, the centaur was filled to the brim with anger. His foe had cut him countless times, burned one of his legs almost to a crisp, shattered the bones of another, and tried to bite his ear off. All the while BlackWarGreymon seemed to be getting stronger and more resilient. Continuing to defy the evil lord with his unpredictability. With his mind full of rage, and feeling the continues pain from his injured body, Tirek was at breaking point.

“GrrrrRRR!!! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!!!”

With tremendous effort, Tirek began to harness all the magic within his body. Channelling it into his horns to form the strongest attack spell he had ever created. A shining orange ball of magic being formed in-between his horns. The onlooking ponies were frightened. With all the magic Tirek stole, there was no doubt that his next attack would be the most devastating. Aimed squarely at BlackWarGreymon. As for the Digimon, he continued to glare at the giant without an ounce of fear. He wasn’t even bracing himself for what was to come.

After building up as much power as he could muster, Tirek grinned before speaking to BlackWarGreymon.

“Taste my full wrath… AND DIE!!!”

Throwing his head down, Tirek fired a colossal orange beam of destructive magic. The massive diameter of the beam was so large that it was as big as Tirek himself. The ponies were extremely fortunate to be just out of the beams field of range. But it was bearing down at the awaiting Digimon. The featureless eyes of rage continued to glow.

Then the beam connected. The orange river of magic slamming against the Digimon as it entirely consumed him. The beam continued on. Blasting through the distant forest and into the air. Destroying everything in its way. The beam so large that the innocent lives of Ponyville and Canterlot could see it from the distance.

The ponies all stared in horror as they watched the beam carving a path of devastation just beside them. But the most disturbing sight was that they all could see BlackWarGreymon’s silhouette within the beam. Despite standing on his feet, the power of Tirek’s attack was violently buffeting him back. Pounding the Mega as he stumbled backwards. But after several frightening seconds, a shocking sight was shown. BlackWarGreymon’s silhouette slowed down to a stop… and then righted himself. Despite being in the middle of Tirek’s attack, he was no longer being buffeted by its power. His body being frighteningly still, as if he suddenly wasn’t even feeling the attack.

Tirek then ceased his attack. His energy beam shooting off into the sky. Leaving behind the biggest smoke cloud ever seen. But just as he thought that he had reduced his foe to nothing, Tirek received the biggest surprise of his life. He loudly gasped in fright. As the smoke cleared, standing in the overturned ground, was BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. Aside from the smoke seeping from his body due to the heat of the attack, the Mega level Digimon was unharmed.

‘Song end’

“No way!” Shining Armor uttered. He and the other ponies were beyond surprised to see that the Digimon hadn’t even received a single scratch.

“WHAT!!!? BUT… HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!!!? I’VE… I’VE ABSORBED ALL YOUR POWER!!! I’M… I’M ALL POWERFUL!!! YOU SHOULD BE NOTHING TO ME!!!” Tirek shouted. The fear within him beginning to escalate rapidly.

BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode merely growled in response before beginning to march towards the frightened centaur. Tirek flinched in response to see his foe walking towards him. The giant even had to take a painful step back from the intimidation he was feeling. Tirek’s voice stuttering from the fear as he looked at the Digimon’s white featureless eyes. Looking even more soulless than ever before.

In an attempt to deny the facts, Tirek fired another narrow orange beam at the Digimon. Hoping that the more focused beam would push him back. But as the beam collided against the Mega’s chest, he was unmoved. BlackWarGreymon continued to march on, even as the beam slammed against his body. Streams of orange magic being deflected away.

For the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the sight confirmed one thing. The Dark Digivolution of BlackWarGreymon’s power had grown to a point where Tirek couldn’t hurt him anymore.

“Tirek’s done for,” He uttered. Not realising that the unconscious form of Ayumi was lying not too far away from him.

Tirek stopped his attack. And was left august from the sight of BlackWarGreymon being unharmed. But as he was left gawking at the sight, BlackWarGreymon came to a halt. Standing between the centaur and the pony group. But there was a reason for his pause. A reason… he was about to reveal.

After grunting in anger, BlackWarGreymon suddenly roared in the air as a black aura surged around his body. His form surging… overflowing with negative energy. Then as he stopped roaring, he brought his clawed hands close together. And a ball of energy formed in-between them. To the onlookers, it looked like he was about to perform his Terra Destroyer attack. But instead of the usual red energy ball, BlackWarGreymon’s attack was almost pitch black. The only source of light was a small red core within the heart of the attack. The berserker Digimon exhaled loudly as he raised his hands. Moving the ball of energy above his head. Where it began to grow rapidly in size.

“I…I can just knock that out of your hands!” Tirek stated before firing a beam of magic at the growing dark ball.

But then something unexpected happened. The second Tirek’s attack struck BlackWarGreymon’s, the collision created a strange sound. And all the magic in Tirek’s attack suddenly disintegrated into nothing.

“WHA!!?” Tirek shrieked. Seeing that his attacks had absolutely no effect on BlackWarGreymon’s energy ball.

Then with a mighty roar, BlackWarGreymon moved his arms apart. Causing his attack to rapidly expand even more. Growing in size and power. What’s more, it looked like BlackWarGreymon’s dark aura was surging into the ball.

But then something new happened. As the ball grew five times BlackWarGreymon’s size, blasts of negative energy began to launch from the ball. Thunderbolt-shaped energy struck the land around him. Some of which landed hits on Tirek. The giant centaur grunted in pain from the attacks. But it was clear that the blasts were a side effect of BlackWarGreymon’s attack. Striking the ground and the tops of nearby trees. Setting them alight in fire.

But most shockingly was that one of the blasts almost struck the pony group. Rarity gasped in fright as the energy exploded against the ground just a few feet from her. Huddling close to her friends for safety.

“Hay! Watch what you’re doing!” Rarity shouted. Frightened from the near miss.

Fearing that the uncontrollable blasts wouldn’t stop, Luna was able to gather enough magic to form a protective dome around herself and the other ponies. It was a wise decision on her part. Because to their surprise, a dark energy blast struck Luna’s dome. While it stopped the blast from causing harm, the power of the attack left a large crack on the blue barrier. Much to the shock of the group. It was then followed by a second. Again causing the Alicorn’s dome to crack.

Then with another mighty scream, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode caused his attack to explode in size. As it grew, the blasts of negative energy stopped escaping from the energy ball. As it gained strength, the attack began to send powerful gusts of air throughout the whole area. Forcing Luna to put more effort in maintaining her magical barrier. Then the attack finally stopped growing. Reaching a staggering size two thirds of Tirek’s size. To the ponies, it was the largest attack they ever saw BlackWarGreymon produce. As for the frightened Tirek, he stared at the black energy sphere with uncertainty and fear. There was something about its appearance that was very unsettling. A great black abyss, with a red core dimly glowing in the centre. If any other creature would see it, they would describe it as if looking into the depths of hell itself.

With his attack fully primed and ready, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode wasted no time… and let hell loose with a new name.

“TERRA OBLIVION!!!”

Throwing his arms towards Tirek, the colossal ball of darkness slowly made its way towards the stunned Tirek. Despite its slow speed, Tirek was too injured to move out of the way. But to the centaur’s shock, the attack steadily grew faster and faster. Starting to panic, Tirek yelled as he fired another beam of destructive magic to counter the energy ball. But just like before, Tirek’s attack merely disintegrated as it touched BlackWarGreymon’s attack. Dispersing into nothing as the Terra Oblivion continued on. With no other option, Tirek roared out as he crossed his arms. Putting all of his magical powers into forming a red magical barrier. As the attack struck the barrier, it was briefly halted. Tirek began to talk to himself. Trying to convince himself that he could never be beaten.

“I am Lord Tirek! I won’t be beaten by you again! I will not lose!”

But Tirek’s eyes began to show fear as he could see BlackWarGreymon’s attack starting to break through. A black dot of negative energy seeping through as the giant energy ball was disintegrating the barrier.

“I cannot lose!!”

Tirek’s fears began to escalate ever higher as the black dot in his line of vision grew ever bigger. BlackWarGreymon’s attack breaking through the barrier. The evil lord could offer no more defence as he began to tremble in terror. Screaming out in denial.

“I CAN’T!!! I… I J-JUST CAN’T!!! I…I…”

Tirek then let out a frightening scream of pure terror as the attack struck him. The black ball of negative energy instantly glowed a piercing white before detonating. The Terra Oblivion giving off an explosion of immeasurable proportions. The resulting blast wave and tremors equivalent of a falling meteor. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode stood his ground as he was consumed by the bright light of the explosion. But as for the pony group, the blast wave shattered Luna's barrier. The frightened ponies left exposed before being blasted away by hurricane force winds.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon had to hold on a tree for dear life as the blast wave ripped through the whole area. Many trees toppling over from the blasts of ultra-strong winds. But as the grunting digital clone opened his eyes to see the destruction, he caught a glimpse of a pony. The unconscious form of Ayumi hurtling through the foliage from the winds. His crimson red eyes widened in concern. Then… acting on pure instinct unbeknownst to him… he teleported away. Reappearing in Ayumi’s path in time to catch her unconscious body in his right arm. The next thing he did was impale his left gauntlet into the ground. Attempting to anchor himself to the ground. The winds slowly blasting him back.

The bright light from the explosion could be seen and heard for miles all round. But thankfully, the tremors and winds began to die down. And the bright light faded into a giant cloud of smoke.

As the smoke filled the area, nearby trees and bushes began to rustle and shake. Then one by one, the ponies revealed themselves. Baffled and disorientated by being blasted away.

“Uhh… talk about a wild ride.” Pinkie Pie uttered. Shaking her mane free from debris.

“Are y’all aright!?” Applejack asked everypony. Concerned for their wellbeing.

“I think so,” Cadence replied. Joined by Twilight.

“Nothing broken.”

“Umm… can somepony help me down?” A voice spoke up. Who was revealed to be Fluttershy. Hanging upside down from a tree above, her tail got snagged and tangled on a branch. Nothing that a quick teleportation spell from Luna couldn’t solve.

“Are you two unharmed?” The Moon Princess asked her sister and Shining Armor. The latter who regrouped with Cadence.

“I believe we are,” Celestia replied before nuzzling Luna as reassurance.

But they were disturbed by an outburst from Rarity.

“Well, I’m not!”

The concerned group all turned towards the stricken Unicorn, only to see her sitting down on the ground with the wildest hair style ever seen. Disorganized and full of branches.

“Just look at my poor mane!” She whined with tears in her eyes.

After a reassuring smile, Twilight realized that they were missing one pony.

“Wait! Where’s Rainbow Dash!?”

As if on cue, the blue Pegasus fell from a tree with a loud thud. Surprising the others. When the group all gathered around the fallen mare, they were surprised from seeing her expression of awe plastered on her face as she stared up at the air. They were surprised even more when she spoke up.

“That… was… SO COOL!!!”

Not too far away, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had recovered. Walking to the edge of the trees, he glanced out at the slowly fading smoke cloud. Knowing full well that BlackWarGreymon was in there. He then looked down at the unconscious Ayumi whom he was holding in his right arm. He looked at her in surprise and confusion. Remembering what he had just done.

“Why did I do that? Why did I save her? These ponies are supposed to be my enemies. Aren’t they? So why? What came over me all of a sudden?”

He began to think back to what happened between him and the Tree of Harmony. Remembering the conversation he had with it. His eyes widened in uncertainty.

“What is going on?”

But his conflict with himself had to wait. He began to sense BlackWarGreymon’s energy. And how that despite using a very powerful attack, it hardly hampered with his energy. He could tell that his progenitor’s Dark Digivolution was still overwhelmingly powerful.

The ponies too focused their attention back to the battlefield. Remembering that their friend was right in the heart of the blast.

“BlackWarGreymon?” Luna uttered in concern.

As more smoke began to fade away, the result of the Terra Oblivion attack was revealed. First was Tirek. Lying on his back, the giant centaur appeared to have fallen unconscious from the attack. Lying defeated even. Then as the rest of the smoke faded away, BlackWarGreymon was revealed. Remaining in his berserker form with his faint white aura, he appeared to be completely unaffected by the blast. Even standing tall as he glared his angered eyes at the fallen form of Tirek.

The ponies were stunned from the Digimon standing victoriously. But to the Alicorns and some of the ponies, there was something definitely off about him. BlackWarGreymon had seemingly won, yet… he remained furious. As if defeating Tirek wasn’t enough to quell his sudden anger.

“BlackWarGreymon?” Twilight quietly uttered. Concerned that something was wrong with him.

But for one particular pony, seeing the Digimon standing triumphant over Tirek caused her to feel hype. The blue Pegasus rose up full of vigour and excitement.

“He’s so awesome!” Rainbow Dash laughed before flying towards the Mega level Digimon.

As soon as she saw the rainbow maned mare leave the safety of the group and towards the Digimon, Twilight took another glance over at BlackWarGreymon. Feeling concerned due to him literally seething in fury.

“Rainbow, wait!” She called out. Her concerns were shared with the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

Too excited to listen to Twilight, Rainbow Dash flew up to BlackWarGreymon’s right side with a show of support.

“Ha! You sure showed him, bud!” She said before proceeding to pat the Mega on the back.

But as soon as her hoof touched his shoulder, BlackWarGreymon snapped his furious gaze towards Rainbow Dash with a loud vicious grunt. The sudden action startled Rainbow Dash as she recoiled back in surprise.

“Woah! Easy there, big buy. It’s only me,” She said with a small smile for reassurance.

But any upbeat feeling Rainbow Dash had was quickly replaced with confusion as BlackWarGreymon turned his full attention towards her. Growling in anger as he turned his body to face her. The sight caused Rainbow Dash to quickly feel concerned. Which then turned to worry as the Berserker Digimon began to walk towards her. Causing the Pegasus to hover slowly backwards.

The ponies all witnessed the sight and gasped in shock. BlackWarGreymon was showing the same amount of aggression as before. But it was all aimed at Rainbow Dash! She was one of his dear friends, yet he was treating her like an enemy. And all she did was congratulate him.

“What’s he doing!?” Cadence asked. She and the other ponies shocked at what they were witnessing.

Startled and confused at the shocking sight, Twilight tried to call out to the blue mare.

“Rainbow! Get out of there!”

But Twilight’s plea fell to deaf ears. Because the revelation was just as shocking to Rainbow Dash. As he hovered back, her posture slowly shrinked. Her usual confident eyes began to change. Showing more fear by the second. BlackWarGreymon’s actions was beginning to scare her.

“H-Hey. It’s me. R-Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash became more frightened from seeing the towering Digimon’s violent expression. His white featureless eyes were full of fury, and his teeth were all snarling at her with aggressive intentions. Even his breathing sounded hostile as he moved closer to the slowly shrinking mare. The Pegasus almost huddling herself in a ball as she grew more concerned and frightened. Her legs trembling as BlackWarGreymon’s violent eyes stared her down.

“A…Are… you o-ok?” She asked. Her voice not hiding her rising fear towards her own friend.

Then BlackWarGreymon stopped advancing. Sensing no fight in the mare. And instead, spoke to Rainbow Dash in a very hostile tone.

“Get lost!”

The ponies all paused in shock at what their Digimon friend said. But no pony was more in shock at the words spoken than Rainbow Dash herself.

“W-Wha…!?”

She was interrupted when BlackWarGreymon suddenly raised his clawed hands towards her. Causing her to make a quick yelp of fright as her eyes widened in fear from seeing the finger blades so close to her face. The frightened mare slowly glanced up at the giant Digimon as he spoke again. Clearly aiming his fury and attention at her.

“Unless… you want to fight me too!?”

The pony group had no words to describe what they were feeling and seeing. BlackWarGreymon wasn’t only being very hostile to Rainbow Dash, he was outright threatening her! Bearing his claws, just ready to lash out.

Rainbow Dash’s world paused from the frightening sight of BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode towering above her. Between his violent expression, his long yellow hair, and the pulsing veins in his muscular arms, the Digimon was terrifying up close. And for some reason beyond her understanding, he was threatening her. Treating her exactly like how he was treating Tirek. Even going as far as brandishing his Chrome Digizoid finger razers at her face.

Remembering how dangerous the weapons were towards Tirek, and not wanting to experience it for herself, Rainbow Dash nervously gulped before responding.

“N-No. No, I’m good,” She fearfully uttered before beating her wings a little harder. Retreating back away from the Digimon.

The enraged BlackWarGreymon kept his sights on the blue mare as she retreated towards the other ponies. But the sounds of Tirek recovering caught his attention, the Digimon focusing his sights back on the fallen centaur as the shaken Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of her friends.

As she sat down, the blue mare continued to stare timidly at the Digimon. Even when her friends all ran up to her.

“Rainbow! Are you alright!?” Twilight asked. Concerned of what the Pegasus was feeling.

As she replied, Rainbow Dash’s voice still carried the hint of fear.

“I-I’m fine. He… He just… scared me. That’s all.”

As close friends of Rainbow Dash, the ponies all stared at her in disbelief. The blue Pegasus just admitted that she was afraid. Not even bothering to deny it as she normally would. All eyes then turned towards the battlefield as the giant centaur slowly got back on his hooves. Despite the recovering Tirek being the bad guy, the one that had gained all the attention from the ponies was BlackWarGreymon. The Mega gaining looks of confusion and fear.

“Something’s very wrong here! BlackWarGreymon would never threaten a friend like that!” Twilight pointed out. Knowing her digital friend well.

“Then what in tarnation has gotten into him!?” Applejack asked. Unsure if what was happening was real or not.

After some thought, Cadence than brought up a subject that tied with what BlackWarGreymon once was. But despite her words, she highly doubt the possibility.

“Wait. You all did say that he was once evil, right?”

Most of the group all looked at the pink Alicorn in realisation. Then back at BlackWarGreymon in deep concern.

“You don’t think… that he’s gone back to his evil ways?” Shining Armor asked.

The very notion sent a frightening chill through the spines of the group. BlackWarGreymon was a friend that they trust. Who risked his own life on numerous occasions to protect them and their home. Despite being evil in the past, he had done so much good since his new life. So to have all the good taken away and have him back to how he once was… the group couldn’t even think of how they would feel. However, the spoken question had struck something within Luna. Wanting to put aside any doubt, she strongly opposed the thought almost immediately.

“No! BlackWarGreymon would never betray us! Not after everything he’s been through.” She spoke up. Remembering all the struggles both she and him went through to get to the point where they were. As well as him making it his life’s choice to follow the path of good.

The ponies tried to believe Luna. But the fact that BlackWarGreymon would suddenly snap at Rainbow Dash was just so sudden for them.

“Then why is he being all mean and scary?” Pinkie Pie asked. Joined by Rarity.

“That… and how he fights… and how he looks. It’s like he’s gone completely berserk!”

Rarity’s sentence caused Twilight to pause in thought for a moment. Remembering back to when BlackWarGreymon first started to change. Back before his body changed. She the remembered BlackWarGreymon’s words. A name he spoke of.

‘BlackWarGreymon…BERSERK MODE!!!’

Twilight’s eyes widened in realization as she let out a loud gasp. She had figured it out.

“That has to be it!”

All eyes of the group turned to the lavender Alicorn in surprise. Had she found the answer to BlackWarGreymon’s change?

“What is it!?” Luna asked. Desperate to know the truth.

Turning towards her friends and family, Twilight revealed to them the answer.

“It’s his transformation! When he was changing into that, he called it… Berserk Mode!”

Being unconscious at the time, Luna was the most shaken from what Twilight said. As well as the name of BlackWarGreymon’s transformation.

“Berserk Mode?”

Twilight then turned back to the Digimon on the battlefield.

“Yes. Ever since he became that, he’s become an entirely different being! It has to be his new form that’s causing it!”

Upon realising that BlackWarGreymon’s change of character was due to his new form, Fluttershy began to whimper the truth that the others shared.

“I don’t like it. I want the good BlackWarGreymon back.”

But Applejack began to grow confused. To which she explained to Twilight.

“Wait a minute, Twi. Ya said that magic of Equestria makes him stronger, right? Like with his other form. But then what kind of magic would make him like that!?”

It was a question that puzzled even Twilight. Because it was a good question. Why would the magic of Equestria would give BlackWarGreymon a form so violent and dangerous? It was there when Luna explained the cause. The answer she told took the group by surprise.

“Because it wasn’t caused by magic.”

All eyes turned to the blue Alicorn in shock. For what she said was the last thing they expected.

“You know something, Luna? Celestia asked her sister.

As she looked at Luna, Twilight remembered something.

“Wait, Luna. You still have your magic. So you…”

“Yes, everypony. I can still sense BlackWarGreymon’s energy. And this form was not caused by magic.”

As she looked at the still form of BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, Luna’s expression saddened.

“In fact, there isn’t a trace of magic within him.”

The group quietly gasped in shock from the news. Which was then followed by uncertainty.

“If it’s not caused by magic… then…” Twilight spoke. Unsure how to finish her sentence.

With a deep breath of concern and fear, Luna told them what she felt from the Mega.

“The energy I’m feeling from him… is entirely his own. He always possessed this negative energy. But what I’m feeling from him now is the same… but far more intense. Far greater. Stronger.”

With all the evidence laid out before them, a shiver went up the spines of Celestia and Twilight. For the two Alicorns, as well as Luna herself, all traversed BlackWarGreymon’s memories.

“If not magic… then…” The Sun Princess uttered. Finished by Twilight.

“…it’s a Digimon transformation!”

The whole group all gasped in shock at the discovery. BlackWarGreymon had gone through a transformation that’s entirely digital. Prompting Rainbow Dash to snap out of her trance as she turned to Twilight.

“Wait! You mean… he Digivolved!!?”

Before she could answer, Twilight took another good look at BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. To which she then spoke up.

“I don’t think so. If it were a Digivolution, then he would look very different and have a different name. What’s more, he’s already a Mega. He can’t go any higher.”

Twilight’s explanation only caused more confusion.

“Then what happened!?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight stared at BlackWarGreymon in confusion. Trying to figure out what kind of transformation he went through based on what she saw from his memories. And why it was making him so violent.

“Maybe a different type of transformation we don’t know about?” She whispered to herself.

But the attention of the group was diverted when Tirek suddenly roared in pain. The centaur struggling to stand up on his three working hooves without using his broken forth one. As he fought against the pain, Tirek glared down at BlackWarGreymon in a mixture of hatred and fear.

“You! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!!! I’LL MAKE YOU SUFFER MY WRATH!!! YOU HEAR ME!!!”

BlackWarGreymon was unmoved. Due to Tirek’s injuries, the Mega could tell that the centaur’s strength was starting to dwindle. As he began to march towards the evil lord, the berserker spoke up. His voice again filled with hate and fury.

“Tirek!”

The giant centaur flinched in uncertainty as he watched the Digimon walk towards him. He continued talking, letting Tirek know full well what he wanted to do to him.

“I’m going to rip you apart! Limb… from limb!”

The ponies felt frightened by BlackWarGreymon’s threat. With what he was going through, he might follow through on his promise of suffering and mindless violence. Tirek too believed in the Digimon’s words. But as he looked at the marching Digimon, fear started to make Tirek delusional. For instance, believing that BlackWarGreymon’s newfound power was gifted to him from the land of Equestria.

Tirek began to laugh madly. And then spoke up what he wanted to believe.

“Hahahaha! So that’s it! You used magic to make yourself stronger! That has to be it! Just like your other one! So… I’ll just take it!”

In total desperation, Tirek motioned his head down towards BlackWarGreymon and opened his mouth. Attempting to use his magic stealing ability to absorb the berserker’s powers. But after a solid five seconds of using the ability, Tirek felt no change whatsoever. He blinked at the still Digimon in surprise.

“Wha…! N-No!”

He tried again. But failed to obtain a single ounce of power. He stared at the Mega level Digimon in complete and utter shock.

“What!? How!!? This… this isn’t the work of magic!!?”

The ponies all glanced at each other in conformation. It had just been proven that BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was not a transformation caused by magic. But rather his own. To which Tirek has no power over. As Tirek stuttered in complete shock, BlackWarGreymon recognized what the centaur tried to do. And gave him another threat that sent shivers down the spines of all that could hear. The threat resembling a death threat.

“It doesn’t matter how much stronger you get. YOU BLEED THE SAME!!!”

Then without warning, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode quickly got into his battle stance. Then launched himself towards Tirek with his right clawed hand energized with dark blue energy.

“Negative Claw!”

As he flew by Tirek, BlackWarGreymon slashed his energized claws against the giant’s shoulder. Leaving behind several large gashes on the centaur. Tirek roared in pain as he grasped onto his shoulder. His flesh literally sliced into. Then as he tried to spot him, the giant felt a bone shattering blow to his chest. The Digimon landed a heavy kick that staggered the evil lord back. Almost knocking him off balance. As he tried to steady himself, he was surprised to see the Mega appearing before his very eyes. Ready to slash his claws at him. But as Tirek dodged, he barely managed to escape a nasty wound. Instead, the claws left a gash along one of the centaur’s horns. With it being a vessel that contained all the magic he absorbed, small streams of magic escaped from the gash.

BlackWarGreymon was the only one who noticed it. And followed up his attack with a heavy punch to Tirek’s left check. The blow successfully toppled the giant as he fell onto his side. As he struggled to get back onto his hooves, Tirek roared in frustration as he started to continuously fire his spiral beam from his horns. Swinging the beam in any direction the Digimon was in hopes that he could send him away. Despite already seeing that his attacks were becoming useless against the enraged Mega.

The fact was proved when BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode performed one of his most horrific attacks. As he landed, he eyed his sights onto a weak spot on Tirek. Grinning from the idea of what to do, BlackWarGreymon launched himself off the ground and dived straight into the beam. Despite Tirek’s attack, the Mega was flying straight through the beam as if it was nothing.

And then he did it. As he got close to Tirek’s face, he left the beam and slashed his right arm across the giant’s face. What followed next was Tirek stopping his attack… and screaming in pure agony in response. He continued to roar out in pain as he used his two hands to cover up his right eye. A stream of red fluid leaking from his fingers.

All the ponies had to cover their mouths from what they had just witnessed. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon was shaken at what he saw. Something that the normal BlackWarGreymon would never do to all his previous opponents. With his claws, the Berserker Digimon slashed Tirek’s right eye. Horrifically blinding him on one side.

The horrified giant desperately tried to hold back the agonizing pain he was feeling. Covering his damaged eye with his right hand as he franticly tried to see where his foe was. As he spun his gaze around, he caught a brief glimpse of a black blur. Followed by a series of new cuts and gashes that appeared on his left cheek. Dangerously close to his only other eye! To which the frightened centaur quickly figured out.

‘HE’S GOING FOR MY OTHER EYE!!!’

Frightened by the prospect of being permanently blinded, Tirek roared in desperation as he put up a paralysis field around him. His only means of defence against such a fast and dangerous opponent. His plan worked. BlackWarGreymon was seen paused just in front of him. Not wanting to waste such an opportunity, Tirek quickly used his two hands to grab a hold onto the Mega. Making sure that the razer sharp claws were away from his skin. The Digimon grunted in anger from suddenly being grappled. No longer covering his major injury, all the ponies got the chance to see Tirek’s slashed eye. Keeping his eye shut, the whole thing was all dark red from blood.

Grunting angrily and in deep pain, Tirek shouted at the entrapped BlackWarGreymon.

“LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!!!?”

It was clear that Tirek was just as horrified at what happened to the Digimon. Landing such attacks that only a psychotic madman would come up with. A creature with an unstoppable desire to kill.

But as Tirek glared at the grasped Digimon in fury, he was surprised at what he was seeing. Despite being grappled, BlackWarGreymon continued to give him the deadliest of death stares. His body even trembling with a sudden rush of what was to come. Something that would bring a whole new definition of pain.

Both Tirek and the ponies watched the trembling Digimon in confusion, wondering what he was doing. BlackWarGreymon then slowly opened his toothy maw. His jaw stretching wide as orange light could be seen flashing deep within. Then… despite his mouth wide open… he uttered out a name of his new ability. A name that sent shivers down the ponies’ spines.

“NOVA SCREAM!!!”

As soon as he finished uttering the name, his head jerked forward. In doing so, a jet of smoke suddenly spewed from his mouth. Tirek flinched and coughed as the black smoke plumed against his face. Spreading down his body.

But despite his seemingly harmless attack, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. With a flash of light deep within his throat, the jet of smoke suddenly ignited into orange flames. The Mega suddenly spewing streams of burning fire. Tirek screamed in pain from the scorching attack. So much so that he released BlackWarGreymon from his hold. Flames continued to leak from the Digimon’s mouth. But as he landed, BlackWarGreymon suddenly roared in the air with the jet of flames exploding out of his mouth. The force of the attack causing his head to violently flail uncontrollably in random directions. The injured Tirek took the opportunity to put out the flames on his body before crossing his arms to form a magical barrier around his body. His defence arrived just in time. Because as BlackWarGreymon as beginning to get a grip of his aim, the river of negative flames slammed against the barrier. The scorched Tirek knew that they weren’t ordinary flames. For he could feel the weight of the power against his shield. The ponies all stared on in stunned silence. Never had they seen BlackWarGreymon breathing fire before.

But everyone would soon come to understand that despite its power, BlackWarGreymon’s new attack was not perfected. The flames were not the true form of the Nova Scream. But as BlackWarGreymon continued to attack with his breath weapon, the ponies were beginning to see the attack about to take its true form. As BlackWarGreymon steadied his head to attack solely Tirek, the flames began to condense. Focusing the stream of orange fire… into a pure white energy beam. The perfected attack giving off a high-pitched sound that almost sounded like a scream. BlackWarGreymon’s head briefly shaking as he tried to steady his attack.

With the attack transformed, the beam began to slice through the magical barrier like a knife through hot butter. As soon as the barrier was dropped, Tirek was wailing in pure agony. Flailing in pain about as the beam ignited his giant body. The kinetic force of the beam tried to bury itself into Tirek’s body. And at the same time, exploding in flames as the beam travelled all across Tirek’s front. For the evil lord, the attack felt like a blowtorch. One of the most agonizing experiences he had ever endured. He tried to move away, block with his arms, even tried to form more barriers to shield himself. But no matter what he tried to do, the attack continued to bring unfathomable pain on him.

The ponies all stared at the horrific torture scene in terror and fear. While the Terra Oblivion was BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode’s most powerful attack, his Nova Scream was clearly his most deadly.

BlackWarGreymon continued his attack on the defenceless Tirek. Until he decided to end it by snapping his jaws shut. Despite the attack came to an end, Tirek was left severely injured. Yelling out in pain as smoke escaped the scorch marks all over his body. The pain too much, he even fell down on his front knees.

Tirek was on the verge of defeat. All the fight escaped him. But BlackWarGreymon was far from done. After charging towards the still form of the giant centaur, the Mega leapt up and slammed his right knuckles up against Tirek’s jaw. Upper cutting him before spinning around to kick Tirek’s chest with his left foot. The blow toppled the stunned giant onto his back. After landing back on the ground, the Digimon launched himself off the ground again. His claws stretched out to his sides as he soared over Tirek’s body and towards his head. As he drew closer, his claws glowed dark blue as he prepared to end the fight. Heading towards Tirek’s head.

“Negative Claw!” He shouted before throwing his hands down towards the downed centaur. Letting loose several waves of energy.

But rather than striking Tirek’s head directly, the energy waves instead sliced completely through Tirek’s horns. The attacks then struck the ground. Throwing up a heap of dirt that consumed the Digimon as he landed.

Upon receiving the attack’s, Tirek instantly shot back on his hooves as he wailed in agony from the sharp pain of where his horns used to be. Covering the newly formed stumps as he staggered around.

“NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!! MY MAGIC!!!”

To the surprise of the onlooking group, streams of multi coloured magic began to forcefully escape Tirek’s head. No longer being held by his horns. As all the magic he stole left his body, Tirek began to shrink. All the while wailing in pain and fury as his shrinking body disappeared within the dust cloud.

All the ponies watched the streams of magic darting everywhere. All heading back to their proper owners whom Tirek stole from. To Twilight’s surprise, a purple stream of magic appeared and headed straight for her. As the magic entered her body, Twilight could feel her powers quickly returning. So did her lost cutiemark. The same would be said for all her friends. One by one, their energies returned. Luna smiled in relief from seeing a golden stream of magic returning to Celestia. Her older sibling feeling like her old self again.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on as the streams of magic continued to flow through the air. Then something gained his attention. A purple energy stream, similar to Twilight’s, was heading in his direction. He stood still, for he knew who the magic belonged to. Looking down, he could see all the energy returning to Ayumi he was holding in his arm. As well as her magic, it also included the digital data that was within her being. After getting her magic back, the unconscious Alicorn from another time began to stir.

After the rest of the ponies finally got their magic back, they all looked up to see countless red energy streams flowing through the air before disappearing into thin air. Much to Pinkie Pie’s surprise.

“Hay. Where’re they going?”

“That must be the magic Tirek stole from BlackWarGreymon’s Ascended form. It’s all flowing back to the land itself,” Twilight guessed. Seeing it as a logical reason.

While the group were all detracted from the light show in the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon sneaked over to the edge of the tree line without the others knowing. After he placed Ayumi down on the ground, he began to use his magic on her. Freeing her from the effects of the sleeping gas he placed on her before.

“There. The ponies are now going to need all the help they can get,” The grey armoured Digimon said before slipping back into the trees for cover. Leaving Ayumi to slowly recover. Opening her eyes as she began to get her strength back.

“M-My head. What… happened?”

As the light show came to an end, the group all suddenly heard a very angry outburst.

“PONIES!!!”

Turning their sights back to the giant dust cloud, the group all saw the badly injured form of the once powerful Tirek. With his horns reduced to stumps and hardly any magic within him, he was reduced to the size of a stallion. But he still retained his injuries. His broken leg, his missing eye, countless cuts, gashes and burns all over his body. He honestly looked like he would need medical attention. But receiving help was the last thing on the centaur’s mind. He glared angrily at the ponies as he tried to fight back the pain from his body. Breathing heavily.

“You may have won today, but I’ll be back. Y-You’ll be sure of that! Once my horns will grow back, I will try again. Destroy all of… you… and… a- and I...”

Tirek’s speech slowed in concern from seeing the expressions on the ponies faces. At first, they all glared a Tirek in defiance. But during his talk, they began to glance upwards. With looks of fear on some of them.

Tirek paused his speech as the dust cloud quickly faded away. He suddenly got the feeling that someone was standing behind him. To which was true. As the smoke faded, a pair of giant armoured legs stood behind him. With their vision more clearer, BlackWarGreymon was revealed. Standing behind the centaur, glaring down at him, and still in his Berserk Mode form.

The ponies all stared at the scene in complete silence. Remembering just how violent BlackWarGreymon had become. Even when he looked calm, he was still seething in rage. But what made the sight all the more frightening was his power. With their magic returned to them, all the Unicorns and Alicorns could sense his energy. And they finally realized why Luna was so afraid at what she felt. BlackWarGreymon was their friend, yet his aura felt… evil. Cruel. Malicious.

With Ayumi becoming fully awake, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Both from the sight of the transformed BlackWarGreymon and the energy he carried.

“Black?” She asked in concern. Wondering what in the world had happened to him.

Knowing full well that his opponent was behind him, Tirek fearfully turned his head around to see the Digimon for himself. But when he saw him, Tirek gawked in horror as he turned to face the Mega fully. With his size reduced to his weakest state, BlackWarGreymon looked even bigger and far more frightening than before. The sight of him just standing there was more then enough for him to tremble in fear.

Then BlackWarGreymon made one audible growl. More than enough for Tirek to yell out in terror. Then falling to his knees before begging for forgiveness.

“Please! No more! I…I don’t want to fight anymore! I’ll… I’ll do anything you say! I-I’ll never steal magic again! I’ll become good! Just…please don’t hurt me anymore!” He pleaded before pressing his face against the ground. Sobbing in fear.

In response to Tirek’s grovelling, BlackWarGreymon started to scowl.

With Tirek’s sudden declaration of surrender, the ponies failed to see BlackWarGreymon’s expression. Taken back by hearing the evil lord say the things they never thought he would ever say. For Celestia, it may be a chance she was looking for. If Tirek really was true to his word, than he would certainly be very beneficial to Equestria. Much like when she wanted to reform Discord.

Wanting to put all the fighting to an end and resolve things peacefully, Celestia spoke out. Granting Tirek’s request.

“That’s enough, BlackWarGreymon. This fight is over,” She said. With things calming down and Tirek depowered, she and the other ponies hoped that the Digimon would comply.

From hearing the words of the Sun Princess, the once formidable Lord Tirek breathed a sigh of relief. But as he calmed down, he pulled a hidden grin. Being an evil lord who terrorized the land before, there was no way he could change just because he lost a battle. He would use the ponies’ kindness to his advantage. Take time to recover and regrow. And once the time was right, he would pounce. And he would once more be the Lord Tirek that every pony feared.

However…… he heard collective gasps from the ponies.

Confused, Tirek looked up. Only to see BlackWarGreymon with his left arm raised to his right. Then to his shock, the Digimon smacked him aside. Violently backhanding the small centaur across the field before he skidded to a painful halt.

All the ponies gasped in shock at what they had just witnessed. Tirek surrendered and Celestia told him to stop. But the Berserker Digimon just lashed out at the defenceless centaur.

“BlackWarGreymon! I said that’s enough!” Celestia shouted at the Digimon. But to her shock, he was ignoring her. Setting his enraged sights on the downed lord.

She received even more shock when the Mega started to march towards Tirek. Snarling in complete anguish. All the while Celestia’s desperate demands fell to deaf ears. Her voice becoming more and more desperate for him to stop fighting.

“BlackWarGreymon! Stop!! Can you hear me!? No more fighting! BlackWarGreymon!!”

The white Alicorn froze in shock. Being completely ignored.

“He’s not listening to me!” She uttered in surprise. Then Twilight tried her turn.

“BlackWarGreymon, please! Please stop fighting!”

But just like her former teacher, Twilight too was ignored. The berserker seemed to have every intention on continuing. The Princess of Friendship felt hurt from her close friend ignoring her. As Tirek weakly sat up, trying to fight back the pain from being smacked aside, he glanced over to BlackWarGreymon in shock and surprise.

“Hay! Didn’t you hear me!? I said I surrender!”

But to Tirek’s surprise, as well as the shocked ponies, BlackWarGreymon growled loudly before letting out a mighty echoing roar. Then to Tirek’s horror, the enraged Digimon began to sprint towards him at frightening speed. Causing Tirek to panic as he tried to crawl away.

“No! WAIT!! STOP!!!”

But just as Tirek managed to stand back up, BlackWarGreymon smacked the small centaur with his right palm. Though Tirek was very lucky to had avoided the finger blades, but the power behind the blow had knocked Tirek near senselessly. Violently tumbling before coming to a stop. But just before he could get beck up, BlackWarGreymon launched off the ground and landed his right foot on top of him. Tirek cried out in pain from being nearly crushed from underfoot as the Digimon leapt off him. Landing close by while keeping his sights on the stricken centaur.

The onlooking ponies didn’t know what or how to feel from what they were seeing. The sight before them was essentially torture of the worst kind. And it was their friend who was doing the torturing.

“NO!!!” Tirek cried out as he tried to crawl away. But failed when BlackWarGreymon reached out his right hand and grabbed onto Tirek’s left rear leg. Then pulling him back and lifting him up.

What followed next was unnecessary torture. With Tirek’s leg in his grasp, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode proceeded to smash him against the ground. The earth beneath his feet trembled from the impacts as Tirek cried out in pain. After swatting Tirek against the ground three times, the Digimon briefly paused to inspect the centaur. Only to smash him against the ground once more. Then he chucked the limp centaur aside. Tirek trembling in pain as he laid on the ground.

Most of the onlooking ponies all held onto their mouths with their hooves in horror. Tirek was defenceless in his weakened state. Yet BlackWarGreymon still treated him like a severe threat. Beating him to a pulp without a shred of mercy or pity.

“He…He’s going too far…” Cadence uttered. With virtually all the other ponies in agreement.

BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode marched up to the trembling form of Tirek with the same merciless gaze as ever. Fearing for his life, Tirek weakly tried to beg for mercy.

“P-Please. I… surrender…”

But BlackWarGreymon refused to listen. As he stood over the downed centaur, he reached his left hand down and impaled his claws into the ground around Tirek’s neck. Scaring him. Then by clenching his hand, BlackWarGreymon grabbed onto his neck and lifted him off the ground. Then by turning around in full view of the horrified ponies, BlackWarGreymon held the limp body of Tirek. His broken form dangled as he tried to fight against the grip. Opening his eyes, Tirek was staring into the pure white eyes of heartless destruction and mindless violence. BlackWarGreymon glaring into the centaur’s own soul.

The Digimon then spoke to him. Referencing what Tirek himself called him back when the fight started.

“Who’s puny now?”

With Tirek within the grasp of his left hand, he brought his right hand to bare. His metal claws gleaming in the light as it drew close to Tirek. Fearing that BlackWarGreymon would do the unthinkable, Celestia was the first to try to talk him out of it.

“N-No, BlackWarGreymon!! Don’t do it!”

“Tirek’s had enough! Please, no more!” Twilight added. Joined by Cadence.

“This isn’t the way to do this! Please stop!”

The rest of the group all joined in to try to call BlackWarGreymon off the fight. Trying desperately to prevent him from doing what he would regret doing. Only Luna and the distant Ayumi said nothing. The two Alicorns too in shock at BlackWarGreymon’s actions. For the Moon Princess, she had never seen the Digimon act so cruel and heartless. Even more so than how he once was in his past.

After more desperate shouting from the ponies, it seemed as though they were finally getting through to BlackWarGreymon. The berserker lowering his right hand away from Tirek’s face. Causing them to stop.

The ponies truly thought that BlackWarGreymon was finally seeing sense. That he was aware that he was doing wrong and was stopping himself from pushing further. The group all believing that the good within the Mega was… at last… trying to overcome the rage side.



That was… until…



“BLACK NOVA!!!”



With BlackWarGreymon’s outburst, his left hand was suddenly engulfed in black flames. Tirek screamed out in pure agony as his body was hidden in the flames. And then his screams were heard no more. After several seconds, the flames began to disperse. And within the clawed hand of BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, was a small patch of grey ashes. The Digimon then tilted his hand downwards. Letting the ashes fall the ground in a small pile.

The sight and actions had left the ponies speechless and stricken. A sight they never thought they would ever have to see.

BlackWarGreymon… their friend… their protector… had just committed murder.

Chapter 64: The Awakened Berserker (Part 2)

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On the outskirts of Canterlot, a scene that no pony should ever see had been played out. After rendering him powerless, Tirek was savagely beaten by the hands of BlackWarGreymon. Whom had undergone a Dark Digivolution. The berserker Digimon then brought the battle to a horrific end. Using his Black Nova attack to reduce the evil centaur to ashes and dust. All the while in plain view of the pony group.

The ponies were understandably horrified at what they had just witnessed.

“No way,” Applejack uttered. Being the first to speak.

“He just… tuned him into dust,” Rainbow Dash joined. Looking at the pile of grey powder that was once the evil lord.

The ponies continued to stare at the giant Digimon in silence. They simply couldn’t believe that their friend had done something that they never thought he would ever do. Regardless of what form he took. Which only reinforces the fact that BlackWarGreymon’s new form was unknown to them. Unable to predict what he would do next. But Celestia had one hope of thought.

“Maybe… with no one left to fight, he could finally calm down?”

All eyes were on BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, hoping to see him relax and drop out of his violent form. But to their surprise, it didn’t happen. Despite the lack of foes, BlackWarGreymon still had the look of hate on his face. After a loud grunt, he surprised the group by loudly roaring at the sky. His newfound desire for violence causing the world around him to tremble. Then with a stomp of his foot, he caused a large patch of ground to digitize and fade from existence. Worse still, it began to spread across the ground until it came contact with a tree. The tree too was digitized before being destroyed.

“I don’t get it! Why is he still angry!?” Cadence asked fearfully. With Twilight making a guess.

“That form! Can’t… can’t he…? I don’t think he can control it!”

The uncontrollable nature of the transformation became more apparent as BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode prepared to use one of his new abilities. On no opponent.

“NOVA SCREAM!!!”

With a thrash of his head, he fired the thin white beam from his open mouth. Aiming at nothing but trees. The screaming beam cleaved through anything it touched and exploded as it hit the ground. Cutting down branches and setting foliage on fire. Then while firing the beam, BlackWarGreymon began to move his head and turn his body. Causing his beam to slice through anything in its path. The panicking ponies huddled low to the ground to avoid the beam as it streaked above them. As for the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon, he barely had enough time to avoid the beam. However, the white laser struck his armoured shoulder. Setting of a shower of sparks as the digital clone fell to the ground.

BlackWarGreymon finished his assault by throwing his head up in the air. Making his Nova Scream attack to slice through the air and clouds. As he stopped his attack, he let out another loud roar. His rise in energy sent a powerful gust of wind to blow through the area. The ponies remained close to the ground to avoid the winds. Hidden in the trees, ChaosBlackWarGreymon recovered from his tumble. Only to stare in horror at his right shoulder. The pauldron spike had been sliced clean off.

As he finished his roar, the violent Mega slammed his clawed hand at the ground. Causing tremors and the ground to crack open. But with the winds dying down, the ponies began to stand back up and stare at their enraged friend in concern.

“W-What are we going to do now?” Rarity asked. Unable to think of a solution. But no pony had any ideas. With Twilight revealing that she also had no clue.

“I… I don’t know! This is something we’ve never seen before!”

“Can’t we try to reason with him!?” Fluttershy asked. But the idea was quickly shot down by Rainbow Dash. Whom was still in shock from how the furious Mega acted towards her.

“What!? That’s not going to work! He’ll just snap at you! Just look at him!”

The group were quite surprised at Rainbow Dash. It seemed BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode threatening her had frightened her much more that they thought. But they also understood why she would be afraid. The Digimon was so lost in his rage that anyone approaching him he would think was his enemy.

Unbeknownst to the group, Shining Armor had just about enough of the rampage.

“He’s gone too far,” He said as his horn glowed.

On the side-lines, ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on in thought. Trying to think of a solution that could help BlackWarGreymon.

‘Think! How can one cure Dark Digivolution!? If those ponies are smart, they better not do something stupid.’

Then the inevitable happened. As BlackWarGreymon was about to walk, a magic beam sailed just in front of his face. The berserker Mega flinched in surprise as he came to a halt. As the beam vanished, a voice spoke out. Belonging to Shining Armor.

“That’s enough!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was dumbfounded at what happened.

“THAT IMBECILE!!!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon wasn’t the only one who thought that it was a bad idea. The rest of the group all looked at the Unicorn in surprise.

“What in tarnation were you thinking!?” Applejack asked.

The prince flinched in surprise. Confusion grew on his face.

“What? I just thought that it would snap him out of it.”

Before more could be said however, they all heard a worried tone from Rainbow Dash.

“Uhh… guys!”

Turning around, the rest of the group all saw what had got the Pegasus so afraid. Across the field, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was staring right at them. His white glowing featureless eyes fixed onto them as he let out vicious growls.

The prince then realized what he had done. He made the Digimon shift his attention from the surrounding area… and onto the group! To which gave all of them a very bad feeling.

“He…He wouldn’t. He would never,” Pinkie Pie uttered. Not wanting to believe what she was imagining.

Then to the horror of the group, they saw something they truly thought they would never see. BlackWarGreymon’s sights narrowed as he let out a vicious growl. As he did so, he raised his left hand up slightly to his side. The gleaming claws suddenly engulfed in dark blue fire. Then suddenly…

“NEGATIVE CLAW!!!”

Throwing his arm up, BlackWarGreymon let loose waves of energy. The blade-like energy waves sliced through the ground as it quickly closed in on the group! The ponies all stared on in horror as the attacked approached them. Frozen from fear and disbelief.

But the next thing they saw was a bright flash of purple light. Afterwards, the confused group found themselves moved away. Teleported thirty feet from where they were. As the ponies tried to get their bearings, they all saw BlackWarGreymon’s attack slicing through the area where they were moments ago. Then cleaving through the trees, slicing them apart.

The whole group all stared at the sight. Imagining what could’ve been.

“If we hadn’t been teleported… then… we would’ve…” Luna uttered. The look of horror on her face.

Her feelings were shared with the rest of the group. Not from the fact that they were just moments away from a gruesome demise. But from WHO almost did the deed. Their own friend. BlackWarGreymon. It was HE who almost did it.

The blue Alicorn looked over to the rest of the group to see that they were going through the same horror she was. Fluttershy however took it the worst. Huddling into a ball as she spoke out loud.

“He attacked us. Why would he attack us? H-Have we done something wrong?”

Hearing her words, Twilight cradled her as she spoke up.

“No Fluttershy. It’s not our fault. There’s just… something wrong with him.”

“Good timing on teleporting us, Twilight,” Celestia said as she approached her former student. But the young Alicorn looked at her in confusion.

“T-That wasn’t me.”

Like Celestia, the other ponies all looked at Twilight in confusion.

“What? Then who…”

Rarity was interrupted by a loud footstep. Then all eyes turned towards the enraged Digimon. The glowing form of BlackWarGreymon staring directly at them. Growling in fury as he flexed his finger blades.

“BlackWarGreymon,” Luna quietly uttered. Frightened that she may had lost her friend forever. And that he friend tried to attack her and her friends and family.

But as the group all feared the worst, a loud voice spoke up.

“STOP IT!!!”

Then to the surprise and relief of the ponies, a purple Alicorn landed on the ground. Standing between them and BlackWarGreymon. For most of the group, they knew who it was.

“Ayumi! You’re awake!” Twilight called out in joy. Glad to see that her alternate self was finally up.

Shining Armor and Cadence stared at the Alicorn in surprise. They then looked over at Twilight for comparison. Awestricken from the fact that the two truly did look similar. Almost identical. But their questions would have to wait. For the said Alicorn was confronting the out-of-control Mega.

“What happened to you!? Why would you attack your friends!?” Ayumi demanded as she looked over at BlackWarGreymon’s new look. Distraught from the sight.

“He became that during his fight with Tirek!” Pinkie Pie called out. Gaining a quick glance from Ayumi.

“And where’s Tirek?”

Ayumi was less than prepared to hear Rainbow Dash’s reply.

“He got turned to dust!”

Ayumi glanced back at BlackWarGreymon in surprise.

“He killed him?”

As Ayumi stared at BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, she took the time to use her magic to sense the energy within the Digimon. Only to look at him in disbelief.

‘Here I thought he was under some sort of mind control. But it’s worse than that! That IS Black’s energy! But it feels… so evil. What could’ve done this?’

She continued to be in thought as she tried to think of what to do.

‘His power has grown so much. I don’t think even my strongest form would stand a chance! But I have to do something! But what?’

Ayumi became distracted as she tried to think of a plan. So much so that she failed to notice the thundering footsteps fast approaching her. But hearing Twilight’s outburst snapped her back to attention.

“WATCH OUT!!!”

The startled Alicorn then saw a frightening sight. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode charging towards her. Roaring in fury as he raised his right hand up. Ready to strike. But with a well-timed teleportation spell, Ayumi vanished as the Mega got within range. Slamming his claws into the ground where the mare once stood.

The onlooking group were again horrified at what had just happened. Ayumi had done nothing to BlackWarGreymon, yet the berserker tried to attack her regardless. After reappearing Ayumi was just as surprised as the others. Looking back at the Mega with a startled yet hurt expression.

“Why are you doing this!? Don’t you recognize me!? Black!!”

To her dismay, she was met with a violent growl and a furious glare as BlackWarGreymon turned to look at her. Ayumi’s expression saddened further from the sight.

“Please. We just became friends. But if I have to fight you, then I must.”

Closing her eyes and focusing her magic, Ayumi attempted to transform. Despite knowing that it won’t defeat BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, she still wanted a fighting chance. But before she could even start, BlackWarGreymon roared as he charged forth. Startled by the sudden charge, Ayumi had to leap to the side to avoid the giant. After recovering, she looked at him with an unsettling feeling.

“He’s not letting me change.”

With his right hand covered in blue energy, BlackWarGreymon launched his Negative Claw attack at Ayumi. Forcing her to take to the air. While in the air, the former Twilight knew that she was in grave danger. Without getting a chance to transform, the odds of simply surviving would be against her.

The factor was further shown as BlackWarGreymon opened his mouth to fire his Nova Scream attack. Despite Ayumi dodging the beam, all the Digimon had to do was turn his head to face the Alicorn. The continues beam following Ayumi as he attempted to slice her in half. The former princess had a brief fright as the beam almost caught her. Only slicing off the end of her tail.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!! PLEASE STOP!!!” Twilight called out in desperation. Only for her to be ignored again. Tears forming in her eyes as she watched her friend trying to kill another.

After BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode stopped attacking, Ayumi hovered in the air as she tried once more to talk to him. Frightened and scared.

“Please stop this! I’m not your enemy!”

To her dismay, the berserker Mega growled in fury in response.

“Please. My world was destroyed by a Digimon. I don’t want this one to share the same fate.” She said quietly.

But with no signs of slowing down, the white aura around BlackWarGreymon glowed slightly brighter as he began to hover off the ground. Getting ready to fight in the air. Seeing the signs, Ayumi attempted to flee. Only to have BlackWarGreymon give chase. Wanting to buy as much time as possible, Ayumi began to manoeuvre high in the sky. But wherever she went, the berserker was right behind her. He tried to launch another Negative Claw attack on her. But missed and struck the ground. Exploding in a cloud of dirt.

On the side-lines, the hidden ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on. To his surprise, he felt concerned for Ayumi’s safety.

“She’s going to need help. But… I...”

The clone flinched in surprise from a thought he had. The thought… of him stepping in. Him being the one to help out. However, the thought clashed with all what he knew. He was created to be a destroyer. To be evil. Yet, the conversation he had with the Tree of Harmony had made him think differently. What’s more, the thought of him helping… felt right. That doing such actions, even if he failed, was the right thing to do. The conflict of what to do was causing him to hesitate. Making him freeze in place.

Back in the air, BlackWarGreymon surprised Ayumi by suddenly flying close to her with his toothy maw wide open. Attempting to bite down on the Alicorn. But by dodging his snapping jaws, it left her open to attack by his claws. To which she responded by teleporting away. But by reappearing near the ground, it caused her to stumble before planting her hooves on the ground. But the pressure was on as the Digimon dived down towards her. By leaping out of the way, she avoided being crushed as BlackWarGreymon crashed his foot into the ground. Making a big impact as dirt was flown in the air.

As she turned to face the berserker, Ayumi was showing clear signs that the whole situation was getting her worked up. Her horn glowed bright as grew angry.

“That’s it! I said stop!”

Throwing her head down, Ayumi fired a powerful purple beam at the Digimon’s face. With her magic being infused with data, the attack packed a punch as it exploded against BlackWarGreymon.

All was quiet at first. Then as the dirt and dust settled, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was revealed. Completely unharmed from the attack. But to Ayumi’s surprise, the Digimon’s muscles suddenly bulked up before retracting. But it was what lied beneath that shocked Ayumi. Fortunately for her, the other magic casters felt it too. All of them gasping in horror.

“Did you all feel that!?” Cadence asked.

“Yes. His power just suddenly rose!” Celestia replied.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. Her and all the non-magic users confused at what was happening.

Twilight was the one to answer. Shocking all that heard her.

“That’s how he did it. How he overcame Tirek! Attacking him makes him stronger!!”

Ayumi too figured it out. Staring at the Digimon in pure terror. Even if she had the chance to transform, it made little difference if she can’t use it. The Mega gets stronger when he gets attacked.

As he felt his energy soaring higher, BlackWarGreymon roared at Ayumi in pure fury. The powerful gusts of air blew her away. But she recomposed herself by flying up in the air. Looking down at him, Ayumi was desperately trying to think of a plan.

“If I can’t attack him, then what can I do!?”

She didn’t have much time to think. For she saw a black ball of fire forming in BlackWarGreymon’s clawed hand.

“BLACK NOVA!!!”

Throwing his arm, BlackWarGreymon launched the small ball of fire at Ayumi. The Alicorn countered it by firing an energy beam from her horn. As the two attacks made contact, the Black Nova exploded on impact. Unleashing a powerful explosion of black flames and intense heat.

Ayumi grunted in discomfort from feeling the heat. Squinting her eyes in response. But as the flames fade away, BlackWarGreymon was no longer seen.

“What!?”

On the ground, the ponies all saw a horrifying sight. Without Ayumi even knowing, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode suddenly appeared behind her.

“BEHIND YOU!!!” Twilight cried out.

The warning was heard. But just as Ayumi turned to see the Digimon, the latter smacked her down. The force of being swatted by BlackWarGreymon’s palm sent Ayumi crashing to the ground. She was lucky that none of the Digimon’s finger blades caught her.

“AYUMI!!!” Most of the group cried out.

Shining Armor began to feel something. With the fallen Alicorn looking like his sister, had magic like his sister, even sounding like her, it caused his big brother instinct to kick in. Giving him the urge to help her.

Then a thunderous impact was heard some distance away. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode had landed. But as he laid his sights on Ayumi struggling to stand back up, his mouth opened up. Bright flashed of light seen down his throat.

Realising what the out-of-control Digimon was about to do, and seeing that the struggling Alicorn was his target, Shining Armor gave in to his sudden urge and charged forth. Running towards Ayumi.

“Shining!” Cadence cried out to the prince in surprise.

“NOVA SCREAM!!!” BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode said before firing his destructive beam at the ground near his feet. The ground erupted in explosions. Then by tilting his head up, the end of the beam began to move across the ground. Heading towards Ayumi like a cutting beam.

Seeing the approaching danger, Shining Armor gave it his all to run as fast as he could. He made it with just moments to spare. With a strong jump, the Unicorn tackled Ayumi out of the line of fire. The Nova Scream attack sliced at the ground where they were seconds ago. Explosions followed, but the prince formed a magical barrier around him and Ayumi for protection.

“He made it!” Twilight said in joy. Glad to see that her brother and other self were still alive.

“Thank goodness,” Cadence uttered.

As the explosions died down, Shining Armor lowered his barrier and glanced over to BlackWarGreymon.

“That was a close call.”

From hearing a very familiar voice, Ayumi began to stir. Opening her eyes just enough to see. Looking up, she saw a face that she recognized. His white fur. His blue mane. She knew him.

“B…Brother?”

Hearing a very familiar voice, Shining Armor began to pay attention to the life he just saved. Looking down, he was startled to see the Alicorn’s weary purple eyes. But only for a moment. BlackWarGreymon’s attack on her was stronger than it appeared. Ayumi falling unconscious. But the Prince kept his sights on her. Those eyes he just saw. Those were his sister’s eyes!

“Twilight?” He asked. Confused as to how the Alicorn before him looked so much like his sister to a point where she could actually be her.

“Shining! Are you alright!?” Cadence asked as she rushed up to him.

“Yeah. We both are,” He replied. Glad that his wife was by his side.

As everyone else in the group all grouped together, Pinkie Pie addressed the elephant in the room.

“But we still got a very big problem!” She said as she pointed her hoof at the berserker Digimon.

All eyes were on BlackWarGreymon as he stomped his foot on the ground. Glaring at the ponies in unbridled fury. The group once more questioned what was real.

“Why? Why doesn’t he recognize us?” Fluttershy whimpered. Frightened at what was happening to her friend.

“And if that form is what Digimon do, then why would it make him so violent?” Applejack asked.

However, no pony had the answer to the questions. All they knew was that BlackWarGreymon had unlocked a transformation. But unlike other Digital Evolutions Twilight, Luna and Celestia had witnessed, what their saviour went through was entirely new to them. They knew that BlackWarGreymon would never hurt an innocent life. He made it his promise. His destiny. So, for him to go through something that would make him break his promise. To go against his destiny. It was something unheard of. They didn’t want to admit it. They didn’t want to say it. They didn’t want to believe it. But with what was happening, BlackWarGreymon had truly turned evil.

Luna remained completely silent as she looked at the Digimon’s featureless eyes. Her own eyes began to shed tears. She was scared and upset. She too had the same thoughts as the others. But she didn’t want to accept it. There was no way. But she had no idea of what to do. How could she save him from himself?

But just as BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode bared his metallic claws ready, a voice echoed through the area for all to hear. Gaining the Digimon’s attention.

“Hay you! Over here!”

All eyes turned towards where the voice came from. Only to reveal itself in a form nobody expected. Launching himself from the tree canopy, was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The grey armoured digital clone descended from the sky and landed on the ground. As he did, he spoke up again. Clearly addressing his progenitor.

“That’s right! Eyes on me!”

BlackWarGreymon was about to turn back towards the ponies. But upon sensing ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s energy, his attention was then fully gained. Facing fully at his clone.

For the group, they were all in dismay.

“Oh no. Now he’s here,” Rarity said.

“That’s just what we need,” Shining Armor sarcastically said. Annoyed by the appearance of the grey Mega.

“No doubt he would try and pull something,” Applejack added.

The rest of the group all felt frightened even more. The two on their own were very dangerous, so having the two in the same area was sure to guarantee the end of everything they knew. Then Rainbow Dash came up with a theory as to ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s involvement.

“Maybe… maybe it was him who did this to BlackWarGreymon!”

Twilight watched the digital clone intensely. One would assume that what Rainbow Dash said would be plausible. But there were important factors that she had to remind herself. Firstly, BlackWarGreymon’s transformation was entirely digital. If ChaosBlackWarGreymon had used some sort of spell, than she would’ve felt it. Secondly, was ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s expression. He no longer was the cocky mischievous Digimon he once was. Instead, he looked serious. Distraught even. And lastly, to her surprise, the grey armoured Digimon had sustained damage. She could see that his right pauldron spike was missing. All that was left was a burnt patch where it once was.

With the evidence laid out, Twilight spoke up.

“I…don’t think so.”

With BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode’s attention on him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon then done something the ponies never saw coming. Motioning the former away from them.

“Come on! Come this way!” He said as he began to walk away from the ponies. BlackWarGreymon kept his sights on his clone. Turning away from the group and moving away. Such actions left the group all stunned and confused.

“Wait. He’s luring him away?” Pinkie Pie asked. Just as puzzled as all her friends.

“Why? What is he up to?” Twilight asked. Trying to understand what the Terror of the Crystal Empire was plotting.

‘I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die! I’m SO gonna die!’ ChaosBlackWarGreymon thought to himself as he drew BlackWarGreymon away. Afraid that his actions would get himself killed.

After gaining some distance from the ponies, ChaosBlackWarGreymon came to a halt. Likewise did BlackWarGreymon. The clone then spoke up. Surprising the group with what he said.

“SNAP OUT OF IT!!!”

All the ponies let out collective gasps of confusion. What ChaosBlackWarGreymon was trying to do… was exactly what they tried to do. Trying to set BlackWarGreymon’s mind straight. They concluded that whatever happened to their friend was so bad that even the ‘evil’ clone wanted to put a stop to it. Evidenced further from what he said next. Starting with something that surprised the group.

“BlackWarGreymon, listen to me. I know what you’re going through. It’s not a very nice feeling. No Digimon should ever go through it. But only you can end it. You need to get a hold of yourself before it’s too late.”

“He… He knows what happened to BlackWarGreymon!?” Twilight uttered in disbelief. Surprised to know that only the clone knew what truly caused the transformation.

“Look,” ChaosBlackWarGreymon said as he raised his arms to his sides. Then using his magic, his Dramon Destroyers vanished into black smoke. Revealing his hands in what was surprisingly, a surrender position.

“See. I have no weapon. Do you understand? I don’t want to fight you. Not like this.”

The group were completely baffled at what they saw and heard. ChaosBlackWarGreymon, a clone that Sombra once said was an evil incarnation of BlackWarGreymon, was trying to help him. Even going as far as to NOT fight him.

“Wait! Since when’s HE the good guy!?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The blue Pegasus made a good point. With how things were turning out, it seemed as though BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon had switched roles. The clone being the reasonable one and the saviour being the bad one. Twilight for one was very puzzled at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s change in behaviour. Between no longer being the one to mock, and for seemingly saving the lives of the Cutiemark Crusaders the other night.

She didn’t know why, but she felt as though she wanted to talk to him.

‘Background Music’ ‘Devil Trigger - Nero’s battle theme from Devil May Cry 5’

But it seemed as though ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s plea was ignored. As he continued to glare at him, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode began to growl in anger as his faint white aura began to intensify. The grey armoured Mega, while expected the outcome, still wanted to see if he could get through to the Berserker.

“Hay! Easy there! I said I don’t want to fight!”

Unfortunately for him, BlackWarGreymon seemed to be getting angrier and angrier.

“Would it help if I said I surrender!?”

Then to the clone’s confusion, BlackWarGreymon raised his right hand up to point his clawed finger at him. Then as he spoke, his voice carried a murderous tone.

“YOU!!!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon received a frightening feeling. Despite being in his Berserk Mode, BlackWarGreymon recognized him. Which meant that in said form, he would not hold back.

“Oh fudge.”

To the surprise of all, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode suddenly roared in fury as he charged towards his clone. The ground trembled with each thundering footstep. Seeing the much larger Mega storming towards him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon briefly panicked before reforming his gauntlets. Crossing his arms to brace himself. Despite his finger claws, BlackWarGreymon tried to form a fist with his right hand. And landed a powerful punch on his smaller clone. The latter grunted loudly as he was sent hurtling back. But before he could recover, his face got grappled by the large hand of BlackWarGreymon. To which the giant then slammed him to the ground. The shockwaves from the impact caused sections of the ground to rise up like pillars.

The onlooking group were startled. ChaosBlackWarGreymon showed no hostilities. Even going so far as to surrender. But he was still attacked by the berserker. BlackWarGreymon threw the first punch.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted loudly from feeling the staggering amount of pressure pressed against his face. Unable to break out of BlackWarGreymon’s grip, the clone teleported away. Reappearing on the ground behind him.

“Stop this!! Tirek was the one who caused this! And you destroyed him! You’ve won! There’s no need to continue!”

Once again, the clone’s words were ignored. BlackWarGreymon turned around to face him. His mouth flashing with bright light. Knowing what was about to happen, ChaosBlackWarGreymon brought forth his Brave Shield for protection.

“Nova Scream!”

Throwing his head forward, BlackWarGreymon fired his destructive beam at his opponent. The white beam struck the grey shield. But the difference in power between the two warriors was clear. ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted loudly as he was being forced back. His feet digging into the ground as he tried to hold on. As well as the power of the beam, he could feel the heat from the attack. Which made worse as parts of the attack was being deflected from the shield. Smaller beams flying in random directions. But as soon as the attack ended, ChaosBlackWarGreymon received a surprise as BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode flew at him at frightening speeds. Slamming his giant feet against the shield with enough force to push the clone over. Using his body and the shield to squash him against the ground before leaping off of him. ChaosBlackWarGreymon used the moment to stand back up and put his shield back on his back. But as soon as he turned around, BlackWarGreymon back handed him across the face. The clone yelled in pain as his body was sent skidding across the field.

On the side lines, the ponies could see that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was at a severe disadvantage. Without any transformations of his own, he wouldn’t be able to last forever against BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. Pinkie Pie then brought up a query.

“Question. Who do we root for?”

The ponies found the question just as baffling as trying to find the answer. BlackWarGreymon was their friend. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was their enemy. But the Berserk Mode caused their friend to turn violent. Which in turn caused their enemy to seemingly try to stop him for the greater good. Until they could understand what was going on, they remained in the dark.

As he got back on his feet, ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to think of what to do.

“Talking to him is pointless! But I can’t just fight back! It’ll only make him stronger!”

Pressure pilled on as he saw blue energy emanating from BlackWarGreymon’s claws.

“I’ll just have to buy time to think of something.”

“Negative Claw!”

Thrashing his hands, the berserker Digimon launched wave after wave of his attacks upon ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The clone having to dodge and weave to avoid the attacks. He was eventually forced to take to the skies. Flying off the ground. But he was less then prepared to counter the next attack. Seeing the Nova Scream heading towards him at such speeds, he didn’t have the time to use his shield. All he could do was block the beam with his gauntlets. Once again, he was being forced back by the sheer force of the beam. Further made uncomfortable by the heat from the beam. Almost hurting him.

“Maybe I could try… and wait till he runs out of energy!?”

Then the beam suddenly stopped. And with his wrists protecting his front, it left his stomach wide open. To which the berserker took advantage off. Flying up to his clone, BlackWarGreymon landed a powerful punch to the gut. ChaosBlackWarGreymon loudly gagged in pain as his eyes widened in shock. The blow shook him right down to the core. Then using the same fist, BlackWarGreymon threw his clone back down to earth. Crashing to the ground with a strong impact.

As the dust settled, ChaosBlackWarGreymon saw a familiar sight. Blinded by rage, BlackWarGreymon was diving down towards him. His claws brought to bear. Intending to kill. Much like how he was after the Wonderbolt Academy was destroyed. He couldn’t believe it. Back then, what BlackWarGreymon went through. It was a precursor to his Dark Digivolution. His Berserk Mode.

But whereas before BlackWarGreymon got a grip of himself, he held no restraint anymore. Seeing that his opponent was fully intending on killing him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported out of the way. Leaving his potential death from above to crash into the ground. When the dust cloud settled, BlackWarGreymon was revealed with the claws of his right arm embedded into the ground. Showing that if ChaosBlackWarGreymon hadn’t dodged, he would’ve more likely been killed.

To the group’s surprise, ChaosBlackWarGreymon reappeared in the sky near them. But out of all the ponies, only Twilight had a good look at his crimson red eyes. They were filled with fear. What’s more, the fear on display wasn’t to the same extent when he fought against BlackWarGreymon in his Ascended form. The fear what she was seeing… was far greater. The sight, as well as remembering what the clone said earlier, it only confirmed her suspicions. ChaosBlackWarGreymon knew exactly what happened to BlackWarGreymon. What the transformation was. And more importantly, what caused it.

But before Twilight could speak up to him, she was cut off by a sudden appearance of a small black ball of energy that flew close to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. While the ball missed its target, the staggering amount of power behind it caused massive gusts of winds. Forcing Twilight back and ChaosBlackWarGreymon to flail in the air before coming to a stop.

As he watched his opponent right himself, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode stretched his fingers in his left hand and formed the same black ball of energy.

“Terra Oblivion!”

Throwing his arm out, he fired the small energy ball at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. To which the clone teleported away to avoid the attack. Leaving it to strike at a large tree. Destroying it on impact. But as if on instinct, BlackWarGreymon knew where ChaosBlackWarGreymon would be appearing. Forming more small Terra Oblivions, he threw them where his opponent would show up. But as ChaosBlackWarGreymon kept teleporting to dodge them, the attacks ended up striking the forest around them. Setting off large explosions. Forcing the ponies to huddle close to the ground from all the buffeting winds.

Then as he reappeared in the sky, ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched as BlackWarGreymon launched from the ground to intercept him. But as he watched, he had an idea.

“I can’t attack him. But I think I can without actually hitting him.”

Pointing his gauntlets at BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon used his levitation spell. Successfully freezing the berserker in his tracks. With his magical grip on him, the clone then threw his arms down. Sending him crashing down to the ground.

But as the dust settled, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode quickly rose back up on his feet. What’s more, the muscles on his body briefly bulked up again. With that, however, was a sharp rise in power.

“Wait! That counts too!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked. His plan of buying time backfired horribly.

Seeing the error in his efforts, the clone tried to fly to gain some distance, with BlackWarGreymon flying after him in pursuit. As the two Digimon flew through the skies, Celestia turned towards Twilight with a puzzled look. Remembering how she almost stepped forward towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Twilight. It looked like you were about to say something.”

“It’s because he knows.”

Twilight’s reply made the group all look at her in surprise. The young Alicorn turned towards them with the newest development.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He knows what happened to BlackWarGreymon!”

In the skies above the forest, BlackWarGreymon was still in hot pursuit on his clone. As well as chasing him, he fired his Nova Scream attack at him. The clone weaving around to avoid the energy beam as it carved its way at the ground. Setting off numerous explosions.

“How does he have so much energy to spare!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon questioned as he tried to avoid the constant attacks. But as soon as the beam vanished, he was tackled from behind by BlackWarGreymon. The two crashing through the trees and uprooting the ground.

Back with the ponies, the group were all stunned at all the hints that Twilight had uncovered.

“So ChaosBlackWarGreymon really didn’t do this?” Cadence asked. Wanted to make sure that all the facts were true.

“It can’t be him. Why would they be fighting otherwise?” Applejack added. Seeing no reason for a fight if BlackWarGreymon was being controlled by his clone.

“Yes. But whatever it is, it’s so bad that even he’s trying to stop it,” Twilight said. Getting more worried at what was happening to BlackWarGreymon.

But their conversation was halted when they heard a crash in the trees back near they were. And emerging from the foliage was BlackWarGreymon. Using his larger dragon-like feet, he was carrying ChaosBlackWarGreymon by the chest like a bird of prey. Then as he flew close to the ground, the berserker stomped his foot against the dirt. The clone yelled in pain as he was being dragged and squashed against the ground. Then throwing his leg up, BlackWarGreymon tossed his foe in the air before punching him away. But just as ChaosBlackWarGreymon recomposed himself, BlackWarGreymon charged in and grabbed his chest with his large right hand. With a firm grip, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode proceeded to bash his clone to the ground. With every forceful attack, ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted loudly in pain as he got further and further into the ground.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to use magic in hopes of buying more time. As BlackWarGreymon tried to bash him to the ground again, the clone transformed his body into living shadow. And then tried to use his ghostly form to wrap and bind BlackWarGreymon. Restraining him for as long as he could. But after several loud grunts of fury, the berserker made a counter.

“NEGATIVE BURST!!!”

After shrouding himself in a black barrier of energy, BlackWarGreymon released it in a powerful pulse wave. The attack blasted the living shadow back. Reforming itself as ChaosBlackWarGreymon soon afterwards. But before the clone could even stand properly, BlackWarGreymon roared in fury as he swiped his right clawed hand across his face. ChaosBlackWarGreymon yelled in pain as sparks flew from the attack. After he stopped stumbling, the grey armoured Digimon revealed to have a large slash mark on his face.

But that’s not all. With another swipe of his left hand, the attack released more than just sparks. Squirts of oil leaked from ChaosBlackWarGreymon as he tumbled across the ground. BlackWarGreymon’s claws catching the cords on his body.

Out of the whole group, Twilight was the one who began to feel concerned for ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The digital clone could only do so much without resorting to attacking back. But it resulted in him taking a severe beating. Gashes and scratches were beginning to form on his body. And already oil was leaking from his body. But since ChaosBlackWarGreymon had information on what happened to BlackWarGreymon, despite everything he had done in the past, she wanted him to stay alive. But it was clear that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was beginning to run out of steam. All he could do was block with his gauntlets as BlackWarGreymon kept slashing at him. Sparks flew as the berserker roared in fury.

Then BlackWarGreymon dealt a heavy blow. He slammed his knee, shin spike first, against ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s chest. Causing the smaller Mega to cry out in pain as his armour began to crack. Then using his larger size, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode grabbed the back of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s head and slammed him against one of the risen ground pillars. The constant battering caused the clone to not think straight. Leaving him at the mercy of his attacker.

After several bashings, BlackWarGreymon tossed the battered Mega into the air before immediately chasing after him. The beaten Digimon only had enough time to try to talk sense to his aggressor.

“B-BlackWarGreymon. Please. Sto…!”

He was silenced when BlackWarGreymon rose up and slammed his elbow against his chin. Then as he flailed upwards, the berserker grabbed his leg and divebombed back down to the ground. After a forceful landing, he slammed the clone into the ground. Throwing up a mountain of dirt as a cry of pain was heard. Then emerging from the cloud, BlackWarGreymon threw ChaosBlackWarGreymon across the field. The grey armoured Mega tumbled violently against the ground before coming to a halt.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon struggled to get back up, some of the ponies were beginning to feel the same way as Twilight.

“I never thought I’d say this. But I feel bad for him,” Cadence said. Joined by Fluttershy.

“I know he’s bad. But… he is trying to help.”

Some of the ponies were beginning to feel an urge they never thought they would ever feel. They wanted to help ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But with such a massive power difference between them and BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, what could they possibly do?

As he struggled to sit up, the worn out ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked across the field to see a rampaging BlackWarGreymon charging towards him.

“Buying time is pointless! There’s just no end to his power! It’s hard just trying to stay alive!”

As BlackWarGreymon got closer, he stretched his arms out in an attempt to grab him. After finding his footing, ChaosBlackWarGreymon rose his arms up to block the stampeding Mega. The berserker Digimon grabbed onto the clone’s arms as he tried to push him back. With the latter trying to halt the push. Veins in his arms bulged as ChaosBlackWarGreymon grunted very loudly. Trying with all his might to hold on against the larger Digimon.

With little to no options, ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried talking. Hoping that he could get through to the out-of-control BlackWarGreymon. His words once again surprised the onlooking ponies.

“BlackWarGreymon!! Please!! You have… to stop this!! I’m… I’m begging you!”

To his dismay, his pleas fell to deaf ears. With another mighty roar of rage, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode briefly pulled back. But only to slam his foot against ChaosBlackWarGreymon. As he was hurtled back, he tried to teleport away. But with BlackWarGreymon’s rising power, it also improved his senses. Feeling where ChaosBlackWarGreymon was going to appear, BlackWarGreymon instantly vanished from sight. Then as the grey armoured Mega appeared in the sky, the berserker Digimon appeared behind him. The larger Mega then bashed his smaller foe on the head. Sending him crashing into one of the risen ground pillars. Being pinned, the clone was left vulnerable as BlackWarGreymon charged in to slam his foot against his chest. The smaller Mega loudly gagged in pain from the amount of force behind the attack. Then as he backed off, BlackWarGreymon roared in fury as his faint white glow exploded into his surging black aura. With his hands trying to form into fists, proceeded to relentlessly punch ChaosBlackWarGreymon further into the pillar with explosive force. Afterwards, he grabbed his clone by the face with his right hand and flew upwards. Forcefully scrapping him up through the pillar. Then flying further upwards, BlackWarGreymon’s hand began to glow in black energy.

“TERRA…”

After stopping high in the sky, BlackWarGreymon raised his arm up. Lifting ChaosBlackWarGreymon high above his head.

“…OBLIVION!!!”

As he threw ChaosBlackWarGreymon down back towards the ground, his same hand fired a small dark ball of energy that further pushed the Mega down. Colliding into the pillar before exploding. Everything within the vicinity of the blast was reduced to dirt and rubble.

‘Song end’

The echoes of the explosion and the collapsing pillar filled the air before all falling to silence. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode continued to watch down from high above. His violent hate-filled gaze never tearing from the destruction below. As for the onlooking ponies, they watched on in silence. Curious if ChaosBlackWarGreymon survived such a beating.

The answer revealed itself as the dust settled. Emerging from the pile of stones and rubble, ChaosBlackWarGreymon rose to his feet. But he was in bad condition. His armour was damaged and scratched. Covered in bruises and cuts. And oil leaking from his body. What’s more, huffing from exhaustion. He looked almost as bad as he was back in the fight at the Crystal Empire. But there was a big difference. Back then, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was in a lengthy battle and even brought BlackWarGreymon to his knees at one point. But before their very eyes, it was his first fight of the day, and he was losing badly.

But seeing his opponent standing back up was causing BlackWarGreymon to growl in anger. Then with a mighty roar, flew down to fight more. Surprised that his aggressor still had tremendous energy to spare, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked up in the air before leaping out of the way. Leaving BlackWarGreymon to crash to the ground with an echoing impact.

As he recovered, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked back as BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode rose back up from the crater. His crimson red eyes were filled with mixed emotions. He was indeed afraid. But with it, he was determined. Determined to set the Artificial Digimon right. So when the enraged Mega charged at him again, he sprang into action.

“ENOUGH!!!”

Pointing his gauntlets at BlackWarGreymon with all his claws glowing green, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was putting out every ounce of magic he could into forming a single spell. Then as BlackWarGreymon got within just a few feet of the clone Digimon, he suddenly came to a halt. Much to his surprise. The smaller Mega’s plan had worked. Shrouded in a green magical field, the berserker was immobilized. Held in place by the magical spell. The onlooking ponies were speechless at what they were seeing. But they could see that by using magic so excessively was putting a toll on ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The Mega grunting as he felt incredible tension in his arms. Which was made worse from BlackWarGreymon trying to break free. Grunting loudly while trying to move to get closer to his clone.

With no options left, ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried once more to talk to BlackWarGreymon. Desperation in his voice.

“Please stop this madness!! This is not you! I know you’re in there, BlackWarGreymon! You need to come out!”

Unfortunately, BlackWarGreymon roared as he tried to force himself forward. Stretching his claws out to get closer.

“I know you’re furious! But you need to snap out of it! Remember! Remember why you’re here! The promise you made to yourself!! You said that you want to protect this world!! Your new home!”

But with his words not reaching to BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon had one more option in mind. He turned his sights to the onlookers. Surprising the group.

“Just look at those ponies over there!! All of them are your friends!! Can’t you see that what you’re doing is scaring them!?”

Turning his sights back to BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to hit him where it really hurts.

“Aren’t you supposed to be their saviour!!? THEIR FRIEND!!!?”

The ponies were stunned at ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s words. He was right. BlackWarGreymon was their friend. He was their saviour. But more importantly, what he was doing was truly scaring them. Never had he acted so violently towards them before his transformation. In fact, by having the clone himself declaring them friends of BlackWarGreymon, they felt touched. They began to hope that the words spoken would be enough for BlackWarGreymon to get back to his senses.

But to the dismay of everyone, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode seemed to be getting even angrier. Seething in fury as he began to resist the holding spell. But the most frightening thing of all, was what he said. Words that stung their hearts and crushed their hopes.

“I…don’t… CARE!!!”

With a mighty roar and a thrash of his arms, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode broke free from the magical hold. The backlash of the spell caused ChaosBlackWarGreymon to be stunned. Giving BlackWarGreymon time to reach out and grab a tight hold on him. The huge hands of the giant pinning the clone’s arms to the sides of his body. With his arms restrained, the shaken ChaosBlackWarGreymon had no defence to what was about to come. Opening his toothy maw wide, BlackWarGreymon lurched forward and began to bite down on the smaller Mega’s left shoulder. Despite wearing armour, the sharp teeth pierced through the Chrome Digizoid. ChaosBlackWarGreymon crying out in pain from the sharp teeth digging into his skin. Trying to thrash about to free himself. The ponies were left horrified at such an animalistic attack. He truly was becoming more like a ferocious beast that matched perfectly with his new body.

But the worst was yet to come. As he tried to fight back the pain, ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to feel BlackWarGreymon’s mouth getting sharply warmer. His eyes widened in horror as to what was going to happen. Which widened even further from feeling a white-hot burning feeling in his shoulder. Piercing through his armour and into his body. He screamed in pure agony from the worst pain he ever felt. Even worse than having his arm broken.

The ponies were all seeing it too. One of the worst forms of torture possible. With his mouth locked onto the clone’s shoulder. BlackWarGreymon was using his Nova Scream attack point blank. The devastating results were further shown as the back of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s shoulder began to glow. Then to the horror of the witnesses, the Nova Scream beam emerged from the other side of the shoulder. Exploding against the ground.

In a horrific move, the Nova Scream beam burned straight through ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s shoulder… and out through the exit wound. Giving the digital clone excruciating pain as what felt like being burned by a blowtorch.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon continued to wail in complete anguish. Unable to fight back the unbearable torture being inflicted. Then as BlackWarGreymon stopped his attack, he released his hold. Letting ChaosBlackWarGreymon take staggering steps back as he tried to cover his new wound with his right hand. Crying out in pain all the while. Some of the ponies held onto their mouths in shock. Never had they seen such a horrific way to attack someone.

Then as ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode, the latter was ready to attack with the same ability. With no defence, the digital clone took the full force of the forthcoming Nova Scream. The beam slammed him into the ground before pushing him towards the edge of the forest. BlackWarGreymon continued his assault as his opponent disappeared into the trees. As the beam continued, it began to set off explosions. Until the whole section of trees erupted in a massive explosion. Ceasing his attack, BlackWarGreymon roared in victory. Knowing full well that he had won the fight.

Then as the berserker turned away, all the ponies looked to where ChaosBlackWarGreymon was sent to.

“Did that… just happen?” Shining Armor asked.

“He… he defeated him,” Rainbow Dash uttered.

Then Twilight spoke up.

“This is far worse than we’ve ever imagined! If even ChaosBlackWarGreymon can’t stop him, than… what can we do!?”

With their thoughts back on BlackWarGreymon, they all turned their sights onto the said Digimon. Only to see that he was walking away. Much to their surprise. But their thoughts were less on where he’s going, and more on what to do.

“We can’t talk to him. And fighting back just makes him angrier and stronger!” Pinkie Pie said. Joined by Rarity.

“But what can we do?”

Some of the ponies turned to either Twilight or Celestia. Hoping that the two Alicorns would come up with some ideas. However, the two could think of nothing.

“I’m sorry. I... I don’t know. I never imagined that this would ever happen,” Celestia admitted. But Twilight tried to hold on what little hope there was.

“But the Tree of Harmony. That prophecy was about BlackWarGreymon. He can’t be the one who will cause the Greatest Calamity.”

Then Fluttershy spoke up.

“Everypony? Where’s he going?”

All eyes brought their attention back to where the Mega was heading to. But after a careful glance with her sharp eyes, Rainbow Dash gasped in fright.

“He’s heading to Canterlot!”

The group all gasped in horror. If BlackWarGreymon entered the city in his Berserk Mode, countless ponies would get hurt or worse. The sight was made more shocking as BlackWarGreymon stopped walking. But the distant city was clearly in his line of vision.

Seeing that the city of Canterlot was BlackWarGreymon’s prime focus, the ponies were desperate to think of a way to stop him. But how could ponies stop an out-of-control Mega who’s so strong that not even a magically created Mega could do it?

“We need to think of somthin’ now!” Applejack announced.

“But what!?” Cadence asked. She and the others were beginning to panic.

Celestia tried her hardest to think of something as quickly as possible. If BlackWarGreymon were to attack Canterlot, or even set foot in it in his Berserk Mode form, ponies would view him as a monster. And if they were able to bring him back to his senses by then, no pony would ever trust him again. The real BlackWarGreymon would be devastated.

She was so worked up in her worries, she failed to notice that her younger sister just took off. But hearing the other ponies calling her out snapped her to her senses.

“L-Luna?” She asked as she turned to her side where she last saw the blue Alicorn. But seeing that she wasn’t there, she snapped her head to where the others were looking.

“Luna!!”

To her shock, the Princess of the Moon was flying across the field as fast as she could. Heading straight towards BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode.

“Luna! No!” Twilight called out in great concern.

But Luna didn’t listen. She wanted to try everything in her power to stop BlackWarGreymon and get him back to his old self.

As he gazed at the distant capital, the berserker Digimon spotted a distant airship balloon arriving at the city. Seeing a potential target, he slowly opened his toothy maw as light began to flash within. Preparing to attack.

“NOVA SCREAM!!!”

Just as BlackWarGreymon was charging up to attack, Luna made a hasty landing beside him. Almost stumbling over as she screamed at him.

“BLACKWARGREYMON!!! NOOOO!!!”

“Huh!?”

Luna’s outburst caused BlackWarGreymon to flinch. Throwing off his aim just as his Nova Scream fired off into the air. Narrowly missing the airship balloon. Moving so quick that the ponies onboard didn’t see it. But while they heard it, they assumed that it was some speeding Pegasus.

After watching the energy beam narrowly miss its target, the frightened Luna turned towards BlackWarGreymon. With the Mega glaring his featureless sights onto her. The giant growled in anger as he turned to fully face her before taking a couple of steps towards her.

Despite the towering berserker moving towards her. Despite the ever-growing fear and sadness within her. Luna stood her ground. Eyeing up the Digimon with her distraught eyes as approached her. Then he stopped. The giant Digimon looking down at her as she looked up at him.

“BlackWarGreymon,” She said softly to him. Her voice effected by the sadness she was feeling.

Feeling concerned for her sister, Celestia attempted to rush towards her. But to her surprise, Cadence stopped her. Raising her hoof to block her.

“Wait, Celestia. If you rush in, you might provoke him.”

The white Alicorn didn’t want to admit it, but her niece was right. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode could lash out at anything that would get close without caution. But unknown to the Sun Princess, Cadence had another reason for stopping her.

‘It was Luna getting hurt that started his transformation. Maybe… she’s the one who can help him change back.’

Both Luna and BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode continued to look at each other. For the Digimon, it was to see what the Alicorn would try to do. For Luna, it was from thinking of what to say. She was somewhat surprised that he didn’t lash out at her. But a part of her felt as though there was a reason for his pause. It was when she began to think. That maybe… beneath all that fury and rage… the true BlackWarGreymon was there. Just trying to get out. With a firm belief that her favourite Digimon was inside the violent berserker, she spoke to him.

“BlackWarGreymon? I-It’s me. Luna. Your dear friend,” She said softly. Reassuring the Mega that she was not his enemy.

But BlackWarGreymon continued to stare at her. Letting out quiet but hostile growls. Luna however began to feel that trying to reach out to him was in vein.

“D…Don’t you remember me?”

Luna began to feel scared. Not from what BlackWarGreymon had become. But from him forgetting about her. All the things the two went through. The joy. The hardships. Their time together. The connection the two forged. The deep trust they shared. She began to fear that all of it was lost. That BlackWarGreymon gave it all up to get the power he unlocked.

The very thought of the possibility frightened her. She began to feel sadder. That the Digimon she had come to cherish. That she had come to admire. That she had come to love. Was gone.

“S…Surely you must! The Grand Galloping Gala. The Crystal Empire. That night on Hearts and Hooves Day. Don’t… Don’t you remember any of that?”

Seeing no change in BlackWarGreymon’s expression only escalated Luna’s fear of being forgotten. Tears of sadness forming in her blue eyes.

“You… you really don’t remember me? But you must.”

She began to hang her head low. The sadness reaching ever higher.

“D-Didn’t our friendship meant anything to you? Please… B…Blackie.”

With Luna looking down with her eyes shut, she failed to see it. Upon uttering the nickname she gave to BlackWarGreymon, the berserker’s eyes briefly widened in surprise. Hearing the nickname just awoken something within the vengeful Digimon’s subconscious. He could… remember it somewhere. Somepony… special gave it to him. But who? Who was that special pony?

He began to pay closer attention to the Alicorn before him. Staring intently at her. Her appearance. Her voice. Her magical energy. It all… felt familiar. He knew that mare from somewhere.

Then as the princess briefly opened her eyes, revealing her beautiful blue orbs, the Digimon’s eyes widened further. He did know the pony. He knew who she was. His cloudy conflicted mind began to clear. Memories that were foggy began to come into view. Memories of… Princess Luna. The pony who truly understood him. He began to remember it all. The day when the two first met. When they shared their heart to heart. Their ordeal at the Crystal Empire. Her soothing his doubtful heart. All leading up to his first ever date.

Then one memory became crystal clear. It was when their date ended. Before departing, Luna drew close to him. And kissed him on the cheek. It wasn’t just the memory that flowed back. But the feelings he felt from that one special moment. The feeling… of love.

BlackWarGreymon’s expression made a drastic chance. For the first time since Dark Digivolving, he was no longer angry. His face showed… shock. Shock at what happened to him. What he had become. He then looked down at Luna. Who was still teary-eyed to see properly.

“You came here to have a new life. To not be the monster you feared of becoming. Please come back to us. Please… come back to me.”

As for the onlooking ponies, they were too far away to hear what Luna was saying or to see BlackWarGreymon’s change of expression. All they could tell was that Luna was beginning to break down. All the while uncertain about the Mega being so still for so long. That was then they saw him move. The berserker moving his arm slowly towards the blue Alicorn. His hand reaching down towards her.

Thinking that he was going to hurt her, some of the ponies were about to make a move. But Cadence, the only one who had a feeling of what was happening, stopped them.

“Wait, everypony!”

With the saddened Luna’s eyes closed, tears raining down her cheek, she failed to see BlackWarGreymon reaching down to her. Being as gentle as he could, the metal claws of his hands moved some strands of her mane from her head to the side. Feeling her hair being moved, Luna slowly opened her eyes to see what was happening. To her mental shock, the giant Digimon was trying to get a clearer look of her face. Then with her hair out of the way, the giant berserker moved his right hand further. His Digizoid claws avoiding her face as he gently caressed the side of his large index finger against her left cheek. Almost as if wiping away her falling tears.

Feeling the sudden tender touch from the Mega surprised Luna as she looked at his face. She couldn’t believe it. He was no longer angry. All the rage on his face was gone. In its place, was a neutral expression. In fact, he almost looked concerned himself.

Then to her disbelief, against everything she and the others thought possible, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode spoke in a gentle tone.

“Lu...na,” He uttered as his white featureless eyes began to change. His original yellow orbs began to appear.

Luna’s eyes widened in shock and amazement at what she heard. BlackWarGreymon said her name.

“You remember me!?” She asked in a harsh whisper. Her sadness quickly fading away.

But before the happy feeling could continue, Luna was surprised when BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode suddenly flinched. Grunting loudly as he pulled away.

“BlackWarGreymon!?” Luna asked in concern. Worried what was happening to the Mega.

As a burst of white light briefly flashed around his head, BlackWarGreymon loudly grunted as he quickly held onto his head. Thrashing and stumbling about as tried to steady himself. He could feel something within his mind breaking through. As if two halves were clashing with each other inside his head. Tearing apart everything in the process. As he struggled, his negative white glow faded away from his body.

“What’s happening to him!?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know. But I think he’s trying to a grip on himself,” Shining Armor replied. Which brought a shine of hope to the other ponies.

“You mean… he’s turning back to normal!?” Twilight uttered. Hoping that their friend was coming back to them.

All eyes were on BlackWarGreymon as he fought with himself. Trying to control his powers and getting a hold on his emotions as he continued to grunt loudly. Almost in pain. He then briefly scared the ponies by letting out one more mighty cry.

“RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!”

Then he felt it. Almost as if by a snap of a finger, all the hate and rage within him was snuffed out. Gone. The Digimon stood there in total silence. As if he was surprised himself. His arms dropped down to his sides as he stared up at the sky above. Then surprisingly, his entire body was consumed in a bright white light. Every pony watched on in silent. Daring not to look away. Then to their surprise, his form began to shrink. As he did, his form began to change. His horns were aligned upwards. His oversized hair reduced in size. His Brave Shield was returning. His mouth was going away. And more importantly, his gauntlets were changing. Returning to the shape they recognized. Furthermore, as he grew smaller, his power was plummeting. All the energy he gained in his battle with Tirek, Ayumi and ChaosBlackWarGreymon was slipping away. As if he never had such staggering power.

After a few seconds, the bright light faded away. And to the massive relief to the ponies, the horror that was Berserk Mode was no more! BlackWarGreymon had returned to his original form! The fury and rage was no longer present. The ponies couldn’t believe it. They didn’t know what Luna said or done to achieve what brute force failed, but she had done what they thought was impossible. She brought back the true BlackWarGreymon.

“BlackWarGreymon’s back!” Pinkie Pie cheered. But to her surprise, only her and some of the others were happy. The others however were only watching in thought and wonder. And shockingly for a few, uncertainty.

Luna was about to call out to him to celebrate his return. But to her shock, BlackWarGreymon collapsed! Falling down on his front without any effort to stop his own fall. Almost as if he was unconscious.

“BlackWarGreymon!” Luna shrieked as she rushed up to him with no fear. Concern was written on her face as she tried to wake him up.

“Are you alright!? Please! Speak to me!”

Her desperate pleas were heard. BlackWarGreymon’s closed eyes twitched from the cries of distress. Then his yellow eyes slowly opened. His vision was blurry at first, but soon cleared. His sights caught the view of the worried looking blue princess.

“L-Luna?” He asked. Wondering if he wasn’t seeing things.

He gasped as his eyes then snapped open wide from seeing her awake. His expression filled with relief. Then to Luna’s surprise, BlackWarGreymon move forward and gave her a hug of relief. His right arm wrapped around her side. The startled mare stuttered from the surprise show of affection. But when the Mega spoke, she realized why he was so concerned.

“You’re alright! I thought I lost you!”

Luna looked at BlackWarGreymon in surprise. He was worried about her.

“What?” She uttered.

While she was glad that he was worried about her, showing that he cared, but she felt as though something was off. Because it was a while ago since she tried to step up against Tirek. Which was the only time when she got hurt.

Sensing her confusion, BlackWarGreymon pulled away before giving his reason for being concerned.

“Tirek. I saw him hurt you.”

As he mentioned the evil centaur, BlackWarGreymon paused as he looked to his side in confusion. Then to Luna’s confusion, the Digimon was looking around. As if he was looking for something. To which he revealed.

“Wait. W-Where’s Tirek?”

Luna stared at BlackWarGreymon in surprise and confusion. But before any more uncertainties would arise, Luna went straight out with it after gaining his attention.

“BlackWarGreymon? You… don’t remember what happened?”

The confused Mega looked at the Alicorn with a confused expression in his eyes.

“R-Remember what? Urrgh!” He asked as he felt a piercing headache coming on. Twitching in pain as a response.

Luna looked at him in complete surprise. BlackWarGreymon appeared to have lost all memory of what happened. Everything he had done after he transformed.

“W-What happened? And…”

BlackWarGreymon paused his sentence when he laid his sights on the other ponies behind Luna. While some were happy to see him, some however looked… uneasy. But the most striking sight of all was Rainbow Dash. Giving him a look that showed that… for whatever reason… she was afraid.

“…and why are they looking at me like that?” He asked. His tone carried the hit of worry and uncertainty. Almost afraid as he tried to get back up.

But his worries were interrupted by a sharp pain that travelled through his entire body. Making him collapse back on the ground. Concerned as to what was wrong with BlackWarGreymon, Luna took no chances.

“No! You need to stay down! You need to rest,” Luna said. Her tone was strict but carried great concern.

BlackWarGreymon could see both the seriousness and the worry in Luna’s blue eyes. Not in a position to argue, as well as not knowing why he was so tired, he agreed with her.

“Ok, Luna. I’ll rest.”

Being the first to step up to approach the Digimon, Twilight met up with Luna.

“Luna? What’s going on?”

The older Alicorn turned towards Twilight with news that took her by surprise.

“He doesn’t remember, Twilight.”

As Twilight gave her a surprised and confused look, Luna turned her attention back to the downed BlackWarGreymon. She could tell that he was too weak to even stand. The energy drain was possibly a side effect of turning back to normal. Wanting to help him the best she could, Luna came to a decision.

“Twilight. I’m taking him back to Canterlot Castle. He needs to recover.”

Then without a second thought, Luna instantly teleported away. Taking BlackWarGreymon with her. Leaving a surprised Twilight behind. But she wasn’t alone for long. Soon enough, the rest of the group met up with her.

“Where did Luna went?” Celestia asked her. Concerned to where her sister’s whereabouts were.

“She took BlackWarGreymon back to Canterlot,” Twilight answered. But was soon approached by an unusually nervous Rainbow Dash.

“And what about...? You know. Is he… back to normal?”

Twilight looked to her and the others with a look of confusion.

“Yes. He’s finally back to normal. But…”

“But what?” Fluttershy asked. Noting the pause in Twilight’s answer.

What the young Alicorn said next surprised the whole group.

“Before she left, Luna said that… BlackWarGreymon doesn’t remember anymore.”

“Remember what? When he went all crazy?” Pinkie Pie asked. Only for Twilight to nod to confirm it.

Just like the rest of the ponies, Celestia was startled.

“You mean… he’s forgotten everything that’s happened?”

“Yes. I think that’s what Luna meant,” Twilight answered.

The group all looked at each other in uncertainty. BlackWarGreymon had just achieved something that made him a dangerous threat to Equestria, but had apparently lost all memory of the experience. Feeling as though something must be done about it and hoping to find a way to resolve the issue, Celestia spoke up.

“We all must return to Canterlot. We need to know everything about what has happened.”

As the rest of the group all nodded in an agreement, Shining Armor approached the group with a look of determination on his face.

“What’s more. Could you all explain why there are TWO Twilights?” He said as he gestured over to the unconscious Alicorn lying on his back.

Seeing the battered Ayumi on the prince’s back, Celestia nodded.

“Yes. But it will have to wait until we reach Canterlot. She may need medical attention. Once there, we’ll explain everything.”

With their minds set and concern for Ayumi’s wellbeing, the group all began to make their way out of the field and towards the distant castle of Canterlot. Celestia and Cadence used a teleportation spell to transport the group to their location.

All… except one.

Without the others knowing, Twilight purposely held back. Allowing the others to leave and to be left alone. Her mind in deep thought. And a desire of doing something that her friends would all object to.

She turned her gaze back to the smouldering hole that lead into the dense forest. Remembering that it was where the clone of BlackWarGreymon was seemingly defeated. For he hadn’t emerged from the destruction yet. As she looked at the carnage, Twilight began to remember everything ChaosBlackWarGreymon said.

‘He knows what happened to BlackWarGreymon.’

Then without hesitation or a second thought, Twilight Sparkle began to head towards one of the biggest dangers in Equestria. Determined to get answers.

Chapter 65: Friends in Need

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After their traumatic ordeal on the outskirts of Canterlot, Princess Luna teleported herself and the exhausted BlackWarGreymon to one of the bedrooms of Canterlot Castle. But to her confusion and to her surprise, the first thing that popped in her head mid-transfer… was her bedroom.

At first, she thought of teleporting into a different bedroom. For she never once allowed a guy in her room. But the sight of BlackWarGreymon’s weakened state reminded her that his wellbeing was top priority. Far more important than any childish embarrassment. Though she did feel a little nervous.

But shaking off her nerves, Luna instructed her friend on what to do.

“Ok. Now please lie down on the bed. You’ll have all the rest you need.”

“O…Ok… Luna,” BlackWarGreymon weakly said as he struggled to move.

Seeing that the Mega was struggling to even stand up, Luna made no hesitation as she rushed up to him to support him with her body. Trying to help him off the floor. Even using her magic to help with lifting him.

“You… can barely stand at all,” She quietly said to herself. A look of worry on her face.

After finally rising onto his feet, the Digimon took slow steady steps towards the bed. Fortunately, the bed was just large enough for him to lie on. BlackWarGreymon would normally take off his Brave Shield and Dramon Destroyers beforehand. But in his current state, it was the last thing on his mind.

But then as his legs started to buckle and give in, BlackWarGreymon collapsed and landed on Luna’s bed. Luckily, the bed was strong enough to hold him as he laid faced up at the ceiling. Taking in deep breaths as he clenched his eyes shut.

As Luna walked up beside him, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from his face as he tried to open his eyes. He almost looked as though he was burning up with a fever. She could see it in his yellow eyes, trying desperately to stay awake. But upon hearing BlackWarGreymon’s heavy breathing, it caused Luna to feel more concerned for him. It was as if his horrific transformation had caused side effects to him. To her surprise, the Digimon confirmed it himself.

“Luna… I... I don’t… feel right.”

“It’s probably because of the battle earlier. Tirek did steal all that energy you had in your Ascended form. But now it’s over, I… I just know you’re going to be ok,” Luna said as she sat on the edge of her bed beside her friend. Hoping for BlackWarGreymon to make a quick recovery.

But while doing so, the Alicorn’s thoughts shifted back to what truly happened at the battle. Thinking back to BlackWarGreymon’s other transformation. His Berserk Mode. Remembering how violent and destructive he was. But worse of all, how he acted towards his pony friends and the subject of friendship. Not only he tried to kill them, but he openly displayed his distaste in friendship. Remembering what he said when ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to reason with him while talking about friendship.

‘I…don’t… CARE!!!’

Hearing BlackWarGreymon saying those words about friendship made Luna felt hurt. She wasn’t awake when the Mega underwent his transformation. She began to have a dreaded thought. Were those words just from the wrathful beast that BlackWarGreymon was? Or… were those words a reflection of what BlackWarGreymon truly felt?

BlackWarGreymon felt exhausted. His eyelids felt very heavy. But he tried to stay awake. He then took notice of Luna’s expression. She looked frightened. Much to his concerns.

“Luna? W-What’s the matter? You’re… not happy.”

Hearing BlackWarGreymon’s worried tone snapped Luna back to reality. She could see that BlackWarGreymon was concerned about her. She then tried to put on a brave face as she talked to him.

“B-Believe me, I am happy for you. You saved us from Tirek. It’s just that… well…”

Luna was struggling to think of a reply. But she couldn’t just tell him the truth. BlackWarGreymon was a wreck and already worried enough as he was. If she told him what truly happened at the battle, she didn’t know how he would react. He might even end up in the same state of doubt he was in before. Probably even more so than before Hearts and Hooves Day. She didn’t want him to go through that again. So, she tried to give him hope.

“I’m really worried about you. But… but you saved the day again. You’re alive. And Tirek is beaten. You don’t have to worry anymore. Everything is alright now.”

Luna tried to smile for him. But she knew that the smile was just for show. And as BlackWarGreymon looked at her, he saw it too.

“You…lie.”

Luna was shocked at BlackWarGreymon calling her out. He knew that what she said was untrue. Everything was not alright. As Luna struggled to explain, the Digimon looked back up at the ceiling. As he explained, he began to think back to what happened after he woke up.

“Her face. R-Rainbow Dash. I… I know that look she gave me. She… She’s afraid. Afraid of… me. Why?”

BlackWarGreymon then looked over to Luna. Surprising her with a look of fear in his yellow eyes.

“Why is she… afraid of me? W-What happened?”

To BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, Luna rushed on top of him and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Pulling herself in to give him a hug. BlackWarGreymon was speechless. Despite the armour he was wearing, he could feel the hug. Warm, but firm. Her head resting against the side of his own. Not showing any signs of letting go. But then to his shock, he could hear her softly sobbing. His eyes looked down to her to try and see. But what he couldn’t see, he could hear.

“I’m sorry, Blackie. I’m so… sorry.”

The Mega couldn’t believe it. Luna was expressing genuine sadness. But sadness that she didn’t want to explain. Which was why her voice carried guilt. Which was why she tried to lie to him. Something that she didn’t want him to know. Or something that she didn’t want to tell at the moment. Or what the guilt was about. Was it because of the lie she told? Something that she didn’t want him to find out about?

But regardless of what the guilt was about, BlackWarGreymon knew one thing. Luna was deeply upset. Which in turn made him upset. As he kept his eye on her, his own tears began to form. Wanting to comfort her, he mustered what strength he could to move his right arm and wrapped it over Luna’s body. Holding her as to try and return the hug.

He then spoke the only thing that he could think of. Calling her by her nickname.

“It’s ok, Lulu. I still like you.”

Hidden from BlackWarGreymon’s view, Luna smiled as she continued to embrace him. She had been forgiven. Which caused her to stop crying. Her fears and worries were replaced with happiness and joy. The worries about what happened at the battle would have to wait. For Luna wanted to enjoy the moment right there and now. BlackWarGreymon likewise felt the same way. He too stopped crying as he held onto his favourite princess.

As the two continued to embrace each other, they could feel each other’s heartbeats. The warmth of both their bodies and their feelings. They could feel it grow stronger with each passing second. It showed that no matter what happened to them, the bond between them would only get stronger.

But then, despite his exhaustion, BlackWarGreymon noticed something.

“Luna?”

“Yes?”

“This room. It… carries a great amount of your scent. Why is that?”

Luna paused. A small blush of embarrassment appeared on her face. She thought that BlackWarGreymon would be too tired to notice. She pulled back from the hug as she confessed.

“Well, it’s… because… this is my… bed chamber.”

For reasons unknown to him, BlackWarGreymon felt that being in Luna’s room was wrong. That he was invading her personal space. That he didn’t have the right to be lying on the same bed where the Alicorn slept.

“No. I-I shouldn’t be here. It’s your room. I should rest somewhere else.”

But before the Digimon could move, Luna pressed her front hooves down against his chest as she gave him a stern but worried glare. Showing that he should do nothing of the sort.

“No, you don’t! You’re staying here. I don’t mind in the slightest. You’re recovery is far more important. Please. Take your time.” She said to him with kind eyes and a loving smile. That being said, she was a little flattered that he showed such respect to her.

BlackWarGreymon was stunned once more from the amount of care Luna had for him. Even going as far as to let him sleep in her room. As he tried to speak, the exhaustion grew too great. The scent within the room wasn’t helping either. Only making him sleepier.

“L…Lu…na.”

Finally succumbed to his exhaustion, BlackWarGreymon closed his yellow eyes. Falling to sleep.

Luna smiled as she finally breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, she could let go of her worries. Her loving smile grew slightly bigger as she watched BlackWarGreymon sleep peacefully in her bed. Sitting beside him on the mattress.

“Rest now. Take all the time you need. Blackie,” She whispered as she leant forward. Placing her hoof against his right armoured cheek.

As she began to caress the sleeping BlackWarGreymon’s face, Luna continued to gaze at him. She could feel it. The bond between her and him grew closer and closer. She knew that the bond was strong, but she never imagined that it would be strong enough to snap him out of his berserker transformation. The powers of Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon failed. But it was her who succeeded. She never struck him once. Never raised a hoof to fight him. All she used was her words. Letting her emotions carry through and achieve the impossible. She brought him back from the brink of madness.

Then it dawned on her. It was just like how it was when BlackWarGreymon was going through his crisis the other day. What happened in the battle… showed that the Artificial Mega needed her as much as she needed him. She relied on him to protect her and the world of Equestria, and he relied on her for when his mentality is questioned. The realisation that the two needed and relied on one another made Luna’s heart glow ever brighter. Her smile changed. Becoming a smile that she had never used for anyone before. She felt that what she and BlackWarGreymon had was special. A type of friendship that was stronger than friendship. Even when he was asleep, she knew that he knew that she would always be there for him. Both when he’s awake and asleep. And likewise, she knew that he would always be there when she needed him.

She continued to stroke his face. Her smile and gaze almost dreamy-like. But that was when it hit her. Blinking in surprise as her mind was brought back to reality. Without even realizing it, she had moved closer to his face. She then realized what she was just moments away from doing. She was about to kiss him. Her face began to glow red as a very deep blush formed on her face. What’s more was with the position she was in, almost lying on top of the Digimon, she had never done something so intimate before. With anyone in fact. She was really getting close and personal with BlackWarGreymon.

It was a good thing that she came to her senses when she did. She was so caught up in her feelings for BlackWarGreymon, that her rationality completely ignored the fact that he was asleep. It would be considered wrong for her to continue the way she did.

Not wanting to disturb BlackWarGreymon’s slumber, Luna quietly pushed herself away and off her bed. Making her way towards the door. She paused as she reached to the door. Looking back at the sleeping Digimon and smiled at him once more. Then without making a sound, the Moon Princess made her way out of the room. Leaving the black armoured dragon warrior to sleep in peace.
………………………………………………………………………………………...........................................

Elsewhere in Canterlot Castle, walking down one of the corridors, Princess Cadence strolled along to try and think. Her face showed distress and remorse. She just had to be alone for a moment. As her movements slowed to a stop, the pink Alicorn looked down in deep thought. Remembering what had happened just moments ago in one of the spare bedrooms.
………………………………………………………………………………………............................................

Bed chamber, ten minutes ago

As soon as the group all made it to a spare bed chamber thanks to Celestia’s and Cadence’s teleportation spell, they immediately tended to the unconscious Ayumi. As they carefully laid her on the bed, Cadence and her husband Shining Armor just couldn’t get over the fact that the Alicorn looked so much like Twilight. The same voice. The same cutiemark. And in the prince’s case, the same eyes. The eyes of his little sister.

The commotion was so great, that they didn’t notice that Twilight herself was not with them. Not knowing that she purposely stayed behind on the outskirts of Canterlot.

As Celestia and Fluttershy tended to Ayumi, using their magic and skills to help, Cadence and Shining Armor once more demanded an explanation of who the Alicorn was. With the pink mare being a former foul sitter and the Unicorn being the older brother, the rest of the group felt that the couple had the right to know.

With no hesitation and distractions, they explained everything they were told to them. Everything about the disaster that befell on Ayumi and her entire world. Much to the horror of the couple.

“What!? A Twilight… from another timeline!? And one where BlackWarGreymon was never a thing!?” Shining Armor asked. Surprised and baffled at what he heard.

“Ah’ know it sounds crazy. But it’s all true,” Applejack said. Her representing the Element of Honesty as proof.

The Unicorn prince then sat down with a look of disbelief. Taking in such information weighed him down. But there was one thing in the story that made him uncomfortable.

“If everything is true. Than… does that mean…?”

Knowing what he was about to say, Rarity conformed it.

"I’m afraid so, darling. She’s the only one left. The rest of us… were not so lucky.”

Shining Armor paused with a cold thought. With the Alicorn being the only survivor, it more likely meant that both he and his wife also perished. All along with the Crystal Empire. And worse still, at the hands of an evil Digimon that, from what they were told, was even worse than ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“Woah, I can’t even imagine what that’s like,” He said as he looked over to the unconscious Alicorn. Despite being from another Equestria, she was still his little sister. A family member who had lost everything. All her friends. All her family. Her home. And maybe at some point during the tragedy, hope itself. He began to feel deep remorse for her. Unable to comprehend the kind of grief she’d went through.

As Celestia and Fluttershy helped Ayumi, the silent Cadence watched over them. Like Shining Armor, she too was deeply shocked at what the others told her. But the remorse she was feeling was far greater. The pink Alicorn had no words to describe what she was feeling. She couldn’t even figure out what she was feeling to start with. Ever since she became a princess, she always thought that Queen Chrysalis with her manipulative skills, King Sombra with his dark magic and Lord Tirek with his magic stealing ability, were the most terrifying forces she had ever faced. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was powerful, but she felt that even he didn’t have the same evil edge like the other three. But in her mind, all of them paled in comparison to what the monster had done to Ayumi’s home. Destroying towns and livelihoods was one thing, but the evil being committed mass murder. Slaughtering ponies left and right. Some of which before Ayumi’s very eyes. Even just thinking about it gave Cadence a very horrifying chill. But what made it all the more shocking, was that it was caused by a Digimon. No wonder why the former Twilight had to go through years of hardship just to stay alive. Even resorting to change her name.

But the worst of it was, in twisted irony, was that Equestria had been destroyed long before Ayumi had even defeated the evil Digimon. As if despite all her hardships, all the pain and torture she had to face, all the sacrifices, it was all for nothing. The home that she had come to love and cherish was gone. Never to return. Resorting Ayumi to go through a painful farewell and leave the Equestria she knew behind. That even if she had found another Equestria, she was still homeless. And that the friends she would encounter would not be her own.

Cadence didn’t even need a second opinion on how she felt or what to believe. Even just by looking at Ayumi, she could easily tell that the younger Alicorn had been through the worst experience anypony ever had to endure. The kind that would shatter the mentality of most ponies. She was surprised that the former Twilight wasn’t broken yet. But the fact that such a horrific thing had happened to a pony who was her sister-in-law, she felt as if she was experiencing multiple heartaches. Tears slowly beginning to form in her eyes.

The group then heard Celestia breathing a sigh of relief.

“There. Fortunately she isn’t as injured as we feared. But she still needs some rest.”

“I’m glad that she’s going to be alright,” Fluttershy added.

But then the group heard a voice.

“Scars.”

Surprised, the ponies all looked to see who spoke up. It turned out to be Cadence, who walked up to Celestia and Fluttershy to get a closer look at the sleeping Ayumi. She then explained herself.

“She has scars,” She said. Her voice a little shaken from concern.

“Yes. The poor thing got them from her fight against the evil Digimon who destroyed her world,” Fluttershy explained. She herself saddened for the hell that the former Twilight had been through.

Despite seeing the scars on Ayumi, it didn’t stop Cadence from asking a question that the others didn’t consider.

“How many?”

Unsure what the pink Alicorn was on about, they simply watched her doing what she had in mind. Using a unique magical spell, Cadence’s horn began to glow. The same said for the sleeping form of Ayumi. The spell turned out was a kind that highlighted any past injuries on a pony. Evidenced by the scars on Ayumi’s body glowing blue. But what the group failed to expect was how many there were. As well as the scars that were visible to the eye, the spell included the scars that couldn’t be seen. The moment those scars were illuminated, the group all gasped and gawked in horror at how many there revealed.

“There’s… so many,” Pinkie Pie uttered. Truly something not to smile or laugh about.

Celestia paused from the discovery. Most of the injuries looked as though it happened all in one day. She never expected the former Twilight to receive such a horrific punishment just for the sake of staying alive.

Looking over to Cadence, Celestia could see that the younger Alicorn too was having such thoughts. Her right hoof covering her mouth. Her body trembling from shock. And her watery eyes widened in horror. The pain that the former Twilight had experienced must have been unbearable. The kind that she had to endure for those injures to heal. But what horrified the pink princess the most was the kind of scars they were. Cuts. Deep scratches. And worse of all, gashes.

Then with a shaky fearful voice she uttered out a question. Something that made her question morality.

“W-What kind of monster… would do this to her?”

As the spell wore off, the highlighted scars faded back to normality. But Cadence would never forget the sight of the scar-riddled mare. No matter how hard she would try. Causing tears to fall from her eyes.

Unable to stand it any longer, Cadence turned and left the bedroom. Leaving the others behind. Surprised, but they understood why.

“Cadence!” Shining Armor called out. He would go after her but felt that she needed to be alone for a moment.
………………………………………………………………………………………..............................

Present day

After remembering what she saw in the bedroom, Cadence again felt remorse for what Ayumi had been through. The horrors she had been through. Mentally and physically. Cadence felt that if she were in her hooves, going through such horrors herself, she wouldn’t last long. But for the former Twilight to do so, it meant that she truly was strong. She never gave up. And her persistence paid off in avenging her friends and family. However, she still lost her home. Forcing her to abandon it. Furthermore, she then spent a long time trying to find a new Equestria to call home.

‘She… she must’ve been so alone.’

To her surprise, her ears picked up the sounds of hoofsteps. Slowly approaching her location. Turning her head in the direction of the sound, she breathed a sigh of relief from seeing who it was.

“Oh, Luna! There you are!”

But just before Luna’s attention was gained, Cadence could’ve sworn she saw the look on the blue mare’s face. The expression she had, for a moment, was a great warm smile. A smile that expressed love.

But the smile turned into surprise when Luna averted her attention to Cadence. To whom was addressing her.

“Cadence. So this is where you’ve been. Where the others?” She asked as she approached the younger Alicorn.

“They’re back in one of the spare bedrooms tending to…”

Cadence paused midsentence. Just talking about the certain Alicorn was causing her the same amount of sadness she felt earlier. She just felt so bad for her. Luna noticed her pause, knowing full well who she was talking about. She then uttered out her name.

“Ayumi?”

Cadence looked at Luna from hearing the name. While she understood why the pony from another world had to change her name, it was something that she wasn’t used to. She was still Twilight in her eyes. After letting out a sigh, she confirmed Luna’s reply.

“Yes. Celestia healed her… and now she’s resting.”

Cadence then looked away in deep thought. A sad expression grew on her face. Something that Luna caught on. To which she took an obvious guess of what had gotten the pink Alicorn so sad.

“The others had told you and Shining then? About…what she’d been through?”

Cadence kept her sights away. But answered back regardless. Her voice carried sadness.

“Yes. They told us everything. The horror that she’d been through. And the loneliness she must’ve felt before arriving here.”

Her expression grew sadder.

“But what sickens me the most… was how she got those… horrible scars. I mean… what kind of monster would do that to her? It’s just… cruel.”

Luna shared Cadence’s sympathy. She too felt that doing such a thing to a pony was way out of line. Then Cadence surprised Luna with a question that she wasn’t expecting.

“Luna. You don’t suppose… that the Digimon who did it… was the same one who killed BlackWarGreymon?”

Luna looked at her in surprise, but quickly gave her answer.

“No. BlackWarGreymon already asked her about that. But whoever it was that destroyed her world, it wasn’t MaloMyotismon.”

Cadence once more paused in thought. The Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s Equestria was unknown even to them. But wanting to help put her sadness aside, Luna spoke up.

“Would you like to walk with me to clear your head?”

Cadence welcomed the invitation with a smile. She did want to get away from all the dread she felt before.

“Thank you.”

As Luna and Cadence began to walk down the corridor, the latter wanted to talk about the other thing that was important to think about.

“Luna? How’s BlackWarGreymon holding up?”

The Night Princess looked at Cadence in surprise for a moment. But then understood why she was asking. She was just concerned for his wellbeing since he had been severely weakened.

“Thankfully, he’s unharmed. But the ordeal had left him weakened. He’s fast asleep right now.”

But then Cadence asked her about something else about BlackWarGreymon.

“And… what about when he… you know. Went… berserk?”

Luna briefly flinched from hearing the word. Causing her to remember all the violence and savagery BlackWarGreymon displayed when he was in Berserk Mode. Realising that she hadn’t spoken for the past few seconds, she answered the question with the only thing she knew.

“Just like before. He… he had no memory of the experience whatsoever. It’s as if… his mindset was switched with something else. Something…that he couldn’t control.”

Cadence looked over to Luna to see the frown on her face.

“You’re very worried about him. Aren’t you?”

Upon hearing the question, Luna’s pace began to slow down. To a point where she just stopped completely. Cadence paused to see the look on Luna’s face. Surprised to see how distraught Luna was. And when she spoke, her voice showed that she wasn’t just worried. She was upset.

“How can I not be worried? We just saw the side of him that… that he was like once. A side of him… that he hated.”

As Cadence turned to face Luna, she was surprised to see the older Alicorn lowering her head in sadness. Her eyes being covered by her mane. And as she spoke, the sadness was building.

“I don’t know what happened to him. But he had gone through a change. But… it regressed him back to how he was before. A time when he didn’t care about friendship. Or the value of the lives of others. At that fight, he became the very thing that he didn’t want to be. The very thing he despised.”

As Luna continued to talk, it was becoming clear that the subject was becoming too much for her to endure. Cadence could hear the sadness building ever higher. In fact, Luna sounded as though she was on the verge of crying.

“You should’ve seen his face, Cadence. He saw how Rainbow Dash looked at him. He said that she was afraid of him. But he has no clue why.”

She then surprised Cadence by looking up at her. Revealing the sadness she was feeling. Her eyes on the verge of letting loose tears.

“That’s why he must never know what happened. He… he's already went through a crisis of who he was. But I… but I was there to help him pull through. So if… if he… ever found out what happened back there, he would… he would go back in that state of doubt again! I-I… I don’t want him to go through that again! Never! He… he deserves better!”

Cadence continued to stare at the upset Luna in surprise. As the poor princess kept on talking, her emotions became even more evident in her voice. Luna really was on the verge of crying. Tears beginning to drip down her face as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Quietly sobbing.

“I… I don’t want him… to suffer anymore.”

Cadence could see that Luna was in pain. She truly wanted BlackWarGreymon to live a life full of joy and fulfilment. But the recent development had posed a great risk to that dream. If Rainbow Dash, a pony well known for her loyalty, starts to doubt the Artificial Mega, than what pony would trust him? One of the keys to friendship was trust. And with BlackWarGreymon being a villain once before, trust is what he really needed. Without it, he would be all alone with no one to call friend. It was clear that Luna too understood the fact. But for trust to be accomplished, some risks had to be taken. As Cadence walked up to Luna, lifting her saddened face up with her hoof to look at her, she revealed such a risk.

“But we have to tell him.”

Startled by what she heard, Luna remained silent as she heard Cadence out.

“I know you’re afraid, Luna. Afraid of hurting his feelings. But he needs to know. Whatever happened back there, it’s clearly something unknown to us. Probably even him. If we could talk about it with him, we may find a way to avoid repeating it. I know he would be hurt by the news, but it would hurt him more if we hide something so big from him. He may even doubt our loyalty to him if he were to find out himself. And that is something you would never want to happen.”

Luna stuttered in response to the possibility of the outcome.

“O-Of course not! I will never allow that to happen! I… I…!”

“Care about him too much?”

Luna once again paused from what Cadence said. Finishing her sentence for her. She then fell silent as she glanced away. The pink Alicorn was right. She did care for BlackWarGreymon too much for him to doubt her. She even dreaded such a thought. Though Luna said nothing in response, it was clear to Cadence that she was right.

“I know it’s something you’re not comfortable with. But as his true friend, you understand that this is something he needs to know.”

Luna held her breath. She felt nervous. Frightened at how BlackWarGreymon would react. Then, after letting go of her breath, she spoke up.

“You’re right. It is something that needs addressing. He needs to know. And if he does feel uncomfortable, well… I’ll be there to support him when he needs it.”

Cadence smiled at Luna’s reply. Especially how upbeat the older Alicorn sounded at the latter part of her speech. Then to help improve the mood, as well as knowing how Luna truly feels for BlackWarGreymon, she decided to say something that was both a compliment and a tease.

“You know, Luna. With that kind of commitment, you would make a great wife one day.”

Luna froze the moment Cadence finished her sentence. All the sadness that she felt earlier was gone. Replaced with a mixture of flattery and embarrassment. The Princess of the Night blushing and fidgeting as she tried to respond.

“W…Wha…What!? W…Wife!? Urrgh… ummm… y-you… think so?”

Cadence giggled from seeing Luna’s reaction. But with the focus moved onto the blue princesses’ feelings for the dragon warrior, the Princess of Love had to put a hold on the happy feeling by bringing up something that was without a doubt very important.

“And that’s something else we need to talk about.”

Cadence’s choice of words brought Luna’s attention. Snapping her out of her flustered moment.

“What do you mean, Cadence?” She asked. Curious about what she wanted to say.

Then with a surprisingly stern look, Cadence revealed something that Luna hadn’t noticed.

“Your feelings for BlackWarGreymon. They’re starting to show.”

Luna froze in surprise at what Cadence said. Her eyes widened in shock at the revelation.

“W-What? T…They were?” She asked. Looking down at the ground in confusion. With Cadence providing evidence.

“Yes. You’re not the same as you were the last time I saw you. You’re more open with your feelings. Far more expressive when he’s involved. What’s more, you don’t even hesitate to show your concern in front of the others. Even going so far as to talk him down when he was at his most dangerous.”

Luna looked away in thought. Were her feelings really that open lately? She had no idea. She thought that she was just being a concerned friend. But the more the silent mare thought about it, the more she realised that the others didn’t show as much concern as she does. Even in her talk with Cadence just moments ago, when she expressed her feelings regarding BlackWarGreymon’s mental wellbeing, she was the only one to exhibit great sadness. Her feelings were becoming too strong for her to contain. They were leaking out.

Luna was then surprised further from what Cadence said next.

“If the others could put all the pieces together, they will find out that what you two have for each other is more than just friendship. That what you two share… is something special.”

What the pink princess said next sent a rippling feeling through Luna’s very soul.

“Luna. The time is fast approaching. You need to tell them.”

The Night Princess didn’t know what to feel. Or how to describe what she was going through. The feelings she had for BlackWarGreymon were the most wonderful she ever felt in her long life. But at the same time, she felt scared. Scared about what might happen. Scared… of how the others would react.

“Cadence. I… I can’t.”

Understanding how nervous Luna was, the pink Alicorn continued on.

“Sooner or later, you need to. You’re only afraid of what the others would think. But your love for him is what truly matters. You need to tell them how you feel. If you continue to hide it, keeping it to yourself, it will hurt you more than you know.”

Cadence continued on as she placed her hoof of support on Luna’s shoulder. Comforting her.

“It’s something that needs to be done. Believe me.”

Luna looked at Cadence in her eyes. She could see that the younger pony was as serious as she was determined. She began to wonder. When Cadence declared her love for Shining Armor, did she also feel the same anxiety and insecurities as she was? And that by talking to her, the pink mare wanted to spare her from the fear of not knowing? Maybe something that she herself went through.

The quiet blue princess caressed her own foreleg as she tried to think. Then after letting out a heavy sigh, she came to a conclusion.

“You are the Princess of Love, Cadence. So… if that’s what I have to do, then… then I’ll…try.”

Then Luna interjected before anything else.

“B-But not right now! First we need to figure out what happened to BlackWarGreymon.”

The pink mare smiled in response.

“I know you’ll do what’s right, Luna.”

Luna smiled at the reassurance Cadence gave her. Then her thoughts shifted back to BlackWarGreymon’s exhaustion.

“Thanks, Cadence. Whatever’s happened to him, it left him completely drained of his strength. He practically collapsed on my bed.”

The pink Alicorn’s eyes briefly widened from hearing the last part of Luna’s sentence. She was unsure if she was hearing things.

“Wait? Your bed? What room is he sleeping in?”

Luna froze on the spot when she realised what she had just said. Her face began to glow red from what she was about to come clean with.

“H-He’s in… uhh… m-my room.”

Luna paused once more. She could read the pink mare’s expressions perfectly. Cadence stared at her with wide eyes and a small blush on her face. Even trying to mentally picture how such a situation came about.

Feeling that the younger Alicorn may had gotten the wrong idea, Luna tried to correct herself. She herself blushing from the misunderstanding.

“I…I can explain!”

Unfortunately for her, Cadence expressed her reactions in a form of a loud snicker. As if she had discovered a naughty secret. But as well as amusement, her voice still carried the initial shock.

“My Luna. How bold of you. I know that you grown close to him… but to take advantage of his disposition. Even I had never done something like that to Shining. How… aggressive.”

Luna blushed deeply in response to the choice of words Cadence used. Making it sound as though she was trying to put moves on BlackWarGreymon without him resisting. But what made such an idea more embarrassing for her was the fact that it wasn’t untrue. Remembering the moment before she left him be, she did almost kiss him while he was sleeping. Causing her to blush even more.

“It’s… it’s nothing like that!!”

Cadence could see that Luna was trying to deny it. But the way the blue Alicorn kept glancing away and fidgeting, it was a sign that she was guilty of something.

“Hmm?” Cadence teasingly uttered with a raised eyebrow. Almost as if she was trying to get Luna to confess. But Luna wanted the teasing to end.

“C-Can we talk about something else, please!?”

Silence filled the corridor. With the teasing ended, Luna began to calm down. Glad that the embarrassment she was feeling was drawing to a close. But when Cadence spoke up, her tone became sterner. A clear sign that she wanted to talk about something else.

“Actually. There is something I want to ask of you.”

Surprised at the change of tone, Luna looked at Cadence with curiosity.

“What is it?”

The pink mare looked at Luna as she spoke a question.

“The… other Twilight. Have you had a chance… to explore her mind?”

Luna let out a surprised expression from the question. Especially since it involved Ayumi. But remembering what happened the night before, she gave her answer.

“I tried to last night. But Ayumi was restless at the time. So I wasn’t able to.”

Understanding the answer, Cadence pushed on with another that surprised Luna more.

“And with her asleep now. Do you think you can do it?”

Luna was startled at what Cadence was asking for her. But despite the uneasiness she was feeling, she answered nonetheless.

“Well… yes. I can. But… why are you asking me this?”

When Cadence answered the question, her expression was stern, and her voice was crystal clear.

“Because… I want you to take this chance and visit her mind. What’s more… I want you to take me too.”

Luna was baffled at what Cadence was suggesting. While she did have the power to do so, she was just confused at the last part.

“You wish to come with me? Mind if I ask why?”

Cadence could understand why Luna would be asking. She had never once asked for her to do such a thing. But not wanting to cause an argument, she decided to reveal the reason why.

“The day her Equestria fell. It’s something we need to see for ourselves.”

She then told her the true reason why she herself wanted to witness such a catastrophe. With a tone that carried a hint of anger. Much to Luna’s surprise.

“And I want to see him. The Digimon that made her suffer.”

Chapter 66: Possible Redemption?

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On the outskirts of the city of Canterlot, what was once a nice scenery had turned into a battle scared landscape. The nearby trees had been burned or cut down. And the stretch of grassland suffered numerous craters and turned up vegetation. It was also a scene where BlackWarGreymon underwent a bizarre transformation. Taking on a form where he went wild. It was also a place where ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the Digimon clone thought to be pure evil, made a strange decision to stand up to his progenitor. But without any transformations of his own, he was defeated.

But when the pony group all teleported to Canterlot Castle with the worn out BlackWarGreymon, Twilight decided to stay behind without them knowing. But she stayed behind for a reason. As she approached the edge of the nearby woodland, she took a moment to pause. Looking at the surrounding area to see that a great big chunk of trees had been blasted away by a massive explosion. Twilight began to remember back at the battle. The area she was looking at… was the place where she last saw ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Where BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode used his Nova Scream attack to send him crashing to. But the grey armoured Digimon never reappeared afterwards.

Twilight’s expression then grew serious. With all the injuries the Digimon clone had sustained, she knew that he was still in there.

‘He knows what happened to BlackWarGreymon. We need answers.’

The Alicorn then took in a deep breath. Remembering exactly who she was about to confront.

‘Be strong, Twilight.’

Taking brave steps, Twilight slowly walked through the devastation. Taking careful steps as to not make too much sound. And keeping a wary eye open if the cloned Mega could be hiding in the trees. But all she could see around her was just destruction. Burnt vegetation and fallen trees. But there was something else.

Twilight suddenly froze when she felt her hoof step on something hard. Something that was not from nature due to the metallic sound. Looking down, the princess saw that it was a piece of grey metal. She then looked around at the ground she was standing on. There were more shards of metal on the ground. What’s more, was that the ground was also dotted with splats of oil.

The Princess of Friendship had just realised what she was standing in. It was a crater to where ChaosBlackWarGreymon crashed through. But with so much damage present, she came to realise that he must’ve been incredibly hurt. And as such, couldn’t had gone too far. Looking ahead of her, she saw a trail of oil drops. Knowing full well where the trail came from, Twilight began to follow it. It didn’t take long for her to notice something else. Long grooves began to appear on the ground. Following along the left side of the oil trail. Being a smart pony, Twilight deduced that the marking was the Mega dragging his left foot across the ground. But upon discovering the fact, she began to frown. What’s more, she began to feel concerned. But not for herself. Her worries were for ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

‘I can’t even imagine what that kind of pain feels like,’ She thought to herself. Remembering the torture ChaosBlackWarGreymon went through while fending off BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. Especially when the latter burned a hole through the former’s shoulder with his Nova Scream.

Then to her surprise, her ears caught the sounds of trees tumbling over. Which was then followed by slow heavy footsteps. But what caught her attention the most, was the sounds of loud grunting. The type that showed someone in great pain. Knowing that she was catching up with the Digimon, Twilight began to pick up pace. Again, trying to be quiet as possible. But finding it hard to contain her earning for answers.

After approaching a large tree, Twilight took a moment to pause. The sounds of the injured Digimon were so loud that she felt that he was just a couple of meters away. She began to feel a little nervous. It was the same Digimon that King Sombra had seemingly created. The same one who almost destroyed the Crystal Empire and came close to killing BlackWarGreymon. But she had to keep reminding herself of what had happened just moments ago. Rather than take advantage of BlackWarGreymon’s berserk transformation, he tried to stop him. And openly stated that he knew what happened to him.

Twilight began to calm down. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the only one who knew what caused BlackWarGreymon’s transformation. And to prevent any future incidents, she needed to know what the clone knows.

Moving with the upmost care, Twilight began to circle the large tree. Then looking to her left, she froze while letting out a quiet gasp. She could see him. But what she did not anticipate was how much in a poor condition ChaosBlackWarGreymon was. His entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. And bodily oil dripping from the numerous cracks in his armour. He was indeed dragging his left leg across the ground. The limping likely caused by his crash into the forest at the end of the fight. But what caught Twilight’s attention the most was ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s major injury. Using his right hand, the Mega tried to over the gaping hole in his left shoulder. However, he had nothing to cover the exit wound on the back of his shoulder. But magical black mist was escaping the wound. Reminding the witness that he was created by magic as well as BlackWarGreymon’s data.

Twilight flinched from the depressing sight as well as what she was hearing. With each step ChaosBlackWarGreymon took, he let out a loud grunt of pain. The more she kept her sights on the struggling Mega, the more the princess felt bad for him. He may had been created by Sombra, but he could still feel pain. And with his injured shoulder and leg, she was surprised that he could even move. Or not cry out in agony.

She then saw him coming to a stop. The grey-armoured giant taking in heavy breaths as he felt his right leg trembling from the strain. Unable to take a step further, ChaosBlackWarGreymon shifted his body left and leaned back against a giant tree. With what little of his strength leaving him, his feet began to slide forwards. Either allowing it, or against his will, his body dropped to the ground. His shield scrapping against the tree as he slid down. Landing on the ground with a loud grunt. As he took in more deep breaths, the Digimon clone glanced over to his injured shoulder. With his hand removed, the black smoke-like mist escaped from the hole. After wincing at his wound, he brought out his right arm and pointed his metal claws at it. As the claws glowed in magical green light, he attempted to use a healing spell. But grunted loudly from the sharp that shot through his body. He kept trying to heal the wound. But his progress was slow. And the wound wouldn’t heal quickly enough before stopping. Unable to bare the pain for so long.

Twilight couldn’t explain what she was feeling. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was said to had been created for evil. A clone who almost destroyed BlackWarGreymon. A Digimon who brought terror to the Crystal Empire and many other places during his rampage. A being who Sombra claimed to be BlackWarGreymon’s evil incarnate. All the memories of all the bad he had done flowed through her mind. It was clear that he was bad.

And yet… she felt sorry for him. From what she was seeing before her very eyes, she felt nothing but remorse for ChaosBlackWarGreymon. If anything, against everything that she knew of him prier, she wanted to help him.

But with her mind preoccupied, her hoof accidently snapped a twig on the ground. Letting out a loud snap that was heard by both her and the Mega.

Just as the surprised ChaosBlackWarGreymon sharply turned his head in her direction, Twilight quickly moved behind the tree. Out of sight. But not easily fooled, the injured Digimon began to speak out to what he felt was someone spying on him.

“Who’s there!? I know you’re there! So come on out!” He shouted as he began to muster what little energy he had to try and move. Despite the pain.

The hidden Twilight breathed sharply behind the tree. Not expecting to be caught so soon. She wanted to approach him in a calm manner. But it didn’t seem likely with him agitated. Regardless, she had to show herself. Not wanting to invoke his wrath so soon after the battle.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised his right arm up to bare the claws on his gauntlet, he felt ready to strike. But before he could, Twilight popped her head up from behind the tree.

“W-Wait! Wait.” She said as she waved her front leg. Urging the Mega to stop.

While surprised, ChaosBlackWarGreymon began to calm down. It seemed that the Alicorn came alone.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said as he lowered his arm down. But retained the surprise in his eyes.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused as he watched Twilight emerging from behind the tree. Seeing her full form reminded him about the ‘other Twilight’ he encountered earlier. The same one where he found out that she was from another timeline. Where his boss had succeeded in destroying Equestria.

But with a shake of his head, ChaosBlackWarGreymon regained his focus on the present. Looking at Twilight, he made a guess as to why she would come to him.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go ahead.”

The purple Alicorn looked at the Digimon clone in confusion.

“Go ahead? With what?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes narrowed as he gave his answer.

“Make fun of me.”

Twilight let out a surprised gasp with an expression of shock. Stunned silent as the Digimon continued. Facing away from her.

“If you’re here to mock me for my failure, then do it. Laugh at me and get it over with!”

Twilight was stunned silent. Not from what ChaosBlackWarGreymon said, but the tone he was using. While it carried resentment, it also carried something that she wasn’t expecting. A tone that showed… that he was hurt. Not just physically. But his feelings too. In Twilight’s mind, she understood why the Digimon would say such things. Given all that he had done. All the trouble he caused. However, even if she had something to say, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Which was why she had something else to say. Something that she felt strongly about.

“No. No I won’t.”

“What!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked as he sharply turned to look at her. His crimson eyes mixed with confusion and distrust.

Twilight explained herself. Her tone becoming strict. A sign that her words were something she strongly believed in.

“You’re badly hurt. Probably the worst kind of pain imaginable. That’s not something to make fun of.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened. Filled with genuine surprise.

“Why? Have you forgotten who I am? What…what I have done!?”

When Twilight made her reply, her tone and expression slightly took a change. Becoming sadder even.

“I know who you are. And I know what you’ve done. But even so, I’ll never make fun of anypony in such pain. That’s… that’s just wrong.”

The grey-armoured Digimon looked at the smaller pony in bafflement. His eyes expressed puzzlement.

“Then… why are you here?”

Twilight paused for a moment. She originally stayed behind to get ChaosBlackWarGreymon to talk about what he knew about BlackWarGreymon’s transformation. But seeing him in such a pain-ridden state, as well as how he was acting, she wanted to do more than just talk. Talking could wait. Because in the present moment, she wanted to show him support.

“I… I want to help you. If… you want.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at the young Alicorn in complete bafflement.

“To help… me? why?”

Twilight could understand why the grey-armoured giant would feel insecure of her words. For all the Digimon knew, he was their enemy. The last thing that she or any other sensible pony would want to help. But beyond ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s understanding, she wanted to help him. Her expressions showed that she meant it too. Taking careful steps, Twilight began to walk closer to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Bringing up something that she saw him try to do.

“That dark magic is powerful. But not really good for healing injuries. Especially something like that,” She said as she glanced over to the Digimon’s injured shoulder. Black mist emanating from the wound.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at his shoulder to see that Twilight had a point. Despite his best efforts, his magic couldn’t heal the wound properly. Which in turn resulted him in feeling tremendous pain. By the time he looked back at Twilight, the mare was only a couple of feet away from him. A sign that, despite their history, she was willing to move so close to something very dangerous solely for a righteous cause.

‘What is with this pony? Why does she want to help me so badly?’

“M…may I…?” Twilight asked as she gestured towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s wound. Letting him know that she was ready.

The Digital clone was still baffled at what Twilight was planning of doing. Regardless of it being righteous or just being foolish, he was still a being that was not to be taken lightly. He could very easily turn on her within a matter of seconds. And her being all by herself made her situation all the more perilous. But he was in no condition to do such things. Nor was he in the mood for it. So rather than arguing and prolonging the situation, he sighed in defeat and turned to face away from Twilight.

“F-Fine,” He uttered.

Surprised by his cooperation, Twilight began to walk closer to ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s shoulder. But just before she could use her magic, she spoke out a warning.

“Hold still. This may sting a little.”

With the warning received, the Mega braced himself. Then with her horn glowing purple, Twilight motioned her head towards the wound. The hole in the shoulder began to glow purple from the healing spell used. The Digimon briefly grunted from the sudden pain. But calmed from feeling the pain subside a little. He could feel the warmth of the spell against his wound. As if the spell was both healing him and trying to give him comfort at the same time. ChaosBlackWarGreymon glanced over to look at Twilight. He could see her putting in effort in her magic. The sweat dripping down the side of her head. But it was clear that her healing methods were far greater than that of the Changelings when they healed him from his fight at the Crystal Empire. But what caught his attention the most was the determination in Twilight’s eyes. It showed that she really wanted the wound to heal.

As he watched her work, ChaosBlackWarGreymon grew a new expression in his eyes. He wasn’t just surprised. He was showing genuine amazement. Astonishment even. They were enemies, but she was helping him. His mind was so transfixed on the Alicorn, that he completely ignored the pain from his healing shoulder.

After much effort, Twilight had succeeded. After letting out a sigh to relax herself, she looked at her handiwork. Smiling form seeing the worst wound on ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body being fully healed.

“There. You’re shoulder would still be sore. But at least it’s now closed up.” She said. But sensing the drop in power within the Digimon left her confused.

As she looked up to see ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s face, Twilight was surprised at the expression he was giving her. His eyes retaining the astonishment.

“Why? After everything I’ve done. After all the things I did to you and your friends. Why are you being so nice to me?”

Taken aback by the Digimon’s expressions, Twilight took a moment to think before answering.

“To be honest… I don’t really know why. I think… it’s just that… there’s something different about you.”

But before Twilight could walk closer to him, he paused from feeling a very sharp drop in power within ChaosBlackWarGreymon. With the Digimon clone even confirming it himself with a look of surprise in his eyes.

“Oh no.” He uttered before his entire body glowed white.

“Wha!?” The surprised Twilight shouted as she took several steps back. Trying to block out the light with her right front leg.

Then to Twilight’s surprise, as the light died down enough for her to see, the glowing form of ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly began to shrink. Even more surprising, was that his shape changed as he got smaller and smaller. As the shrinking stopped, it took on a shape that to Twilight’s surprise, she recognized.

As the glow faded away, Twilight was left stunned at what she was looking at. The big scary Mega was no more. And in his place, was a creature that bared a striking resemblance to Agumon! The same height and body shape. The only difference was that whereas the original Agumon was yellow, the one in front of her was very dark grey. With crimson red eyes and, to her surprise, a tuff of grey spikey hair on his head.

As Twilight stood still in silence, the confused Digimon looked down at his new hands. Flexing his three clawed fingers.

“So… this is my Rookie form, huh? How humiliating.”

Twilight remained flabbergasted at what just happened before her. She wasn’t even sure if she was looking at the same Digimon as before. But upon looking at his body, he was still heavily injured. Slowly piecing the puzzle together, the princess spoke up.

“C…ChaosBlack… WarGreymon?” She asked. Unsure if it was even his name.

The injured Digimon looked over to Twilight in response. Giving clarity.

“Not right now I’m not. I guess you can call this ChaosBlackAgumon.”

Twilight blinked in surprise. The puzzle had been pieced together.

“So… so you’re… still you!”

“Of course, I am. Uggh!”

In the excitement of the situation, the newly named ChaosBlackAgumon moved sharply. Causing a sharp pain to shoot through his body. Which made him yell out. With surprise giving way to concern, Twilight quickly rushed up to him with a healing spell ready.

“Don’t move! I’ll heal you.”

With no hesitation, Twilight began to use her magic to heal ChaosBlackAgumon. Deciding to focus on his worse injuries first before moving onto the scratches. As soon as he felt the Alicorn’s magic radiating his body, the Digimon calmed down as he rested.

As Twilight worked her magic, she looked over the Digimon’s new form. She was still surprised that the Digital clone had a lesser form to transform to. But there was something else. Before he transformed. Even if ChaosBlackWarGreymon retained his form, she was about to walk closer to him. For a reason she couldn’t fathom, she started to feel… comfortable around him. For him to allow her to get close to heal him was a clear sign that he knew what she was doing. As for ChaosBlackAgumon, he simply rested as the Alicorn moved onto healing his leg. With him being in his Rookie form, it would make it easier for the princess to heal him. Less data for her to deal with. But he was still surprised that Twilight would even approach him just to help him recover. But with the aches and pains in his body fading away, he was beginning to appreciate the help. The expressions in his eyes softened considerably.

He began to look out at the scenery. Noticing how calm and tranquil the world around him had become. The look of confusion began to appear.

“It’s… quiet.”

“Hmm?” Twilight uttered. Having just heard him.

ChaosBlackAgumon looked over to Twilight with a look of slight concern.

“How’s BlackWarGreymon?”

Twilight looked at him in surprise. But then understood what was going through the Digimon’s mind. He wasn’t around when she and the other ponies help brought BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode back to his senses. Bringing an end to the conflict and bring peace to the area.

“Well… after he defeated you, we managed to calm him down. The whole ordeal was…!”

Twilight was interrupted when ChaosBlackAgumon shot a look at her. An expression of complete shock and disbelief.

“Wait! You calmed him down!? How?”

Surprised by the reaction, Twilight explained to him what actually happened.

“Well, uhh… Luna confronted him and made him stop. I don’t know what she said to him, but it was enough to change him back to normal. He’s back to his normal self now.”

ChaosBlackAgumon let out a heavy sigh of relief as he laid back on the ground. Closing his eyes as he calmed down considerably.

“Thank goodness for that. If not, we would all be dead by now.”

Twilight looked at the digital clone in surprise. From how he was relieved at the good news, and from hearing what he had just said, it all conformed her suspicions. Which brought her mental focus back to the whole reason why she wanted to see him.

Upon finishing healing the worst of ChaosBlackAgumon’s injuries, Twilight took a pause from using her magic. The small Digimon began to inspect his arm before being addressed by the Alicorn. Twilight using his Rookie form name.

“ChaosBlackAgumon?”

The Rookie looked at the princess in curiosity. Wandering what she had to say to him for using such a stern tone. Being more determined to find the answers to her questions, Twilight went straight to the heart of the matter.

“You know what happened to BlackWarGreymon. Don’t you?”

ChaosBlackAgumon grew an expression that matched Twilight’s. He knew that the subject had to be taken seriously. And rightfully so. It was a wrong time for fun and games. As he looked at Twilight right in her eyes, he answered her question.

“Yes. I know what happened to him.”

Despite expecting the answer, Twilight couldn’t help but feel uneasy. She was about to learn something big about what she had witnessed. Not letting anything else distract her, she paid her full attention on ChaosBlackAgumon.

“Then please. Tell me. What happened.”

If ChaosBlackAgumon were in any other mood, he would leave Twilight in the dark and make her guess. But with his present condition, as well as the nature of the subject, it was nothing to take lightly. It was something that not even he would want to mess around with. So to prevent any future incidents, he had to tell her.

“You know the types of Digivolutions, right?”

Twilight blinked in response to the unexpected question. If ChaosBlackAgumon had used a different tone, she would think that he was changing the subject. But thinking that it had relevance to what happened to BlackWarGreymon, she answered regardless.

“Well… yes. There’s the normal one where they go from one level to another. There’s Armoured Digivolution. And I think I remember seeing Warp Digivolution in BlackWarGreymon’s memories.”

After giving her answer, she turned to ChaosBlackAgumon with a look on confusion.

“Why ask me that?”

With nothing to hide, the Digimon clone answered. As well as uttering an infamous name.

“Because there’s another kind of transformation. It’s called… Dark Digivolution.”

Twilight looked at him in complete surprise. Not just from the discovery of another type of Digimon evolution, but from its name.

“Dark Digivolution?”

ChaosBlackAgumon explained further.

“For a Digimon to Digivolve, they would need to go through natural growth. Or achieve it through a special bond with a human partner. But Dark Digivolution works differently. It could only be instigated through a rush of negative emotions. Like sorrow. Anger. Rage. Once a Digimon experiences such a rush of negative emotions, it would trigger such a transformation.”

Twilight felt stunned from what she was being told. She never thought such a thing would even exist. A transformation triggered by raw emotions. Her eyes widened as she began to think back to BlackWarGreymon. It was when Luna got herself hurt by Tirek. Twilight could remember the staggering amount of fury BlackWarGreymon has shown. The black flames that appeared around his body. The sky darkening as thunder rained down. But the most startling, was what he said as he felt his rage build. Even going as far as wanting to make Tirek suffer.

With the evidence matching perfectly to ChaosBlackAgumon’s description of the transformation, Twilight’s eyes widened even more from knowing the answer. Speaking to the Rookie level Digimon for clarity.

“Wait. So you mean… what happened to BlackWarGreymon was…”

Twilight didn’t need to finish her sentence. For ChaosBlackAgumon silently nodded in response.

“Yes. BlackWarGreymon… Dark Digivolved.” He added.

Twilight froze from what ChaosBlackAgumon said. The weight of the discovery made the purple Alicorn sit down in shock. She once again remembered the moment BlackWarGreymon underwent his transformation. As well as what emerged from that black energy sphere. BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. Despite bring in shock, she still listened to something else ChaosBlackAgumon had to say.

“In BlackWarGreymon’s case, his dark transformation kept him in his Mega form. That’s what’s called a Dark Mode Change. But it still falls in the same category.”

After taking in the added information, Twilight’s thoughts were still on BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. Not just in his looks, but in his heartless nature. Uncaring. Without mercy. With a look of worry, she turned to ChaosBlackAgumon with a question that desperately needed an answer.

“Please tell me. What does Dark Digivolution do to the Digimon? What… what did it do to my friend?”

ChaosBlackAgumon looked at Twilight in the eyes. He could tell that she really needed to know the answer. An answer that he decided to share.

“Like other transformations, it would give a Digimon a tremendous boost in power. Enhancing their strength and speed. As well as granting them stronger abilities.”

The so-called benefits to Dark Digivolution were evident. BlackWarGreymon’s power had grown to put even the all-powerful Tirek on the ropes. But it still didn’t explain his violent behaviour. To which she questioned.

“But with a name like Dark Digivolution, there’s a downside. Right?”

“Yeah. A big one.” ChaosBlackAgumon admitted.

Twilight paid very close attention to him as he was about to say. The Rookie looking down at the ground as he confessed.

“It couldn’t be controlled. When a Digimon transforms, they would lose all sense of who they are and what they’re fighting for.”

He continued as he looked back at Twilight.

“That’s what makes Dark Digivolution so dangerous. When they transform, they would attack anything that moves. Regardless if they’re friend or foe. Even the most noble hearted Digimon could fall victim and surrender to its rage. And they wouldn’t rest until they had destroyed everything in their path.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A transformation that could turn friends against each other. She really wanted to deny it. But the facts hold true. Once again remembering BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. How he openly threatened and attacked her and her pony friends. And how he came close to even killing them. She tried to think of something to counteract the facts, but failed to find any.

“But… it can’t be. He’s our friend.”

“When BlackWarGreymon transformed, the concept of friendship didn’t apply to him. He did try to kill you.” ChaosBlackAgumon added.

The Digimon’s words caused Twilight to remember one such event. If Ayumi hadn’t teleported her and her friends out of the way, then they would’ve more likely been killed. And if Shining Armor hadn’t rescued Ayumi, then she would’ve met a horrific fate by the Nova Scream attack. She then realized something. She and her friends would’ve been killed eventually if…



…if ChaosBlackWarGreymon hadn’t stepped in.

Twilight then looked at ChaosBlackAgumon. Surprising him with a look of astonishment.

“You… you saved us.”

The digital clone recoiled at what the Alicorn said. Speaking in a tone that almost showed embarrassment.

“I…It’s not like that! I may have done bad things. But allowing Dark Digivolution on the loose. Even I don’t want that.”

With her thoughts back on BlackWarGreymon, Twilight spoke a question.

“Is… is there a cure for it? A means to get rid of it even?”

ChaosBlackAgumon looked at Twilight in puzzlement.

“You make it sound as though it were a disease. You can’t just get rid of it. It’s part of a Digimon’s evolution.”

Twilight looked saddened by what ChaosBlackAgumon said. The very idea of a trusted friend suddenly turn nasty and try to do harm to those he cared about, was one of many things that frightened her. But the added dread was that it really happened before her very eyes. BlackWarGreymon swore to protect the innocent from danger. But with one Dark Mode Change, he suddenly became the danger. Possessing the state of mind so primal, that he was beyond reasoning. She had never seen anything so full of rage and cruelty. But then her mind became transfixed onto the moment when it ended. She had no idea how Luna done it, but the Night Princess had succeeded in doing the impossible. Making her wonder what Luna said to calm BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode.

Her ears then perked up from hearing ChaosBlackAgumon.

“For you, the only real way to help BlackWarGreymon is to prevent his dark transformation from happening in the first place.”

“I see. But…what about after he transforms?” Twilight asked. But the answer she received was less encouraging.

“Normally you either have to defeat him in battle or wait till he runs out of energy. But with his ability to grow stronger form getting hit, both those options are not likely going to happen. I’m still surprised that Moon Princess was able to talk him out of it.”

“I… I see.”

With the conversation ended, Twilight went back to healing ChaosBlackAgumon. The Rookie still covered in cuts and scratches. As she did, her thoughts kept drawing back to what they were talking about.

‘Dark Digivolution. A transformation that turns any Digimon into a violent monster. I still can’t believe it.’

She kept on thinking about the battle. About the actions of BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. The joy he expressed from torturing Tirek. The recklessness of his actions as he brought destruction to the land around him. The way he savagely defeated ChaosBlackWarGreymon. But worst of all, how he unleashed his rage on everything around him. Even towards herself and her friends. It might be one of the most frightening experiences of her life. But there was some clarity to be reassured with. Thanks to ChaosBlackAgumon, she had learned that all that fury was only caused by the transformation, not the Digimon itself. Which explained why BlackWarGreymon went back to his normal self. As if his Dark Mode Change had never happened. What’s more, was the mare who help bring the out-of-control Mega back to his senses.

‘How did Luna do it? And what did she say to him?’

After a couple of minutes, Twilight had finished. ChaosBlackAgumon had been fully healed.

“There. You should be all good now,” Twilight said as she smiled. Happy that ChaosBlackAgumon was no longer suffering. She watched the Digimon slowly rise back on his feet. Surprising her by the fact that despite being a Rookie level, he was still slightly taller than her.

After flexing his body, ChaosBlackAgumon grinned in satisfactory.

“Yes. This feels so much better. But it’s not over yet.”

Startled by the comment, Twilight was then surprised to see that the three claws on ChaosBlackAgumon’s hands beginning to glow green. Surging with magic. But before Twilight could question what was going on, ChaosBlackAgumon’s entire body suddenly glowed green. Making her step back in uncertainty. Then as he felt his energy soaring higher and higher, the Rookie let out a loud energized scream before his entire body became engulfed in a bright white light. Despite the spectacle, Twilight was just able to see him. The first thing the princess noticed was the rapid rise in energy from the digital clone. The next thing she noticed surprised her. His shape began to take a different form. At first, he resembled a large wingless dragon with three horns on his head. Next his appearance was the same, but had strange wings sprouting from his back and a robot arm. Then as the light shined at its brightest, it suddenly faded away. Leaving behind a swirling ball of black and green energy. Then when the ball faded away, the digital clone revealed himself to Twilight once more. But back into his Mega form.

Thanks to Twilight healing him, ChaosBlackAgumon was in perfect condition to Warp Digivolve back into ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The transformed Mega inspecting his body.

“Now this is more like it. I should thank you.”

As he looked over to Twilight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused. He could see the look of surprise on the Alicorn’s face. Disbelief even.

“What?” He asked.

With a startled tone, Twilight revealed the reason for her shock.

“You… just thanked me.”

The tall Digimon looked at her in confusion as he responded.

“Well… yeah. You did heal me after all.”

After a brief second of thought, ChaosBlackWarGreymon realised why Twilight was so surprised. Until that moment, he had always acted cruel and evil towards the princess and her friends. But at that moment, he had shown genuine gratitude to Twilight. Something that the Alicorn had noticed. He looked at the ground in thought. Wondering why he felt that way. As for Twilight, he felt differently towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon. She saw hints of it when he was in his Rookie form. But from hearing him being grateful for her helping him, she felt more than certain. She felt as if… she was beginning to see that there was a whole other side to the Digimon clone. And it was putting her mind at ease for a moment.

Twilight had learnt all that she needed regarding BlackWarGreymon’s Dark Digivolution. Yet, she didn’t want to leave. Her focus had changed. Wanting to learn more about ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself.

After looking back at her, the Mega took note of Twilight’s expression as she approached him. He could see that all the fear in her had gone. Instead, it was replaced with curiosity. She stopped about six feet from him. Her gaze locked onto his.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Well… call me crazy, but… I want to talk to you more.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon grew a questionable expression as he spoke back.

“Crazier than the idea of you healing me?”

Twilight took a moment to think, but realised that ChaosBlackWarGreymon had a point. Healing him was far crazier than talking to him, but she didn’t consider it. The irony of the fact made Twilight let out a small snicker. A second later, she froze with a look of surprise in her eyes. She had just found the Digimon’s comment humorous. As if the Mega made an unintended joke. A joke that she laughed at.

As she looked back at ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the tall Mega let out a soft sigh before sitting down on the ground. Facing the surprised Alicorn as he crossed his legs.

“Alright. I guess I got time to spare. So, what is it you want to talk about?”

Twilight couldn’t believe it. Not only was ChaosBlackWarGreymon cooperating with her request, but she took note of the sigh he used. And how exaggerated it was. A sign that, if true, he wasn’t very bothered with talking to her. As Twilight sat down in front of him, she tried to think of what to talk about. With the digital clone listening to her, she had many questions she wanted to ask him. But from thinking back to BlackWarGreymon’s battle with Tirek, there was something that confused her that she hoped would get an answer for.

“Well… to start with, it’s about that fight with Tirek. As he was absorbing BlackWarGreymon’s energy, a dark energy ball suddenly appeared and struck Tirek. Which freed BlackWarGreymon from him.”

As he listened, ChaosBlackWarGreymon knew what Twilight was talking about. It was when he launched his Shadow Destroyer attack that he used on Tirek without the centaur knowing it was him. He then heard Twilight asking him a question.

“Tell me… was that your attack?”

Twilight had her suspicions for a while, but she wanted to hear it from ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself.

In which, he replied.

“Yes, it was.”

Twilight was startled by the open confession. Especially since it happened before BlackWarGreymon underwent his dark transformation. More curious then ever, she continued on.

“And your aim was accurate. You attacked Tirek deliberately. You wanted BlackWarGreymon to live. But… why?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon took a moment to really look at Twilight. He could see why she would ask. Back at the Crystal Empire, he did try numerous times to destroy BlackWarGreymon. And form what King Sombra told her and her friends, that he was created to kill the saviour. On paper, he would be the last person who would try to help BlackWarGreymon. But defied their expectations and tried to help out. Such as how surprised Twilight was.

Realising that he had paused for too long, he answered the question.

“Because BlackWarGreymon and I are more in common than just by appearance.”

He continued on as Twilight listened on in great interest.

“You recall his distaste of living a life with no meaning? Well, that is something that I too share. Like him, I hate living a life with no destiny. But while BlackWarGreymon found his by protecting the innocent, I’m not too sure what my own is.”

Twilight however blinked in confusion.

“Wait. I thought your destiny was to spread evil and destroy BlackWarGreymon.”

The digital clone responded.

“Well…at first… that’s what I thought it was. At least… I think it was.”

Twilight was surprised at how ChaosBlackWarGreymon reacted. His words. His tone. His actions. He was expressing doubt. Something she never thought she would ever see him do. But he carried on, continuing the subject.

“But when I saw BlackWarGreymon used his Ascended form against Tirek, I felt something within me. An idea that maybe… bringing death and destruction was not what I was destined to do.”

He looked away in thought as he continued.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t even know what my destiny is. But all I know was that whatever my destiny is, BlackWarGreymon has something to do with it.”

He then turned his sights back to Twilight.

“That’s why I had to save BlackWarGreymon. From both Tirek and himself. Either it being to prove that I’m stronger than him, or whatever else it may be. All I know is that BlackWarGreymon is the key to unlocking my destiny. That’s why I can’t afford to lose him.”

Twilight was stunned at every word her ears received. The clone that was created to kill his target, didn’t want to kill him anymore. Instead, wanting him to live so that he could discover himself. To understand what he wanted to do with his life. to her amazement, Twilight felt that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was completely different to what he was when she first met him. The cold violent monster was replaced with someone who was confused and unsure of what he was. It was as if, he was going through the exact same issues BlackWarGreymon himself went through in is past life. A Digimon who was curious of his own destiny. She couldn’t believe how exact the similarities were.

Her silent stares of awe was noticed by the grey armoured Mega.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked.

As she continued to look at him in awe, the purple Alicorn spoke up.

“Wow. You’re not the monster we thought you were. In fact…”

She took a step closer to him when a thought occurred to her.

“… you’re not a dark incarnation at all, are you?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon was taken back by Twilight’s statement. He looked away in response before turning back. Glancing at her.

“Would you believe me… if I said that I had doubts about that myself?”

Twilight silently gasped at what was developing. His chosen words carried a level of tenderness to them. As if he was a little sensitive on the subject. Something that a true evil incarnation would never feel. In her mind, BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was more of a dark incarnation than ChaosBlackWarGreymon ever was.

She then thought of something. Was there goodness in him? And if so, could it be possible for her to change him? Like what Fluttershy did for Discord? Could ChaosBlackWarGreymon be reformed?”

There was one sign of potential goodness that she wanted an explanation for.

“Listen. Earlier today, me and my friends met up with three fillies. Named Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They said that last night, you saved them from a pack of Timberwolves. Is that true?”

The clone looked at the Alicorn in uncertainty. Wondering why she brought the subject up. But with the level of peace maintained between them, he answered the question.

“Well at the time, I just wanted to destroy those Timberwolves. I didn’t intend on saving those girls. But they seemed to think that I did.”

Twilight noticed that the Digimon took a moment to pause. She could see that he was remembering something. Something that happened on that night. For him to pause, the moment must had been a turning point for the Mega. To which he explained.

“And when those three began to praise me and showed me their gratitude, I... I felt something. A feeling that I’ve never felt before just… appeared within me. And then… and then I…”

He continued as he looked away. Glancing at the ground as he tried to remember.

“I lost all thoughts of negativity. All my hate. All my anger. All thoughts of destruction and malice… it all just… gone. It’s almost like… their show of affection took away my rage and… replaced it with something else. Ever since I felt that warm feeling in my chest, I’ve not been the same as I once was.”

The moment ChaosBlackWarGreymon described the warm feeling in his chest, Twilight’s eyes widened in astonishment as she let out a quiet gasp. She knew perfectly well what that kind of feeling was. She herself practically felt it everyday since becoming friends with the ponies of Ponyville. She always felt it when she was with her friends. But the shock was that… the digital clone… who she once thought couldn’t possess any sort of emotion… had felt it for himself.

She then quietly spoke what the feeling was.

“Love.”

“Come again?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked as he looked back at the Alicorn. Only hearing a small bit of what she said.

The sitting Digimon then received a surprise when Twilight rushed up to him. Her eyes beaming with hope and curiosity.

“Love! The feeling you felt was love!”

The two were quiet afterwards. The Twilight took a few steps back with the look of surprise on her face. In her excitement, she had forgotten whom she was talking to. Again, she felt strange. It seemed the more she was learning about ChaosBlackWarGreymon, the more comfortable she was around him.

The digital clone himself also felt odd. Mostly from the emotion that Twilight spoke of.

“Love? But why? I don’t understand. Why am I experiencing this? Why do I feel love?” He asked as he looked away.

After hearing his questions, Twilight stared at him in wonder. Then came shock, and then realisation. She discovered something that what she believed had happened.

Just like BlackWarGreymon before him, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was created in a world he didn’t understand. And because of the evil influence of King Sombra, he moulded the Mega into a killing machine. Turning him into a psychotic monster. And because ChaosBlackWarGreymon had only just discovered the feeling of love, it proved that Sombra only taught him the values of being evil and cruel. That there was no other way of living a life to the fullest. And when the clone discovered that there was more than one way, it greatly confused him.

In short, he was going though exactly what BlackWarGreymon himself went through.

As ChaosBlackWarGreymon continued to puzzle his thoughts, he heard a couple of hoof steps. And then to his surprise, he left something resting on his arm. As he glanced over, he saw that it was Twilight. Standing very close to him with a small smile. And with him slouched on the ground, had her hoof resting on the skin of his arm. Her purple eyes were pure and innocent, with a hint of wonder and hope.

The Digimon’s confused crimson red eyes stared back at her own. Full of uncertainty.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m trying to reach out to you,” Twilight answered.

The Princess of Friendship wasn’t afraid of him. Not anymore.

“But why?”

“Call me crazy, but…”

She paused briefly before continuing.

“… I see there’s goodness in you.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s eyes widened in shock the moment he heard those words. Could she be right? Was there good in him? Even after everything he had done? The very thought of it was unbelievable. But to him, it could explain why he was being less hostile than before.

But then he remembered something. Remembering what happened after his encounter with the Cutiemark Crusaders. He encountered the Tree of Harmony. What’s more, he recalled hearing a voice from it. Telling him things that were not too different to his conversation with Twilight. But what stuck with him the most was the last thing the voice said to him after he left the cave. A message that lingered in the back of his head. The message that… sounded very similar to what Twilight had just said to him.

The Digimon looked away in thought.

‘Hold on. I remember that the voice said… that when a pony sees the goodness in me, she becomes my first friend. Wait!!’

His red eyes grew wider when he figured it out. Looking back at Twilight in disbelief.

‘Could she… be THAT very pony!?’

Feeling that she was engaging in a proper conversation, Twilight spoke up. Feeling that it was a good moment to try to lay the foundations of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s redemption.

“I’m not sure how you feel about it now, but friendship really is the key to greater strength. It was how me and my friends were able to overcome numerous odds. Even BlackWarGreymon had benefited from it.”

“What are you trying to say?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked. Unsure what Twilight was trying to imply. To which she revealed.

“Well… since it helped me and my friends time and again, maybe… all you need is a friend.”

“Huh?”

The Digimon looked at Twilight for an explanation.

“Take BlackWarGreymon for example. The reason he became stronger was because of the bond he shares with me and my friends. He doesn’t fight for himself, he fights to protect. And… I think it might work for you as well.”

Despite the hopeful optimism, ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked away in disapproval.

“It’s impossible.”

Twilight saw the doubt in his red eyes. And then told him something that he had forgotten about.

“BlackWarGreymon thought so before. And look at him now. Friendship really is magic, if it made him change his ways. And that was before he even arrived in Equestria.”

She was then surprised when the digital clone began to move. Making her step back. He stood back up to his full height, but his expression hadn’t changed.

“I don’t know,” He uttered.

Twilight once more tried to support him. Not giving up.

“I know you can do it. You can change. I just know it. All you have to do is try.”

A bright smile adorned her face at first, but then started to frown. Even with his back to her, she could tell that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was very doubtful. He looked down at the ground. Almost in shame.

“Even if what you said is true, friendship won’t work for me.”

Before Twilight could talk back, she saw that one of the Digimon’s claws was glowing green in dark magic. Then to her surprise, a large ball of black mist appeared in front of her. After looking into the ball, she could see the Crystal Empire. She and her friends were there. Witnessing the fight between BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

Twilight realized what was going on. The grey-armoured being was showing her his memories.

As she continued to stare at the ball of black mist, she saw that the memories were changing. To the events that took place after the Crystal Empire. Events that showed ChaosBlackWarGreymon wreaking havoc across Equestria. Manehattan, Griffinstone and the Wonderbolt Academy all suffered from his actions. Twilight already knew about the destruction caused. But to see it unfolding before her very eyes left her intimidated. Frightened and hurt. But what made it worse, she could see that the cloned Digimon was enjoying the destruction.

As she watched, she heard the Digimon talking to her.

“I had spread fear and destruction wherever I went. Causing chaos the likes nopony had ever seen. Why would a pony try to be friends with me? Just look at me!”

After the ball of darkness vanished away, the shocked Twilight looked up at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Only to see him floating in the air, with his arms, legs and lower torso replaced with a thick blanket of magical smoke. Revealing himself for what he really was. A manifestation of digital data and dark magic.

“Why would friendship ever accept a monster like me?”

Twilight was intimidated by the Digimon’s sudden change in appearance. But it was only brief. That was when she saw his eyes. Though he was making a statement, she could see that his eyes held a hint of sorrow. Showing that he felt that it was too late for him.

She didn’t want to believe that it was too late. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to see it through. To see that he could change his ways.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked down at himself as he spoke to Twilight once more.

“Nopony would dare try to be friends with the likes of me.”

Spurred on by the Digimon’s words, Twilight snapped at him.

“No, you’re wrong! You’re wrong, because…!”

The Alicorn found it hard to speak at first. She herself was surprised at her own thought. Of what she was about to say. But after taking in a deep breath, she continued.

“Because… I would like to be friends with you.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon froze as he stared at Twilight in disbelief. Without controlling his own powers, his body reverted back to normal as he lowered back on the ground. Was it true? Was she serious about what she said?

“What? But… I attacked you and your friends at the Crystal Empire. I ruined many homes and hurt many lives. I even nearly killed BlackWarGreymon right in front of you. Why in the world would you want to be friends with me?”

Twilight paused after hearing ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s words. His tone sounded insecure. Almost as if… he was afraid. After taking in a steady breath, the princess spoke.

“I know what you did in the past. But you weren’t being you. Back then, you were motivated by evil. But you’re not like that anymore. You’ve already started to change. I just know it. And I know you can change more. And I can help you. I know there’s good in you, ChaosBlackWarGreymon. That’s why I want to be your friend.”

The Digimon stood still in silence as he listened to Twilight’s reasoning. But after looking at her, he continued to have doubts.

“H-How can I be sure if you’re telling the truth?”

Twilight perfectly understood why the Digimon was feeling insecure. As far as she was aware, nopony had ever attempted to do what she was doing. It was brand new to the tall being. He was raised to be evil, with not one soul showing any kind of affection to him.

Twilight then decided to try something out. A bold move that she believed would work. After taking in a deep breath, the lavender Alicorn started to flap her wings. Lifting herself off the ground until she was eye level with the Mega.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at Twilight in confusion. Wondering what kind of expression she had on her face.

“What? What are you up to no…!?”

The Digimon failed to finish his sentence. Because with a strong beat of her wings, Twilight propelled herself forwards and wrapped her front hooves around his neck. Giving ChaosBlackWarGreymon a tight affectionate hug.

The Digimon’s eyes widened considerably in response. His mind froze completely as his body stood motionless. He tried to speak up, but shock caused his voice to stutter. Despite wearing armour, he could feel the warmth of Twilight’s body as she held onto him. But it wasn’t the only warmth ChaosBlackWarGreymon was feeling. As the Alicorn’s embrace continued, he felt a warm feeling deep in his chest. It was the same feeling he felt when the Cutiemark Crusaders hugged him. But unlike before, what he was feeling felt… stronger.

There was one reason for the difference. The three fillies had never seen him before. They thought he was BlackWarGreymon’s ally and hugged him in gratitude. Twilight on the other hand was different. She knew all too well who he was and what he had done. But despite his bad deeds, she believed that he wasn’t evil to the core. And hugged him not in gratitude, but in hope.

Twilight had a reason for her actions. She knew that words could only go so far. Since ChaosBlackWarGreymon was doubtful from words, the Alicorn had only one option left. Expressions and physical contact displays far greater emotions than words alone. She hoped that her hug could show him that her intentions were pure and true. And believing that there was goodness in him, she also hoped that her show of affections would bring the good out in him.

“Wha… what are you doing?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon asked, his mind confused of what was reality as he stared at open space.

“It’s called a hug. I know you’re hurt somewhere deep within you. So I’m hugging you to comfort you,” Twilight answered. Her eyes closed as her forelegs locked around the Digimon’s neck. Showing no signs of letting go.

“Why?” The Digimon asked. His eyes moving downwards to look at the Alicorn.

He then received a reply.

“Because that’s what friends do.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon once more paused in awe. Twilight had to be very brave to attempt to say and do things that others would refuse to do to him. He didn’t know why, but he liked her bravery. He once more felt the warm feeling in his chest getting ever stronger. It was all so new to him, that he felt a little scared by it. If what Twilight said was true, then the feeling he felt was indeed love. Something that he thought he would never feel.

Then to Twilight’s surprise, ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s body suddenly turned into black mist. But just as she thought she was going to fall, Twilight felt herself being held up by the mist. To which it then lowered down. Gently placing her back on solid ground. Looking forward, she saw that the black mist reformed itself back into ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Standing tall with his back to her. Feeling that she was rejected, Twilight spoke up once more. Her tone sounded more like a plea.

“Please. All I ask is for you to try.”

The grey-armoured being was silent for a few seconds before talking.

“This is all new to me. I still don’t see how friendship makes one stronger.”

Feeling that her efforts were all in vain, Twilight hung her head low. However…

“But.”

Hearing his last word snapped the princess to attention. Her eyes wide with anticipation for what the digital clone was about to say.

“But I do see your reasons. You have no doubt whatsoever in the things you said to me. And I’m surprised that you seriously want to be my friend.”

He briefly paused before coming to a decision.

“I…I could at least think about it.”

Twilight gasped in astonishment at what she heard. Was he really going to consider friendship? Just the thought of it was making her smile. Once more seeing that there was some good in him. It just needed to be brought out to the surface.

“Well, I… I hope you’ll say yes. You have no idea how good it would be for Equestria to have another powerful friend. And who knows, maybe BlackWarGreymon could even train you to become stronger.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckled when he envisioned himself and BlackWarGreymon in a friendly yet fierce sparing match.

“Now that’s a thought. A tempting one too.”

“Well, I hope you’ll make the right choice.”

As Twilight finished talking, she took note on the type of chuckle the tall Digimon used. It wasn’t in any way sinister or conniving, it sounded like… he was expressing joyful amusement and happiness.

After having a good talk with Twilight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly began to feel guilt. Guilt for all his actions against her and all her friends. And by extension, all of Equestria. Thanks to his time with Twilight, the clone was starting to understand how the ponies think. How they struggled when times were hard. Some of which due to his rampage.

With thoughts of guilt on his mind, something of which was new to him, the Digimon clone decided he had something to say.

“Hay… uhh… listen…”

Twilight paid close attention to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Noting how strange he was acting. She could see that he was struggling to speak what he wanted to say as he kept glancing over his shoulder to look at her.

“I’m… I’m just saying that… I’m sorry. For what I’ve done to you all.”

Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. ChaosBlackWarGreymon had just apologized to her. He said he was sorry. After her stunned silence, she spoke up. Feeling a little happier for his progress, she decided to be honest with him.

“Well… thank you. That means quite a lot to hear that from you. In fact, I’m glad that I decided to try and find you. Otherwise, we would never have this conversation. I would’ve never learnt so much about you. I… I really hope we could be friends.”

The Digimon turned to stare at her in fascination. Not one word she said was a lie. She was as true to her words as she was to her heart. As he continued to gaze at her, he felt something deep within him. As if he had developed some sort of bond with Twilight. ChaosBlackWarGreymon had felt many things since his great confusion of his very being. And during his conversation with the young princess, he started to feel differently towards her. She wasn’t as simple he was led to believe. He no longer felt that her talks were annoying and obnoxious. Instead, he found it rather fascinating.

Overall… he found her quite endearing.

“What?” Twilight asked, noting the Digimon’s long pause as he kept his sights on her.

No longer aggravated at her, ChaosBlackWarGreymon decided to go for a playful response.

“You know… for a pony… you’re actually kinda cute.”

Twilight flinched and blushed suddenly in response to the surprise compliment. A small smile of flattery grew on her face.

“W-Wha-Whaa!!? Wh-Where did that come from!?”

Seeing the Alicorn all flustered made ChaosBlackWarGreymon chuckle in amusement. Finding her reactions enjoyable. Twilight meanwhile shook off her flustered state and took note on the tall Digimon. The way he was chuckling, it was almost as if… he was enjoying her company.

After he settled down, ChaosBlackWarGreymon wanted to double check on Twilight’s knowledge.

“Now, do you remember what I said about BlackWarGreymon’s dark transformation?”

Surprised by the change of subject, Twilight answered back. Only realising that what she had learnt was vitally important.

“Y-Yes. That the best way to stop it is to prevent it appearing as early as possible.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon nodded in approval. Seeing that Twilight had indeed understood what he told her. And then he spoke up.

“If anything, I’m just glad that it was a Mode Change. Because if it were otherwise…”

Twilight caught on the last thing ChaosBlackWarGreymon said before he paused in thought. A sign that there was something else about Digimon that he knew about. Unsure if it might involve BlackWarGreymon, the princess was quite eager to know.

“What? What do you mean… otherwise? What else is there?” She asked as she approached him.

Hearing her questions, the tall Mega looked at her in uncertainty.

“You mean you don’t know? Didn’t BlackWarGreymon…”

His red eyes widened in realization before talking to himself.

“Oh, that’s right. He might not even know about it.”

“What? What is it?” Twilight asked. Feeling uncertainty after hearing everything the armoured Digimon had said.

Seeing no reason to not tell Twilight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon opened up.

“You remember when BlackWarGreymon told you and your friends about the highest form of Digivolutions?”

“Yeah. He said that it was the Mega level.” Twilight answered. Unsure why she was asked such a question.

To which ChaosBlackWarGreymon revealed.

“Well, that’s not strictly true. Because… there is another.”

Twilight let out a stuttered gasp in amazement. Then speaking with excitement in her voice from discovering something new about Digimon.

“W-What!? You mean… t-there’s a level beyond a Mega!?”

Surprised by Twilight’s outburst, ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave his explanation.

“Yes, there is. It’s an elusive power that’s considered one of the great legends of the Digital World. A form very few could ever reach. So much so that some consider it to be a myth.”

He then revealed the identity of the form.

“It’s called… Ultra.”

Twilight was stunned at what she heard. Letting the name of the great power imbed in her ever-growing knowledge of Digimon. Uttering its name with a startled tone.

“The… Ultra level.”

Turning away from the dazzled Twilight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon gave his farewells.

“Thank you for helping me. But it’s time for me to go.”

“Wait what!?” Twilight uttered as she focused her attention on the tall Mega.

“I’ll still think about what you said to me earlier,” He said as he glanced over his shoulder to look at the stunned Alicorn once more.

“See you later, Twilight.”

After a quick flash of green light, ChaosBlackWarGreymon teleported away. Leaving behind Twilight, who was surprised at the last thing she just heard.

“He…just called me by my name.”

She had the right to be surprised. Before, the grey-armoured Digimon had always called her and her friends by the word ‘pony’. Back then, a sign of his distaste for the pony kind. But before he disappeared, it was the first time he had ever called her by her name. Could it be a sign? A sign that he had grown to like her?

But as she remembered the last conversation she had with ChaosBlackWarGreymon, regarding the discovery of the Ultra level, she realized that there was something she had overlooked.

“Wait. He was created from BlackWarGreymon’s data. So how is it that he knew about the Ultra level but BlackWarGreymon didn’t?” She asked as she looked up to the sky.

She was correct to feel suspicious. If ChaosBlackWarGreymon words hold truth, BlackWarGreymon had no knowledge about the level of Ultra. Yet, the grey-armoured clone knew about it in detail and he was only created recently.

For Twilight, something didn’t feel right. But she had to think of it later. Her priority was to get back to her friends back in Canterlot. She had to share her knowledge of Dark Digivolution to them.

Using her magic, Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light. High above the trees, hovering in the air, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was there to watch her teleport away. He could’ve transported himself far away if he wanted to. But he felt that he had to see Twilight one more time. Even if it was from a distance.

The expressions in his eyes became neutral. Conversing deep within his thoughts. He admired the bravery Twilight displayed when she spoke to him. But the things she had said, was it because it was just her duty as the Princess of Friendship? Or was it because she actually wanted to be nice to him? He turned to look at his left shoulder. To where he once received a horrific injury. He began to remember the warm feeling he felt as Twilight used her magic to heal it. The Alicorn showing him mercy. For her to perform such an act on him, despite his past, was it… solid proof that he wasn’t evil to the core?

His mind kept on replaying what the Tree of Harmony said to him. His very first friend would be a pony who saw that there was good in him. And Twilight Sparkle was the only one who saw it. Or at least heavily believed it.

“Twilight,” He whispered to himself.

Without saying another word, ChaosBlackWarGreymon turned to fly away and return to the hidden lair. His master had to be told that the mission was a failure.

But as he quickened his speed, one of his Chrome Digizoid claws gave off a bright flash of dark green. Causing the surprised Digimon to stop and hover in place.

“What the…!?”

The Mega inspected the middle claw on his left gauntlet. There was no damage and his magic seemed normal. However, the brief incident that happened meant something else.

“Strange. I can sense dark magic in the area. But Sombra is dead. No one else has this kind of magic but me. That can’t be right.”

After looking intensely at his claw, he decided that it could just be his mind playing tricks on him. Shrugging off the recent development, ChaosBlackWarGreymon continued on flying away.

Unaware of what that brief flash of magic truly meant.

Chapter 67: The Nightmare of the Past

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After hearing out the request proposed by her younger niece, Princess Luna ultimately decided to go along with the pink Alicorn’s plan. Leading Princess Cadence to one of the unoccupied spare bedrooms, the two Alicorns were getting prepared to set the plan in motion. But concerned for the younger Alicorn, Luna spoke up.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this, Cadence? If everything they said to us holds truth, then we would be witnessing horrors beyond our comprehension.”

Despite being just as concerned about what they were about to witness, Cadence gave her reply.

“Yes, I am. Whatever that evil Digimon was, he destroyed the other Twilight’s whole world. I want to see how it all ended.”

As she continued, her tone carried a hint of anger.

“And to see who this monster is. He… he hurt her.”

Luna looked at her as she listened. Like Cadence, Luna too was curious of how the Equestria from another timeline was destroyed. But while she wanted to see the miracle that was Ayumi’s survival through what was essentially hell, for Cadence it seemed that she just wanted to see what kind of Digimon that ended everything. The one who was responsible got hurting Ayumi. But since it was a Digimon that neither of them had ever soon before, she couldn’t but be curious herself.

As Cadence approached a large bed, she spoke up to Luna. Revealing how little her knowledge of Luna’s dream-hopping magic worked.

“So, what happens? Do you just… put me in your mind? Or…”

“It doesn’t work like that. For this to work, I need you to be asleep. Once you do, I’ll be able to use my magic to enter your mind and retrieve you. Only then will both of us venture into minds of others. As long as they too are asleep,” Luna answered. Explaining how her magic worked.

“Oh. So that’s how you do it. It’s actually quite impressive,” Cadence complemented as she climbed onto the bed. But then expressed a slight flaw in the plan.

“Though it would be quite hard for me to sleep right now.”

But it seemed Luna was prepared for the problem.

“You won't have to worry about that. I can just put you to sleep with my dream magic. That is… if you really want to do this.”

Luna said that to make sure if Cadence was not having any last-second thoughts about her idea. But as she looked at the Moon Princess, the Princess of Love gave her honest answer.

“I do.”

Given the green light to proceed, Luna nodded as she prepared her magic. A spell being cased as her horn lit up in a gentle blue glow. Then tilting her horn towards Cadence, the stream of magic flowed from her and towards the awaiting pink Alicorn. The spell taking a form that resembled a gentle stream found by the lakes by Ponyville.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Cadence said as the sounds of the spell was quickly causing her to feel drowsy. Her eyelids already feeling quite heavy.

Within seconds, Cadence surrendered herself to the melody of Luna’s spell. Quickly falling asleep on the bed. Luna took a moment of pause and smiled at the slumbering Cadence. Knowing full well that it may be a while to see such a sight again. Considering what they were about to go through.

With Cadence quickly falling into a deep sleep, Luna engaged a spell what made her the Princess of the Night. Eclipsing the room in a bright light.

It didn’t take Luna long to venture into Cadence’s mind and find her subconscious within the world of dreams. In fact, the pink princess was quite surprised.

“Oh, Luna! Wait! So did it work?”

“Yes, Cadence. We are within your mind.”

“Wow. That was quick. And… kind of strange.”

Luna understood why Cadence felt a little off from the experience. It was the first time the pink mare was pulled out of her dream and having a conversation with Luna as if they were awake. It wasn’t the first time Luna had to deal with it. But not wanting to waste any more time, Luna addressed Cadence.

“Well? Are you ready, Cadence?”

Without a second thought, Cadence gave her answer.

“Ready.”

Seeing the confidence in the pink Alicorn, Luna was ready for travel. With a flash of magic, the two left the confines of Cadence’s mind and traversed through the dream realm. The two emerging in an ethereal corridor dominated by doors either side them. for Cadence, it was her first time seeing it.

“Wow! So, what are these doors?”

These are the doorways to the mind of everypony in Equestria. The ones you see belong to those who are in Canterlot right now,” Luna explained. Quite happy to give Cadence what was essentially a tour.

After a quick look around, the pink mare then spotted a door unlike any other. A large black metal slab.

“What’s that one?” She asked as she pointed at it.

Following to where her niece was pointing, Luna smiled as she replied.

“That there is the doorway to BlackWarGreymon’s mind. With him being an Artificial Digimon, it was obvious that the door to his mind would look different from ours.”

But just as the two were about to continue on, Luna’s eyes caught a glimpse of something out of the ordinary. For a split second, she thought she saw what looked like dark blue electricity surging around the base of the door to BlackWarGreymon’s mind. But by the time she everted her gaze to fully look at the door, it all seemed normal.

“What was that?” Luna asked herself. Her voice carrying a hint of concern. It only happened for a moment, but she swore that she saw something. Something that she had not seen before.

Oblivious to what Luna just saw, Cadence looked back to Luna in confusion.

“Hay, Luna? Are you coming? I can’t exactly find my way around here.”

“Oh, r-right. Coming,” Luna said as she joined up to Cadence. Thinking that she was just seeing things.

But if she had stayed a little longer, then she would’ve seen BlackWarGreymon’s door sparking with blue energy again. Surging all over the door before vanishing from sight.

After only a minute or two of trekking, the two then came across a second strange looking door. It looked similar to the usual doors that lead to the minds of ponies, but the new door looked much more decrepit. As if it was starting to come apart. Furthermore, was the patches of metal on the door. To which Luna had yet to find out why.

“I assume… that this is it?” Cadence asked. With Luna confirming it.

“Yes. This is the door to Ayumi’s mind. But unlike before, this door is stable. We can enter it.”

As she looked over to her aunt, Cadence could read Luna’s expressions.

“You look unsure.”

After taking in a deep breath, Luna revealed what was making her feel insecure.

“It’s just that. If we’re successful in seeing her memories, than that means that… that we would likely… witness our own deaths. In her world I mean.”

Cadence flinched in surprise at what Luna said. It was a thought that never occurred to her. To see the death of her alternate self. It was near enough the same as witnessing your own death right before your eyes. Despite the sudden feeling of uneasiness, Cadence tried to support Luna.

“Well… it wouldn’t really be us that we’re seeing. I mean… we’re here right now.”

Despite her vague explanation, it was enough for Luna to get the general idea of what would be happening. While they would be seeing themselves, it wasn’t them exactly. Clearing her head, and not wanting Ayumi to wake up anytime soon, Luna cleared her head and focused on the task as hand.

“Ok. I’m alright now. Let’s do this.”

With a supportive nod from Cadence, Luna used her magic to open the door to Ayumi’s mind. The two were just moments away from entering the conscience of the Twilight from a future timeline.

As soon as the two entered Ayumi’s mind, they were startled at what they were seeing. Luna was less so than Cadence. While the mind of Ayumi was overall similar to any other pony, the whole area was darker. As if it was either early in the morning or late in the evening. But the biggest difference was green numbers swarming across all around the two. All zeros and ones.

“W-What’s going on here!? What’s with all these numbers!?” Cadence asked. Obviously spooked at the scene.

The more level-headed Luna explained. Having experienced the sight before.

“It’s fine, Cadence. BlackWarGreymon’s mind is like this too. The numbers is data. The energy that Digimon possess.”

Cadence blinked in response. Then remembering what the other ponies told her.

“That’s right. The others did say that she absorbed the energy of the Digimon she defeated. So, this is what the energy of a Digimon looks like.”

Luna then looked back at the door they had just entered. Her eyes widened in realisation.

“So that explains the door.”

“Pardon?” Cadence asked. To which Luna explained.

“The door to a pony’s mind also reflects the condition of the mind itself. You saw how that door looked decrepit. It must mean that for a time, the horror that Ayumi went through must’ve almost broke her mentality. But by absorbing the data of the Digimon, she finally had the confidence to fight back. In which the data is used to help repair the door. That’s actually very impressive. Normally ponies wouldn’t have the courage to do so,” She said, admiring how brave and strong Ayumi had to be to recover from such trauma.

As for Cadence, she froze form hearing Luna’s explanation. Ayumi… who was once the sweet, kind-hearted little girl that she once looked after when she was small. Twilight Sparkle. Her little Twilight. She would’ve stayed the same. The same Twilight that she knew. But for one timeline, that Twilight was no more. She was forever changed. Scarred by an evil being form another world. Whoever that Digimon was, he had completely transformed the other Twilight. Power wise, for the better. Gaining the kind of strength to end the evil. But for the rest of her, it was for the worse. But most of all, her mentality. If what Luna said was true, than there was a moment in time when the Twilight turned Ayumi was on the verge of giving up hope. Absolutely desperate for anything to help her struggle. Losing her friends. Her family. Everypony she ever knew. Subjugated to constant torture on her body that lead to scar after scar. She must’ve been absolutely terrified. Petrified that death would come for her at any moment.

And the cause of all that trauma… all her suffering… all her pain. It was caused by one Digimon. A Digimon worse than any villain they had ever faced. A foe… without a soul.

“How? How could any creature be so evil?” Cadence whispered to herself. She had never met the evil Digimon, yet she already felt absolute hatred for him.

Her attention was averted when from the corner of her eye, she saw the blue glow of Luna’s magic. Turning to look at her, Cadence could see that the blue Alicorn was trying to focus. Her eyes clenched shut. But after some effort, she stopped. Gasping for breath as a bead of sweat dropped from the side of her head.

“What is it?” Cadence asked. Seeing that Luna was trying to do something.

Luna looked over to Cadence with a look of confusion.

“Something is not right. I can’t seem to access Ayumi’s memories.”

“You can’t? Why?” Cadence asked. Surprised at what she heard.

After a quick moment of pondering, Luna made an assumption.

“If I were to guess, it’s perhaps she’s mentally blocked her memories. But for her to do so to prevent even me from seeing them… she must’ve really concentrated hard to achieve it.”

“I don’t blame her. If such terrible things happen to me, I would try to block it out and forget it too.” Cadence said, feeling yet more sympathy for Ayumi.

But as Luna once more tried to use her magic, she gasped at what she had discovered.

“What is it, now?” Cadence asked.

When Luna replied, she had a look of shock on her face.

“It’s Ayumi. S-She’s having a nightmare.”

“Really? Right now?”

“Yes. A bad one too. I can feel it.”

Then after taking in a deep breath, Luna looked over to Cadence as she came to a decision.

“We may not be able to access her memories right now, but the least we can do is spare her from any nightmares.”

“That’s a very good idea, Luna. I think she would really like that,” Cadence said. Supporting her aunt’s idea of easing Ayumi’s mental suffering.

With Luna using her expertise in dream magic, both she and Cadence were consumed in a bright light. The two traversing through the mind of Ayumi. Without wasting anymore time, they made a beeline straight to the ongoing nightmare.

Unfortunately for the two, what they were about to witness would shake the very cores of their morality.

As the light faded around them, the two Alicorns had arrived. Flying in the air.

“Right. We should be…!”

Luna stopped her sentence as soon as she and Cadence realised where they were. And what was happening around them. The sight caused their eyes to widen in shock and their mouths to hang low. Hovering in the sky, they found themselves above Canterlot. Or to be precise, what was left of it. The entire capital had been completely decimated. There was nothing but smouldering ruins and crumbling debris. Smoke filling the air. The whole world around them had been darkened by the black clouds in the sky. Unleashing pouring rain down on the war-torn land. But over in the horizon, a bright orange glow could be seen across the mountains. But it was no sunlight. Those were the glowing lights of wildfires. As if the entire world beyond Canterlot had been set alight.

“Is this really her nightmare!? You are sure that this isn’t her memory?” Cadence asked. Baffled at what was going on and stricken at the sight of devastation before her.

But it seemed that even Luna was unsure.

“This has to be her nightmare. I felt it. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

Luna looked at Cadence in worry.

“She’s having a nightmare… about her past.”

Cadence looked at Luna in shock. By having such a nightmare, it was as if Ayumi had combined her memories and her dream into one singularity.

As she inspected the ground from above, Luna then spotted some movement.

“Hay. I see somepony.”

Following Luna’s lead, Cadence followed her down towards the ground. As they landed by an overturned tree, the two Alicorns then saw who it was that Luna saw.

“Hay! I-It’s Twilight!” The pink Alicorn exclaimed.

She was correct. The pony they saw was indeed the Princess of Friendship.

“Yes. This must be her… before she became Ayumi,” Luna added. Seeing that the Alicorn before her looked more like the Twilight she knew.

It was when the two watchers paused to notice. The Twilight they were seeing was lying in the middle of the destroyed road. Her fur ruffled and torn. Missing some feathers on her wings. But most distraught of all, was what she was doing. Huddling on the ground, she was loudly sobbing. Crying her eyes out. It was a sight that struck something within Cadence’s heart. The nightmare must be at the time when Twilight had lost everything. All her friends and family.

“Y-You’re right, Luna. She must be having a nightmare about what happened to her!”

“Don’t worry, Cadence. I know what to do,” Luna declared. Confident that she would cure Ayumi of her mental despair.

Her horn gave out a blue glow. Charging up the kind of magic that made her unique. As she felt the magic building up, the blue Alicorn felt ready.

“Nightmare… BEGONE!!!”

With a swing of her horn, Luna launched a bright beam of magic into the air. Designed to disperse any nightmare. However… just as Luna’s magic touched the clouds, the river of magic paused itself. Unable to pierce the clouds. If anything, the spell seemed to be… retreating back towards her.

“What!? W-What is this!?” Luna asked in disbelief as her magic began to merge back to her.

As the last of her spell returned to her, Luna was left completely dumbfounded. The nearby Cadence could only stare at her in confusion.

“Is that… not supposed to happen?” She asked her aunt.

Luna looked up at her horn in deep uncertainty.

“S-Something is very wrong here! That never happened before!”

After a brief thought, Luna felt a cold shiver from one possibility.

“Something is blocking my magic!”

Looking ahead of her, she could see that the past Twilight continued to cry. Seemingly oblivious to her and Cadence.

“Twilight! Can you hear me!?” Luna called out. Calling Ayumi by her past name.

Being in one’s mind, regardless if it were a dream of nightmare, Luna was able to communicate to others through their subconscious. But to her confusion, the fallen mare in front of her didn’t respond to her.

“Y-You should be able to hear me! Please look at me!”

Luna couldn’t understand what was going on. Firstly, she couldn’t dispel the nightmare. And then unable to communicate to Ayumi’s subconscious. Such things had never happened to her before. She was always in full control of the dream realm. The only thing that she could guess was that something was preventing her from using her abilities to help Ayumi.

Then to the surprise of the two Alicorns, the nightmare began to shift. The whole area became darker. As if it were night-time. And the rain around them became more intense. The pouring rain soaking the young purple Alicorn’s body as she started to shift position. Standing on her hooves as she looked around her surroundings in fright. Terrified at what was out there. And as for Luna and Cadence, they were about to get a hint of the Destroyer of Equestria.

The three Alicorn’s suddenly heard a thunderous crash. Followed by a deep demonic growl. Knowing who it was behind her, the past Ayumi turned to look behind her. Freezing in terror. Luna and Cadence stood firm. They had got a perfect view of what the younger Alicorn was seeing. But in a way, they sort of wished they hadn’t. Looming over the downed princess, stood a massive imposing figure. The entirety of his body was shrouded in darkness. Preventing Luna and Cadence from seeing that the monster truly looked like. However, they were able to see his outline due to the thunderstorm. Bolts of lightning illuminating the area. The two were horrified at how accurate the creature was to Ayumi’s description of him. His demon-like horns on the sides of his head. His long thin arms ending with large, clawed hands. But what made the creature very intimidating was his sheer size. Going by the past Ayumi’s height, which at the time was identical to Twilight’s, the creature was easily larger than even BlackWarGreymon. Only by a couple of feet. But then a massive wave of fright travelled through the three mares when a pair of lights lit up where the creature’s head was. Then as he looked down to glare at the past Ayumi, his glowing eyes were revealed. A pair of haunting yellow orbs with piercing black pupils. It was a sight that made Luna and Cadence take a step back. With the type of eyes he had, along with the outline shape of his head, the monster looked very creepy. Almost freakish.

Even though they couldn’t guess how truly powerful the evil Digimon was, just his eyes and outline alone made Luna and Cadence understand why Ayumi was so terrified of him.

As the nightmare began to unfold, events began to play out. As the past Ayumi gawked at the beast in fear, the massive creature roared as he raised his right arm up in the air. Extending his blade-line fingers that were illuminated by the thundering sky. Attacking the Alicorn, the beast lashed out his arm at her. The past Ayumi screamed in pain as the swipe sent her hurtling through the ruins of Canterlot. Gasping in horror at what they had just witnessed, Luna and Cadence flew after her. Only to watch her crash and skid across the ground towards a nearby woodland.

As the stricken purple princess came to a halt, Cadence was the first to land by her side.

“Twilight!!” She cried out as she attempted to reach down to comfort her. But when her hooves try to get close to her, she could feel some invisible force pushing her away. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t reach her.

Cadence then watched as the past Ayumi tried to stand back up. The younger mare yelling out in pain as she struggled to get back on her hooves. Trying to hold back her tears. But as she sat up, Cadence got a full view of the injury. The initial attack didn’t just smack the past Ayumi away, but it gave her a nasty gash on her left side. A gash that was bleeding.

Cadence couldn’t believe it. Not only was her sister-in-law violently attacked, but the gash was in the exact same spot where one of her scars were. Furthermore, there were signs that she had also sprained her left wing from the tumble. She turned to Luna with the look of desperation.

“Please, Luna! You must do something about this nightmare!”

Luna paused for a moment before her face grew an expression of sadness. With all attempts to interact with Ayumi’s subconscious failed, options were very limited.

“I’m sorry, Cadence. There’s only one thing we can do now.”

The pink mare looked at her aunt in disbelief. With no way on helping, the only option they had left was to simply stand and watch. But with what the past Ayumi went through, she couldn’t even imagine how she would react.

As the past Ayumi struggled to stand up, she heard another outburst of the monster back towards the city. As she turned to look back, she froze from seeing him with his sights on her. But the fear only escalated when the beast quickly moved into the shadows. Disappearing from sight, but clearly moving towards her. The actions caused the injured Alicorn to panic as she rushed onto her hooves. Despite the pain she was feeling, she started to run as fast as she could through the heavy rain and into the woodland. Charging through the plant life and moving in-between the trees. Not being a part of the nightmare, Luna and Cadence followed her by hovering through the woods. As if they were flying on a magic carpet.

As the two flew through the air, they looked down at the past Ayumi below them. Both Luna and Cadence really wanted to help her. At first, they wanted to help cure her nightmare outright. But as the two became more engrossed in the horrible dream, the more they wanted to help her in her predicament. Even though it was all in just her head and that it was not real. Deep down, the two wished that such a disaster never befell Ayumi’s Equestria.

The two were snapped out of their trance when a bright yellow energy blast shot right past them and into a nearby tree. The power of the attack caused the large tree to topple over close to the past Ayumi. Scaring her even more. Looking back to where she came from, the frightened mare could see a dozen more energy attacks shooting through the canopy. Flying over her head of exploding nearby. Luna and Cadence looked at the scene in horror. The monster was trying to blast her from afar. The two then heard trees crashing down from where the attacks were coming from. A sign that the evil Digimon was charging through the woods.

Hearing that the evil being was catching up with her, the panicking Alicorn began to stumble out of fear. But before she fell over, he painfully jumped onto a half-fallen tree. Then out of desperation to escape the beast, Ayumi tried to climb the massive tree. Despite her wing being sprained, and no claws for grip on the tree bark, her struggles were bearing fruit. With great effort, she managed to escape through the thick leafless branches and into the thick blanket of cloud and smoke.

Following her up, Luna and Cadence broke through the clouds and emerged to the other side. Just in time to see the past Ayumi emerging from the cloud and continued to climb on what was left of the highest branch. She paused as she took in deep breaths out of fear and exhaustion. As she rested the smoke-filled clouds continued to swirl around her. As if she was the centre of a lonely world. But as she looked around, along with Luna and Cadence, they could see the very tops of other trees. Until they were all knocked down. Undoubtedly smashed apart by the Digimon down below. As well as odd energy blasts that shot out of the clouds and into the darkened air

With her body wounded and apparently very little magic left, the past Ayumi was forced to improvise. Looking over to a small branch nearby, she tore it off and held it under her working wing. Holding it out like a spear as she darted left and right to see any threats. Luna and Cadence could only watch on in worry. For the Night Princess, it was a horrific nightmare that she cannot repel. But for the pink Alicorn, the sight of what was essentially Twilight being all alone and so desperate to say alive was tearing her apart.

With tears in her eyes, the once Princess of Friendship slowed her movements as she continued to scan her surroundings. She and the watching two received a brief fright when they heard a demonic growl as a section of cloud in front of them momentarily bulged up before settling. Like a shark lurking beneath the ocean waves. Believing that the creature was circling around her, the past Ayumi turned as to try and keep her sights on the possible whereabouts of the monster.

But with her back turned, a large section of cloud plumed up higher into the sky. Only Luna and Cadence were able to see it. The large plume began to change shape. Then more clouds began to grow from the sides of the plume. Only for then to move straight up again. To the horror of the two older Alicorns, the plume was taking shape of the very same Digimon. The main plume moulded into his head. The side clouds forming his demon-like horns. Even the lower part of the plume resembling his neck and lower jaw. Buy the time the past Ayumi slowly turned around from the feeling of something nightmarish behind her, the piercing yellow eyes in the manifestation opened up to look directly at her. A deep growl could be heard as it opened its mouth. Revealing clouds that resembled sharp teeth.

As the past Ayumi turned to face the manifestation fully, the expression on her face said it all. It was too late. Her world had fallen. Her friends and family had all been slaughtered. Everything she ever knew and ever had known… had been crumbled to dust. That there was no future for her. Tears flooded from her wide fear-stricken eyes as her face expressed utter terror. Whatever resistance she felt in her body gave out. For the two older Alicorns that were watching, they were seeing an expression that showed she had no hope. No light in the darkness. That everything she had loved… was all consumed by the evil Digimon that took everything from her. And that all what was left… was for it to consume her.

Which was the exact thing that it did.

The manifestation of the evil Digimon roared as it lunged forward with its toothy maw agape. The past Ayumi could only scream in terror as she too was consumed by it. The snap of its jaws silenced her as well as bringing total darkness to the world around Luna and Cadence. Bringing an end to the nightmare for only a moment.

With the nightmare over, Luna and Cadence found themselves back in the confines of Ayumi’s mind. The two were left completely speechless at what they had just witnessed. What they had seen might be the closest to absolute hopelessness that the former Twilight felt. Luna then spoke up, breaking the silence.

“That… that might be the worst nightmare I had ever witnessed.”

After remembering the outline of the evil Digimon, she began to make comparisons.

“Chrysalis. Sombra. Tirek. I thought that they were evil to the core. But that… thing. Even if Ayumi hadn’t told me about him, I could see that he was the worst.”

Her thoughts then went to feeling sympathy for Ayumi.

“After all this time. Even after destroying him. She still has nightmares about him.”

While Luna was talking, Cadence remained silent. She just couldn’t believe such a thing had happened. Especially to the mare that was once Twilight. The evil Digimon left her all alone. No friends. No family. No home. Just thinking about it caused tears to fall from her eyes. Despite not exactly seeing Ayumi’s memories, just the nightmare alone was like a wake-up call for her. As if, it was all she needed to see. But deep down inside of her, there was more. Aside from the fear of what happened, and the sorrow she felt for Ayumi, there was something else. Hate. Deep down inside of her, she felt absolute hatred for the evil Digimon. For everything that he had done. Hearing it from Ayumi was bad enough. But to see it, even in a form of a nightmare, she felt that the creature had no heart. True evil incarnate.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw movement up above. Causing her to look up. Seeing the zeros and ones flowing above her head. Most of which were flowing in the same direction. The pink mare followed in their direction.

“Luna, look.”

“Huh?”

Following her niece’s gaze, Luna too saw how the numbers were flowing in one direction. Much to her confusion.

“Strange. The data in BlackWarGreymon’s mind didn’t move like that.”

It wasn’t the only thing Luna found strange. Ever since her nightmare repelling spell failed, she felt that something wasn’t right. As if something more sinister was happening in the background. Something within Ayumi’s own mind.

Feeling that there was a mystery at play, the night princess made a decision.

“Let’s follow them.”

Seeing the sudden determination in the blue Alicorn, Cadence followed her. Traversing deeper into Ayumi’s mind. Following the flow of data into what seemed to be an abys. As they travelled, both Luna and Cadence noticed that the world around them grew darker and darker. To a point where it no longer resembled the mind of a pony. Or any creature. The only source of light they had leading them was the glowing green numbers. Luna began to feel uneasy. She was still in Ayumi’s mind, yet she felt very little magic. Instead, she was feeling more of a Digimon’s power. But while it felt similar to the data that Ayumi wield in battle, what she was feeling felt much darker. Unsettling.

After what felt like forever, the two mares saw something strange up ahead. The flow of data seemed to be swirling amongst themselves. With other bits of data leaving and going back to where they came. The two princesses paused as they looked at what could be described as a ball of zeros and ones.

“What is that?” Cadence asked.

“I have no idea. It must be… the centre of Ayumi’s power. The power of the Digimon,” Luna guessed.

Deciding to not stand around, the two mares made a bold decision and fly straight at the ball of zeros and ones. Just as they thought that they could collide into them, the Alicorns simply phased through without any harm. Much to their relief and surprise. What furthered their surprise was that they seemed to have found a floor. Thought the ground couldn’t be seen, they could feel it with their hooves. After landing, the two looked around. The zeros and ones looked as though they were swarming around them. All in random directions in a big circle.

As they continued to stare at the spectacle, Cadence spoke up.

“This. This is the energy of all the evil Digimon she defeated, right?”

Despite not getting a reply, the answer was obvious. A small smile crept on her face.

“Well… at least she’s using this power for good. She could even help BlackWarGreymon protect the innocent.”

The mention of her favourite Digimon caused Luna to think about him. About how much BlackWarGreymon had helped Equestria. Despite the mishaps, he was always fighting to protect her kind. And the world that he had called home. Then her thoughts went to the version of Equestria where Ayumi came from. An Equestria that, for one reason or another, BlackWarGreymon was never there. The amount of lives that would’ve been saved. To spare Ayumi from the kind of life that was best described as hell. She began to think back to the other day. When she caught on a conversation between Ayumi and BlackWarGreymon. Seeing the former Twilight acting emotional. Then hugging and thanking the Artificial Mega for all he had done. She finally understood it all. It was something that Ayumi had wished for her world. To have a powerful ally to help her. To spare her the pain of what she went through. Someone… that could’ve given her hope.

Her sights shifted back to the data swirling around her and Cadence. She also remembered Ayumi saying that BlackWarGreymon… to her own disbelief… was even stronger than the evil Digimon that destroyed her home. Understandably surprised to the core. Luna gave the swirling data a unique expression. One that showed her distain for what the evil Digimon had done, and another that showed mockery. She then spoke up. Surprising Cadence from the fact that she looked as though she was talking to the data.

“It’s a shame that BlackWarGreymon was never there to stop you. He had the power to tear you apart.”







“Strange. I know those voices.”





The new voice sent a very cold shiver of fear and dread down the spines of the two princesses. Their eyes widened as they possibly could as their bodies completely froze. The voice came from nowhere. Yet, it came from everywhere. All around them like an echo. But what struck fear in them was that the voice… sounded so demonic. Even more so, very much like the demonic growls from the Digimon in Ayumi’s nightmare.

“L-Luna?” The pink Alicorn asked. Joined by the equally startled Moon Princess.

“C-Cadence?”

Then to their surprise, all the glowing green numbers suddenly paused. Then resumed moving. But much faster and more erratic. But as the mares watched the swarm of data in confusion, they heard the same demonic voice again.

“The princess of love. And the mistress of the moon.”

Hearing such a voice calling them out sent another wave of fear in the two. It sounded as though the voice knew them. The ponies began to dart their heads around. Trying to find something out of the ordinary. And as they did, they saw that there was a change to the flow of data. A spot in the sphere of numbers that the zeros and ones were avoiding. The gap grew bigger and bigger but revealing nothing but empty blackness.

But when the two heard the voice again, it seemed to be coming straight from the gap. But to add the shock and fear into the two mares, the voice called them by their names.

“Cadence… Luna…”

Utter silence filled the space as Luna and Cadence stared at the empty void with shock and fear on their faces. Their legs trembling as their hearts raced from the fright. They didn’t like the way the voice said their names. Causing them to move closer to each other. Fearing that they might suddenly get separated.

Then… straight from the dark abys in front of them… circled by the flowing data… the voice spoke again. Just as a pair of giant yellow piercing eyes stared right at them and into their very souls.

“Haven’t I killed you?”

Chapter 68: Omen of Armageddon

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Deep within the confines of Ayumi’s mind, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence had journeyed there to understand the events that lead the former Twilight to their own world. But to do that would mean to witness the demise of Equestria itself. But unforeseen circumstances had lead the pair to witness a nightmare that couldn’t be prevented. Much to Luna’s confusion as to how she couldn’t talk to Ayumi’s conscience.

But after following the trail of zeros and ones, Luna and Cadence travelled to the darkest depths of Ayumi’s mind. An area where it was more digital than magic. It was there, being surrounded by a dome of zeros and ones, where the two heard a deep, demonic voice. Addressing them by their names and their titles, the voice sent shivers of fright to the pair. Then, looking at the gap in the dome, they saw a giant pair of eyes. Eyes that were identical to the one from Ayumi’s nightmare monster. Piercing yellow eyes with pupils that penetrated the body and look into one’s soul. He then spoke the question that questioned itself what was real.

“Haven’t I killed you?”

Silence filled the void as the giant pair of eyes stared down at the fearful Alicorns. Luna and Cadence looking at the entity with looks of disbelief, confusion and horror. The eyes were the same as the Digimon they saw in Ayumi’s nightmare. His voice matched the demonic growls of the beast. The two then felt the biggest trembling feeling they had ever felt. Despite all that they knew, a single conclusion came to mind. A conclusion that shouldn’t be possible yet, was literally staring at them in the eyes.

Despite the fear in her voice, Luna spoke the question.

“Are… are you the one? The… the Digimon that… destroyed Equestria?”

There was a brief moment of silence as the pair of yellow eyes continued to stare at her and Cadence. But then a reply came in a form of the same demonic growl.

“I am.”

Luna and Cadence flinched in response. They were talking to the very same being that turned Ayumi’s Equestria into a literal hell. And looking into the eyes of a destroyer. The very revelation caused the two to take several steps back out of fear. Never in their lives had they felt so afraid.

“H-How? Sh…She killed you,” Luna uttered. Her voice just above a whisper.

The evil being’s eyes began to shift. As if trying to convey an expression that showed puzzlement.

“Strange. You’re aware of me. Yet, you act as thought you’ve never seen me before. And how are you here? Alive?”

Then after a brief pause, the yellow eyes slightly widened as they glowed for a split second. Him realising and remembering what had happened.

“That’s right. She has finally done it. She had found another Equestria to call her own.”

It then averted his gaze back to the two before him. His tone showing a hint of sadistic joy.

“So you're the Luna and Cadence of this world. And I assume that she already told you about me. About how I destroyed your lives… and butchered your kind.”

His last sentence struck a nerve in Cadence and Luna. It was true. He really was the Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s home. The fear in the two grew ever more apparent. But with it, came outrage. As Luna tried to deny what was true.

“But…But how? Ayumi said that she destroyed you. Reduced you to nothing! H-How are you…!?”

“Still alive?”

The blue Alicorn froze from having her sentence finished by the Digimon. It had sent an unspeakable wave of fear within her. Just conversing with the evil being was filling her with all sorts of emotions. But then paid attention when the voice spoke out again after a sinister chuckle.

“She may had destroyed my body, but my conscience still lives.”

The two mares remained silent as the voice explained himself.

“The Digimon that the cursed pony had slain were more than just my mere followers. They were a part of my being. My children. But we all share the same mind. So when she absorbed the data of my offspring, she absorbed my conscience as well. Despite destroying the true me, I still live on inside her.

When he spoke again, he made it out as though he was the victim.

“How ironic. That a supreme being such as me, is now forever condemned inside this body. Tragic, is it not?”

As Luna tried to process the information that she was given, she suddenly heard the voice of Cadence. The mare that had previously been silent the whole time.

“Tragic?”

Luna turned to look at the pink Alicorn. Surprised to see the look of anguish and hate on the face of the usually lovable mare. She was staring daggers at the giant pair of eyes that shifted to look at her directly. She then let out a hint of her temper.

“Tragic!? How about all those innocent lives that you killed!? How could you do such an awful thing!?”

When she spoke again, her voice grew all the angrier.

“And… poor Twilight. Why!? Why would you hurt her!!? She had done nothing to you!!”

Silence filled the void. Luna was stunned at Cadence’s outburst. She had never seen the Princess of Love so angry before. She was always calm. Using her breathing technique to contain her frustrations. But by not doing so, she’s letting her frustrations show on full display. There was no reason for her to hold back. Ayumi was essentially Twilight. As such, she was like a little sister to Cadence. The pink Alicorn had every right to be upset and angry.

The conscience of the evil Digimon too silently looked at Cadence. But the silence was broken by an evil demonic chuckle. Surprising the confused pair.

“I don’t remember seeing THIS side of you, Cadence. Much better than the one I encountered before.”

The two looked surprised when he mentioned the Cadence from the other Equestria. But from what he was about to say next, it only served to aggravate the pink Alicorn.

“The Cadence I met, was a coward. She just stood there in terror as I tore apart the Crystal Empire.”

“S-Stop,” Cadence uttered. Already feeling provoked by the Digimon’s words.

“You should’ve seen the faces of despair from the crystal ponies, when I stained my claws with your blood.”

“Stop it!” Cadence loudly uttered. Her eyes starting to be filled with tears.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to upset you,” Luna said. Trying to calm down the younger Alicorn. But her concerns fell to deaf ears. Cadence’s horn was beginning to flash blue.

“Your husband would’ve died of heartbreak… if I hadn’t got to him first!”

The Digimon’s last sentence about Shining Armor caused Cadence to snap. She gave the evil eyes a hate-filled glare before letting out a frustrated yell. But before she could get the chance to attack, the panicked Luna used her mastery of the dream realm and cancelled out Cadence’s magic.

“No, Cadence! You mustn’t!”

“But, Luna! He’s…!”

Luna then revealed to as to why she was stopping her.

“We’re inside Ayumi’s mind. If you do this, you will only end up hurting her more.”

Cadence froze from hearing Luna’s words. With everything she had learnt about the former Twilight, she wanted her to avoid any further harm. And the last thing she wanted was to be the one who would harm her more. She would never harm her. Realising what her outburst was just close to doing, Cadence immediately tried to calm down. But in place of her rage, came sadness. She collapsed on the ground as she began to cry her eyes out. Despite not being the same Cadence as the one who perished, she just couldn’t help but feel remorse for those who had fallen by the Digimon’s claws. Her subjects. Her family. Her own life. All slaughtered by the very same Digimon that was right in front of her. Cursed to be part of Ayumi’s mind forever onward. And that there was nothing she could do to fix the tragedy.

Luna knelt down to try and comfort her. Feeling just awful for her niece. Cadence always had the kindest heart of all the princesses. So to see her break down in tears was a very distressing sight.

Despite the tears in her eyes, Cadence glanced up at the entity. The pair of evil yellow eyes remained locked into her own. But he remained unmoved. Not swayed by her sadness in the slightest.

“Why? J-Just why? Why did you do it?” The upset Cadence asked as Luna too looked at him. Her own expression cold and stern.

The Digimon’s eyes continued to stare at the two Alicorns. Even as he gave his reply.

“Because you’re weak.”

As he continued, he revealed more of his disdain for the pony race.

“You’re kind act big, but all of you are soft. When you face a threat, you don’t kill. You merely lock them away or turn them into stone. You don’t have the stomach to act when it mattered. The only reason Twilight was able to end me was because she absorbed my data. Making her more violent. Malicious. She made me become a part of her.

He then focused the subject onto Ayumi.

“In a way, I helped mould her into what she had become. She has ME to thank for that power! She wouldn’t be the way she was without me!”

“Enough!”

Evident from her outburst, it was Luna’s turn to stand up to the evil Digimon. Standing beside Cadence, she glared angrily at the giant pair of eyes. Despite the feeling boosting her confidence to talk back to the Digimon, his eyes still gave her a frightening chill. Then the Digimon began to mock her.

“Or what? You couldn’t stop me any more than the other you tried. You’re just as weak.”

After a moment of thought, there was something that Luna managed to piece together.

“Her nightmare. I wasn’t able to stop it. Do I have to assume that YOU were behind that too?”

The surprised Cadence looked at Luna in surprise before looking back at the eyes of the Digimon. When he replied, he confirmed the blue mare’s suspicions.

“How right you are. I’m quite proud of that masterpiece.”

Hearing those words also gained the attention from the upset Cadence. Causing her to stand up.

“W-What!? You were behind that too!?”

“Correct. Consider it a fitting punishment for ending me. For if I couldn’t kill her, then I will torment her with a nightmare of her greatest failure. Bringing her the feeling of despair till the end of time. She may have my energy, but here in her fragile little mind, I’M IN CONTROL!”

The Digimon began to remember his past. During his rampage over Equestria.

“Hmm. How I wish that my fate hadn’t come to this. Oh, how I missed the screams.”

Luna and Cadence remained silent after the evil Digimon’s speech. They couldn’t think of anything else to say at the present moment. They were still shaken form the fact that the evil Digimon that killed them in another Equestria was still alive in Ayumi’s mind. What’s more, that he was talking to him. Luna then began to think of the present. Something that came to mind that made her grow a mocking smirk. Something that the evil being noticed as he averted his gaze onto her.

“Something amusing?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

Luna then revealed to the two what she had thought off.

“It doesn’t matter what you say. None of it. You’re conscience may still live, but you’re trapped in here. And Ayumi is in full control of her actions. What’s more, we don’t have to worry about you coming in our Equestria. Because in our home, you’re not around. You don’t exist.”

Her words had inspired Cadence to rise out of her sadness. Seeing that whatever happened was all in the past. The evil Digimon couldn’t hurt them. So all they had to do was simply move on and look forward to the future. An Equestria free from the evil being’s wrath.

That was, until he spoke again.

“Are you sure about that, Luna?”

The two Alicorns gave the evil pair of eyes a look of confusion. Why did it ask that? Was there something there something that Luna and Cadence had missed? Or was it all just a big bluff just to scare them? Uncertain if it was all just a trick, Luna spoke up. Followed by Cadence.

“What?”

“W-What do you mean?”

The eyes of the Digimon again made a questionable expression at the two.

“You mean Twilight hadn’t told you yet? Something that she had… recently discovered?”

The two princesses looked at each other in confusion. Knowing full well that the Digimon was talking about Ayumi. Since the day began, Ayumi had already left in the early morning. The next time they saw her was when she was unconscious and being held captive by Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. All that time, and Ayumi had not spoken a single word to them. Which meant that during her time away, she had discovered something. Something that the evil Digimon was enquiring.

“What…What did Ayumi…?”

Cadence was interrupted by the Digimon.

“Must you call her by her false name? She is still Twilight to the core.”

“Tell us!” Luna shouted. Demanding an explanation as she stared angrily at the yellow eyes of the beast. But started to feel uncertain as he chuckled.

“Alright. I tell you. Since it will be your only warning.”

The two ponies flinched from hearing those words. Was that a threat? Or was it some kind of warning. Despite the confusion, they listened to what he had to say.

“Earlier today, Twilight felt a powerful presence. A power that’s ancient, yet to her… very familiar. A power that dispelled all her hopes and beliefs… and filled her with nothing but terror and fear.”

The more he spoke, the more the two princesses began to feel nervous. For such power to make Ayumi afraid would have to be truly frightening indeed. But they weren’t prepared for what they were about to hear next.

“And that power… was me.”

The hearts of the two Alicorns briefly froze as their expressions morphed into a look of pure shock. Their eyes grew wide as a sudden shiver travelled into the depths of their souls. Their legs began to tremble from the weight of what sounded like a discovery. Even as the evil Digimon began to laugh, the two princesses found it hard to process what they had just listened to.

“W-What?”

It was all Luna was able to utter. She and Cadence were just too in shock to even speak out their thoughts. The very thought of a Digimon like him on their own grounds, in their Equestria, it was the stuff of nightmares. The evil being carried on.

“It surprised even me. She sensed my power. And yet, I’m here. And she sensed it far away. Far from this body and this land.”

Despite feeling her body trembling in fear, Luna tried to deny it. Calling him out in what she believed to be a bluff.

“Yo…You’re lying! It… it can’t be! You…!”

“Luna. I have never lied.”

Luna flinched from the Digimon’s response. She then heard his chuckle as he looked at her and Cadence.

“That’s it. That’s the fear I wanted to see. The fear that what you tried to deny… was in fact real. That no matter what happens…no matter where… no matter how much you want to believe that all is well… it was all for nothing. Because in the end… I DO EXIST HERE!!

Silence once again filled the void. The zeros and ones continued to swarm around the two princesses. Cadence slowly looked over to the shaken Luna. The look of uncertainty on her face.

“Luna? Could it be true? Could he… really be here? In our world?”

Luna remained silent as both the Digimon’s eyes and Cadence looked at Luna. Seeing how she would react. But as the night princess glanced back up at the giant yellow eyes, she gave him a very stern, but determined glare.

“Even if that’s true, that you really are in our world, Ayumi can stop you. And if not her, than BlackWarGreymon would.”

The way the yellow eyes flinched, it showed that Luna’s words had gained interest from the Digital conscious.

“Black…WarGreymon?”

Cadence spoke up. Noting the questionable tone in the Digimon’s demonic voice.

“Do you not know him?”

“I’ve not heard of that name exactly. But by chance, is he anything like HIM?”

Then to the surprise of the two ponies, a dot of white light appeared above the Digimon’s eyes. Quickly growing bigger. Then as the light faded, the princesses were able to see what was in its place. Luna knew what he was doing. The Digimon was showing them parts of his own memory. But what she was seeing greatly surprised both her and Cadence. The two saw an image of what looked like BlackWarGreymon. But his skin was orange and wore golden armour. The two couldn’t believe it. They were looking at the very Digimon that their friend was based on. WarGreymon himself. The golden dragon warrior was seen floating in an area that the mares had never seen before. The heroic Digimon glaring angrily at what was obvious was the evil Digimon’s point of view.

As the memory window faded away, the shocked Luna lowered her gaze to look back at the eyes of the evil Digimon.

“You… you met WarGreymon?” She asked. Her voice shaken.

“Met him. Fought him. And defeated him!”

Luna felt yet again a wave of disbelief at what she heard. Did the evil Digimon just admit that he’d beaten WarGreymon in a battle? The voice carried on.

“WarGreymon fought valiantly. But he was no match for me, even with the help of another Mega level Digimon. No matter what they tried, I remained superior!”

His yellow eyes glowed brighter as he continued. Staring at Luna intensely for having such hope for her black armoured friend.

“If this… BlackWarGreymon is anything like him, then it’s already futile! No matter what he will do, or how hard he’ll fight, the me in this world will crush him! Then, the other me will shatter your world!! You and your kind will fall and burn!! Equestria will die… SCREAMING!!!”

The yellow eyes of the Digimon looked down at Luna and Cadence below. He could see the fear on their faces from his terrifying speech. But he felt that it wasn’t enough. He then thought of something. Something that will frighten them to the absolute core of their being.

“Here.”

To the surprise of Luna and Cadence, another memory window began to open above the Digimon’s eyes. But unlike the first one, it emitted a bright orange light. The two Alicorns received a sudden bad feeling within them. They suspected what kind of light it was.

“Here’s a little prelude, to what is to come,” The voice said as the light from the memory window consumed both Luna and Cadence.

As soon as the two were able to see again, they were met with a sight they wished they could unsee. Their fears were true. The orange light from the memory window… were the light of a wildfire. The two stood on the edge of Canterlot. The entire city was in flames. The raging inferno consumed every building that the two could see. And to their horror, the lifeless bodies of fallen ponies littered the streets. But the most distressing were the sounds of panicked cries of trapped ponies. All crying out for help. But no one around to save them.

Despite taking in the absolute carnage around them, Cadence spoke up. Her voice consumed in fear and fright.

“Is… IS THIS…!?”

Then the two hard the voice of the Digimon talking to them.

“Yes. Twilight’s memory.”

The two froze from what they heard. The Digimon forced the two into one of Ayumi’s memories. But despite being what they had originally planned, they immediately realised that it was probably better if they hadn’t. While they were expecting carnage, but never anything like from a horror show. The two felt like they were standing in the pits of hell itself. The entire world around them was lit up by the orange flames. The smoke blocking out the sun.

Then the two heard a voice. But to Luna’s surprise, it was her own.

“Sister!”

Their ears twitched from hearing the outcry, turning in its direction. Cadence then looked at Luna in confusion.

“Wait, Luna. Isn’t that…?”

Not wasting time, the two flew off the ground and proceeded towards where the voice was heard. After finding an opening, the two found themselves in the middle of a deserted road. And right in front of them, was a very recognizable princess.

“L-Luna! That’s…”

“Me,” Luna uttered. Finishing Cadence’s sentence.

The mare that limped before their very eyes was indeed Luna. But her mane was in a bad state and her body was covered in cuts and bruises. And judging by her limping, one of her legs had suffered an injury.

The two onlookers couldn’t believe it. They were looking at the Luna from Ayumi’s timeline.

“Sister!” The alternate Luna cried out. Trying to find her older sibling.

But just a second later, a reply was heard.

“Luna!”

Following the sound of the reply, the three looked at the wall of fire. Then emerging from the flames was a golden magical sphere. After the barrier faded, two ponies were revealed. Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight. Both of which also suffered injuries from battle. For Celestia, the most notable was that her left wing was broken. Just like the alternate Luna, Cadence and Luna looked at the pair in utter shock. They had never seen either of them so battered and worn. For Cadence, she looked down at Twilight. Seeing the tears in her eyes revealed that something absolutely heart-wrenching had happened.

“So that’s Twilight… before she became Ayumi,” She uttered to herself. With Luna joining her.

“So… this is the day when Equestria fell.”

The pair decided to stay quiet. Watching the events of the alternate Equestria unfold. But already feeling that what they were about to witness was nothing like they had ever imagined.

Seeing that Celestia and Twilight had survived, Luna rushed up to them. Deeply relieved that they were alive.

“Sister!” Luna cried out as she ran in to hug Celestia and Twilight. The two giving her hugs back despite their injuries.

With her own tears falling from her eyes, Luna looked down at Twilight. The younger Alicorn looked as though she had been broken mentally. Luna then looked around in a puzzled manner.

“But… where is everyone else? Did they make it out? Where are they?”

Knowing full well what Luna was talking about, Twilight let out a louder cry of sorrow. Then further surprising Luna when she spoke. Her voice full of despair.

“My… my…f-friends. T-they… H…He…”

Twilight was simply too upset to talk properly. Celestia knelt down and nuzzled her to try to comfort her. She too shearing her sympathy. When she looked back at Luna, the night princess quietly gasped in horror. Realising what had happened to Twilight’s friends.

“Oh no. T-Twilight… I’m so sorry,” Luna uttered. She too feeling remorse for the loss.

As the fire and destruction raged on around them, Luna looked over to Celestia with a look of worry.

“Sister? What are we going to do now?”

Just as Celestia tried desperately to think of what to do, a sudden explosion erupted back towards the centre of the city. The yells and cries from the unseen ponies could be heard in the air. Joined by the yells of what were the royal guard. Which was then followed by a loud demonic roar from the evil Digimon that turned their world upside down.

As Celestia looked back at the chaos before her, she then looked down at the tearful Twilight. An idea formed in her head. An idea that could very well be her last. She looked over to Luna with instructions.

“Luna. I need you to listen very carefully. I need you to do something for me.”

Puzzled at first, Luna paid attention.

“What is it?”

“I need you to take Twilight as far away from here as you can. It is important for her to survive.”

Twilight, who was overhearing the conversation, stirred up and looked at Celestia with questionable eyes.

“W-What? But… what about you?”

It was a question that Luna too shared. Feeling that the plan had not included Celestia herself. As she looked back at the destruction behind her, knowing that the evil Digimon was nearby, she then revealed her part in the plan.

“I’m going to hold him off as long as I can.”

Luna gasped as what she just heard. What Celestia was suggesting was basically suicide. Twilight instantly reacted by protesting.

“W-WHAT!!? NO!!! You can’t fight him on your own!? You’ll be killed!”

Luna stayed silent. Like Twilight, she too was heavily against the idea. Not wanting to be apart from her sister. However, she stayed quiet. Despite her own arguments, she could tell that Celesta was dead serious. She would never say such things unless it was for a reason. Causing her to struggle to protest. Twilight however felt differently.

“There has to be another way! We… we fight together!”

“No, Twilight. You are a brilliant pony who’s also the Element of Magic. That’s why you must live. You are the key to end all this. I know it. But you’re not ready. You must leave, Twilight,” Celestia said to her. Her tone sad but calm. Trying her hardest to reassure Twilight that there was still hope.

But Twilight felt otherwise. She knew very well that Celestia would not be coming back from the fight. The evil Digimon was just too powerful.

“Please. Don’t. I don’t want to lose you too,” Twilight uttered. Her eyes flooding with tears.

Seeing her former student so distraught caused Celestia herself to cry. But her plan was the only one that could insure Twilight’s survival. She knelt down closer to Twilight. Her horn just inches from hers.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. Forgive me.”

It was all Celestia said before using a spell to put the exhausted Twilight to sleep. She knew that the young Alicorn wouldn’t leave voluntarily. Which was why she had to do it. Looking over to her sister, Celestia could see that Luna too was shaken from what was said. But only frowned afterwards. Knowing that the Sun Princess couldn’t be swayed.

“Look after her, Luna. Keep her safe,” Celestia said as Luna used a levitation spell to pick up the sleeping Twilight and placed her on her back.

“I’ll do all I can. I’ll… I’ll train her well,” Luna replied. Looking at her sister with her tear-filled gaze.

“I know you will, Luna. As the Element of Magic, she’s our only hope.”

The two took a moment to process what was about to happen. If the events were to unfold, it would be the very last time they would ever see each other. The two sisters knew that. Unable to contain herself, Luna rushed up to Celestia to give her the biggest farewell hug she could muster. With Celestia immediately returning the embrace her sibling. The two had tears flowing down from their clenched eyes. Quietly sobbing as they held each other.

“If… If you do make it out, then… then you come straight to us.”

Celestia couldn’t reply to Luna verbally. The only response she gave was tightening her hug. The odds of her surviving the encounter alone was next to nil.

After their long hug, the two finally pulled away. Gazing each other for what was to be one last time.

“I love you, big sister.”

“I love you too, little Lulu.”

The two then suddenly heard a loud crash coming from behind Celestia. The two sharply looked over to see a large building crumbling down to the ground. The next thing they saw was a giant clawed hand slamming down on the rubble.

Seeing that the evil Digimon was right there, Celestia turned to Luna with a desperate plea.

“GO!!! NOW!!!”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Luna closed her eyes as she turned to run. Then with a beat of her tattered wings, she took to the sky with the unconscious Twilight in tow.

As her sister disappeared into the darkened sky, Celestia turned back to where the monster was. Moving from the debris and out in the open. With a huge wall of fire behind him, much of his silhouette could be seen. Revealing just how nightmarish the Mega level Digimon looked. Which made it all the more frightening when he turned to lock his sights on the white Alicorn. Despite the brightness of the flames, his piercing yellow eyes could be seen. Staring at the princess as he chuckled before speaking.

“I found you. Ce…les…ti…a.”

The white Alicorn turned to face the Digimon fully. Her only working wing flared up as she lowered her head down to point her horn at him. The glare of anger and defiance shone in her eyes.

“I swear… in the name of Equestria. You will fall.”

It was all Celestia had to say to him… before letting out a loud grunt. Forcing her weakened legs to gallop towards the danger. Knowing full well that she was running to what was to be her final battle.

But just as Celestia was about to engage the towering giant, everything faded into white. The memory that the Digimon’s conscience wanted to show had ended. As for Cadence and Luna, they sat down in total silence. Tears running down their wide eyes of sadness. They had no idea that the fall of Canterlot had played out like that. Not in their darkest nightmares. What they had witnessed literally shock them to the core. But despite the shock, the two held a newfound deepest respect for the alternate Celestia. To sacrifice her own life just so that Equestria would have a chance of survival was something very few would do. However it only made it all the more tragic. Because by the time the alternate Twilight became Ayumi and ended the threat once and for all… it was already too late. Equestria was destroyed, and every other survivor had been wiped out. Forcing Ayumi to abandon her home.

Cadence felt awful. Starting to wish that she never had the idea to venture into Ayumi’s mind. If she had just taken the word of others, then she would’ve avoided the situation entirely. They would’ve never had to witness such a catastrophe.

“I… I don’t know what to say. Celestia. S… she…”

Cadence found it hard to finish her sentence. But as for Luna, the talk about her sister caused her to remember something. Something that may had been relevant to the entire situation. Her teary eyes widened in realisation.

“Her vision.”

“What?” The pink Alicorn asked. Just catching the sound of Luna’s voice.

When Luna revealed what had gone through her mind, she reminded Cadence about what she too had discovered from her eldest aunt.

“Celestia. Earlier today, she told us about her vision. A vision that Equestria would…would be…”

Luna paused as her face became more fear stricken. The equally shocked Cadence finished the sentence for her.

“…destroyed by a powerful monster.”

The two paused from the thought of the description of Celestia’s vision. To their horror… it matched almost perfectly to what they had witnessed in the memory window. Further reinforced by the demonic voice behind them. Who caught on to their conversation.

“Hmm, sounds like something I would do. Or should I say… had already done.”

Luna’s eyes were then filled with anguish along with fear. The pieces were becoming clearer. The disaster that they had witnessed, it truly began to correspond with how Celestia described her vision. Which in her mind, could only mean one thing.

The evil Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s Equestria… was very likely to be in their own!

Cadence eventually shared the same thought. What the two had denied at first, was starting to become more believable. It was too much to be a coincidence. With the feeling of frustration washing over her, both her fear and temper reaching higher and higher, Luna turned to look at the giant pair of yellow evil eyes. Only one question came to her mind. A question she desperately wanted an answer for.

“Who are you?”

The evil Digimon however ignored the question. Instead, choosing to install more fear into the ponies more. First by mocking them.

“What’s the matter? Starting to believe?”

“W-Who… are you!”

Luna was getting angrier as she began to storm towards the yellow eyes looking at her. Tears of frustration forming in her blue eyes. But the Digimon carried on.

“It matters not what you think. Because the results will stay the same. Equestria as you know it… will fall.”

“WHO ARE YOU!!!?”

Luna stopped as she slammed her hoof on the non-existent ground. Causing the void around them to tremble. Surprising Cadence while doing so. Luna huffed as she took in deep breaths as she stared into the eyes of the evil being. The Digimon unmoved by her outburst. But as the silence continued, the Digimon spoke back.

“It’s time for us to part.”

“W…What?” Luna uttered in surprise. The swarm of zeros and ones began to converge towards the yellow eyes. But as they did, the Digimon still had something to say to them.

“Heed my words, princess. When the me in this world will rise, the events of what you saw will come true. You’re world will burn. The land will be bathed in your blood. And not even this… BlackWarGreymon can save you.”

As the numbers began to cover the yellow eyes, both Luna and Cadence suddenly felt as though their bodies were being pushed back. The blue Alicorn felt such a sensation before. She was being forced out of Ayumi’s mind. But the action was caused by the Digimon’s subconscious. As she tried to fight it, still wanting the Digimon to answer her question, he heard his last words to her. Just as the evil yellow eyes vanished in the sea of zeros and ones.

“You will be seeing me… very soon.”

Then just as the world around her vanished, Luna’s eyes snapped open as she screamed in anger. Rising out of the bed, as she took in deep breaths to calm down. Confused, the blue mare looked at her surroundings. She was back in the real world. Wide awake. She fidgeted as she tried to figure out what was going on. But as she started to panic, she heard a voice from across the room.

“Luna? Are you alright?”

Looking ahead of her, she saw that Cadence was too wide awake. But concerned for her wellbeing.

“No, Cadence. It’s not alright,” Luna said as she climbed out of the bed. Trying to convey everything they had learned.

“If everything he said was true, than… than we have a crisis on our hooves. That… thing. He’s somewhere in our world.”

But Cadence couldn’t figure out one thing.

“But if that’s true, then why didn’t he rise up like the one from the other world? Why is this one taking much longer?”

Luna paused in thought. It was a question she never considered.

“That’s right. In her world, that Digimon made himself known after Tirek was spotted in the Everfree Forest. But that never happened here, when BlackWarGreymon arrived.”

Luna’s head was beginning to ache from so much thinking.

“Urgh! This doesn’t make any sense. And to top it all off, we still need to figure out what happened to BlackWarGreymon!”

Cadence too was beginning to feel uneasy.

“I don’t see how this could get any worse.”

Just as the pink Alicorn finished her sentence, the doors to the room opened. Revealing to be Spike the dragon. The young reptile huffing for breath.

“Ahhh! Finally found you!” He said before taking in deep breaths to get some air back.

Surprised at the purple dragon, Cadence spoke up.

“What’s the matter, Spike?”

“It’s Twilight. She wants us to all meet up with her, right now. She says that she has something important to tell us.”

The two princesses looked at each other in uncertainty. Wondering what the sudden meeting was all about.
……………………………………………………………………………....................................................

However, elsewhere in Canterlot Castle, lying on Luna’s bed in her chamber, BlackWarGreymon was feeling restless. Tossing and turning in his sleep as he became more and more uneasy. Grunting as he tried to force himself to remain calm.

Unfortunately, the discomfort wasn’t from the bed. It was from what was going on in his mind. He could feel it. As if, a black fog was starting to cloud his mind. Then as his grunts suddenly grew louder, sparks of dark blue electric-like negative energy started to surge around his body. The energy causing him discomfort, and for his muscles to briefly bulk.

Then as his grunts turned into growls, the black armoured Digimon slowly opened his eyes. But instead of his usual yellow irises, his eyes were a white, featureless glow.

Chapter 69: Countdown to Calamity

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Far away from any civilization, the evil Digimon, along with Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling hive, were waiting within the deepest depths of their hidden lair.

It had been quite a while since the dark beast had sent ChaosBlackWarGreymon and Lord Tirek towards the city of Canterlot with their mission. The plan was simple. The centaur would drain all the magic from the royals and the element bearers, rendering them helpless and weak. Such a sight would cause BlackWarGreymon so much grief that the digital clone would take advantage and destroy him once and for all.

The large Digimon possessed far greater senses than the Changeling queen. During their wait, the evil being felt a cluster of power surges. All the tell-tale signs that there was a conflict. Just as he had planned. He was admittingly unsettled when he felt the magical power within BlackWarGreymon as the latter went into his Ascended form. But was interested to find out that the power slowly died down. Then even more so when he felt Tirek’s power sharply rising shortly afterwards.

But his curiosity really peaked when he felt a sudden dark change to BlackWarGreymon’s data. With his mind full of knowledge, he knew exactly what the change was. But with it came something unexpected. With the sudden rise in digital energy, the evil being could no longer tell what was happening. As if BlackWarGreymon’s newfound power was overshadowing everyone else. He couldn’t even sense ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

But what left him surprised the most was that as soon as the power faded away, everything else just disappeared. Vanished without a trace. While he could tell the battle was over, he couldn’t decipher which was victory or defeat. Unless BlackWarGreymon’s power destroyed both them and himself.

Chrysalis could see that the Digimon was acting uneasy.

“M-Master? Are you alright?” She asked. Unsure what was going through his mind.

Instead of replying to Chrysalis directly, the Digimon spoke his mind. Revealing what he was thinking.

“The powers are gone. The battle has concluded. But I can’t tell who won,” He said, aggravated by the lack of evidence on who won.

Not wanting to see the beast angry, the Changeling queen tried to reassure him.

“I understand your plan perfectly. If things went according to your precise instructions, I’m sure they won’t fail.”

The annoyed beast clenched his right fist in anger.

“Likewise. I’m getting tired of these countless failures.”

The recent events were not the only failures the dark being had experienced. All the previous times surrounding the elements of evil he had tried to develop had backfired on his plan of conquest. The missions he sent Queen Chrysalis on, even far back at the Canterlot wedding. Him influencing Sombra to become the king of shadows. Trying to get Discord to follow his way. He even came across Lord Tirek and his brother Scorpen. Informing the two about the magic of Equestria. Of course, it lead to one being imprisoned and one being a traitor. Afterwards, three times the dark being freed Tirek. Only for him to turn out useless.

Thousands of years the evil Digimon plotted to weaken Equestria prior to his emergence. Only for good to prevail and grow stronger. With the string of failed missions in recent times, he would think to expect failure. But he had hoped that surely, he would make a breakthrough.

As silence began to settle in, the souls in the lair began to hear footsteps. Looking in the direction of one of the passageways, they all saw that it was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. His expression seemed more neutral than normal as he walked in. Thoughts clearly on his mind.

“Ah, you’re back. How was your mission?” Chrysalis asked. Somewhat relieved that the clone came back unharmed.

To her confusion, the grey-armoured Mega said nothing as he walked closer to the centre of the lair. His expression not changing in the slightest.

Then as the armoured Digimon paused in place, the evil being stood up from not seeing one of his other allies.

“Where is Tirek?”

At first, ChaosBlackWarGreymon didn’t answer the question. Though he slowly looked down at the ground in response. But his evil creator began to grow impatient once more.

“Answer me! Where is he!?”

After another suspenseful silence, the BlackWarGreymon clone spoke up.

“H…He’s dead.”

The dark Digimon paused in response. The expression in his eyes showed mild shock and disbelief. The same could not be said for Chrysalis and her Changelings. To whom were all surprised. As her solders mumbled and gossiped amongst themselves, the queen spoke to the digital clone.

“W-What!!? Tirek’s dead!?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused for a moment while remembering what he had seen. The sight of BlackWarGreymon Dark Mode Changing into his berserker state. Then the image of him tearing Tirek apart. All concluded with his execution. He then broke the silence, answering Chrysalis.

“Yes. BlackWarGreymon destroyed him. And then turned him into dust.”

Chrysalis felt very intimidated at what she had heard. She had fought BlackWarGreymon before back at Canterlot. She remembered how she was easily repealed by the Digimon’s strength. In terms of power, speed and strength, she was vastly outclassed. She couldn’t believe that the very same Digimon possessed the kind of power to destroy someone as powerful as Tirek. She felt lucky that the Mega didn’t took her seriously.

But then the Changeling queen had a thought. Something that made her very doubtful.

“Wait. Is he really the same one? I don’t think the ponies would ever allow that.”

Chrysalis had a good reason to be skeptical. Being close friends with the ponies, she would think that he would follow their example and not commit murder. BlackWarGreymon also fought against her hive and not one of them had perished. She felt that something was amiss.

Chrysalis wasn’t the only one to have thought so. The evil Digimon himself was having the same mental image. Speaking up to express his thoughts.

“You’re right. They wouldn’t. The pitiful ponies don’t have the stomach for it. Unless…”

He then began to remember sensing the sudden dark change in BlackWarGreymon’s energy. The Dark Digivolution. It had to be the only reason. He then averted his gaze. Looking directly at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The armoured Digimon flinched in response as his master stared him down.

“You were there. You saw everything. What happened?”

Despite already knowing the reason, the evil Digimon wanted to hear it straight from ChaosBlackWarGreymon himself. The digital clone began to feel intimidated as his master approached him. He could hear the hidden growls of anger within his voice. But knowing he had to obey, he complied.

“BlackWarGreymon. He… he Dark Digivolved. His new form was far stronger than his Ascended form. He… he then tortured Tirek to the brink of death. And then incinerated him with fire.”

Chrysalis and her Changelings felt a wave of fear from what the grey-armoured Digimon said. Frightened even more of BlackWarGreymon’s abilities. As for the evil Digimon, his eyes showed a hint of surprise. Of all the ways for Tirek to go out, he never expected death by fire. But knowing all about Dark Digivolutions, he understood it.

But there was something else the master wanted to know.

“But you were there.”

Before ChaosBlackWarGreymon could respond, he suddenly felt a large fist colliding into his gut. Despite the armour he wore, the digital clone felt massive air leaving his body. Him gagging in pain as he hunched forward. The evil Digimon then used his same hand to grab a hold on ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s throat. Then proceeding to lift him up and slammed him against the wall. The clone gagged in surprise as he tried to pry his master’s arm away. But to no avail.

The sudden actions took the Changelings completely by surprise. Large swarms of them flew to hide in the furthest edges of the chamber. Chrysalis froze in shock at the sudden hostilities. Scared of what might happen next.

After pressing ChaosBlackWarGreymon to the wall and holding him by the throat, the beast roared at him.

“Why didn’t you interfere!?”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon panicked as he tried to struggle free. Finding it harder to breathe. He then managed to answer.

“I…I couldn’t! T-Tirek was done for! And… I would’ve been next!”

He suddenly felt the grip on his neck beginning to tighten. His eyes grew wide in shock and fear as pain started to kick in.

“You DARE disobey me!!?”

Feeling more threatened than ever for his failure, ChaosBlackWarGreymon revealed what happened.

“B-BlackWarGreymon’s power was too great! I… I tried to fight him! But… his Dark Digivolution was too strong! I stood… no chance against him!”

In response to his answer, the evil being tossed ChaosBlackWarGreymon aside. The grey-armoured Digimon crashing to the ground before taking in deep breaths. As he tried to sit back up, Chrysalis rushed to his side to help.

But as she reached him, the two could hear the master talking to himself.

“Curse it all! Failures! I’m surrounded by failures!”

After calming down, he tried to understand the situation.

‘I don’t understand it. BlackWarGreymon and I are both Mega level Digimon. And yet, he’s gaining far more power in a day than I could in a month. Never mind Dark Digivolution. His power somehow grows thanks to the magic of this world. How could his power advance so much from just magic alone? If he keeps this up, he might be able to catch up to me. Or even surpass me! Thousands of years of waiting will be for nothing! I cannot let that happen!’

Seeing the evil Digimon motionless and quiet brought full attention from Queen Chrysalis. She had never seen him in such deep thought before.

Unsure of what he was thinking, the nervous royal summoned up the courage to talk to him.

“Umm… master?”

Her voice caught the Digimon’s attention. Annoyed that she broke his concentration.

“What!”

Chrysalis felt a wave of fear at the Digimon’s outburst. He was clearly not in a good mood. But after her brief hesitation, she spoke her question.

“Just… how near are you to your full power?”

The Digimon looked at his clenched fists as he answered.

“I am close, Chrysalis. So close! I just need to wait a bit more. But I’m almost there! I can feel it!”

After letting out a heavy sigh, the evil beast turned to walk away. The Changeling in front of him moved out of the way to avoid being squashed under his feet. They knew he wouldn’t care if he did.

“Where you going?” Chrysalis asked him.

“I’m going to sleep. Don’t disturb me,” He replied before disappearing into the shadows.

Both Chrysalis and the recovering ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on. Wondering what was on the monster’s mind.
…………………………………………………………………………………………............................................

Over at Canterlot Castle, Princess Twilight managed to reach her friends in the throne room. All her friends were wondering why Twilight didn’t arrive with them. and where she had run off to. The answer of which she explained. But with a nervous tone.

Predictably, the reactions of her friends were of complete shock. The reason for her nervous tone.

“Wait! You went and found ChaosBlackWarGreymon all on your own!?” Rainbow Dash asked the purple Alicorn.

“Yes, I did,” Twilight answered while chuckling nervously.

Prince Shining Armor rushed up to his little sister to inspect her out of concern.

“Are you ok? Are you hurt!?”

“It’s ok, Shining. He didn’t hurt me.”

Then Applejack chimed in.

“But why in tarnation would ya do somthin’ like that?”

Then Twilight revealed to the group what she had discovered.

“Because he knew what happened to BlackWarGreymon. He told me everything.”

The others were stunned silent from Twilight’s answer. They couldn’t believe it. The digital clone knew why their Digimon friend suddenly went berserk against Tirek. At the back of the group, the silent Luna and Cadence perked up from hearing Twilight’s words. Luna more so.

“Really!? He told you!?” She asked in disbelief. Joined by Pinkie Pie.

“What did he say!?”

But before the rush of exchanges could continue, ponies all talking over each other, Princess Celestia interrupted them.

“Calm down, everypony.”

Hearing the motherly tone of the white Alicorn caused all the ponies cease talking and pay attention to her.

Celestia took a moment to look at Twilight. While she was relieved that her former student was unharmed and back in their safety, she was also confused. From what she was told and from what she saw, ChaosBlackWarGreymon was violent and very dangerous. His way of thinking was as unpredictable as his vicious temper. A true force to be reckoned with that even gets BlackWarGreymon worried. His previous actions at the Crystal Empire showed that he had no concerns for his allies or even the innocent lives around him. He didn’t care if they were to perish beneath his might.

That was… until the recent events. True, ChaosBlackWarGreymon left the group at the mercy of Tirek. But when BlackWarGreymon underwent a dark transformation, killed Tirek and threatened them, it was ChaosBlackWarGreymon who stepped up and tried to reason with him. It was there that Celestia couldn’t understand. If ChaosBlackWarGreymon truly was evil, then why did he not leave them as targets for the berserker Digimon? Why did he intervene? Why did he not use the enraged BlackWarGreymon for his gains. If anything, he was greatly opposed to it. Such a switch confused her greatly.

She began to understand why Twilight stayed behind at the battlefield. While they all overheard the digital clone saying that he knew what happened, Twilight had the foresight and bravery to stay behind and confront ChaosBlackWarGreymon. While the very idea was dangerous, it turned out to had paid off.

Twilight had received the very answers to the questions they had been asking since the ordeal started. With eyes full of concern, Celestia leaned closer to Twilight. Giving her a caring glare as she spoke.

“Twilight. What did he tell you? What happened to BlackWarGreymon?”

“O-Ok” The smaller Alicorn replied. Surprised by the soft caring tone from her former teacher.

After recomposing herself, Celestia joined with the others as they watched Twilight. Being silent to let her talk.

Twilight began with what the digital clone told her.

“Yes. He said he knew what happened to BlackWarGreymon. He said that it was a type of Digivolution that we have never seen before.”

Twilight paused to see the reactions from her friends. All of them looked shocked and surprised.

“What? It was a Digimon transformation?” Fluttershy asked. Leaving Twilight to answer.

“Yes. In fact, it was something that ChaosBlackWarGreymon thought would never happen to him. But somehow, it did.”

She then paused for a moment. Then revealed the name of the transformation.

“He called it… Dark Digivolution.”

The group all felt a cold shiver from hearing the name. It definitely didn’t feel right in the slightest. But out of the group, Luna felt he most insecure.

“Dark… Digivolution?”

“But how did that happen, darling?” Rarity asked.

After remembering what ChaosBlackWarGreymon told her, she revealed the cause of the form.

“Well, you see, he told me that the transformation happens… when a Digimon goes through intense rage. Their burst of anger triggers the change.”

The group all silently looked at each other in thought. They couldn’t believe that such a transformation was possible. But Luna was the one who felt uneasy the most. From what the others told her, BlackWarGreymon transformed because she got hurt by Tirek. Without knowing, she was the trigger that caused the change.

But there was an aspect about the form that the group definitely needed an answer for.

“Well… I can understand why he would go all out on Tirek. But…”

Shining Armor’s sentence was completed by Fluttershy.

“Why did he turn on us? We’re his friends.”

Twilight began to feel sad for what she was about to tell her friends. Just the thought of it made her feel hurt.

“Why? Because of the very reason why ChaosBlackWarGreymon tried to stop it.”

The group all silently looked at the purple Alicorn from the tone she used. She was clearly upset. And when she spoke again, they all found out why.

“Once a Digimon Dark Digivolves… they’d lose complete control of themselves. They would end up attacking everything around them. And everyone. Friend of foe. By succumbing to their rage, they become violent beasts that are beyond reason. They would even kill if they get the chance. Hence why so many Digimon consider it evil.”

The group all looked at Twilight in disbelief. They just couldn’t believe what they were hearing. But the things she described, matched perfectly to what had happened before their very eyes. BlackWarGreymon not only showed no mercy to Tirek. He incinerated him. Then turned on his friends, almost killed Ayumi, and then beat the living daylights out of his clone. All the while, showing no mercy. No remorse. Or even concern. But they never expected him to openly state that he would even reject friendship.

The group all fell silent. Taking a moment to sink in all what they had learnt. Disheartened that such a thing had happened to their friend.

“I… I don’t believe it. Such a thing… is real,” Celestia uttered. Feeling disheartened by the revelation. For a moment, BlackWarGreymon truly turned evil.

But then Twilight revealed more.

“Worse still. Is that you just can’t get rid of it. It’s a part of a Digimon’s evolution. It can happen to any Digimon. Regardless how good they are.”

“No way,” Rainbow Dash quietly said. She was still shaken from how BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode acted towards her. She could never get that image out of her head. He looked so threatening.

Luna paused as she looked down at the ground. With everything Twilight just told them, then how was it that BlackWarGreymon remembered her. Somehow, her plea had reached the Digimon’s sense of reasoning. Despite being in his Berserker Mode form, he recognized her. And it was more than enough for him to let go of his rage and change back. She took a moment to think. Was it because of the bond they shared? Was that the reason why BlackWarGreymon regained his sanity?

But Twilight decided to lighten the mood.

“But for what he’d done today, ChaosBlackWarGreymon… actually saved us.”

The group looked at Twilight in response. She seemed oddly happy about what she said. Not from the fact that they were saved, but from who saved them. And with the subject of the digital clone being brought up, Shining Armor spoke.

“Well… with the beating he took, I don’t think he would be back anytime soon.”

But upon saying his piece, he and the others suddenly heard Twilight letting out a nervous chuckle.

“Well… about that.”

She paused her speech. Unsure of what the others would think if she told them.

But the others caught on to her tone. She was guilty of something.

“Twilight? What did you do?” Shining Armor asked.

Although she felt incredibly awkward for what she was about to admit, the lavender mare spilled the beans.

“Well… I healed him.”

All eyes stared at her in pure disbelief. The princess basically just admitted to healing someone who was their enemy.

“You healed him!!? Why!!? Why would you do that!!?” Rainbow Dash blurted out. Feeling outraged.

“Calm down, Miss Dash,” Luna said before turning towards Twilight.

“But she does raise a point. He has caused nothing but trouble. So why did you do it?”

Twilight took a brief moment to think before answering. Telling the truth of what she was feeling at the time.

“Well… when I saw him with all those injuries, I... I felt bad for him. I know he had done bad things in the past, but he did save us today. And he suffered for it. I… it didn’t feel right to leave him like that after what he did today. And while I was healing him, we talked.”

He continued as she began to think about how ChaosBlackWarGreymon acted towards her.

“And as we did, he felt different. It was like he wasn’t the same ChaosBlackWarGreymon as before. He was different and more open. And actually, more understanding.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Twilight. But you make it sound as if you… enjoyed his company,” Rainbow Dash said. Clearly showing her distaste for the digital clone.

“Well… if not, than I wouldn’t have learnt so much about him.”

“Like what, Twilight?” Celestia asked.

There was one point Twilight wanted to tell, but she was unsure of what her friends’ reactions would be. Especially Rainbow Dash.

“Well… you may not believe me, but… the way he acted, and the way he spoke… I don’t think he’s a dark incarnation at all.”

The whole group all looked at her in utter surprise. Despite everything that happened with the clone, Twilight believed that the opposite was the truth.

“You’re kidding, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, not believing a word Twilight said.

“But Twilight, he threatened so many lives,” Rarity added.

“I know that, Rarity. But… I think it was because at the time, he was motivated by the evil ways of King Sombra and Lord Tirek.”

“But Twilight. How can ya be sure he wasn’t lying to ya?” Applejack asked.

But the answer Twilight responded with shocked the entire group.

“Because he saved BlackWarGreymon’s life today.”

Everyone stared at the Princess of Friendship in shock and disbelief.

“WHAT!!?” The whole group uttered.

“Since when did THAT happen!?” Rainbow Dash added.

Twilight then explained the events of what happened during the fight between BlackWarGreymon and Tirek.

“All of you saw it too. It was when Tirek was absorbing BlackWarGreymon’s ascended energy. Before he could drain him completely, a large dark energy ball appeared and struck Tirek. Do you all remember that?”

The others took a moment to remember such an event. And realised that it was true.

“You’re right. That attack came from out of nowhere,” Pinkie Pie said.

“And that attack did look very familiar,” Fluttershy added.

“Wait, Twilight. Are you saying that…” Cadence said. The amazement of the idea caused her speech to stop. But Twilight answered her would-be question.

“Exactly. That attack was a Shadow Destroyer sphere. One of ChaosBlackWarGreymon’s powers.”

Shining Armor also noticed something about the event.

“And the way that attack travelled, it was deliberately aimed at Tirek.”

“But why? I thought Tirek was his ally.” Fluttershy mentioned.

But before Twilight could answer, Rainbow Dash interrupted her.

“Because that’s what he does! You’re seen how easily he totalled King Sombra. He’s just evil to the core.”

“I wouldn’t put it like that, Rainbow. He’s…”

Before Twilight could continue, the blue Pegasus snapped at her. Surprising her and the group.

“There you are! You’re doing it again! This is ChaosBlackWarGreymon we’re talking about! The evil clone of BlackWarGreymon himself! Why… of all the beings in Equestria… are you defending… HIM!!!?”

At first, Twilight was stunned silent from Rainbow Dash’s outburst. The Pegasus had every right to be mad at ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He mocked her, broken her pride and destroyed one of her most favourite places in Equestria. The Wonderbolt Academy. She was clearly hurt from the whole ordeal. And being spooked by BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode also didn’t help.

While she remained a little surprised, her expression became sterner. There was one more detail about ChaosBlackWarGreymon she had to share.

“Because he’s not as evil as you think he is. He even felt love.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in shock at what she just heard. The others looked at her in confusion.

“What…what did you just say, Twilight?” Cadence asked. She could’ve sworn she heard her sister-in-law mentioned her favourite talent.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon. After the Cutiemark Crusaders thanked him for saving them from the Timberwolves, he told me that he felt an emotion. One of which he had never felt before. But what he was feeling… was love.”

As hard as it was to believe such a thing, Applejack could tell that Twilight was telling the truth. While the others remained silent from the revelation, Cadence realised an important fact.

“And… since he felt love, then that means…”

Twilight finished the older Alicorn’s sentence. She too knew about the fact as well.

“Exactly. It means there is good in him.”

The group all pause from what they heard. The very thought was strange to them. ChaosBlackWarGreymon being good.

“There’s goodness in him?” Shining Armor asked. Being one of the most baffled.

Twilight continued on.

“I believe there is. Even after we talked, he didn’t show any hostility to me. He even gave a genuine thank you to me for healing him. And when I talked to him about friendship, he said that he would think about it. Before he left, he even called me by my name. And he… uhh…”

Twilight started to feel hesitant to continue. There was something that ChaosBlackWarGreymon said to her that she only just remembered. Something that she wasn’t sure if she should tell the others. The thought of that one particular moment even caused her to look away and blush in embarrassment.

The other ponies could clearly see the sudden change in the young Alicorn.

“What? What did he do?” Cadence asked. She could even see that Twilight was smiling.

Though hesitant at first, the Princess of Friendship spoke up. Her smile and blush remained on her face.

“Well… he even called me…c…cute.”

All eyes stared at her in surprise. An obvious reaction Twilight was expecting.

“Aww, that’s so swee… I mean, whaaaat!?” Pinkie Pie said. Trying to act more surprised than happy.

Rainbow Dash once more felt denial about the whole subject.

“Not that I’m angry at you, Twi. But what makes you think he can become good? He’s just… no good.”

Wanting to put that particular subject to rest, Twilight came up with one good point.

“Isn’t that what you felt about Discord, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash was about to say something but failed to come up with a reply. The subject she brought up was a very good one to consider. The others thought about what Twilight said and realised that it was true. Of which the young Alicorn explained.

“We all thought Discord could never reform to good. But thanks to friendship, we were proven wrong. The Spirit of Chaos became our friend.”

Then Twilight thought of another example.

“And he’s not the only one. Let’s not forget that BlackWarGreymon was once evil in the past. He nearly destroyed his entire world. But he changed his ways after learning about the values of friendship.”

The ponies began to see the logic in Twilight’s words. Discord and BlackWarGreymon had done bad things in the past, and many thought that they could never change. But they had. The two were reformed because of the magic of friendship. And one of them became the saviour of Equestria.

Then Twilight continued.

“If friendship could change those two to become good, then I believe the same could be said for ChaosBlackWarGreymon. We just need to give him a chance.”

“But how are we going to do that?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight answered as she looked at the yellow Pegasus.

“I’ll do what you did for Discord, Fluttershy.”

“Really?” She asked, surprised that Twilight would follow her methods.

“Yes. If you can reform Discord, then I know I can do the same for ChaosBlackWarGreymon.”

After being silent for nearly the whole conversation, Luna turned towards Celestia.

“What do you think, sister?”

In truth, the white Alicorn was conflicted. She had only recently just met ChaosBlackWarGreymon and could easily tell why he was greatly feared. She herself felt frightened and powerless when he walked up to her. But at the same time, she couldn’t forget the sacrifice he had done for them. He took a severe beating from BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode. And when he tried to talk sense to him, the clone even brought up his ponies. Trying to make him see that what he was doing was putting his friendship at risk.

She then averted her attention to Twilight. Seeing the purple Alicorn’s expressions was slowly slipping the doubt away even more. Celestia knew perfectly how serious the younger princess could be when she sets her mind to it. But the amount of determination she had displayed was unlike ant she had ever seen before. She was so sure of herself that she could change ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

After a moment of thinking, Celestia spoke up to Twilight.

“I may feel uneasy about this, but you are the Princess of Friendship, Twilight. If you know a way to reform him, then I wish you all the luck to succeed.”

“Thank you, Celestia,” Twilight responded with a smile. Relieved and touched that her former teacher decided to allow her to try.

“I still don’t think it can be done,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. Still furious at what happened to the Wonderbolt Academy.

Then Rarity spoke up next.

“If it all goes well, I guess that means he won’t pursue his destiny to destroy the world.”

The talk of destiny caused Twilight to remember something. Deciding to share it with her friends.

“You’re actually not wrong, Rarity. Because he no longer believes that to be his destiny. Instead, he believes that his destiny involves BlackWarGreymon. As to what it really is, he isn’t sure yet.”

After hearing Twilight’s statement, most of the group started to believe that the change in ChaosBlackWarGreymon might actually be possible. The clone proved that he was capable of choosing what he wanted to do.

But rethinking about her whole conversation with the digital clone caused Twilight to gasp in surprise. She had just remembered something.

“Oh, I can’t believe I almost forgot to tell you!”

“Tell us what?” Rarity asked.

Twilight was quick to answer the question.

“Remember when BlackWarGreymon said that the level of Mega is the highest a Digimon could go. Well, it turns out that there’s a level even higher.”

“WHAT!?” Everyone shrieked. Startled by the news.

“There’s a form more powerful then a Mega!?” Luna asked. About to learn something else new about Digimon.

Twilight explained further.

“Yes. ChaosBlackWarGreymon told me that only a handful of all Digimon can gain that power. He called it… the Ultra level.”

Everyone paused in silence, letting the news of the Ultra level Digimon sink in. With BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon being examples, the Mega level Digimon were extremely powerful. So the thought of an even greater power felt unreal.

The silence filled the room. Until…

“Hold on, Twilight.”

All eyes suddenly turned towards Rarity.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He said he was created from the essence of our dear friend. So why didn’t BlackWarGreymon tell us that on the day we met him?”

Rarity made a good point. The black-armoured being spoke in great detail about Digivolution on the day he arrived in Equestria he was very informative. Most of the group wondered why he left such an advanced form.

But in Luna’s mind, she wondered why he had never told them about Dark Digivolution.

Twilight then explained to the group about what she had learned from the digital clone.

“That’s something that even I don’t understand. ChaosBlackWarGreymon told me that it was a form that BlackWarGreymon doesn’t know about. And yet, he himself knew about it.”

“But how is that possible?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. BlackWarGreymon doesn’t know and I highly doubt King Sombra would know. Since ChaosBlackWarGreymon was created from his shadow magic. There must be something else at work. Something that we missed.” Twilight added.

While the others were thinking hard on what they were missing, Shining Armor had a brain wave. Remembering something.

“Hay, wait a minute.”

The group looked at him as he explained himself.

“After the battle at the Crystal Empire, BlackWarGreymon said that he felt another kind of energy from his clone. An energy that wasn’t Sombra’s or his own.”

Twilight was next to remember.

“Yeah, that’s right. And near the end of the fight, ChaosBlackWarGreymon said that he has a boss. Somepony that wasn’t Sombra.”

“And if not Tirek, then who?” Pinkie Pie asked. Thoughts that were shared with the rest of the group.

As the group were discussing amongst themselves, the subject that Twilight and Shining Armor brought up caused Luna and Cadence to freeze. Looking at each other with a frightened expression. A very horrible feeling swelling up within them.

“Luna. You don’t think…” Cadence said to her aunt. Her voice a whisper.

“I…I…don’t... I’m not…” Luna quietly replied. But the uneasiness she was feeling was causing her to stutter in worry.

With how Twilight was taking, it sounded as if a greater power was at play in Equestria. But it was that fact that left Luna and Cadence frightened. They began to remember their trip in Ayumi’s mind. Thinking about their confrontation with the conscience of the evil Digimon within her. Remembering every word that the destroyer had said to them. As well as showing them a sight that would haunt them for the foreseeable future. They then remembered his final words before being forced out of Ayumi’s mind.

‘You will be seeing me… very soon.’

The facts just kept piecing together in the minds of the two princesses. The sight that they saw in Ayumi’s past, matched well to the description of Celestia’s vision. And then there was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. They knew that he was too perfect of a creation to be made of Sombra’s shadow magic. And BlackWarGreymon had mentioned that he felt a third power within his clone.

The two did not like the concluding thought in their heads.

“Luna. Could…could it really be true? I mean… it might explain where ChaosBlackWarGreymon came from.”

But Luna froze from her niece’s words. Feeling incredibly disturbed from such a possibility. Her face showing her distraught expression as she looked at the ground. She began to envision if it were true. Their world would be under the greatest threat it had ever experienced. And if they’re not careful, then their whole world would end up like Ayumi’s. Barren. Lifeless. Beyond saving.

“It… it can’t be. If he… really is here. Then... then that means…” She uttered. She could feel her eyes began to water from the sadness she felt from watching that memory. And from hearing all the screams.

“Luna?”

“Huh!?”

Luna shot up from hearing Celestia’s voice calling to her. Her reaction caused the watching group to look in surprise. But when the blue Alicorn looked to her older sister, Celestia’s eyes grew wide in surprise.

“Luna? Are you crying?” The concerned older sibling asked.

Feeling that she had tears in her eyes, Luna wiped them away as she tried to respond.

“Oh… well. Uhh…”

The group took note of her tone. She was indeed upset over something. But over what was beyond them. While they were on the subject of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, it wasn’t anything upsetting. Furthermore, Luna was the kind of pony who wouldn’t get upset so quickly. Which mean that whatever caused her to feel in such a way must’ve been bad.

“Princess? What’s going on?” Rarity asked. Joined by Fluttershy.

“What’s the matter?”

Luna struggled to speak up. While it was something that all her friends and family needed to know, she felt that the moment wasn’t right yet. Not only they were discussing what Twilight discovered about ChaosBlackWarGreymon, but Luna herself still felt shaken form the discovery of Dark Digivolution. And that BlackWarGreymon had become a victim of it. To process all that while reeling from what she and Cadence had discovered was causing the blue mare to mentally freak out. She struggled to speak while darting her head around to try and avert her distraught gaze. But feeling a hoof resting on her shoulder calmed her down. Luna looked to her side to see Cadence giving her a caring stare. She then nodded her head before speaking up.

“We have to tell them now, Luna.”

Hearing those words somewhat settled Luna’s nerves. But it meant that the others were to be told. Of which they questioned.

“Tell us what? What happened?” Twilight asked. Seeing that both Luna and Cadence know something.

After taking in a deep breath to steady herself, Luna answered the question.

“Listen. Just a moment ago, Cadence and I had discovered something.”

Cadence then turned towards Twilight.

“Something… about the future you.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide in surprise in response.

“Ayumi? What is it?”

Like Twilight, the rest of the group were keen on hearing what Luna and Cadence had to say about the alternate Twilight from the future timeline. To which Luna started.

“Not long after we returned to Canterlot, Cadence and I decided to venture into her mind. Since she was asleep.”

The group were silently stunned from Luna’s words. But then Cadence chimed in with a saddened tone.

“And when we arrived in her mind, we… we discovered something… truly horrible.”

The group all felt worried from how the pink Alicorn described the experience.

“What is it?” Twilight asked. Already feeling concerned for her future self.

After Luna looked at Cadence for reassurance, she revealed what they had discovered.

“As it turns out, she had a shared mind. As well as her own subconscious, there was another within her.”

The group all gave her a questionable look. But Cadence revealed more. Her tone showing a hint of sadness.

“And it belonged… to that Digimon.”

The group paused as to try to find understanding in the pink princesses’ words. But as soon as they understood, all of them grew expressions of shock, disbelief and then horror. Did they really just hear her right? The Digimon? As in… the evil Digimon? The same one!?

“Wait. You mean… that evil Digimon? Th-The same one that destroyed her world!?” Twilight asked in alarm. But a simple nod from Luna was all she needed for clarification.

The group were stunned silent. The thought of something so vile inside the mind of their future friend felt so nightmarish. But then Shining Armor spoke up.

“But how!? Didn’t she say she destroyed him!?”

In a sombre tone, Luna revealed what had happened.

“We thought so too. But he said that the other Digimon Ayumi destroyed were a part of him. All sharing the same mind. So when she destroyed them and absorbed their energy, she took on his mind too.”

"And the worst of it, is that she doesn't even know about it," The disheartened Cadence added.

The group were stunned from what they were hearing. And it was one of those things that caught Twilight completely by surprise.

“Wait. HE… told you!? You mean you SPOKE to him!!?”

Both Cadence and Luna nodded before the latter spoke up.

“Yes… we did. And it was because of that we finally realised why Ayumi was so afraid of him to his day. Just his voice alone scares me.”

Then with a disheartened tone, Cadence joined in.

“What I find about him so terrifying was how cruel he was. I never encountered anyone so heartless. He even showed us a memory of when he destroyed Canterlot. And he…”

The pink Alicorn chose not to continue. Just remembering the memory caused her to grow sadder as she felt her body shiver. Shining Armor noticed it and walked up to nuzzle her. Comforting his wife in which she welcomed.

After watching the sight, Twilight turned back towards Luna.

“Did you found out what he looked like?” The curious princess asked. To which Luna answered.

“Only his silhouette. But from what we saw, he was terrifying. Unlike anything I had ever seen before. But he refused to give us his name.”

Luna paused as she remembered the moments before being pulled out of Ayumi’s mind. She demanded the Digimon to reveal his name. But the creature toyed with her by leaving her in the dark.

As silence filled the room, Celestia took note of the vague description of the Digimon Luna revealed. Then a question came to mind. One that made her feel uncomfortable. But at the same time, very afraid. She even hoped that the answer she would get would not be the one she wanted to hear. Taking a nervous gulp, Celestia spoke up to her younger sibling.

“Luna? The Digimon that you saw. Did he by chance… resembled a demon? With yellow eyes?”

Celestia’s questions caused Luna to let out a surprise gasp. Remembering those specific details of the Digimon’s looks. But also at the same time, remembering what she and Cadence spoke about moments before being pulled out of Ayumi’s mind. She turned to her older sister with a look of shock.

“Yes. Yes, he did. Just like the monster in…”

Luna paused. Causing Celestia to finish the sentence. Her eyes widened in shock.

“…my vision.”

But Luna included more.

“And from what Cadence and I had seen in that memory. The destruction we had seen, it… was almost identical to how you described your vision.”

By understanding the conversation, Rarity joined in. But feeling skeptical about the same thought that was on her mind.

“Now wait a minute. You speak as though that very same… Digimon…”

Rarity slowed her speech to a pause from seeing the expression on Celestia’s face. It was a look of pure and utter disbelief. And within it, were the eyes of someone who had discovered something truly horrifying. When she spoke, her voice shaken from the shock.

“…he’s…here.”

All eyes were on Celestia from hearing her say those words in such a shaken tone. They had never seen her in such a way. Just the thought of the evil Digimon somewhere within their world had already left the usually composed white Alicorn in such a shaken state. They couldn’t blame her for feeling in such a way. After all, the vision she experienced had already traumatized her. So, the thought of it happing for real could only be described as nightmarish.

Trying to bring up the mood, Pinkie Pie spoke up.

“Well… it might not be like that. It’s probably just coincidence.”

But before the others could take her side, Cadence spoke up. Dismissing her statement.

“I’m afraid that’s not the case.”

All eyes turned to the pink mare as she revealed more.

“Through our friend, he said that he sensed his own power. And where he sensed it from… was somewhere far away from here.”

Every soul in the throne room paused from the sentence. Cadence basically just confirmed their worst fears. The fear that the world-ending Digimon that Ayumi faced, was also in their world. Hiding amongst them without them even knowing. The very thought of it creeped them all out.

“So… is it true? Is that thing… really here?” Applejack asked. Herself questioning what was honest.

But out of the whole group, Celestia was the one whom was the most shaken. She glanced downwards as she felt her legs tremble. Against her hopes, the facts all played out perfectly. She had a vision of the fall of Equestria. The same thing that happened in Ayumi’s Equestria. And the monster from her vision, sounded as though he was the very same one destroyed the other world. And through Ayumi’s body, the Digimon’s conscience sensed his own energy from the outside.

With the facts all aligning to one conclusion, Celestia expressed her thoughts. Her voice carrying horror.

“The monster from my vision… and the evil Digimon… are they really… one and the same? Here… in our world? Waiting?”

Luna looked at her older sister in sympathy. She feared that the Sun Princess would be scared by the news. Hence her hesitation to reveal the truth so soon. But wanting to give her sister some resemblance of hope, she revealed what she believed in. Despite what the evil Digimon had said. When she spoke in a more cheerful tone, everyone paid attention to her.

“But…but it’s all ok. Even if it’s all true, that he’s here in our Equestria, he still have BlackWarGreymon with us. And with how much stronger he has gotten thanks to the magic of our world, I’m… I’m definitely certain that he would prevail.”

Thanks to the confidence in Luna, as well as her faith in BlackWarGreymon, it lifted up the mood in the room to which it really needed.

“Yeah, you’re right, Luna. And Ayumi did say that he’s even stronger than the evil Digimon in her world. So, if it’s really the same one, then we have nothing to worry about,” Twilight cheerfully said. Joined by an upbeat Fluttershy.

“So, we’re safe?”

But before the other ponies could agree, hope beginning to fill the room…

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

Everyone in the room stopped talking as they turned towards Celestia. Her being the one who spoke up. It was when they noticed the look of guilt on her face. Much to their surprise and confusion.

“Wha… what do you mean?” Twilight asked her. Wondering what the older princess had to say.

Celestia was hesitant at first. Knowing that the piece of information she had would mentally hurt her friends. The thought of it hurt her. But they needed to know. Especially Luna.

She turned towards Luna as she confessed.

“I’m sorry, sister. But there was something else I saw in my vision. Something that I neglected to tell you. For fear that it would hurt you since you’re so close to him.”

Luna was taken back by what Celestia said. It turned out that she herself had something to hide. But what surprised her the most was that it involved her favourite Digimon. As well as the vision.

“What? BlackWarGreymon was in your vision!? What…what is it?” Luna asked. Her voice showed insecurity. From her sister’s saddened tone, the younger sibling felt worried for what the white Alicorn hadn’t told her.

The others too felt uneasy. Waiting for Celestia to open up and tell. Then after taking in a hesitant breath, the Sun Princess told them all the unspoken detail of her vision.

“In my vision of Canterlot laid to waste, I was running. Fleeing for my life from the monster. But when I stopped to look back, all I saw was rubble. And there, laying on a pile of torn concrete, I... I saw one of BlackWarGreymon’s weapons. His… his gauntlet was heavily damaged. Broken, cracked, and punctured.”

Everyone in the throne room stood still in stunned silence. Horrified expressions were plastered on their faces. For they knew what the vision was symbolizing.

But Luna appeared to be the most horrified of the whole group. She even shook her head in dismissal.

“N-No, sister. You don’t mean…”

Celestia’s expression saddened as she closed her eyes. She herself not wanting to believe it.

“I’m afraid so, Luna. Whatever this threat is, if it happens or not, it maybe too much for even BlackWarGreymon to handle.”

“No! It can’t be! It… it just can’t…”

Luna was finding it hard to respond. From hearing what Celestia said, it was reminding her of what the evil Digimon told her in Ayumi’s mind. That he once fought against WarGreymon. And then deeming BlackWarGreymon to be just as weak. And if Celestia’s vision was about that very same evil Digimon, then could that mean that BlackWarGreymon was doomed to fail? The Moon Princess looked down at the ground in sadness. She didn’t want to believe it.

The other ponies too shared Luna’s concern. Remembering that there were other Digimon more powerful, they were beginning to worry that the new threat might be one of them. But those thoughts came with confusion. If BlackWarGreymon was stronger than the Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s world, then how was it possible for him to lose to the same Digimon? What’s more, most of the group were confused as to why Luna was behaving strangely. Not only was her faith in BlackWarGreymon much greater than their own, but when Celestia told her about her vision, Luna was quick to be the most concerned for the Artificial Digimon. Princess Cadence was the only one who knew why. Her aunt was hurting. Unable to accept the fact that the Mega could be bested by the new threat. Despite what Celestia and the evil Digimon’s conscience told her.

Celestia too could see that Luna was hurting. But what she said was the truth.

“I’m sorry, Luna. But I know what I saw.”

“It… it can’t be,” Luna quietly said to herself. Sadness in her eyes.

“Celestia? Did your vision say anything when this might happen?” Shining Armor asked.

“I don’t know. That’s why we must prepare. Prepare ourselves for the worst to come.”

The group all felt a frightening shiver from hearing Celestia’s words. If her vision comes true, and that it would truly reflect on what happened in the alternate Equestria, then they would be in a fight of their lives. Some of Twilight’s Ponyville friends felt terrified from the thought. Hoping that they wouldn’t end up like what happened to their counterparts.

But catching them all by surprise, the group suddenly heard a loud crashing sound outside the castle. As if something big had just fallen out of the sky and impacted hard on the ground. Surprised by the sudden noise, the spooked group frantically looked at each other.

“Wh-What was that!?” Fluttershy asked.

“Are we under attack!?” Rarity joined. Plus, with Pinkie Pie shrieking in panic.

“Is that disaster happening now!?”

But from not hearing any further sounds, it was evident that doomsday hadn’t arrived.

“I don’t know what just happened, but that impact came from outside,” Twilight spoke up.

Following the purple Alicorn, the group hurried out of the throne room and outside the castle. Running towards where they heard the impact.

As soon as they were in the open, the mares and stallion looked around near the grounds. But were then surprised to see a startled yet confused crowd gathering by the castle wall. Being the quickest one of the group, Rainbow Dash flew above the crowd to see what had gained their attention. After letting out a stunned gasp, she called for the others.

“Hay everypony! Over here!”

Hearing the distress in her voice, the alarmed group all ran up to her and joined the crowd. When they got to the front of the crowd, they too saw why so many ponies had gathered. They all gasped in shock. Because in front of them, lying unconscious in a freshly made crater, was their digital friend.

The ponies cried out his name in dismay.

“BlackWarGreymon!!”

Chapter 70: The Hard Truth

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A mysterious event had occurred at Equestria’s capital. In the castle of Canterlot, the Mane Six, the royal sisters and the royal couple were discussing about the events that had transpired. All from Twilight’s conversation with ChaosBlackWarGreymon, Luna and Cadence’s trip into Ayumi’s mind and made a horrifying discovery of the evil Digimon’s subconscious within, and how it all tied with the nightmare vision Celestia had witnessed the night before. But it all came to an abrupt end when they heard the sounds of a crash outside. When the group left the castle to investigate, they discovered to their shock, the unconscious form of BlackWarGreymon.

Seeing the black armoured Mega lying comatose in a creator made them thought that he was attacked. But with no damage or injuries on his body, there wasn’t any signs of a battle. Nor was he in any condition to fight. His experience as BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode had left him exhausted. But as they inspected him more, they were suddenly surprised when they saw dark blue energy sparking around his body like electricity. And when it happened, BlackWarGreymon could be seen twitching in discomfort. A clear sign that he was struggling.

As they looked at him in shock and concern, the ponies were also curious as to how he ended up outside. But as they looked around, they saw that the Digimon was surrounded by rubble. Looking up at the tall tower that was right by them, they could see at the top, there was a gaping hole in the wall.

Princess Luna let a brief sigh of relief. The hole in the wall didn’t come from her bed chambers. Meaning that BlackWarGreymon was elsewhere in the castle prier to the incident. But that revelation caused her concern for the Artificial Digimon to peek again. It had only been a short while since she put him in her bed for rest. He was too weak to move on his own. She was wondering why her friend was wandering out of bed, whereas he should be resting. Even for his standards, it was too soon for him to recover.

But the group had to investigate the hole in the wall later. Their one priority was to get BlackWarGreymon inside. Using her teleportation spell, Princess Twilight Sparkle brought the whole group and the Digimon back to the throne room.

After they placed him gently on the ground, they were once again startled by the dark blue energy sparking randomly around his body. The group were confused at first, but for the magic casters, they could sense the kind of energy that was being emitted.

“Why does he keep doing that?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I sure don’t have ah clue,” Applejack answered. Having no idea.

But Twilight grew a worried expression.

“I don’t know what this is. But the energy were seeing definitely isn’t magic. It’s… almost like…”

“His own.”

The group all looked to Luna as she finished Twilight’s sentence. And were taken aback by her saddened expression as she gazed at the Mega. She continued while never breaking sight of the Digimon.

“That’s his own energy. I know it. It’s… unstable.”

“But why? What’s causing this?” Fluttershy asked. Her voice full of worry.

As she processed her thoughts, Luna gasped in realisation. A memory flickered in her mind.

“Wait. I think I’ve seen this before!”

While surprising the others, Luna turned towards Cadence.

“When we were moving through the dream realm, we passed by the door to BlackWarGreymon’s mind. As we moved, I saw the same spark of energy from the door.”

The pink Alicorn looked at her aunt in surprise. Being the one who didn’t notice before.

“Really!? That happened?”

After hearing Luna out, Twilight began to see a connection. As well as the cause of the abnormality.

“And all that happened, after his Dark Digivolution.”

In response to Twilight’s comment, the group all looked back at the unconscious Digimon. Rainbow Dash especially getting a bad vibe.

“Wait. You don’t think this is because of… that?”

Hearing the fearful tone in the blue mare’s voice gained the looks of surprise from most of the group. Rainbow Dash was never the one to show fear so easily. But it was understandable. The way the berserker Digimon acted toward her had certainly left an impression on her. But the thought caused them to worry. Would it mean that Rainbow Dash had become afraid of BlackWarGreymon?

Then Rarity spoke up. A questionable look on her face.

“And it me, or does his armour look… darker?”

Silent gasps were let out from the discovery made by the keen eye of the fashionista. BlackWarGreymon’s Chrome Digizoid armour certainly was a darker shade of black. It was surprising. If it weren’t for Rarity, they probably would’ve noticed. But it was strange. Other than the darker shade of black, BlackWarGreymon’s appearance remained the same.

As Luna stared at the sleeping Digimon, energy again sparking from his body, the Princess of the Moon received another bad feeling. Remembering what Celestia said to her just moments ago about her vision. The part that included BlackWarGreymon. And about this possible defeat. She began to fear that what was happening… may be a precursor to what could be his destined fate. Could the sparking energy be a sign that worse is to come?

Despite all the uncertainty in her mind, Luna felt that it was best to focus on one thing at the time. And the first thing was to find out what had happened just moments ago. How did BlackWarGreymon found himself outside?

“I’ll try to wake him up,” She said as she walked closer to the Digimon’s horned head. Her words gaining the attention from the others.

“Everypony. Please remain quiet as Luna needs to concentrate,” Celestia said quietly to the others. Knowing what her sister was about to do.

After moving closer to the Digimon’s sleeping face, Luna’s horn began to glow blue. Activating one of her spells. Then with a confident expression on her face, closed her eyes and pressed her glowing horn on BlackWarGreymon’s forehead. Everyone in the room stared on silently as Luna focused on her magic. Trying to tice the Mega to awake from his slumber. The process causing his closed eyes to twitch.

But as the blue Alicorn continued her spell, she also took a moment to use her magic to see into BlackWarGreymon’s mind. She briefly flinched in response to the surprisingly strong resistance she felt. But she felt the need to get through to him. As her spell continued, she began to whisper to him.

“Please, wake up. Blackie.”

As if in response to Luna’s quiet prayer, BlackWarGreymon began to grunt. He then began to shift his position. Moving his arm. Sensing the change, Luna stopped her spell as she took a few steps back towards Celestia.

“Good work, Luna,” Celestia said to her sister. Happy that her efforts paid off.

While the others were glad that the Night Princess’s spell had worked, they were also curious. Just before BlackWarGreymon began to stir, they thought they had just heard Luna whisper something to him. Her voice was too quiet for them to hear properly. The group wondering what she said to him.

After more grunting, BlackWarGreymon’s yellow eyes slowly opened while the sparking energy slowed to a stop. Then the half-wake Digimon sat up as he rubbed the back of his head from the headache he was feeling.

“Urrgh… m-my head.”

Finally, fully awake, BlackWarGreymon took note of his surroundings and all his friends.

“What? W-Where am I?”

“We’re in the Canterlot throne room,” Cadence responded. Followed by Celestia.

“Are you feeling alright?”

The Mega looked aside in thought. His puzzled expression was a sign that he was unsure.

“I… I don’t know. What… happened?”

The ponies looked at him in confusion.

“You’re asking us that? Were about to ask you,” Twilight answered.

The reply only confused the Digimon.

“What? What do you mean?”

Then Shining Armor spoke up. Revealing what had happened.

“You mean you don’t remember what happened just a moment ago? We found you lying in a crater outside.”

The Mega flinched in response.

“What!? I was outside!?”

But as BlackWarGreymon tried to stand up, he received a painful headache. Then as he clenched his head, his body began to emit the same dark blue energy sparks. Causing the Mega to twitch in response. But being wide awake, he was able to see his body letting out what looked like blue lightening. His eyes went wide in shock and surprise as he looked at his left arm.

“W-What’s happening!?” He said in an alarmed tone.

Clearly seeing that their friend was panicking, the ponies tried to reassure him.

“BlackWarGreymon, it’s ok. Just calm down.” Cadence said. Joined by Fluttershy.

“It’s going to be ok. We’ll figure this out, right Twilight?”

After seeing the purple Alicorn nodding in agreement, the panicking Digimon tried to calm down his nerves. Despite what was happening to his body, he wanted to trust his pony friends. As he sat back down, Celestia walked up to him with a question in mind.

“BlackWarGreymon? Tell us. What was the last thing you remember?”

It was an important question. Not only it was about the events that had just happened, but also about the battle that happened outside the city. In response to the question, the Mega glanced down to the ground as he tried to remember. Closing his eyes as he tried to envision the events that transpired.

“I… don’t know. The last I remember was that you told me… that I defeated Tirek. Then after that… Luna helped me sleep. And then… then…”

Despite his best efforts, BlackWarGreymon came up empty.

“I can’t remember anything else.”

The group all looked puzzled. How could he not remember what happened? The fall he had wasn’t something he could forget. And it was not like he landed on his head. But wanting to get any resemblance to what had happened, Twilight hoped that BlackWarGreymon would answer her next question. Since the event in question happened before things went very south.

“Hay BlackWarGreymon. There’s something I need to know.”

The young Alicorn continued as the others looked at her to listen.

“In your fight with Tirek, you were in your Ascended form. You were very powerful, but as the fight went on, it made you weaker. Why did that happen?”

The group realised she had a point. The whole reason things turned out the way they had was because the Ascended form had failed BlackWarGreymon. During the fight, the magical transformation caused him to be worn-out while fighting Tirek.

At first, the Digimon wasn’t sure. But it was something he indeed remembered. Especially what the evil centaur said to him.

“It’s because Tirek was right. Despite having the power, I know little to nothing about my Ascended form. I overused its power, so just maintaining the form was exhausting.”

Then Applejack brought up a good point.

“Hay wait. But in ya’ fight with your clone, your form lasted a lot longer. So… what’s the deal with that?”

Despite what sounded like a mystery, BlackWarGreymon had already found the answer.

“It’s probably because I didn’t use my powers as much. At that fight, I didn’t use as much abilities as I did today. But with Tirek, I did.”

Twilight was first to understand the picture of which BlackWarGreymon was trying to explain.

“Oh, I see. So everytime you use your powers, it drains the energy of your Ascended form.”

The others were mentally surprised at the new revelation.

“Wow. That’s some weakness,” Pinkie Pie commentated.

As silence filled the room, most of the group were letting the information about the Ascended form sink in. But BlackWarGreymon broke that silence. Turning to his friends in confusion.

“But I don’t understand. Tirek drained me of that power. Then the next thing, Luna got hurt and…”

BlackWarGreymon quietly grunted as he tried to remember. But again, came up empty.

“Urgh… why can’t I remember?”

In uncertainty, he turned towards his friends.

“What happened?”

The group didn’t know how to answer the question. With how attached BlackWarGreymon was to his friends, the answer would certainly hurt him. He cared for his friends so dearly. A complete contrast to his Berserk Mode. Where he cared not for such things. The whole ordeal left them hurt and scared. In fact, some of them hoped that it was best for BlackWarGreymon to not know. But deep down, they knew it would be wrong. What if it happened again? What if he really did hurt someone and had no memory of it? By protecting him from the truth, it would be them who would suffer.

As the group tried to decide what would be the best cause of action, it was Luna who spoke up. Addressing the other ponies.

“Everyone. As painful as it is, he needs to know.”

The ponies all gulped in response. But the blue Alicorn was right. It was something the Digimon had to know about. Even if he wouldn’t like what he would hear. As for BlackWarGreymon, he looked at his friends in confusion.

“Tell me what? What is it?”

Most of the group held their breath. Both from the sudden tension of how the Mega would react, and for some, not wanting to be the ones to tell him. Being the one who was the closest to him, Luna was the one who spoke first.

“BlackWarGreymon. Back at the fight, after Tirek bested me… you underwent a… change.”

“A… a change?” BlackWarGreymon asked as his body began to spark up again. Almost in sync with his uncertainty.

When Twilight spoke up, she went into detail about the event.

“Yes, BlackWarGreymon. When you saw Luna got hurt, you just froze in place. And then you let out your anger at Tirek. And when you spoke to him, these… black flames appeared around your body. Then as you roared out in rage, your whole body just erupted in black energy. I honestly have never seen you so angry before. Then the next thing we knew, you changed. Your body just transformed into something else. You looked mostly the same, but… much scarier… and angrier and…”

Twilight was silenced as BlackWarGreymon surprised the group by standing straight up. Throughout the Alicorn’s explanation, the Digimon’s expression changed. The look of confusion in his eyes slowly morphed into horror as he listened. He perfectly understood what Twilight was trying to say. The description was just too accurate.

Despite his legs screaming for rest, the shock of what he heard was just too great for him to sit still. He looked down at Twilight with the look of utter terror.

“Wait! Don’t tell me! Did I … Dark Digivolved!?”

The group looked surprised at the Digimon. Not only he was fully aware of the transformation, but he too was terrified of it. But probably in shock that he went through such a horrific transformation.

The group all fell silent. But the expressions on their faces confirmed that it was true. BlackWarGreymon felt as though the weight of the world fell on him. His eyes wide in shock and disbelief as he looked down at his arms. Again seeing the dark blue sparks of energy emitting from his body.

“But… that’s impossible! I’m an Artificial Digimon! Created from Control Spires! I shouldn’t be able to do such a thing!”

BlackWarGreymon then paused for thought. He began to remember his conversation with his creator back in the Digital World. Back when he was in doubt about his destiny. He began to remember what had been said.

‘Wait! Could this be the result of these… left-over programs she was talking about? That it’s not just my defiance against her?’

As his mind continued to process, he received a sudden bad feeling as he turned to look at his friends. The feeling of dread already setting in. Knowing full well how dreaded Dark Digivolution could be.

“What… did I do?”

Most of the group couldn’t conceive a way to explain. They just didn’t want to be the ones to tell. But Twilight came up with an effective solution.

“It would be easier to show you.”

The ponies all looked at her in surprise. Wondering what she was going to do.

It didn’t take long for the solution to present itself. The young Alicorn’s horn glowed a bright purple as she prepared a memory spell. Then magically forming a large flat square above her head, it acted as a window to her memories. Giving the group an opportunity to see the events from Twilight’s point of view. For the group, it was something they were about to relive. But for BlackWarGreymon, the fearful Digimon silently looked at the screen. Scared for what he was about to see.

Everyone fell silent as Twilight performed the spell. Images began to come into view through the magical window. They all began to see the field outside of Canterlot. Tirek standing tall. BlackWarGreymon standing in defiance. And Luna unconscious on the ground. The group all realised that Twilight was playing the events after the blue Alicorn was bested. But for Princess Luna herself, it was her first time seeing the events unfold. She being knocked out at the time.

But for her, he felt uneasy. She was about to witness BlackWarGreymon’s dark transformation.

All eyes were on the view screen. BlackWarGreymon made a declaration that Tirek would suffer for what he had done. He began to roar at the sky, followed by his body being shrouded in a powerful black aura. There was a moment where the Digimon tried to regain control, but ultimately surrendered to his rage. Undergoing his Dark Mode Change. The Mega concealed in his dark ball of data, only for it to break open. Revealing the Digimon in a whole new light. In a brand-new body.

For Luna, the transformation was very reminiscent of her decent into Nightmare Moon. Already feeling uncertain as to how BlackWarGreymon was feeling. As for Digimon, it was his first time seeing his dark transformation in full form. His eyes widened in disbelief.

“Is… is that me!?”

“I’m afraid so, darling,” Rarity answered. Then she and the others were surprised at what BlackWarGreymon said next.

“It's so... hideous.”

The others were stunned as they looked at him. It was his own transformation, and he called it hideous. BlackWarGreymon was repulsed by his mode change. He had never seen himself look so threatening. Already seeing why his friends were all hesitant in telling him the truth.

But the worst was yet to come. As the memory played out, the battle between Lord Tirek and BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode insured. The battle looked even at first, but the dark Mega grew stronger overtime. Eventually overpowering Tirek. But during the clash, the first big fright came to bare. BlackWarGreymon stared at the scene in horror. The sight… was of him threatening Rainbow Dash. Fortunately, the Pegasus got out of there without getting hurt. But the next big surprise was after Tirek was depowered. The berserker Digimon kept on attacking him. Torturing him before putting an end to his life by fire.

“I… killed Tirek?” BlackWarGreymon asked. Shaken from the fact that he just took another’s life.

Twilight then made the decision to go to the next big battle. The clash between the enraged Mega and his clone. The Artificial Digimon was admittingly surprised to see that even ChaosBlackWarGreymon was trying to calm him down. But the fight still happened. And with the nature of BlackWarGreymon’s dark form, the grey armoured Mega couldn’t fight back as he wanted to. BlackWarGreymon almost felt sympathy from seeing himself inflicting severe injuries to the clone.

But it was the blanks that Twilight hesitantly filled in that made BlackWarGreymon flinch in terror. The sight of him lashing out at his friends. The ponies just wanted him to stop his rampage. But he wouldn’t listen. Even Ayumi became a victim as she tried to help. The future alternate Twilight suffering by his hands. And not long after becoming his friend.

The sights and sounds of the memory was causing BlackWarGreymon to not only immediately regret asking, but an unpleasant feeling swelled within him. Urging him to stop watching.

“Stop it.”

And it was the sight and sound of him striking Ayumi down that snapped him. His eyes widened in desperation from the need to end it.

“Show me no more!!” He shouted as he swiped his right arm at the magical screen. Causing it to dissipate into nothing. Bringing it to an end.

The shaken Mega breathed heavily from what he saw as his body once again began to spark with dark energy. The feelings he was experiencing were a mix of horror, fear and disbelief. The panicked Digimon looked to his friends. The ponies were surprised at how he reacted. As he looked at them, BlackWarGreymon’s sights fell upon Rainbow Dash. Looking at him in uncertainty. He then remembered how she looked at him before he was taken away by Luna. The look of fear. And he finally realised why.

The Digimon spoke to the blue Pegasus. His voice stricken in sympathy and regret.

“Rainbow Dash. I... I’m so sorry. I… I couldn’t…”

His fear began to escalate as she looked to all the other ponies. The guilt building higher.

“Everyone. I… I didn’t mean to… I… I would never! It’s… It’s…”

Luna quickly stepped in. It was something she didn’t want to see. Remembering how surprisingly fragile BlackWarGreymon’s mind was, she had to help him. Seeing the blue mare walk towards him gained his attention. Surprising Luna with the distraught expression on his face. Seeing those eyes raised the urgency within the Alicorn. Rushing up to him to help reassure him.

“Ha-hay, it’s ok. It’s ok. It’s not your fault. We already know. It’s a transformation you couldn’t control. You lost yourself to your anger. But you’re back now. That’s what matters now.”

BlackWarGreymon saw the smile on Luna’s face. He wanted to believe her. But Dark Digivolution was no joke. Making him second guess where he would go from there. But to his surprise, the next voice of support came from Rainbow Dash. The blue mare walking up to him.

“Hay, big guy. I admit, it was scary. Like… really scary. But that wasn’t the real you, right? The BlackWarGreymon I know would never do that kind of thing on his own. I guess what I’m saying is, I forgive ya.”

Hearing such words from Rainbow Dash had lifted such a worrying load off BlackWarGreymon’s back. The Mega felt touched from being forgiven. The worries melting away. He wasn’t the only one. The rest of the group all smiled at Rainbow Dash for doing something so mature. She was afraid at first. But seeing the amount of regret from the Digimon showed her that it wasn't his fault. It was all just in the nature of Dark Digivolution. The forgiving atmosphere was high enough for the emotional Pinkie Pie to act up.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” She yelled as she leapt onto the Pegasus to the ground for a big hug.

The others laughed at a display of such affection. The tension in the air virtually gone as even BlackWarGreymon softened his expressions. Then as Rainbow Dash wrestled Pinkie Pie off of her, she spoke to the Digimon again.

“Hay! If it makes you feel any better, you should see when Fluttershy gets angry.”

The group again laughed at the remark. The yellow Pegasus blushed in embarrassment, but even she saw the funny side of it. Like how she of all ponies was the one to tell a full-grown dragon off. Eventually giggling in response. The mood had been lifted to a point where even BlackWarGreymon let out a quiet chuckle. But the laughter ended when the Digimon spoke up. The sound of confusion in his voice.

“But there’s something I don’t understand. How did I turn back to normal? Dark Digivolution isn’t easy to reverse.”

The ponies all looked at each other with small smiles. Knowing how it happened. Then Twilight spoke as her horn lit up.

“See for yourself.”

Using the same spell as before, a purple magical window reappeared above her. When images began to appear, BlackWarGreymon was stunned at what he saw. He saw himself in his Berserk Mode form. And he was staring down at the last pony he wanted to hurt. Princess Luna herself. He could see her talking to him. But due to the distance between them and where Twilight was standing, no words were heard. But from how Luna acted, the words she spoke must’ve been important. Then something caught the Mega’s full attention. As Luna looked down, him in his berserker state reached his arm down and with the upmost care, caressed his finger against her cheek. Wiping away her tears. Then after a surprised reaction from the princess, the Digimon thrashed around before his body let out a bright glow. Then within moments, returned to normal.

BlackWarGreymon stared at the memory in astonishment, then turned to look at Luna beside him. It was her. She was the one who did the impossible.

“You.”

Hearing his quiet voice caught Luna’s attention. When she turned to look at him, the Moon Princess was surprised at the kind of expression she saw in his eyes. Not only he was amazed, but she could tell that he was incredibly touched. He spoke to her again.

“You brought me back.”

Not just his expression, even the quiet tone in his voice showed sincere gratitude. Genuinely moved by her bravery. Though Luna said nothing, she gave him a heartfelt smile while a small blush formed in her cheeks.

However, out of everyone in the room, Rarity was the only one who noticed the two. She paused. Seeing the memory Twilight was showing was sweet, but there was something in front of her that she couldn’t just look away from. The way BlackWarGreymon was looking at Luna. And the warm caring smile the blue princess gave in return. She couldn’t help but briefly ponder as she looked at the sight. As if… she had forgotten something.

Then it hit her. A couple of nights ago, on the that particular day. Hearts and Hooves Day. When BlackWarGreymon came to her for advice, he revealed that he had a date with Luna. Then on the night at Canterlot, she saw the two together.

With the memory fresh in her mind, Rarity looked at the two in front of her again. Thinking about all the times she saw the two together. She then paid close attention to their expressions. It then clicked. The whole time she thought that the date was just Luna’s way of repaying BlackWarGreymon for all he had done. But no. There was more to it. Far more! Far more than she ever imagined!

BlackWarGreymon and Luna. The two truly cared for one another. Possibly even…!

When such a thought entered the Unicorn’s mind, Rarity mentally and physically had to contain herself. Her eyes went as wide as they could as she placed her right hoof over her mouth. Letting out a quiet squeal in excitement.

As the memory ended, so did Twilight’s spell. The actions snapped Luna and BlackWarGreymon back to reality. As everything fell quiet, Prince Shining Armor broke the silence.

“So, what do you think?” He asked BlackWarGreymon.

All eyes were on BlackWarGreymon. Wondering what he was thinking about after everything that happened. After some thought, BlackWarGreymon came to several conclusions.

“There are things I need to figure out. My Ascended form had helped me before, but it clearly has a big flaw. So… I think it would be best that I’d only use it as a last resort. When situations are dire.”

He paused before continuing. Remembering the nightmare that was his Berserk Mode.

“But I will never EVER use that other form! Never.”

The ponies were surprised by the amount of anger in BlackWarGreymon’s voice. A sign that there was now a side of him that he hated. But by making such a promise, it’s likely that they would never see that form again. Hopefully.

Surprise aside, the group were also deeply amazed. The Artificial Mega was willing to fight in his normal state rather than to take risks. Once more making their safety his priority.

“So ya just gonna stay in ya normal form?” Applejack asked.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve spent all my life like this anyway,” He replied.

However, the adrenaline BlackWarGreymon felt from discovering his Berserk Mode had worn off. With it, returned the heavy fatigue he was suffering. Causing him to wobble as he tried to regain his footing.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Cadence asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’m just… going for a walk.”

But as BlackWarGreymon tried to walk towards the exit to the throne room, the same dark blue energy began to spark around him again. The sight made the group feel concerned for him. Thinking that the random flux of energy was just a side-effect of his dark transformation.

“Hang in there,” Luna said to the Mega. To which he nodded in response. Not noticing Rarity again trying not to squeal loudly. Finding the caring duo absolutely adorable.

After some heavy footsteps, BlackWarGreymon took his leave and left the throne room. But as soon as the doors closed behind him, the black-armoured Digimon suddenly felt a headache. Using his left hand to clench his head, he grunted from the stinging sensation in his head. The negative blue energy sparking all over his body.

Then just as the pain grew, for a split second, his eyes briefly flashed white. And his grunting suddenly felt malicious. Then just as quickly as it came, it all suddenly stopped. As if it never happened.

“Urrgh! Wha… what was that!?” He asked himself as he tried to walk on. His voice carrying a hint of fear.

Chapter 71: Demonic Control

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Hidden lair, Unknown location

It had been sometime since her master went away to his slumber. And Queen Chrysalis was already feeling uneasy. The Changelings could tell whenever their leader was feeling stressed and frightened. She was their mother after all. They knew that it involved the evil Digimon. The way he spoke to her showed that the two clearly had history. But what that history entailed was something very unpleasant. Ever since their first encounter with him, Chrysalis had always been on the defensive. And on the day King Sombra stated that she was expected, she had shown both fear and distain. For the hive, it was a sign of someone who had went through the kind of abuse they couldn’t fathom. So for them, they wonder why. Why was their mother going through with the evil being’s ideals? Why was she following his orders? But more importantly, why was she so afraid of him?

The changeling queen stood firm with her mind full of thoughts. Remembering the question she spoke about the dark one’s power. And in her thoughts, also escalated her fear.

‘His strength continues to grow. As if to no end. His power is higher than anything I have ever felt before. And yet, he isn’t at his fullest yet. Could he really be close? And if so, what will happen? Would he really rise up from hiding and attack the ponies? Would he… really go along with his plan?’

She continued to process her thoughts as she glanced down at the ground.

‘It won’t be long until that day finally arrives. It’s something he had been waiting for a very long time for. But when that happens, what would happen to us? Would me and my children share the world? Or…’

Wanting to get her mind off any unpleasant thoughts, she looked around to find something to distract her. Then she found him. Sitting alone on a large rock was ChaosBlackWarGreymon. She paused when she saw him. For one reason or another, he looked troubled. Wanting to see if something was wrong, Chrysalis made her way towards him.

The tall digital clone was indeed troubled. Despite being alone, his mind felt like many voices talking all at once. As he looked down at the ground, his mind rekindled on all the things he had learnt.

‘The pieces are coming together. I was created from BlackWarGreymon’s data. But that doesn’t mean that I was born as a dark incarnation. It was the boss who told me that. But just because he said something, it doesn’t mean that it’s true. But if that’s the case, then why did he lie to me? Is it to motivate me to be bad? To be on the path of evil?’

Then his mind shifted to his conversation with the Princess of Friendship.

‘But in her case, there is more than one way to lead a great life. And that only I can find and chose my destiny. She also saw that there was goodness in me. Does that mean I can have a chance at being something else? Something other than a destroyer? These new feelings are strange. And yet… they feel… right?’

His mind began to focus on her and her alone. And the moment that happened, he immediately felt a warm feeling in his chest. The same feeling he felt before. The one Twilight called love. Looking down at his chest, the confused Mega placed his right hand on his chest plate.

‘Princess Twilight Sparkle. What have you done to me?’

Thoughts of the purple Alicorn were interrupted when he heard the voice of the changeling queen.

“Are you feeling ok?”

There was a brief pause before the grey-armoured Mega spoke in response.

“I don’t know.”

Though the Digimon clone wasn’t looking at her, Chrysalis could tell that something was up.

“You’re sure you don’t know? You look… worried.”

The royal changeling paused in thought. Thinking that ChaosBlackWarGreymon was worried about the future the dark master had planned. Just as she was. But when the taller being responded, he revealed what he was concerned about.

“Chrysalis? Are we… doing the right thing?”

The changeling queen paused in surprise. Was the Digimon really starting to question his motives? Unsure of what was happening, the silent Chrysalis listened on as the Mega started to truly think for himself.

“The ponies are living a life of peace. And because of that, they are thriving. They’re living their lives. Fulfilling their desires and their destinies. It’s clear that there are other ways to reach our destiny. Other than the path of evil. And yet, the boss wants to destroy all that to fulfil his own desire. That only the strong would survive. And we’re helping him.”

He continued as he looked over to the startled Chrysalis.

“I was never taught what was right and what was wrong. But the things we’re doing, helping him with his plans, is it… wrong?”

Chrysalis was amazed. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was like a child who had done something bad but was insecure about it. But the things he said made her worried. If the master heard those words, he wouldn’t tolerate it. She had heard about what happened to Discord.

But he wasn’t the only one who felt in such a way. Chrysalis herself felt the same. The monster was the one who took the life of someone so close to her. And yet, she was working for him. The idea of it sickened her, but she was living that life. She deeply wanted nothing more than to stay away from him forever. Or however unlikely, to see him destroyed.

But despite her great power as queen of the changelings, which could rival an Alicorn princess, she was nothing compared to the monster.

Despite her fears, she answered the question.

“Y-Yes. Yes, it is.”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at her in curiosity.

“Then why? Why do we serve him?”

He then focused his gaze on her.

“Why do YOU serve him?”

Chrysalis took a moment before answering. Figuring out the best way to explain.

“It’s because I’m afraid of him. Believe me, I wish there was another way. But… serving him is the reason my kind are still around. We obey him, and we can live another day. But if we disobey him, he… he will…”

Chrysalis stopped as her expression saddened. The idea of turning against the master kept reminding her of the one she had lost long ago. He tried to defy the monster but paid the ultimate price. A sight that scarred the queen changeling for life.

She then received a surprise from ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

Chrysalis snapped her head back at him. Disbelief and surprise shown on her face as the Mega looked back at her.

“H-How did you know that!?”

“The boss created me from his energy. I have all his memories aside from BlackWarGreymon’s.”

Chrysalis kept staring at him. Startled that he possessed the evil Digimon’s memories. But at the same time, she felt glad. Finally… someone felt sorry for her about what happened in her childhood. It was one of a few things in the world she wanted.

But the peace between the two was shattered by approaching hoof steps. Turning in their direction, Chrysalis and ChaosBlackWarGreymon were startled to see the rest of the changeling hive gathering towards them. All of them with looks of determination.

“W-What is all of this?” Chrysalis asked.

Ahead of the group, the front changeling spoke up.

“Your highness, all of us had reached a decision.”

He then surprised her with his next sentence.

“We don’t wish to serve the dark master anymore.”

Both Chrysalis and ChaosBlackWarGreymon both recoiled in surprise at what they heard. The former being especially alarmed.

“W-Wha…WHAT!!?”

The changelings spoke up. Each of them wanting to have their voices heard.

“Yeah, you may know him. But he treats us like slaves.”

“And we don’t like the way he’s been treating you.”

“You’re our queen. You shouldn’t receive such abuse.”

“We should never listen to that creep!”

“Yes! Let’s leave! He doesn’t need us anyway!”

“Let’s go home, your highness. We know you want to as well.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go while he’s asleep.”

With all the changelings seemingly in agreement, their commotion was getting louder and louder. Echoing throughout the chamber. ChaosBlackWarGreymon watched on in stunned silence. But as for Chrysalis, she feared for the worst at what she was hearing. Wanting it to stop immediately.

“N-No! Now all of you, stop this! Disobeying him is the last thing you sho…!”

“What’s this I hear?”

The demonic voice echoed loud throughout the chamber. Silencing the changelings and sending a horrific chill through the queen. ChaosBlackWarGreymon became alert as he stood up from his rock. Surprise in his crimson eyes. All eyes turned towards a dark cavern at the end of the chamber. A massive, clawed hand emerged before slamming against the stone ground. The changeling queen felt her entire body trembling in fear and dread. A look of despair plastered on her face. Only to fall further from the sight of the whole Digimon emerging into the dimmed light. His cold yellow eyes scanning over every soul looking back. The changelings froze. In their uproar, they had forgotten how huge the evil being was. As well as how terrifying he looked.

“Are you not pleased with my… leadership?” He asked in a twisted insincere tone. Even tilting his head to his left in a way that should’ve broken his neck.

The sight was unsettling to the changelings. Then as the Digimon continued, his grin grew creepier and creepier.

“What happened to all that brave talk just a moment ago? You’re not thinking about a revolt? A… rebellion?”

A cold dead silence filled the air. For some of the changelings, they wanted to speak up. To express their displeasure. But in a manner that was almost instinctive, their bodies refused to let out a sound. As if they were pray, in the presence of a predator. Chrysalis looked back and forth at both her children and her master. Breathing harshly from the fear within her.

When the Digimon spoke again, he decided to spill.

“Bad things tend to happen to those who defy me. I don’t want any more… incidents like the other day to happen again.”

Chrysalis froze in terror. She knew exactly what he was talking about. As for the other changelings, they were quietly talking amongst themselves. Confused as to what the Digimon was referring to. But then one changeling in the crowd spoke up to his siblings.

“Wait! You mean when we found one of our own frozen!?”

Silence filled the air as all the changelings froze in realisation. Then remembering what the evil Digimon said about ‘those who defy him’, they all sharply turned to look at him. And when they did, the Digimon’s grin grew bigger as he let out a quiet chuckle.

With the discovery, the wings of the changeling solders rustled and vibrated in response. Mixed feelings caused the steadily buzzing sound to form from their wings. Then one shouted out what all the others were thinking.

“It was you!! You killed him!!?”

The Digimon’s chuckling grew into a fit of demonic laughter. Only to follow with him admitting his crimes.

“That’s right! It was me. I did it.”

His confession caused an uproar from the changeling hive. All of them angrily shouting at him in protest. Expelling all their newfound hatred for their master as well as questioning why he did it. But in all the uproar, Chrysalis watched on in stunned silence. Her nightmares were all coming true. Her children shouting in revolt at the dark one. She had hoped that what would follow would not match reality.

“SILENCE!!!”

The Digimon’s demonic voice echoed loudly through the chamber. Silencing all the changelings around him. Despite the anger present in their expressions, the hive remained quiet. Only the quiet buzzing of their wings could be heard. But the Digimon was not intimidated in the slightest. He then began to threaten.

“Let this be a reminder for you all. I do not tolerate disobedience. You will all do well to serve me. And obey my every command. If not, than more will fall. Like your sibling.”

As he finished his sentence, he let out a secret to them all.

“And your uncle!”

The changelings let out quiet gasps from within their ranks. Some, knowing how family works, turned to look at Chrysalis. The queen with the look of shock on her face as she looked back at the Digimon. Surprised that he would reveal her secret. Something that she didn’t want her children to know about. As confusion began to spread. The evil being revealed more.

“That’s right. Chrysalis didn’t tell you. She had a brother long ago. But he tried to openly defy me. It didn’t end well for him.”

Soon fear got mixed with the anger within the changeling hive. Shaken to hear that a sibling of their mother was murdered so long ago by the very monster that stood in front of them. The very demon that they had been working for. As they began to question themselves, the Digimon spoke up. Giving off a very threatening tone as he flexed his claws at them.

“Perhaps… treachery runs in the family.”

Knowing full well what her master was insinuating, Chrysalis stood in front of her children and tried to ease the tension. Fear gripping in her voice.

“N-No! Please! My children know not what they say! They won’t do anything of the sort! They’ll do whatever you say! Just don’t hurt them!”

The changelings were surprised of their queen. They had never seen her being so protective over them. She was trying to put on a brave face. But they could see that she was terrified. Both of the master, and for the possible thought of losing her hive to him.

But as the Mega glanced over at the changeling queen, his twisted sense of thinking caused him to approach her. Then to her discomfort, reached out his huge right hand and grabbed a firm hold on her body. Despite the action, Chrysalis never tore her fearful eyes away from her master’s. But she could feel her body being locked in place by his grip.

“Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps…”

He then surprised Chrysalis by lifting her completely off the ground. The changeling queen gasped out in fright as he tilted his wrist. Making her face up with her legs flailing uselessly. The rest of the hive got worked up from seeing how quickly their queen was rendered helpless and stricken. Fearful for her and terrified at what would happen. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon stood still in shock.

Chrysalis tried to wiggle free. Letting out frightened yelps as she thrashed her legs. But no amount of her struggling would free her from the Digimon’s grip. When she glanced forward, she was met with the soulless eyes of the Digimon staring back at her. He then finished his sentence. Choosing the words that raised the fear in her heart.

“… you should take the fall for them.”

Knowing her life was in danger, Chrysalis flailed in panic as she was being brought closer to the Mega’s freakish face. Tears of fear began to escape her clenched eyes. Not wanting to see what could happen as the Digimon let out deep growls.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!!!”

The whole room paused as the stray voice screamed for all to hear. As the Digimon turned towards the stunned crowd. A lone changeling was standing out of the hive. Angrily glaring at him as all his siblings stared at him in disbelief. Did he just spoke out to him? Did the lone changeling drone just told him off?

Loosening his hand, he dropped the frightened Chrysalis down on the ground before turning his full attention to the changeling. Seeing the Digimon’s full focus on him made the drone flinched in surprise. Him too feeling startled by standing up to the master. The Digimon moved towards him. Digging his claws into the ground as he advanced. The other changelings backed off. Not wanting to get in his way. All the while fearing what would happen to the one changeling.

The Mega paused as he got within a few inches from the changeling. The giant towered over the insect-like pony as he glared down at him. The changeling began to feel his legs trembling as the beast stared at him. Unable to read the expression on the master’s face. The Digimon’s large, clawed hands rested on the ground either side of the rebel. He then spoke to him. Quiet, but threatening. Trying to tempt the changeling.

“You got something to say? Go ahead. Say it.”

Knowing what to expect with what he and his siblings discovered, he imagined the consequence for speaking against the monster. The only response he could give was to glance down to the ground. Trying to hide his fear while trying to show his defiance. But he did not say a word.

“No?”

The Digimon then clenched his hands into the ground. Ripping through the stone like nothing as he leaned closer to the changeling. He spoke again. His voice getting louder and even more threatening.

“Then get back in line!”

With no choice but to comply, the lone changeling backed away. Re-joining with the rest of the terrified hive. With order restored, the Digimon rose back up as he addressed the hive.

“You insects are forgetting your place. Remember who here is the supreme being.”

He then glanced over to ChaosBlackWarGreymon. The latter flinched from the sight of the yellow piercing eyes. The beast then glanced over his shoulder. Looking at the changelings once more before issuing a promised threat.

“Oh. And don’t even think about running away. If you do, I’ll find you.”

He then finished as his eyes briefly flashed in a glow.

“And I will kill you.”

The evil Digimon them began to make his move. Crawling away towards the cavern he emerged from. If Chrysalis hadn’t moved out of the way, her leg would’ve been crushed by the Digimon’s hand. As the evil Digimon disappeared, the changeling queen felt her sadness welling up. Causing her to quietly sob before crying. Some members of the hive flew up to Chrysalis to comfort her. ChaosBlackWarGreymon however stood there in silence. Experiencing sympathy as he watched the changeling queen being reduced to tears. He then looked down with a narrowed gaze. Rekindling his thoughts about what he learnt from Twilight.
………………………………………………………………………………………….....................................

Canterlot castle

Over at Equestria’s capital, the group silently stared at the door which BlackWarGreymon left from. They couldn’t help but feel that something was off about how he moved. With Applejack expressing her opinion.

“Ah’m not sayin’ that he’s lyin’, but… ah don’t think he’s alright.”

The next to speak was Princess Luna. Whom was the most sympathetic towards BlackWarGreymon by agreeing with the orange Earth Pony.

“You’re right. He just… has a lot going on.”

She continued as she began to think about her own past.

“I thought this would be common ground for me due to my time as Nightmare Moon. But I was always in control of my actions. Whereas his…”

Luna frowned in sadness. Regardless if one would be in control or not, falling into the darkness of one’s self was something she recognised. But seeing it happen to BlackWarGreymon made her feel all the more concerned for him. He was mentally fragile when it came to his loyalty to his friends. So for him to see himself Dark Mode-Changing into BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode and attacking his friends would be no less than torture. She was happy that he was forgiven.

The others looked at her as she took a moment to reflect. Knowing what she was thinking, they admired her for being more open about her past actions. And for her to use that experience to help BlackWarGreymon. But for two mares, they were stunned and impressed at how attached the Moon Princess was towards the Artificial Digimon. The blue mare going so far as to even understand BlackWarGreymon’s pain.

The two mares in question was Cadence and… just very recently… Rarity.

Despite the mood setting in, Pinkie Pie spoke up.

“But this still doesn’t explain how he found himself outside.”

The ponies all blinked in surprise. With all that happened with BlackWarGreymon earlier, they had completely forgotten about that mystery. It was never explained how the Digimon crashed outside. Leaving Twilight to give out an idea.

“I say it’s best for us to investigate.”

“Good idea, Twilight. Just like detectives,” Rainbow Dash said. Liking the idea.

Princess Celestia too supported the idea. For she devised a plan.

“Very well. But we have to split up. Cadence, you take Applejack and Rarity to the castle grounds and find and clues surrounding the area. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy shall check that hole in the tower. See if there was anything that might’ve caused BlackWarGreymon to fall. Shining Armor, you round up some guards and petrol the castle. Just in case if we do have a hidden attacker. If any of you find anything, let me know as soon as possible.”

The ponies that were named nodded in response. Accepting the mission.

“Celestia? What would I be doing?” Twilight asked with Luna eyeing in. She too being not named yet.

“You, Luna and I will question any staff that were on duty by the tower at the time of the incident. A witness would help us greatly,” The Sun Princess answered.

“Understood,” Twilight replied. Rainbow Dash beside her feeling pumped to solve the mystery.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

The pony group then split off into their respective teams as they left the throne room. But as Applejack disappeared out of the throne room doors, Rarity called out to Princess Cadence before she followed suit.

“Cadence. Wait.”

Hearing her name being called, the pink Alicorn paused in surprise before turning to face the white Unicorn.

“W-What is it, Rarity?”

But to her confusion, the Element of Generosity looked over her shoulder to see the rest of her friends leave the room. To ensure that the two were alone. Once all the doors were closed, Rarity then spoke to the puzzled Cadence.

“Good, we’re alone.”

“What’s this about?” Cadence asked, feeling concerned if there was anything else wrong.

When Rarity responded, she had an apologetic tone in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Cadence. But there’s something that I really need to get off my chest. And you’re the best pony to speak to.”

While slightly reassured, Cadence was still puzzled as to why the Unicorn wanted to speak only to her. To which she enquired.

“Ok. What’s on your mind, Rarity?”

But just as Rarity opened her mouth, she suddenly froze up. Already feeling embarrassed at the subject she was about to bring up. The subject that involved her two friends. But the most nerve-racking was the nature of the subject itself. She quickly began to doubt herself. What if she just misread the signals? What if her judgment was untrue? She would only end up embarrassing herself in front of Cadence. The feeling of awkwardness quickly setting in. A small blush of embarrassment forming in her cheeks. Cadence silently looked at her as the Unicorn kept stuttering. Trying to find the best way to speak what was on her mind.

“Well… uhh… mm. Now how do I explain this?”

Feeling that she was getting her act together, Cadence remained silent to hear what Rarity was trying to say.

“Well… it could just me my imagination. But… well… it’s about BlackWarGreymon and… Luna.”

Hearing those two names in one sentence caused Cadence to raise an eyebrow. Plus, with how Rarity was acting, she had a sneaking feeling of what she was trying to say. Causing her to sneak a tiny curl on the ends of her lips. Rarity continued.

“The thing is… how they’ve been acting. Well… it’s as if they’ve… ummm…”

Seeing that Rarity was struggling to speak, Cadence decided to finish her question.

“Totally got a thing for one another?”

Rarity paused as she stared at Cadence in complete surprise. It was exactly as how she was trying to explain. But what startled her was how accurate the first guess was. It was too convenient. As the Unicorn blinked in surprise, Cadence couldn’t hold back the steadily increasing happiness within her. Making her smile bigger.

“Y-Yes. But… how did you…?”

Cadence lightly chuckled in response to Rarity’s startled reply. She then spoke in a joyful tone.

“It wasn’t that hard to figure out. I am the princess of love after all.”

She then turned her attention to Rarity and her absent friends.

“With how open Luna was lately, you were bound to notice the signs. Strange though. I figured that Twilight would be the first to notice.”

But Cadence was interrupted when Rarity let out a hushed excited squeal as she waved her hoof at her. Making her stop talking. Clearly the white Unicorn wanted something to be clarified.

“Wh…wha…wait just a second! You mean it wasn’t just my imagination? That… it’s all true?”

The smile on the Alicorn’s face grew wider from hearing the excited tone in Rarity’s voice. She was clearly happy about the whole thing. Much to her own relief. She softly nodded. The Unicorn’s eyes went wider from the confirmation. It was true. There really was a connection between Luna and BlackWarGreymon that bonded them together. Cadence then revealed the irony of the whole situation.

“The bizarre thing is, Rarity. It’s that neither of them are even aware of each other’s feelings.”

Rarity let out a giggle in excitement. It was the sort of romance that she enjoyed the most. But what topped it off, was the fact that the two were from completely different worlds. One from Equestria, and the other from the Digital World. Rarity then spoke up. Her voice letting out her excitement.

“Hay. You think… we should tell the others?”

Cadence politely shock her head before speaking up. Remembering her earlier talk with Luna.

“No need. I got a feeling that Luna would be the one to tell soon. We don’t want to cause any sort of embarrassment.”

Knowing how sensitive the subject of romance was, Rarity perfectly understood.

“O-Of course. Besides, we have to solve this mystery.”

With the discussion between the two at an end, Rarity and Cadence left the castle and met caught up with Applejack outside. Who was already at the crater where BlackWarGreymon crashed into the garden.

“Where have ya two been?” Applejack asked. Wondering about the pair’s lengthy absence.

But not wanting to spoil the surprise and focus on the matter at hand, Cadence answered.

“Just checking on something. But did you find anything?”

As the orange Earth Pony took another look at the crater, she gave her reply.

“Nothin’. All we’ve found is just debris from that tower up there.”

Along with Applejack and Rarity, Cadence too looked up at the tower where the hole could be seen.

“I hope the others have better luck.”

Up at the hole in the wall, the second team were present. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were hovering outside the hole. The two having just arrived.

“Wow. We’re so… h-high,” Fluttershy said as she fearfully looked down at the gardens far below.

“Well, we’re in a tower,” Rainbow Dash replied before looking around. Realising that they were missing one pony.

“Where’s Pinkie?”

On que to Rainbow Dash’s question, the pink mare suddenly appeared in front of the blue Pegasus.

“I’m here.”

As the three searched the hallway, Rainbow Dash spotted Fluttershy staring intensely at the gaping hole in the wall. Feeling that her fellow Pegasi might be onto something, the blue mare flew over to her.

“You got something, Fluttershy?”

“Yes. Haven’t you noticed that all the broken pieces of the wall are outside? And not inside?”

“Yeah. The floor is spotless,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked over the floor beneath her. Her friend was right. There was not an ounce of debris within the hallway.

“So the big guy didn’t just fell. He stormed through the wall. But why?” The blue mare added.

Then the two heard Pinkie Pie.

“Hay! Do you think these claw marks have something to do with this?”

“Huh?”

Turning to where the pink pony was standing, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy saw it too. A sight that took them completely by surprise. And even a little frightened. A series of deep slash marks on the walls.

“How did we miss that!?” The confused blue Pegasus asked. Unsure how she didn’t notice it before.

“Did BlackWarGreymon do this?” Fluttershy asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

If her assumption was true, she was unsure why her digital friend would act so violently for no reason.

Rainbow Dash stared at the claw marks on the wall. As she watched on, she began to feel a cold shiver up her spine. The mare felt uneasy. The last time she felt such a shiver was when BlackWarGreymon…

“N-No. He’s back to normal. It can’t be. C… can it?”
………………………………………………………………………………......................................

After splitting up from the other two groups, Twilight, Luna and Celestia separated themselves as they interrogated any staff that were present. By splitting themselves up, they were able to cover more ground when searching for answers.

During their search, Celestia and Luna found nothing. None of the guards or maids they came across were not by the tower in question at the time. Twilight however was more fortunate. She came across a lone maid who was working in the area at the time of BlackWarGreymon’s incident.

But the Princess of Friendship felt uneasy at what she was told.

“What!? Did… did he really just… growl?”

As the maid answered, she explained to Twilight what she saw. Uneasiness in her voice.

“Y-Yes. I was just cleaning the hallway, and then I suddenly heard growling. As I looked around the corner, I saw that it was him. The saviour. He was growling. Not only growling, he was also saying things like ‘where am I’ and ‘where are my friends’. He then stumbled around and slashed his claws all around him. As if he was… attacking something. Then as he stumbled more, he charged straight through a wall and fell down to the gardens.”

Twilight was beyond puzzled at what she heard.

“Our hunch was right. Something is wrong with him. He would never do something like that,” She said. Confused and afraid at her friend’s violent behaviour.

Then the maid mentioned something that was the most disturbing of all.

“Oh. And when he charged through that wall, I saw that his eyes weren’t yellow.”

Indeed disturbed, Twilight paid full attention back to the maid.

“What was that?”

The maid once more explained.

“Yes. They weren’t yellow. Instead, they were like… nothing. Just… pure whiteness that glowed. And I even think his armour suddenly got darker. Flashing that dark energy. Oh, and his hair got spikier.”

The lavender Alicorn was silent as she tried to picture the image in her head. The thought of it sent a shiver down her spine. But at the same time, she could’ve sworn she had seen those signs somewhere before.

Then I clicked. She had seen those signs before. The very thought of what came to her mind filled her heart full of dread and fear. Something about her digital friend that she never wanted to see again. Something… very dangerous.

With fear and realisation dawning upon her, Twilight gasped in fright as she started to turn and run back to where she came.

“W-Where are you going, your highness!?” The maid asked.

“To find Celestia and Luna! All my friends! T-They need to know! They must be warned!”
…………………………………………………………………………………….......................................

Meanwhile in another part of the castle, BlackWarGreymon was still on his walk. At first, he was strolling through the corridors. Trying to comprehend what he had learnt about himself. But recently, he began to feel… weird.

He tried to keep on walking, but his pace became slow and staggered. As if fatigue began a sudden take over. His vision started to go blurry as he started to get headaches. Dark energy began to surge around his body once more. Growing more intense by the second.

The symptoms that was getting to him the most was the pain in his head. His eyes clenched tightly from the pinching feeling. Grunting in pain all the while.

“Uhh… what… what is happening!?” He asked. The unknown feeling starting to become stronger.

But as he clenched his hands against the sides of his head, his grunting grew louder. But at the same time, the grunts were slowly becoming growls. Then as he began to thrash his head around, he could feel something clouding his mind. Blocking his senses and his thoughts.

‘Wh… what… what’s… happening… to… me?’

As the dark energy began to rapidly spark around his body, the jet-black armour that adorned his body began to turn darker. His yellow hair began to turn spikier. His growling becoming more savage. And then, the sparking energy stopped. His arms dropped to his sides.

His actions hadn’t gone unnoticed. Emerging around the corner of the hallway was a familiar member of the royal guard. The Pegasus Double Edge.

With his back to her, she walked up to him with a smile.

“Hay, big guy. Haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?”

But she received no response. Double Edge suddenly got a feeling that something was wrong. The Digimon was standing disturbingly still. But his body was softly trembling with his head hung low. The only sounds coming from him were, to the pony’s confusion, deep growls.

“Uhh… BlackWarGreymon?”

She received a response. BlackWarGreymon growled loudly as he sharply turned his head around to look over his shoulder. Glaring at the Pegasus with his glowing featureless eyes. And a snarling toothy maw.

Double Edge let out a brief yell of fright and surprise as she took several steps back. BlackWarGreymon’s growling and swift actions showed that he was being hostile. Despite his eyes being pure white, she could feel pure malice from them. but what startled her the most was that he suddenly had a mouth. While she only seen him a few times, she knew that he didn’t have a workable jaw. Never mind one with razor sharp teeth.

His muscles became tensed as he locked his eyes on hers. The tone in his voice showed a staggering amount of aggression.

“Who are you!? What did you do to my friends!?”

Double Edge, having no idea what was going on, began to take steps back as the enraged Digimon approached her. His body beginning to emit a faint black glow. His bright featureless eyes burning with rage.

“WHERE ARE THEY!!!?”

Chapter 72: Tragedy in Canterlot

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The mysterious event surrounding BlackWarGreymon’s recent actions seemed to be drawing to a conclusion. A terrifying conclusion.

While interrogating one of the maids in Canterlot Castle, Princess Twilight Sparkle had discovered something very unpleasant. So potentially dangerous that she immediately ran to find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. After she found the two sisters in a hallway, she quickly told them what she had learnt.

The news that she gave them frightened the older Alicorns.

“Twilight? Are you absolutely sure that’s what she told you!?” Celestia asked her former student.

“Yes. Every word,” Twilight answered.

Luna’s expression showed fear as she spoke to her older sister.

“T-Then this is worse than we thought! But how!? It’s… impossible!”

Celestia paused as she connected the dots. From what Twilight was told, the strange features that the Digimon possessed… matched almost identically to what they had seen just hours ago.

“I know, Luna. From the sound of it, it’s as if… he’s slipping into that… dark form.”

Luna froze. To hear such a possibility out in the open made her fearful. Seeing her dear friend surrendering into his Berserk Mode was the stuff of nightmares. Even more so from the thought of the berserker Digimon on a rampage within Canterlot’s walls. But the very fact of the discovery was what left her confused.

“But why!? What does he have to be angry about!? There’s… no reason for him to be.”

Like Luna, Twilight too was puzzled by the fact. There was no immediate threat around. But even if there were, the chances of such a force to make BlackWarGreymon so angry were slim. But then the purple Alicorn began to think back to the Digimon’s memories. Feeling that there was something in his past that could be the answer. Her eyes then widened in surprise from what she uncovered.

“Wait. Maybe that’s it.”

“What is it, Twilight?” Celestia asked. Both she and Luna looked at the smaller Alicorn. Eager to know.

To which, Twilight answered.

“Back in his past, when he was in the Digital World. His creator mentioned that he had… left-over programs within him.”

The royal sisters paused from realisation. Remembering what Arukenimon said to BlackWarGreymon during the Mega’s battle with the Mammothmon. But then Twilight continued.

“And don’t forget that BlackWarGreymon was created as a Mega level Digimon. An artificial one. So maybe… he’s not supposed to possess any sort of transformation from his world. But yet was one of those programs left over.”

Then Celestia chimed in. Understanding what Twilight was conveying.

“I see. If that’s the case, perhaps… his body isn’t used to such a change? And is now going through some sort of… side effect?”

“My thoughts exactly. And since he’s a digital creature, I guess you could say he’s experiencing some sort of glitch. A nasty one.”

“This is something entirely new to us. We don’t know what other kind of effects BlackWarGreymon is going through. We need to find him soon before the situation gets worse.”

Being silent while listening to Celestia and Twilight, Luna felt uncomfortable about the ordeal. She admitted once before that she wanted BlackWarGreymon to live a life with no pain. But remembering how upset he was from discovering his Dark Digivolution made her worry. What if everything that was said was true? What if BlackWarGreymon remembers his outbursts? What if he would accidently hurt somepony? She knew such a thought would be too much for the Artificial Digimon to cope. Would ponies start to view him as a threat instead of a hero? Such a scenario would crush his spirit even more. He would feel isolated. Alone.

With every bad possibility forming in her head, it caused Luna to feel deeply concerned for her favourite Mega level Digimon even more. Possibly more so than ever.

Both Celestia and Twilight paused as they saw the sheer amount of worry from the Night Princess. After reading the expression on her sister’s face, Celestia briefly had a look of surprise. But then replaced with a small smile as she tried to reassure her. Placing her hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Luna. Well find him. And we’ll find a way to help him. Like how you did earlier.”

Luna paused from the last sentence her older sister said. Making her remember how she saved BlackWarGreymon from being completely consumed by his rage. To her, it was one of the greatest achievements of her life. Feeling that her sister was putting her trust in her, Luna couldn’t help but let out a little smile as she replied.

“Right. Thank you, sister.”

“Good. I’ll find the others and let them know,” Twilight suggested.

But before the Princess of Friendship could leave, she, Celestia and Luna heard a pony calling out to them. The voice full of panic.

“Princesses! We have an emergency!!”

Following to where the voice came from, the three Alicorns saw a royal guardsmare rushing towards them. When she reached them, they noticed that it was Double Edge. But the armour the Pegasus wore was damaged and heavily scratched. As if she had just escaped a battle.

“W-What’s going on!?” Celestia asked. Concerned for the mare’s wellbeing.

At first the Pegasus breathed heavily from exhaustion and shock. But after getting her breath back, she gave out alarming news. The kind the three princesses feared.

“Your highness! Something’s wrong with BlackWarGreymon! He suddenly went wild! And attacking the guards!!”

The three Alicorns gasped in shock and horror. It was truly happening. The unstableness that was within BlackWarGreymon was rearing its ugly head. With their talk with him earlier, they thought they would have more time. Time to prepare. Time to think of a right approach. Time to find a way to help BlackWarGreymon. But with the Digimon losing control of himself, the ponies need to take immediate action. Knowing the Digimon’s formidable strength, he could severely hurt the guards. Or to their horror, worse.

“Quick! Take us to him immediately!!” Luna demanded. Her tone sounding more like a plea.

“R-Right!” Double Edge replied before leading the way.

Following the Pegasus back down form where she came, the three Alicorns rushed towards the danger to save their friend. Ahead of the other two, Luna had the look of desperation. Hoping to reach BlackWarGreymon before it was too late.

‘Please Blackie! Please hold on just a little longer!’
…………………………………………………………………………………….........................

Elsewhere in the castle, a fight was breaking out. The panicked royal guards were trying to scramble around the out-of-control BlackWarGreymon. But whenever they tried to get in close, they ended up getting swatted aside. Despite their confusion of what was really going on, the guards knew that the saviour wouldn’t attack them without reason. They could tell that something was wrong with him. They were trying their best to hold him off until a solution could present itself. But until then, they kept trying to reason with him.

As one of the guards dragged an unconscious comrade out of the way, a stallion tried to talk to the Mega.

“Listen. Just calm down. We’re trying to help you.”

The uncontrollable Digimon couldn’t listen. The negative data surging within him was clouding his judgement. As well as heightening his aggression to almost savage levels, a hidden side effect of BlackWarGreymon’s ordeal was hallucinations. The dark energy making him think that he was in someplace else. To him, all he could see was a dark abyss. Nothing but darkness surrounding him. He then began to see shadow-like creatures. With his violent nature taking over, he attacked the creatures. But in reality, he was either attacking at nothing or the guards themselves. But due to the unstable process he was going through, all what he was seeing was scaring the Digimon. Having no idea where he was. Or even where his friends were.

“They’re gone. They’re all gone. Were they taken?” He said quietly to himself. Breathing heavily from the stress as dark energy continued to spark around his body.

The same guard moved closer as he spoke up again.

“Hello. Can you hear me?”

But he walked in too close. BlackWarGreymon looked over his right shoulder to stare at the guard. But in his eyes, the guard was another shadow creature. Feeling that the creature had something to do with the disappearance of his friends, the enraged Mega let out a toothy growl as he swung his arm out. Backhanding the guard away with enough force to knock him out.

He then continued to lash out at thin air. Believing to be more incoming shadow creatures.

“What!? What do you want from me!?” He shouted as he continued to slash all around him. While the attacks were narrowly dodged by the guards, the walls and floors began to receive massive gash marks.

“What’s the matter with him!?” One of the panicking guards shrieked as they could do nothing but watch BlackWarGreymon tear the castle structure apart.

As the chaos continued, Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Double Edge finally arrived on the scene. Their sights then laid upon the flailing Digimon. While Twilight and Celestia looked on in disbelief, Luna felt horrified. It was just like the description said. BlackWarGreymon had a faint eerie glow around his body. His armour was darker. His hair looked spiker. But the worst was that his eyes were glowing a bright featureless white. But to their shock, they saw that he had regained his toothy maw.

Then as BlackWarGreymon turned to face in their direction, the Alicorns felt a wave of fear washing over them. It truly looked as though their friend was halfway transitioning into his Berserk Mode.

“I was right! His fight with Tirek has messed up his body!” Twilight shrieked. Joined by Celestia.

“He can’t control himself!”

Luna stared on in terror. Just the thought of what they were talking about scared her. But to see it actually coming true, it made her feel nothing but dread. With more of his change occurring, the more BlackWarGreymon’s mental state would deteriorate. He was already at the state where he would openly fight against anything that came his way.

“BlackWarGreymon,” She cried out. Already feeling despair.

“We need to find a way to help him! But what!?” Twilight asked.

But before the three princesses could think of an idea, they suddenly felt a great build-up of energy. And to their surprise, it was coming from BlackWarGreymon. As he turned his head around sharply, in his eyes, he could only see himself being surrounded by shadow creatures. All appearing out of the empty void.

The hallucinating Mega was confused and afraid at what he was seeing. But his resolve to find his friends remained strong. Unfortunately, such resolve caused his hatred for the shadow creatures to build. His fury grew as he snarled in rage.

“What are you!? What have you done to my friends!?”

Then to the surprise of the surrounding ponies, BlackWarGreymon’s body began to glow brighter as he reared his head back to roar loudly. As he did, his left arm began to violently twitch. To the ponies, the sight looked as though the limb was disfiguring itself. The image of the black Dramon Destroyer being twisted and distorted while shrouded in dark energy. And when the Digimon’s war-cry ended, and a massive build-up of power, he thrashed his limb wide. To the surprise of the ponies, BlackWarGreymon’s left arm had transformed. But to the horror of the Alicorns, the arm was that of the Digimon’s Berserk Mode. An armoured wrist ending with razor-sharp finger blades.

Slowly but surely, it looked as though BlackWarGreymon was Dark Digivolving.

Being the first to recognize the threat, Luna let out a frightened gasp before alerting the other ponies.

“Everypony! Get back!!”

Listening to the blue Alicorn, the princesses and the guards immediately began to back away from the Digimon as far as they could. With his mind playing tricks on him about his surroundings, the enraged BlackWarGreymon raised his newly transformed arm while letting out a mighty roar. He then smashed his clawed hand into the ground. The raw power behind it reduced the floor and the surrounding walls to rubble. The ground beneath BlackWarGreymon gave way to collapsing. Causing the Digimon to fall through the floor and into the main hall below.

After recovering from the unexpected attack, the guards jumped in after the Digimon. Leaving the three Alicorns to look through the hole in surprise.

“He’s suffering. I know it,” Luna said to herself. Heard by Twilight and Celestia, they too could tell that the situation was not BlackWarGreymon’s fault.

“But what can we do?” Celestia asked. Having little idea on how to handle the out-of-control Mega.

After a quick brainwave, Twilight formed an idea.

“Hay. I think I know something that might work.”

“What is it?” Celestia asked with Luna paying attention.

The purple Alicorn then revealed what she believed would be the solution.

“Back when Discord broke free from his stone prison, he used his magic to turn my friends into their opposite selves. But with my memory spell, I reminded them of the bond we shared. And it returned them back to normal.”

The eyes of the Alicorn Sisters widened in realisation. Remembering such an event from the past.

“That’s right, Twilight. So you think if you can do the same to BlackWarGreymon…”

Celestia’s guess was confirmed by Twilight.

“Yes. It will make him remember us. And maybe even return to normal.”

Wanting to believe that there was hope in Twilight’s idea, Luna gave her full support.

“Then we must act fast. Before it’s too late.”

Realising that time was at the essence, Twilight and Celestia joined Luna as they jumped through the hole. After landing in the main hall, they were briefly surprised when two members of the royal guard were hurtled overhead. Looking to where the guards were flung from, they could see that all but three guards had been knocked out. Double Edge being one of them. And stumbling in front of them was the out-of-control BlackWarGreymon.

“Hay! Go find Princess Cadence and my friends! We may need their help!” Twilight said to Double Edge.

“I’m on it!” The Pegasus said as she flew back up through the hole to find the others.

“Quick, Twilight! Your spell!” Luna said to Twilight. Wanting her digital friend to return to normal as soon as possible.

But the purple Alicorn stood still. Already foreseeing a big problem.

“I can’t right now! For it to work, I need him to keep still so I can get close!”

Celestia and Luna understood the problem. With BlackWarGreymon’s constant thrashing, he was moving around too much. And then there’s the issue of dodging his flailing metal claws.

As the frightened sisters looked over to BlackWarGreymon, to their shock, they could see a red sphere just above his right hand.

“Get out of there!” Celestia cried out. Recognizing the red sphere.

But it was too late. Mistaking the stallion as a shadow creature, the Mega swung his right arm in his direction. Unleashing a small Terra Destroyer sphere. While the guard was fortunate enough to dodge the attack itself, he was caught in the blast wave when it struck the ground behind him. The explosion sent him hurtling across the hall. Knocking him out.

Frightened that more ponies would get hurt, Celestia tried to plea with him. Hoping to get through the part of his mind that had yet to give in to his rage.

“BlackWarGreymon! Stop! Snap out of it! Please!!”

What surprised the three princesses was that the Mega completely stopped his rampage. He then sharply turned his head in a random direction.

“Celestia!?”

The three Alicorns paused in complete surprise. BlackWarGreymon truly hadn’t fully converted to his berserker state.

“Y-You can hear me!?” Celestia cried out again. Hoping the sound of her voice would further entice him to recover.

But to their dismay, BlackWarGreymon still couldn’t see them. Only more shadow creatures appeared in his field of vision. To the group, they were surprised to see the Digimon resuming thrashing around. But then darting his head around to try and find the Sun Princess. Even calling out to her.

“Celestia!? Celestia, where are you!?”

But just as Celestia was about to respond, the Mega suddenly felt great pain in his head. He loudly grunted as he hunched over to grasp firmly at his head. But as the pain suddenly escalated, BlackWarGreymon stood back up to release a pain-filled scream. Then as he hunched over again, the glow around his body grew more intense again. Then his spikey yellow hair began to twitch. Only to steadily grow longer. All the while the unfortunate Mega began to snarl like a beast. Blankly staring at the ground as he barred his sharp teeth.

The three princesses were shocked and horrified at what was unfolding in front of them.

“I-Is he…!?” Celestia fearfully asked Twilight. To which the equally scared princess replied.

“Yes! He’s changing even more!”

Then to their surprise, BlackWarGreymon’s transformed hand flicked open and formed a dark red sphere within the palm. To which the Alicorns recognised as his Terra Oblivion attack. The three shivered with fear from remembering what such an attack could do. Once more mistaking the last guard for another shadow creature, the Digimon yelled loudly as he threw the attack at the pony. The energy ball just missed, but like before, the explosion behind him sent the guard flying. The collision to a far wall knocked him out.

As the three Alicorns watched on, the frightened Celestia reminded the two of the urgent matter.

“If we don’t act now, he will transform fully! And everypony will be in danger!”

Luna was especially frightened by the ordeal. She knew that once BlackWarGreymon’s Mode Change was final, then he would become the monster that he always despised. To be a soulless killing machine. But worse of all, a slave to his rage with no power in Equestria to stop him. No words to sway him. Possibly… even her own.

She knew that the life of destruction and cruelty was the last thing her digital friend truly wanted. She felt it in her heart. She had to help him.

“No. No! I won’t allow it! Luna boldly said as she rushed towards the rampaging Mega.

“No, Luna! It’s too dangerous!” Celestia warned. But her little sister wouldn’t listen.

While keeping her distance from BlackWarGreymon’s flailing arms, the concerned Luna tried to get close to reason with him. Remembering what happened with her sister, she hoped that he would hear her voice. Almost praying for him to respond.

“BlackWarGreymon! Can you hear me!? You have to stop! Please!!”

But her plea fell to deaf ears. The Mega continued to roar in rage and hate as he destroyed the wooden furniture and slashing the walls.

“Please! You need to control yourself! I beg of you! BlackWarGreymon!?” She called out.

With another enraged roar, the Digimon impaled his right Dramon Destroyer gauntlet into the concrete ground. Momentarily stopping him from moving. Feeling that it was the right moment, Luna once more rushed closer. And closer…

“BlackWarGreymon!!”

What followed next made everypony pause. By pulling his right arm free and twisting his body around, BlackWarGreymon unintentionally backhanded Luna! The blue Alicorn briefly cried in pain as one of the Chrome Digizoid claws caught her side. Leaving a small gash. The surprise attack sent her body skidding across the floor.

“LUNA!!!” Celestia cried out as she rushed over to her fallen sister.

Luna’s scream also reached the unstable BlackWarGreymon’s ears. Pausing in response as he heard her cry.

“Luna?”

Finally seeing her chance, Twilight quickly flew in front of BlackWarGreymon’s face and tapped her magically charged horn on his head. Using her memory spell. One moment, BlackWarGreymon felt strange. Then the next moment, the memories of all his cherished moments with his friends of Equestria all began to come back to him. The friends he made in Ponyville. Canterlot. The Crystal Empire. Twilight. Celestia. And most important to him… Luna. His yellow eyes widened in awe as his mind had become unlocked. What’s more, he felt his rage rapidly fading away for good. Along with his increasing power. As BlackWarGreymon grew more calm, his body began to change. Glowing a bright white before fading away just as quickly. When the glow faded, his body had been restored to its true form.

Within moments, the influence of Dark Digivolution completely wore off. Despite feeling a bit of a headache and falling to one knee. BlackWarGreymon was returned to normal.

“Hay? You alright?” Twilight asked. Standing several feet away.

“Urrgh… my head. Wait! I heard Luna’s…!!”

After remembering the blue Alicorn’s scream, BlackWarGreymon immediately rose back on his feet and turned to look for her.

But as he laid his sights upon Celestia tending to the downed Luna, he fell silent. Silently gasped as his yellow eyes grew wide in pure horror at the sight of the injured princess. He could see the bleeding wound on her side. The gash was a clean cut. While not too deep, but clearly caused by an extremely sharp, narrow blade. He knew that it was him who did it. Despite being consumed by his anger, he remembered striking something. And… Luna’s scream immediately followed.

But in his horror, swiftly came immeasurable guilt. Luna was his friend. One of a few ponies he truly respects. The mare who understood him. The princess who he cherished and upon recently… someone who he deeply cared for.

But he hurt her. He caused her pain.

In his horrified state, BlackWarGreymon spoke in a very quiet tone.

“No. What have I done?”

As Twilight ran up to the other two Alicorns, Luna couldn’t stand up. The combination of the pain from her side and the shock was too great for her to properly control herself. She grunted as she tried desperately to fight the pain. Forcefully not letting the build-up of tears leaving her eyes. But the pain was agonizing.

But then, to her mental confusion, the pain was slowly subsiding. Looking up, Luna could see both Celestia and Twilight using their magic to heal her. As the two continued to use their healing spells, the red bloodied gash on Luna’s side slowly began to close up. Within moments, the spell was complete, and the wound was sealed up.

“Luna? How do you feel now?” Celestia asked, concerned if her sister was still in pain.

“I’m…I’m fine now. Thank you,” Luna replied as she slowly got back up on her hooves.

But as soon as Luna looked over Celestia’s shoulder, her reassuring smile vanished instantly. She could see the horrified expression in BlackWarGreymon’s eyes as he stared on. Shaken from the fact that he inflicted pain upon her. Even though it wasn’t intentional.

Knowing full well how vulnerable the Artificial Digimon was mentally, Luna immediately foresaw problems ahead. He was already at his limit before.

“Oh no,” She quietly uttered.

After walking past Celestia and Twilight, Luna stopped to see that her Digimon friend was trebling in shock. His arms shacking just slightly.

“Bl…BlackWarGreymon?” She spoke in a soft worrying tone.

Unfortunately, BlackWarGreymon was too in shock to listen at first. He was in his own little world. Speaking to himself in a way as if… he had discovered the real, yet horrifying truth about himself.

“How… how could I let this happen? I-I’m their saviour. I was supposed to protect them from harm. But… I…”

Realisation struck him once more. While it was true that he could protect his friends from other threats, it didn’t meant that he could protect them from himself. he was a Mega level Digimon. A very powerful being with phenomenal powers that would put every power in Equestria to shame. Plus with his powers boosted by the magic of Equestria, to his knowledge, he was possibly one of the strongest Digimon to exist. In his Ascended form alone, he could surpass the powers of MaloMyotismon. The very Digimon that killed him once in a single blow.

With such power flowing through him, he needed to be very careful around his pony friends. For they could easily be harmed. But by giving into his anger, letting it take control, he became the very thing he dreaded the most. A mindless tool used for harm and destruction.

In his mind, he could hear Arukenimon laughing and mocking him.

But then his mind was brought to full attention when his ear caught the sounds of hoof steps.

“BlackWarGreymon?” The worried Luna repeated as she approached him.

“STAY BACK!!!” The Digimon shouted as he took a step back while raising his right arm at Luna. Urging her to not come closer.

Caught by surprise from his outburst, Luna froze on the spot. Shocked by his…frightened behaviour.

But as BlackWarGreymon looked over to his raised arm, he quietly gasped as his eyes widened even more. His pupils shrinking in disbelief. On the tip of his metal index claw, he could see a red stain. His body started to tremble more from the thought of the possibility. Moving his arm closer to his face, he could clearly see that the red stain… was Luna’s blood. The blood that he himself spilled.

As he stared at the Alicorn’s life fluid on the tip of his metal claw, the horrified, guilt filled Mega spoke out what many other Digimon of his past thought was true.

“I…I really am a monster!”

Twilight and Celestia then understood what BlackWarGreymon’s previous outburst was about. It was a warning to Luna to keep away from him. For fear that he might strike out again. Even though his rage was gone and back to normal, he was still afraid that he would hurt her again.

Despite knowing it too, Luna tried to reach the truth out to him. Desperately wanting him to be reassured.

“No, you’re not! You were under the influence of that dark transformation! You’re body just… wasn’t used to it! It was that what caused all this! It’s not your fault!”

Unfortunately for her, BlackWarGreymon was too in shock to take in what she said. Her words no longer bringing him comfort. The only thing that was going through his mind was Luna’s scream. Her cry of pain continued to ring through his subconscious. Reminding him that he could cause great harm to the ponies. That HE was the one who had caused her harm.

Horror, guilt and doubt continued to swarm through the Digimon’s mind. Even though he could hear Luna again calling out to him.

“BlackWarGreymon?”

The Mega again couldn’t respond to her. Continuing to stare at the stain on his claw, he began to feel his hair standing on their ends. The sight of the unresponsive Digimon caused Luna to fear what was going through his head. In her desperate attempt to snap him out of his trance, she approached him once more.

“BlackWarGreymon!?”

Seeing the blue princess walking towards him sent his fear not only to skyrocket. But to completely snap!

“NO!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!”

Within his outburst, BlackWarGreymon’s sudden rush of energy had opened a black portal high above his head. But unlike before, the portal opened much faster and bigger due to the sheer amount of negative emotions he was feeling. The sight of its appearance startled the onlooking ponies.

Desperate to keep himself away from potentially harming Luna again, BlackWarGreymon leapt off the ground and flew straight into the portal. But before any pony could attempt to follow him, the portal instantly closed. Vanishing as quickly as it came.

Silence filled the battered hall as the startled three stared at the spot where the black portal was. Wondering and concerned to where BlackWarGreymon disappeared to. And with his given power, he could end up anywhere in Equestria.

Just like Twilight and Celestia, Luna was left shocked to the core. But unlike the two other Alicorns, she also felt great sadness. And with that sadness, also came pain. Not the pain from earlier, but from where she felt her heart ache.

‘Blackie. Where have you gone to? Where are you?’
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Far away from Canterlot, over a large mountain range, a black fog appeared in the cloudy sky. But as soon as the fog formed into a portal, BlackWarGreymon came shooting out of it.

As the portal closed behind him, the Artificial Mega flew even further away. But as the sadness within him continued to grow, his pace began to slow. Even upon entering a stormy rain cloud, his cause was unaltered. Flying headfirst into the heavy rain, he could feel the cold water against his body. But despite the coolness of the weather, it did nothing to extinguish the burning guilt he was feeling.

Then something new happened to him. As his grief and sorrow reached higher and higher, BlackWarGreymon could feel something building up in his eyes. His sadness was causing him to cry.

Unfamiliar with the new sensation, as well as his watery eyes blurring his vision, he tried to fight back and force the tears to stay in place. But it was a battle he couldn’t win. Then as his vision cleared a bit, he could see, through the blanket of rain, a shelter. A place of rest of which was a large cave on the side of a tall mountain.

What BlackWarGreymon was too upset to realise, was that the cave was the very same one to where he rescued Princess Luna from the giant yellow dragon. The cave where they first met.

Deciding to take shelter from the rain, BlackWarGreymon flew towards the mountain and into the cave. Upon entering, he landed by the cave entrance. Standing still, shock was causing him to breath rather heavy. All the while the tears continued to build up even more by the second.

As he started to lose his grip, he slowly walked towards the cave wall. Pressing his left arm on the stone wall, he paused as he tried to resist crying. But he was losing his composure. His heavy breathing was turning into quiet sobs. While doing so, he lost his grasp on one of his Dramon Destroyers. His right gauntlet slipping from his arm and falling onto the stone floor.

As his sadness reached to a point where he gave up on holding back, tears freely streaming down his armoured face, BlackWarGreymon slowly looked over his right shoulder to look at the dark rainy sky. He could see the afternoon sun shining through the dense clouds. Hovering above the direction where he knew was Canterlot.

Looking in the direction, remembering Canterlot, reminded the Jet-Black Dragon Warrior of the pony who he harmed.

“L-Luna. I…I’m so sorry.”

He quietly said as he turned away with his eyes closed. Finally surrendering to the sadness he felt, BlackWarGreymon sobbed loudly as tears continued to leak from his closed eyes. His head hung low in shame and despair as he covered his eyes and face with his right hand.

After many battles and hardships, had Equestria… finally lost its saviour?

Chapter 73: Confession

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Frightening events were at play in the castle of Canterlot. Suffering from the unforeseen aftereffects of his Dark Digivolution, BlackWarGreymon went berserk and attacked everything in sight. Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle was quick to use a memory spell on him. Making him remember the bond he shared with the ponies of Equestria. And restoring him back to his normal self.

However… while attempting to calm BlackWarGreymon, Luna got in too close and was harmed by the out of control Mega. But once the effects of his dark transformation wore off, and realising that it was he who hurt Luna, BlackWarGreymon was filled with so much grief and sorrow, he left Canterlot altogether. By using his ability to conjure a black portal, he ended up far away from his friends. Keeping them out of harm’s way.

Back in Canterlot, BlackWarGreymon’s sudden departure had startled and shocked the three Alicorns. But knowing full well how sensitive the Digimon was and how much he cared for them, Luna was saddened by his disappearance.

After given the news from the Pegasus guardsmare Double Edge, Princess Cadence Prince Shining Armor and the rest of the Mane Six all gathered in the main hall. Where the other three princess were waiting for them.

As the last of the unconscious guards were taken away by the medics, Twilight and Celestia told the others the whole story. All the while Luna remained silent.

The following reactions were just as they expected.

“WHAT!!? Did all that really just happened!?” Cadence asked. Shocked to realise the truth.

“Yes. It’s true,” Celestia answered in a sombre tone. Joined by the equally upset Twilight.

“He disappeared into that portal so fast, we didn’t even leave the ground before it closed.”

“The poor thing,” Fluttershy quietly said. Unable to comprehend the mental pain the Digimon was going through.

All eyes looked over to Luna. Seeing how silent she was only confirmed it more. Plus seeing her expression signified that she was deeply saddened by the ordeal.

“He left… because he…” Rarity spoke up. But was unable to finish her sentence for fear of further upsetting the blue princess.

Realising what the white Unicorn was trying to say, Luna tried to shift the blame away from BlackWarGreymon.

“It was my fault. I was the one who was careless. I shouldn’t have got too close while he was like that. I thought I was able to reach out to him. But I was wrong when…”

She paused. A part of her couldn’t bare to finish what she had to say.

But Prince Shining Armor finished it for her.

“When he attacked you.”

Those four words. It was those words that struck a nerve in Princess Luna. It might just be her imagination. But in her ears, what the prince said could easily be turned into a claim. Stating that BlackWarGreymon, under the negative influence or not, deliberately attacked her.

Feeling insulted and wanting to defend BlackWarGreymon against any wrongdoing, Luna snapped at Shining Armor. Taking him and the others by surprise.

“It’s not his fault!! His mind was clouded by the affects of his transformation today! It was that what caused him to lose control! So, if anything, the fault was mine for getting in his way! I know Blackie! He would never hurt me even if he wanted to!”

A stunned silence filled the room after Luna’s outburst. But as seconds went by, the blue Alicorn noticed that everyone was staring at her. But to her surprise, the expressions were more of confusion than shock.

“What? Why are you all looking at me like that?” Luna asked. Unsure why everyone looked startled.

Being the first to break the silence, Fluttershy repeated one of the words Luna unintentionally used.

“B-Blackie?”

At first, Luna looked at the yellow Pegasus with uncertain eyes. But after remembering exactly what she said in her outburst, the shocked blue princess silently raised her right hoof to cover her mouth. Surprised to say it out in the open to the other ponies.

In her act to protect BlackWarGreymon’s innocence, she accidentally spoke out the nickname she gave him for all to hear. Of which Applejack caught on.

“That… sounds a lot like a nickname. Is that… what ya call him?”

Luna couldn’t respond at first. Too embarrassed and too in shock to answer. Especially with all eyes looking at her. But when she tried to even attempt to talk, her rush of emotions were causing her to mumble in place of words. Slowly blushing all the while.

“Well… uhh… I… umm…”

As Luna struggled to talk, most of the group grew even more confused. The way she was acting, it was as if she was trying to say something. But her nerves were getting in the way of her words. As if there was something she was trying to hide. Cadence and Rarity however were only mildly surprised. For they were the only ones who knew the full truth. But they didn’t expect Luna to show her true colours so soon.

Celestia meanwhile was different altogether. She understood her little sister all too well. She could see that Luna was afraid of confessing something. However, being the more experienced mare, she knew exactly what was going on.

“Are you ok, Princess Luna?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“…well… I… uh…”

Luna continued to mumble as she started to stress on a mental level. Her nerves causing her body to rapidly heat up and sweat. Even her legs started to tremble slightly from the weight of what she got herself into.

Cadence perfectly understood what Luna was going through. She herself even felt the same way when the day came for her to confess to Shining Armor. But given the current situation, it seemed the time had finally arrived.

“Luna,” Cadence called out. Making her aunt look at her with uncertainty. The pink Alicorn briefly closed her eyes before opening them with the following statement.

“The time has come. They need to know.”

From hearing those words, Luna felt as though she was having a heart attack. Was the situation really the cause for her to tell the truth about her feelings.

“We need to know what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she and the others continued to stare at Luna in confusion.

Rarity, being the only one of the Mane Six who knew, started to feel uneasy. The subject of the matter was a big deal for Luna. But given what happened moments ago, she could see that the blue Alicorn’s emotions were all over the place. Preventing her from admitting the truth.

In her mind, Luna couldn’t handle the level of stress she was feeling. Completely unprepared for what was to come. She closed her eyes as she tried to think of a reply. But all her mind was telling her was to leave. She was so caught up in her mental struggle, she failed to hear hoofsteps approaching her.

Then by feeling a hoof resting against her cheek, Luna’s eyes snapped open as her mind calmed. Looking up, the surprised princess saw that the hoof belonged to her big sister. Celestia looking at her with stern but calm loving eyes.

“It’s ok, Luna. I understand why you’re so concerned for BlackWarGreymon.”

Luna’s eyes grew wider as she silently stared at her sister. Listening to what she had to say next. Which to her, was a very big deal.

“You love him. Don’t you?”

Rarity and Cadence could only smile, a deep secret was finally coming to light. As for the others, they all looked at each other in confusion and surprise. For some, they were unsure of the true meaning of what Celestia said. But to others, they felt the whole world slowing down from the discovery.

Pinkie Pie however, was one of the former.

“Well duhh. We all love him, don’t we?”

Applejack let out a single chuckle before she leaned closer to Pinkie Pie’s ear.

“No. She aint’ talkin’ about that kind of love, Pinkie.”

At first, the pink party pony tried to figure out what she missed. But then let out a very loud gasp of surprise when she understood what Applejack was talking about.

While surprised and confused, the group were mostly in awe as they stared at the emotionally stunned Luna.

“Really? Is… that really true?” Twilight asked with a tone of complete awe. The others too were more than eager to know for themselves.

After taking a few steps back to get more breathing room, Luna took in a deep breath and… after hiding it for so long… finally revealed the truth. Her voice soft and with feeling.

“Y-Yes. It…it’s true. I’m… in love with BlackWarGreymon.”

Quiet gasps of astonishment filled the air from the rest of the group. Though shocking, it was probably the most unexpected thing they had ever heard.

“Woah,” Twilight uttered. Like the others, she was stunned by just the notion of a pony and a Digimon in a deep relationship.

Luna looked away as she explained herself.

“I know it sounds strange. But… after he saved me from that yellow dragon, I felt… intrigued by BlackWarGreymon. And ever since I learned more and more about him, the closer I felt towards him. We… understand each other. Whenever he felt down or upset, I was there to make him happy. And in battle, I even went as far as to help him against powerful foes. Be it Tirek of ChaosBlackWarGreymon. No matter what came our way, I was always there to help him. And he was always there to help me.”

As she continued, her voice grew sadder.

“But I’m also concerned for his wellbeing. He’s surprisingly sensitive. So when he gets worried, it worries me too. Before he came to Equestria, back in his old life, he had suffered so much with no one to turn to. It reminds me of the misery I felt when I was once evil. Which is why since he came here, I wished him the best. So that he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.”

But her thoughts changed to when BlackWarGreymon had discovered his Dark Digivolution. A mode change that made him berserk.

“But… I guess that was too much to ask.”

Most of the group looked at each other in astonishment. They had no idea how strongly Luna felt towards BlackWarGreymon. Even for her to worry about him so much. They remembered back at the Crystal Empire, when Luna helped him fight against ChaosBlackWarGreymon, they thought that she was just helping a friend in need. But no. It was her feelings for BlackWarGreymon what caused her to perform reckless, but heroic actions. She wanted to protect him by helping him. Even risking her life to stand against Lord Tirek when he was at his most powerful. She looked as fearless as the Digimon she was protecting.

Rarity didn’t need convincing. For she remembered what she saw on the night of Heart and Hooves Day. Luna, wearing one of the most stunning dresses she had ever seen, was out in Canterlot with BlackWarGreymon. The way she saw the two interacting with each other showed that they were genuinely having a good time. Just like true friends should. And because it was just recent, it further proved that Luna really cared about him.

Celestia meanwhile, was puzzled about one thing.

“If you had feelings for him this whole time, why didn’t you tell me?”

Luna paused in response. She was finding it hard to admit a certain to her sister. But since the truth was revealed, there was no point in hiding it any longer. Worried at how her older sibling would react.

“Well… like I said. The idea of a pony in love with a Digimon is strange. But it’s more than that. I’m one of the princesses of Equestria. The Princess of the Moon. I was worried that if you found out… well… you wouldn’t like the idea and…… not approve.”

Celestia was taken back at Luna’s words. Surprised and a tiny bit hurt that she would think that. So to prove her wrong, she walked up to her little sister with a loving smile on her face.

“Don’t be silly, Luna. From the Tirek incident today, I’ve seen first hoof how determined you wanted to help BlackWarGreymon. You even talked him out of his Berserk Mode. And from what I was told by Twilight and her friends, he risked his life many times to protect you. Even if it ended up hurting him. So to find someone that supportive and that protective is a very rare find.”

Luna held her breath in anticipation as she took one step back. Amazed at what she believed Celestia was trying to say.

“Y…You mean…?”

Everypony in the main hall looked at the white Alicorn in amazement and anticipation. She sounded positive throughout her whole speech. It may lead to good news.

News of which Celestia was proud to give with a smile.

“It’s your life, Luna. So every decision is yours to make. And I don’t have it in me to deny you your happiness. But if you really want my opinion, then I don’t mind at all.”

Before more could be said, Luna surprised her big sister by giving her a warm affectionate hug. After getting over her shock, Celestia returned the hug. The Sun Princess could easily tell that her little sister was shedding tears of joy as the hug continued.

“T-Thank you, sister!!”

“If he makes you happy, then I’m happy.”

As the group watched the two sisters embrace, they all smiled at the amount of love that they were seeing. Cadence and Twilight could feel that they’re sheading tears of joy of their own. Then from remembering what her sister-in-law said, as well as knowing her talent, Twilight looked over to Cadence with a question.

“You knew. Didn’t you?”

“Sure did,” Cadence replied with a nod and a smile.

“Wow. Never expected this,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. Remaining mind blown from Luna’s confession.

After a few more moments of their silent embrace, Celestia and Luna parted away from their hug while sharing more smiles. The latter wiping away her happy tears.

Then Celestia spoke another question.

“Luna. All those wonderful things you said about BlackWarGreymon. Did you ever tell him that?”

“N-No. At least… not yet.”

After hearing Luna’s reply, Pinkie Pie thought of an idea.

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go and find BlackWarGreymon!”

“I wholeheartedly agree. Our friend needs to know,” Rarity joined.

“But where do we start? He could be anywhere,” Fluttershy pointed out.

After some quick thinking, Twilight decided to search the immediate area first.

“I have an idea. Some of us will search Ponyville. And the others will look around Canterlot. They’re the most likely places he could be.”

Celestia agreed with her.

“Yes, Twilight. Cadence, Luna and I will search the grounds. You and your friends can search Ponyville.”

“And I’ll go and round up any guards who could help us,” Shining Armor added.

“Right! Let’s go girls!” Twilight said as her Ponyville friends gathered around her. ready for a long-distance teleportation.

“We hope you find him,” She said to the other royals.

“You too. Good luck,” Celestia replied.

Within moments, Twilight teleported herself and her five friends straight to Ponyville. Where they reappeared in the centre of the little town. Afterwards, they went their separate ways to increase their chances to cover over the whole town. Back in Canterlot, Shining Armor went to inform the royal guards while Celestia, Luna and Cadence left the castle to search the city. With the white Alicorn sticking close to her sister.
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BlackWarGreymon himself however, wasn’t even remotely close to any civilization. Hiding out in the cave inside of a large mountain, which without him knowing that it was the same cave where he first met Luna, the black Digimon wanted to get as far away from his friends as possible. Fearing that he might hurt them like he did to Luna. Even though he was under the influence of his new transformation at the time, he couldn’t shake off the guilt that it was HE who harmed her. Therefore, the ordeal opened his eyes that with his power, he was still a great threat. Even the role of being a hero couldn’t hide the fact he could easily hurt others.

After walking into the cave with tears in his yellow eyes, the emotionally broken Mega gave one more glance over his shoulder. Looking at the dark rainy sky to see the orange glow of the evening sun through the clouds. He knew night would shortly follow. Along with the moon, which made him think of Luna. But being reminded of what he’d done and the feeling that he would never see the moonlight the same way again, he closed his eyes in shame as he walked deeper into the cave. Leaving behind his right gauntlet by the cave entrance.

As he walked deeper into the cave, the surroundings got darker from the lack of light. But he paused as she started to hear more and more sounds from within the cave. Opening his watery eyes to look ahead of him, he saw numerous large glowing eyes. Clearly belonged to other creatures that inhabit the cave since the possible disappearance of the yellow dragon. Fearing that BlackWarGreymon would return to finish him off.

By hearing the growling of the hidden creatures looking at him, BlackWarGreymon could tell that they were hostile. But he was so bottled up with so many emotions, he no longer cared. No longer having concern for what would happen. Or what they were. Or what they were capable of. He even no longer felt concern for his safety.

In his stricken state, all his mind was telling him, was that he was better gone. From the face of the world. That if the creatures in the cave could mean his destruction, then so be it. Keeping Equestria safe from his own actions. But if he wanted to go down, he would go down fighting. Fighting was what he was good for. It was what he was created to do.

So with all his frustrations and his ever growing sadness, BlackWarGreymon took several deep breaths before yelling out his infamous battlecry. And with his left Dramon Destroyer ready, leapt into the darkness to fight once more.
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Back in Ponyville, Princess Twilight Sparkle came bursting through the doors of her castle and charged through the corridors. Frantically looking through every door in sight. Eventually arriving at the library.

Spike, who was startled by the sudden appearance of Twilight, looked at her in concern.

“Wha…what is it, Twilight?”

“Spike! Is BlackWarGreymon around here!?”

“N-No, he isn’t. Why?”

Twilight spaced out after hearing the word no. Concerned that the Digimon might actually be far, far away. And in her mind, was thing of all his accomplishments.

“We have to find him. He has learned so much about friendship. It can’t just end like this. No. Not like this,” She said to herself before rushing out of the library.

“Twilight? What’s going on!?” Spike asked as he ran after her.
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Over on the other side of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash flew and zoomed all around the skies of the town. Getting a bird’s eye view in the process. But despite her superb vision, she couldn’t seem to find her digital friend anywhere.

Resting on top of the town hall, the blue Pegasus was recollecting the times in which BlackWarGreymon’s abilities were shown.

“He’s not anywhere! But I can’t give up on him! He’s done so many awesome things. He… he might even be more awesome… than me. That’s why I’m not giving up. I have to keep looking!”

With a burst of speed, Rainbow Dash took off into the sky once more. Below her, Scootaloo spotted her. Plus from seeing the destressed look on the blue mare’s face, she followed to see what was wrong.

“Rainbow Dash, Wait!”
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Over the edge of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy searched all around her house and the large fields around it. But she couldn’t find the black armoured Digimon anywhere. She then thought of the next place her friend would more likely go to be alone. The Everfree Clearing.

With her concern for the Mega being top priority, the usually timid mare ignored the dangers of the forest and flew as fast as she could. She eventually made it to the clearing but was saddened by its emptiness.

“Oh no! He’s not here either!”

By looking at the open field, it suddenly hit her. The Everfree Clearing was the very same place where she and her friends first met BlackWarGreymon. She then remembered the moment when he protected her from being crushed by Tirek’s hooves. Remembering the moment only fuelled her newfound determination.

“No! I will not give up! We need him to protect us like he did for me. like he had done for all of us!”

Undeterred by the setback, Fluttershy turned around and flew back towards Ponyville. Continuing the search.
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Meanwhile at Canterlot, the three Alicorns were searching far and wide across the large city. Unable to find BlackWarGreymon in the castle grounds, the princesses began to search the city itself. Asking many ponies along the way.

“Please. Have you seen BlackWarGreymon anywhere?” Princess Cadence asked a very familiar Unicorn.

“I’m afraid I hadn’t. Why? Has something happened?” Fancy Pants asked back.

“Yes. He’s gone missing.”

“Missing!? That’s terrible! If you like, I could help look for him in the city.”

“Thank you very much.”

Meanwhile not far away, Princess Luna was speeding through the streets. Frantically trying to find BlackWarGreymon. But as she was searching, she suddenly paused. Hovering in place, she could see a restaurant in the distance. She remembered it was the same one she and BlackWarGreymon went to when they were on their date.

Remembering the moment when she snuggled up to him only briefly made her smile. She would love to do so again. But with the current situation, and that BlackWarGreymon would want to keep his distance due to what happened, the thought of not being close to him anymore was making her heart ache.

Behind her, Princess Celestia could clearly see her sister’s sadness. And tried to comfort her.

“Luna. We’ll find him.”

“I know. L…Let’s keep looking,” Luna said as she and Celestia moved on. The blue Alicorn trying her best to hide a small tear from the eyes of the citizens.

The two were then approached by Cadence.

“I’m going to head back to the castle. Shining may need my help to search every tower.”

Understanding the pink Alicorn’s concerns, Celestia replied with a simple nod. Cadence teleporting away as the Alicorn Sisters continued the search.
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Back down from the mountain, Applejack had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Where she rushed in and burst through the barn doors with a strong rear kick.

The sudden entrance of the orange mare instantly startled her family members. Who were working on the upcoming cider season.

“Dang nabbit, Applejack! Ya tryin’ to give me a heart attack or somthin!?” Granny Smith uttered.

But she, Applebloom and Big Mac then noticed the look of panic on Applejack’s face when she spoke up.

“Please tell me y’all! Did BlackWarGreymon turn up around here recently!?”

The three Apples looked at each other in confusion before replying.

“Nope,” Big Mac said, followed by Applebloom.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Upon receiving the answer, Applejack tried her best to think of other places where BlackWarGreymon would’ve gone to. And while doing so, she thought of the times when he fought against the likes of Tirek and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Remembering how powerful the two villains were compared to herself and her friends.

“We need to find him. They’re foes that we don’t stand a chance against. Bad guys that only he could fight. That’s why we need to find him! To fight in battles that we can’t win!”

After her statement, Applejack turned around and ran out of the barn. Concerned of what her big sister was talking about, Applebloom ran after her.

“Applejack! What is goin’ on!?”
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Rarity meanwhile wasn’t having any better luck. After running all over town for what seemed like forever, she stopped as she panted from exhaustion. By stopping just outside of her house, her heavy breathing was loud enough to be heard by Sweetie Belle. As the filly looked out of her bedroom window, she spotted her older sister.

“Rarity?”

As she took in some much-needed air, Rarity began to think about the Mega level Digimon. And the lessons she taught him on how to be much more sensible in public.

“We… we have to keep looking. He has become a much better friend since we met him. And he’s even learned to fall in love. We have to find him before he even thinks of throwing all that away.”

After some mental coaching, Rarity began to set off once more. Sweetie Belle, who had briefly seen the look of worry on her sister’s face, began to rush downstairs and out the front door. Chasing after her.

“Hay, wait up!”
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Pinkie Pie however was on the march. Acting as if she was on a sugar rush while on a drink full of caffeine, the pink pony was like a blur as she ran through the empty streets. With no signs or intention of slowing down.

That was until she ran into Sugar Cube Corner and into her bedroom.

“Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he!?” She quickly repeated as she darted around her room like a ping pong ball.

After spotting her pet baby Alligator named Gummy, she rushed up to his snout with an intense stare.

“Gummy! Have you seen BlackWarGreymon!?”

The tiny pet only responded by doing his slow, odd blinking. The pink mare took it as an answer.

“Oh, that’s right. You never met him.”

With a sad expression on her face, Pinkie Pie looked away. But then her expression changed to severe determination. “No! No time to mope! I wont stop until he is found! Think of all the parties and the fun he would be missing! I can’t let that happen to him!”

In a pink blur, Pinkie Pie bolted out of her bedroom window and out into the Ponyville streets below.

Unfortunately for all the ponies, they were nowhere near to where their digital friend truly was.
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On the side of a faraway mountain, cries of pain and panic echoed out of the large cave. Then suddenly, a stampede of giant creatures came running or flying out of the cave. Some were covered in scratches, gashes and burns. They were terrified. Fleeing from the aggressor inside as they roared and screeched in fear.

Within the cave, bodies of unconscious monsters littered across the cave floor. Knocked out or wounded from a fight they had no idea would turn out the wrong way. And standing in-between two smaller creatures was BlackWarGreymon. Huffing and breathing heavily as his body twinged. All the while tears continued to fall to the cold stone floor.

He wasn’t tired. He wasn’t in physical pain. The reason for his twinging and breathing was purely from trauma. He thought that fighting would take his mind off everything that happened. But it failed. His subconscious kept reminding him of what he had done. Continuing to pile on his ever-growing guilt.

As his heavy breathing continued, his eyes were wide open. The floodgates of his eyes wide open for his tears to flow freely without restraint. The pain he felt in both his mind and his heart. He had never felt such pain before. And he never once thought that it would be so painful. It was like when he sacrificed his life to save another. It almost felt like that. But at the same time, it felt a hundred times worse.

With all his mental might, BlackWarGreymon tried to fight back his anguish. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t fight it. His mind just wasn’t prepared for such a thing. He could feel it ripping him apart. All from the inside out.

“Why!? Why can’t I stop this aching!!?”

Closing his eyes, he grunted loudly as he desperately tried to fight against his feelings. But it was hopeless. His pain only kept on growing stronger and stronger until… he couldn’t take it anymore.

“GggggggrrrrrrRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
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As she continued her search with her sister, Luna’s mind suddenly snapped to attention. She felt as if… as if she could hear BlackWarGreymon crying out. She felt as though she could feel his presence. She could feel his pain. His anguish. But more importantly, an idea of where he would probably be.

She snapped her head to her left. In the direction of the mountains in the distance. Her memory was a bit vague but, she was told that the mountain range was the place where the yellow dragon took her. It was a place… no… a cave… where BlackWarGreymon arrived to save her.

A place where they first met.

Though the chances were slim, but she was willing to take that chance. She could feel that BlackWarGreymon would be there. She could feel it in her heart.

Seeing that her younger sister wasn’t with her, Celestia flew back to find Luna hovering in place. Looking in the direction of the mountains far beyond Canterlot.

“Luna?” She asked. Wondering what had caught her sister’s attention.

Feeling absolutely sure of herself, Luna briefly looked at Celestia before back at the mountains.

“Sister! I… I know where he is!” She said as she started to fly off.

But before she could get very far, Celestia called out to her.

“Luna wait!”

Stopping in place, Luna turned around to look at her older sibling. She could see that the white Alicorn was very concerned. Likely due to the fact that the mountains was the very same place to where she almost lost her. But with her first love on the line, Luna too became concerned. But for a different reason.

“Please, sister. He needs me. More than ever now.”

While the Sun Princess was worried for Luna’s wellbeing, but with what she said, as well as the sheer desperation she had on her face, Celestia didn’t had it in her heart to hold her back. She was witnessing true love right in front of her very eyes. She wouldn’t dare threaten that for the sake of her sister. If Luna had to do what needed to be done, then she had to put her trust in her.

“Ok, Luna. But be careful.”

The Princess of the Night reassured her sister with a smile.

“Don’t worry about me. He would never truly hurt me.”

After saying her farewell, Luna took off in the direction of the mountains. Even resorting to teleportation to cover long distances.

As the Moon Princess vanished in a flash of blue light, her older sister turned away and prepared to bring the others back to Canterlot. All the while thinking of one thing.

‘Good luck, my dear sister.’
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Within the halls of Canterlot Castle, Cadence met up with several guards who were on duty. The pink Alicorn unaware of what happened with her aunts.

“Have you any luck finding him?” She asked one of them.

“I’m afraid not, your highness. We’re on our way to meet up with Prince Shining Armor on the east side of the castle.”

“Alright.”

Passing by several corridors, Cadence at first was following the guards. But as she approached one of the doors, her pace slowed to a pause. Stopping to look at the closed door. On the other side, it lead to one of the bed chambers. Knowing full well that Ayumi, the parallel Twilight, was sleeping.

Cadence was on a mission. BlackWarGreymon was still to be found. But after her venture into Ayumi’s mind with Luna, and learning more about her, she just had to see her again.

With no hesitation, Cadence slowly opened the door and made her way into the bedroom. As the door gently closed behind her, the Princess of Love once again had the sleeping form of Ayumi in her sights. Quietly walking up to the bedside. As she stood beside the sleeping mare, her mind was flowing with both her thoughts and her recent memories.

‘I still can’t believe it. Another Twilight in the same Equestria. A-Ayumi? Was that what she called herself? I guess… I’ll have to get used to calling her that too. But she’ll always be Twilight to me.’

Cadence began to take note of Ayumi’s appearance. And how much it was different from the present Twilight.

‘She looks so much older than our Twilight. She’s almost as tall as me. The others… they said that she had spent years on the run. And even longer trying to find this world. She must’ve been so lonely.’

Cadence then flinched from the thought of the fate of Ayumi’s world. Everything that the young mare knew and loved was taken away. And the creature responsible for the destruction, was the very same beast that she and Luna had spoken to. The very thought of him caused her to feel two things. Sadness and hatred. To which she spoke in a whisper. Unable to contain her mental anguish without realising it.

“That monster. How could he do such a thing to her? And how could he enjoy bringing destruction like that? How could he be so heartless?”

Unbeknownst to Cadence, her voice reached Ayumi’s ears. Twitching as she began to stir. The Pink Alicorn then recalled the brief memory the monster shared with her and Luna. The fire and death that plagued Canterlot. And the image of his silhouette through the flames. The very image of him sent a chill of dread in her spine.

“I truly hope he was just scaring us. Surely… he couldn’t be here.”

With the following silence, she caught the faint sounds of a familiar voice.

“C…Cadence…?”

The eyes of the pink mare went wide from hearing her name being called. Looking down, she could see the half-asleep Ayumi. The younger mare was too tired to truly understand that Cadence was actually in the same room as her. Thinking that it was just in her mind.

“Mmm…Cadence. I thought… I lost you,” Ayumi mumbled in her sleep.

Cadence froze from the words Ayumi used. As well as recognizing the tone in her voice. She sounded so happy and relieved. Hearing her former babysitter’s voice caused Ayumi to think of the Cadence of her world. Dreaming that she was still alive. That Cadence recognized. Which was what caused her to pause. Feeling both sorrow and awe at the same time.

She then noticed that the slumbering mare was shifting her front hooves under her bed covers. As if she was… trotting on the spot. She then spoke again in her sleep. Her voice was quiet, but what she said struck something deep within Cadence.

“Sun…shine… sunshine. L-Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves… and…”

“Do a little shake,” Cadence finished. Her eyes watered with tears as she looked at the slumbering mare.

Not only was the pony in front of her truly was Twilight… but by remembering how she greeted Cadence, she deeply missed her.

Unable to contain the sudden rush of emotions flooding within her, especially after learning what happened on the day Equestria fell, Cadence lent down and with the upmost care, cradled the sleeping Ayumi in a warm embrace. Giving her a hug that surely the future pony desperately wanted. Then, possibly subconsciously, Ayumi raised her hoof and rested it over the pink Alicorn’s shoulder. As if returning the hug.
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Thanks to the use of her teleportation spells, Luna quickly reached the edge of the mountain range. But she didn’t stop there. From what little she could remember, she knew that the cave was somewhere deep in the fields of mountains. By using that memory and taking the time to try and feel out BlackWarGreymon’s energy, she could cover large distances. But by using such spells continuously, it slowly began to tax on her magic. And though the heavy rain had stopped, the tall peaks channelled high winds. So when she kept reappearing from her teleportation spells, her wings kept being buffered by the strong gusts. Some of which almost caused her to lose control of her flight. But with her determination to find BlackWarGreymon driving her, she pushed on despite the winds.

Time went on. Minutes seemingly felt like hours. And Luna had yet to find any hint of BlackWarGreymon’s power. Given the time which passed and the distance she travelled, she was far away from the safety of Canterlot. Even the mountain the city rested upon was barely visible from where she was. Plus by using a lot of her magic and fighting against the winds, the ordeal began to weaken her. She could feel exhaustion catching up with her. But her resolve to find BlackWarGreymon kept pushing her on. Her body was telling her to rest, but her heart was just too desperate to find him.

‘Please! The cave should be here by now!’

Then, as if someone answered her plea, she finally sensed something. A strong power was definitely nearby. Then her mind raced with excitement. She recognized that energy. It belonged to BlackWarGreymon!

“I…I found him!”

Turning her head in the direction of the Digimon’s energy, she descended towards a large mountain. As she flew in closer, she could see an opening on the side of the mountain. And the energy of the Mega felt stronger from within. She had found the cave!

As she descended towards the cave, her body was relieved to finally take a break form flying. But as soon as she got her breath back, she began to feel uneasy. She had finally found where he had been hiding. But what next? She didn’t really plan that far through. The nervousness plastered on her face.

But she then remembered what Celestia said. BlackWarGreymon was in pain because he hurt the one mare he cared deeply about. Luna knew that in one way or another, he loved her. With hope of a future with him in mind, the blue princess had only one choice. She had to confess to him. Finally revealing the feelings that she had for him.

After taking a deep breath, Luna confidently walked into the mouth of the cave. But her confidence was quickly replaced with confusion when she found something.

Just inside the cave entrance, lying on the stone floor, was one of BlackWarGreymon’s Dramon Destroyers.

Luna rushed over to the fallen gauntlet. But from seeing no damage to it, she began to wonder.

‘W-why is this here!? Did… something happen to him!?’

After caressing the black metal surface, she knew for certain that BlackWarGreymon was nearby. Looking ahead of her lay the dark depths of the cave. To where her digital friend resided. She took a quick glance over her shoulder to look back outside. Realising that she had been searching for quite a while. The sun was already just over the horizon. Meaning that she would have to be ready to raise the moon soon. She then faced back to her destination. Walking deeper into the cave, her horn lit up in a blue glow for her to see. Determined to find him, she felt that nothing was going to stand in her way.
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Deep in the cave, standing alone in the middle of a large chamber, was the destressed form of BlackWarGreymon. Because of his fight with the large creatures, the interior of the chamber became battle damaged with numerous gashes, scorch marks and holes all along the stone walls. One particular hole on the cave ceiling could be seen from the outside. Beams of the fading sunlight shined through the hole and onto the Digimon below. Causing the cave to dimly light up.

Unbeknownst to him, the chamber he was in was the very same place where he defeated the yellow dragon. The same place where he first met Princess Luna. If not for his grief, he would’ve recognized it. Instead, he tried to comprehend the meaning to his very existence.

“Why? What had possessed her to create me with one hundred Control Spires? These… leftover programs… magnified by my emotions. They’re… consuming me. Arukenimon wanted an obedient warrior to do her bidding. So to her… I’m a failure. All I wanted in life is to help and protect my friends from harm. But I can’t even do that! Why was I created to only cause harm? Why couldn’t I be just another mindless Control Spire Digimon? Why do I have these feelings!?”

His eyes closed once more as he felt like being succumbed to his own anguish.

“Why!? WHY WAS I CREATED THIS WAY!!!?”

His loud voice echoed through the cave and throughout the many passageways. Yelling at the void, the last thing BlackWarGreymon expected… was a reply.

“Because you’re special.”

The eyes of the Artificial Mega snapped open wide in shock and disbelief. The voice almost sounded like…

Turning around towards the passageway behind him, to his surprise, there stood Princess Luna. The concerned Alicorn stared at him as she slowly entered the chamber.

“BlackWarGreymon.”

The jet-black dragon warrior couldn’t believe it. The very pony he never expected to see so soon… had found him.

“L…Luna?” He asked, questioning if she was really there and not a figment of his imagination.

“BlackWarGreymon. B…Blackie. Please come back,” Luna said as she began to walk closer into the chamber without fear.

But wanting to avoid any sort of harm, the black Digimon backed away.

“Stay back! Please. I… I don’t want to hurt you.”

Luna’s pace slowed from what he said. Even slightly shocked from seeing the amount of lengths BlackWarGreymon was going through just to avoid hurting her. However, all he was doing was avoiding physical pain. Emotional pain however was a completely different story. She wanted nothing more than to be near him again. But being denied of it was hurting her in more ways than one.

She once more tried to reach out to him.

“Blackie. It’s not your fault. You would never truly hurt me.”

Despite what Luna said was true, that he would never hurt her willingly, he couldn’t shake off the facts. He took steps back. Retreating into the dark as he looked down at the claws of his left gauntlet. Hidden from Luna’s view.

“You say that, but you were hurt because of my actions. There’s just no knowing of when I would act out like that again.”

Despite just being able to see him, Luna paused when to her confusion, BlackWarGreymon raised his right hand up to the side of his head. Then to her surprise, her ears caught the sounds of clicking. As if something had just been set loose.

“It’s not just about my dark transformation. There are other things that even I don’t know about myself,” He continued as he slid his hand over to the other side of his face. Followed by a second clicking sound.

The puzzled Luna couldn’t tell if the sound was that of a switch or a button. But her eyes grew wide in surprise when BlackWarGreymon seemingly pulled the top part of his helmet off his head!

But when BlackWarGreymon spoke again, to Luna’s shock, the Digimon’s voice sounded much clearer than before.

“This… being one of them.”

The tall Mega tossed the helmet to Luna’s side. The Alicorn flinched when the image of the Chrome Digizoid metal slid to a stop in the evening light. The smooth metal gleaming to Luna’s eye. To her, it truly looked like the top part of BlackWarGreymon’s head had been hollowed out. But realising that it was just an empty shell, the blue princess glanced back at the standing Digimon. Too dark to see properly, she could see that he still had a head and hair. He spoke again. Further puzzling the confused princess by how much clearer his voice had become.

“I’m not sure what other programs are left over within me. But I know some are bad. Probably worse than what happened today.”

Luna felt sorrow for BlackWarGreymon lamenting about his very being. But it was overshadowed by him without his iconic helmet. Does it mean that… he had a face under the helmet the whole time? Possibly his true self? She just had to see the new face.

“Come to the light.”

BlackWarGreymon paused at first. But he felt that he owed Luna her simple request. He began his slow steps into the dimming sunlight. But as his lower body entered the orange hue, it faded completely. The sun fading over the horizon. Not wanting to let it stop her, Luna used her magic and began to raise the moon. The celestial object moving a little faster than normal. The princess became more determined to see BlackWarGreymon’s face.

When the moon rose, beams of moonlight shone through the hole in the cave. Lighting up the chamber. When it shined on the still Digimon, Luna slowly glanced up with eyes of anticipation. To which went wide in awe as her sights reached to the Mega’s head. Appearance wise, his head looked very similar to Agumon. But much older and more draconic looking. Any further, and he would resemble more of the dragons of Equestria. But he held that uniqueness that made him BlackWarGreymon.

One would think Luna would be put off. She herself even thought so from getting very used to his helmet. But she didn’t feel repulsed in the slightest. If anything, it still suited his body. Much like how a knight would take his helmet off. He looked masculine and mature. And he still had those yellow eyes. The eyes that she had grown so close to.

In the end, she still cared deeply for him.

“Wow. You… you look good,” She uttered. Wholeheartedly trying to cheer him up with an honest compliment.

Sensing the legitimacy of Luna’s tone caused BlackWarGreymon’s lips to briefly curl up. The sight caused the Alicorn to pause completely. For the very first time, she saw her favourite Digimon smile. The discovery caused her heart to pound. She liked his famous horned helmet. But to see him with facial expressions, it was worth it.

But the grin morphed into an upset scowl.

“Thanks. But this doesn’t change what I have done.”

While amazed to see him giving facial expressions, seeing BlackWarGreymon visually upset stuck something within Luna. It was an expression she didn’t want him to show. Nor for her to see so soon. But despite everything, she wanted things to go back to how they were before the tragedy.

“BlackWarGreymon. I don’t hate you for what happened. It’s not your fault. Please come back.”

“But…I…”

Luna continued her plea. Her voice carrying desperation.

“Please! I travelled all the way from Canterlot looking for you! I’m…I’m not leaving here without you!”

“Why? I may have my own free will, but I’m still a product of war. I’m an Artificial Digimon! An expendable pawn! Why are you going through all this trouble just for my sake!?”

“Because I…I…”

Luna began to find it hard to talk. She couldn’t believe that even in such a situation, she found it exceedingly difficult to tell BlackWarGreymon how she truly felt about him. Especially since her friends and family already knew the truth. But it turned out that telling the truth to HIM, was even harder than when she told the others.

BlackWarGreymon looked at Luna in bewilderment. He could tell that she wanted to tell him something, but she was finding it difficult to do so.

“Because what?”

Luna began to feel pressured. She really wanted to tell him, but her anxiety of how BlackWarGreymon would react was holding her back. She had no idea how he would react. And was too scared to find out. But there was one reassuring fact. With everything they had been through, it was very likely that the Mega would feel the same way. And that it was his inexperience of understanding positive emotions was what prevented him from exploring it.

With nothing to lose, Luna took a deep breath, and spoke from the heart.

“Because despite everything that happened, even if you’re an Artificial Digimon, I still really care about you. And I mean… more than just a friend.”

BlackWarGreymon was stunned at what the Princess of the Moon had just said. But nothing prepared him for what followed. Luna found it very hard to continue. But after another deep breath, she closed her eyes, and told him the truth.

“Blackie, I… I’m in love with you!”

Time completely froze around the two as silence filled the air. Luna maybe bushing from embarrassment, but deep down she was in fact deeply relieved. She always knew that the moment of her confession would arrive. But prier to it, it was incredibly difficult for her to contain it. Which resulted in numerous slip-ups. Like when Cadence discovered her crush back at the Crystal Empire. And when she and BlackWarGreymon agreed to go on their date, she literally couldn’t contain her excitement.

“I…I love you. I always have been,” She continued with a smile. Feeling the warmth in her heart returning.

However…

“No.”

Shocked and horrified at what her ears caught, Luna’s eyes snapped open in disbelief as she looked at BlackWarGreymon. Not believing what he had just said.

“What!?”

The expressions in the eyes of the Digimon, the Alicorn was shocked to see that instead of awe and joy she was expecting, all she saw was sorrow and grief.

“You’re only just saying that to make me feel better. To shake off the guilt that I feel. I may have been under the influence, but I… I still harmed you. And hurting you is the last thing I wanted! I wouldn’t even dream of it! It… it hurts.”

Was the sadness he was experiencing THAT strong? Enough for him to believe his own guilt? Luna watched on as BlackWarGreymon hung his head low in shame. Closing his eyes. She could almost see the tears between his closed eyelids. The blue Alicorn knew that the sensitive Mega would be distraught by what happened. But she never knew it would be to an extent where he wouldn’t believe her. The Digimon’s grief was just too great to shake off. That grief was certainly evident in the shear amount of sadness there was in his voice. It all showed how deeply he cared for her.

“You all saw me as a hero. A saviour. And then this happens. Couldn’t I be more pathetic!” He continued as he tried to fight against the urge to cry.

“No you’re not! Never say such things! You’re far better than anything your creators could ever hope for. You are nothing like them. That’s what makes you special.”

After her speech, Luna’s eyes also began to tear up from sadness. Sadness that despite it all, BlackWarGreymon may never want to return to Canterlot. Or any civilization for that matter. He would forever be wondering alone in a world with no one by his side.

She would normally fight back her tears. But her newfound sadness was so strong that she didn’t even bother. Leaving her tears to fall freely down her face.

“Please. Come back with me,” She said. Pleading him to return home.

BlackWarGreymon however didn’t move. To him, his body felt like a hollow shell as he felt nothing but sorrow. His ears listened to everything word Luna said, but his mind and body didn’t obey. In his mind, he began to come up with a solution that would solve everyone’s problems. A solution so dangerous that no one would ever consider going through. But his concern for his friends was too great. He no longer cared what the outcome might be. He just… didn’t care anymore.

If the creatures earlier failed, than he would have to do it himself.

“Now I know what I must do,” He said as he brought both his arms close together in front of him. Then in between his left metal claws and his right palm, appeared a tiny red sphere.

Luna instantly recognised the red light as the Digimon’s Terra Destroyer attack. Unsure of what was going on in her friend’s mind, she didn’t like it one bit.

“W-What are you doing?”

Then to both Luna’s confusion and concern, BlackWarGreymon started to levitate off the ground. Slowly floating higher as the negative red orb slowly grew bigger inches at the time.

With his eyes remaining shut, he continued to speak. Reminding Luna of the promise he made.

“When I first arrived in this world, I made an oath. A promise to protect this world and every innocent life in it from any harm. Even to my last breath.”

He continued as he rose higher off the ground. His Terra Destroyer attack had reached one foot in diameter.

“That promise includes any form of threat that would endanger life. Even if I rid this world from all evil, it would still be in danger. And that is because of me. I now see that no matter how pure my intensions are, my power alone is more than enough to be considered the most dangerous threat possible.”

As BlackWarGreymon reached halfway towards the cave ceiling, his Terra Destroyer sphere had reached three meters in diameter. But as Luna listened to everything he had spoken, and piecing them together, she suddenly received a horrifying feeling of what BlackWarGreymon was implying.

But to her dismay, the bad feeling she felt came true. BlackWarGreymon’s closed eyes were squinting from both sadness and fear. Gritting his teeth from the pressure of his decision.

“I want nothing more than to protect Equestria and my friends. Even…… EVEN IF IT MEANS DESTROYING MYSELF!!!”

With one mighty yet sorrow cry, BlackWarGreymon threw his arms in the air and, rising above his head, the Terra Destroyer orb grew insanely big. Fuelled by all the negative emotions the Artificial Mega was going through, the energy sphere kept on growing to a colossal size. Lighting up the cave like a burning red sun. The size of the orb grew so big that it even began to crumble through the stone ceiling. From the outside, a section of the mountainside could be seen crumbling away. Revealing a larger hole that lead directly to the cave chamber. Which was currently occupied by the Terra Destroyer attack. Which itself shined through the hole and into the outside world.

Back on the cave floor, Luna had to shield her eyes from the sudden red flare. But when she recovered, she gasped in shock to see how big the sphere was. It was easily the largest BlackWarGreymon had ever formed. The Digimon himself looked tiny compared to it.

Despite having his eyes shut, he called out to Luna.

“Luna! Get as far away from here as possible! The energy blast from this attack will destroy this mountain! It’s more than enough!”

The blue Alicorn was horrified to the core from realising what her digital friend was attempting to do. Remembering his past life, she knew that his actions could be best described as… suicidal.

“To destroy yourself!!?” NO!!! You can’t do that!!”

“I must! It’s the only way to keep you safe from me! This world was never meant for me! I’m a creation built for war and destruction!”

As Luna formed a reply, her own sadness was growing ever higher. She never thought there would be a moment where BlackWarGreymon would not only judge his own existence, but was willing to throw it away just to keep those he held dear safe.

But that was something the Moon Princess absolutely didn’t want to happen. Especially since the Digimon was just moments away from doing the unthinkable.

“NOT TO ME YOU’RE NOT!!! You’re not a simple creation of war! You’re my best friend! More than that even! I don’t want you to die! My heart just won’t bare it! Please!! Stop this!!”

In desperation, Luna no longer cared about restraint. She was going all out.

“I don’t care if you think you’re a threat to Equestria! I still love you nonetheless! I love you!!”

Hearing Luna’s words began to stir conflict in BlackWarGreymon’s mind. He still wanted to keep his friends safe from himself. But at the same time, Luna made him question his decision. She sounded to sincere to be tricking him. He didn’t know what to do next. He had his attack primed and ready. Should he go through with it? Or stop and further risk the safety of his friends. Even with his own feelings for the blue Alicorn. He didn’t know what to think. Could Luna’s words be an act t make him stop? He didn’t want to believe that. He knew her too well to even think that it could be a ploy she planned. But he wanted to believe her so desperately.

So, as the ultimate deciding factor, he tested her resolve.

“Then prove it!! Prove that what you say is true!!” He declared. But with a hint that it might not be the case at all, it caused the Terra Destroyer to grow slightly larger. A negative emotion commonly caused by rejection.

Luna was taken aback by BlackWarGreymon’s request. Shocked that the grief the Mega was feeling was to such an extent. Despite that though, the request was understandable. If she declared something as big as what she said, then it was obvious that she would need to prove it.

After all, actions speak louder than words.

With literally no other options that would guarantee her friend’s survival, Luna knew exactly what to do. Though she never expected to do it in such circumstances. Her friend’s life depended on it. And with the notion that BlackWarGreymon was able to remove his helmet, the idea became more plausible. As well as easy to pull off. With a confident yet caring look on her face, the blue Alicorn took in a deep breath and began to beat her wings.

While holding what was essentially his certain death above his head, BlackWarGreymon was expecting a reply. But all he could hear was the surging power of his gigantic Terra Destroyer attack. Both his grief and his fear prevented him from opening his eyes. Feeling that he wasn’t going to get the proof he needed, he stiffened his arms. Preparing to unleash his might upon himself.

But then… to his confusion… he felt something. As if something had wrapped itself around the back of his neck. Unsure of what it was, he opened his eyes. Only to be greeted by the last thing he thought possible.





A kiss.





While BlackWarGreymon had his eyes shut, Luna flew up to him, wrapped her hooves around him, closed her eyes… and kissed him on the lips.

That was her proof.

‘Background music’ ‘The Day I fall in Love by Dolly Parton and James Ingram.’

BlackWarGreymon’s eyes grew wide in shock and surprise. As wide as they could. For the first time in his life, he felt something against his lips. And they were Luna’s own. Like in the story book he once read at Twilight’s castle. What happened in the book, was happening for real. Happening… to him! His first kiss!

He could feel it. The kiss carried so much passion. So much love. It was far stronger than the kiss on the cheek he received from her back on their date. The amount of emotion he was experiencing was so extreme, his mind was beyond blown. All the while the beating of his digital heart began to race to new heights.

His mind was so distracted by the new sensations, virtually all the negative thoughts he had were gone. And with them, the giant Terra Destroyer sphere shrunk considerably. As it shrunk, the hole in the ceiling was revealed. Light from the moon beaming through the large gap and lighting up the chamber.

Once the Terra Destroyer sphere shrunk to nothing, BlackWarGreymon lowered his arms. Letting them fall to his sides. He even lost grip of his remaining Dramon Destroyer. The left gauntlet slipped from his arm and crashed down through the stone floor.

Luna continued her kiss for several more moments. Ever since her date with him, it was something she always wanted to do. The new feeling was too beautiful to resist. While not using her magic or her flared wings, Luna’s only means of support was to hold onto BlackWarGreymon. Either because she was too caught up in the moment, or to symbolize that she relied on him to help her… because she needed him. As her kiss continued, her hold on him grew tighter. Not wanting to let him go.

Soon the kiss ended. Luna pulled her face away and opened her blue eyes to see BlackWarGreymon’s expression. The shocked Mega then averted his gaze at her. He could see the warm blush on her cheeks. And her own expression showed that she was almost as startled as he was. As if she herself was surprised by her own actions. But seeing the Digimon’s expressions up close made her give a small but loving smile.

“Luna?” He uttered. Startled by the proof Luna had given.

While the blue Alicorn held onto him, she decided to tell him the truth. All of it.

“Blackie. Back when we first met, when you rescued me, in this very cave, I felt something within me. A feeling that I… don’t remember ever having before. Something which I never felt for anypony else. A feeling that I only feel for you. It may had been new to me, but… I loved the feeling. And I still feel it. That’s why I did all those things with you. The trip to the Crystal Empire. Fighting alongside you. Even coming all this way to find you. I did all that because… I want to keep that wonderful feeling alive. It took me time to realise it, but the feeling that I felt for you… was love. I AM in love with you, BlackWarGreymon.”

The black armoured Digimon was left completely in shock from hearing Luna’s confession. All the suspicions he felt for a while were in fact true. But it didn’t stop him from experiencing the feeling of disbelief.

“Y-You really mean that?” He asked her. In which she happily replied.

“I would never lie about such a thing.”

After hearing her confession, confirming his beliefs and reassured with the truth, the Digimon surprised the princess with a confession of his own.

“Because those feelings you have… is exactly how I feel about you!”

It was Luna’s turn to be left completely in shock. Just that sentence alone was enough to convince her that her own suspicions were true. BlackWarGreymon felt the same way for her. Despite that, Luna was left amazed at his confession.

Then the Artificial Mega level Digimon revealed the truth of his own.

“It wasn’t just you. I too felt something on the day we met. When I looked into your eyes for the first time, I felt… a warm presence deep in my chest. It was nothing like I ever felt before. It was very new to me, but yet… I was quick to welcome that feeling. It was so warm and inviting. And yet, I only feel this way towards you, Luna. Only you. The sight of you. The sound of your voice. Even just the thought of you brings me this feeling. And since then, when we grew closer and understood more about each other, the new feeling kept growing. Stronger than ever before.”

To Luna, her shock was replaced with amazement as she listened to him opening up. He then continued.

“I had no idea what this feeling was. But Cadence compared it to how she feels for Shining Armor. And confirmed that what I felt… was love. True love.”

BlackWarGreymon almost felt at ease as he finally told Luna the truth. And from discovering that she held the same feelings in return, he began to not only feel comfortable with his new emotions, but to become one with them. The expressions in his eyes softened to a point where it became a loving glare as he looked deeper into Luna’s eyes. His face changed as his lips curled up. Smiling at the princess.

“My love… for you, Luna,” He continued as he raised his left hand up beside Luna’s stunned face. Then with the upmost care, he moved some strands of the Alicorn’s mane with his index finger. Feeling the hair as he moved it aside. All the while gazing into the princess’s beautiful blue eyes.

“I… I love you too. Lulu.”

“B…Blackie,” Luna heartfeltly replied. Tears of joy raining from her eyes.

With nothing left to say, and both BlackWarGreymon and Luna staring deeply into each other’s eyes, the urge they felt from the past returned. Stronger than ever. And with their feelings for each other at their peak, nothing was going to deter them away. They were all alone. With the moonlight beaming down on the two, they began to move their heads closer to each other. At first, their pace was slow. But it became clear that Luna didn’t want to wait any longer. She surprised BlackWarGreymon by almost lunging forward and kissing him again. The Digimon’s eyes widened from her sudden actions as her hold around his neck grew ever tighter. Finally surrendering to his feelings, succumbing to Luna’s embrace, BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes and returned the kiss. He also held her up more by pressing his left hand behind her back. His fingers caressing the silky-smooth fur in between her wings while his right hand held onto the back of her head. Almost disappearing in her flowing mane. The Alicorn felt a little shiver from feeling the fingers on her body. Her wings twitched in response from the intimate touch before settling down. As the two held each other in place, Luna was filled with so much love, her mane and tail started to change. Much like what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala, her mane and tail transformed from its usual look into strands of bright blue.

As the kiss continued, high above them, the moon in the sky glowed even brighter. Reacting to the feelings of the Moon Princess as she experienced for the first time… true love’s kiss.

‘Song end’
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Meanwhile… within the Harmonium Nexus… the mysterious figure could feel everything that was transpiring down in Equestria. Her eyes were shut. But then opened ever so slightly as she gave a small smile. Revealing orbs of pale blue.

“Hmm,” She warmly uttered as her horn lit up with magic. Forming a ball of white light behind her.

Chapter 74: Wheels of Fate

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After letting Princess Luna go to find BlackWarGreymon on her own, Princess Celestia flew across Canterlot to find Princess Cadence. All the while the white Alicorn remained truly amazed that her own little sister held feelings towards the black Digimon. While she had suspected that something was going on but to hear it out in the open was something else entirely.

In fact, the very thought of a pony falling in love with a Digital Monster seemed like an impossible notion. Since the two came from different worlds. But it all goes to show that no matter what, love always finds a way. Celestia hoped that BlackWarGreymon himself felt the same way about Luna. Because while she was thinking about it, the two did look like a cute couple. Odd, but cute.

When Celestia finally reached where Cadence was, she found that Prince Shining Armor was near by with a section of the royal guards. With many more on the way. After landing, the Sun Princess informed the two that Luna may have found BlackWarGreymon. And more importantly, was on her way to find him.

Shortly afterwards, Celestia sent a quick letter to Princess Twilight. Detailing the same things she told Cadence and Shining Armor. After reading the letter, Twilight immediately went to gather all her friends together and prepared for another long-distance teleportation spell.

But just before the spell was complete, Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran up to them and got caught in the magical field of the spell. Which resulted in the four being teleported with the Mane Six.

So when the group reappeared in Canterlot, all were surprised to see the three fillies and the young dragon. Dazzled by Twilight’s spell.

“Urrgh, my head,” Spike said as he suddenly felt sick. Covering his mouth to hold it in.

“Woah, I feel dizzy,” Scootaloo moaned as she fell on her side.

“What in tarnation are ya four doin’?” Applejack asked.

“I’m sorry, Applejack. But ya look like ya were in trouble,” Applebloom answered. Joined by Sweetie Belle.

“And we wanted to help you.”

The older mares were admittingly touched by how much the young wanted to help them. But then perked up when Spike spoke up.

“So what’s this about BlackWarGreymon?” He asked after he got over his sickness.

“Yeah, did something happen?” Scootaloo added.

Rarity walked up to the young four with a reassuring smile.

“It’s so sweet you want to help, darlings. But we are wondering that ourselves.”

“Yeah, Twilight. What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked.

It seemed in her haste to return to Canterlot, the purple Alicorn had neglected to inform her friends of what exactly happened.

“Sorry. I was in such a rush, I forgot to tell you.”

She then turned her attention to Celestia.

“Is it true? Has Luna found BlackWarGreymon?”

Celestia smiled as she answered.

“Well to be exact, she had an idea of where he could be.”

“And you think she’s right?” Fluttershy asked.

Then as if responding to the yellow mare’s question, a bright flash of white light caught their attention. All eyes turned towards the sky and saw the moon high in the air. Shining brighter than ever before. While all the others were amazed and confused at the spectacle, Celestia gave a heart-warming smile. Like her own connection to the sun, Luna was connected to the moon. It reacts to whatever she was feeling. So seeing it shine so bright meant one thing.

“Wow. What’s up with the moon?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Celestia answered the Earth Pony’s question.

“It seems Luna has finally found him.”

Most of the group smiled in joy form what she said. Spike and the Cutiemark Crusaders however were understandably confused at what was going on. But they will receive their answers shortly.
………………………………………………………………………………………..........................................................................

Meanwhile, a great new romance had forged in the cave of a large mountain. Far away from Canterlot. In a bold effort to restore BlackWarGreymon back to his senses, after what felt like an eternity of hiding, Luna, the Princess of the Night, had finally confessed her feelings to him. And after BlackWarGreymon confessed his own feelings for her in return, the two went with their new emotions and finally embraced each other.

After the two spent their whole time cuddling and kissing for over fifteen minutes under the bright moonlight, they finally calmed down and spent the rest of their time resting. BlackWarGreymon lying on the floor with his back against the stone wall as Luna laid beside him with her head resting on his chest.

“Wow. So that’s what true loves kiss feels like. I never knew it felt so amazing,” BlackWarGreymon said. The expression on his helmetless face showed that he was blown away by the new experience.

“Hmm. It was far better than the old story books showed. It felt so magical,” Luna agreed. Her face glowing with her smile as she felt the warmth of the Digimon’s body.

“And your fur is so smooth,” The Mega said to compliment the princess as he fiddled the ends of her mane with his hand. The words and actions made the Alicorn blush in flattery. Her smile grew bigger.

“T-Thank you.”

The two then looked up at the hole in the cave ceiling. Watching the bright light from the full moon shine through the hole and onto them. The two enjoying each other’s company. As silence filled the area, Luna spoke up.

“So what’s going to happen now?”

The Jet-Black Dragon Warrior took a moment to think before answering.

“You should get back to Canterlot. Celestia is probably worried about you by now.”

The Alicorn turned to look at BlackWarGreymon in surprise.

“Alone? But what about you?”

“Sorry. But I’m not sure I’m ready to face the others just yet. Not after what happened. I wasn’t… myself back there. And I did hurt those guards. I hope you understand.”

Luna understood perfectly what he meant. BlackWarGreymon was afraid that after the incident at Canterlot, some ponies might be weary of him. Or even scared of him. He figured that it was best for Canterlot to settle down first before his return. Luna's return would also help solidify the fact.

Knowing that the Digimon would definitely come back, Luna reluctantly agreed.

“I understand. Take all the time you need. Once you’re ready, you come back to me. Ok?”

Luna then nuzzled him with tender care. Showing that she really wanted him to return. And hoped that he would be ok on his own for a while.

BlackWarGreymon chuckled before responding.

“Ok. It’s a promise.”

Rising back onto her hooves, the Moon Princess gave him a loving smile before walking away. BlackWarGreymon watched her all the while. But before she could leave the chamber, the Alicorn paused and turned to face him.

“Oh, and by the way. You may not want to forget this.”

From seeing her horn glowing blue, the Mega knew she was using a magical spell. But he didn’t know which one. Seconds later, one of his Dramon Destroyers flew through the cave and landed beside him. BlackWarGreymon recognizing it as the one he dropped near the cave entrance.

“Thank you,” He replied as he picked it up and slid it onto his right arm.

Luna gave him one more reassuring smile before extending her wings. Then with a strong beat, she took to the air and flew out of the chamber. As the blue princess exited the cave and left the vicinity of the mountain, her smile kept growing bigger and bigger. For the first time in her life, a true romantic relationship with someone. She’s got a lot to tell her big sister.

Back in the cave chamber, BlackWarGreymon walked to the centre of the chamber to pick up his other Dramon Destroyer. Placing it on his left arm. He then turned to pick up his helmet. He paused when he saw his reflection on the Chrome Digizoid metal. Seeing his true face was something new to both him and Luna. He was glad that his love interest wasn’t put off by it. Though he did wonder what was going through her head. The same goes for all his other friends once he shows them.

As he placed his helmet back in place on his head, he began to reminisce on what happened moments ago. His loving moment with Luna was probably one of the best moments of his life. If not, THE best moment of his life.

“I still cant believe we really did that,” He said to himself. Fully believing that he made the right choice in calling Equestria his home.

But then, just as he was enjoying his mental bliss, something happened.

A small glimmer of light caught the corner of his eye. Following in its direction, the confused Digimon looked down by his feet. There on the stone floor, was a tiny speck of white light.

“What’s that?”

Looking up at the hole in the cave ceiling, BlackWarGreymon could see that the moon had moved over to a point where it wasn’t shining through the hole. Meaning that the light on the ground wasn’t a reflection of the moonlight.

“Huh?”

Looking back down, BlackWarGreymon grew suspicious. Unsure what the tiny light was. With curiosity getting the better of him, the Mega knelt down towards it and very gently, poked it with the metal claw from his right gauntlet.

But as soon as he touched the ball of light, the Digimon let out a surprise yell! The light suddenly engulfed him! Forcing him to shield his eyes from the intense bright light. As he closed his eyes, he could feel as though he was in some place completely different. The gravity felt drastic. Making him feel either light on his feet or weighing him down. But his feet felt no ground beneath him. Next came the unusual feeling all around him. The magical field in the air bathed him in its radiance.

“What is this!!?” He said as it seemed the light was shining brighter. Almost blinding him despite closing his eyes.

Then to his uncertainty, the light seemed to have died down. But yet, it felt as though his surroundings was much brighter than the cave was. He also felt lighter. Almost weightless. The air around him felt warm too.

As he recovered from near blindness, BlackWarGreymon slowly opened his eyes. Which then went wide in amazement form the fact that… he was no longer in the cave at all! From looking at his surroundings, all he could see was a bright blue expanse. Dotted with floating white specks that looked like stars in the night sky. It was almost like he was in a different dimension. But at the same time, he felt as though… he had been to the strange world before. He couldn’t really figure it out. But all he knew was that the unknown world was rich in Equestrian magic.

Unsure of his predicament, the confused Digimon called out to see if he wasn’t alone.

“H-Hello! Is there someone here!?”

To his surprise, he received a reply in the form of a womanly voice.

“I’m here.”

Startled by the voice and how close it sounded, BlackWarGreymon stumbled backwards and fell on his back. Though the invisible ground felt hard, to his confusion, the impact felt soft. As if he landed on a pile of pillows.

As the Artificial Mega sat up, he began to notice that some of the twinkling lights around him began to converge a couple of feet in front of him. Unsure of what was going on, he decided to let the events happen and see where his predicament went.

As the specks of light merged together, they began to take the form of a being. A pony-like figure from the look of it. And it was indeed alive. It was slowly walking towards the Digimon as more specks of light absorbed into its body.

Then to BlackWarGreymon’s amazement, the living being of light took on a physical form. Fully revealing herself to him.

At first glance, the pony resembled a Unicorn mare. But what stood her out from all his friends was that she was tall. Taller than Celestia and just over half his height. Her horn was different too. Instead of it being straight and spiralled like all the others, it was smoothed and curved upwards. And bizarrely it ended on not one, but two points. Making it a ‘two pronged’ horn. Her fur was pale purple, with the fur down by her legs being a slightly darker shade. The fur down by her crystal cloven hooves were also longer. Her long mane and tail were also a darker shade of bright purple and strangely, were decorated with small crystalline vines and flowers. All in the same colour. BlackWarGreymon couldn’t figure out why, but those specific features greatly reminded him of the Tree of Harmony. Even her cutiemark bared a striking resemblance. Itself looking like a white six-pointed star surrounded by a dark purple star-like pattern that branched out. Her mane was also styled differently by a crystalline hairband. The overall look greatly resembling what could be best described as a ‘goddess’. Her eyes were pale blue and was also wearing a tiara on her forehead. The golden crown possessed six gemstones. Five of which were imbedded in the crown itself while the sixth, in the shape of a star, was attached on its top. It was magenta in colour while the remainder, in the shape of standard gemstones, were pink, orange, red, blue and green.

The black Digimon could also sense her magic. She was definitely strong. Much stronger than Celestia’s, but not quite on the level of Ayumi’s. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but her magic also felt familiar. And that’s not all. He thought he would be confused and maybe intimidated at being brought to a different dimension against his will. But when he looked at the new pony walking towards him, he didn’t felt those emotions at all. Instead, he felt surprisingly calm and… almost safe just from being in her presence. There was definitely a warm and inviting vibe to her.

Then he realised something. This strange mare was walking ever closer to him. Showing absolutely no fear towards him. In its place, was pure curiosity.

BlackWarGreymon wanted to stand back up to address himself. But found himself unable to do so. He was so mesmerized by the pony’s curious gaze, his body simply froze on the spot. Refusing to obey.

“Uhh…?”

The immobile Mega began to feel awkward. While he was held in some sort of paralyzed state, it allowed the strange mare to walk even closer. Pass his legs and towards his chest. He then felt more uncomfortable when the pony started to climb on him. Her front legs pressed against his armoured chest as she leaned closer to his head. Her face only a foot away from his own.

She then paused. Her curious stare was both carefree and intense at the same time. Staring deeply into the confused eyes of BlackWarGreymon as if she was testing him. Her actions alone was more than enough to convince the Digimon that she was definitely no ordinary pony. To him, she didn’t just feel otherworldly. He almost felt like he was staring into the eyes of a deity.

As silence filled the void around the two, the strange Unicorn gave BlackWarGreymon a heart-warming smile. Like a mother would do to her child.

She then spoke.

“Wow. You’re much more handsome up close.”

The Artificial Digimon was intrigued by the mare’s voice. Her voice carried a soft and graceful tone. Her words even had a subtle echo to them. But it wasn’t just that. What caught BlackWarGreymon’s full attention was that her voice was incredibly familiar. He felt that he definitely heard it before.

Then it finally clicked! He HAD heard it before! Her voice… which sounded both young and old at the same time… with a tone like a wind chime… it sounded just like the one he heard from the Tree of Harmony! The one that called his name! The one that warned him about Tirek’s attack on Canterlot!

“W…Wait!!”

Sensing that his mind was full of questions, the mysterious Unicorn took several steps back to give the Mega room to stand back up. As he hastily rose back on his feet, he stared at the mare in shock, curiosity and fascination. All before he spoke. His voice carrying a slight hint of nervousness.

“Your voice. Are you… are you the one… w-who spoke to me before?”

The pony gave him a friendly reply. Her voice echoing through the Digimon’s very being.

“I am.”

Despite the simple answer, BlackWarGreymon felt intimidated. She was able to communicate with him from a different plain of existence. Furthermore, she knew of his name without actually meeting him. Something in which he questioned.

“W-Who are you? And how do you know my name?”

To his surprise, the large Unicorn closed her eyes as she bowed to him in respect and to welcome him. She then introduced herself.

“It’s truly an honour to finally meet you in person, BlackWarGreymon. I am the guardian of Equestria, and overseer of the Harmonian Nexus.”

After she rose back up, she revealed her identity.

“As for my name, you may call me Harmony.”

BlackWarGreymon paused as he took in her name. Repeating it.

“H-Harmony?”

He then inquired about her title.

“So… you say you’re Equestria’s guardian?”

The pony, identified as Harmony, answered his question.

“Indeed I am. Every world has its own share of guardians. My duty is to protect the balance of magic in Equestria and keep it in check. One of my most successful ideas of securing the harmonic balance was to extend my power into the physical world of Equestria. Which took form of a large tree.”

“A tree?” The Digimon asked. But was then quick to realise that his previous assumption was in fact correct.

“You’re talking about the Tree of Harmony?”

“Yes. The tree is a part of me. It and I are one of the same. Put it simply, I created the Tree of Harmony and its elements.”

BlackWarGreymon was stunned. But despite getting answers, it was also piling up more questions. But before he could get a headache from the question overload, there was just one thing that he needed to know. Asking the big question.

“And… where exactly are we right now?” He asked as he looked at his surroundings. He had to admit that he could see the beauty in his new environment.

Harmony happily answered his question.

“This is the Harmonian Nexus that I mentioned. A dimensional plane that exists just outside of Equestria. Not only I live here, I also use it to see the events that play out in Equestria.”

As he looked around, BlackWarGreymon could feel the energy around him. Like the tree and Harmony herself, the energy felt very familiar. But he couldn’t quite figure out why.

“Is the Nexus displeasing you?” Harmony asked him. Noting that he kept looking around instead of answering her.

BlackWarGreymon quickly corrected himself and spoke up.

“Oh no. It’s not that at all. In fact, this place is beautiful. It’s just that… why do I have a feeling that I’ve been here before?”

As the Digimon looked at the mysterious world around him, Harmony turned around with a smile on her face. She knew perfectly well what the answer to BlackWarGreymon’s question was. The answer which she gave him.

“That’s because you have been here before.”

The alerted Mega snapped to attention as he looked at the Unicorn in surprise. He then could hear her talking, almost as id she was mumbling to herself.

“Only once. And it was only for a moment.”

“I…I have!? But… I don’t recognize this place! Please explain!”

Hearing how desperate BlackWarGreymon was to find out the truth, Harmony decided that it was time to show him.

“Follow me.”

Doing what she said, BlackWarGreymon followed Harmony as she walked away. As the Unicorn walked calmly on a path made up of tiny white specks of light, the Digimon was having difficulty. He couldn’t exactly tell if gravity in the Harmonian Nexus was strong or weak. At times he felt that his weight was like over a ton or nothing at all. He wasn’t used to the dimension Harmony called home.

Not wanting to feel disorientated, BlackWarGreymon decided to fly instead. Hovering above the path of light. Then as he caught up with Harmony, the Unicorn mare explained herself.

“As you probably figured out, I’ve been around far longer than your mind could comprehend. Eons ago, my focus of duty was only in Equestria. But when I learnt that there were worlds beyond Equestria, I couldn’t contain my curiosity. So I expanded the Harmonian Nexus. So I could watch those worlds with my own eyes. I have seen things you wouldn’t believe.”

Turning her head around to look at BlackWarGreymon, Harmony smiled at him when she spoke on.

“And the Digital World is among one of my absolute favourites.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at her in surprise and amazement.

“Y…You know about the Digital World!?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Harmony stopped in her tracks. Causing BlackWarGreymon to also stop. Then with a single tap of her hoof, Harmony caused the Nexus to shift. As if the realm itself was speeding past the two at great speed. The Mega almost felt dizzy as he watched the light and colours flew by all around him.

After only a couple of seconds, it all stopped. When BlackWarGreymon looked at his new surroundings, his yellow eyes went wide as his mind couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A new… but very familiar sight. The Nexus lost its brilliant blue hue and was replaced with a black void. But rather than being empty, the surrounding area was littered with distant stars and swirling galaxies.

The silent BlackWarGreymon was all too familiar with the sight. It was one of the only things he could never forget. It was perfectly identical to the mysterious realm he found himself moments after his death. The place where he was before he was sent to Equestria from the very beginning.

BlackWarGreymon kept looking at his surroundings in awe. He was in the very same place as before. Then his shocked eyes grew even wider when he started to piece the puzzles together. After his death, and before his arrival in Equestria, he was in the Harmonian Nexus. Because of the identical energy, the Nexus was linked to the Tree of Harmony. And the Tree of Harmony was the physical embodiment of Harmony herself.

The truth hit him hard. Harmony was in charge of the Nexus. And she knew everything that happened in the realm. In fact, he had a vague memory of when he was sucked through the white portal that lead him to Equestria, he recalled that he saw a very blurry image of a creature.

A being that barred a striking resemblance…




…to a Unicorn!



As more pieces fell into a complete picture, BlackWarGreymon slowly averted his shocked gaze at the Unicorn in front of him. As she had her back to him, she was hiding a smile. The Nexus telling her that the Digimon was slowly discovering the truth. She then revealed another secret.

“To answer your other question. About how I knew your name. The answer is simple.”

Harmony then looked over her shoulder to see the Digimon. Telling him the truth.

“I’ve been watching you.”

Then with another tap of her hoof, countless white rectangles appeared around the two. Slowly circling them. Then like television screens, the rectangles began to show moving pictures. But to BlackWarGreymon’s amazement, the images he was seeing, were all the events of his past! Not just in Equestria, but way back during his time in the Digital World! His past life! All the memories of his journey were displayed for him to see. All from his birth. His disobedient phase. His confrontations with Azulongmon and WarGreymon. His lessons of friendship. His ultimate sacrifice. All up to his adventures in Equestria. The moments of calm, like helping the Mane Six and simply just having fun. The moments that were intense, like his fights with Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Even moments of absolute importance were shown. Like his rematch with Tirek, his encounter with Ayumi, the discovery of his Ascended form, and even his Berserk Mode.

Harmony finished off her statement as she turned to look at BlackWarGreymon. Once more showing her motherly smile.

“All from the very beginning.”

Then as all of the visions of BlackWarGreymon’s past vanished into nothing, silence once more filled the Nexus. BlackWarGreymon stared at Harmony with wide eyes filled with awe, amazement and astonishment. He had finally found it. The long-awaited answer to the question which was on his mind the moment he took his first breath after his sacrifice. His legs started to tremble from the sheer weight of the discovery. His answer was right there. Standing in front of him.

“I… I know now. I… don’t believe it. It… was you.”

BlackWarGreymon took a step back as he spoke with shock in his voice.

“IT WAS YOU!!! You’re the one who brought me here!! You’re the one who sent me to Equestria!!”

Almost as if she was delaying the answer on purpose just to raise the suspense, Harmony finally gave her answer.

“Correct.”

BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt as though he was hit by some invisible force. His hair felt like it was standing up on ends. His question had truly been answered. With his legs feeling like jelly, he felt like falling to his knees. But his mind was too preoccupied to do so. His mind was just blown from the truth. Meanwhile Harmony turned back around to admire the view around her.

“This part of the Harmonian Nexus is quite far from Equestria. Which is why the realm looks so dark. We’re in fact near the borders of where the Digital World would be.”

As he remained in his shocked state, BlackWarGreymon realised another fact. Something else that Harmony had done for him.

“You… saved my life.”

As Harmony looked at the surrounding galaxies, she replied to him as if it wasn’t entirely a big deal. Understandable, considering that she might have existed for a very long time without company.

“Indeed, I did. Healing that chest wound of yours was simple. But restoring your entire body and bringing it here was quite difficult even for me. Well… considering that you’re made of data, and that your power back then was quite formidable.”

Then to her confusion, the Unicorn heard a quick motion and even an impact behind her. Turning around, Harmony was surprised to see BlackWarGreymon… bowing to her!? Down on one knee, with his right arm resting against his chest, his eyes shut and his head hung low, he was displaying a great amount of respect to her. What threw her off was that she knew the Mega was the type who would kneel to no one so willingly. So to see him doing so unexpected was quite bizarre.

“W-What is this?” She asked him.

BlackWarGreymon then explained his actions.

“I don’t think you understand. What you have done for me may not be important to you, but it is for me. You’re the one who saved my life. You sent me to Equestria to find a new purpose in my existence. You’re the one who gave me a new life. A second chance to redeem myself for what I’ve done in the past. You have no idea how much this means to me. And I have no idea how to ever repay you. I’m eternally in your dept, Harmony.”

The large Unicorn was taken back by the black Digimon’s words. She never thought that BlackWarGreymon would ever act in such a way. He was praising her as if she was some kind of goddess. But one thing was true. She had no idea her decision would mean so much to him. She finally understood how important life was to him.

But one thing she mentally disagreed was his statement that what she’d done wasn’t important to her. It was in fact the exact opposite. BlackWarGreymon’s life was very important to her. But she would have to explain why later.

“You don’t need to do that,” She responded. But the Mega was insistent.

“But I must. I must find some way to repay you for what you have done for me.”

Then to BlackWarGreymon’s surprise, he opened his eyes when he felt Harmony tap her horn against his metal nose horn. With a smile, she gave her reply.

“There’s really no need. Because you’ve already done just that. You used your powers to protect Equestria when it really needed it. To repel threats which I doubt even I could defeat. You truly are a protector Equestria deserves.”

The next thing she said was of a whisper. Something that BlackWarGreymon was too awestricken to pick up on.

“Certainly, more so than me.”

As Harmony backed away slightly, the Digimon looked at her in confusion. Puzzled by one fact.

“But… why me? There are other Digimon more purer than I could ever be. Surely, they would be more worthy than I am. So why chose me?”

Harmony then let out a heartfelt reason.

“Because you’re a special case, BlackWarGreymon. You were created to be a force of destruction. A tool for evil intentions. But you rejected those ideals and chose your own path. True, you were misguided at the start. But by the time of your passing, you sacrificed your life for a noble cause. At that moment, you, a creation of evil, performed an act of good. You are young. Full of life and potential. So to see it all being taken away like that so soon… felt wrong. That’s why I chose you. So that you can not only rectify your guilts, but to further explore and experience friendship. And from what I’ve seen, it worked out. Didn’t it?”

It didn’t took long for BlackWarGreymon to answer.

“Of course, it did.”

He continued on as he stood back up.

“I care deeply for my friends. I’ll do anything to keep them safe. No matter what.”

Harmony’s smile grew even bigger from hearing his response.

“Hmm. Spoken like a true protector. And a true friend.”

Her smile then changed from honest to cheeky.

“Now I see why my daughter likes you so much.”

BlackWarGreymon looked at Harmony in confusion. Unsure what or who she was referring to.

“Uhh? What was that you said?”

The Unicorn explained herself.

“Long after I created my tree, I once thought of another idea to help keep the balance of the world in check. On that day, I used my great powers to give life to two fillies. Both with magic unlike any other. The power the control day and night.”

BlackWarGreymon instantly knew whom Harmony was talking about.

“You mean Celestia and Luna?”

Then he recalled the two words the Unicorn used. Words which slowly caught him off-guard.

“Wait. Give life? To two fillies? Harmony! Are… Are you…!?”

Harmony smiled as she answered.

“What do you think?” She replied. Leaving the answer vague enough for BlackWarGreymon to make his interpretation.

The black armoured Mega was left awestricken. If what he was thinking was true, then he was in the presence of who was figuratively, the mother of the Alicorn sisters. Meaning that the two princesses were essentially her daughters.

But then he realised something. A stray thought crossed his mind. Which started to make him feel awkward. Almost embarrassed to address it out loud.

“W-Wait. But… here. We met… just after Luna left.”

As he spoke more, he had never felt so uncomfortable.

“Does that mean…? Have you…? Seen us…?”

Harmony’s mischievous smile only grew bigger as the tall Digimon began to feel flustered. Knowing full well what he was trying to say, she cleared the air.

“Yep.”

“…H…How long?”

“Every second.”

BlackWarGreymon was at a loss for words as he felt as if his mind crashed. Under his helmet, he could feel his checks burning up. Clearly embarrassed by a large degree. The entire time he was with Luna in the mountain cave, Harmony was watching him. Which truly meant that she saw everything.

The smiling Unicorn looked away as she spoke. Her blushing smile had never left her face. And her manner of speaking was very much like that of a mother.

“When I sent you to Equestria, I knew you would embrace friendship. But even I had no idea you would find true love. Especially with one of my daughters.”

Hearing what Harmony said made BlackWarGreymon realised something. As the one who had given life to both Celestia and Luna, Harmony was certainly the most important pony to exist. And she watched him kiss one of her children after confessing his feelings to her.

The uncomfortable Mega tried to speak up to speak. But his sudden anxiety prevented him from talking properly. All what came out of him were stutters and mumbles.

Sensing that BlackWarGreymon was unsure of how she felt about the recent development, Harmony gave him her honest response after letting out a light-hearted chuckle.

“You have nothing to worry about. I could clearly tell that your love for her is genuine. Not to mention very strong. That’s something I would not dare intervene. You two look so cute together. So I have nothing against your relationship with Luna. I think it’s very sweet.”

BlackWarGreymon breathed a sigh of relief as he felt his nerves subsiding. For a moment, he thought he was in big trouble. But luckily for him, Harmony herself was supportive of the idea. He hoped that his friends back in Canterlot felt the same.

As silence filled the ethereal air, Harmony tapped her hoof and sent herself and BlackWarGreymon back to where they were. The part of the Harmonian Nexus to where they first talked. During the brief travel, Harmony looked to the side in thought. There was a whole other reason for bringing BlackWarGreymon to Equestria. An issue that had plagued her for thousands of years. A problem too big for even her to handle. Something so dangerous the likes the world of the ponies had never seen.





Something… that she herself may had instigated by mistake.





But before she would have to confess, there was still time for her to mingle with BlackWarGreymon. To spend as much pleasant time as she could before the inevitable should happen. The Unicorn turned towards the waiting BlackWarGreymon. Trying to hide her worries behind a smile.

“I sense you sill have many questions you wish to ask me?” Harmony asked BlackWarGreymon.

Before he answered, the black Digimon took note on the sudden feeling of negativity from the guardian. Despite being curious of what it was about, he was indeed full of questions that only she could answer.

“Actually, I do. Some of which I long for answers.”

But before BlackWarGreymon could continue, Harmony raised her hoof to stop him.

“But before you do, I’ve got a question I would like to ask you.”

BlackWarGreymon was not expecting Harmony to have a question for him to answer. Being a guardian, he figured she knew everything about him. So from her, the question had to be vitally important.

“Oh. Alright. What is it?”

But as BlackWarGreymon was expecting something significant, the question he received from Harmony was the total opposite.

“Is it true that your hair is surprisingly pleasant to the touch?”

The Mega looked at her with an expression that was a combination of shock and dumbfound. A question he hadn’t heard in a while but was all to familiar with.

“Really?”
…………………………………………………………………………………..............................................................

Hidden lair, unknown location

Deep within the darkest depths of his hideout, the evil Digimon appeared to be sleeping. But as he slumbered, he let out a demonic growl of hate. All the while the claw-like fingers in his hands twitched and flickered.

Chapter 75: The Uprising

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In the city of Canterlot, the search for BlackWarGreymon was over. Regrouped by the castle grounds, the Mane Six were informed by Princess Celestia that the Digimon had been found by Princess Luna. Much to their relief. Spike and the Cutiemark Crusaders, who unexpectedly joined them during the search, were too informed of what transpired at Canterlot Castle. Which included telling them about a development with Luna’s feelings towards BlackWarGreymon.

“What!? Princess Luna has a crush on BlackWarGreymon!?” Spike asked. Startled by the revelation.

“Oh, she most certainly does,” Princess Cadence answered. Joy was evident in her voice.

The Cutiemark Crusaders were overjoyed about the news.

“AWWWW!! That’s so cute!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Picturing the princess and the Digimon together.

“I bet nopony had ever expected that,” Scootaloo added. Joined by Applebloom.

“But do ya think that BlackWarGreymon feels the same way about her?”

Not entirely sure herself, Applejack asked the only pony who would most likely know.

“Ain’t ya the expert in love, Princess Cadence? So surely you must know somethin’.”

The pink Alicorn chuckled before answering. Remembering the talk she had with the Artificial Digimon before their departure at the Crystal Empire. Then deciding to give the group a vague answer. To see if they could figure it out for themselves.

“Well, he may be new to emotions, but… let’s say it’s a possibility.”

Despite the hint, most of the group chose to believe it. Including her husband.

“Wow. That’s… amazing,” Prince Shining Armor said.

“This cause for a party!!” Pinkie Pie shrieked in happiness.

Celestia softly chuckled before speaking. Loving the happiness in the air.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Luna and BlackWarGreymon to return first?”

“Of yeah, that’s right,” The pink party pony replied. Calming down.

“Don’t get me wrong, Celestia. But I’m still amazed that you’re ok with this. Well, given that Luna’s a princess,” Twilight said as she approached the white Alicorn. Nervous as to how she would react to the question.

The Sun Princess replied to Twilight with a bright warm smile.

“Now why wouldn’t I be, Twilight? I couldn’t think of anyone more supportive and perfect than BlackWarGreymon.”

“Don’t forget awesome!” Rainbow Dash said as she jumped in on the conversation.

Applejack then raided an eyebrow towards Rarity.

“Ya don’t seem to be as wowed as the rest of us Rarity. Don’t suppose ya knew too?”

The white Unicorn chuckled before revealing a hidden truth she kept to herself.

“I may have. Especially since I saw the two on their date.”

Most of the group gasped in astonishment at what Rarity said. Even Cadence herself was amazed.

“They already went out on a date!?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

With a sly smile on her face, Cadence spoke to Rarity.

“By chance, when did that happen, Rarity?”

“Why, on Hearts and Hooves Day of course.”

The pink princess was both amazed and taken back at Rarity’s answer. It seemed her advice to BlackWarGreymon about the event had paid off brilliantly. But she was still amazed that he actually went through with it.

As the conversation went on, something caught the attention of Fluttershy. Looking to where the distant mountains stood, she could see something approaching Canterlot.

After looking carefully, narrowing her sights, she could see that it was flying, small and blue. She smiled in amazement when she realized who it was.

“Everypony! Luna’s coming back!”

Fluttershy’s call had brought the attention of the whole group. All eyes looking to where the yellow Pegasus spotted. They all could see the blue Alicorn as well. The sight of the princess brought smiles to their faces.

As the Moon Princess made her landing, she nearly collapsed from exhaustion. The big trip to the mountains and back had taken a great toll on the Alicorn. Causing her to pant for breath. As the group approached the worn-out mare, they could clearly see that she was tired. But they could see her gaping mouth. Despite her exhaustion, she was smiling. Her smile was bright.

“Princess Luna? Are you ok?” Twilight asked her.

After taking another deep breath. Luna raised her head up to look at the group and replied.

“Never better.”

Most of the group were puzzled. The blue Alicorn was exhausted, yet she felt better than before. Some of the group however knew that she wasn’t talking about her physical condition. She was actually talking about her feelings. Hence the smile.

Celestia smiled back as she spoke up.

“I take it that you found BlackWarGreymon?”

Luna’s smile seemed to had grown brighter just from hearing the Digimon’s name. But instead of hiding it, she showed it as she answered.

“Y-Yes I did.”

“But… where is he?” Shining Armor asked. Confused by the Digimon’s absence.

He wasn’t the only one. When the fact was mentioned, the others too realised that Luna had arrived back on her own.

“Yeah? Where’s the big guy?” Rainbow Dash added.

Before answering, Luna looked over her shoulder to look back at the mountains. Knowing perfectly well where BlackWarGreymon was.

“He said he needed a moment. He’s staying where he is until he’s ready to come back.”

Most of the group understood the Alicorn’s words. Though they knew him for a while, BlackWarGreymon was still new to friendship. The consequences of the earlier event would take a heavy toll on anyone in his position.

“I understand, Luna. We’ll give him time to collect his thoughts,” Celestia said as she walked up to her. Giving her little sister a warm hug.

“I’m proud of you,” She added.

Then as the royal sisters parted ways, Fluttershy walked up to Luna with a question.

“So, Princess Luna. What happened when you found him?”

There were many moments Luna could describe. But there was one particular moment that stood above all. The moment of which… caused the blue princess to blush openly in front of the group. As well as a sheepish grin.

“Well… uhh… where to start,” She said. Preparing to explain herself and reveal what happened.
………………………………………………………………………............................................................

Meanwhile in another dimension, BlackWarGreymon, who was plucked from the physical world of Equestria, was confronted by Equestria’s ancient guardian, Harmony.

Within her domain called the Harmonian Nexus, the black Digimon had learnt a startling truth. A fact that he wanted to know since his resurrection. It was revealed to him that it was Harmony herself who brought him to Equestria in the first place. And in doing so, saved his life and gave him a second chance in life.

While the questions BlackWarGreymon asked were out of genuine concern and curiosity, Harmony’s… were the opposite. Whereas the Mega expected to be asked important questions, instead the Unicorn was interested in the trivial things. One of which was if his yellow hair was softer than it looks. But as strange as the question was, BlackWarGreymon refused to deny her. She was the one who saved his life after all. To Harmony’s amazement and joy, the Digimon’s hair was truly soft.

But it was one of the later questions she had for him… resulted in BlackWarGreymon’s current predicament. He was sitting down with his legs crossed. But then to find himself with the large Unicorn resting on his lap. The guardian mare nuzzling against his upper left thigh.

“Wow. Your body really is warm,” Harmony said as she shifted her position. Much to the discomfort of BlackWarGreymon.

The uncomfortable Mega was perplexed. Harmony was eons old yet was acting like a curious child. He tried to think of an explanation as to why. Possibly due to her not having company for countless millennia and got out of touch of how to act. Or maybe that she knew exactly what she was doing and, as a guardian, believed that she was above the standard laws of Equestria. Or maybe she was just being friendly. But regardless of the motives, it didn’t help the fact that he was feeling uncomfortable.

What’s more, though he couldn’t understand why, he was glad that Luna wasn’t there with them. He felt as though it would’ve led to one big argument of which he might possibly be scared of. Misunderstandings are a dangerous thing.

Despite Harmony not having company for a very long time, the Digimon felt as though she was getting a little too comfortable. But despite the odd sensation, he still had questions that needed answering.

“Pl…Please tell me. The magic of Equestria. Why is it making me stronger?”

BlackWarGreymon’s previous assumption turned out to be correct. Harmony felt so comfortable, she began to lie on her back across his crossed legs. Her hooves almost bumped against his face. She looked at him as she answered his question.

“Would you believe that it was because of your digital physiology? It was something I theorized long before I knew of you. Though solid, the data of your body is a form of energy. And with my world being rich in magic, it amplified the data of your very being. Heightened the energy within you. In common words, the magic of Equestria makes you grow stronger. Knowing how much stronger you’ll become… that I don’t know.”

She continued as she glanced to her side. About to admit the truth.

“That being said, I had no idea that you could tap into the very essence of Equestria’s magic itself to further enhance yourself. I believe you call it your Ascended Form. Even I was taken by surprise by that.”

BlackWarGreymon mentally froze from the answer he was given. It was one of the first questions he always wanted an answer to. Only to find out that it was because of his very being. It made him wonder. Would the same apply to any other Digimon that could live in Equestria? Such as his friends from the Digital World? Could they even Digivolve without the need of their human partners? Either way, he was thankful that the magic of Equestria was making him stronger as the days went by. Otherwise, he would’ve been destroyed during his first fight with ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He also knew that it was magic that triggered his new powers.

Other questions flowed through his mind. But out of them all, only one stood out.

“Let me ask you, Harmony. While I am grateful that you gave me a second chance at life. But… why exactly did you do it?”

BlackWarGreymon suddenly felt that something was off. As if the world around him made a sudden mood change. Mere seconds ago, it felt bright and uplifting. But it then changed to what he could guess was, much to his mental surprise… guilt, depression, and regret. Looking down, he was stunned to see Harmony’s warm loving smile had faded away.

Not wanting him to look at her change of expression, the large Unicorn quickly rolled off the Digimon’s lap and faced away from him. She then walked several steps away to try and think.

Her efforts were in vein though. BlackWarGreymon understood negative emotions well. Even within the Harmonian Nexus, he could feel the negativity in the air. And what he felt matched Harmony’s expression perfectly. Sadness, guilt, fear, pity… he could feel it all emanating from her. It felt just like that brief moment he felt from her earlier.

But then he began to worry. Something very bad must have happened for someone like her to feel in such a manner.

Knowing that the change within her was a big deal, BlackWarGreymon rose up on his feet and silently looked at Harmony. Waiting for her to respond.

But seeing that she wasn’t, the Mega explained his choice of question.

“Bringing me back from the dead. Sending me to Equestria. It was more than just giving me a second chance at being good. You wanted me for something else. To serve a higher purpose. I can tell that it’s something bad. That’s why you asked me about my warmth and my hair. You were trying to put off something important. Something that you need me for.”

Despite the emotions she was feeling, Harmony couldn’t help but be surprised that BlackWarGreymon already figured her out.

“How did you know?” She asked him.

“Before my rematch with Tirek, I read that prophecy that you made. But of course… you already knew that.”

Harmony began to feel anxiety washing over. She was hoping that she would spend more time being happy and enjoying talking about life pleasantries with BlackWarGreymon. Saving the bad things for much later. But it caught up much quicker than she wanted.

“BlackWarGreymon… I…”

The mare tried to speak but found it hard to do so.

BlackWarGreymon could see her uncertainty, and then reassured her that he wanted to know the truth.

“Please Harmony. Tell me. Why am I here? Why did you really save me?”

Silence filled the realm around the two. Harmony could feel the stinging feeling in her heart. Just remembering the events that lead to her decision filled her with dread. But against her wishes, the time had finally come. She had to tell him.

She took a brave deep breath before answering.

“Ok… I’ll tell you.”

She then turned around to look at BlackWarGreymon. Her expression was stern with a hint of regret.

“BlackWarGreymon… it’s time for you to know the truth. All of it.”

BlackWarGreymon felt nervous. For Harmony was about to tell him the matter of which was scaring her. From seeing the guardian’s actions, he was about to learn something big.

Harmony then began to tell.

“My friend, the true reason why I brought you to Equestria… is for you… to become a protector my world truly deserves. To fight battles that are impossible. To defend those who cannot defend themselves.”

“Like that prophecy? The… Warrior of Harmony?” The Digimon asked.

“Yes. My warrior.”

Harmony then continued.

“But out of everything I said, the reason I brought you to Equestria… was… to do something I couldn’t do. Something… that I failed.”

BlackWarGreymon paused in surprise. The tone in Harmony’s voice carried remorse and regret. Her expression even grew sadder. She looked down at her hooves to hide the sadness. But she continued talking.

“You know the saying? That nobody is perfect? That includes me too.”

She then glanced up back at BlackWarGreymon. Surprising him with how guilty she looked. Almost on the verge of tears.

“BlackWarGreymon. I…I have made… a terrible mistake.”

The black armoured Mega could tell that the guardian was scared just talking about the subject. As if she was afraid that he would judge her for what she had done. But seeing how sad she was, he couldn't find it in him to scold her. However, what she said had only increased his curiosity.

“Harmony? What did you do?”

Harmony shivered from hearing the question. Almost hesitating to even answer. But she eventually did. Her reply sounding more like a confession.

“BlackWarGreymon. You’re not the only one whom I gave a second chance.”

The Digimon’s yellow eyes grew wide from hearing what she said. But remained silent as she continued. But was still stunned that he was not alone.

“Before you, there was another. In some ways, he’s quite similar to you. A powerful being that grows stronger through transformations. Each one mightier than the last. I believe you know what I’m talking about.”

BlackWarGreymon answered back. The knowledge of what Harmony was saying startled and shocked him.

“I do. You’re talking about a Digimon.”

Harmony took another deep breath as she answered.

“I’m afraid so.”

She then began to reflect on her actions.

“Because of the circumstances of his birth, I truly thought that there was a chance that he could be reformed. That incident was what twisted him. Even when he was fighting with those human kids and their Digimon, I took pity on him. Of what could’ve been. So when he was defeated, I brought him here. To convince him to embrace the side of him he left behind.”

As she spoke, her tone sounded hopeful. But her expression quickly soured to a scorn. Almost as if she was angry with herself.

“Oh, how I was wrong. He had no regrets for his actions. He… completely relished in what he’d done. He truly was… pure evil.”

BlackWarGreymon gave her a shocked look as he asked a question.

“And that very Digimon… he’s in Equestria?”

Harmony’s expression grew more guilty as she answered.

“It was never my intentions to bring such unspeakable horror on my world. He was supposed to serve the punishment that I specifically laid out for him. But he outlasted it and began to thrive. Luckily, his blackened heart prevented him from absorbing the magic of the land. But he’s out there. Waiting for the right moment to rise.”

BlackWarGreymon remained completely still from what Harmony had told him. There was another Digimon in Equestria. Long before his arrival. And he never even noticed. But then he had a thought. A thought that made his spine tingle. A horrid feeling came over him. Could it be possible? And if so, then… it would make sense.

To confirm his suspicions, the Mega turned to Harmony for information.

“Harmony. This evil Digimon. Could he be the same one that destroyed Ayumi’s Equestria?”

The Unicorn looked at him in confusion. But then remembered who the Digimon was talking about.

“Ah, you mean the Twilight that arrived from another time. Her arrival here with her own Element of Magic was by far most unexpected,” She said as she closed her eyes. But her expression grew sadder from what she believed was the case. It just made sense.

“But with everything she said, it would seem likely. I do not know what happened in that world, for it has its own Harmony. But either something happened to the other me, or that I failed to find you in time. But yes. I believe that he truly is one of the same. What happened in that Equestria was truly a tragedy. I truly am sorry for what happened to her.”

Having his suspicions confirmed stirred something within BlackWarGreymon. He felt it within his heart. His mind. Coursing through his limbs and into his clenched fists hidden in his gauntlets. His entire body felt like it was surging. His expression frowned into a glare of anger. Though silent, he had never felt such a surge of hatred within him before. It caused him to tremble in fury. The Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s home… was the very same one that was hiding in the Equestria he knew. The reason why the evil Digimon stayed in hiding instead of rising in Canterlot like in Ayumi’s world was puzzling. But it didn’t matter to him. Just the fact that HE was in Equestria on its own was what he needed to hear. The monster was skulking in the shadows. Just waiting to turn the peaceful world into a living hell.

“B-BlackWarGreymon?” Harmony asked. Just noticing the silent fury that was flowing within the Mega.

Turning towards the guardian, BlackWarGreymon spoke up. His voice filled with anger.

“Harmony. I want you to tell me everything about him. What he is. What he had done. How he came to be. And even his name.”

Harmony was initially startled by the level of hostility in BlackWarGreymon’s voice. Fortunately, they were all aimed at the evil Digimon and not her. Understanding how upset he was, she decided to comply with his request. If he had to go up against the beast, he needed to know everything about him.

“Very well, my warrior. I’ll tell you everything.”
…………………………………………………………………….............................................................................

Meanwhile, far away in a hidden lair, deep in the mountains, the said Digimon was asleep. With the cold hardness of his body, comfort was no issue. But he was restless as he tossed and turned. Grunting angrily. Was he having a bad dream? A bad memory?

No.

He had both.

He remembered the events of what happened on Earth. Victory within his grasp, at the peak of his power. Even managing to unlock the Ultra level. A form considered a legend.

For one moment, he was unstoppable. Even beating the same Digimon that destroyed his body some years before. But then, that same Digimon gave all his energy into another. Making it become what he could describe as a second white knight.

Unable to match up to its speed and power, his evil was rewarded with a sword impaled in his head. His body then collapsed, and was about to be sent to the Digital World.

Of course, that was supposed to happen. If not for the onlooking eye of a guardian.

Moments after his demise, the next thing the evil Digimon could remember was awakening in some otherworldly dimension. Unlike anything he had seen before. Unknown to him, he was in the Harmonian Nexus. Looking down at himself, he found that he was back in his Mega form. But his power was severely weakened.

As he was gathering his bearings, he suddenly heard a voice belonging to a female. Which beyond his knowledge was in fact Harmony.

“Relax. There is nothing to fear.”

The Digimon looked around sharply to find the source of the voice.

“Who’s there!? Show yourself!”

Then, in front of him, the evil Mega could see twinkling lights taking form. Though the form was made entirely out of light, the Digimon could see that it resembled a Unicorn.

“I’m here. And now you’re wondering why you’re here. Am I right?”

Despite his beast-like appearance and brutish nature, the Digimon was incredibly intelligent. Unsure of his predicament, he decided to play along.

“Well… I was on the verge of defeat moments ago. So I can’t help but be curious.”

Harmony then began the next phase of her plan to reform the Digimon.

“Then allow me to explain. To put it simply, I know who you are. I have witnessed your selfish acts and evil intentions. Normally I detest such ambitions.”

The Digimon slightly tilted his head in confusion.

“If you hate evil, then why am I here?”

Harmony further explained her reasons.

“I brought you here… to give you a second chance. To let you perform acts of redemption.”

Without Harmony knowing, the evil Digimon knew exactly what she was talking about. But decided not to interrupt.

“Like others of your kind, you started life as a Digi egg. But an unforeseen disaster had altered you into a being of malice and hate. It changed you. You became cursed by it.”

“Cursed?” The Digimon asked.

“Yes. If not for that circumstance, you could’ve been a different Digimon. A force of good that fights evil. To become better.”

“Cursed?” The Mega repeated.

“That’s why I brought you here. To see if there is good still within you. And with my help, you can finally be free of your corruption and be the good Digimon that you always wanted to be. You may not understand now, but I know in time you will. I even know of a world where you can begin.”

Harmony spoke her words proudly. Even mentioning her world of Equestria to him to entice him to change. But the Mega asked her one thing that seemed to be puzzling him.

“You think… that what happened to me… was a curse?”

Though her eyes couldn’t be seen, Harmony looked at him in confusion.

“Well… yes. And I can cure you.”

The mare’s smile vanished when she started to hear the Digimon chuckle. Which quickly escalated into an outburst of laughter. It was as if everything she had said, he found hysterical.

“Wh…What is it?” She asked, unsure of what was happening.

After calming down, the Mega took a deep breath before speaking.

“No, my dear. I’m afraid it is YOU who doesn’t understand.”

He continued as he gave her a sinister smile.

“What you call a curse… I call a blessing.”

“W-What?” Harmony asked. Admittingly shocked at what the Digimon said.

But she was further startled as he continued.

“If you think for one second that I had any regrets… then you’re right. Because I only have one. And that was not killing my enemies sooner!”

His angry outburst slowly morphed into sadistic joy.

“You think that I’m ashamed of being who I am. Of what I have become. But I’m proud of it. I’m thankful that I was infected. I’m glad that I turned out this way! Bringing carnage and destruction thrills me to no end! I enjoy bringing chaos to those around me! Those fools may have beaten me, but I still live. And as long as I draw breath, I will not rest until all is mine!”

As he paused, he noticed that his host was silent. He spoke again to see if he would get a reaction.

“So…what do you think now?”

Though her true expression was hidden, Harmony was horrified. She truly thought she could change him, but she was wrong. The Digimon was literally offered a second chance to better himself. But he turned it down to continue his evil pursuit for total domination. Which meant that her efforts to bring him to the Nexus was for nothing.

“You… you refuse?” She asked. Her voice showed the level of disbelief she was feeling.

The Digimon sneered as he responded. Mocking her.

“You’re a fool to bring me here. If you were smart, you would’ve left me.”

Then out of nowhere, he fired a blast attack at her. The lights that made the image of Harmony’s head parted away before the energy attack could hit.

Then suddenly, the Nexus around the Digimon became darker. Then her voice returned. Enraged in the form of her booming tone.

“Y-you dare strike at me!?”

“You said so yourself. You’re clearly a force of good. That makes you my enemy! And all my enemies will fall to me!”

But before he could be ready for a fight, he suddenly found himself unable to move. Looking down, he could see that he couldn’t even budge his arms.

“What’s this?”

Then to his surprise, a bright blue glow shined from beneath him. He could see what looked like a giant whirlpool growing below his feet. He didn’t know why, but the wind he felt from it felt very cold. He tried to move away, but again found himself unable to do so. Afterwards, his body was engulfed in a bright purple glow. As seconds went by, he started to feel weaker and weaker. As if something was sapping his energy away.

“Wha-What’s happening!?” He demanded as he tried to fight back.

His answer came in the form of a booming voice of Harmony.

“You are the one who’s the fool! I gave you a chance to redemption, and you threw it away! I didn’t want to believe it, but you can never be reformed! You have become evil to the core! An irredeemable monster! As punishment for your arrogance, I will banish you to the frozen wastelands! Where you will be frozen in ice for all eternity! On the very same world I wanted you to protect!”

“What!!?”

“You have no power in this realm! I’ll be taking your powers away! Now reflect on your actions as you will be frozen forever!”

Then to the Digimon’s surprise, he began to be pulled down into the whirlpool. With his energy near enough gone, he was powerless to stop his descent to what he thought was a frozen hell.

“Y…YOU WRENCH!!!” He shouted as he launched his right arm in a random direction. But while he found nothing firm to gain a hold, one of his fingerlike claws had struck something.

His arm retracted before he was fully sucked through the whirlpool. Disappearing from the Harmonian Nexus completely. In the background, the real Harmony shook her head in disapproval and sadness. Plus a small tear of pain as she used her magic to heal a clean cut on her side.

Through the dimensional boundaries, the evil Mega grunted and yelled as he spun downward through the whirlpool. As if he was going down a giant drain. All the while his energy continued to be drained away to a point where it was near enough gone.

Then as he thought he was going to spin around forever, he found himself at the bottom of the whirlpool. Where it opened up, and dropped him into an entirely different world. A world dominated with white clouds and snow.

On a flat field, the Digimon crashed landed. The impact threw up huge heaps of snow in the air.

Harmony wasn’t kidding. The world around the Digimon truly was a frozen wasteland. The sky was completely filled with thick white and grey clouds as large snowflakes fell to the ground. Him being in the heart of a blizzard. Freezing cold gales blew all throughout the near empty world. Making the cold unbearable to any living creature.

While the cold world may be the weather’s doing, it was mostly the work of some strange horse-shaped creatures. The only creatures that thrive in such harsh conditions.

Almost half an hour had passed since his crash landing, and the Digimon had not yet moved. He wanted to move, but found that his energy was drained to a point where he could hardly move a finger. He was surprised that he was still in his Mega form. Plus the freezing cold winds and the relentless snow weren’t helping him in the slightest. Parts of his body were already covered in ice. He truly was about to become frozen.

No matter how much he grunted and struggled, he just couldn’t move an inch.

“D…Damn. Damn her!”

Then, to his confusion, he suddenly heard wailing noises in the sky. Which was followed by a blast of intense icy wind. Making the world around him colder then it already was. He then saw three shapes descending from the clouds and towards him. As they came closer, the drained Mega could see that they looked like horses made of icy clouds.

The Windigos had arrived.

As they drew closer to him, the Digimon began to feel colder and colder. And at that moment, he felt that he was at his lowest. He went from being a world-threatening monstrosity, to something like an insignificant insect. Who’s fate lies in being frozen for all eternity.

“No. NO!”

At that moment, as he lay in the deep snow, he snapped. He could feel the burning rage within him starting to flare up. His hatred for the humans. His hatred for the good Digimon that bested him. And added to his list, his hatred for the guardian that had decided his frozen fate. In his anger, he was able to twitch his right index finger.

He glared hatefully at the descending Windigos.

“I… am the supreme being. I will not fall to some inferior creature! You are all beneath me!!”

With his ever-growing hate, he was able to clench both his fists. And with determination to put the three creatures in their place, he fired a tiny energy sphere at the Windigos.

As the energy blast shot past the Windigos, the speed of the sudden attack was enough to spook the creatures away. But soon, they would be back.

One would think that the Digimon’s actions may have been a mistake. By using it, it left him even more drained of power. However, the use of the attack had in fact warmed up his body quite considerably. Which was his true intentions.

He briefly felt as if he was on his last legs. But with the willpower to survive, and fueled by his hatred for all that was good, he refused to surrender. The new warmth of his body would only last so long, but he would not let his advantage slip away.

The evil Mega grunted loudly as he tried to move his right arm. He could feel the tension as it started to budge. Then, with one echoing yell, he suddenly raised his clawed hand high in the air and over to his left side. With his clawed fingers gripped on the firm ground beneath the snow, the Digimon found the strength to turn himself over onto his front.

He panted heavily as he raised his head to look at the winter expanse ahead of him. A frozen wasteland it may be, but he knew that there had to be shelter somewhere.

With his mind set, he began to crawl. But with the freezing environment and his depleted strength, to him crawling was agony. He had to put in a lot of effort just to move his right arm. And even more so to drag his large body across the snow. His legs and his left arm weren’t functioning as much as his right working arm. All he could do with them was to push himself forward as his right arm pulled his body.

After a mile of dragging through the snow, the long trail the evil Digimon left behind was quickly being filled up with the snow descending heavily from the skies above. High in the air, the Windigos had returned. While keeping a wary eye on the strange creature down below, they kept their distance from him. Not wanting to provoke him to attack again. All the while feeding on his ever-growing hatred.

Days went by, and the Digimon was still soldering on. Fuelled by determination. But his journey into the unknown was taking its toll. Both his legs could barely move, near enough frozen solid. He could feel that his left arm would soon follow. As for his right arm, the constant use of it filled the limb with severe strain to a point where he could hardly feel it. Of which further escalated his exhaustion. Plus with the Windigos tailing him from above, his ordeal was far from any source of warmth.

Soon his crawling started to slow down. Trying desperately to keep going with every breath he took. As he approached the base of a large ridge, against his wishes, his body finally stopped. Unable to move any further due to the exhaustion he was feeling, the evil Digimon shook his head to stay awake. With his eyelids feeling heavy, he could tell that he was starting to lose consciousness. He also knew that if he stopped right there and then, he would definitely freeze. And the creatures above him weren’t helping.

Again trying to move, his right arm suddenly fell deep into the snow. His large hand completely vanished into the ground.

“Huh?”

The Digimon was surprised. His hand was covered in snow, yet he could feel his fingers move freely with no obstructions or restraint.

His mind thought of one conclusion. He had found a hidden shelter.

Deciding to use it as a possible salvation from the cold, the large Mega dragged himself forward. Allowing his near-frozen body to fall through the layer of snow and into a large cave. His limp form sliding across the stone ground before coming to a halt further within the cave.

The Digimon was glad that he had found shelter. He didn’t care for comfort. He was satisfied that he was out of the freezing wind. The cave wasn’t nearly as cold as outside. As he lay there, exhaustion finally caught up with him. His yellow eyes closed as he fell into a deep slumber. With the amount of effort he used from his severely depleted energy, his sleep might last for months. Falling into a state of hibernation.

As he laid there, the entrance to the cave was slowly being covered up by the falling snow. Concealing the monster from the outside world. And bringing the briefly lit cave back into darkness.

That was… until several months later.

The Digimon’s mind was cold and dark. With nothing but thoughts of revenge for the guardian who had stranded him in an unknown world. His body may be near frozen, but his mind was indeed active. But then to his mental confusion, he could feel… warmth. His body was slowly warming up. Such a feeling he hadn’t felt since being stuck in a new world. And through his closed eyelids, the darkness slowly began to give way to light.

It was more than enough to bring the evil Mega out of hibernation and into the waking world.

His eyelids squinted at the new warm light. Then after all those months of slumber, he finally opened his eyes. His yellow irises followed the direction to where the light came from. That was where he saw it. The entrance to the cave he discovered. He could see that the snow covering it was melting away, with the light shining through and illuminating the dark cave.

“S…Sun…light?”

He was correct. The light that was beaming through was indeed from the sun. Something he hadn’t seen since he was banished.

With the sunlight bathing his near-frozen body, the heat thawed him out. Steam venting off his body as he began to warm up some more. Plus through his months of hibernation, he managed to regain a tiny fraction of his power. Though not nearly enough to fight, but just enough to move.

With his body thawed out, he was able to move properly. Twitching his fingers and toes and shifting his body to test his movements. Once he was satisfied, he pushed his body off the ground as he stood up. After days of crawling and months of slumber, he was finally on his feet.

As he stood up, the Digimon was hit with confusion.

“That voice. Didn’t she say that I was to be frozen for all eternity? Then what happened? Did I outlast the freeze? Had I crawled to a part of the world where it isn’t as cold? What is going on?”

With his confusion came curiosity as he looked at the entrance to the cave. Wanting to find answers, he walked towards the entrance. Pulling his upper body out of the hole, he was taken back at what he saw.

The very land around the evil Digimon was changing at a rapid rate. All the snow and ice were melting away. Some of which turned into ponds and lakes. Without the snow covering the land, in its place revealed a lush green land. With tall trees, wide fields and great mountains. The bright light from the sun pushed the wintery clouds away, and the Windigos were sent away with them. The sky a bright blue.

As the evil Mega looked at the transformed world around him, the green grass, the blue sky… he remembered how much he hated it.

“Disgusting. I very much prefer it as a wasteland.”

Though in his mind, he ironically was thankful for the change. Otherwise, he would still be in hibernation.

But that was when he heard the sounds of twigs snapping. Unsure of what the inhabitants of the new world would be like, he retreated back into the cave. He then peeked out of the hole to see what was moving in the new foliage. Then, over at the other hill, climbing to its top, he could see what was out there. But was startled at what the creatures were.

“Wait… ponies!!?”

Over at the other hill, the Digimon could see six ponies. Two of which were Unicorns, and the other two were Pegasi. The remaining two were ordinary ponies. All of which had different coloured furs and clothes.

From such a distance, he couldn’t hear what they were saying. But their expressions was at first confusion, but then came relief and joy. They were smiling. Almost as if they had discovered something important while achieving victory.

“What kind of world is this!?” The Digimon asked as he observed.

He then saw the six ponies making a mound of dirt. Which was then used to hold up a special flag. Then three of the six mares spoke again, but with a tone that was loud enough for him to hear. All sounded joyous.

“It was the magic of our new friendship that thawed out the land,” Chancellor Puddinghead claimed, supported by a nod from her ally, Smart Cookie.

“With the land free of snow, its perfect for our tribes to thrive and live together,” Commander Hurricane added, agreed by the happy smile from Private Pansy.

“Then we hereby claim this land in the name of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies. we’ll call it… Equestria!” Princess Platinum said. The name of the land was thought up by her friend, Clover the Clever.

With the name agreed upon, the six ponies began to cheer in celebration. But at the cave, the evil Digimon wasn’t in such high spirits when he retreated back further out of sight. As he stood in the dimly lit cave, he kept puzzling and puzzling.

“I escaped the freeze. But now. I’m trapped in a world with such vile and weak creatures.”

As the Mega began to calm down, he began to feel something he hadn’t before. He felt a presence. Some new kind of energy in the air all around him. It was vastly different to anything he felt in the past. But then he remembered that one of the six ponies mentioned something about magic.

Magic wasn’t unknown to him. In fact, different kinds of magic exist in the Digital World. That he was aware of. Since they were sort of the same thing, he decided to try and absorb the magical energy in the air.

But to his surprise, the task was much harder than he imagined. He could sense the magic. But every time he tried to harness the power, he felt the said power moving away from him.

“Grr. Why isn’t it working? Is this energy… rejecting me!?”

He tried again. But like before, it happened again. As if the magic of the land was refusing to become part of his very being.

He growled in frustration and anger. The energy supply he needed was right there. But he couldn’t gain access to it. He paused in thought. The best way for a Digimon to replenish his strength was to absorb data. Which the land lacked. Another method to regain power was to search the world to find magical artifacts to be physically syphoned into his being. That option seemed more likely. If not, then his only other means to regain power was to recharge the normal way. Letting his body gradually replenish the energy itself. But because there wasn’t any resemblance of digital energy anywhere, and that he was still in his Mega form, he knew that by simply waiting around… it would take him thousands of years to reach full power!

He began to feel like a prisoner in a new world once more. Remembering his banishment. Being a Digimon who went through Digivolutions so quickly in a single day, he hated waiting. He even one time outright skipped one of his forms to take an advantage over his foes. But with the payoff being total world domination, he had to endure the wait. But the ultimate payoff… was his revenge against Harmony.

He slowly stood up to his full height. And with a long list of plans already unfolding in his mind, he spoke up. Almost as though he was talking to Harmony herself.

“You have made a fatal mistake bringing me here. I may be trapped in this world, but I will live on. This is only the beginning! I will prepare! I will grow stronger! And when the time is right, I will emerge!! And take my rightful place, as the supreme power, of the Digital World!! The human world!! EVERYTHING!!!”

He then took a moment to calm down as he stated the fact that he would stay true to his word.

“And to make you regret your actions, I’ll start by conquering… Equestria.”
……………………………………………………………………......................................................................

The evil Digimon’s yellow eyes snapped open as he awoke from his slumber. Jolting up as he slightly gasped. The dream also acted as a memory.

As he took several deep breaths, the Mega looked down at the open palms of his hands. As he looked, images of his life in Equestria reflected off his hands. His mind envisioned the experiences he had been through. His declaration of world dominance felt like a lifetime ago.

Firstly, he spent the first few centuries in complete isolation. Year after year of mind-numbing boredom almost brought him to the brink of insanity. At least, that was what he said to himself. In fact, hiding in total silence for hundreds of years had driven him mad. While in personal confinement, he felt the powers of the ponies up on the surface. Noting how weak they were compared to the might of his former glory. No pony’s power had barely exceeded a lower-level Champion Digimon. The fact burned in his mind to the point that he began to see himself as a god compared to them. As time went on, he truly began to believe in his own delusions.

After he had the strength to move more freely, the evil Mega began to explore the new world in secret. Using a network of caves and tunnels that connected to the cave he first discovered, he was able to travel unseen. Able to spy on the ponies to gain knowledge and better understanding of the natives.

He was also there to witness the arrival of the two young Alicorn Princesses. Celestia and Luna.

With his remarkable intellect, he was able to use the knowledge of the ponies to track down any magical artifacts. Though he was unable to gain all of them, those he did find had their energy absorbed. Despite the energy not even remotely close to bringing him back to full power, he was able to make gains which otherwise would’ve taken him months or years to do.

There was one artefact that he longed to harness but was never able to get his hands on it. The Alicorn Amulet.

His slow rise in power eventually gained the attention of Equestria’s own evils. Discord was first to find him. Finding his digital energy intriguing. The two became allies for a short while. But after learning of the Mega’s true motives, he turned against him. The Digimon bested the spirit, telling him that if he couldn’t bring to use his powers to kill, then what kind of chaotic spirit was he? Calling Discord a clown soon after.

But his encounter with the Spirit of Chaos opened the Digimon’s eyes. Equestria wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Even in a world full of talking colourful ponies, evil exists. So the evil Mega began exploring the land even further. Even bringing him to the edge of Equestria itself. It was there where he met Lord Tirek and his brother Scorpen. The two were shocked at the Digital Monster’s appearance. But after learning that the two creatures possess the power to steal magic from others, the Digimon persuaded Tirek and Scorpen to target Equestria. A land rich in magic. Of course, the two bothers were more than happy to oblige. But during their raid on Equestria, the Digimon’s plan backfired. Scorpen became friends with the ponies and alerted Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to his brother’s whereabouts. As the Royal Sisters defeated the evil centaur, Scorpen retreated back to Equestria’s borders. Unfortunately for him, he never made it back to his homeland. His disobedience would not be tolerated, and without telling Tirek, the evil Digimon hunted Scorpen down. Never to be seen again.

As years went by, the beast-like Mega came across the royal Changeling family. Since then, he continued to terrorize the family to do his bidding. Had numerous encounters with the dragons, of which mostly ended in violence. And then was a key player in helping a Unicorn stallion become King Sombra.

Despite hiding in plain sight, the evil Digimon made himself known to a select few. All the while continued to slowly gain more and more power. And because of his influence, he had secretly reshaped the world into what it was. Even instigated tragedies that befell the innocent.

One of which involved the Princess of the Moon herself.

Then came the recent events. Firstly, freeing Tirek to cause dismay in Equestria. But he was defeated by a new kind of magic that Princess Twilight and her friends briefly unlocked. But four months later, when the evil Digimon freed Tirek again, something truly unexpected happened. The sudden arrival of BlackWarGreymon. Another Mega level Digimon.

The evil being was originally going to meet up with Tirek, but BlackWarGreymon’s presence forced him to postpone his plans.

With the days that followed, King Sombra, whom the Digimon previously resurrected, joined alongside him. Then recruited Queen Chrysalis, freeing Tirek the third time, and helped in creating ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

As his visions slipped away, he suddenly closed his hands. Glaring angrily at his clenched fists. Every time he’s set a plan in motion, it always failed him. Thousands of years he had been waiting. And the entire time he’d met nothing but failure after failure. What’s more, further resistance was on the rise. He had recently felt someone else with great power had arrived in Equestria. A powerful magic user. Which he had yet to learn was in fact Ayumi’s arrival.

At that moment, as constant failure plagued his consciousness, something happened within him. Something snapped. He relied on others too much for far too long. For the first time, in a very long time, he finally had enough.

“No. No more waiting.”

With his evil mind decided, he stood up and moved away from his sleeping chamber. As he stormed through the tunnels, his loud footsteps caught the attention of ChaosBlackWarGreymon, Chrysalis and her Changelings. All wondering why he was approaching them so fast.

Then as the Mega arrived in the chamber, he looked at his allies with determination. He then gave them the long-awaited order.

“ChaosBlackWarGreymon, get ready! And Chrysalis, get your solders ready for battle!”

As the two got up, the large Digimon then said something that caught them completely by surprise.

“The time has come!”

Both the Digimon clone and the Changeling Queen looked at the evil one in shock. Thinking that what he said was just their imagination.

“Wait! What!?” ChaosBlackWarGreymon uttered. Never expecting the order to come so soon.

“Y-You mean…?” Chrysalis asked. In which the monster Digimon responded with sadistic joy in his voice.

“Yes! It’s now our time to rise! And I’LL be there!! No more hiding!”

Both Chrysalis and ChaosBlackWarGreymon suddenly felt uneasy. They knew that it would be a matter of time before the boss would take action. But it felt too sudden.

“Wait. Does that mean you’re at full power?” Chrysalis asked.

The beast glared at her with a response.

“Not quite. But even with the power I have now, it’s more than enough to destroy all that stand in my way! Not even BlackWarGreymon can oppose me!”

ChaosBlackWarGreymon then flinched in response. He remembered the incident that happened earlier. When he took down Ayumi who had been attacking Tirek. The digital clone took a moment to look into the Alicorn’s memories with his magic. And what he found was nothing short of horrific. In her world, the evil Digimon succeeded. The victorious Digimon ruled the world. Leaving behind the countless slain souls in his wake. Would the same happen again? In the current world?

Then to his surprise, such horrific thoughts made him think of Twilight Sparkle. Sending a chilling feeling up his spine. A feeling he didn’t like in the slightest.

Turning towards the evil Digimon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon made an attempt to delay the plan.

“A-Are you absolutely sure about this, boss? Wouldn’t it be best to wait and…!”

The evil being snapped at the digital clone in a fit of rage.

“No more waiting!! I waited for far too long! But no more!”

As he began to move, he made a chilling statement.

“It’s time… that I paid Canterlot… a visit!”

As the evil Digimon left the chamber and went into another corridor, Chrysalis and ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked at each other in uncertainty.

It seemed that no matter what, the time had finally arrived.
……………………………………………………………………………......................................................

Meanwhile back in Canterlot, Luna had just finished explaining to her friends what happened when she found BlackWarGreymon. Their reactions were exactly as she expected. Shock and amazement.

“What!? You shared a k-kiss with him!?” Twilight asked the princess.

The blushing Luna smiled as she answered.

“Y-Yes. That time with him was… so passionate.”

The blue Alicorn would’ve gotten into more details. But with a young dragon and three fillies present, she had to refrain from telling more. The rest of the group, however, knew precisely what Luna meant. Most of them started to blush at the thought of the pair embracing each other intimately.

“W…Wow,” Fluttershy uttered as she fiddled her mane.

“Oh my,” Rarity said, starting to get a little hot under the collar.

“We’re proud of you, Luna,” Cadence said. Happy that Luna had found true love.

“We all are,” Celestia said as she walked over and gave her little sister another affectionate hug.

Everyone smiled at the sight. Then Rainbow Dah spoke up.

“Well... I guess this relationship is now official.”

Pinkie Pie squealed in response. Barely containing her excitement.

“EEEEEEEE!! I want to throw a party so bad!”

Then Shining Armor spoke a question to Luna.

“Don’t mind me asking. But… how did you kiss him? Since his helmet is his face.”

Then Luna revealed to the group something that took them by surprise.

“Oh, didn’t you know? He can take his helmet off.”

“WHAT!!!?” Everypony shrieked all at once.

“He has a face!!?” Twilight asked. Not expecting such a revelation at all.

Unfortunately, the topic and the joyous mood was broken when they heard a voice of urgency.

“Princess Celestia!”

Turning towards the sounds of rushing hoofsteps, the group saw a royal guard stallion running towards them. The look of panic on his face.

“We have a situation!” He added as he stopped in front of the Alicorn sisters.

After recomposing herself, the Sun Princess faced the guard.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” She asked.

“It… it’s the sculpture garden. The ground is… glowing!”

Most of the group gasped in response to the news of the anomaly. Something that Luna found strange.

“Glowing? We need to get there to see what’s going on,” She said as she turned to her friends and family.

“I’ll fly ahead,” Rainbow Dash boldly said before flying off in the direction of the sculpture garden.

Ahead of everyone else, the blue Pegasus wanted to see what was going on with her own eyes. As she flew high to get a better view, she paused when she saw what the royal guard was talking about. In the sculpture garden below, the ground was indeed glowing. Illuminating in the night. More guards had arrived on the scene to investigate the glowing green hue. Deciding to join them, Rainbow Dash flew down towards them.

However, down at the heart of the garden, the light was the result of an unspeakable force fast approaching. After countless millennia of waiting. With what was coming, the force caused the pavement to crack. Though it may appear to be nothing to the average eye, it revealed something that only one pony could feel. A countdown to calamity.
……………………………………………………………………………....................................................

Back in the Harmonian Nexus, to the surprise of the startled BlackWarGreymon, Harmony suddenly gasped in shock and horror.

“W-What!? What’s wrong!?” The black Digimon asked the Unicorn.

Harmony only responded by taking deep breaths. She was heavily shaken. She could sense the sudden rise of evil energy. An energy she hadn’t felt in a very long time. But she was also startled by another fact.

“Nononono! T-This is all wrong! It’s too soon!”

From sensing the amount of fear within the Unicorn guardian, BlackWarGreymon could make only one guess. He rushed to her side for confirmation. His voice was startled by what went through his mind.

“W-Wait! You don’t mean…!”

Harmony looked at the Mega in fear as she answered.

“Yes! Your friends are in grave danger! HE’S COMING!!!”
………………………………………………………………………………..........................................................

Things were steadily getting worse in the Canterlot sculpture garden. Because by the time Celestia, Luna, Cadence Shining Armor, the Mane Six, Spike and the Cutiemark Crusaders arrived in the gardens, the glowing ground became more intense as the ground started to shake.

“What in tarnation!” Applejack said as she struggled to keep balance.

“Look at the ground!” Spike said as he pointed at the glow.

As the tremors continued, the others looked to where Spike was pointing at. The crack in the pavement quickly grew larger by the second.

“Get back!” Luna said as the crack got closer to the group.

As the ponies and the guards got clear, the ground beneath the crack suddenly split open. Revealing a column of green light shining like a pillar into the sky.

But it was within the light that surprised everyone. A massive swarm of Changelings was seen swarming in the green beam. Some solders even left the swarm and revealed themselves as they hovered in the air.

“Changelings!? They… they’re everywhere!” Shining Armor said as he and the others kept their eyes on the airborne creatures.

Then emerging from the pillar of green light, was the Queen of the Changelings. Chrysalis herself.

“Greetings ponies. Are you surprised?” She taunted. Acting brave and mighty.

Shining Armor and Cadence felt a little intimidated by the Changeling Queen. Recalling their bad history with her on their wedding day.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up.

“Ha! After the beating you all took last time, I’m surprised you came back.”

“Yeah! You’re bad at surprises!” Pinkie Pie added.

Chrysalis knew her taunting wouldn’t be that effective. Most of the ponies in front of her looked confident that they could defeat her. Which was in fact true. The queen wouldn’t be able to beat them all at once.

But as the heroes began to close in on her, her grin only got bigger.

“Are you sure, pink one? Then how about this for a surprise?” She asked as she looked to her left.

The group paused their advance as they suddenly saw a large silhouette in the green light. The shadow resembled BlackWarGreymon. But as he emerged and stood next to Chrysalis, it revealed to be ChaosBlackWarGreymon.

The confidence in the group made a drastic U-turn from the sight of the digital clone. Most took steps back from intimidation, knowing what he could do.

“N-Not him again!” Rarity said. Joined by Cadence.

“First Sombra. Then Tirek. And now Chrysalis?”

“See Twilight! That guy is nothing but bad news!” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight and the Cutiemark Crusaders were the only ones who stood their ground. The four weren’t as scared as the others. Instead, they felt shock and disbelief.

“AJ and the others were right!” Applebloom uttered. Followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. The latter speaking to the cloned Mega himself.

“He really is a bad guy!”

“But…you saved us from the Timberwolves.”

The three fillies had sadness and disappointment in their voices. Queen Chrysalis however was startled at what the young Unicorn said.

“Saved you?”

She continued as she looked over at the tall being.

“There’s something you hadn’t told me about?”

But her question was ignored. The grey Digimon was too distracted to listen. He was silently staring at Twilight. He told no one, but he actually wanted to see the purple Alicorn again. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to. However, he didn’t imagine meeting her at the time of what was to come. The thought of it left him troubled.

Twilight stared back at him. Her expression matched both the fillies and her own feelings. Sadness and confusion. She told him all the great things friendship could bring if he embraced it. But it seemed by siding with Chrysalis, he turned it away. However, the expressions in his crimson eyes was completely different to his usual ones. When he was with Tirek and Sombra, he enjoyed being on the side of evil. But as she looked at him, his eyes looked as though they were filled with guilt.

Perhaps… there could still be a chance?

“Chaos,” She uttered. Wanting to know what was going through his mind.

Hearing Twilight’s voice caused the Mega to look away. Not wanting to see her expressions while hiding his own.

“Y-Ya al might as well just turn and run away! BlackWarGreymon will come to stop ya all!” Applejack said confidently.

Chrysalis however only laughed in response.

“Stop us? We’re not the ones you all should be concerned of.”

The group paused in confusion. The Changeling Queen just stated that neither she or ChaosBlackWarGreymon were the ones to worry about.

Was there something else? Another threat?

“W-What do you mean, Chrysalis?” Celestia asked.

Then the Queen of the Changelings said something that left the heroes stunned.

“I would tell, but it would be better if you get to see it for yourselves. For your days are numbered!”

She then turned around towards the pillar of light.

“Behold! Our master!!”

“What!?” Most of the group uttered. Confused at what she meant by ‘master’.

But they were about to find out. Both Chrysalis and ChaosBlackWarGreymon leapt back to get clear of what was about to come. Next the pillar of light retreated back down the hole in the ground. But the pit kept on glowing.

What came next shocked the whole populace. A massive volley of yellow energy blasts came erupting form the pit and fired into the air. But what followed was horrifying. The energy blasts suddenly turned back around and rained down on the city of Canterlot. Blasts exploded wherever they landed. Roads, houses, shops, even the castle walls were hit. Rubble rained down from the explosions. All the while terrifying the citizens as they ran for their lives. Trying desperately not to get hit.

The group stared on in horror as parts of the city became ablaze. Screams could already be heard as the rain of attacks stopped.

“The citizens!!” One of the royal guard shouted in dismay. Fearing that some of the innocent had gotten hurt. Half of the guards immediately ran towards the destruction to try and help.

But before the main group and the remaining guards could follow, the ground beneath them began to shake violently as they turned their attention back to the pit. The vibrations caused the hole to collapse, making it wider. Then the heroes saw a shadow of a spikey figure moving inside the hole. Something was coming. And by the sounds of beastly growling, it was something monstrous.

Then to their surprise, a long thin object flew out of the pit. It then retracted and came back down. The end of the object smashed into the concrete ground in front of the group. When the heroes looked at the object, they gasped at what it turned out to be. It was a large, clawed hand! Red blade-like fingers, attached to a purple hand, dug into the concrete like a knife through butter. The five digits twitched as it gripped the concrete tighter. Celestia, Luna and Cadence gasped in horror. They recognize the large hand.

‘Those claws… they… look like…!’ The three thought. Celestia seeing it from her vision. While Luna and Cadence saw it from the memory they witnessed in Ayumi’s mind.

The hand was attached to a long green membrane that the others guessed was an arm. After hearing more sounds of growling, the ponies looked back at the pit in time to see the silhouette moving. Shrouded in a cloud of dust. As the figure got closer to the surface, another arm flung into the air to come crashing down. The second clawed hand easily crushed one of the sculptures. Which was in fact the Statue of Friendship.

The group and the guards began to step back as it looked like the large figure was pulling itself out of the pit. Using its long arms to tug itself up. Through still shrouded in a cloud of dust, the ponies could see the creature moving within. From what they could tell, it was huge. But through the dust, a pair of glowing yellow eyes were seen. With small black pupils that could stare into one’s soul. The monster let out a demonic chuckle as the eyes glanced up towards the group. Celestia, Luna and Cadence felt as if their entire beings had shaken to the core. Their eyes widened in disbelief and horror. It was those exact same eyes as they had seen before. The three staring in silent terror.

What the other onlooking ponies could describe next was the slow reveal of a horrifying monster. By the time it crawled out of the pit, the cloud of dust shrouding the beast was beginning to settle. The creature’s large hands released the ground and retracted back to the owner. The palms resting on the ground. As the dust settled, the beast’s appearance was gradually seen. Just like its arms, it had a pair of long thin green legs that ended with purple feet. Each one had three red sharp toes. Almost identical to its sharp fingers. The shape of its purple armour-plated exoskeleton body was bizarre in proportions. Where’s its waist and stomach were thin, the body grew wider as it reached its chest and its large, pointed shoulders. As well as a green underbelly, it also had a dark green orb in the middle of its chest. It looked like it was dimly illuminated by its own power. Along its back were a single row of huge red spikes that not only pointed forwards towards the air, but got bigger the closer it got to its shoulders. Despite it being on all fours and hunched over, the monster was massive compared to the ponies. It was easily bigger than both BlackWarGreymon and ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Roughly twelve feet tall.

But before the dust could fade away from the creature’s head, it began to raise its body higher. Its hands left the ground as it stood on its feet. Then as it moved its arms wide apart, it reared its head and its thin green neck back. When it looked up at the night sky, it opened its mouth and let out a deep monstrous gasp. As if it took its first breath of fresh air. The actions caused the ponies, Changelings and even ChaosBlackWarGreymon to back away slightly. Unnerved by the noise it made.

The ponies all got a second good look at the new creature. Just the shape of its body looked like the stuff of nightmares. All of them looked up at its head, trying to see its face. Then as the dust cloud finally faded away, the creature recomposed itself and tilted its head back down to look at the ponies.

A frightening chill of horror was felt within the hearts of all the ponies when they saw the monster’s head. It had a pair of long demon horns on the sides of its purple skull-shaped head. A red pattern on its forehead that resembled eyebrows. Long yellow shaggy hair. A green fleshy mouth with razor-sharp teeth. But the most unsettling of all, a pair of creepy green eyes with yellow irises and small black pupils. The monster then gave the ponies a toothy grin as it let out a demonic snarl. Steam venting out of its toothy maw.

Every pony stood their ground in horror. For the guards and the onlooking citizens, the towering monster was nightmare fuel. They could easily tell that just by looking at it, the beast was very bad news. It gave off vibes of pure evil. But out of the heroes that stood before it, it was the three Alicorn princesses, Celestia, Luna and Cadence, who were the most horrified of all. The creature that was standing right in front of them. It’s claws. It’s build. It’s eyes. It’s voice. They were all a perfect match to what they feared.

All eyes cautiously turned to Celestia as she spoke up. Terror gripping her voice.

“It… It’s him!! The monster from my vision!!”

The whole group gasped in shock at what they heard. But Luna was next to pile on the bad news.

“What’s more… he’s the same Digimon we encountered in Ayumi’s mind!”

“The same one that destroyed her whole world!” Cadence added.

Everyone in the group slowly turned their sights back at the beast. They couldn’t believe it. The monster that was prophesied in Celestia’s vision, and the Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s home, were truly one and the same!

And it… no… he… was standing right there! In front of them! Clear as day! Continuous waves of fear washed over the ponies as they stared at the beast. Fearing of what he would do. What he was capable of.

For the young ones, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“What? T-That thing… is a Digimon? Like BlackWarGreymon?” Applebloom whimpered as she huddled behind Applejack.

“H…He looks more like a demon,” Scootaloo uttered as she hid behind Rainbow Dash.

Sweetie Belle was frozen in fear as she tried to hide beside Rarity. Spike was trying to put on a brave face. But it was clear that he too was terrified.

The evil Digimon closed his eyes as he listened. Hearing the voices of all the ponies in the air. All talking about him.

“What is that thing!?”

“Is it…some sort of demon? It can’t be.”

“It must be! It crawled out of that pit!”

“Did it come from hell!?”

“Then it has to be the devil!”

“Yes! Just look at that thing! It’s terrifying!”

Many more voices were like music to the Digimon’s ears. Not just the words used, but from the raw feelings behind them. The amount of terror in their voices. The trembling tones they expressed. His lips began to curl up in a twisted smile. He loved it. The hysteria. The confusion. The hopelessness. But most of all…

“Fear.”

The entire group before the Digimon flinched at the sound of his voice. So deep. So demonic. It caused the hairs on the back of their necks to instantly stand up on end. For Celestia, it caused her to think back to the bloodcurdling chuckle she remembered from her vision. For Luna and Cadence, there was no doubt about it. The voice was exactly the same as what they heard in Ayumi’s mind. But all of them still couldn’t believe that he was right there.

The Digimon continued as he took a deep breath.

“I just love the fear in the air. I could almost taste it.”

He paused as he looked down at the pony group before him. All of them suddenly felt their bodies tremble even more. Unable to tear away from his terrifying monstrous gaze as he stared them down. The huge Digimon grinned as he spoke again. Resting his hands on the ground in his slouched posture.

“So good that all of you are here in one place,” He said to them. The mere fact that he was talking to them made the ponies paralyzed in terror.

Addressing each part of the group, the Digimon first glanced over to Shining Armor and Cadence. The Alicorn of which grew a hateful expression.

“The royal couple…”

He then motioned his head over towards the Mane Six. Making them tremble from the sight of his creepy demonic eyes. But flinched more from how he addressed them.

“…the Bearers of the Elements… and of course…”

He shifted his head over to the two princess he had always wanted to scare.

“… the Alicorn Sisters.”

Celestia and Luna flinched from the hiss in the monster’s words. The white Alicorn in particular froze as she watched the Digimon lower himself closer to the ground. As if he wanted to get down to her level. But not without a chilling sentence as he spoke directly to her.

“A pleasure to finally meet you… Celllestia. In the flesh.” He said before letting out a brief sinister but mocking chuckle. Celestia had to resist the urge to step back from the speech. Especially how he said her name. Purposely and creepily lingering on a single letter.

Satisfied with how he had already traumatized the group without actually doing anything, the evil one rose back up on his feet with his head held high. And to the shock of the main group, addressed all the ponies with a loud voice echoing through the city.

“Citizens of Equestria!! Hear me!!”

Every soul in the city paused from the Digimon’s voice addressing them. Even those on the far side of Canterlot had their attention gained. Fearful of the voice on its own, they were even more terrified at what the Digimon said next. But none more terrified than the Princesses of the Sun and Moon.

“This day… the reign of the Alicorn’s has ended! But… from their ruin, shall rise a new era! A time of tyranny and calamity! Where only the strong survive!! And the weak perish!! All ruled…BY ME!!!”

With a mighty slam of his fists against the concrete ground, the entire sculpture gardens trembled like an earthquake. The ponies in the area panicked as they tried to keep their footing. Some ponies even screamed in fear. Even parts of other sculptures crumbled from the weight of the power of the evil Digimon. The Changelings too were victims of the vibrations. When the tremors finished, the shocked group all stared back at the huge Digimon. Just in time for another statement from him.

“I shall become your new overlord!! RULING THIS WORLD AS IT’S MOST SUPREME BEING!!!”

The group one again found it difficult to respond. They couldn’t even think of what to even say or do. The Digimon literally dominated the scene. But Twilight Sparkle may be the first. After hearing the creature’s deceleration, it was clear for her to see what was happening. The Digimon before her, was truly the same one that her future counterpart had described. The day that Equestria fell… was upon them. And he was the one to deliver it. With the facts in mind, the purple Alicorn was terrified. The fear she was feeling, was it how Ayumi felt when she first saw him?

But the series of events were indeed different between the two Equestria’s. Firstly, was that BlackWarGreymon was with them. And that the evil Digimon rose up much later than what happened in Ayumi’s world. Twilight could make another change that never happened in the future. And it would also bring forth an answer that they all wanted to know. She knew what to do. And what to ask.

Despite being terrified, Twilight surprised the others by taking a couple of steps away from them and towards the towering Digimon.

“T-Twilight!” Spike harshly whispered. Trying to get her to come back. The others held their breath. Not wanting to do anything that would make things worse. And hoping that Twilight knew what she was doing.

But it was something the Princess of Friendship wanted to do. With tentative steps, she slowly approached the giant. Flinching from the second he glanced down at her. She wasn’t even that close to him, and already she felt completely dwarfed by him. She paused when she got within ten feet of him. Fear evident in her eyes.

Curious as to what the young Alicorn wanted, the Digimon spoke to her.

“You got something to say? Twillllight?”

Twilight shivered at how the beast called her name. Lingering on the L. But with the Digimon’s attention on her, she felt that it was her chance. She asked him.

“W-What are you? Who are you?”

The Digimon replied with a light chuckle as he slouched down on all fours. Much like a prowling tiger.

“What’s the matter? Never seen a Mega level Digimon like me before?”

The monster’s reply sent another wave of fear in the group. Because of BlackWarGreymon’s teachings, they learnt the levels of Digivolutions. So to hear that the evil being too was a Mega had only made him more terrifying. Twilight too felt that fear. But she pressed on with her question. Getting to the point by asking him a question she doubt had ever asked before. In her world or the future version.

“You…You’re name. W-What’s your name?”

The evil being tilted his head slightly to the side in puzzlement. Wondering what possessed the princess to ask such questions.

“My…… name…?” He asked as dark storm clouds began to gather over the city of Canterlot. The land reacting to the vast power within the beast. Blasts of thunder already filling the air.

Seeing that the Digimon became intrigued by her question, Twilight gulped as she patiently waited for him to answer. The other ponies too held their breath. For the next words to come out of the Mega’s mouth would be his name. The name Ayumi never discovered.

Then… in time with the loud thunder high above his head… his mouth curling up in a sadistic smile… after letting out a sinister chuckle… the Digimon revealed his name.






















“Diaboromon.”

Chapter 76: The Day of Calamity

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Within the Harmonian Nexus, BlackWarGreymon remained speechless from what Harmony had just revealed. Down in Equestria, the ultimate horror had begun to rise from hiding. The evil Digimon that had been lying in wait for countless millennia had finally surfaced. And all his friends were right there with him. The black armoured Mega stuttered as he took a step back from shock.

“No. Has it already begun? Just like… what happened to her?” He uttered. The distraught Digimon thinking about Ayumi and the horrors she endured.

He then listened to Harmony’s words. The guardian stricken with disbelief.

“No! It’s not supposed to happen like this! It’s too soon! If he waited longer, then you would’ve surpassed him in power. But now…”

BlackWarGreymon paused from the words Harmony used. Just from seeing her fearful expressions, everything she had said about the evil Digimon was true. He truly was a world-ending threat. Far greater than anything imaginable. He then started to think as he glanced away, uncertain of what kind of danger the foe posed.

Then as Harmony was in a state of panic, the Mega snapped her out of her fit. He had done so by calling her name. And then followed by an important question.

“Harmony? Please tell me. Do I stand any sort of chance against him?”

The Unicorn stared at him in sorrow. Then looked away in sadness. She knew the answer to the question. But couldn’t bare to tell him. Fearing what his reactions would be. But she knew that he needed to know. With great hesitation followed by a deep breath, Harmony finally answered.

“I’m sorry. But even with all your power… your chances of victory are slim. Which was why I was hoping he would wait longer. That is… unless you would take a great risk. But I’m not sure you would be willing to use such horrible power.”

Despite the vague explanation on the latter part, BlackWarGreymon knew what she was talking about. Harmony was referring to his Berserk Mode. The Mega detested the idea, not wanting to go through such a horrid transformation again. He may put his friends in grave danger again. But for Harmony herself to make such a suggestion, it truly showed how much of a threat the evil Digimon posed. Making his options very limited.

As seconds ticked by, Harmony was snapped out of her sadness when she caught a glimpse of BlackWarGreymon walking past her.

“W-Wait. Where are you going?” She asked as she turned around.

Facing away form her, the determined Mega paused as he answered back.

“Harmony, please take me back to Equestria. And once there… I’m going straight for Canterlot.”

Harmony was stunned. Even after all what she’d told him, the Digimon was still willing to go and face the danger that could very well lead to his end.

“But BlackWarGreymon! If you go and face him now, you’ll…”

“I know!”

Harmony flinched from BlackWarGreymon’s reply. Interrupting her sentence. The guardian was stunned by the tone in the Digimon’s voice. There was frustration and worry. She could tell that he was concerned of what would happen should he go. Even he could tell that the fight would be far from easy. In fact, it would be the most challenging he ever faced.

Looking over his left shoulder, BlackWarGreymon spoke to her. Bringing up something that was important to him.

“On the very day you brought me to Equestria, I made a promise to myself. That it would protect the ponies from any harm. Even to my last breath. And since you’ve been watching me, you know that more than any other pony.”

The stunned mare paused. He was right. During BlackWarGreymon’s first fight with Lord Tirek, she had indeed heard his vow. She just couldn’t believe that he was so serious about it. As he turned to face ahead of him, the digital warrior continued as he closed his eyes.

“Besides. I once sacrificed my life to save my friends. And if that time comes, and that they’ll be safe from danger, I will do so again.”

Then as he opened his eyes, his fierce expression showed unbreakable determination.

“But I will NOT simply standby and watch my friends die!”

After hearing his honest words, Harmony knew that nothing would change his mind. not after everything he’d been through. It was a destiny he decided for himself. So, he would see through it to the bitter end. She couldn’t help but smile proudly at him as she spoke.

“Then I wish you all the luck. And pray for your success. I’m glad to have chosen you to be my warrior.”

Then as her horn glowed bright, sending BlackWarGreymon back to the realm of Equestria, she said one last thing to him.

“The Warrior of Harmony.”

BlackWarGreymon was then surrounded by a bright light. When the blinding world faded around him, he found himself back in the same cave he was before. He looked back to where he last saw Harmony. Knowing full well that despite not physically there, she could still hear him.

“Thank you, Harmony. For everything.”

But as soon as he focused his mind, he turned head sharply towards the entrance to the tunnels where he came from. He could sense it. The foul stench of pure evil was in the air. A power he never felt before, but it definitely belonged to a Mega level Digimon. The sounds of powerful winds howled through every entrance of the cave. The weather was already reacting to the presence of the evil being’s power. He finally realised why it frightened Harmony so much. The evil feeling might in fact be on par with MaloMyotismon. Or maybe even greater.

“He really is here,” He uttered sternly. His eyes narrowed into an angry glare.

After taking a long deep breath, BlackWarGreymon suddenly shot off the ground and ran through the tunnel. Within moments, he flew out of the mountain and across the peeks. He could very easily summon a black portal and save time. But the ability would cost him much of his much-needed energy. Something he didn’t want to wish upon himself. For what was coming might very well be the fight of his life. But first, he had to go through the sudden gusts of wind. Much stronger than usual. The sky too was changing. Dark clouds forming with flashes of lightning.

With the bright moonlight illuminating through the gaps in the clouds, lighting the world around him, BlackWarGreymon was alone with his thoughts as he made a beeline for Canterlot. Battling against the strong gales.

‘This threat. If he really is as strong as Harmony says, then he’s stronger than any foe I’ve ever faced. Then… could this be… my final stand? No! It won’t! I will win this! I’ll find a way. I have to.’

However, the concept of death lingered in his mind.

‘Don’t let this be the promised end.’
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Far away in the city of Canterlot, the invasion had started. And the countdown to the Greatest Calamity had begun. An unspeakable horror had arisen in the sculpture gardens. The city’s very doorstep.

As tensions rose ever higher, Celestia, Luna, Twilight and all her friends stared on fearfully at what was standing before them. It was not the Changeling swarm. Nor Queen Chrysalis. Or even ChaosBlackWarGreymon. It’s what’s standing between them that caught their full attention. A monster whom Celestia described as the one from her vision. A Digimon whom Luna and Cadence encountered in Ayumi’s mind. The very same that brought complete ruin to her entire world.

But unlike the alternate Equestria, the beast revealed his name to all.

As all eyes stared silently at the large creature, Twilight silently repeated his name.

“Dia…boromon?”

The young Alicorn suddenly felt a shiver up her spine. The others felt it too. There was something very unsettling about the name. It brought a horrible feeling within them. Despite only hearing it once, they felt as if the name had already burned into their memories. They would never forget it.

As he glanced down at the tiny pony before him, the evil Digimon… Diaboromon… decided to explain the meaning behind his name. Grinning while doing so as he slowly crawled towards her.

“That’s right. In the human tongue, it means Diablo. And you want to know another name for that is?”

Twilight trailed her head upwards as Diaboromon continued to advance. Intimidated not just by his appearance, but just the size of him towering over her. Her legs trembled as he stopped just a couple of feet in front of her. Deep down, Twilight was scared of what he was about to say next. To which the horrid Mega revealed.

“The devil.”

The purple Alicorn’s eyes went wide as she took careful steps away. The way he spoke, Diaboromon sounded as if he was the digital incarnation of the dark lord of hell himself. But with his demonic freakish appearance, one would think so. As Twilight retreated back to the group, Cadence glanced down at the Digimon’s hands as they rested palm down on the ground. They were huge. An ordinary pony could easily fit within the massive palms. But it was the red blade-like fingers that gained her attention. She had seen how easily they cleaved into solid concrete. Those were the kind of fingers that could cause harm. But with a sudden flashback to Ayumi’s past injuries flashed in her mind, Cadence’s expression switched to fearful to anguish. Those WERE the fingers that HAD caused harm.

As Diaboromon looked down, his sights fell upon the remains of the Statue of Friendship. Reaching down, he grabbed one of the pony heads of the statue and held it firmly within his large palm. He looked at it while grunting in disgust.

“The Magic of Friendship? A concept as predictable as it is clichéd. How sickening,” He said as he squeezed his hand. Crushing the statue fragment with total ease.

For the ponies, both Diaboromon’s words and actions was a very clear message. He despises friendship to the core.

Then as he glanced back towards the group, a stream of blue magic suddenly slammed into his left shoulder. Despite the forceful impact of the surprise attack, it didn’t budge the Digimon. When the attack ended, Diaboromon only blinked in surprise as he looked back at the pony group. Like him, most of the group were stunned. Not just from the attack itself, but from whom launched it. It was Cadence. The pink princess quietly huffed in frustration as her glowing horn kept pointing at the giant Digimon. Her eyes were full of anger.

“Cadence?” Shining Armor asked. Not expecting his wife to suddenly attack.

“Don’t give in to anger,” Luna added. But Cadence replied as she glanced over to the blue Alicorn with a look of anger and sadness.

“But Luna. He’s the one. He… hurt her,” She whispered.

Luna briefly flinched. Being reminded about the horrors of what Ayumi had gone through. The future Twilight from an alternate time who had suffered greatly by the hands of the alternate Diaboromon. Being reminded of such a thing made Luna gain the same thoughts of hate. But blind rage was going to get them killed. And she knew it.

When the ponies turned towards Diaboromon, they saw that despite the intensity of Cadence’s attack, it left no damage to the Digimon. But it didn’t stop the giant from making a retort.

“For a princess of love, that was hostile. You should keep her in line, Shining.”

All sorts of emotions were felt within the group. While still terrified, some felt that he had the nerve to talk about being hostile. Since he was the one who attacked the city first. But feeling that conflict would be inevitable and wanting to minimize as many casualties as possible, Celestia turned towards one of the Pegasi guards with an immediate order.

“Fly back to the city and order an immediate evacuation! Quickly!”

Not wanting to delay and seeing the urgency in the princess, the guard was quick to take to the skies and flew towards the city. As he flew by the first set of skyscrapers, he slowed down to give the announcement. Much to the surprise of the panicking citizens.

“This is a state of emergency! By order of the princesses, Canterlot must be evacuated! Please proceed to the airships immediately!”

As the guard and others like him spread the word, fear began to spread as the citizens immediately got ready to evacuate. Thanks to the initial destruction Diaboromon already brought, the ponies didn’t question.

Princess Celestia continued to stare in the direction of the capital. She never thought that she would be forced to give the command to evacuate her proud city. But an evil chuckle from Diaboromon sent fear up her spine and into her very being.

“It makes no difference.”

Immediately turning towards the evil being, the giant was seen slouching on all fours. As if he was ready to pounce. But instead, while letting out a loud grunt, Diaboromon stood back up and threw his arms out wide. Causing a transparent black energy dome to suddenly erupt from his body. Rapidly expanding and seemingly consuming. The ponies all flinched and closed their eyes. Expecting something bad. But to their surprise, they phased through the barrier without harm. Leaving the confused group to look at their surroundings as the dome continued to expand. The same happened for Chrysalis and her Changelings. Confused as to what was happening. ChaosBlackWarGreymon was the only one not bothered. Having full understanding of Diaboromon’s abilities.

The black dome continued to grow as it began to cover the capital. The terrified citizens gasped in panic as they too found themselves inside. Looking around at their new black tinted world. The barrier began to expand towards the castle. When the dark energy passed over to where Ayumi slept, the Alicorn began to toss and turn uncomfortably. A horrid feeling crept into her being as she tried to recover from the earlier incident. The dome soon turned into a sphere as it began to grow city sized. Within moments, the entire city of Canterlot was concealed within the black energy barrier.
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Far away, BlackWarGreymon was struggling to get through the hurricane force winds. But he senses were firmly locked onto the direction of Canterlot. That was until he sensed a massive energy surge. And then… nothing.

Nothing at all.

“WHAT!!?”

Distracted by the sudden loss of his destination, the winds blasted BlackWarGreymon across the sky. Making him spin out of control.

After correcting himself mid-air, panic began to grip the black armoured dragon warrior.

“Wh…Wha…!? Where’s Canterlot!?”

Snapping his head in every direction, he was trying to retrace his location. But everything looked the same. And unable to sense his friends or even the evil Digimon, he found himself completely lost. And making him fear the worse.

“Wh…What happened!? Why can’t I sense them!? Don’t… don’t tell me it’s already too late!! Have… have they all gone!!?” WHERE ARE THEY!!!?”
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But the cause for BlackWarGreymon’s loss of tracking was due to the energy barrier Diaboromon created. Within the ball of darkness, the ponies were in total panic. Rainbow Dash tried to ram into the barrier in an attempt to punch through it. But all her attempts failed, and she simply bounced away. Cadence and Twilight tried firing their attack spells at the barrier. But their magic beams did nothing.

“It’s not working!” Twilight exclaimed. She and the others began to get the feeling of entrapment. To which Diaboromon confirmed.

“This barrier surrounds your entire city. No one can get in. And no one can get out. There is no escape now.”

“W…We’re trapped?” Sweetie Belle whimpered as she tried to hide behind the equally terrified Rarity.

After getting over what was a surprise for her, Chrysalis turned towards a group of Changeling solders.

“You know what to do.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Upon command, the group of Changelings left the swarm and flew in the direction of the castle. But the ponies were too intimidated by Diaboromon to bother. Everything about him scared them to the core. His body. His power. His gaze and his voice. They had so many questions to ask him. But were too terrified to even talk to him.

But it was Diaboromon who broke the silence.

“Nothing from any of you? I figured you would ask why I’m here in your world.”

But just as silence was going to linger again from the ponies, Celestia spoke up.

“I know why,” She uttered. Fear evident in her voice.

The Sun Princess flinched when Diaboromon glanced over to her. She just couldn’t get over how horrifying the Digimon looked. He truly made every other villain look friendly. Another shiver went through her when he spoke up.

“Oh, do you now? Celestia?”

Again, creeped out by how he spoke her name, Celestia tried to shake off the discomfort as she tried to talk. The fear gaining a firm hold on her voice.

“Y-Yes. Y…You’re here… to cause death and destruction. I saw it in a vision. You… you were in it! You’re going to bring calamity to Equestria!”

Not wanting Celestia to speak out alone, Luna joined her.

“Not just ponykind. You will do the same to every creature you deem weak. The entire world will suffer.”

When Cadence joined in, her tone showed that what she learned had made it personal. Her anger took over her fear.

“And any unfortunate soul who survives your terror will only suffer more! You’ll just toy with them as if they’re playthings!”

Diaboromon’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. He even rubbed his index finger against his chin in puzzlement. The ponies were confused by his actions. But he was quick to express his doubts.

“Hmm… sounds like a lot for a simple vision. In fact, it’s as if you were aware of me. But how is that possible? Where have you learnt of this? May I ask.”

Cadence flinched in realisation. She spoke too much. The Diaboromon in front of her was unaware of Ayumi. And wanting to spare the former Twilight from any potential harm, she wanted to keep her identity a secret.

“I-It’s not hard to figure out.”

Twilight joined in. She two wanted to keep her future self hidden from the evil Mega.

“That’s right! You’re just here to destroy our world!”

The ponies were trying to be more confident as the conversation continued. Hoping that there might be hope for them. But the growing grin from Diaboromon began to unnerve them. He even began to chuckle.

“Y…Your world?”

To the surprise of all around him, Diaboromon erupted in laughter. Unsure what the Mega found so funny, the confused ponies remained silent as the giant settled down. Explaining afterwards.

“The world you live in. The land you all call home. Everything you come to know… wouldn’t have been possible if not for me.”

Gasps of confusion and fear were heard from the group. Unable to fully understand the Digimon’s words. Even Chrysalis and her Changelings were puzzled. Their master had never mentioned anything of the sort to them.

“Wh-What do you mean!? And how do you know who we are!?” Twilight uttered. Joined by a defiant Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah! Spill it you freak!”

Diaboromon was unfazed by the insult. His composure was frighteningly calm. His toothy grin grew bigger as he spoke.

“Oh, I know who all of you are. For I have been watching you all… from the very beginning.”

The group looked at each other in confusion. Having no idea what he was talking about. But the Mega was more than keen to indulge them. Even the changelings paid close attention. For they had never heard of the subject.

“Everything that has happened here, I was watching from the shadows. The banishment of Nightmare Moon. The fall of the Crystal Empire. Discord’s reign of chaos. Twilight becoming the forth Alicorn. I was there to witness it all. All the way back to when this land was nothing but ice and snow.”

The group were horrified at what they heard. They just couldn’t believe it. The evil Mega level Digimon had been secretly living amongst them the entire time. For thousands of years even! But it was the later part of Diaboromon’s words that left Twilight startled.

“Wait a minute! Y-You’ve been here… since Equestria’s founding!!?”

A collective gasp was uttered by not just the group, but even the other ponies that overheard the conversation. It meant that Diaboromon was far older than all the ponies present. And he had been lying in wait all that time. But Twilight became confused.

“But… how can you even be here!? And for so long!?”

Diaboromon answered her question as he continued.

“I was banished to this world for my crimes. That worthless guardian of yours had hoped I would be frozen for all time. But I persisted. Weakened… but very much alive.”

Confusion began to spread amongst the group like wildfire. But what shocked them the most was that they apparently had a guardian. Who was this guardian? And why choose Equestria to banish him? But all the uncertainty was getting the ponies nowhere. Celestia knew that.

“E-Easy everypony!”

With everyone silent, Celestia looked back at the towering form of Diaboromon. Even without her ability to sense energy of others, she could easily tell that she and her friends were no match for such a beast. Constantly thinking about the nightmare that was her vision. Never in her life had she wished that BlackWarGreymon was there to help. But believing that the saviour was on his way and seeing that the evil monster was in a talkative mood, she decided to use it to by time for BlackWarGreymon to arrive. A very brave gamble to make.

“You were saying?”

Diaboromon let out a quiet growl. But seeing no harm in indulging the ponies’ curiosities, he explained.

“I’ve waited here, in the dark caverns beneath your land. Deprived of my powers… but getting stronger. Centuries passed, and I quietly began to make my presence known. Surrounded by a lush green world. Full of love and hope.”

Diaboromon’s tone began to show his disgust.

“You all may find it endearing. But to me, it was sickening beyond compare!”

Luna then interrupted him. Uncertain about one thing he said.

“Make your presence known? You mean…?”

Just like some of the other ponies, Luna glanced over to Chrysalis and her army. Slowly piecing together the series of events that lead to the final day. All the dangers and incidents over the past several days. Then it clicked. It was so obvious. Aftar all, the Changeling Queen was standing by his side after all. And had even called him master.

“Chrysalis! You knew about him this whole time!?” Luna demanded.

But rather than making her usual retort, Chrysalis stood still with a solemn expression. But she didn’t deny it. In fact, she only reinforced their assumptions.

“Yes. My family knew of the master for years. Long before I was born.”

The ponies were august at the truth. Applejack then turned her attention over to the silent ChaosBlackWarGreymon. He too was by Diaboromon’s side.

“And ah take it that ya got something to do with him too?” The orange Earth Pony asked the evil Digimon while pointing her hoof at the digital clone.

Diaboromon chuckled before answering.

“How right you are. You all must have found it hard to uncover how ChaosBlackWarGreymon was created. But here’s your answer. My own energy was used to help form his body.”

“And Sombra helped in shaping his form,” Chrysalis chimed in.

The group were again startled at what the queen had just revealed.

“What!? Sombra was involved too!?” Shining Armor asked. Joined by Rarity.

“And it’s safe to assume Tirek was working for you too?”

Diaboromon chuckled loudly at the ponies’ deductive skills. Amused by them finally figuring him out.

But with everything that was said, it all came to a single conclusion. Something that scared Celestia as she fearfully glanced over to Diaboromon.

“Sombra. Chrysalis. Tirek. They all worked for you!?”

“That’s right, princess. Every disaster that affected you and your family were all orchestrated by me. Tirek invading your land with his brother. Lending a hand to the Changeling incursions. I even helped Sombra become the shadow king you feared. Now do you understand? I… did it… ALL!!!”

Diaboromon’s bold statement full of pride frightened the ponies even more. Virtually every disaster that had happened to them had the Digimon’s name written all over it. But the Mega didn’t stop.

“When I first gazed upon this lush world, it was full of wonder and joy. Do you honestly think any sort of evil could exist in a world like that!? Of course not! That was why I had to intervene.”

Out of all the ponies, Celestia, Luna and Twilight were the ones who listened to every word Diaboromon had said. And the three princesses could see a pattern forming. To which the shocked Princess of Friendship spoke of.

“Intervene? Wait. If you have been doing all that… throughout our past, then… that means…”

Unable to bring herself to speak, Diaboromon did it for her.

“That’s right. I completely altered your world. If I hadn’t, then you ponies would’ve lived such peaceful lives. But by doing so, I shaped this world as I saw fit. And through it all, you all didn’t notice me.”

Luna then interjected. Remembering Diaboromon’s previous words.

“It’s just like you said. Everything we knew wouldn’t have been possible… if not…”

“…For me.”

Every soul, both pony and Changeling felt a tremor through their very beings. Every experience they went through was all caused by the Digimon’s actions. All from behind the scenes, the evil Mega moulded Equestria beneath their own hooves.

When Diaboromon spoke more of the subject, his tone showed absolute joy. Openly thinking of himself as being above them.

“Now do you understand! I shaped your world long before most of you were even born! My age exceeds beyond even your beloved princesses! In a sense, I CREATED THE WORLD YOU COME TO LOVE!!! I’m above all of you!! The true supreme being!! And with my power, I am a GOD to you all!!”

“H-He’s insane,” Shining Armor quietly uttered. He and the other ponies seeing that the deranged Digimon had developed a god complex.

After calming down, he finished his declaration.

“I did it all, to prepare for this day. To pave the way for my arrival. And to take over this pitiful world! Then once I’m done here, I’ll take over the next world! Then the next! And the next! Until every world falls under me!”

After pausing, Diaboromon turned towards Celestia. His grin full of mockery.

“Was that all? Or do you want me to keep going until your beloved saviour arrives?”

Celestia’s eyes went wide in shock as she let out a gasp of disbelief. The Mega had already figured her little scheme out.

“H-How did…?”

“You thought you were cleaver. But even if it worked, it does not matter. Not even your precious BlackWarGreymon can stop me.”

The group all felt even more fear from Diaboromon’s statement. Hoping that it wasn’t true. That was until a voice spoke out.

“Don’t be so sure!”

Following the sound of the voice, Diaboromon’s eyes gazed over to the defiant looking Luna. The Princess of the Night then spoke again. Having gained the evil one’s attention.

“BlackWarGreymon has faced great odds, but he always prevailed! And he will do so again!”

Diaboromon quietly grumbled as she glared at the Moon Princess. He then began to approach her. The giant making great strides due to his lanky but huge build. With Celestia by her side, both she and Luna tried to put on a brave face as they stood their ground. But fear was still evident in their eyes as Diaboromon drew closer. The pair remained still even when the Mega was on top of them. His giant clawed hands resting just inches beside the princesses as he glared down at them. But his gaze was burning into Luna’s specifically. He grinned as he responded.

“You seem to have strong faith in him. Don’t you… my former minion?”

Luna completely froze as her eyes went wide as possible. What did Diaboromon just call her? Did he hear him correctly? Did any other pony heard it too? But it became clear that it was the case. What the Digimon said caught the whole group completely off-guard. Even Chrysalis and her children seemed startled at what he called Luna. Alongside her older sister, the blue Alicorn quickly retreated while looking at the Mega in deep confusion and uncertainty.

“W-What are you talking about!? Your… minion!?”

But before Diaboromon could explain, he was interrupted by an angry Shining Armor.

“Luna! Don’t listen to his lies!”

Seeing the bright glow of the Unicorn’s horn, all the other ponies moved out of the way of the enraged prince. The onlooking ponies and guard members cheered him on. Seeing potential action, Diaboromon turned to face the royal pony. It was clear that the prince had had enough of hearing the Digimon’s words. He glared angrily as his horn glowed brighter.

“I’ve had it with you! If you want to conquer us, then we’ll just fight back!”

Fuelled by determination to put a stop to Diaboromon, the Unicorn prince fired three beams of magic at him. Utilizing his strongest spell that he practiced on BlackWarGreymon once before. All three attacks landed direct hits on the Digimon. Two exploded against his armoured purple body, and one on his face.

With the Digimon’s head covered in magical smoke, Shining Armor thought that he’d delt a good blow. But it turned out to be far from the case. He was shocked to hear the Mega chuckling. When the smoke cleared, he was revealed to be completely unharmed.

“My turn.”

As Diaboromon adjusted his position a little, the dark green orb in the centre of his chest started to flash a bright yellow glow. The glow steadied as the rim of his purple chest cavity briefly expanded. Revealing the orb more as it glowed brighter. The group took a step back in fear, unsure what kind of attack was about to be launched.

As the yellow glow got brighter, the Digimon shouted.

“WEB WRECKER!!!”

Acting like a high-powered energy cannon, a small yellow energy projectile was fired from the glowing orb in Diaboromon’s chest. Shining Armor barely had enough time to dodge before the projectile struck the ground beneath him. However, the explosion that followed sent the prince screaming and hurtling through the air before painfully landed on the ground hard.

“Shining!” Cadence cried out as she ran over to the downed prince.

But Diaboromon was far from finished. He had longed to unload all his pent-up aggression through his favourite ability.

“Web Wrecker!” He shouted as he shifted his body to face the city. Only to begin rapidly fire a volley of attacks over the heads of the group and towards the city centre.

The royals could only gasp in horror as the attacks began to rain down on the capital once again. The attacks struck every building in their path. The panicking citizens could only flee in every direction in a desperate attempt to avoid the blasts. But Diaboromon kept firing. His attacks were indiscriminate. He didn’t care if he was even aiming properly. To him, even striking one of the castle’s towers was satisfying. The attacks were causing massive damage to structures. Even causing some buildings to collapse.

“STOP!!! The citizens have nothing to do with this!” Celestia cried out in a desperate attempt to make Diaboromon stop his onslaught. But to her horror, the Digimon had a massive grin on his face. He was enjoying the mindless destruction. The three fillies and the young dragon never felt so threatened. The Digimon didn’t care who he was hurting in the least.

But he eventually ceased firing his chest cannon, only to then glance over to the royal couple. As Diaboromon watched the pink princess help the stricken Shining Armor back on his hooves, he chuckled sinisterly. Finding the sight pitiful.

“This is why I despise you inferior creatures. You act tough, but you’re just weak. Only the strong can survive in the world that I’ll bring. There’s no room for weaklings.”

Within the group, Rainbow Dash was next to be fed up with the Digimon’s way of talking.

“That’s it! I’m taking you down hard!!”

“Rainbow! Wait!!”

Twilight’s plea was ignored as the blue Pegasus took off and flew to the furthest edge of the giant barrier that surrounded the city. Only to then keep flying along the barrier’s edge. Circling the city while gaining more speed. Flying faster and faster. All eyes watched the blue speed demon kept up her pace. Becoming a blue blur high above their heads. To those who knew her so well, they knew exactly what she was about to do.

“Hay, is she about to do the Sonic Rainboom?” Applebloom asked. With Sweetie Belle and the ecstatic Scootaloo joining in.

“I think she is!”

“Yeah! Get him, Rainbow Dash!!”

As Rainbow Dash was gaining more speed, the others too felt excited that she was going to cause harm to their foe. But when Twilight glanced over to Diaboromon, she grew a look of confusion. While the Digimon was facing up in the air, he was not keeping track of the blue Pegasus. He was very still. But he then let out a chuckle as the sides of his mouth curled up. Grinning wickedly.

Puzzled at first, it suddenly clicked for Twilight. She then remembered what he said. That he had been watching them for a very long time. Which meant that he knew very well what was coming next. And by the sight of his grin, had likely developed a counter!

“No Rainbow! That’s what he wants!”

But her voice was unheard by the blue Pegasus. With her sights locked onto the Mega far below, she began to put even more effort into her speed. Then it happened. As soon as Rainbow Dash suddenly dived back down, she performed her Sonic Rainboom. A giant rainbow pulse could be seen all around Canterlot as a rainbow blur raced back towards the Canterlot gardens. Aiming directly at Diaboromon’s front.

Exactly what he wanted.

“Web Wrecker!”

With little warning, Diaboromon fired a blast of energy from his chest. The energy projectile was speeding towards the Pegasus. Seeing the attack rapidly heading right towards her, the surprised Rainbow Dash yelled as she was forced to change direction. While narrowly avoiding the attack, the force of the Digimon’s attack, combined with her own momentum, caused her to fly out of control. Screaming in panic as she tried to control her direction of flight. Missing a couple of buildings before finally crash-landing several feet behind Diaboromon. Skidding to a halt, the blue mare groaned painfully as she tried to recover. But as she glanced up at the air, she suddenly saw the Digimon’s giant hand rapidly approaching her. Before she could react, the stricken Pegasus became ensnared in Diaboromon’s left hand. Much to the horror of her friends. But for Chrysalis and her Changelings, they were impressed by the Digimon’s quick thinking and strategy. A testament to how intelligent the best-like Digimon truly was.

As Diaboromon began to retract his outstretched arm, the Pegasus grunted as she tried to struggle free from his grasp.

“Such a predictable attack from you, Rainbow Dash. As foolish as ever.”

“H-Hay! Let me go!” Rainbow Dash demanded as she tried to squirm free. But was barely able to move at all.

Diaboromon chuckled as he held his new prisoner closer. The mare literally in the palm of his hand. Rainbow Dash paused her struggles when she realised how close she was to the Mega’s face. He truly was scary up close, even for her.

“I wonder what will break first. Your spirit… or your body!”

The large Digimon began to clench his hand. The painful pressure from the tightening squeeze, as well as the sharp pinching feeling from the tips of his claw-like fingers, were already proven to be too much for the small mare. Rainbow Dash tried to hold in her pain at first, letting out painfilled squeals. But it didn’t last very long. She started to scream and wail in agony.

“Rainbow Dash!!” Scootaloo cried out. She couldn’t believe her idol was being tortured in such a horrific way. And right in front of her.

The others were paralyzed in fear. The fact that a creature could outwit Rainbow Dash was truly frightening. But even if they had the courage, what could they do? Diaboromon was a Mega level Digimon. Something that only another Digimon could match.

As the squeeze continued, the pain became unbearable for the small mare. Rainbow Dash tried to cry for help, but she was finding it difficult to breathe. But just before she passed out, the Digimon slightly loosened his grip. Taking in deep breaths, Rainbow Dash was able to breath again. But she was still trapped in the Digimon’s giant hand.

But as she got her breath back, the blue Pegasus yelped in fright from being so close to Diaboromon’s face. His heartless actions, combined with his horrific chuckle had imprinted a newfound fear within Rainbow Dash. She felt her eyes beginning to tear up. She thought that BlackWarGreymon Berserk Mode was terrifying. Not anymore. Diaboromon was far worse.

“Still want to try me?” He sadistically asked. Showing that he was still keen on torturing her.

But the Digimon was briefly startled by a sudden outburst from an enraged Fluttershy.

“LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU BULLY!!!”

All eyes turned towards the usually timid Pegasus. They could see that despite being scared, she was upset to a point where she just had to speak up. Wanting her friend back.

Diaboromon stared at her for a silent moment before replying.

“Ok.”

Suddenly, the Digimon quickly reared his left arm back. The entrapped mare firmly held in his grasp.

“Here!” He shouted as he threw his long arm out and launched the pain-filled Pegasus back towards the group.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy called out as she tried to get in position to catch the hurtling blue mare.

However, the force of how Rainbow Dash was thrown made her collide into Fluttershy with considerable force. The yellow mare let out a loud yelp of pain from the impact. The end result was moth mares crashing to the ground and barely able to stand.

“Rainbow Dash!! Fluttershy!!” The cutiemark crusaders cried out as they bravely rushed over to the fallen pair.

All the other ponies were horrified at what they had just witnesses. Seeing Rainbow Dash in pain was upsetting enough, but Fluttershy was next to be hurt by Diaboromon’s heartless actions. The yellow Pegasus hadn’t even done anything to the Digimon. Yet he harmed her for no reason except for enjoyment. Never in their lives had they encountered a creature so irredeemable. So cruel that he would be perfectly willing to hurt the innocent.

Everypony felt sick to their stomachs and glared angrily at Diaboromon. The Mega grinned in response before speaking again.

“Like I said. Nothing but weaklings. A complete waste! There is no place for you in this world!”

‘Background music’ ‘Forsaken Last by Lost Eden’

Though all the ponies glared at the Digimon with hate, it was the royal guards who were riled up. Being two of the six element bearers who saved the world countless times, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were seen as heroes. Prince Shining Armor was also once their caption. He was highly respected and admired for his bravery. To them, what Diaboromon had done was insulting. They wanted nothing more than to make the digital freak pay.

“How dare you! Guards, attack!!” The guardsmare Double Edge shouted.

Just as the guards charged in, the Changelings prepared to counter. But a brief flash of her horn, Chrysalis commanded her children to stand down. She could tell that Diaboromon was going to have fun. The evil Mega didn’t move a muscle. Allowing the ponies to attack first.

Pegasi and Earth Ponies swung their bladed weapons upon Diaboromon’s thin arms and legs. Believing that the unarmoured limbs were the weak points on his body. But found themselves shocked to discover that they weren’t effective in the least. Bizarrely, his limbs were like solid rubber. Almost elastic. Bending and bouncing against the pony-made weapons. Above him, Double Edge swung her magically enhanced wing blades to strike his neck. But despite the enhancements, her attacks dealt no damage to the Mega. The guards tried in vain to hurt the beast, all the while he was grinning at their futile attempts.

It was the Unicorn’s turn. A group of nine guards charged up their magic and fired a barrage of attacks from their horns. Different coloured beams exploded against the smirking Digimon. Seeing that their attacks weren’t working, the guards ceased fire and stared at him in disbelief.

It was then Diaboromon’s turn. With a quick grunt, he swung his left arm out and then like a whip, he brought it back. His open palmed hand smacked the front five Unicorns out of his path. He then did the same with his right. But dug his claws into the ground while doing so. He sent the four remaining Unicorns flying by raising the ground beneath their hooves.

“Fire!!” A guard shouted. Standing beside one of the few catapults they had available.

When one catapult was ready to fire, the wooden weapon launched a large boulder towards the Mega level Digimon. But Diaboromon saw the oncoming rock hurtling to his right. With his left hand clenched into a fist, he punched the boulder into smithereens. With the catapult square in his sights, using his legs and arms, he leapt high into the air like that of a frog. While chuckling with evil intent, he came crashing down on the catapult. First his body then his swinging arms smashed the weapon beyond repair. Tearing it apart.

As more guards charged in to attack him, Diaboromon leapt out of the wreckage and bared his sights on the ponies.

“Web Wrecker!”

While in the air, the Digimon fired an energy blast from his chest. The attack hit the centre of the group. The following explosion sent the pain-filled guards hurtling through the air in all directions. As he landed beside them, he leapt in the air again and spun to face against another catapult and an oncoming boulder. But with only two shots of his signature attack, Diaboromon destroyed both the projectile and the large weapon. Blowing it apart and setting it on fire.

While the Digimon continued his rampage, his allies watched on. But while the Changeling solders were admittingly in awe at the Mega’s capabilities, Queen Chrysalis however was terrified. She mostly saw him being calm and calculating. Despite his appearance, he was frighteningly intelligent. The only times she had seen him take action was when he was swift. Only taking a second to leave his mark. So to see him attack the ponies like a reckless monster, to her it was shocking and frightening. His speed, strength and power were beyond what she thought possible.

The ponies and dragon too stood on in horror as Diaboromon took down the next catapult with total ease. The fiery wreckage held aloft in the Digimon’s hands. To Celestia, it was like her vision was coming to life. Likewise for Cadence and Luna. Almost like reliving Ayumi’s memories.

Then as Diaboromon looked to his left, he saw the last catapult firing another boulder at him. But to the shock of the guards, the Mega caught the boulder in his right hand. Then using his elastic-like limbs, he spun in a circle and threw the rock back at the sender with phenomenal force. The guard only had a mere second to jump out of the way before the rock smashed straight through the last remaining catapult.

“Who’s next!?” Diaboromon gloated. Feeling invincible after years of inactivity.

He then heard a reply.

“Fire!”

Elsewhere, Pinkie Pie aimed her party cannon at the Digimon as Rarity helped loaded it. While initially surprising their friends by their involvement, they were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Defenders of Equestria. They had to join the fight in anyway they could. With a pull of a string, the pink pony fired a small rock towards Diaboromon. The giant caught the rock before crushing it with his bare hand. Then with a swift stretch of his other arm, he smashed the party cannon into pieces. The impact knocked the two mares off their hooves.

Seeing Rarity being attacked had awoken a hidden aggression within Spike. Making the young dragon furious. To the disbelief of his friends, the small purple reptile charged towards Diaboromon’s outstretched arm. As he jumped towards it, he bit hard into the Digimon’s limb.

Despite Spike’s sharp teeth, his bite did nothing but gain Diaboromon’s attention. After swinging his arm around, he forced the young dragon to let go. Sending him painfully skidding across the hard ground.

“Spike!!” Applejack shouted as she rushed over to the downed dragon.

The ponies were again disgusted at what they saw. Diaboromon was perfectly to cause harm even to the young. Remembering that the cutiemark crusaders were nearby and realising that truly no one was safe from the Digimon’s wrath, the royals began to fight back. The recovered Shining Armor was first. Forming a magical blade from his horn as he charged at the towering form of Diaboromon. As the Unicorn prepared to strike, the Digimon countered it by merely raising his left hand. The magic blade causing no harm to the Mega as he shoved it aside. With the prince open to attack, the Digimon used a different ability.

“CABLE CRUSHER!!!”

Launching one of his arms forward, his open palm landed squarely on Shining Armor. And kept sailing above the ground until the large hand squashed him against a stone wall. Feeling the air escaping the pain-filled prince caused him to be knocked out.

Spurred on from seeing their friends and family getting hurt by Diaboromon’s actions, Twilight and Cadence decided to strike back. Despite the former knowing full well how strong Mega level Digimon could be. For Cadence, she was aware that he was the same Digimon that destroyed Ayumi’s home. But it didn’t stop her from trying to fight back against the inevitable apocalypse. Flying towards him, the two Alicorn princesses fired beams of magic at Diaboromon’s face. Though exploding on impact, the attack did no harm to the beast.

The two flew up above the Mega in an attempt to outflank him. But as Diaboromon tilted his body back, he fired several bursts of his Web Wrecker attack. Yellow energy shots flew by from under Twilight and Cadence. Spooking them into thinking they could get shot down.

But the shots were only distractions to what was coming next. By quickly throwing his left arm up, the limb stretched high towards the Alicorns. Sailing past the two. But as Diaboromon pulled it back down, his open hand grasped onto Cadence. Dragging her back down to the ground with a loud thud.

“Cadence!!” Twilight called out as she swooped down to help her sister-in-law.

With some of the royal guards summoning up the courage to fight more, the Unicorns fired more beams of magic at Diaboromon. Trying to force his hand off the trapped Cadence. But in retaliation, the Digimon used his said hand to swat the Unicorns away.

As Twilight tended to the downed pink Alicorn, she teleported away back to the safety of the group. Making sure her sister-in-law was safe. Meanwhile Diaboromon laughed madly as he backhanded Double Edge away. Sending her crashing into the other guards.

“Is this the best you ponies can do? Pathetic! And you call yourselves the protectors of this world!?”

“ENOUGH!!!”

The sudden outburst echoed through the area. Belonging to someone with a Royal Canterlot voice. All eyes turned to its source. But to their surprise, it wasn’t Luna. The blue Alicorn too was stunned as she turned to where the voice came from.

It turned out to be Celestia. The Sun Princess glared angrily at the evil Digimon. To the surprise of the ponies, especially Luna, they had never seen the white Alicorn look so angry before. Even more so than their confrontations with Discord of Tirek. Probably even more so than King Sombra.

The Spirit of Chaos wanted to bring chaos and disharmony. The centaur wanted to steal all their magic for his own self gain. The Unicorn king wanted to make all ponies his slaves. But Diaboromon… he wanted to destroy everything. Bringing death and destruction to the world he saw was inferior. All the while enjoying every minute of the misery he’ll bring. Just like his alternate self had already done to Ayumi’s Equestria. Leaving the alternate Twilight the only survivor.

Celestia had never felt so disgusted in her life.

“Hmm? You want to fight next? Celestia?” The Digimon asked. Unfazed by the angry princess.

Celestia didn’t bother to answer. She knew very well that Diaboromon would know that she would attack. Her body glowed in faint golden light which slowly got brighter. Within seconds, her ancient golden armour appeared on her body. Luna especially was amazed by the sight. The last time she saw Celestia’s armour was when they fought against King Sombra thousands of years ago.

As her armour materialized on her body, the white Alicorn spoke to the evil Digimon.

“The severity of your crimes are of the highest caliber! From the beginning, you bend others to your own will! Staging events and manipulating the innocent! Warping our home and our very lives! All to bring destruction Equestria doesn’t deserve!”

With her levitation magic, she readied her personal spear. Pointing the blade towards Diaboromon and charging it with her magic.

“I swear… YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!!!”

As if fuelled by sheer determination alone, Celestia fired a large golden beam of destructive magic from her spear and landed a direct hit on Diaboromon. The magic attack caused the Digimon to be set ablaze. Where he stood, became a great wall of fire.

The others had to shield their eyes from the intensity of the attack. Backing away to escape the heat.

Celestia continued to press on with her attack. But to her shock, the wall of fire started to rush towards her. She could see through the flames, Diaboromon charging with his sights locked onto her. Unaffected by her attack as he roared.

The Sun Princess immediately took to the air to avoid the rampaging Mega. But as she swung her spear down to attack, Diaboromon turned around and caught the weapon in his toothy mouth. He then snapped the spear in half by clenching his jaw. As she ascended higher into the air, Celestia rained down her magic attacks upon the Digimon. But much like the guards, her attacks had no effect on his armoured body as he kept his sights on her. Wandering through her onslaught as he readied himself to strike.

Then to Celestia’s shock, Diaboromon quickly stretched his right arm towards her and before she could react, grabbed onto her rear right leg. Then with a forceful tug, he pulled the princess back down to the ground. In a panic, Celestia tried to kick his hand to force him to let go. But his grip wasn’t loosening in the slightest.

Then Diaboromon heard a voice.

“Let her go right now!!”

Looking to his left, the evil Digimon saw a group of royal guards charging towards him to help Celestia. The Mega replied before giving an evil grin.

“You want her? Then here!”

As he spun around with the princess in his grasp, Diaboromon slammed Celestia into the guards before letting go. The pain filled Alicorn tumbled across the ground before weakly standing back up. But fuelled by her shear will to put an end to Diaboromon’s evil, she forced her pain aside and flew into the air. Ascending higher as her body glowed in a golden light. As she prepared one of her strongest spells, a golden barrier surrounded her as her magic began building in her horn. Glowing ever brighter.

Seeing Celestia preparing to attack gained the full attention of Diaboromon. As he turned to face her, the green orb in his chest started to glow yellow once more. Preparing to counter.

All eyes were on the pair. For the onlooking ponies, they hoped that Celestia would be the one to triumph.

Then with one mighty yell of her Canterlot voice, the Sun Princess fired a large golden beam down towards the beast-like Digimon. But he was more than ready to fight back.

“WEB WRECKER!!!”

From his chest, he fired a quick burst of energy. The small projectile ploughed straight through Celestia’s attack and, to the horror of the ponies, smashed through her barrier. The following explosion from within shattered the barrier as Celestia came hurtling out screaming.

“CELESTIA!!!” Twilight called out.

“SISTER!!!” Luna cried.

Knocked out by the blast, the defeated Celestia fell to the ground. Her radiant armour had been blown apart into countless little pieces as her magic was severely depleted. She twinged in pain as she tried to move. Diaboromon could only laugh at the pitiful sight.

‘Song end’

“Oh, how the mighty had fallen. You really are nothing without your precious saviour,” He mocked as he approached the fallen Alicorn.

Then to the shock of the ponies, the large Digimon reached down and picked Celestia up with his large right hand. Effortlessly raising her off the ground and up to his eye level.

“Let go of her!!” Luna shouted at the sight of her helpless sibling being brought closer to the evil Mega. But too afraid to do anything without running the risk of hurting her.

As she opened her eyes, Celestia was staring straight into the eyes of Diaboromon. For a moment, she believed that the meaning of his name was appropriate. She felt like she was looking into the eyes of the devil himself. It was far more intense than anything she had seen in her vision.

But when he spoke up…

“It’s over, Celestia. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”

The captured princes blinked in surprise. When the devil-like Digimon spoke on, he was making a proposition for her.

“Yes. Even now, it’s not too late. I can spare you from any further pain. You just need to do only one thing.”

Celestia breathed heavily from the fear and uncertainty. Having no idea what the evil Digimon had in mind for her. But apparently, she just need to do one thing.

But when Diaboromon moved closer to her ears, he revealed what it was. Which sent waves of fear into her very soul.







“Bow.”

Chapter 77: Scars of the Past

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It was a dark time in the terrorized city of Canterlot. After countless millennia of waiting, the evil Digimon… Diaboromon… had risen to conquer Equestria.

As war raged on below, the small detachment of Changelings that Queen Chrysalis sent out were flying towards one of the towers of Canterlot Castle.

“Don’t forget guys. Find as many magical artifacts for the boss as you can,” The lead Changeling said. Followed by four others.

“I still don’t understand why. Isn’t the boss powerful enough?” The second Changeling asked. His question was answered by the third.

“All he told me was that one he reaches his full power, something world changeling will happen. Still don’t know what that means though.”

When the fourth Changeling spoke up, he expressed his doubts.

“I don’t like this. I feel that something bad will happen if he does.”

Upon hearing the comment, it caused the group to mentally reflect on such a possibility. And with how Diaboromon mistreated Chrysalis, their own mother, the likelihood of something bad happening was very high. Making them feel uneasy.

But their thoughts were interrupted by the fifth Changeling.

“Guys. We’re at the tower.”

Having approached the tower, one of the few not hit by Diaboromon’s attacks, the five Changelings hovered by several windows. Peering through to see anything of value. But after several unsuccessful spots, one of the Changelings alerted the others.

“Hay guys! Look here!”

When the other four joined him by the open window, they were all surprised by what they saw. In fact, it’s who they saw.

“Wait? Isn’t that… Twilight?”

The solder was right. Lying in bed in front of them was the sleeping form of Twilight. Unbeknownst to them, she was in fact the recovering Ayumi. The Twilight from the future timeline. Seeing such a pony puzzled them.

“What is she doing up here?”

“Wasn’t she with the others back in the gardens?”

“And why does she look… older?”

But one Changeling regained focus.

“Never mind that. If she’s here and spots us, she will cause trouble for us. We’ll have to contain her.”

With the others nodding in agreement, the five Changelings slipped through the open window and snuck into the room.
…………………………………………………………………………………................................................................

Down in the sculpture gardens, Diaboromon was leaving a very effective mark on the populace of Canterlot. Despite having ChaosBlackWarGreymon, Queen Chrysalis and the Changeling army at his disposal, the beast-like Digimon fought against the pony forces alone. The fight that unfolded had left every witness speechless in horror. The royal guards were left in shambles, and Princess Celestia defeated.

As Diaboromon held the beaten Alicorn in his hand, he made a proposition for her. A way for all the terror to stop. But a terrible cost had to be made.

“What!?” She uttered with horror in her voice.

Celestia’s eyes widened in horrid disbelief at what Diaboromon told her. He wanted her to submit to him. He pulled his head back as she spoke again. His voice louder for all the other ponies to hear.

“Yes, Celestia. Surrender to me, and you may live to be my pet.”

The others let out gasps of horror in response to the Digimon’s words. They knew that if Celestia surrendered, it meant that she was surrendering all of Equestria. The whole world would be handed over to the evil Mega. Leaving him to do what he wanted.

It was an outcome that Luna could not allow to happen.

“No! Don’t do it, sister!”

Ignoring Luna, Diaboromon focused all his attention on the Sun Princess.

“Well? What say you?”

It didn’t take long for Celestia to answer. Despite the danger before her and her vision potentially coming true, it was beneath her to give up so easily. BlackWarGreymon was still on her mind.

“N…No.”

She then averted her eyes to look at the evil Digimon. Her gaze full of defiance.

“I will never submit to you!”

Her answer was clear. Even though Diaboromon twisted the land by his actions, Celestia loved Equestria too much for it to fall under the Digimon’s rule. Otherwise, her vision would most certainly come true. Luna and the others were proud of her. That even against great odds, she would never surrender. Queen Chrysalis meanwhile felt scared. It was the same level of defiance that her older brother once displayed against the Mega. And she knew all too well what happened after that.

Diaboromon looked at Celestia in disapproval. He had hoped that with all the chaos he had brought, her will would be broken. But her resolve to protect her world remained strong. He wanted her to be his plaything. Someone to threaten and torment. To see her expressions as he terrorized her people. To keep installing fear into her heart. But from her defiance, he wouldn’t get his wish.

“Oh… so unwise.”

After he pulled his head away, Diaboromon surprised Celestia by moving her down to the front of his large chest. Then as he brought her in closer, the look of horror grew on her face when the green orb in the Digimon’s chest began to glow. Emitting a humming noise as it began to power up. A collective gasp was heard from everypony from realising what the evil being was going to do.

The horrified Sun Princess glanced up at Diaboromon as he spoke.

“I’ve spent years figuring out the best way to end you. This seems the most appropriate.”

As Celestia glanced back at the orb, the purple rim around it expanded as the glow got brighter. The princess squirmed in a panic in response. The image of her life ending in such a way… it mirrored almost perfectly in her vision. The image that woke her up screaming.

“LET HER GO!!!”

Diaboromon paused from the loud outburst. That Royal Canterlot voice was unmistakable. Turning his head towards the group, standing in front of the frightened ponies was Princess Luna. Standing tall with her horn glowing bright and adorned in her blue armour. To which she magically materialized much like her Celestia’s was. But it was the expression in her eyes that gained the Mega’s attention. Fear was in there, but was being pushed aside by anger and determination.

Diaboromon’s eyes narrowed in a glare as the corner of his lips curled. A twisted idea formed inside his head. While keeping his sights on Luna, he depowered his attack lowered his arm to gently put Celestia back on the ground. Much to her surprise. But the white Alicorn’s fear spiked when Diaboromon’s head suddenly moved to her side. Inches from her ear.

“Watch as I tear her world apart,” He whispered.

“W…Wha…?

Celestia froze in confusion. What did he mean by those words? And what did he mean by the phrase… ‘her’ world. But seeing the giant rise back up caused her to stutter in confusion. Diaboromon’s full attention on Luna.

Seeing the towering Digimon looming over her caused the fear in Luna to reveal itself more. Her angry scowl briefly shifted to fearful. She tried to put on a brave face, but Diaboromon’s appearance alone was terrifying. But combined with his shear power, his size, his voice and the knowledge of knowing what he could do… together was a monster that was unspeakable. The stuff of nightmares that even she would be too scared to face. Yet… here he was.

As Diaboromon stared Luna down, his grinning face let out a low cackle of laughter. Finding her attempts to be brave futile.

“You think you can fare better?”

Knowing that the monster was testing her, the blue Alicorn tried to keep her composure.

“I-I’ll do whatever it takes. If not me… than BlackWarGreymon will.”

Diaboromon’s expression turned inquisitive.

“You seem so sure if he could.”

His grin returned when he spoke again.

“But you sure you don’t want to see how this ends?”

Luna was aghast at what he said to her.

“Wha!? Why would I ever want that!?”

Diaboromon interrupted her potential bickering by revealing something unsettling to her.

“I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to… the other you.”

Luna blinked in uncertainty from the Digimon’s choice of words. Her fears were confirmed when he spoke again.

“The one you call… Nightmare Moon.”

The eyes of the blue Alicorn widened in disbelief. The same said for all her friends and family, but she in particular was the hardest hit. Taking a step back in uncertainty as she spoke up.

“Wh…What do you mean?”

Ignoring her question, Diaboromon continued. Seemingly admiring the dark side of Luna.

“Yes. I would very much like to see you turn again. She was indeed… very useful.”

The more the Digimon spoke, the more unsettled Luna became. Diaboromon sounded as if there was some personal link to her other self. She demanded answers.

“Enough! What are you talking about!?”

After letting out a brief chuckle, he spoke to the perplexed Alicorn princess.

“You mean you still haven’t figured it out?”

Luna, like all the other ponies around her, silently paused as the Digimon spoke. Seemingly knowing something about her that even she failed to realise. Even Chrysalis and her army silently watched on in interest.

“You and your sister were so close. Overcoming great odds. In perfect harmony. Surely you must’ve been curious as to where the rift between you came from. Why you rebelled against your own flesh and blood.”

“That’s enough out of you!” Cadence demanded. Wanting the Digimon’s taunting to stop. But it was Luna who stopped her. Trying to wrap her own mind around the subject.

“No, wait! BlackWarGreymon… he said something similar to me before. So why? Why did I suddenly fight with my own sister? Why!?” She uttered as she clenched her eyes shut. Trying so hard to think of the true cause.

But as she tried to piece together an answer, one possibility sparked within her subconscious. She wished she hadn’t thought of such an answer. Mentally thinking that the likelihood of it coming true rapidly grew. Her actions matched what she was thinking. Her body completely still as her eyes snapped open. Revealing the stare of dread as she gazed at the ground.

“No,” She whispered.

But the dread grew when Diaboromon spoke. His words almost mirror what he already told them before.

“Like I said. I have shaped your entire world… from the very beginning. Your very lives.”

The expression of dread grew as Luna glanced up at Diaboromon. Her eyes widened in complete utter disbelief as she began to believe such a possibility. While Diaboromon grinned from seeing such a face of despair. Seeing that the Princess of the Night was figuring it out.

Luna began to fall into denial.

“No. Y-You didn’t! It… it’s a lie! YOU’RE LYING!!!”

Most of the onlooking ponies were puzzled at what was happening. But for Celestia, who was slowly rising back up on her hooves, she grew her own fearful expression. From seeing the signs, and from Diaboromon said to her earlier, she too began to see the connection.

Diaboromon grinned as she responded to Luna’s denial.

“Oh, Luna. The time of your kind is at an end. Why would I need to lie now?”

Luna began to breathe heavily from the newfound hysteria. Even her legs were beginning to tremble from the unspoken truth. The truth she hoped was false. That it was all in her mind. All a sadistic game of Diaboromon’s.

As if he could read her mind, he called her bluff.

“If you don’t believe me, then go ahead. Read your own mind. You’ll see,” He said as he tapped his finger against the side of his head. Gesturing for Luna on his request.

Luna blinked in surprise. Diaboromon was going so far as to make her do something that she rarely done to herself. It not never. She pondered for a moment if she should even do it. But with everything that was going on, and the uncertainty surrounding what was her most sensitive subject, her expression changed to one of determination. Closing her eyes and lighting up her horn in magic, she was ready to do it.

“Luna wait!” Twilight called out. Uncertain if it was all just a trap.

But with a flash of light from her horn, Luna cast the mind-reading spell on herself. Something that only a skilled magic caster could perform. It was a very disorientating experience for her to say the least. But she eventually succeeded. She found herself materialized within her own memory. A time after the Battle for the Crystal Empire and before her descent into Nightmare Moon. A small period in her life where she mourned over the loss of the empire. All the innocent lives imprisoned for over a thousand years. She saw herself in the bed of her old castle in the Everfree Forest. Trying to sleep, but unable to push the guilt she felt. The guilt of failing the Crystal Ponies. A sight so upsetting for her that she never wanted to visit the memory. Not wanting to see herself so distraught.

Luna chose that night in particular because it was one of a few where she was the most hurt.

As she watched her younger self grieving in bed, Luna noticed something… odd. The atmosphere of the room she was in suddenly felt… eerie. Something that her past self was too tired and upset to notice. In the quiet room, her ears caught the sound of something moving outside her window. Because of how little she remembered that day, the outside world was pitch black. Luna’s expression grew uncertain as she kept staring at the black void.

Only for her expression to morph into complete horror when a pair of glowing eyes suddenly opened in the darkness.

Luna gasped at the revelation. If her past self was more aware of her surroundings, then she would’ve noticed. To her upmost horror, the truth she wanted to believe was false turned out to be reality. Diaboromon was there!

Luna felt a dead cold shiver up her spine when the past Diaboromon glanced his glowing eyes over to her past self. And even more so when his giant clawed hand entered the room. Seemingly towards the sleeping princess.

Luna instantly ended her mind reading spell. She had seen enough.

Back in reality, the other ponies were shocked at what they were seeing. Luna’s face full of horror and disbelief, with a stream of tears flowing down her face. The deeply upset Alicorn glanced over to Diaboromon as he stared back. Grinning in satisfaction.

“Luna! What is it!?” Cadence asked. Growing concerned for her aunt.

But Luna didn’t answer back. Her attention was squarely on the towering Mega level Digimon. When she did speak though, her voice was shaken from the discovery.

“It… it was you? You… did that… to me?”

The group began to let out startled gasps when they too began to see what was revealed. But for some who remained in the dark, Diaboromon spoke up.

“You were so distraught. Manipulating your mind with my energy was so easy,”

It was all everypony needed to hear. Every soul froze from hearing Diaboromon’s confession. Even Chrysalis and her children were surprised. Never knowing such a fact. With the rest of the group, Twilight was one of the few that was aghast by it. Remembering the first time she confronted Nightmare Moon.

“He… made her that way?” She uttered.

Luna, however, felt devastated by the revelation. A part of her wanted it to be a lie. A trick. But the memory she had seen was her own. Untainted. Untouched. As true as all her other memories. Her face said it all. She had been influenced by Diaboromon’s energy, making her more hostile and rebellious to her own sister, and had absolutely no idea.

She may have given her other self the name Nightmare Moon. But it was Diaboromon who created her.

Her rear legs caved in from the shock. Sitting down as her petrified gaze remained locked on the towering Digimon. She began to remember it all. The shock of her banishment. Her thousand year wait before her breakout. But through it all, deep inside, she was in pain. The isolation crushed her spirit as she let her other self take control. And the first thing she’d done upon being freed by the Elements of Harmony… was giving her older sister the first tearful loving embrace in a millennia.

But all that pain would never have been possible… if not for Diaboromon.

“H…How could you?” She uttered. Believing that what Diaboromon had done was by far the cruellest thing anyone had ever done to her.

The last thing she wanted to hear was his maniacal cackle. But that was what she got from Diaboromon. Relishing her misery.

“I did what had to be done. Though you ultimately failed, your clash with the ponies was entertaining.”

He then said something that struck a cord within Luna’s very being.

“You should’ve seen the look on your sister’s face. I certainly did.”

Then to Diaboromon’s surprise, a golden beam of magic struck his back. Though the attack didn’t hurt him, it gained his attention away from Luna. Turning around, the Mega’s sights fell upon Celestia. Who was rising up on her hooves while giving him a tearful, yet hateful glare. The white Alicorn was fuming in anger. Something very few would ever expect her to display.

But her anger was certainly justified. Diaboromon was mentally torturing her little sister. Luna had spent months begging for forgiveness from her subjects and even her own sister. But to find that the whole ordeal wasn’t even her fault to begin with. All the unwarranted guilt she felt. She truly thought that she couldn’t despise him more than she already felt. But the list of his crimes kept climbing.

“How dare you!” She uttered. Her eyes started to burn with hate.

“Careful, Celestia. Anger is not a good look for you,” Diaboromon taunted as he turned to fully face her.

Celestia’s scowl grew more intense from the mockery. Her anger became more evident in her voice.

“That’s enough! What gave you the right to do something so heinous!?”

“I have every right. Have you forgotten? I am your god.”

“You’re no god! You’re just an irredeemable monster! Even if you are, I won’t let you hurt anypony! You won’t be taking any lives of my subjects!”

“Yeah! You tell him, princess!” Rainbow Dash cheered. Giving the Alicorn much needed support. The others joining in.

But as the cheer died down, Diaboromon’s toothy grin grew wide. And then broke the news for them all.

“Guess that means you already failed.”

The white Alicorn’s anger demeanour was instantly replaced with shock at what the Digimon said. Not liking how calm his sentence was. Already feeling a horrid chill within her being.

“Wh-What do you mean?” She asked.

Diaboromon chuckled sinisterly as his grin grew bigger. He was about to reveal something that a peace-loving pony like Celestia would absolutely hate.

“You. Your family. Your friends. You weren’t the first ponies who discovered me.”

A collective gasp of disbelief was heard from all the ponies who heard the Digimon’s words. The white Alicorn felt a second feeling of dread as a horrid feeling entered her mind.

“T-There were others?”

“Yes. Many members of your kind had stumbled upon my domain.”

She briefly looked to the side in thought. Confused by a single fact. But the sensitive subject almost made her hesitant about bringing it up. But she eventually managed to bring it up.

“But then… why have we never heard of you before? They surely would’ve told us!”

Diaboromon let out a chuckle as he spoke up.

“I agree. They surely would’ve. So to answer why they haven’t told you, well. That’s… because…”

The evil beast’s toothy grin grew bigger in anticipation of seeing Celestia’s expression. Telling her the absolute truth.

“… they never lived to tell the tale.”

The expression on Celestia’s face was exactly what Diaboromon hoped for. In her eyes, was the look of pure horror. She just couldn’t believe what she just heard. The entire time she was ruling the land, some of her subjects had already fallen victim to the evil Mega. Questions instantly formed in her mind. When? Where? Why? But most startling of all, how many? Just how many ponies died by Diaboromon’s hands? Chrysalis and her army were certainly startled by the news. But from the Digimon’s behaviour towards them, and knowing that he already killed some of their own, they weren’t too surprised that he would’ve done the same to pony kind. The other members of the group were just as horrified at the discovery as Celestia.

“You… killed them?” Luna uttered. The shock gripping her voice. The others were
too in shock to even utter a word.

Diaboromon glanced over to them as he spoke more in more detail.

“I had to. I didn’t want them to reveal me so soon. All sorts of ponies had crossed me and had all fallen by my hands. Explorers. Archaeologists. Lost hikers. Tourists.”

The next thing he said made the hearts of the ponies stop. More so for the three fillies present. Making them even more terrified of him.

“Fieldtrips.”

Diaboromon then paused. She suddenly felt a warm presence brewing from behind. A feeling that was rapidly growing in temperature. Joining the stunned audience, the Digimon turned around to see the source of the rising heat. His eyes laid upon Celestia. Standing tall, her head low, but her body radiating in a golden red glow. The white Alicorn tried to hide the fury she was feeling. But her gritted teeth could be seen by the others. Luna had known her since her own beginning, but she had never seen her sister in such a way. Even Chrysalis felt a little frightened from the sight. As her horn began to light up in magic, she spoke with venom in her voice. Something that even she thought she would never do.

“You. You turned Luna against me. You forced me to banish my own sister. And now… you tell me… you took their lives?”

Her mind began to unwillingly envision such a horror. All the ponies who were just trying to live their lives and explore, only to meet an untimely end by Diaboromon. The fear in their eyes. The horror on their faces. It caused her eyes to start letting loose the tears she was holding back. The tears of sorrow. Remorse for the lost souls that were unfairly taken.

But one visual in her mentality snapped something within her. It was the last thing Diaboromon said. The word he used. The image of the young. Lost and afraid. Trembling before the greatest evil Equestria had ever known.

Only to become more of his victims.

Celestia snapped her sights squarely on Diaboromon. Though tears continued to fall, her eyes were pure anger. A loud grunt of fury escaped from her gritted teeth. Never in her life had she felt such hatred.

“You! I’ll… I’ll…!”

It was a sentence Celestia struggled to utter. Despite the hatred she was feeling, she was always loved for her caring nature. It was against her very being to even feel such a desire let alone speak it. But Diaboromon could easily tell what the white Alicorn was trying to convey. Letting out a growl of satisfaction before taunting her.

“Go ahead, Celestia. Say it!”

Celestia flinched. Almost giving in to the request. But deep down, she wouldn’t. Trying her absolute hardest to hold on. But Diaboromon taunted more. Revealing to the other ponies what was going through the Alicorn’s mind.

“Say it! Say you want to kill me!”

Seeing Celestia losing the battle, his toothy grin grew wider when he continued.

“SAY IT!!!”

Unable to contain her anger anymore, Celestia showed her fury by letting out a hate-filled scream. Her horn shining like the sun. Throwing her horn down, she fired the strongest attack spell she could muster. A great beam of golden energy as wide as her body slammed into the awaiting Digimon. Diaboromon’s body engulfed in a blinding light as the enraged princess kept up the attack. The onlookers had to shield their eyes to prevent being blinded by the intense light.

“HOW COULD YOU!!!? HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE!!!?” Celestia demanded as she kept on firing her spell. For the first time ever, intending to kill.

However, the princess could only keep up the attack for so long. Within seconds, her attack grew weaker as her magic was being expended. Draining her of all her energy. When her attack finished, Celestia had no strength left to stand. Collapsing to the ground.

“Sister!” The armoured Luna cried out as she ran up to her fallen sibling. The others remained motionless from what they’ve seen. Never in their lives had they seen Celestia so upset. Nor they could blame her. She had every right to be furious about what Diaboromon had confessed.

As for the Digimon, when the light and smoke faded. He was revealed to be unscaved, much to the horror of the onlooking citizens. Shrugging Celestia’s strongest attack like nothing. Only smoke and steam vented from his body as he gazed at the Alicorn Sisters.

Holding Celestia close, Luna tried to comfort her. But the elder sibling was sobbing. Mentally and morally broken by the revelation Diaboromon revealed. As she looked ahead of her, the teary-eyed Celestia wasn’t even surprised that the Mega was unharmed. She was too upset.

“Why? Why are you like this? How could you be so evil?” She whimpered. Her pacifist mind trying to understand Diaboromon’s actions.

But he didn’t answer her questions. Instead, Diaboromon relished the sight before him.

“Yes. The look of dismay. The self-loathing. The misery. I have longed to see you in such a state.”

Celestia stared at Diaboromon in utter disbelief. Failing to comprehend how evil the Mega truly was. His actions and mannerisms certainly matched his devil-like appearance perfectly. As she watched on, Chrysalis began to feel sympathy towards the Alicorns. Already knowing the pain that the Digimon inflicted upon her.

He then grew a wicked grin when he spoke again.

“Maybe I should put you out of your misery.”

To the horror of the ponies, the green orb in Diaboromon’s chest began to glow again. Aiming directly at the Alicorn Sisters. Seeing the impending threat, Luna stood in front of the broken Celestia. Despite being terrified herself, she had to stand against Diaboromon. For all he had done to them. For what he did to her. The others were paralyzed with fear. While from what he could do if they interfered, but mostly from the revelation of what happened without them ever knowing. Chrysalis even turned her head away and closed her eyes. Not wanting to see what came next.

Diaboromon grinned. He had installed trauma within Celestia’s heart. Something he dreamed of doing. And after finally making that dream a reality…

“WEB WRECKER!!!”

The cruel Digimon fired his signature attack. The energy projectile speeding towards the two Alicorns. The siblings froze. No speed they could muster could ever evade the attack. As the pair stared on at their potential demise…





…the attack transformed into a large bubble?





Everyone paused and blinked in confusion. Diaboromon’s deadly attack had turned into a bubble. Floating harmlessly towards Celestia and Luna before popping.

“Wha…What just happened!?” Rainbow Dash asked. Trying to make sense of what she’d seen.

She wasn’t the only one. Everyone in the crowd turned to each other to answers. But all of them were just as puzzled as one another.

Then all eyes turned towards the still form of Diaboromon. Like the ponies, he too was surprised at what happened. But the surprise was only fleeting. Because of the confusion of the crowd, they suddenly heard him chuckling. Had he figured out what happened?

“So… you finally decided to show yourself?”

He then turned around towards a stray building. Only then to break the silence.



“Discord.”



The ponies gasped in surprise at what the Diaboromon said. And even more so when they followed his gaze. Only to see the Draconequus himself. Emerging from the shadows and floating out in the open. Landing several feet away from them.

“D-Discord!” Fluttershy exclaimed happily.

The rest of the crowd’s hopes seemed to have risen. Glad to see the reformed Spirit of Chaos. Believing that with his powers, the tide of battle had finally turned to their favour. Queen Chrysalis believed so too. Turning towards ChaosBlackWarGreymon with a question.

“You think Discord could pose a problem for him?”

With his superior senses, the clone Digimon estimated Discord’s power and compared it to Diaboromon’s. And by being created by the evil Mega, he too possessed the knowledge about Discord. And how the spirit could potentially use his bizarre powers. He then gave his answer to the Changeling Queen.

“Depends on how he uses his powers.”

Chrysalis looked at ChaosBlackWarGreymon in puzzlement. Wondering what he meant by the answer given.

As moments ticked by, the pony group noticed something different about Discord. Normally he would be seen mocking or in a joking mood. Even in the face of adversity or other villains. But he wasn’t. For the first time he was serious. The fact that unnerved them.

He then said something that sent a wave of confusion to the whole group. Not helped by Diaboromon’s response.

“So. I see you’re finally up.”

“It’s been a very long time. But you certainly had changed since last time.”

The two were interrupted by an outburst of a shocked Twilight.

“H-Hold on!”

The purple princess began to piece the surprise puzzle together. The way the two interacted acted as though they had met before. And when Celestia described her vision to Discord, and his reactions after looking into her mind, the spirit acted as though he was panicking. As if he knew exactly who the monster in Celestia’s vision was. Who revealed to be Diaboromon.

An answer came crystal clear for the Princess of Friendship. But it was that what confused her the most.

“You…You two know each other!?”

Her question caused everypony around her to gasp in disbelief. Horrified of the possibility. And to their shock, Diaboromon confirmed it.

“Yes indeed. In fact, Discord was one of my first allies. But betrayed me after he disapproved my true motives.”

Discord then further confirmed it.

“And it’s a good thing I did. Working with you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Yo…You knew about him this whole time!? And you never told us!?” Luna asked the Draconequus. Feeling betrayed.

Discord felt guilty for not telling his friends the truth. But he had a reason for not doing so. Which Diaboromon explained to the group.

“He had no choice. I would’ve killed him if he spoke a single word about me.”

He then turned his attention back to Discord.

“I see you’re not scared of me anymore. Putting on a brave face for your new friends? I’m sure you remember what happened the last time you tried to defy me.”

Discord then made a concerning reply.

“How could I forget.”

Then with a snap of the fingers on his lion paw, his body briefly flashed in white light. Then as the light faded, all his friends gasped in horror at what they saw. Discord’s entire body was horrifically scared from top to bottom. Ancient gash wounds visibly seen from all over. Then Discord finished his sentence.

“I still have the scars from it.”

Then with a second snap, his scar filled body vanished. Reverting back to how he once was. Cadence froze from the image that had become imprinted in her mind.

‘Those scars! They look like… the ones Ayumi has!’

But it was Fluttershy who was the most horrified of the group. What she saw could very possibly be Discord’s true body. And that the body she was so used to seeing was only a coverup to hide his terrible scars.

She then snapped at Diaboromon.

“How!?” How could you do something so cruel to him!!?”

The Digimon turned to Fluttershy as he replied back.

“Because Discord is a coward! He could very easily use his powers to destroy. To rule the world effortlessly. But yet, he chooses to use them for mere entertainment.”

He paused his speech before turning back towards Celestia.

“And then you had to throw your card, Celestia. A Spirit of Chaos that acts like a child is one thing. But reforming him? To use his powers for good?”

His voice snarled in hatred when he expressed himself.

“I find the very idea absurd!”

He then turned back in the direction of Discord.

“He’s not worthy to be called the Spirit of Chaos. He’s a clown. No… a court jester!”

Discord frowned in response to the insult. Despite being reformed, he still held his title with pride. Diaboromon’s words struck a nerve. The Mega then grinned from the defiant spirit.

“So you intend to fight me? You’re barely any stronger since then. Me however… I have gained great power over the years. If you couldn’t defeat me then, what makes you think you have a chance now?”

He then brought up a subject that gained the attention from the Royal Sisters.

“And it’s not like your brief conquest of Equestria had made you any stronger.”

Discord flinched in response. He knew exactly what Diaboromon was referring to. Celestia and Luna also caught on, which the older Alicorn made her inquiry.

“W-What are you talking about?”

Diaboromon looked over to Celestia as he made his reply.

“You’re better off asking him.” He said as he gestured his hand over to Discord.

The ponies paused in shock. The Digimon then turned towards Discord.

“Go ahead, Discord. Reveal to your friends the TRUE reason you tried to conquer Equestria.”

Finally understanding what the conversation was about, all eyes turned towards the Spirit of Chaos. All of them were led to believe that the only reason Discord took over their land was just for his own amusement. To have fun. But from what Diaboromon said, it seemed that there was a different reason for his actions. Which Discord himself revealed.

“It may seem like it at the time, but I didn’t took over Equestria for the fun of it. As the Spirit of Chaos, my power grows in strength from the amount of chaos I bring. And by taking over Equestria with my chaos, I did it… so I can have the strength to stop him.”

The ponies couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Especially the Alicorn princesses. If what he said was true, then the entire time they’ve known him… he wasn’t looking out for himself. All the times he acted mean and cruel… it was all an act. An act to hide what he was truly doing. Through all his chaotic exploits, he was in fact trying to protect them. The thought of it all left the group speechless.

Then Diaboromon broke the silence.

“I admit, it was not a bad plan, Discord. If you pulled it off, you might’ve even succeeded. Gaining more power through chaos to oppose me. And in doing so, saving the lives of the ponies from an even greater evil like myself. Sparing them from my wrath.”

From hearing the explanation out in the open, the group were left amazed. The entire time, Discord was trying to save them from the calamity that Diaboromon posed.

Before he continued, Diaboromon started to chuckle. His voice carrying a hint of laughter at Discord’s misfortune.

“To bad that you failed. You playing tyrant was too convincing, forcing the princesses to retaliate. Your act of saving the ponies… ended up with you being turned to stone twice. If only you told them about me beforehand.”

He then began to laugh.

“By defeating you… the bearers of the elements… the heroes of this world… had doomed themselves!”

Then out of nowhere, all ears heard a frustrated rage-filled scream. All eyes turned in one direction, all falling upon, to their surprise, Fluttershy.

The yellow mare was glaring furiously at the large Mega. The usually timid pony was so angry, that even her closest friends were scared. They had never seen her look so angry in their lives.

In a burst of anger, Fluttershy gave her reason for her outburst.

“No more! I’m tired of you talking to my friend like that! No one talks to him that way!”

After a strong flap of her wings, the yellow Pegasus took to the air and charged directly at Diaboromon. But her anger had blinded her to what was about to happen. Before the others could react in time, the evil Digimon gave off a sinister smirk before lashing his left arm out. Backhanding Fluttershy away and sending her hurtling towards the ground.

“FLUTTERSHY!!!” Discord cried out before teleporting to catch the fallen mare before she could hit the ground.

“Fluttershy! Say something! Please!” Discord pleaded as the rest of the group rushed over to the two.

To their relief, Fluttershy was still alive. But the knocked-out Pegasus was grunting in pain as tears escaped her clenched eyelids. The group couldn’t believe it. All what Fluttershy had done was stand up for Discord. But was met with such brutality the likes she didn’t deserve.

While the ponies and dragon were deeply upset at what had just happened, Discord was experiencing a different reaction. As he rested Fluttershy on the ground and stood up, his expression was clearly seen by the others. He was furious. Far angrier then he ever had been. Green fire was literally seen in his eyes as he gritted his teeth.

Fluttershy was his first ever friend. The mare who treated him with kindness and compassion. The one who reformed him.

And Diaboromon just laid his hands on her.

Then the Digimon’s words reached the spirit’s ears. Clearly talking to the stricken mare.

“Know your place, runt.”

Discord glanced over to his former master, with the Mega giving off a toothy grin in response. The sight of which infuriated him even more.

“You…YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!!!”

In pure rage, Discord threw his arms out and fired a bright thunderbolt at the large Digimon. With his long stretchy limbs, Diaboromon easily dodged it.

The process continued for several moments. Whenever Diaboromon landed, Discord would attempt to strike him with his thunderbolts. But despite being on the receiving end of the attacks, the Digimon was smiling. He had a plan. And the outcome was already in his favour.

As the Digimon landed back at his original position, Discord took the opportunity and fired a strong bolt of magical electricity. But despite landing a direct hit, it left Diaboromon unharmed. Grinning to show how wasteful Discord’s efforts were. All to spur on Discord’s anger more. Frustrated by his lack of progress, Discord screamed out as he charged straight at Diaboromon. As his foe closed in, the Mega had him right where he wanted him. Before Discord could get within reach to throw a punch, the Digimon surprised him by reaching out his left arm and grabbed his neck. He then reared back his clenched right fist before speaking to him.

“You fool!”

Throwing his fist forward, he landed his punch squarely into Discord’s gut. Since it was a punch from a Mega level Digimon, Discord gagged as air left his body. After being released, the Draconequus staggered back as he held onto his stomach. Trying hard not to fall over from the pain.

He then heard Diaboromon’s voice.

“Have you learned nothing from last time?”

Despite the pain, Discord tried to lunge forward at Diaboromon. Only for the beast to quickly get behind him and knock him to the ground.

“Discord!” Celestia cried out.

Ignoring the princess, the Mega continued.

“Can’t you see that friendship had blinded you? Leading you to believe that you can stand against me? To be succumbed by something so simple as rage?”

After using his foot to pin down Discord’s neck, Diaboromon picked him up by his tail. Holding him in place.

“Can’t you see that friendship… has made you weak!?”

Then to the horror of all of whom were his friends, Discord received a hard punch to his gut. Followed by another. And another. Diaboromon was relentlessly landing blow after blow. Pain rippled through the spirit so much that he couldn’t think straight. Preventing him from using his powers creatively.

The scene was so destressing, it became too much for the three fillies present. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle crying before running to get away. Right in the direction of the city.

After regaining consciousness, Fluttershy saw what was happening. Her concern for her friend reaching its peak.

“NO!! DISCORD!!!” She cried out before shouting at Diaboromon.

“Stop it!! Let him go!!”

After hearing Fluttershy’s plea, Diaboromon briefly stopped his assault on the battered Discord and then proceeded to taunt him.

“Look at that, Discord. She may be calling out to you, but it doesn’t mean that she’s helping you.”

After some painful heavy breathing, Discord managed to reply back.

“T-That’s where you’re wrong.”

Using his tail hairs like a hand, Discord snapped them like fingers and teleported away from Diaboromon’s grip. While lying on the ground, the Spirit of Chaos snapped his fingers again. Preparing a little surprise for his foe.

As the evil Digimon turned to face Discord, he suddenly heard a strange whistling sound. As if something was falling from the sky. By the time Diaboromon looked up, the object was seen as an anvil. But as soon as the anvil landed on his face, the metal object suddenly exploded in a powerful blast. Catching everypony by surprise.

But as the dust settled, Diaboromon was left more mildly dumbfounded than hurt as he looked at Discord.

“An exploding anvil? Really?”

It turned out that the exploding anvil was just a distraction. The Discord that Diaboromon was looking at turned out to be just a cardboard cut-out. Realising that he had been deceived, he looked around to try and find the real Discord. It was when he heard his voice.

“Take this!!”

Looking up, Diaboromon spotted Discord overhead. And within the raised hands of the latter was a large yellow energy sphere. An attack of which was then thrown towards the evil Digimon.

But as the Mega raised his hand to intercept the attack, the energy ball suddenly vanished out of existence. Then to Diaboromon’s confusion, he heard a noise behind him. As he glanced over, it turned out to be the very same attack approaching. Discord had teleported his attack to get around the Digimon’s defences.

An explosion followed as the attack struck Diaboromon in the back. His form completely covered in smoke from the blast. All of Discord’s friends looked up at him from the ground. Amazed that he was brave enough to take on such a powerful foe.

Looking down at the cloud of smoke, Discord thought that he had dealt some good damage to Diaboromon. But it turned out that it wasn’t the case. To his shock, the large Digimon leapt out of the smoke right up in front of him. And before the startled Spirit of Chaos could react, the Mega fired a point-blank Web Wreaker at him. Both making a large explosion and sending Discord crashing to the ground.

“Discord!!” Fluttershy cried out.

After landing back on the ground, Diaboromon turned towards the cloud of dust. Waiting to see if Discord would emerge. But as the cloud parted away, the Draconequus was lying in a crater. Beaten and breathing heavily.

“D-Darn it. He… really has gotten stronger,” He weakly uttered. Comparing the Digimon’s strength to the last time the two fought.

Diaboromon grinned as he spoke.

“Look at you, Discord. Defeated and gasping for air. What did you think would happen if you opposed me. For the world I’m going to make, there is no room for weaklings.”

Queen Chrysalis flinched in fright at what the evil Mega said. In terms of power, Discord’s magic was much greater than her own. She couldn’t help but think that… if Diaboromon considered the Spirit of Chaos to be a weakling… then what was she to him?

As Discord struggled to stand back up, Diaboromon taunted him again.

“Even now, you fail to realise that you fell for my trap.”

“W-What do you mean?” Discord asked. Blinking in confusion.

The others too were puzzled, but the Mega was eager to tell them.

“Your greatest asset are your powers. The ability to defy physics and warp reality. Which was why I had to provoke you. To attack me with conventional magic. Thereby ignoring the very thing that made you unique.”

Both Discord and the ponies gawked in shock. The second the spirit was on the scene, the Mega had already formulated a plan to counter him. Being three steps ahead of everyone else. All except ChaosBlackWarGreymon, whom had already foreseen such a scenario.

Discord was both shocked… and then angry.

“You mocked me… and used Fluttershy… to trick me!”

Diaboromon grinned in response.

“Goes to show, doesn’t it? That beneath this nightmare body… lies a genius.”

Then with hardly any warning, Diaboromon fired another blast of energy from his chest orb. Discord had barely a second to form a pool of magic in his hand in an attempt to block it. But when the attack struck, the explosion sent the spirit tumbling across the ground. The pain almost too much for him to even make a stand again.

“Discord! T-That’s enough!” Fluttershy cried out. Not wanting her friend to suffer a second longer.

“Fluttershy,” Discord weakly uttered.

Diaboromon chuckled as he glanced over to the ponies. Seeing the looks of fear on their faces was what he hoped for. But as his sights fell upon the Mane Six, his expression chained to inquisitive.

“Hmm? Weren’t there more of you?”

Puzzled by what the Digimon was implying, the six girls looked at each other in confusion. Only to quickly realize that someone was indeed missing. In fact, three.

“Wait! Where’s Applebloom!” Applejack asked. Joined by Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

“Scootaloo!?”

“Sweetie Belle is gone too!”

As the ponies start to panic from the disappearance of the three fillies, Diaboromon grinned. He could sense a small group fleeing from the scene. Deciding to make an example for those who dare defy him, the Digimon surprised the group by suddenly leaping into the air. The elasticity of his limbs combined with his strength enabled him to travel wide distances in such a short time. Landing atop a ruined catapult before leaping again. Sailing towards the city.

“W-Where’s he going?” Twilight uttered. But no one answered.

While Chrysalis and her Changelings were just as puzzled, ChaosBlackWarGreymon grew an uncertain expression. Not liking what he thought his master was about to do.
……………………………………………………………………………............................................................................

Hidden in a dark alley, the three exhausted fillies tried to catch their breath. All traumatized by Diaboromon’s actions.

“I… I can’t take this anymore!” Sweetie Belle cried. Deeply upset.

“Yeah, that monster is… just the worst!” Scootaloo joined. But Applebloom began to doubt their rash decision.

“But did we have to leave without our sisters!? We have to back!”

As the three girls struggled to think of what was the right thing to do, the fillies were surprised to see something dripping beside them. The three were puzzled. The alley had no exposed drains, and the droplets didn’t even look like water.

A horrid feeling suddenly overcame them. The dripping… looked like drool.

Their eyes widened in horror when they all heard a soft, but deep growl. Slowly glancing up, their sights were met with an image that should only be in nightmares. Using his long limbs to grasp onto the walls of the two buildings, Diaboromon loomed a couple of feet above them. His piercing yellow eyes staring at them as drool escaped his grinning mouth.

“Peekaboo.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………........................................................................

The group continued to question what was going on. To which was silenced by distant screaming that came from the city. Everypony watched with bated breath, wondering what had just happened and hoped that it wasn’t for the worse. They then saw Diaboromon leaping atop a tower. Only to them make a massive leap over their heads and land in the gardens with incredible force. The group almost stumbled from the vibrations in the ground. When looking back at the evil Digimon, the ponies froze when they saw his toothy grin as he glanced over his shoulder to look at them.

“Found them.” He uttered before fully facing the crowd.

Puzzled at first, the ponies and dragon saw something that shock them to the core. Gasping in horror. Entrapped within the Digimon’s huge right hand were the Cutiemark Crusaders. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle squirming as they tried to wiggle free.
……………………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................

The initial scream from the three fillies was loud enough to be heard in parts of the city. Reaching even to one of the towers of the castle. Four of the five Changelings looking out of the window in the direction of where the battle was taking place.

“Woah. Was that a scream just now?” One of them asked. Joined by the other three.

“Must be from one of the ponies.”

“I don’t blame them. I was scared when I first saw the master.”

“Hmm.”

Their attention was gained by the fifth Changeling. Purposely coughing to make them look at him.

“Hay. We have a job to do. Let’s finish here and move on.”

The four solders joined the fifth for their unexpected task. Using their adhesive slime, the solders were in the process of cocooning the sleeping Ayumi. Most of her body was already enveloped in green goo. Knowing the weakness of all magic casters, the Changelings goo up her horn first. Blocking her magic. The Alicorn from the alternate timeline was shifting in her sleep. Not from the discomfort of her growing entrapment, but from the bad feeling she was mentally experiencing.

‘W-What is this feeling? This…darkness? It feels so…familiar. It’s outside. But what is it?’

Despite being asleep, her mind was very much awake. By possessing the energy of Digimon, Ayumi’s senses were more advanced than any other pony. Despite being far away, she could sense the growing activity outside. Beginning to sense her friends. But her concern began to climb.

‘Wait. Why are all of them outside? Why are some of them faint?’

Next, she sensed creatures that weren’t pony of origin. Which were the Changelings. Her tossing and turning was becoming more rapid.

‘W-what is going on out there!? And… what is this malicious energy!? What is…!’

Then it hit her. The malicious energy was all too familiar. In her mind, it was a massive cloud of purple.

‘This energy. I hadn’t felt it… since…!’

Then it happened. The purple cloud took the form of a face. The face she deeply feared. The one she hoped would never see again. The horns. The teeth. The head.



The piercing yellow eyes. The second she saw them…



‘HIM!!!’



Ayumi’s eyes snapped open with shock and fear. Then instantly glowed a blinding purple light. Followed by the rest of her body. The five Changelings paused in puzzlement when they saw their trapped captive glowing brighter. The energy rapidly building up. Emitting a humming sound that grew louder.

“What the…!!”

The Changeling solder was interrupted when the purple light suddenly exploded. Bursting free from the cocoon and blasting the five away with invisible force. The same purple light then smashed itself out of the window and through the air. Beelining towards the sculpture gardens.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..................................................................

Within the gardens, every soul froze on the spot. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were held firmly within Diaboromon’s palm. The ponies had no idea how to approach the situation. Fearing that a wrong step might cause the giant to clench his hand and hurt the three girls. All the while Diaboromon stood there with a toothy grin on his face. Even ChaosBlackWarGreymon was taken back by his master’s actions. Recognizing the three fillies from before.

“Somepony! Help us!!” Sweetie Belle cried out as she tried to free herself.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried out. Horrified to see her little sister being held prisoner by the Mega.

“Let them go!” Shining Armor demanded. But the Digimon chuckled in response.

“This little fight has been fun. But it’s time for the true calamity to begin,” He uttered as he glanced down at his three little prisoners. The fillies trembling in fear as the Mega looked at him with his terrifying gaze.

But before he could do anything, he heard an outburst that caused him to pause.

“STOP!!!”

The outburst echoed throughout the area. It certainly was a Royal Canterlot voice. Looking over in the direction of the outburst, Diaboromon’s sights fell upon Celestia. The white Alicorn standing up on all fours, tears raining down her face and the look of shear desperation in her eyes. Her friends and family looked at her in surprise. Not expecting her to suddenly speak out.

But were even more so when from the next words that left her.

“PLEASE!!! STOP THIS MADNESS!!! HAVE MERCY!!!”

“Mercy?”

“Those girls have done nothing wrong!! They don’t deserve this! Just leave them alone! Do you have no sense of compassion!? No sense of reason!? You may be evil, but surely you must have restraint! I refuse to believe otherwise!”

Diaboromon stood silently as he listened to Celestia’s plea. His expression turning neutral as his grin vanished. Celestia, whose eyes were filled with tears, tried once more.

“Please! I beg you! If there’s any sense of mercy in you, then please show it! And spare them! Please.”

Everypony paused. Dearing not to break the tension. Seeing if by miracle, Celestia’s plea would reach through. They too hoped for the best. The huge Mega silently stared at the Sun Princess with an emotionless gaze. The three scared fillies held within his palm. Celestia too held her breath. Hoping. Just hoping that the Digimon could show anything other than hate. To be more than the true epitome of evil.

Her ears twitched when Diaboromon spoke.

“But princess. How can I show mercy…” He said before pausing. His expression changed as he continued.





“… if I never had any?”





Celestia’s expression morphed into utter despair from Diaboromon’s words. Reinforced by the sadistic grin on his face.

“What?” She whimpered. Disbelief gripping her voice.

“You always fantasized about an ideal world. One where everyone gets along, and no one gets hurt. But it’s just that. A fantasy! This is reality! This is war! People always get hurt!”

He then brought more facts about reality to Celestia, by making an example of himself. The tone in his voice sounded as if it were a mixture of mockery and being offended.

“Then there’s me! A Digimon of pure evil upon birth! You thought that I could change!? Just because!?”

He then scared her by slamming his left fist against the ground. Sending ripples of vibrations for all to feel.

“After living for so long, how have you not learnt that not all creatures can be redeemed!? Some are evil to the core! Heartless monsters! With your pacifist mindset, you wouldn’t last long in the Digital World!”

Celestia trembled at Diaboromon’s words. Throughout her life, she truly believed that all creatures had a heart. That deep down, there was a sense of good. That peace was the way that all beings should abide. But in a single statement, the Digimon turned her beliefs upside-down and threw it back in her face. Stunned silent in the presence of the cruellest creature she had ever laid eyes on.

Diaboromon then grinned. An idea to reinforce his claims.

“And I’ll start by showing just how monstrous I can be!!”

To the horror of every pony watching, Diaboromon raised his right hand up high while glancing up. Being held aloft, the three trapped and confused fillies looked back down to see what was going to happen. Only for the answer to present itself in a bloodcurdling way. As he faced up at the Cutiemark Crusaders above his head, Diaboromon let out a demonic growl as he, in a freakish fashion, began to open his jaw wide. The elastic properties of his skin caused his mouth to open even wider. Revealing drool and razor sharp teeth.

“HE’S GOING TO EAT THEM!!!?” Pinkie Pie shrieked in disbelief. But it was exactly what they Digimon was going to do.

The ponies began to plead. Begging for Diaboromon to stop. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack crying out for their sisters. Chrysalis and her Changelings looked on in grimace. Already knowing of the Digimon’s bizarre appetite. Celestia and Luna froze from such a horrific sight. Paralyzed in fear. ChaosBlackWarGreymon felt his fists clenched within his gauntlets. Specks of green magic sparking from his Digizoid claws.

As for Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, their hearts stopped the second Diaboromon opened his palm. The three falling down towards the open maw of the beast.

Then, in a fraction of a second, the evil Mega sensed something. Causing one of his eyes to shift in its direction.

What came next was a piercing purple light that engulfed the whole area. Ponies, Changelings and Digimon were caught completely by surprise as they instantly shielded their eyes. Not expecting it in the very least. The sudden burst of magic caused dust to rise from the ground. Almost blinding everyone’s vision.

“W-What just happened!” Twilight cried out.

“Never mind the dust! What about my Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity exclaimed in a panic. She never saw what happened to her little sister.

The same could be said for Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The pair were just as worried. But as the group were about to rush to where they last saw them, they paused. The ponies and dragon could see something shrouded in the dust. Barely illuminated. But whatever it was, it was in the image of an Alicorn. One just taller than Twilight herself.

“I-Is that…?” The purple Alicorn uttered.
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Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle huddled into balls as they clenched their eyes shut. The last thing they saw was falling into a row of teeth. But after that, they felt nothing. No pain. No agony. Nothing. Instead, they felt warmth. As if being cradled by something with fur and feathers.

Opening their eyes, the confused fillies began to get their bearings.

“W-What happened?” Scootaloo fearfully uttered.

Their questions would be quickly answered. As the three looked to their sides, they saw that they were being held close by a pair of large purple feathered wings. Confused, the three glanced up to the owner of the wings. Only for their confusion to rise further.

“T-Twilight?” Applebloom spoke in a puzzled tone.

As the dust settled, the saviour of the Cutiemark Crusaders was revealed. An Alicorn who looked almost like Twilight. But one who was much older with a different feel to her.

Ayumi had arrived.

Glancing down from hearing the voice of a filly she once knew from her own world, the alternate Twilight glanced down at the three confused fillies. Seeing their faces caused her to smile warmly at them.

“Sorry I was so late.”

As more dust settled, Ayumi was revealed to the main group. The Mane Six, the Alicorn Sisters and Spike were amazed by her timely arrival. Saving the lives of the Cutiemark Crusaders.

“Ayumi! You’re finally awake!” Twilight exclaimed as she rushed up to her other self to give her a hug. Grateful for arriving.

As they were joined by the others, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were reunited with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. All the while confused as to why there was another pony who looked near enough exactly like Twilight. The confusion extended to the Changelings. All murmuring to themselves from the unexpected surprise.

“What!? There… t-two Twilights!?” Chrysalis uttered in disbelief.

ChaosBlackWarGreymon paused as he eyed the two Alicorns. Remembering what he had seen from reading Ayumi’s mind earlier.

“Well. That’s something you don’t see every day,” Discord uttered to himself. Slowly trying to recover. Him seeing Ayumi for the first time.

As the group backed away to give Ayumi some room to breathe, the former princess noticed a pair of recognizable ponies approaching her. Two that she was all too familiar with. With smiles on their faces, Prince Shining Armour and Princess Cadence stopped just ahead of her. Glad to see that the battle worn mare was back on her hooves once more.

“Brother. Sister-in-law,” Ayumi uttered. So happy to see them again after so long that she could almost cry.

The reunion would’ve been a sweet one… if not for a growl to reach Ayumi’s ears.

Whatever happy feeling she felt was instantly replaced with something completely opposite. Her eyes grew wide as her pupils shrunk. Showing an expression of disbelief and horror. She knew that growl incredibly well. She could never forget it. It forever burned in her memory. Followed by every single second of the nightmare that began in the Canterlot of her world. Years worth of memories all flowed into her mind within a second. Reigniting the trauma and pain she felt. Sending shivers throughout her entire being. The fear was also mixed with confusion. The question of why HE was there. Not just in her world.

All the other ponies couldn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling. Just seeing her expression spoke volumes. It was all they needed. It made them feel sorry for her. She escaped her world into their own, for a fresh start. A new life away from war. Away… from him. Only for her to encounter the very same evil that took everything from her.

Cadence was about to try to say something to comfort Ayumi. Only for her to freeze in place when through the dust, she and everyone else saw glowing yellow eyes. The tiny pupils piercing through the clouds and directly at the new arrival.

As the dust cloud began to clear more, Ayumi’s horrified eyes began to move to the right. Followed by her head. The mare slowly glancing over her shoulder to look behind her. Hoping that the sounds she was hearing was all in her mind. Her imagination running amok.

The second her vision caught the glimpse of her foe, Ayumi let out a silent horrified gasp as she quickly turned around. Only to see her worst fear come true. Standing before her was the very same Digimon that destroyed her Equestria. The same body. The same clawed hands. The same devil horns. The same yellow eyes. And the same demonic voice.

“You,” She quietly uttered in disbelief as she stared at the Digimon in pure horror and confusion.

Seeing the new arrival for the first time, Diaboromon grinned in wonderment. Looking forward to getting answers.

“Well, well. What do we have here?”